Satellite Communicators

[isleofGough]

iPhones are water resistant but often won't survive a stream. I have not had high success with satellite texting with an iPhone in woods and mountains nearby. Garmins work much better.

 

[Beagle1]

I fried the Face ID sensors on my iPhone 15 while taking photos steelhead fishing this winter. So take the iPhone waterproof claims with a grain of salt.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

iPhones are water resistant but often won't survive a stream. I have not had high success with satellite texting with an iPhone in woods and mountains nearby. Garmins work much better.

Interesting... dropped my Samsung in the river more times than I can count.
Been at the bottom of the hot tub a few time too.

IPhone Globalstar has 25 sats up
Garmin/iridium had 66 sats up
Tmo/starlink 680 sats up.

Which network you think is going to be the most reliable?

I think was 10-15 bucks a month to add to my cell plan...no limit on messages. My mini was great for the last 5 or 6yrs...better tech available now so I switched. Another 2-3 seasons you will have starlink in your phone.

 

[grfox92]

Yes sir..Starlink thru Tmo...sat texting.

Way more reliable than Apple's Globalstar for now..
Globalstar just got bought by Amazon this week so be intersting to see if they keep the Apple deal and how much service improves.

The article below explains why Apple sat service doesn't work as well as Tsat...24 sat to 10k

Why Amazon Is Buying Globalstar—and What It Means for Your iPhone

Amazon is paying more than $11 billion for a small satellite company.

www.wired.com

Ok interesting. My Galaxy used the same satellite as I phone so must be GlobalStar. It absolutely sucks and cant be relied upon. I hunt some of the most dangerous country in the lower 48 and need satellite coms especially now that I have my 11 year old son with me. The zoleo more or less worked about as good as texting with phone service. The Globalstar works about as good as a Temu walki talkie.

 

[EMCaliber]

I've used the GPSMAP 66i for years, but have been itching for the new Mini 3 Plus, for the smaller form factor and media sharing features. I like that I can pair the device to my phone and use that for messaging, rather than having to type on the device itself. I do hope that the iPhone satellite communication capability will improve over time, but if safety is your priority I'd still prefer a separate, and dedicated, SOS device.