Help! The Garmin inReach Mini 3 Just Dropped and My Credit Card Is Already Smoking

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I swear I had everything under control.

I already own the inReach Mini 2 (my trusty orange pocket brick) and literally this autumn I splurged on the brand-new GPSMAP H1+ because “I need proper colour topo maps and real routing, honey, it’s for safety”. My wife just rolled her eyes and kept using the Mini 2 because the H1+ is “the size of a sandwich” in her words.

And then, yesterday, Garmin goes and announces the inReach Mini 3. Fourteen days of battery. Dual-band GPS. TracBack with actual arrows. Sharper screen. Same 100 g weight as the Mini 2.

My gear brain immediately went: “This is the perfect middle child I’ve been dreaming of.”

So here I am, coffee getting cold, staring at the Garmin web shop with the Mini 3 already in the cart, trying to talk myself out of clicking “Buy” for at least five more minutes. Let me think out loud—maybe it will help both of us.

What the Mini 3 Plus would fix for me right now

  • Battery anxiety on long trips is finally dead. 14 days tracking is ridiculous in the best way.
  • TracBack routing: the single reason I bought the H1+. Now it lives in a 100 g package.
  • Faster, more accurate fixes under heavy tree cover (Swedish forests, I’m looking at you).
  • My wife will actually use it (same size as her beloved Mini 2).

What I would lose by selling the H1+

  • That glorious 3-inch colour touchscreen with pre-loaded topo maps.
  • The feeling of holding a “real” GPS again instead of squinting at a phone.
  • Inreach messaging directly on the device without pulling the phone out in the rain (H1+ wins here).

The brutal honesty

90 % of my adventures are Mtb rides, ski-touring or solo photo missions where I’m moving light and fast. For those, the Mini 3 is objectively perfect and the H1+ is overkill. The remaining 10 % (multi-day alpine traverses, new zones with complex trail networks) are exactly when I want the big colour maps.

So the rational move is probably: Sell the GPSMAP H1+ (it’s literally two months old, I’ll get good money), keep the Mini 2 as an ultralight backup or loaner for clients, and let the Mini 3 become the new daily driver.

But we both know gear decisions are never rational.

The cart is still open. The cursor is hovering over “Complete purchase”. Send help (or just tell me to pull the trigger so I can stop pretending I have self-control).

Anyone else in the same boat after yesterday’s announcement? Drop a comment — misery loves company, and so does gear acquisition syndrome.

— Michael

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