Iridium GO

[JohnKeller]

I have owned and used a Spot for around 3 years now. Hiking, camping, overlanding and off shore cruising are my primary applications. Mostly for the times when I backpack or overland solo and when we are off shore out of cellular coverage Or in a foreign country. Our last trip was to Vietnam and it worked perfectly.

That said times have changed and Spot now has some competition. Garmin products and the Iridium GO are providing more features and better monthly plans.

Overlanding here in the west, primarily Utah, Ariz, Nevada and Wyoming cell coverage is limited in remote areas. Visiting foreign countries means unlocking a phone and getting a SIM card to make calls and use data for navigation. I Hess this is the least expensive way to go but another process Nonetheless.

Lately I have been looking at the Iridium GO for better coverage, a more global solution and more features albeit at a much higher cost for the equipment and the monthly plans. PredictWind has partnered with Iridium providing weather forecasts via satellite and a separate application. Theproduct and service has appeal to me as an overlander looking for better community and navigation capabilities.

i was just about to order one and then the COVID/CCP virus hit. I am interested to learn if anyone has has any experience with the Iridium GO or other products.

 

[The Meyer Life]

I am interested as well!

 

[Arno]

Hi,

my personal view:

You really need a (limited) Internet data connection for more than short emails? Buy a Go.
You want voice for emergencies? Buy a real sat phone, not the Go. The Iridium Extreme comes with the same SOS and tracking features as the Go.
You want SOS / email / weather / tracking? Buy an Inreach.

For Inreach: Don't use the original Garmin plans, use an alternate service provider for better email features and more flexible plans.

Which Inreach device?
If your focus is SOS / tracking: buy the Inreach Mini.
If you also want navigation (for example as a second GPS next to your phone/tablet): buy the GPSMAP 66i or 86i (marine focused). Don't buy the Inreach SE+ or Explorer+, the navigation functions / maps are by far superior on the GPSMAP.

The details:

Voice:
not supported on the Garmin Inreach platform, so Iridium Go would be your choice. If you want to use the voice call features because "it's there" - fine. If you think about the voice features for off grid emergencies I can't reommend the Go for that as you need the working and charged Go along with a working and charged smartphone to pair the app with it and the bluetooth pairing needs to be set up. This is easy and always working in a non-emergency situation, but maybe not when things are not working out as planned. It also means no one else can just grab the sat phone and make the call. So as a real emergency sat phone the Iridium Go isn't a good option.

Internet connection:
only on the Go. But extremely slow at a very high cost and limited to selected services and applications. In real life you will not be able to download maps on the go, work remotely via VPN without specially customized low-bandwidth applications etc., you will also not even be able to simply surf the web in a way you know it from home or cell service - it's just not made for that.

Messaging:
Go and Inreach allows short messaging. The Go only works paired with a smartphone for that (with the exception of the SOS message), the Inreach series allows messaging directly from the device (pre-set messages with the Inreach Mini, any custom messages with the larger devices).

Email:
The Go allows full email support, Garmin Inreach original service allows outgoing emails but a direct reply to the email is not possible. You have to use a weblink and also email size is limited.
The comment regarding the bandwidth I made above is of course also true for the email size. Even you can theoretically send or receive large emails with the Go, you need a lot of time and money for it.

The real limitation of the Inreach is the incoming email issue: no direct reply to an Inreach email and no direct email address - your communication partner always has to use the Garmin webpage or another Inreach to send you a message. But there are solutions available for that: if you do not subscribe to the original Inreach plan but use an alternate service provider instead, you can use the Inreach with a fully usable emailadress and anonyone can just send you an email directly to the device.
There are several service provideres out there offering Inreach plans, I am not so familiar with the US market, Google should help. The one I use is Order Data Plan ProteGear for InReach , they sell worldwide as far as I know.

Tracking:
I am not 100% sure if my information is still up to date, but the last time I looked into tracking with the Go and Extreme, they did not include the tracking backend. That means that the Go is able to periodically send your location to some destination, but for example to be able to visualize it on a webpage so family members can follow the trip this is not included. There are 3rd party services supporing Go devices and there is also great free software to set up a webpage and display the location yourself (for example GPS Tracking Software - Free and Open Source System - Traccar), but all this is included in the Inreach subscriptions already.

