Garmin inReach Mini 2, Light-weight and Compact Satellite tv for pc Communicator, Climbing Handheld, Orange – 010-02602-00

So far it’s been great! Lightweight and superb connectivity.
I’ve had this inReach for over a month now and it’s done great! The battery lasts seemingly forever and it connects very quickly to the Iridium network. There is a lot of talk about how iPhones now have satellite SOS functionality but you are limited based on your location if it actually connects to local emergency services. It also doesn’t use the robust Iridium network like Garmin does.I use mine to keep in contact with my family when going into the mountains of Colorado with absolutely no issues. If you are going outdoors, buy an inReach mini. It will give you peace of mind and work flawlessly.

Works well. Easy link to app.
Easy to send messages using its app. Message includes location map.

Overpriced, slow
This is old-school performance on high-tech equipment. I bought this for outdoor adventures in areas that have no cell coverage. It is functional, but you have to imagine that you are living in the 20th century to meet performance expectiations.First, the setup and activation took nearly 2 days. Yes, 2 days. I set up my account, put the InReach outdoors with full view of the sky, and then waited… and waited… finally after numerous power cycles, and more waiting, it activated. The instructions said that the long activation time is not an indication of normal performance. Yeah, right.Then I went camping in a remote area for a week. I sent a preset message, had InReach in full view of the sky, sitting on a small table. I waited… finally the message showed as Sent after 20 minutes. Not impressed. Other messages took anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to send; judging the replies was more difficult, but the quickest reply from a friend was about 30 minutes (this could have been due to the friend taking time to respond). Despite the slow performance, it never failed to send or receive a message.The subscription plans have Gotchas that are not advertised. The Freedom plan, aka “pay as you go” does not offer much Freedom. First, you have to pay $35 for each year you use the plan; so if you only use it one month every year, then it isn’t $15, it’s $50. And, contrary to what’s advertised on the Garmin site, you DO get charged for the months that you do NOT use it (as of June 2022), I believe $5/mo. For those reasons, I just did the Annual plan. The short of it: For ONE month, you pay $105 over the course of a year – that’s $105 for ONE MONTH of usage. For the Annual plan, you pay $178 over the year, which is $14.86 per month.For the type and amount of service you get, InReach can seem like a total rip-off. You need to decide for yourself if having ‘service anywhere’ justifies the cost. For me, it is, and it fits my budget.There are a few strong points of the Garmin InReach2 over other platforms. First, it is small. I mean tiny. It’s easy to pack and carry, and you do not need anything else – no phone pairing required. Battery life is good, and it uses a built-in rechargeble battery. The phone app is decent, and you don’t need service / internet to use it or pair it. Of course you need to have already downloaded the app, but that’s obvious. The screen is small but easy to read, unless you have poor eye sight. Still, let’s say you are older or farsighted and lose your reading glasses, the SOS button can be found and operated by feel, so there’s always that.Some downsides: Preset messages require setup on a computer via the InReach portal. The rechargeable battery means that you can’t use common batteries in a pinch, like AAAs or similar; and you need to have access to a USB-C charger.Complaints aside, if I knew all this before I bought it, I probably would have still bought it, mostly because I’m an electronics nerd.

Complete life saver
The Garmin InReach is an absolute must have if you plan on hunting, camping, hiking etc., anywhere there is no reliable cell service. It works. It’s reliable. It’s lightweight.

I’m an avid adventurer, hiker, skier, and outdoors person, and this Garmin is exceptional product to provide me with maps, trails, communication to my family and friends when there is no cell coverage, and SOS help. It’s lightweight and compact, and is meant to be used in conjunction with a smart phone. However, even if my phone is not working, the Garmin has a very long battery life, and can be used by itself for sending messages and viewing maps. I highly recommend this product, however a monthly subscription is required to use most of the functions on this systems, however the monthly amount is nomimal, eg: $14 per month, which can turned on and off.

Tal como se anuncia. Llego rápido y en buen estado. Solo recuerden que al activarlo hay que comprarle una suscripción mensual o anual que ronda los 20-40usd mensuales para poder utilizar el GPS y los mensajes satelitales.

Ottimo prodotto, per chi cerca un Satellite Communicator. Personalmente vengo da una GPS old school, sono partito, a fine anni ’90, con i Magellan NAV 6000 e Map 410, e a vedere questa piccola meraviglia, mi sono reso conto di come l’ingegnerizzazione dei componenti abbia fatto veramente la differenza. In quegli anni, Magellan, come comunicatore satellitare, proponeva il GSC 100, agganciato alla flotta Orbcomm, ma se consideriamo cos’era quello strumento, in termini di dimensioni e pesi, e consideriamo cos’è questa piccola meraviglia, beh, siamo di fronte al futuro, visto che entrambe le macchine facevano e fanno le stesse cose. L’Inreach Mini 2 è agganciato alla flotta Iridium e l’abbonamento, confacente alle mie esigenze, è venuto a costare 30 euro circa al mese, quindi, del tutto accettabile. L’apparato supporta il protocollo ANT+, pertanto, ho potuto coniugarlo al sistema Smartwatch Fēnix di Garmin. Ora, dal mio Fēnix 5S Plus, posso gestire l’apparato, così come dal mio cellulare, per il tramite delle app Garmin Messenger ed Explore. Le configurazioni richiedono diverso tempo, ma una volta terminate, restituiscono un sistema full automation da paura. Io lo uso per la tutela della mia persona e del mio cane, l’apparecchio è sempre agganciato alla pettorina del cucciolo e, in caso di emergenza, non solo posso localizzarlo con l’assistenza satellitare e senza errore di posizione tipico del Fix GPS, ma posso anche lanciare una chiamata di emergenza direttamente dai miei dispositivi associati, la bellezza di due, e sempre con me, uno in tasca e uno al mio polso. Garmin ha anche realizzato sistemi di dog tracking, da coniugare sempre con cellulari e Smartwatch, di cui uno, l’Alpha 10 K, è del tutto simile all’Inreach Mini 2, tranne che per un’antenna in più di tipo esteso, ma ho preferito l’Inreach Mini 2 proprio per avere il plus della comunicazione satellitare, oltre che della posizione. La costruzione del device è di tipo rugged waterproof, anche per ambienti ostili, insomma, super consigliato a tutti coloro che considerano un investimento nella propria salute, e in quella di chi gli sta a cuore, l’acquisto di un prodotto e di un servizio come questo.