inReach® Mini 3/Mini 3 Plus | Beyond the Basics!

Hello and welcome. Today we're going to be talking about Garmin's latest SOS compact satellite communicators, the new InReach Mini3 and Mini3 Plus. We'll go

over the differences between the two devices, [music] help you get them set up so that you can get to the trail faster.

Depending on which device you've purchased, we have the InReach Mini3, which is in gray, and the InReach Mini3 Plus, which is in the red color. Both of

these devices are going to get your USBC data and charging cable. And then if you purchase the Mini3 Plus, you're also going to get the webbing loop and carabiner on the back here. And then

let's take a look at the different uh buttons layout here. So you have a power button on the top. You've got uh two buttons here on the side, which is an okay and a back button, as well as the

USBC uh cover here. Uh on the left side you have your up and down buttons and then your SOS button which is always under that protective cover right there.

Let's first get started with the InReach Mini3 which I haven't yet set up. So

taking a look at the device once you've uh unboxed it uh opened it up. You're

going to select your language. I'm going

to pick English. And then you're going to get a there's always a warning message on here that just says test your device before you go. And I'll show you how to do that in a little bit.

And then the first thing you're want to do to get these working is to activate your InReach subscription. So, u you to get messaging, tracking, SOS, this all does require an activation. So, you're

going to go ahead and hit activate. And

then the there's a QR code that's going to become available here that you can uh scan with your compatible smartphone to download the Garmin Messenger app to get started.

Now, I've already done this with the Mini3 Plus, but um you would want to go ahead and get this started, go through the Messenger app, and get your plan selected.

So, for purposes of this video, I'm going to go ahead and skip the activation, uh which now the next step allows you to set up a passcode. So, if

you want to secure your device with a passcode, you can go ahead and set one now. Um or I'm going to go ahead and

now. Um or I'm going to go ahead and skip it. And then once you get into the

skip it. And then once you get into the menu here, it's going to give you a little tutorial about how the buttons work, which we're going to cover all of that in just a little bit.

And then here you are at the main uh user interface. Before we get too deep

user interface. Before we get too deep in the menus, I want to make sure that everybody understands the differences between the Mini3 and a Mini3 Plus. So

the Mini both of these devices have our new touchscreen display. Um they have our new user interface, improved battery life. Um and they both are compatible

life. Um and they both are compatible with the spine mount adapter too. And so

this will is sold separately, but it hooks onto the back and then you can screw it in here at the bottom in order to be able to pair this with our additional mounting accessories.

Now also when we talk about the mini 3 plus I want to make sure that you understand that this device has a speaker and microphone and also has our plus services which means it's capable

of sending and receiving photos, voice messages um and longer text messages up to 1600 characters over the standard InReach messaging. Next let's talk about

InReach messaging. Next let's talk about why most people will purchase an InReach Mini3 or Mini3 Plus and that's for the SOS capabilities. It gives you peace of

SOS capabilities. It gives you peace of mind. So, a Garmin Response is a 247

mind. So, a Garmin Response is a 247 staffed emergency response coordination center located in Texas. And when you have an emergency and you press this button, you're going to talk to a real person that's going to be able to help

coordinate your rescue. So, in that situation, you're going to open up this cover. You're going to press the button

cover. You're going to press the button and it's going to start a countdown. So,

you do have 20 seconds to cancel the emergency, but if you need this to go through, you go ahead and and let that go through and you'll be connected to our Garmin response team who is there to

help manage your emergency.

Next, let's take a look at the new user interface. So, the device does utilize

interface. So, the device does utilize this lock screen. Um, and so you're either going to need to swipe up or press any button to unlock. So, I'll go ahead and swipe up. That exposes the new

user interface. So, you can use the

user interface. So, you can use the buttons, the up and down here on the side to scroll through this, or you can use the touchcreen as well. Um, if you pull down from the top, it does open up

this control menu. So, from here, you can lock the screen, you can work on the screen's brightness, which I do have turned up for this video. Um, you can control the sounds, the touch, it can be

turned on or off. Um, you can work with the connectivity to your uh cell phone.

And then you can also activate the onboard siren if you'd like to from here, which we can go ahead and do that.

