InReach Mini 2 - problem/bug with Tracking freezing

I've been testing my new Mini 2 extensively over the past few days, trying to understand not just how the device works but also why it behaves the way it does, and it just so happens that I noticed the exact same behaviour as you're seeing. However, I've come to a slightly different conclusion as to what's going on here. Please bear with me, and do note that -- lacking proper documentation from Garmin -- most of this is conjecture on my part.

First of all, I've been trying to figure out what the "Standard" activity tracking setting actually means. According to this article Getting Started With Tracking on an inReach Mini 2, the "Standard" setting "Logs the location every 10 minutes by default. If the Send Interval has been customized, it will match that same interval for standard recording." This could have been worded much more precisely, but I think what they mean is that the "Standard" Activity Recording interval always matches the value set for the Send Interval. So, if you were to change the Send Interval to, say, 20 minutes, the Activity Recording interval will also be set to 20 minutes.

What I think this means in practice, and I've seen this reflected in the activity points that are actually logged, is that activity points are only recorded when the device is about to send another tracking point to the Iridium network. What I've seen is that there's usually a cluster of activity points around the tracking point, like this:

(the circle is the tracking point and the triangles are the activity points)

So what I think happens is that when the send interval countdown timer reaches zero and the device decides to transmit a new tracking point, it activates the GPS receiver and simultaneously starts recording activity points. This continues until the tracking point info has been transmitted, after which the GPS receiver and activity point recording go back to sleep.

So then why are we seeing these long stretches on which activity points seem to be logged almost continuously?

Well, my best guess is that whenever the user activates the Navigation widget, this forces the device to activate the GPS receiver and, as a result, also to start recording activity points -- even if it's not time yet to do so according to the send interval timer.

In other words: I don't think the lack of activity points along the track, at least when using the "Standard" Activity Recording setting, is a problem, but rather is the intended behaviour. The thing that's confusing is the apparent effect of switching to the Navigation widget, which seems to result in enabling activity point recording continuously. In effect, this kind of has the same effect as switching the Activity Recording setting from "Standard" to "High Detail".

Again, all this is a wild guess on my part, so I could well be talking out of my hat. It would be nice if someone from Garmin could confirm or deny this hypothesis.

In any case, I hope this helps.

This seems to be correct. I suspect that logging in Standard mode should NOT be enabled during navigation. But there is very little, if any, incremental power cost in doing it - so why not.

Bottom line is that if you want (fairly) consistent activity logging, choose High Detail. This does have a battery cost. I have never understood why Garmin refuses to give the user explicit control over the logging interval. But this method of handling it seems to somewhat consistent over all Garmin handhelds.

Yes, on the handheld devices we can configure the activity logging any way we want it, down to one second intervals if so desired.

But with the MINI 2, we are not to be trusted making those kinds of decisions. 

Sound like you have the Standard Tracking enabled, not high detail. 

Thank you,  Mushy, twolpert and atlas.

You are indeed right that switching to High Detail means tracking works as I would have expected.

It is strange behaviour that it also operates in the same manner in Standard mode provided you don't look at the Tracking screen widget.

Still. Overall I am impressed with the performance improvements over the mark 1 and just wish the manual had a bit more useful detail.

I had assumed (that dangerous word) that Standard tracking would simply take fewer data points but would still work reliably.

Thanks for helping.

Dave

Most of my tracking has been high detail,  which doesnt work for users that will be off grid for any period of time beyond a day. 

I will test some standard tracking and see if I can replicate your issue.