Garmin Inreach Mini 2 Share your tips/advice/tricks.
- Thread starter Diddi
- Start date
Diddi
Thru Hiker
Didn't realise Garmin mapping (on phone) had snap too mapping.
Much more precise than just importing a gpx from say alltrails.
In future I will import the gpx then snap/route it over top for more precise route & distance.
Only really use this when walking abroad but much better now I can do it...
This is also very handy and more precise if you sync route/track with inreach as a emergency route backup.
2nd pic alltrails gpx ...
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timday
Trail Blazer
Hmmm.... just got around to looking at the new plans. I've been on the contract "safety" one for years (I have the old yellow SE+), with a couple of excursions into whatever the next level up was called (£24.99/month) for automatic tracking on longer trips (HRP & TGOC). Most of the time, unlimited presets and the 10 messages/month just about sufficed, or I'd go slightly over. I'm not sure I'd use the automatic tracking again... wife said she never looked at it, just the latest in the stream of "all well!" presets I was sending.
Can see myself hopping around between "enabled" (seems not particularly well advertised in a lot of the blurb about these changes, but it's there when you go on the page to change plan, parked in a separate tab from the other plans) and "essential" now, depending how active a month I think it's likely to be... but I'll stick with the £12.99 plan I'm on currently until something nudges me one way or the other.
Got me wondering about some other things in the Garmin/inReach ecosystem:
* I've been using the Earthmate app for almost as long as I've had the inReach . Sure its mapping is butt-ugly - by far the worst OpenStreetMap-derived data rendering I've ever seen - but it can get a GPS fix off the inReach via bluetooth faster than my phone can locate itself. And it's a lot easier to type messages on my phone than picking them out on the inReach, and to read weather forecasts obtained via inReach too. I've just noticed Garmin have another "Explore" app which is supposed to work with the inReach too... worth a look or not? I'm not really a big digital navigation user in terms of following/creating/editing GPX files; and I find the map area of explore.garmin.com a confusing morass of... Library? Collections?? Legacy inReach sync??? All a bit puzzling although I did manage to import my TGOC route into it (edited in / exported from anquet OMN3 software). Maybe I should try and get to grips with it a bit more though.
* There's intriguing mention of photo and voice messages in some of the generic plan blurb (even the Essential plan is supposed to get you 10/month), although the small print says it's "select devices only" and use of the "Garmin Messenger" app is required (another Garmin app that's new to me; again, any reason to prefer it to Earthmate?). I note when I'm logged into my account and go to change the plan for my device there's no mention of voice/photo messages in any of the offerings... I'm guessing my inReach just doesn't have the capability but then the tech has probably moved on considerably since. Aha: a quick Google finds that photo/voice messages are with Garmin's new "Garmin inReach Messenger Plus" device only and the tech is "Iridium Certus: a globally available satellite broadband" thing which they started putting the satellites up for in 2017. (Also, photos apparently limited to around 0.9 megapixels).
Can see myself hopping around between "enabled" (seems not particularly well advertised in a lot of the blurb about these changes, but it's there when you go on the page to change plan, parked in a separate tab from the other plans) and "essential" now, depending how active a month I think it's likely to be... but I'll stick with the £12.99 plan I'm on currently until something nudges me one way or the other.
Got me wondering about some other things in the Garmin/inReach ecosystem:
* I've been using the Earthmate app for almost as long as I've had the inReach . Sure its mapping is butt-ugly - by far the worst OpenStreetMap-derived data rendering I've ever seen - but it can get a GPS fix off the inReach via bluetooth faster than my phone can locate itself. And it's a lot easier to type messages on my phone than picking them out on the inReach, and to read weather forecasts obtained via inReach too. I've just noticed Garmin have another "Explore" app which is supposed to work with the inReach too... worth a look or not? I'm not really a big digital navigation user in terms of following/creating/editing GPX files; and I find the map area of explore.garmin.com a confusing morass of... Library? Collections?? Legacy inReach sync??? All a bit puzzling although I did manage to import my TGOC route into it (edited in / exported from anquet OMN3 software). Maybe I should try and get to grips with it a bit more though.
