Garmin’s newest adventure gadget just made satellite comms feel unexpectedly… familiar

There’s a moment every winter when the outdoors looks irresistible, and just a little intimidating. Garmin clearly knows the feeling.

Fresh from putting inReach tech on a smartwatch for the first time with the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro earlier this year, the outdoor watch company is now doing something arguably even more surprising: turning the successor of the Garmin inReach Mini 2 into a device that behaves a lot more like the phone you can’t use off-grid.

The inReach Mini 3 Plus is still the compact, rugged SOS lifeline you clip to a shoulder strap.

But with it, Garmin has rebuilt the Mini in a way that stirs genuine curiosity: how much smartphone-like convenience can you fit into a device designed for places where smartphones absolutely do not work?

Where signals shouldn’t behave like this

The headline upgrade is obvious the moment you see it: a colour touchscreen. Garmin has never put one on a Mini-sized communicator before.

Pair that with a built-in speaker and microphone, and the device becomes capable of something new in the inReach family, exchanging 30-second voice messages, reading voice-message transcriptions when silence is essential, firing off 1,600-character texts, emojis and reactions, and even sharing and receiving photos when using the Garmin Messenger app.

For families tracking your progress from home, LiveTrack is still here, but now the colour screen can show incoming photos from loved ones, a small feature that will land emotionally for anyone who’s spent days alone on a trail.

The inReach Mini series has always been about that red-button reassurance, but the Mini 3 Plus changes the dynamic.

When you trigger an SOS, the device can now send voice and photo messages directly to Garmin Response.

These frontline responders, who’ve, according to the brand, handled more than 18,000 incidents in over 150 countries, can suddenly see and hear what’s happening, not just read a line of text.

For mountaineers, sailors or winter hikers, that’s not just convenience. It’s meaningful information that could speed up the right kind of help.

Despite the upgrades, nothing about the Mini’s durability has softened.

The 3 Plus still carries an IP67 rating, impact-resistant construction and extreme-temperature performance.

Battery life reaches a huge 330 hours in 10-minute tracking mode, making it viable for multi-day expeditions without power banks weighing you down.

Pair it with the Garmin Explore app, and you can plan routes, navigate courses or follow a track back out; classic inReach functionality, now integrated into a far more user-friendly device.

The inReach Mini 3 Plus is available today with an RRP of £439.99.

As with all inReach devices, a satellite subscription is required, with plans available on monthly or annual terms depending on how often you venture off-grid.

Head over to Garmin to find out more.