Is Certus worth it?

[jeaneous]

I'm buying a boat with a Certus satellite. It seems that trying to manage bandwidth will be a bit of a nightmare, not to mention the cost. I'm debating on whether to just go with an Iridium Go. Slower, but easier to manage and cheaper. Anyone with Certus experience? How do you manage bandwidth usage?

[noelex 77]

Welcome to the forum, Jeaneous.

We have an Iridium Go. It has some severe limitations, but for weather and basic communication it is OK.

[wholybee]

Where are you?
The Starlink RV offers high speed (~100Mb download) all over the Caribbean, Mediterranean, and near shore (to about 10 miles) over many popular areas, for less than a Iridium Go.

If you are looking at the Certus, the Starlink Marine version is world wide, faster than the RV (300 Mb download) for the same price range as the Certus depending on the Certus plan.

Neither Starlink plan has any data caps. I have a Starlink RV for Internet, and Iridium Go! for offshore weather. Its a good combination.

[jeaneous]

I will be sailing from Cape Town to US. I’m debating on Certus for the crossing vs Iridium Go