Any Iridium Go! Likes/Dislikes/Things to avoid?

[pstadt]

I installed a new Iridium Go! system with a remote antenna last summer but have yet to activate the sim card since we haven't left useable cell service yet.

We are considering cruising through the Bahamas, down through Turks & Caicos, the DR, PR, VIs, etc. and I believe we'll want it in service after departing the Bahamas.

Any current users out there with any good/bad experience they'd like to share on the system? Thanks!

[Emerald Sea]

The GO delivers as advertised. Dont rely on its internet as the speeds are too slow.

IMO its an overkill for cruising around the Caribbean as you can get 3/4G cell access, and less costly, all thru the region.

Fyi, we have been using the GO for nearly 4yrs but find we’ve been paying for a service when not needed around coastal regions (internationally). And our preference is alway to go for 3/4G local providers as then we get the internet.

[pstadt]

Thanks Steve, that's good advice.

Having yet to venture further south than the middle of the Exumas, I was skeptical on the cell coverage available and opted to install the Go when we started planning last summer. I have a couple of sim cards ready to go, so we'll conserve them until we really need to activate the system.

Cheers!

[Bravo46]

We use our GO almost exclusively for long offshore passages between Maine and the Caribbean for GRIBs and communication with our weather router. Good external antenna is essential. Great system, but airtime is pricey so we don’t use while cruising the islands. Rogue Pro WiFi extender is a great add once in the islands.

[Spyderpig]

Had mine for 3 years including one lap plus one Atlantic. Works like a charm except for internet where slow speeds make it almost unusable. Texts emails and tracking are great but be careful with the email address so as not to get spammed. Downloading of weather GRIBs was normally excellent although there are a few gaps in the satellite coverage so occasionally I had to give it a few tries.

The only problem I had was breaking off the USB charging port, probably my own fault. A friend hard soldered a charging cable for me and it is now good.

[morpheus]

We used the Iridium Go during our 2017 crossing of the South Pacific and it worked perfectly, my wife could even call her mother once a week and the voice clarity was also perfect. My only criticism is the USB charging port is quite flimsy and like Spyderpig it broke after about ten months use, we argued the toss with the SatPhonestore that it was a design fault and should be replaced under warranty but to no avail so we had to purchase another unit. The new Go has a power switch mounted on the top so you don't have to remove the USB power cable to shut it down. hmmmm I wonder why they did that?

[oldtomcat]

Be careful. I bought an Iridium GO from Blue Cosmos. Initial set up was flawed as their program was carp. They refused to believe me and I took it back to them and was told this was going to cost $ XXXX per hour and I said OK. They proceeded to demonstrate and then OOOOOH!? finally!! Back to the boat and NADA. After several phone calls they said it works better with an Iphone so I bought
a tablet AND NADA again. Took it to San Diego and they were able to get a few calls after much playing around with their remote antenna and they said there was something wrong with The unit and sent it back to Blue Cosmos who refused to admit there was a problem and returned It. Then the unit sent to a testing lab and the report was it worked 5 out of 20 times. Contacted Blue Cosmos again and the told me the warrantee was up and they couldn't help????????????? I sold it off cheap.

[northwestsailor]

There are many issues with the Iridium Go.
1) most dealers of hardware and Service are crooks who know virtually nothing about the hardware
2) Iridium’s own software Mail and Go! look and behave like they were written by first year programmers
3) and most shameful is the adapter for the external adapter is held in place by friction. Should be a watertight screw on of some international standard for life saving devices.

[rom]

Originally Posted by northwestsailor

2) Iridium’s own software Mail and Go! look and behave like they were written by first year programmers

Very true ! to those who are "successfully" using the Go please don't forget to mention which third app you're using. I discovered in another thread that some are using predictwind which can add up to 500 USD / year...

FWIW I don't use third party app and I am manually sending/receive gribs by email, not simple ...

[woc]

Originally Posted by pstadt

I installed a new Iridium Go! system with a remote antenna last summer but have yet to activate the sim card since we haven't left useable cell service yet.

We are considering cruising through the Bahamas, down through Turks & Caicos, the DR, PR, VIs, etc. and I believe we'll want it in service after departing the Bahamas.

Any current users out there with any good/bad experience they'd like to share on the system? Thanks!

Have mine for 3 years cruising the South Pacific. $125 a month for unlimited data plus 150 min call time. Biggest bang for the buck. I use it for GPS tracking, email and grib files. In my view a must have for safety reasons.

[TheOffice]

Iridium is in the midst of launching a new generation of satellites with 4g speed. I don't know if the Go will be compatible, but it is worth looking into before you shell out money for what might be obsolete in a year.

[Emouchet]

You may also want to look for an app that predict satellite position over head based on your current lat/long. It is not rare that no satellite are visible for up to 20 minutes.

Weather2D Pro iPad app includes that. Very useful to know when initiating a request, since you will save reconnection in between satellite.

[gjorgensen]

Originally Posted by TheOffice

Iridium is in the midst of launching a new generation of satellites with 4g speed.

Iridium Next will be nowhere close to 4G speeds. Normal maximum mobile terminal speeds will be 128 kbit/sec. They plan to have a vastly more expensive (approx $5,000 for the terminal alone) device and service called Pilot Marine with speeds up to 1.5 MBit/sec but it's more to compete with higher end Inmarsat services, not really intended for mom and pop out cruising. So figure in real life the speeds will be 3G or sub-3G, 2 orders of magnitude slower than 4G, although vastly better than the current system.