Yellowbrick - am I looking at the most affordable iridium tracking and messaging?

[GTom]

I often find myself out of cell coverage even on land that made me aware of satellite trackers.

I knew about the Garmin InReach that would be a perfect match to my watch (can be remote controlled by the cheapest Instinct watches) but all the activation and "enrollment" fees don't make it exactly cheap if I use it only 2-3 months a year.

Came across the Yellowbrick, that uses the same Iridium constellation, 12+7£ already puts me on the chart with no hidden fees, unspent credits roll over for 12 months. I know, the device is more expensive, but Garmin's £35 "annual tax" on their Freedom plan will quickly make up the difference...

Any experience with the kit? Also appears to have far more battery life than the inReach mini 2, actually could be used to track an abandoned boat.

[boatman61]

Used on that an owner had for his boat which I delivered from Florida to the Med..
It was as good as my SPOT and the text facility enabled us to keep in touch while I brought the boat across. Came in handy a couple of times when I needed to ask a couple of questions about some of the 'improvisations' he had made to a couple of things with wiring and hydraulics..

[tkeithlu]

Spot has a plan by which you can suspend the service out of season. I seem to remember that it's $25 a year, and then you activate on a monthly fee in season.

[sv_pelagia]

Zoleo allows suspension for $5/mo (after initial 3 mos).

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Spot has a plan by which you can suspend the service out of season. I seem to remember that it's $25 a year, and then you activate on a monthly fee in season.

Its a months rental plus activation fee each time.

[JasonS]

We’ve been using Zoleo for 2 seasons. They offer 3 plans - $20 for 25 satellite messages, $35 for 250, and $50 for unlimited. Their app allows 950 character messages to be shared which is a big plus. Unlimited tracking for $6. 3 month commitment and then you can put on hold for $4 a month. Activation is $25, so if you’ll be off more than 6 months you can cancel as long as you don’t mind getting a new Zoleo number. Other cool thing is that when I’m cell service it sends over cell network so you don’t use your satellite messages. 200 hour battery life. Waterproof and compact. About $199, but sometimes goes on sale. It’s a great unit/service for price. If you need voice get a Iridium Go, but then you are looking at significantly more upfront and monthly.

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by JasonS

We’ve been using Zoleo for 2 seasons. They offer 3 plans - $20 for 25 satellite messages, $35 for 250, and $50 for unlimited. Their app allows 950 character messages to be shared which is a big plus. Unlimited tracking for $6. 3 month commitment and then you can put on hold for $4 a month. Activation is $25, so if you’ll be off more than 6 months you can cancel as long as you don’t mind getting a new Zoleo number. Other cool thing is that when I’m cell service it sends over cell network so you don’t use your satellite messages. 200 hour battery life. Waterproof and compact. About $199, but sometimes goes on sale. It’s a great unit/service for price. If you need voice get a Iridium Go, but then you are looking at significantly more upfront and monthly.

Just a clarification that these are USA prices. Slightly different in Canada and Australia.

950+ character limit is only for App-to-App messages.

(FYI: Zoleo is a joint venture between Canadian and Australian companies.)

[Martin S]

Classic that your question is ducked. My brother used Yellowbrick when solo tracking across Iceland. Fully performed.

[sailorman7225]

Great experience with InReach and their plan to only activate during the months in use.

[Hoodsail]

Just went to yellowbrick website and reading about it, the yellowbrick device features sound similar to my garmin inreach explorer that i bought in 2018. Both offer gps tracking & elementary texting function. With garmin I rec'd weather texts & headings from Chris Parker, sent basic text to family who were tracking us on website out to 100 nm offshore. Recall battery life was good. Kept garmin on deck, next to companion way, under dodger without concern for moisture. Would recommend buying whichever a few weeks before to get acquainted with use. Can link garmin to cell phone to make typing text messages easier. Monthly plans with tracking/texting are $35 - $65/month. Dont recall activation fee amount. If using continuously throughout the year would probably go with device that has lowest recurring costs. thnks

[GTom]

Thanks for all the responses!

@Hoodsail: Unfortunately there is now an activation fee AND an annual fee for the monthly inReach subscriptions: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/837461. Indeed, the devices look very similar!

@boatman61, @Martin: Thank you!

@sv_pelagia: Figured that I can't buy Zoleo, it needs a US, AUS or NZ billing address at the moment (I am in the UK).

[Brendan]

I have had a yellow brick for several years and now have it mounted with an external antenna now that I have my own boat.
You can see all of the tracks I’ve made over the years here https://my.yb.tl/bmcinerney

Credits bought never expire

[davil]

Originally Posted by JasonS

We’ve been using Zoleo for 2 seasons. They offer 3 plans - $20 for 25 satellite messages, $35 for 250, and $50 for unlimited. Their app allows 950 character messages to be shared which is a big plus. Unlimited tracking for $6. 3 month commitment and then you can put on hold for $4 a month. Activation is $25, so if you’ll be off more than 6 months you can cancel as long as you don’t mind getting a new Zoleo number. Other cool thing is that when I’m cell service it sends over cell network so you don’t use your satellite messages. 200 hour battery life. Waterproof and compact. About $199, but sometimes goes on sale. It’s a great unit/service for price. If you need voice get a Iridium Go, but then you are looking at significantly more upfront and monthly.

====================================
Hi JasonS

still happy with your Zoleo?

thanks

[JasonS]

Hi Davil,
We’ve been at a dock for hurricane season, but will turn the Zoleo back on in just a few weeks before leaving for the Bahamas. I still think it’s the best deal out there unless you need voice, in which case the Iridium GO is the best value choice. But that’s a difference between $200 and $1200 for the unit, not to mention the significant difference in monthly cost. For us, we switched to the Basic plan at $20 month and pay $6 for location share. For $26 a month, we like having it. And you can switch between plans and put on hold anytime you don’t need it for just $4 month.

We press the location share button before we leave each day and it tracks our progress and shares with up to 5 people we designate. Afterwards, we can share the track photo via social media. If you want a real time public track on a map, you’ll need to go with Garmin or the Go.

Also, ZOLEO just switched over this year to include AerisWeather forecasts. I’m not sure how this will work out in the open ocean, but look forward to testing it there and in the Bahamas. It says it offers “global hyperlocal” forecasts, but this may just be over land.

Good luck,

Jason
SV Breathe
www.BreatheSailDive.com

Follow us at Facebook.com/breathesaildive

[sv_pelagia]

FYI, we too like our Zoleo (which is also currently "suspended" for C$5/mo).

It will be interesting to see how the new Aeris weather is. It can't be worse than (Apple's) Dark Sky Weather, which was useless.

For tracking, we use our Zoleo to send a location/blog update (1/day, for us) to Following Sea.
https://followingsea.net/track/PELAGIA
(we also have a more in-depth blog on Blogger, which we can use Zoleo to send short updates.)

[FYI: with Zoleo, ifvyou have a helper ashorem they can send more-detailed text weather forecasts up to ~900 characters length IF they use the free Zoleo app.]