Being a responsible hiker means letting someone know where you are going and when you’ll be back. That used to mean (and still does) leaving a note on the fridge. In a world of landlines, this was the best one could do. Once you were out the door, you were out of touch. Needless to say, times have changed. We all have cell phones, and cell phones have become smartphones. Smartphones have in turn become essential hiking tools, combining many functions (camera, journal, compass, GPS, map, trail guide, book, flashlight etc.) into a compact six-ounce package. Their role as communication devices can seem secondary.

That’s just as well, because cell phone coverage in the backcountry is unreliable. A few spots, like ridges overlooking populated areas, sometimes have service. That is good enough to check in every few days or so. But if you are hurt, or encounter someone else who is hurt, a hike up to a ridge in order to possibly call for help is not a solid plan. If you are on a popular trail you can just wait a bit, knowing that another hiker will come along soon. But if you are bushwhacking, or are on a trail that almost no one hikes, waiting for help is not such a great option. Help might never come.

That’s the strongest use case for a personal locator beacon or satellite communication device: to enable you to call for help no matter how remote the terrain or how desolate the route. You will always have backup.

I began looking into getting a satellite communication device while planning a hike of the Desert Trail in 2019. The DT is not only remote, it is also not actually a trail. It is just a passable cross-country route through the deserts of eastern California. The likelihood that anyone would find me on it, should I become hurt or disabled, was just about nil. Although I was not eager to bear the additional pack weight (and expense), the argument for taking a satellite communication device was pretty compelling. Particularly to my family.

My search quickly narrowed to the Garmin inReach Mini satellite communicator. Although this review will not include a direct comparison with other devices, the Mini has several features that stood out:

1. It uses the Iridium satellite network. I am no expert on satellite networks, but the consensus among people who are experts is that Iridium provides more extensive and more reliable coverage than other networks.
2. Small size and weight. At 3.5 ounces, it is not such a big hit to pack weight.
3. Bluetooth capability, which enables a smartphone interface.
4. The deal-clincher: two-way communication capability. Rather than just sending out an SOS message and GPS coordinates, the Mini also enables users to send and receive text messages. This is a big deal. It lets you communicate the precise nature of your situation. A sprained ankle may slow your hike, but it is not the same level of emergency as a compound fracture or more severe injury. Rescuers can advise you as to how to cope until they get there (which will take at least 4 hours and often a full day or even more).

That was in early 2019. The satcomm/PLB device field is competitive, and other manufacturers have stepped up their game. But the Mini still looks like the industry leader, at least on paper. The rest of this review will focus on my real-life experience with the device. I have used it now on six different outings, ranging in length from overnight to three weeks, a total of about 45 days. These outings cover all four seasons and varied terrain, including desert canyons, montane forests, and alpine peaks.

I’m not going to review the navigational functions of the device. It has the capability of downloading routes and waypoints and of guiding you toward and along them. But the screen of the Mini is 7/8” (23mm) square with all graphics in black and white. That’s adequate for reading text but is fairly useless for displaying a route or terrain. I can’t imagine why anyone who has a smartphone with a GPS-enabled mapping app (such as Gaia GPS) would bother with the nav functions on the Mini. That said, here are my experiences with what I think are the critical functions of the device.

SOS

Thankfully I have not used this, so I can’t personally attest to its functionality. Sending an SOS seems straightforward enough: open the protective cap, press and hold the button until the SOS is sent. The message goes to the GEOS International Emergency Rescue Coordination Center, which then (using the location data sent with the SOS) contacts the appropriate local authorities. They will send you a message to confirm the need for rescue, but if you do not/cannot reply, they will initiate a rescue anyway.

Checking In

This is my most common use of the device. Typically I get to camp, get settled in, and then send an “All is well” message to my safety contact. This can be multiple people, and the message can be sent both to email addresses and to phones as a text message.

Messages can be configured to include coordinates, to link to a map showing your location, and to include your name. You toggle these functions on your account page on the Garmin website.