SOS:
both can send an SOS message including your location without the smartphone, directly from the device. Also both include basic GEOS emergency support (IERCC Home | GEOS Response - IERCC) as part of their subscriptions, with additional services available as add-ons. For the follow-up communication, the Go has the limitation I wrote about voice: you need a working, paired smartphone for that. The Inreach allows follow-up communication directly from the device.

Weather:
subscriptions for weather updates is avaible on both platforms. Only usable with a paired smartphone on the Go, usable directly on the device or on the smartphone with the Inreach.

Mobile use of the device:
If you want to use it in-vehicle, both work fine without an external antenna if you install them directly at the front window. If that is not possible for whatever reason, you might have an issue with the Inreach as it doens't support an external antenna while the Go does.

If you want to use it for example on hikes, the Go is a nightmare to properly mount somewhere on your backpack etc - you have to be very creative to be really successfull with that. The reason for that is the antenna orientation combined with the fact that the antenna is also the on/off switch of the device.

Costs:
Inreach is always cheaper. Not only the subscriptions, but also the different mounting options like charging cradles.

 

[Wabbit]

^ pretty in depth review. While I do not have the GO, I can attest that the Inreach Explorer has been a life saver. After the initial equipment purchase of $400+, I pay around $24 a month for their middle plan. It's been more than enough gallivanting across Europe and East Africa. You can always buy into the lowest plan and upgrade if your going on an extended trip. I will add that with both the mini or the full size inreach, you can pair it with a phone or tablet to text/navigate.

 

[navydevildoc]

Just to chime in as someone who has used the Iridium network pretty extensively for work... the GO is useful for short text only e-mail, and that's about it. Overall bandwidth is still about the same as a 2400 baud modem at best, and you may still have to do the "Iridium Dance" to get it just right to work.

The Iridium Short Burst Data service that the InReach uses is more suited for tracking and short messages, will have drastically longer battery life, is generally more rugged construction, and includes SOS services that the GO does not.

Unless you have a very specific requirement for it, I would forget the GO.

 

[JohnKeller]

Just to chime in as someone who has used the Iridium network pretty extensively for work... the GO is useful for short text only e-mail, and that's about it. Overall bandwidth is still about the same as a 2400 baud modem at best, and you may still have to do the "Iridium Dance" to get it just right to work.

The Iridium Short Burst Data service that the InReach uses is more suited for tracking and short messages, will have drastically longer battery life, is generally more rugged construction, and includes SOS services that the GO does not.

Unless you have a very specific requirement for it, I would forget the GO.

Neill,

Thanks for the feedback. All good info.

My application is bit broader than most as I plan to use it overlanding and off shore in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean to augment the lack of cellular communications >20 miles out and when in other countries. The short messaging is a drawback but the majority of my needs are weather related and downloading information using PredictWind is the plan.

The requirement of having a functional cell phone and juggling the many ads for email and data is certainly a drawback.

 

[navydevildoc]

For weather, the Garmin InReach services now include marine weather, so you can get that on any of the new InReaches. Won't be the same level of detail as PredictWind, but gives you wind speed/dir, wave heights, currents, and water temp I believe.

Another thing you might want to consider is using Winlink over HF radio, but if you are stuck on predictwind then the GO will be your only choice. I *highly* recommend you get an external antenna if you are going to use the GO.

 

[JohnKeller]

For weather, the Garmin InReach services now include marine weather, so you can get that on any of the new InReaches. Won't be the same level of detail as PredictWind, but gives you wind speed/dir, wave heights, currents, and water temp I believe.

Another thing you might want to consider is using Winlink over HF radio, but if you are stuck on predictwind then the GO will be your only choice. I *highly* recommend you get an external antenna if you are going to use the GO.

Yup the external antenna is a must. I have plans to mount it along with the GPS, VHF antennas above the pilot house on the boat.

I have grown accustomed to the sweet color charts on the PredictWind ap and have found them to be the most accurate showing sea state, wave height, direction and wind speed and direction forecasts.

The idea of having a portable device like the Go appeals to me because I can take it on the boat and overlanding. My next overlanding trip is two months in the Australia outback. Being based in the US the options are limited.

I have considered HF also. It seem that the weather FAX over HF/SSB is a dying art. The expense of a iCom SSB setup runs into a couple of thousand dollars plus installation. The lack of a contract is appealing but is offset by the portability in my application.

 

[navydevildoc]

Yup, it all makes sense to me. When you get the GO installed you will have to let us know how it turns out!