Iphone Satellite messaging vs Zoleo

[Greenbelt]

I have been out goat hu ting lately and I have had a Verizon iPhone and a ZOLEO.

Both have worked fine for sending messages to home and work. However, the iPhone only sends and receives the messages while you are connected. My phone will not upload old messages (I.e if someone sends me a message in the morning and I then connect in the afternoon). ZOLEO does send me the messages, even if they were sent while the device was off. Once I connect I get all my messages.

I will keep carrying the zoleo for that purpose.

Good info. I'm pretty sure I'm just gonna carry my zoleo this year again. Everyone else in my party is going with just phones and the T-link. I'm not to positive the technology is there yet where I need it to be. But it does have a ton of potential.

 

[TXCO]

I was actually going to do a quick review on these after coming from Alaska this week. I brought an iphone, an inreach and a starlink.

The iphone was ok. I didnt like having to wait for satellites to come in range and I never seemed to get messages unless I was initiating a message. ie a flood of messages came in whenever I had service or starlink up. I wouldnt use this as a single use, at least up that far north. I also agree the battery seemed to go faster in sat mode.

The inreach did as expected and has done over the last 10 years. I do feel like theyre getting slower as several messages took a couple of hours to show up, like my pilots takeoff message coming in after he landed.

The starlink performed well when it had a very clear view to the north. Otherwise, it really struggled. Also the anker batteries I had for it died very quickly which was disappointing.

 

[hunt1up]

I used my Iphone sat messaging in the Yukon a few weeks ago. I have Verizon. It is neat to be able to text someone from 3000 miles away and in the middle of nowhere. But it isn't fast, and one of our camp locations was surrounded by mountains and they'd kill the signal about half the time. You sit there and track the satellite with your phone, get connection for 2-3 minute, then wait for another satellite. Some come in 5 minutes, some are 20 minutes. As others have said, it's fine for a quick text back and forth but I'd never trust it for emergencies. It was more of a novelty than a functional tool I could trust.

I'll likely try the T-Mobile starlink add-on to my Verizon phone for my son's upcoming elk hunt. He's 12 and it's just me and him, so I need something more trustworthy and intuitive. And/or I'll take the Inreach.