Sat phone or just Sat text?

[DaveInOroValley]

Have been looking at various options for each. Basically would give my son a unit and we would have one. The text option seems to be the least expensive of course with plans that start at 11.95 a month with various restrictions and additional charges.

Curious if anyone has either a phone or text only unit and what you would recommend. Thanks!

[TheChief]

Considering you are asking this in the Survival forum I am assuming its not for regular communications. So, what is your use case? What are you wanting it for? That would help us know your intent and share our thoughts.

[DolphinFan]

Sat phones are expensive and each user must have a plan. They are best used for off grid remote emergency communication.
If you each have a fixed location, I?d rather set up 2 HF radio stations with a Yaggi directional antenna
It would be more reliable and less expensive.

[Jongage]

Sat text all the way. We use two garmin mini's to communicate when I go on off grid off road trips. One unit is about 17$ monthly.

[DaveInOroValley]

Sat text all the way. We use two garmin mini's to communicate when I go on off grid off road trips. One unit is about 17$ monthly.

This is where I am headed. One for myself and one for my son in NM. In the event of things going down it would be nice to have some communication with family. We both have solar chargers as well and those sat text units seem to have an amazing battery time.

[hermosabeach]

having hunted in Wyoming, Line of sight does not work well when you and buddy are not both at the top of the prairie hills

Yes- there is a mountain and if both parties were ham radio operators, you could find an open repeater...

Always found a way without sat devices...

for the Garmin Mini...can you pick up a device and only add one month of service or is it an annual plan?

[DrjonesUSA]

I assume you're talking for grid-down / SHTF situations?

I've always wondered how well these work:

https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/reviews/camping-and-hiking/personal-locator-beacon/gotenna-mesh

This is supposed to be a competitor:

https://beartooth.com/

I've not done any research on these, so I can't comment as to their effectiveness, but I love the idea!

[ldsnet]

Text all the way! Significantly cheaper, more reliable, and with the number of Text capable devices, accepted and virtually universal.
I have a Garmin inteach mini for our off-roading adventures. About $17 a month. And yes you can turn it off for the months you know you won't need the service.
The only gotcha, you need your contact list before you go off-grid; need to know who you are gonna call if you need support.

[user120312]

Text can get through where voice can be garbled or impossible. This is often seen today on the oceanic airways with HF aircraft communications.

My question is who runs satellite networks and is there a terrestrial 'off' switch? If a human can shut them off, sat coms are vulnerable. I doubt it will be an issue as in past use during personal or widespread emergencies but I'd expect it to be an issue if they're used for coms adverse to the power and control structures seeking to subvert/destroy/kill us.

Great tool for wilderness survival or disaster coms in peacetime. In time of war? IDK.

[OlderThanDirt]

I have used both and in most cases I would opt for Sat text. When I had a Satellite phone, things like texting and email didn't exist or were not very widespread. Now, the text/email systems are pretty handy and more than adequate to communicate. Sat text is also much more power friendly and can be connected for days without charging.

[ke1234567]

I've been using the garmin mini. cheapest plan for texting, and I have the SAR insurance too. $50k in SAR insurance that includes helo flight if needed. Mainly for hunting, deep sea fishing and camping to let the wife know I'm okay. works great.