Bettery life with this settings

Dear people of forum:

I hope that you are all ok .

As you know I am a rookie at Inreach technology .

That´s why I decided to ask you  , for most expereinced opinions about this topic :

I have setted up mu Mini to not to track at all (not loggin , not sending and nothig like tracks )

I setted backlight to zero , and time out to 15 seconds .

Bluetooth ant Ant+ off both of them.

The question is : 

If I start a trekking in the middle of the woods and turn my Mini on as soon as I start  (just to listen if any message comes in)

¿how long battery will run? Remember not tracking

¿How many hours or days?

Will affect GPS satellite signal search  like in my 64Sx ?

and with the same situation but this time with bluetooth on (and paired) how does it changes ?

If someone has real test or expereince will be thanked .

Not what Garmin says on it´s manual .

I want to know if i can let the Mini listening for all day or more or not .

Any real test will be thanked.

Thanks a lot Martin

  • A lot depends on the circumstances. Anything which uses a radio - BT, ANT, GPS or Iridium modem - will negatively impact battery life. 

    Although I do not know for sure, BT and ANT radios are likely to run continuously if enabled. This is because the “remote control” use case requires more or less continuous communication between the Mini and the phone or watch.

    With no sent or logged track points, the GPS radio will remain off unless you do something which requires a fix. Things like check your position, mark a waypoint, send a message, and so forth. Would not be surprised if a mail check (see below) also requires a fix.

    The Iridium radio will also remain off unless you do something which uses it. Things like sending a message or asking for a manual mail check. The big exception is automatic mail checks. The unit checks on power up and at one hour intervals. AFAIK, that cannot be disabled directly. With a good sky view, the check is not inordinately expensive. However, in challenging conditions, the unit will try VERY hard to complete the check. It will retry for a long time. This can result in unexpectedly heavy battery use.

    The manual says that extended tracking disables the message check. I have no personal experience with that but I have no reason to believe it’s not true.

    With your initial assumptions including no BT, I would expect you to get something approaching the promised  battery life in extended tracking mode with 30 minute send interval - up to 24 days as explained here:  https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/inreachmini/EN-US/GUID-26D02F01-8090-4D52-B466-D93B670E898F.html. That assumes you are careful to avoid extended retry with your mail checks. Extended tracking with manual mail checks is probably the optimal thing for your scenario.

  • Dear Twolpert:

    Thanks for your answer. I don´t know why ,

    but I forgot that in hard environment the unit will make an effort to take signal.

    This will drain the battery.

    Extended trackinng could be an option ,but I prefer to leave the unit off ,and when (in the middle of trekking) stops to rest,or lauch , will tur it on and check via Bluetooth on , with the smart phone kayboard also.

    So thank you very much for your suggestion

  • any case it is interesting to know for super frugal users (like me $)) (Safety plan) how long unit should operate just be placed outdoor to check mails by default scenario (I believe it is once per hour). Extended tracking can be turned on with some interval to send Track points what can cause for these super greedy users extra costs for track points or to upgrade plan.

    But to do this measurement unit should be placed outdoor for a long time, and not to be used for any Presets or Navigation what is problematic for me personal to perform.

  • Dear user

    For me is not trouble to let it on my backyard a full day .

    However (as Twolpert said and I forgot to think ) , the problem will be, that doing this simulation , will be not a hard environment as a deep wood or canyon must be.

    So the result is not going to be very accurate .

    I decided to turn it on and send/check message each time I stop to launch or rest or take a photo .

    For me , is my best setting .This covers my needs

    Thanks Martin

  • Any case it will be interesting to perform this test on your backyard especially if you not need device for regular tracking / messaging. 

  • Yes , maybe I perform it.I will try to simulate a haerd condition and see what happens.Keep you posted Tks