Iridium GO! Satellite WiFi Review

Nothing to see, move along.

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

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.

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?

"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.

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]:

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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.”
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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.

"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.

"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

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!

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.

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.

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!

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..