Garmin InReach Mini Experience?

I'm looking at getting a Garmin InReach Mini, since I spend a fair bit of time riding off the cellphone grid. I was hoping folks could share their experiences, as well as likes and dislikes about the product (I've read what's available on the forums).

Also, I am writing some software to monitor my riding, and notify family members if something goes wrong (e.g., accident, failure to check in). One of my goals for acquiring the Mini is to tie it into that system, and have it send periodic updates to the cloud service I'm writing that everything's okay.

For that to work properly, the Mini has to be able to communicate with satellites while moving. So I'm curious as to how quickly the Mini locks on to the satellite network when it's powered up (as a proxy for its ability to maintain lock while riding -- I don't expect that people would've tried sending texts while in motion ).

Motorcycle Mayor said:

- I don't expect that people would've tried sending texts while in motion

).

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How I with this wasn't true. I was driving behind a guy on a sport bike. He was riding no handed and sending a text. This would be dangerous enough on a straight piece of road. This fool was on highest flyover on a highway interchange. Merging traffic, curves and everyone slows down at the top to enjoy the view or freak out about how high they are.

No experience with the mini - seems like it would be a good replacement for a Spot tracker.

graler said:

Motorcycle Mayor said:

- I don't expect that people would've tried sending texts while in motion

).

Click to expand...

How I with this wasn't true. I was driving behind a guy on a sport bike. He was riding no handed and sending a text. This would be dangerous enough on a straight piece of road. This fool was on highest flyover on a highway interchange. Merging traffic, curves and everyone slows down at the top to enjoy the view or freak out about how high they are.

No experience with the mini - seems like it would be a good replacement for a Spot tracker.

Click to expand...

Wow! His sense of balance must be an order of magnitude better than mine! Appreciate the story...

Text while riding? Sure! Voice-to-text on my iPhone. Speak, cancel, speak, cancel, speak, gets it right (finally), then push to send.

Uncle Hud said:

Text while riding? Sure! Voice-to-text on my iPhone. Speak, cancel, speak, cancel, speak, gets it right (finally), then push to send.

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LOL! Of course, that's what I do, too...with the exact same results. I've generated some really hilarious messages when I'm cruising at highway speeds...

Mayor, have you checked out SpotWalla? Does all you are planning to do with home coding.

dcarver said:

Mayor, have you checked out SpotWalla? Does all you are planning to do with home coding.

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Wow! Definitely worth checking out. Thanx!!

I used the previous version of the Garmin InReach. Cold starts locked to satellites when in view of the sky in less than a minute, generally. Calculating a location was fast if I was close to the last used location, but if I had it off and traveled a long distance (a couple of states) before turning on then it could take up to 10 min before calculating a location. Had no problems doing this while moving, I just had to be patient.

I dont know about custom notifications though. I programmed old eTrex handsets to work with a laptop while moving more than a decade ago, but didnt try anything with the InReach. Having something over Bluetooth to work with a custom app on the phone might be nice for trip analysis.

What's the difference between Delorme's InReach and Garmin's? Co-branding? I have no experience with the Delorme, but I just received over a dozen Spot X devices. I consider the Spot gen 3 to be a perfect form factor, but we wanted two-way capability, so went with the X. Compose your own text, or use one of 15 canned messages that you can set up. Still waiting on RAM to provide a holster for the X. It feels heavy hanging off the carabiner on my stich.

Bill Lumberg said:

What's the difference between Delorme's InReach and Garmin's? Co-branding?

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Garmin bought Delorme, and then they released a newer version of the device. From what I understand, the old Delorme devices work under Garmin's subscription plans. I am considering pickup up an InReach Mini as well, but it is hard when you can easily pick up a new older version of the InReach for ~$100 less than themini.

From Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge:

On February 11, 2016, the company (DeLorme) announced that it had been purchased by Garmin, a multinational producer of GPS products and services.

I have the old DeLorme, and my subscription was ported over to Garmin seamlessly. I didn't even know the company changed hands until the new devices started rolling out. If you use the app on the phone (which makes it way easier to type a message and choose to who it is sent to) it will send the message when the signal hits the satellite . I know it will connect at walking speeds, and I'm pretty sure it will at highway speeds as well. FYI, transmission speed is slow. A round trip text message probably takes 5 min or so. Think 14.4k baud instead of broadband connection speeds. And check into spotwalla. It should do what you need. Also, the Delorme comes with a weblink that you can send to other people same as spotwalla. The only difference is that spotwalla is active for when you set it. The DeLorme link is always active regardless of the trip, and someone can see it whenever the device is on and transmitting data.

I use Spotwalla a lot, and it offers self-defined security zones where your location will NOT be displayed. That's why all my Spotwalla traces disappear within 3 miles of Casa de Hud.

Does the Garmin/DeLorme offer the same? That should be pretty high on everyone's list of protecting personal information on the World Wide Web.

I dont beleive it does, but doesnt affect me since the only one with the delorme link is my wife, and she already knows where I live.

^^^^^ Cool.

Spotwalla will allow Private trips, but that means I can't share them with you knuckleheads. If you folks figure out where I live, you'll drink up all my beer.