At the map link, recipients can type a message directly in the text box and send it to you. This function (replying from the map link) can be toggled on or off on your settings web page. Replies can also be made directly from a received text message (but not from email). Clicking the “MORE” link in the center box expands it to show your speed, course, elevation, battery status, latitude, and longitude. That’s all well and good when it works as expected. And it usually does work as expected.

However, in some cases messages can be delayed. In one instance, a message was sent at 6:13pm, but was not received until 3:43am the next morning. This was true for both email and text recipients, so I assume that the delay was on Garmin’s end, not with the email or text server. All other messages on this trip (and on previous ones, about 70 in total) were received within 1-2 minutes of being sent.

Messaging

This is the “killer app” that distinguishes the Mini from other devices: the ability to do two-way messaging. The Mini (as befits its name) is very small. It has a tiny screen and is controlled by a set of 4 push buttons on its sides. There is no keyboard. There are two types of messages that can be sent: presets and regular (freeform) texts.

Preset messages are composed on the web interface and tied to specific recipients. Sending these preset messages is pretty simple. You press the upper right (OK/enter) button, scroll down with the lower left (scroll down) button, select the message you want and press the OK button. Selecting “Send Preset” will send the message, but if your device has been in your tent or your pack you are likely to get a message regarding poor GPS signal. Don’t ignore it (as I once did). You have to press OK, then you’ll get to another screen where you’ll need to scroll down and select “Send Anyway” to confirm that yes, you really want to send the message.

The good news is that even in forests and canyons, the Mini usually finds a satellite and sends the message within 5 minutes. It has never taken more than 10. The bad news is that it is easy to think you have sent a message when you have not. I suppose Garmin takes this approach (requiring confirmation) to avoid burning up the battery when there is no signal or weak signal. But it is easy to get confused by this design. This is not the only example of questionable user interface design.

Free-form text messages can also be sent using the Mini and its four buttons. You have to scroll up and down the alphabet, a painfully slow process. The interface helps by suggesting word completions, but it is still slow and awkward. However, the Mini has a Bluetooth chip. You to pair the Mini to your phone, and then can use Garmin’s Earthmate app. It allows you to send and receive messages just about as easily as sending regular text messages. This is incredibly useful if you are coordinating a resupply or shuttle. Delays and surprises are an inevitable part of hiking. The longer a trip is, the more certain it is that something will not go as planned. Being able to change plans as the situation dictates relieves stress all around and makes for a vastly better experience for both hikers and supporters. In addition to sending text/email messages, the Mini is able to communicate directly with other Garmin devices. If another member of your party has one, then you can coordinate rendezvous information or update each other while separated. The messages are tagged with location information, allowing you to navigate to the sender’s coordinates.

Receiving messages on the Mini (rather than your phone), is another user interface nuisance. I set my device to ring continuously upon receiving a message. My assumption is that if someone is trying to reach me, they are not just saying “hey”, but are sending an essential message. The message pops right up on the Mini’s screen. But the ringing continues, even after pushing every available button. Going to the messages screen yields the same result – the message is there, but the ringing won’t stop. It’s only when you navigate up to the home screen, select the message, and then press “OK” that the ringer stops. This usually takes me at least five minutes to remember, and by then the ringer has burnt through a good chunk of battery charge. The manual, which is very terse and minimal, does not address this procedure at all.

Tracking

The Mini has the capability of recording tracks. That in itself is no big deal – again, your phone can probably do a better job. But the Mini can also upload these tracks at specified intervals. The value of this is that it gives more location updates. If your contact hasn’t heard from you because you were injured or are unconscious, they could go to the map page and find your last location and direct rescuers to it. You can set the upload interval to a range of times – more uploads means more battery drain.

The Mini also has a setting on the web interface that allows contacts to ping your location. I verified that this worked while at home. But when I was in the field and my wife tried it, it did not work. I have no idea why, and the manual is not helpful in troubleshooting the problem, nor is the FAQ section on the website. I set location upload to 4 hours on a recent trip through the Indian Peaks Wilderness, and it worked as expected. Rectangles/message icons reflect where I camped and sent an all’s well message, with dots as my location at 4-hour intervals. If someone had to come find me, this information would shrink the search radius considerably.