So tap anywhere to disable the siren and turn it back off. And of course, that's using the new speaker that's in the Mini 3 Plus only. Um the Mini3 does not have this the speaker, so therefore it

doesn't have the siren. And then looking here at the interface, again, you start here at the top. This is really where you would work from for most activities.

You're going to um start your activity here from the top. Um we also have messenger app available to get into your messages. You can look at the map from

messages. You can look at the map from here um which does have a base map. So

both Mini3 and Mini3 Plus have a base map where Mini3 Plus has just a few more roads and cities showing. And it's not it's not full topographic mapping or anything in the background on here. It's

just to give you reference to where things are compared to where you are currently.

And then you have a compass.

And then you can also work through your service plan from here. Get into your settings. You can also test your device.

settings. You can also test your device.

So we always recommend that you test your device before you head out into the back country just to make sure everything's working correctly with your InReach plan before you go. Next, we'll

take a look at our settings here. Um, so

if you get into settings, you can control your sounds. You can set up your connectivity with your phone. You can

set up your inReach remote. What an

inreach remote means is that you can pair your mini3 device to many other Garmin devices. For example, one of your

Garmin devices. For example, one of your watches um which is really common um for maybe our dive computers. So our dive computers can be paired to a Mini3. And

we do offer a dive case. And so from without having to take the Mini3 out of the dive case, you can control the unit using your Descent um dive computer, which is that's one example, or from

your maybe your Garmin Edge device if you have a bike computer. So you can set up the Mini3 to be a remote on many other types of devices and be able to control the Mini's function from that other device. So that's how you get that

other device. So that's how you get that set up there is through the InReach remote. Um here again you could get set

remote. Um here again you could get set up for tracking with your different interval for your sending interval, your activity recording and then um you can also get into your map settings or

system settings as well. Next, let's

take a look at the weather. So um one of the key features of the Mini3 is that you can use the Idium satellite network in order to get forecast weather forecasts ahead of time. So you can get your forecast for where you're currently

located or you can pick a different location and get your weather forecast as well. Now, the Mini3 Plus also has

as well. Now, the Mini3 Plus also has that microphone so you can do voice command and voice notes. And then it also has the ability to um get into some of these more apps. You've got checkin,

saved, your contacts, um the siren again is here, and then Garmin share as well.

Next on the Mini3 Plus is the voice command feature. Now, you can find it

command feature. Now, you can find it here in the menu. Um but I want to show you a little bit different way to access it. So, let's go ahead and go back to

it. So, let's go ahead and go back to the main screen. So, we have this okay button marked here at the top. But if

you press and hold this button, that'll get you into the voice command feature.

And once you get in here that you're able to speak to the device to give it different commands so that you can do things quicker. So, the first thing that

things quicker. So, the first thing that you might say though is what can I say?

So, once you've got the list here, you can kind of see that there's different device functions that you can do. You

could say turn off Bluetooth, enable touch, set the brightness to 80, increase brightness, change volume. You

also have app and activity typed commands. So, switch to the compass,

commands. So, switch to the compass, show me the weather, start activity, start tracking. Um, or if you'd like to

start tracking. Um, or if you'd like to have a full list of all the commands, you can go ahead and scan the QR code um to take you over to our website. So,

really on a day-to-day use case, you're probably going to turn on your device and then you're going to want to start here at this start activity. So, when

you press that button, we're giving you some choices inside this menu so that you can hit the trail really quickly.

So, we you can choose whether you have tracking on or off. And then you also have a choice here um when you get inside of tracking to change your interval. So the default here is uh 10

interval. So the default here is uh 10 minutes. So this this what we refer to

minutes. So this this what we refer to as tracking on here is really like the live track. So this is how often your

live track. So this is how often your location is going to be sent out to those that you've chosen to send your liveetrack location to. And so if you send out the interval every 10 minutes, that's how often this device will send

out your location. and the person that you have back home that's watching will see it on a map in a location every 10 minutes. Or if you want that to be a

minutes. Or if you want that to be a faster interval or slower interval, you can go in here and change it to 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, or even longer, just know that

whatever tracking interval that you're setting up on here will impact your battery life.

And then going back, um, so yeah, so before you start your activity, you set up your tracking. You can choose whether you want to navigate. Um you could navigate to a a saved waypoint or follow

a course. Um you could do a track back.

a course. Um you could do a track back.

You could choose to navigate towards a city or a set of coordinates. Um so you can choose what you'd want to do there.

