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After a 30-year break, I'm back out on the slopes for some alpine skiing. I enjoy heading off the grid to fly fish, trail run, hike, and camp, and often I make these adventures solo.
Having the ability to check in with family and know there is a lifeline in case of an accident is important, and one of my favorite things about the Garmin inReach Mini 3 Plus -- a satellite communicator with a touchscreen.
Also: I went alpine skiing with this rugged watch and it tracked every slope in detail
Last year I tested three smartwatches with satellite connectivity (including the Garmin's Fenix 8 Pro), but the new inReach Mini 3 Plus offers a different form factor with a larger display for photo messages, longer battery life, improved antenna and satellite support, and a siren. In addition, the Mini 3 Plus is priced $700 less than the Fenix 8 Pro watch.
The inReach Mini 3 Plus is a small, black device with a safety red antenna and SOS button. There are five hardware navigation buttons and the dedicated SOS button under a protective cover.
Navigation is similar to a five-button Garmin watch, and the touchscreen also supports easy navigation with glove mode as well. The speaker and microphone are located on the bottom of the device with decent volume from the speaker to listen to voice messages.
Matthew Miller/ZDNET
Voice note functionality has been important while running to capture my thoughts and experiences to share later. On the Mini 3 Plus, I recorded a few voice notes while alpine skiing to document the conditions on the slopes, details for a couple of nice folks I met on the chair lift, and to-dos that popped into my head when I rode the lifts by myself.
Unfortunately, while you can listen to voice notes on the inReach Mini 3 Plus, you have to manually connect the device to a computer to offload the voice recordings via a file explorer.
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