But when I used the device on a 7-day Yellowstone trip, it neither recorded nor sent the 4-hour waypoints. What was different? I can’t say. I suspect that I changed some other setting that somehow overrode or suppressed sending the 4-hour trackpoints. These experiences illustrate what I consider the biggest failing of the Mini. It has too many capabilities, too many possible configurations. This makes its behavior often unpredictable.

You’d expect the manual to highlight any incompatible or interfering settings. It does not. The manual is extremely terse. Each function gets a one or two sentence description. There are no flags or warnings of incompatible settings. If you have questions on the product, engaging Garmin’s customer service can be hit or miss, with a delayed (or lack of) response to inquiries and/or responses that are not direct solutions to the question at hand. Bottom line, you will likely need to do your own research.

Weather

The Mini allows you to retrieve the latest weather updates and forecasts (for a fee, depending on your subscription plan). However, while these are designed to be point forecasts for your current location, results can vary depending on your reception. When I used this function at 9000 feet in the Sierra, I got a forecast for a Central Valley town that was 30 miles away and 8900 feet lower in elevation. I have not used this feature since, reasoning that if I am close enough to a town to get a relevant forecast, I can likely get the same info for free via cellular data. Individual results may vary depending on reception, terrain, cloud cover, etc.

Battery Life

Taking another electronic device into the wilderness means that you will have to feed it. With so many different configurations possible, there are a wide range of possible battery lifetimes. According to the manual, the battery will last up to 35 hours when logging your position every second and sending that data every 10 minutes. In Extended Mode – with Bluetooth off, listening for incoming messages off, and a 30-minute tracking send interval – a life of up to 24 days is claimed. I presume that both of these claims assume a clear satellite view at all times, and no use of any messaging functions.

Another minimal drain scenario is to only turn the Mini on once a day to send out check-in messages, and to receive incoming messages. I estimated battery use by repeating this procedure 10 times (5 under trees, 5 in the open). Total battery drain was 3%. Although this approach is effective in minimizing battery use, it might also prove suboptimal in a sudden emergency scenario, particularly if you are disabled.

I tracked battery life closely during the Indian Peaks trip mentioned above. My route was about equally divided between forests and above-timberline travel. The phone was initially set with Bluetooth on, 50% screen brightness, a 4-hour tracking send interval and I sent one message per night. Over two days, battery usage averaged 1.4% per hour, or about 34% per day. I turned Bluetooth off for the last day, and power consumption dropped to 1% per hour, about 24% per day (if left on at night). That seems like plenty of battery life for 2-3 day trips. Longer trips may require recharging. The rated capacity of the Mini’s battery is 1250 mAh, about 2/3’rds the capacity of an iPhone. You will have to supply that power by solar panel/auxiliary battery/town stops. For more on inReach battery life you can refer to this inReach battery life article on the TrailGroove Blog.

Price

At $400, the Mini is not cheap. And your spending does not stop with purchase. Actually using the device requires an activation fee ($40) and a subscription plan. The basic plan provides SOS service, unlimited preset messages and 10 freehand messages (both incoming and outgoing) per month. Additional messages are $0.50 each. Uploaded tracking points are $0.10 each. Yearly subscriptions are currently a minimum of $180 paid in monthly installments.

If desired and at just a few ounces, the inReach Mini can unobtrusively be carried on a shoulder strap outside your pack.

Conclusion

The Garmin inReach Mini provides hikers with a lightweight option for summoning help, checking in, and leaving a “breadcrumb” record of their position. Hikers, especially those hiking solo and/or on remote trails or cross-country, should consider the Mini as an important safety tool.

The inReach Mini has recently been updated to the inReach Mini 2, however the new version is quite similar to the original inReach Mini with the same size, form factor, and battery size but with some navigation and interface improvements along with claimed improvements in satellite acquisition speed and battery life. The inReach Mini (2) retails for about $400. You can find it here at REI Co-op as well as here at Amazon.com.

Editor's Note: This article by Drew "HappyHour" Smith originally appeared in Issue 48 of TrailGroove Magazine. You can read the original article here for additional photos, pros and cons, and our star rating of the inReach Mini.