And then under this activity recording.

So the tricky part here to understand is maybe that we have the activity recording that's going on and then we also have the tracking that's going on.

So tracking refers to your live track location sharing where activity recording is you recording your own activity but it's not what's getting sent out necessarily to your friends and

family back home. So activity recording is also by default a 10-minute activity recording. So if you're used to going

recording. So if you're used to going out for a trail run or a hike and getting this very high detail of everywhere you've been on your GPS course, the default on the mini is that it actually only records that activity

track every 10 minutes. So, it's not going to be following you directly along the path unless you change this to a high detail recording, which again will reduce your battery life if you choose

to do that to record your activity at a high detail. So, again, that's separate

high detail. So, again, that's separate from how often you're sending out your location to those that are following along on your live track.

Um, you can also choose from here to uh have an auto start. So, if you want to turn on the device and have it just automatically start uh tracking immediately without you having to do anything, you have that choice there.

Um, you also have the ability to change the activity type. So, I believe the default is hike, but if you want to record your activity as a different type of activity, um, that will sync down to the Garmin Explore app, um, you have

that option here. You could change it to a trail run, mountaineering, um, hunting. You could just do a track me,

hunting. You could just do a track me, like, which is just kind of a generic follow along with what I'm doing. I

mean, all these different choices. You

can decide if how you want to record your activity. So, you can select that

your activity. So, you can select that there. You can also choose the track

there. You can also choose the track color. So, right now it's set to red.

color. So, right now it's set to red.

Um, so once you have all of that set up specifically for how you want to start out on your adventure, um, then you just hit start. So, that's going to start

hit start. So, that's going to start your activity recording and the way we had it currently set up to start tracking as well.

Since I just mentioned syncing your activities to the Garmin Explore app, let's go ahead and take a look. So, on

my phone, um I already have downloaded the Garmin Explore app and you've got these different uh tabs here at the bottom. So, I'm on the save tab and you

bottom. So, I'm on the save tab and you can see that I've recorded a hiking activity and uh once you've recorded the activity, then it would show up like here I have the little hiking picture and it would show you um if you had

picked a different activity type um you know that activity but that way you can record the activities each way that you want to and then go back and look at those inside your activities under your save tab inside Garmin Explorer.

So, because the Mini3 and Mini3 Plus has a touchcreen, it makes typing out messages super easy. So, let's take a look at the new messenger interface here. And so, look, I've got a new

here. And so, look, I've got a new message here from Brock. Um, so I can go ahead and touch on that and then right directly from the device, I can hit

reply and then I can start typing. And

really, ideally here, what you're going to do is start typing and then it's going to make suggestions for you here.

So, I can just um select here what I what I want to say. So, I'm going to say it's going Oops. Correct that. Great.

Oops. Correct that. Great.

And then I can send that right back. So,

I just have to really start start typing, but then it will suggest those words for you to make it really simple.

From here, you can also uh delete a thread. Um, and because this is the

thread. Um, and because this is the Mini3 Plus that I'm holding on to that has the speaker and microphone, I can also record a message and send it right back to him. So, let's go ahead and do that.

So, open up a new voice message.

Hey, Brock, it's going great. Thanks for

checking in on us.

Can send that out as well.

One of the really neat things about messaging with the InReach is that you can send uh reactions to messages that don't count against your plan. So, if

you've sent a message off to somebody and they they do the thumbs up, a like, or a heart, or a smiley face, and they react back to that, that doesn't count against your plan. And so, oh, here we

go. Brock just gave a heart to my

go. Brock just gave a heart to my message. And so, that is a reaction. And

message. And so, that is a reaction. And

it doesn't count as a custom text message against your InReach plan.

Um, the other other thing that this device can do with the Mini3 Plus is it can receive photos over satellite. Now,

if you want to send a photo out, you would need to be paired to your compatible smartphone to actually take the picture, but then the Mini3 Plus will send out that photo over satellite, but when somebody else sends you a

photo, you can receive a photo directly on the device and see it on the color touchscreen display.

So, here it comes. Brock has sent me a message that is a photo and I can see it directly here. Oh, looks like he's

directly here. Oh, looks like he's taking a picture of us here on our set.