* There's intriguing mention of photo and voice messages in some of the generic plan blurb (even the Essential plan is supposed to get you 10/month), although the small print says it's "select devices only" and use of the "Garmin Messenger" app is required (another Garmin app that's new to me; again, any reason to prefer it to Earthmate?). I note when I'm logged into my account and go to change the plan for my device there's no mention of voice/photo messages in any of the offerings... I'm guessing my inReach just doesn't have the capability but then the tech has probably moved on considerably since. Aha: a quick Google finds that photo/voice messages are with Garmin's new "Garmin inReach Messenger Plus" device only and the tech is "Iridium Certus: a globally available satellite broadband" thing which they started putting the satellites up for in 2017. (Also, photos apparently limited to around 0.9 megapixels).
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Diddi
Thru Hiker
You can plot or import gpx routes from any app on your phone and one click its a digital backup in you garmin explore app (if you have it).
Then click sync to garmin and that track/route/gpx file syncs to your garmin inreach as an emergency backup route if say phone died or lost gps unit or map & compass.
OS mapping above..
Choose Garmin Explore
As easy as that.
Route now in OS maps and Garmin express.
Now jst sync with inreach and route will be there if you needed it as an emergency backup etc.
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OwenM
Thru Hiker
The explore app doesn't work on the old DeLorme devices, it only supports the newer Garmin ones. I tried it last week just to see what the difference was. When I came to pair the SE with my phone, I couldn't find the SE on the list of devices to pair with. When I clicked "other" I got a message saying explode doesn't support these devices and a list of the older DeLorme devices. Then it says use the "Earthmate" app for them.
echo8876
Thru Hiker
If Garmin gets outdone by mobile phones one day (it ain't yet), I'll just switch to smart watches as my back up navigation.
At the moment inreach discounts are nice, though. Never needed photos, audio, or anything above "I'm fine" preset, really. And all that weights same and costs way less than a decent gps watch.
At the moment inreach discounts are nice, though. Never needed photos, audio, or anything above "I'm fine" preset, really. And all that weights same and costs way less than a decent gps watch.
Johnny3000
Section Hiker
Just got an update for the Garmin Explore app. Seems offline Topo maps are no longer loaded by country but by manual selection of an area. Also premium+ maps are available, not sure how these are better. The app UI looks a bit better now, too.
I bet some influencer will soon publish a complete review on youtube about it.
I bet some influencer will soon publish a complete review on youtube about it.
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Johnny3000
Section Hiker
Oh, and there are more online map layers available, such as satellite images, which is new for Finland, at least.
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echo8876
Thru Hiker
There is no cons. Or im extremely stupid.Can folks keep post the pro's and cons for a while and I will hold off updating
Current look of explore app.
Vs proper mapping app at same-ish scale
Johnny3000
Section Hiker
Click on the layers and select hillshade, contours and popularity map. But I think all except the topo naps work only online.
Johnny3000
Section Hiker
Contour lines appear only every 50m, although they weren't much better before.
Johnny3000
Section Hiker
Two more things I hadn't seen in the old version:
There's a new replay function for recorded workouts.
POI's can now be dragged and dropped in the edit mode, e.g. if they were in a slightly wrong position.
There's a new replay function for recorded workouts.
POI's can now be dragged and dropped in the edit mode, e.g. if they were in a slightly wrong position.
echo8876
Thru Hiker
All there and online.
In current state the app is unusable. Overview contours are every 500m, high scale - 50m.
Johnny3000
Section Hiker
Agree it could be better, you definitely need a proper topo map alongside when planning in an unknown region.
The course creator seems to work more intuitively now, and you can select sports while using it, like biking or hiking etc.
The course creator seems to work more intuitively now, and you can select sports while using it, like biking or hiking etc.
Johnny3000
Section Hiker
Short overview of new features: