Iridium GO! First Look

[Stephanie Jordan]

Companion forum thread to:

Iridium GO! First Look

[Stuart R]

Nothing to see, move along.

I go hiking to get away from this kind of stuff.

[James Marco]

I agree, Stuart! Techno-gadgetry in the backcountry??? I still use a map & compass…it's lighter.

[BlackHatGuy]

Thanks Alan, looks interesting. We'll see how long it takes Iridium to fix the issues you detail. As you say, this is a promising device, and I imagine might spur DeLorme to expand what it does with its products.

[Greg Mihalik]

Plans from BlueCosmo

(No vested interest here, just wondering what the costs are.)

[Nick Gatel]

This unit plus an iPhone 5 weighs over 15 ounces. This assumes nothing to recharge them, no phone case, no cables, no ear buds. The weight is more than any single item in my 3 season kit and for many of my trips would be 20% of my current base weight.

Ops… I forgot this is backpackinglight.

If I need to stay connected to the world when backpacking, I might as well stay home. If my job required me to be connected, I would just get a new job.

I have been backpacking for 50 years without a phone or communication device. So how will this enhance my back country experience?

[Ken Thompson]

Thanks Alan, nice to see something by you here. It's wonderful to have options. I wonder where this technology will be when my PLB battery needs replacing.

[J-L]

"I wonder where this technology will be when my PLB battery needs replacing."

This is what I am wondering too, but my PLB's battery still has a couple years left.

I don't go backpacking because I need to "get away from technology". I go backpacking because I enjoy it. For some people, being able to communicate with family/friends back home is important.

[Kattt]

"Nothing to see, move along.

I go hiking to get away from this kind of stuff."

Could have just skipped it yourself without leaving this kind of a mark on the thread.

This is probably not something I would use on most trips, but for a solo trip I might. My daughter would probably enjoy this very much and since she is just starting to venture out this might be something to make her more comfortable out there.

Edited:
Ps. My daughter has never lived in house with a TV and we have always lived in the woods, sometimes off the grid, at one point in a remote cabin I built, with an outhouse and two marine batteries for lights. She is not necessarily going into nature to get away from it all at this point.

[Paul Magnanti]

Interactive technology is rapidly changing the idea of "wildness".

As I've said before, my gnawing fear is that because interactive technology is becoming ubiquitous, more powerful and more affordable, there will be an expectation that because you can be connected that you SHOULD be connected.

As I wrote earlier when discussing a favorite book of mine [1]:

*****
Even Parks Canada is contemplating this [enhanced WiFi] type of setup for their facilities. Because, “some people were also required to stay in constant contact with their workplaces, even while whale-watching or on a break from hiking.”
****

As technological device, this set up is pretty neat.

But I also see a glimpse into the future. Heck, we are there now. An expectation to be connected. And that will change the "wildness" experience.

[1] Wilderness Ethics: Preserving the spirit of wildness. Excellent read.

[Ian]

Nothing will evoke a spontaneous sermon like technology in the back country. I also go backpacking to go backpacking. I will read the occasional book on my phone but I've never felt inclined to watch a movie or listen to music. No rebuking of Satan technology; I just don't have an appetite for it out there. Why any adult would give a rat's bootie about what technology other adults take into the back country is beyond me.

Some people have fulfilling jobs that they truly enjoy and don't want to quit for backpacking. Not all jobs are 9-5.

I know a couple who are online travel agents. Work trickles in throughout the day and when booking travel packages, there's a lot of ebb and flow, and follow up calls to make sure the client is taken care of. They also travel out of the country on vacation 8+ times per year. Yeah they have to occasionally bust out their computer or make a call, but most of their day is spent enjoying their vacation. The impact from work is negligible and they have an enviable lifestyle that's full of adventure and travel that would not be possible without technology.

So for someone in their position who happens to be a backpacker, a device like this would be a godsend.

[Paul Magnanti]

"Some people have fulfilling jobs that they truly enjoy and don't want to quit for backpacking. Not all jobs are 9-5"

That's cool.

But seems more and more employers are expecting people to be avail 24/7.

If you choose to check in the office..that's great. If you are EXPECTED to check into the office because you now can, is that a good thing?

That's all I am saying.

[James Marco]

Been there, Done that. MORE reason to hide out in the woods…

[Billy Ray]

"Why any adult would give a rat's bootie about what technology other adults take into the back country is beyond me. "

So you wouldn't mind hearing people playing loud music or yacking on their cell phones when you are trying to enjoy the peace and solitude of nature????

To me, the wilderness experience is more that just spending time on a tract of land designated wilderness. It's a feeling. It is in some ways the creation of an illusion of isolation in a primitive setting. It's a kind of 24/7 3 dimensional meditation. The use of technology in the backcountry breaks the illusion and destroys some of the enjoyment… at least for those of us who like to immerse ourselves in that kind of meditation.

If people can take technology and keep it in their packs except for when using it in an isolated camp away from and out of sight and ear shot of others, that's fine. But I can't tell you how irritated it makes me to climb to the top of a peak or pass with gorgeous wilderness views in all directions only to find someone up there yelling into a cell phone: "Mom! You'll never guess where I am!!!" Sucks.

billy

[Ian]

I don't know what to tell you Billy. For some strange reason, my parents never taught me to believe that the world was created to cater to my every whim and want and as a consequence, I've never developed the requisite sense of entitlement where I'd suggest that all people at all times should behave in a way that is 100% inoffensive to me. I guess I've been doing it wrong all these years. The next time I see someone in the back country with a phone to their ear, I'll try to remember to B.I.L.L.Y. the situation

B- Become offended
I- Immediately start sobbing
L- Leave the area immediately
L- Let the Backpacking community how offended I was to see a phone in someone's ear
Y- Yearn for the days of yore when phones were just a stage prop on Dallas.

Yup. I said it. Not sorry either.

Edit: D@&%it Billy you bring out the Devil in me.

[tony landrum]

Do you use a tent? a stove? sleeping bag? mosquito net? a map? All these are technological advances. Maybe your solo tent is blocking someone's view of nature!! or worse, leaving an imprint on the ground!! Hell, even shoes are a huge technological event!

So stop whining about today's advancements, you use them or you don't; your personal choice. If someone is loud and rude, that sucks. The best way to fix that is to go buy your own thousand acres and be by yourself.

Otherwise, simply enjoy life, with all it has to offer, the good, bad and ugly!!

Happy Camping
Tony

PS, great article! I always read your reviews, thanks for the hard work to give us this info!

[W I S N E R !]

I think Paul is on point in that it's not so much about what the individual chooses to carry, but that this technology is creating a culture in which you're expected and required to be available at all times. I'm far more concerned about the latter.

[HkNewman]

On call is nothing new. I've known college buddies who have been on call and within a short drive about every other wkd for the past 25 years (getting relatively well paid for it). More jobs are exhibiting this and it is not inconceivable that in the near future employers may require employees to carry a sat phone to get real work done on the fly (spreadsheet, database, typing, etc..). It was probably well worth the $ the OP was able to get news of his grandsons birth, but I'd hate to get telemarketing calls at sat phone rates.

[Bob Shuff]

I'm not too interested given the current cost premium and limited battery life. Did anyone do a similar level of review on the spot or other similar smartphone companion devices recently?

[Dan Kayser]

I agree. There is nothing more annoying than hearing someone on the phone in the middle of a wilderness, unless it is an Emergency. I sometimes wonder if in the future regulations will be required to keep wilderness areas free of certain technology.

[Patrick Starich]

A very thorough and informative review Alan!

I've led scientific expeditions to remote areas of the Arctic in the recent past and can see where Iridium Go! could be quite useful in field work situations where daily data transmissions and activity reports are part of the program. We used Iridium phones for voice and satellite dish setups for data. Both required us to charge big gel batteries from solar panel arrays (4'x4') to recharge phones and power equipment. The portability, size, and weight of the Iridium Go! could have enabled multiple users to simultaneously access voice communications.. It would have been nice to have a very small, portable, energy efficient hotspot that didn't require a dish antenna for data transmission and internet connectivity.

Wilderness guides generally like to carry some type of emergency communication equipment to summon help in the event of an emergency. The Basic SPOT is a less reliable tether to Search and Rescue resources. With a SPOT you have no confirmation your message was actually received and no knowledge of the timing and status of the rescue process. Text messaging via SPOT was a good step forward but did not provide duplex communication. The Iridium Go! definitly steps up the game. Transmitting smartphone photos of an accident site or injured climber to the SAR team before they arrive at the scene could greatly assist a rescue effort.

[Maxine Weyant]

Last year, I rented an Iridium Sat phone for a solo section hike of the PCT in the North Sierras, to appease my husband after I had exited the trail a day late the year before on a solo high Sierra hike. Not the same product as the "GO", granted, but the same the satellite system and the same method of retrieving emails and receiving calls and texts. I had read that Iridium had so many satellites orbiting out there that even if the signal was weak, just wait a bit and one would soon come by. Well, I don't know how fast those satellites can travel, but virtually every single call I made, even with no tree cover on a solitary butte with 4 bars on the phone, was dropped. I went for 2 days where I couldn't make a call and I'd have to send a text 10x before one would go through. The time it took to turn on the phone and check for a signal and then to wait to see if a text went through, all while holding the phone ever so still with the antennae in the most optimal position…..I would have hurled the damn thing over a bluff were it not for the expense. And the support staff at Iridium were useless!

[Arthur]

This is 1993 technology tied to an Iphone. I cannot come up with something this frustrating even in my imagination. Web browsing is impossible at these speeds because web pages are not just web pages now, they are pages of 20 different sites of ads per page. Impossible to upload with a Sat connection. Been there, tried to do that. The phone is no better than it was when iridium came out, but now you have all your contacts in your huge and heavy iphone, and you have to charge them somehow. Tracking only works one day at best without heavy recharging equipment and you better have sun on a multiday trip. If the "90's" keyboard of a Delorme device bothers you, bring your %$^& iphone and it you can link it and use it for a keyboard.
Using this device seems like going back to the days of leaving the trailhead with 60 pounds in the pack. As another poster said, "Move on, nothing here"
Art

[Kattt]

When in the mountains or outdoors in general I have the time and peace to reflect on things. Partly why I am not a big fan of bringing electronics out there. So maybe when the few posters that just left rude quickies on a thread that does not interest them, rather than politely discussing why they opt out of using that sort of thing….maybe when they connect with nature without distractions, they might realize how that behavior has little in common with fully embracing nature.

One of the reasons I have not written an article on Trail Cameras..

[Jim Milstein]

"There is nothing more annoying than hearing someone on the phone in the middle of a wilderness . . . ."

Actually, lots of things are more annoying. Living in a war zone, for example, or being tortured by a CIA contractor. So many annoying things! Being tortured by mosquitoes and black flies in a pristine wilderness.

[Author]

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