Iridium vs Inmarsat for trans-Atlantic

[skipmac]

Didn't see and recent threads comparing the two. Older discussions indicated Inmarsat had better coverage and fewer dropped calls in general but Iridium far better for high latitudes. Also a lot of boaters like the Iridium Go system.

What's the latest opinion? Which system is more reliable and has better coverage? Secondary to that, which has the best plans?

[tkeithlu]

Hey. Iridium uses a swarm of satellites, in a system similar to GPS. As such it is global. Inmarsat uses geostable satellites, about six of them sitting above the equator. A such, it does not cover the poles, since the antenna direction would go to zero degrees. If you stay below 6o degrees and on water (no sharp valleys), Inmarsat is fine and a bit cheaper. I use Inmarsat; I have no intention of ever again going where it's that cold.

[AllenRbrts]

Depends on what the use case is. We use GO which gives unlimited slow data for a reasonable price. Fine for getting weather, and text emails. Want internet? need to update to a higher bandwidth solution.

[skipmac]

Thanks for the comments. Guess it would help if I included some details on my intended uses.

#1 will be weather and routing. My plan is to text a family member that will be monitoring various wind and weather sources and tracking our position.

Then of course general safety, calling for assistance if necessary, for contacting medical assistance in case of injury or illness.

Also as a way for friends and family to contact the boat if there's a problem at home.

And maybe an occasional contact home just to check in with the family.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Hey. Iridium uses a swarm of satellites, in a system similar to GPS. As such it is global. Inmarsat uses geostable satellites, about six of them sitting above the equator. A such, it does not cover the poles, since the antenna direction would go to zero degrees. If you stay below 6o degrees and on water (no sharp valleys), Inmarsat is fine and a bit cheaper. I use Inmarsat; I have no intention of ever again going where it's that cold.

I certainly have no plans to go sailing to the far north (or south), at least for now so no advantage in the Iridium swarm.

[AllenRbrts]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Thanks for the comments. Guess it would help if I included some details on my intended uses.

#1 will be weather and routing. My plan is to text a family member that will be monitoring various wind and weather sources and tracking our position.

Then of course general safety, calling for assistance if necessary, for contacting medical assistance in case of injury or illness.

Also as a way for friends and family to contact the boat if there's a problem at home.

And maybe an occasional contact home just to check in with the family.

For those needs a GO would work great. We have done lots of passages with it. What is your passage plan? We are going east mid May to the Azores

[maine50]

We did Atlantic Circle ( New England to Azores to Madeira to Carib in 2017/2018 with a Inreach. I had a brother doing the weather from New England (sitting at his computer) and texting routing. We also got weather from Ocens at a very low price. Family had location updates and ability to communicate with us. It also had a Emergency function. This might work for you

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Thanks for the comments. Guess it would help if I included some details on my intended uses.

#1 will be weather and routing. My plan is to text a family member that will be monitoring various wind and weather sources and tracking our position.
...

Watching and good question Skip.
if the #1 intent is for weather, would compatibility to a weather app (PredictWind, etc.) be relevant?

[tkeithlu]

Take a look at the Spot and Garmin satellite communicators as well. For $200 and a lot less per month than a sat phone, they give International search and rescue, tracking you on a map, and text messaging. They are the bottom level of satellite communications. I carry a SpotX when riding my dirt bike outside cell phone range in our (very large) state forest. It has let me call my wife for retrieval after breakdowns several times, and helped me rescue an abandoned hound who now has a good home in the Tampa area.

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Take a look at the Spot and Garmin satellite communicators as well. For $200 and a lot less per month than a sat phone, they give International search and rescue, tracking you on a map, and text messaging. They are the bottom level of satellite communications. I carry a SpotX when riding my dirt bike outside cell phone range in our (very large) state forest. It has let me call my wife for retrieval after breakdowns several times, and helped me rescue an abandoned hound who now has a good home in the Tampa area.

also, consider ZOLEO...
https://www.zoleo.com/

[AllenRbrts]

Satellite communicators like inReach, Spot, Zoleo are great (we have an inReach as well as our GO) but if your use case includes getting weather gribs, Predictwind or weather emails (if doing long passages you really will want), you probably need at least a GO.

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by AllenRbrts

Satellite communicators like inReach, Spot, Zoleo are great (we have an inReach as well as our GO) but if your use case includes getting weather gribs, Predictwind or weather emails (if doing long passages you really will want), you probably need at least a GO.

Definitely good points!

Certainly more limited for Zoleo, InReach and Spot, but:

-Zoleo & InReach: forecasts available from DarkSky

-Users of InReach and Zoleo can get SMS-length (160 chars) route forecasts (from Gribs) from services such as:
https://fastseas.com/
https://www.ocens.com/zoleo

-Zoleo users could have a land-based person help out by using Zoleo app to copy longer forecasts into app messages which can be up to 950 characters in length.

[TBW]

Look at Globalstar

[yelken]

Hi skipmac,
Please also check; BIVY Stick from ACR. An extract from its description "Use the Bivy Stick to turn your cell phone into a satellite communication device. With global satellite coverage via the Iridium satellite network, anywhere you have a view of the sky, you can communicate through the Bivy Stick. While conveniently compact, the Bivy Stick still offers a comprehensive feature set including two-way text messaging, SOS, location sharing, one-touch Check-in, and detailed weather reports sent straight to your cell phone via satellite. Additionally, offering a feature not provided with many other satellite communicators, the Bivy Stick provides users with a dedicated phone number and email."
https://www.acrartex.com/products/bivy-stick/


Interesting cost and activation concept. No affiliation with the company and have no experience with the product also.


Good luck with whatever you decide.
Yelken

[sv_pelagia]

sounds like Zoleo...

https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/z...-blue.1475206/