How to use the Garmin inReach Mini without a smartphone

Just got an inReach Mini 2 and planned to use it for messaging and as an old school handheld GPS unit. For this latter use case I can add waypoints prior to hitting the trails, then I get updates on the distance to landmarks etc. I also use the GPS tracking feature. The battery life of the Mini 2 is fantastic and I can do continuous tracking for multiple days without recharging.

However, this last use case is not working for me. When I track long duration activities (multiple hours up to full day) the Mini 2 stores the track but it is then lost when I later connect to my phone. Anyone else caught this bug? It seems that when I track for multiple hours the Mini 2 somehow looses pairing with my phone. Have encountered this at least two times.

I plan my routes in Caltopo and have started using the Create Points feature to add a point every kilometre on the route. The points start at 0 and are prefixed with “KM”. The route and points are printed to paper and exported to Garmin Explore and inReach Mini 2. Comparing the points on the paper map and the inReach makes It’s easy to identify my location on the paper map.

Caltopo print output

InReach Mini 2 Route and Points (Show Waypoint Labels is enabled)

Interestingly, the points also appear on MapShare on mobile (routes or activities don’t appear on MapShare on mobile/they appear fine on a computer), making it easier for people to follow along too.

MapShare doesn’t show routes or activities on mobile, but does show points.

I did reach out to Garmin support to get this filled as a bug, if you have a few minutes you should too: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/ql/?focus=topics