Offshore weather forecast - alternatives

[p435]

I am currently getting my offshore weather forecast via an IridumGO device but I am not very happy with the service. The IridiumGO is currently my emergency communication system beside my EPRI

I am interesting in getting alternatives to my current service and hardware and would like to have an emergency communication system beside my EPRI.

I appreciate information which services and hardware you are using.


Thanks in advance.

[chrisr]

only one word for you

starlink

cheers,

[p435]

Starlink is great but has no emergency functionality. Needs even 230 V.

[chrisr]

sorry...perhaps i misunderstood your comment "I am currently getting my offshore weather forecast via an IridumGO device but I am not very happy with the service."

suggesting you use starlink for offshore weather forecasts

by all means keep iridium go for emergency comms, if you want something other than epirb

we have starlink + iridium go + epirb, but have not bothered to keep iridium connected as seems like overkill.

cheers,

[p435]

@chrisr


Thanks for your reply.



Via which organization do airtime and data volumn for your IrdiumGO?



What is the data volumn you get per month?



What are the monthly costs for the airtime and data volumn?

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by p435

@chrisr


Thanks for your reply.



Via which organization do airtime and data volume for your IrdiumGO?



What is the data volume you get per month?



What are the monthly costs for the airtime and data volumn?

sorry, don't recall any of this stuff now. as i said, we haven't maintained the connection and iridium go basically went into the junk box when we got starlink 6 months ago

cheers,

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by p435

I am currently getting my offshore weather forecast via an IridumGO device but I am not very happy with the service. The IridiumGO is currently my emergency communication system beside my EPRI

I am interesting in getting alternatives to my current service and hardware and would like to have an emergency communication system beside my EPRI.

I appreciate information which services and hardware you are using.


Thanks in advance.

Are you using Predictwind for weather? I find it quite good.

[hlev00]

I agree on liking Predict Wind with Iridium Go as a reasonably satisfied customer. I have also augmented PW by using saildocs to retrieve other data. For example I request a GOES satellite image that gives me cloud tops for severe weather. Kind of a proxy for weather radar offshore.

What about your IridiumGo do you not like? I would agree that StarLink is the ultimate and way better than the Go if the costs work for you. The Go is silly expensive for what you get but lower cost than StarLink.

[p435]

I am using PredictWind with IridiumGO but I am not very happy with the OffShore App. For my feeling it has too many bugs and I don't see real improvements. Therefore, I am looking for alternatives.
I plan to get Starlink the end of next year in NZ. Here in the Marquesas it is simple too expansive.
As Starlink has no emergency functionality, I looking for such a one, which I can keep beside Starlink.

[bergius]

Originally Posted by hlev00

The Go is silly expensive for what you get but lower cost than StarLink.

Not a lot lower cost than Starlink here in Europe. We’re looking for an offshore weather solution as well, so I just compared the two based on the prices I see here.

Starlink:

• Hardware 450€
• Inshore data 100€/month in Europe, 230€/month worldwide
• Can be suspended and activated any month
• Offshore data 2€/GB
• Uses about 50W
• Broadband speeds
• Not usable for emergency comms, would need something like InReach on the side

Iridium Go:

• Hardware 1040€
• 199€/month for unlimited worldwide data
• Each activation needs a new SIM card, 13€
• Uses about 5W
• Really, really slow at 2.4kbps. 20-40min to download a GRIB
• Would also work as an emergency communication device

With those, it is really really hard to select Iridium. I’m reluctant to go Starlink for various reasons, but right now Iridium is not competitive at all, at least on their European pricing.

[crayiii]

Our iridium Go! Hasn’t been powered on for a year as that’s when we installed Starlink. We still have it for emergency communications but we also have a Garmin InReach. We are planning on canceling the Iridium soon.

[svMarite]

Originally Posted by crayiii

Our iridium Go! Hasn’t been powered on for a year as that’s when we installed Starlink. We still have it for emergency communications but we also have a Garmin InReach. We are planning on canceling the Iridium soon.

I tend to agree with that set up. Get rid of Iridium Go, use either a Bivy Stick or the inReach as back up to Epirb. I've all but stopped using PW for Windy is much more user friendly. But you need cell or Starlink

[crayiii]

Originally Posted by svMarite

I tend to agree with that set up. Get rid of Iridium Go, use either a Bivy Stick or the inReach as back up to Epirb. I've all but stopped using PW for Windy is much more user friendly. But you need cell or Starlink

I do like the high resolution ECMWF model downloads you can do with PW though. You can get that model elsewhere for free but it is only in low resolution.

[ogalili]

Originally Posted by bergius

Not a lot lower cost than Starlink here in Europe. We’re looking for an offshore weather solution as well, so I just compared the two based on the prices I see here.

Starlink:

• Hardware 450€
• Inshore data 100€/month in Europe, 230€/month worldwide
• Can be suspended and activated any month
• Offshore data 2€/GB
• Uses about 50W
• Broadband speeds
• Not usable for emergency comms, would need something like InReach on the side

Iridium Go:

• Hardware 1040€
• 199€/month for unlimited worldwide data
• Each activation needs a new SIM card, 13€
• Uses about 5W
• Really, really slow at 2.4kbps. 20-40min to download a GRIB
• Would also work as an emergency communication device

With those, it is really really hard to select Iridium. I’m reluctant to go Starlink for various reasons, but right now Iridium is not competitive at all, at least on their European pricing.

The new iridium exec has a much much faster speed and a GRIB takes only about 3-4 min.
At this point, I still don’t trust starlink, its prices keep going up and it has no world wide coverage.
I do trust iridium and it worked so far , including going through a cat 5 horrican, extremely well!

[Peeew]

I am happy with the XM weather service.