Algonquin Adventures / Satellite communicator

**Posted by AlgonquinLakes** 2/01/2021 12:59 pm

I’m in the market for a new communicator since my old one (InReach) is at the bottom of Big Trout. I was pretty happy with it, so I’m leaning towards sticking with inreach, but am wondering about the different models. Does anyone here have the inreach mini? If so, have you found it to be decent? Any complaints or anything missing from it that you’d find useful?

**Posted by MartinG** 2/01/2021 1:05 pm

I have the inreach mini. No complaints at all. Big step up from my old Spot Gen 3. You do have to pair it with a cell phone to use the interactive features. But as an emergency beacon you don't need a phone. I have a friend who uses the Zoleo Messenger. Seems to do a lot of the same things and worked really well for us last September when we got extracted from the Noir.

**Posted by ShawnD** 2/01/2021 1:25 pm

I have the Mini too.. No issues. good battery life. Not sure if your plan was with Roadpost on your old device Drew but if it was you will need to choose a Garmin plan if you buy a Mini or any of their new devices I think.

**Posted by AlgonquinLakes** 2/01/2021 2:46 pm

Thanks guys, Glad to hear it’s a good option.

**Posted by trippythings** 2/01/2021 4:40 pm

Another +1 for the mini. If you just turn it on to send a message then turn it back off, the battery life will last forever. Pretty sure it only went down to 80% after a week long trip.

Preset messages and even the weather report is doable on the device itself, but if you're sending custom messages or just want a better user experience then pairing with a smartphone will be better.

They recently raised the annual fee on the Freedom plans, which kinda sucks, but nothing to do about that unless you switch to Zoleo or SPOT.

**Posted by John McClane** 2/01/2021 4:42 pm

MartinG wrote:
I have the inreach mini. No complaints at all. Big step up from my old Spot Gen 3. You do have to pair it with a cell phone to use the interactive features. But as an emergency beacon you don't need a phone. I have a friend who uses the Zoleo Messenger. Seems to do a lot of the same things and worked really well for us last September when we got extracted from the Noir.

Are you willing to share that story??? We did the Noir a few years ago and there were certainly some challenging aspects (many of which we skipped).

**Posted by MartinG** 2/03/2021 8:50 pm

@john, I was asleep at the wheel and went over Mountain Chute. Lucky to be alive. We lost a boat and gear. Zolio was used to get us extracted by Michel Pouliot.

**Posted by Thamesman** 4/08/2022 4:25 pm

MEC has a $100 off sale on Garmin Inreach Minis. I just checked and they still show them in stock.

**Posted by spect8r** 4/26/2022 8:46 am

Thanks, AlgonquinLakes for starting this thread and all replies.
Got me to finally seriously consider options for emergency response in the park, plus sledding, trail cycling, hiking, boating etc... Who knows what future dilemma it might get me or others out of?

Going with Mini original and annual $15/mo plan. Sounds like setup can be a pita. Will provide an update on how it works out.

**Posted by spect8r** 4/29/2022 10:52 am

So... Mini received and loaded ready to go with basic safety plan. Not much trouble. Mostly just follow the onscreen instructions.

When loading the contacts for messaging into the account, it did not update the Mini - a process called sync-ing. Required downloading and running a separate program called inReach, which was not immediately obvious to me.

Also, during original account setup entering my personal user data the process got hung up until I used a recommendation to delete browsing history cookies. Then worked fine.

Its coming into the Park on Sunday. Yeah!!

**Posted by Swift Fifteen** 5/03/2022 6:28 am

Garmin Explorer + here. Outstanding mapping performance with ability to send text messages and many other features. No complaints

**Posted by RobW** 5/03/2022 9:36 am

Just activated my DeLorme InReach SE. I continue to be impressed with the seamless support from Garmin for these older devices.

Now if I could get a Starlink Mini I might never come home. :-)