Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Iridium GO! Wifi device

I wasn't sure exactly where to put this thread but this should work. I just got back from a bear hunt in AK and I decided that I'd be the Guinea Pig on this new device from Iridium.

It just made it to retailers in the first of August. I talked with several different retailers/renters about the device and they all told me that it worked great in their testing.

Basically it creates a Mobile Wifi network off the Satellite connection. It uses the same satellites as the rest of the Iridium phones which means that you get good coverage over most of the globe. It then allows you to use your regular Android or Apple Smartphone to make calls over wifi, send texts and send emails. I never had any trouble from the device and it gets up and going easily within 1-2 min. At that point you can then make a call or text or email or you can just wait and it doesn't charge you any minutes.

You make calls and send texts by using the Iridium App. It's very straightforward. The text messages go thru from my end immediately but it varied on how quickly you would get a response back. Sometimes I got a response back within 2-3 min, sometimes I would wait 20-30 and not get a response and close the connection. I would then have messages when I rebooted the device.

For email, you use a different Iridium app. It's easy to use as well but you have to setup an account for email with iridium prior to using it. I found the email to have pretty quick response times and my wife and I mostly communicated thru email. I'd send her an email by hitting the send/receive button then wait 5-6 min and check it again and usually her response came thru if she replied quickly. You can also send pics via email from your device. I really liked that. I sent pics of my bear to my friends and family literally within minutes of shooting the bear. Hard to beat that in the backcountry.

The email app also has a Weather Forecast with it and you can update as often as you'd like. Being in Alaska, this was very important. The weather comes from NOAA data. It was pretty accurate but not great but it gave us an idea whether is was going to rain and the wind directions were remarkably accurate which really helped us out.

Overall I was very pleased. Currently I only found 2 people renting it, All Road Sat (who I've rented from before) and Satellite Phone Solutions. I'm sure more people will pick it up going forward. Both charge $75 per week for rental but SPS charges $1.50 per minute for calls/checking email and .50 per text. All Road had a few plans but they require you to pay monthly rates for at least 4 months. I opted for Sat Phone Solutions and they were great. Quick to communicate and everything was in perfect working order. I also purchased some prepaid minutes from them which was something like $1.23 per minute.

More and more people will have this available and I'm sure the prices will come down and that the connection speeds will improve with further updates.

Great info Lee. Thanks!

Life is about choices.

While this is good info and may appeal to many, I know, that wifi access in the alaska outdoors puts to jeopardy the only reason I have for frequenting those parts - recreation.

YMMV.

Choosingly not looking at my email I can do at home.

Sometimes it's much easier to get cooperation from the wife if she knows that she can contact you in an emergency.

Ready, you can't access your regular email. You can only get emails thru a new iridium email account. Mine is lbrittmyiridium.net. It was great to be able to email pics to my friends and family. I only sent/took email from people that I wanted to communicate with.

I totally agree about answering work/personal emails in the wild. I have no desire to do that but it was nice to be able to email my wife and send pics of the hunt to the kids from way out in the middle of nowhere.

Lee

Ebby, very cool product, thanks for the heads up and review.

The Delorme in-reach is a very known thing around here. Basically is changing the way commercial fishermen communicate with each other out on the ocean when out of cell range. Handy for hunting too. Looks like this device is the same unit, using iridium satellites.

Never get it for your wife. First time you get busy and don't "check in", she'll be calling the coast guard or search and rescue. Women.

My inReach shhit-the-bed a few days ago. Turned it "on" and got a message that said, "Device damaged. Cannot send or receive messages."

Submitted an online ticket. Been 5 business days and no response from DeLorme. This is the second failure I've had with the inReach. First one had a button that was hit-n-miss, mostly miss, in terms of function straight out of the box.

Looking at the packaging box now and it reads, "Rugged and designed to go with you and through anything, anywhere on earth." Its been on a few trips, but recently has been living on my bench. My bench is uber-rough and destroys gear though

I'll give them a call this week and see what they say. Follow-ups to come if anyone is interested in status.

Jason

Ebby,

thank you for the clarification. I can see the allure. Just knowing me - I would check in. Bad that way, I know, actually trying to work on myself there.

Thx again.

Try a reset with the unit power off hold down arrow and xkey for 30 seconds then power up.

Ready, what I was trying to point out and didn't do a very good job of, is that you can't access the web or your regular emails or texts or anything like that. The wifi speeds aren't high enough and it's not setup to work like any "normal" wifi network. It only works using the iridium app. Texts come from the Iridium phone number and emails from the Iridium server. No access to the general web or email servers.

Lee

Thanks Buck. I called DeLorme and a replacement is on the way. Tech couldn't explain the delay with processing the online ticket, but he got the ball rolling once I called.

Ebby,

thank you for your patience. I got it now. Thats different, then.
Good info and good on you for trying this out.

Great bear, btw, and thanks for the pictures you've shared.

Thanks for posting this. For those interested in just renting a Sat Phone for emergency use at camp, any recommendations on where to rent?

I used Satellitephonestore.com a couple years ago. Good call too (literally)..

Got us off the mountain a few days early in a weather break...without the phone we would have been tent bound and waterlogged for four more days with a Billy cape and meat lying around waiting for our air taxi....

I was very pleased with Satellite Phone Solutions in Florida. I've used All Road Sat before too and they were fine but I was overall more pleased with SPS this time around. Several people I know use Explorer Satellites and they have a great reputation too.

Lee

Outdoor: I use www.outfittersatellite.com

Outdoor: I use www.outfittersatellite.com

Thanks for the links. A lot of options on those sites. Recommendations on what to have? Purpose is to have a phone at camp to call out if emergency. Maybe a few mins to call friends/family, but pretty well only for emergency use.

The one I mentioned offers rates at $1.50 per minute and you only pay for what you use. Most places require you to buy a bundle of minutes or buy a monthly plan. I'd be sure and look into Sat Phone Solutions.