I just recently had the opportunity to use my InReach Mini 2, on a 4 day trip in Oregon’s Three Sisters Wilderness. I updated to the latest v3.28 prior to leaving, and I feel it worked really well. Coming from a InReach Mini, I was curious how the battery life would compare, now that they rate days vs hours.
Prior to leaving I updated the firmware, and I synced a few routes and waypoints to it. All my custom Presets synced over just fine as well. I have about 25. I don’t have a PC/Mac, use only an iPhone and iPad, and so I was using iOS Garmin Explore only. I usually do my edits on the iPad, and then use my iPhone to sync to the devices.
After getting back to the trailhead on the 4th day, I still had 69% battery. I was quite surprised (I was thinking I would hit 25% or so). This was using the Mini 2 about 12-14 hours on the first three days, and about 8 on the last day. I also had it paired to my iPhone 12 Pro, and my Fenix 6X Pro Solar (BT and ANT). I only sent 3-4 messages per day, usually a preset Start/Stop and one or two with a little more info, originating from my iPhone. I used the default 10 minute tracking the entire time, and pulled a couple of weather reports on a couple of days. Everything worked fine. The terrain is pretty open out there, with some areas under tree cover.
The only difference I really noted, besides the new screens and features, was that I felt the weather reports were a little slower to transmit out/in. I did also “almost” forget to power off one night. But overall, the way I used it in that particular area, I could have been out there probably 10 days without a recharge.
If I were asked to suggest any improvements, I would probably ask for the “Power Off after disconnect from USB” option back, if possible (though I did read there might be some sort of work-around for that with the USB mode). I would also ask for smoke/fire details in the weather reports. While there is no graphics with those reports, any text updates would be a nice addition when you’re out of cell reception. Several areas around us were ablaze, and the smoke was in and out a bit.
Anyway, just wanted to share.