Tracking Data

There are two different kinds of track points. Both of them can be viewed on the Map tab of your account at explore.garmin.com, as well as on  your MapShare page (if you set one up). The timing of when they appear is different.

"Sent" points are transmitted in (more or less) real time. They appear on the web site as soon as they arrive at the Garmin servers.

"Logged" points are never transmitted by satellite. They are transmitted by a sync operation. There are two flavors of sync. Most people use OTA sync via the Earthmate app on a mobile device. OTA sync requires a cell phone connection. You can also perform a wired sync by connecting the device to your PC and using the desktop sync application. 

You can control the frequency with which points (both sent and logged, separately) are recorded via the Tracking page under Setup.

Once sync-d to your explore.garmin.com account, the track can be exported to .gpx or .kml for use with other applications.

You should ignore Basecamp. There is no unique inReach functionality there. The Mini is compatible with the Earthmate app, but not (AFAIK) with the Explore app or Garmin Connect Mobile. So you should ignore the Explore app as well.

What is the relationship between the Garmin Explore mobile app and the Garmin Earthmate mobile app?  It seems like they are very similar with Earthmate adding the InReach specific functionality.  Any reason to use Explore?

Also seems like Explore on the web just takes you to the InReach page.

Definitely a very confusing set of apps and web pages, especially with the overlap and the redirection. During the setup/activation process, it didn't make any of this very clear. As far as I can tell, this is the layout.

Mobile:
  Garmin Connect - used for managing most garmin devices
  Garmin Explore - why would I use this
  Garmin Earthmate - main program for managing InReach

Web:
  Garmin Connect - matches mobile version
  inreach.garmin.com - main site for managing InReach devices
  Explore.Garmin.Com - redirects to inreach.garmin.com - so there isn't actually a Garmin Explore website
  MapShare - actually part of inreach.garmin.com

PC:
  BaseCamp - how does this even tie in to the web stuff?
  MapSource - awesome app I still use for managing tracks but no web connectivity
  
  

Lots of questions there.

Garmin is in the process of integrating inReach with the Garmin ecosystem. From the inReach side, some of this looks nothing more than rebranding. That’s the case with inreach.garmin.com vs. explore.garmin.com. However, it’s more than that. Explore.garmin.com supports other Garmin devices, not just inReach.

The same thing is true of the Explore mobile app vs. Earthmate. Explore supports a variety of native Garmin devices as well as the newest inReach devices. Going forward, I assume that all new iR devices will be supported by the Explore app. As far as which to use with your particular iR device, you should use the Explore app if it supports your unit. Otherwise, continue to use Earthmate.

Similarly, newer iR devices are supported by Connect and Connect mobile. The intent here is to eventually eliminate the need for the desktop “sync” program - both for synchronizing data and for installing firmware updates. If the Explore app supports your device, you will need Connect mobile to complete the pairing.

The MapShare is logically part of explore.garmin.com. It has a separate root URL because it’s intended for use by visitors, not account holders.

You can pretty much ignore BaseCamp and MapSource. Pretty sure neither is being updated. In fact, I don’t even think MapSource is available any more.

Thanks for the clarity and thorough explanation.  It's starting to make sense and gives hope that it'll all be cleanup one day.

Correct, MapSource isn't even available any more unless you have an old CD to install from, in which case you will get fairly recent updates.  But it's still been the best utility I've found for slicing and dicing tracks and combining those into new ones. 

One of the problems that I have with the new explore site is that it doesn't seem to even be at feature parity with Basecamp for creating courses (routes?). With Basecamp I can set a few waypoints and it will route through them via trails. With explore mobile or web I get straight lines. 

Until that is fixed, for trip planning it is hard to ignore Basecamp. Even connect on the web can do this if the map offered has the trail you are using. Sadly, in my area, a lot of them are missing, even when they show on the watch map via Basecamp.

Currently, at least, both the Explore app and the web site are geared towards graphically creating routes. If the trail shows up on the map, you can trace it - but that's about it.

Unfortunately, BaseCamp doesn't integrate directly with the Explore ecosystem. In fact, I'm not even sure BaseCamp is being updated anymore? In any case, if you use BaseCamp for planning, you will have to through the necessary manual steps to export/import the track or route.

As the inReach line evolves, things do get better. For example, the 66i can do trail routing directly on the unit via any routable map set you have installed. That includes both Garmin topos and third-party maps like OSM.