Now that we received this picture, let's go ahead and see what it looks like on our compatible smartphone. So, using the Garmin Messenger app, you are able to pair the phone to your Mini3 device if

you'd like to be able to type messages and send your photos directly from the phone. So again, you can send a message

phone. So again, you can send a message and just um with your full keyboard here, you can send that back. Um or if you want to be able to send the photo

through satellite, you would start that here um by pressing the the plus button.

Tap on the photos. Here's a picture of me out on a gravel ride this weekend. So

we'll go ahead and send that over.

And I got a heart back already.

Now, the Mini3 can send and receive custom text messages, but doesn't have the ability to do those 30- secondond voice message or the photos. You do need the Mini3 Plus to do that. Another tip

is for this back button right here. If

you press and hold the back button, it kind of gets you into an action menu where you have some different ways to get to some of the same functionality.

So, you could start tracking from here.

You could send a message. Um, you could also send a check-in. So, check-ins are different than regular messages. They're

they're not custom. So, when you're setting up the Garmin Messenger app, you have to pre-seelelect who your contact is for your check-in messages. And then

these are preset messages that always go to that same contact. So, you have I'm checking in. Everything is okay. I'm

checking in. Everything is okay. I'm

starting my trip. I'm ending my trip.

So, those are the three choices that you get. And depending on your inreach plan,

get. And depending on your inreach plan, we don't charge for those check-in messages. And so that's a really easy

messages. And so that's a really easy way to communicate with somebody without having to send a custom message. So you

could send one of these messages out, the other person could do the reaction.

And then again, depending on your plan, you wouldn't get charged for those is custom text messages. After check-in

messages, here we have you could mark a waypoint, you could navigate, and another way to test your device or get to your voice commands.

Okay, now that we're back at our home screen, let's take a look closer at this activity that we've been running this whole time. So, if we press the button

whole time. So, if we press the button here, you're going to get into um some widgets that you can scroll through. So,

we have the compass here. You've got

your data fields, so timer, distance, elevation, heading, that sort of thing.

If you're navigating, you have a page there. If you were tracking, you would

there. If you were tracking, you would have a page there. And then you can get to your map as well. So, you can scroll through those pages within your activity. And then, if you see up at the

activity. And then, if you see up at the top here, there's this hamburger menu.

you can uh touch that or press the button on the side. Um that's where you can get into your activity controls. So

if you hit activity controls, this is where you could change your tracking, change your navigation, um or just we're going to stop the activity. Once you've

hit stopped, you can resume it, you can save it, you could do a track back, or you could just discard the message.

Go ahead and discard. Next, let's take a closer look at the map functions. So

tapping into the map page. Um from here you can zoom in and out if you want to just from this level right here using the buttons on the side or touching the up uh the plus and minus button on the

display. You also have this hamburger

display. You also have this hamburger button over here. So if you press the okay button that opens up the menu. You

could choose to navigate. Um you can change the orientation which is a north up or a track up option. Um, you also have the ability to go into your pan and zoom if you want to do that. Again,

using the buttons here to zoom out or zoom in and pan around on the display.

You can also get into your map settings.

This is where you could toggle on for waypoints, waypoint labels, your track points, your messages, whether you have auto zoom on or off. And again, you could change your orientation from here

as well.

Next, let's talk about Garmin Share, which is one of the new features that's available on both the Mini3 and the 3 Plus. So, we can scroll to the bottom of

Plus. So, we can scroll to the bottom of our list here in the apps area to get to Garmin Share. So, Garmin Share allows

Garmin Share. So, Garmin Share allows you to send your waypoints, your courses, or your activities between two compatible Garmin devices without having to pair them otherwise. So, you're going

to hit Garmin Share.

This is giving you a little tutorial there, but it now this one says ready to share. So now I'm going to get my Fenix

share. So now I'm going to get my Fenix 8 Pro ready to go and we'll scroll into the Garmin share feature here. Both of

these devices show that they're ready to receive, but I want to go ahead and put one of them into sharing mode. So I'm

going to share from my Mini3 this course.

So we'll select that. We'll click share.

We're going to share it with the Phoenix.

This device is ready to receive. It says

Mini3 wants to share this item with you.

Accept that the pins match. Each person

selects yes and then it's going to download and send that course from one device to the other.

Thank you so much for joining us today to walk through the new InReach Mini3 [music] and InReach Mini3 Plus. Now go

have a great adventure.