Advocate I
The iPad has built-in GPS because it was the cellular model, the inReach did/does nothing to improve GPS/mapping/nav on the iPad.
Gaia inreach mini 2 and iPad mini 6 … JUNK
- Thread starter wishihada4runner
- Start date
The iPad has built-in GPS because it was the cellular model, the inReach did/does nothing to improve GPS/mapping/nav on the iPad.
Advocate I
The concern is lack of redundancy and relying on one-tool-does-it-all. If that one tool breaks you're SOL. Safety and being prepared includes redundancies in the event of emergency and failure. That inReach may have only been used occasionally, but you can suspend service when it's not in use by paying like $4/mo and then you don't have to pay to re-activate it. No matter how good the satellite SOS is with the iPhone I wouldn't count on it or your phone as your primary means of emergency, off-grid communications.
You are sacrificing safety for convenience.
My $0.02 and I'll leave it at that.
Autism Family Travels
Rank IV
Enthusiast III
return the ipad mini and buy a Samsung galaxy tab a7 lite. I have one and it works deadly with Gaia. No connection issues, the GPS inside tthe tablet is accurate etc. I would keep the inreach for communication when off grid.
Enthusiast III
A lot of good information here, thanks all for taking the time to respond. I ended up buying an iPad mini with cellular and returning the Garmin. I will investigate good satellite communicators and probably pick something up later this or early next year. So far, the GPS has been really great on the iPad.
BroncoTrail
Rank IV
Influencer II
Influencer I
Garmin PURPOSEFULLY disabled the ability for the inreach mini 2 to pair with iPad and deliver GPS data.
Member III
Not sure I understand your comment.
Are you saying that Garmin disabled the ability to pair the mini 2 to an Ipad or the ability to deliver GPS or both.
Influencer I
Garmin now forces you to use their Earthmate app. You cannot use a 3rd party app and the Inreach Mini 2 will no longer send GPS data to other apps i.e. Gaia, Google Maps, etc…
Has this issue been resolved yet?
Has Garmin decided to "patch" this?
Why force users into Explorer and/or Messenger app?
I did not know about this and decided to "upgrade" to the Mini2 just recently.... same issues experienced as everyone else here now. I wish I found this thread sooner and I wouldn't have purchased the Mini2.
My old iPad and Explorer+ worked flawlessly. I just ended up going back to it and now have an extra inReach product for nothing.
Enthusiast III
I gave up and just bought an iPad with GPS. Now, I’ve also got Starlink and soon my cell phone will have satellite messaging capabilities. No reason for me to buy a standalone GPS anymore, old technology from the early 2000s.
Member III
This combo is what I ended up with also. I have mine mounted to my vehicle for driving. Most of the time I keep the Starlink on standby mode which gives me cell, texting, e-mail and mapping needs.
To me, this combo is like when I bought my first fridge. Never going back to last generation of technology.
I was an a similar boat a few years ago, figuring out my options for maps and whatnot. My setup changed again this year, but I'll explain. Depending on how far you are into the Apple ecosystem, other options may make more sense.
Initially I had an Android tablet because they were cheap and included GPS. This worked for a couple years. I would hotspot it to my iPhone. I also had a DeLorme inReach Explorer (pre-Garmin). Gaia on Android back then was nowhere near as polished as it is on IOS. That got me interested in switching to an iPad.
Later I moved to an iPad Air with its own service plan. It's maybe $20 a month, you never have to fumble with hotspotting, and you wind up with independent/redundant devices. That has been great. Performance on whatever gen iPad I have is still okay, but the updates take so much storage that I have to uninstall everything whenever IOS needs to update. At some point, I'll upgrade to a newer iPad with additional storage space.
I bought an iPhone 15 Pro Max when it was released. The last couple of years I have been testing out its free included satellite texting capabilities. I found that it worked so well, I was comfortable dropping the inReach service and relying solely on the phone.
My opinion: the fewer steps you have to take to make something work, the better. Less for you to remember, and less to go wrong. My iPad sits in a dash mount, lives in the rig, stays plugged in and charged, and is ready to go as soon as I start the vehicle. I can run my navigation apps in civilization, Gaia/onX on the trail, stream music over bluetooth, etc. I know a lot of people like CarPlay, but it's nothing like having the full device at your fingertips.
Initially I had an Android tablet because they were cheap and included GPS. This worked for a couple years. I would hotspot it to my iPhone. I also had a DeLorme inReach Explorer (pre-Garmin). Gaia on Android back then was nowhere near as polished as it is on IOS. That got me interested in switching to an iPad.
Later I moved to an iPad Air with its own service plan. It's maybe $20 a month, you never have to fumble with hotspotting, and you wind up with independent/redundant devices. That has been great. Performance on whatever gen iPad I have is still okay, but the updates take so much storage that I have to uninstall everything whenever IOS needs to update. At some point, I'll upgrade to a newer iPad with additional storage space.
I bought an iPhone 15 Pro Max when it was released. The last couple of years I have been testing out its free included satellite texting capabilities. I found that it worked so well, I was comfortable dropping the inReach service and relying solely on the phone.
My opinion: the fewer steps you have to take to make something work, the better. Less for you to remember, and less to go wrong. My iPad sits in a dash mount, lives in the rig, stays plugged in and charged, and is ready to go as soon as I start the vehicle. I can run my navigation apps in civilization, Gaia/onX on the trail, stream music over bluetooth, etc. I know a lot of people like CarPlay, but it's nothing like having the full device at your fingertips.
