satellite phone suggestions

[rpm4463]

I'm planning to rent a satellite phone for a trip in October. Any suggestions? I've just started looking into it, maybe you'all can streamlime the research process. My trip will be in CA in the Sierra mountains. I probably won't need it, but my wife wants to make sure I can contact somebody. It looks like there is a base rental price, then charged per minute?

thanks.

 

[flatlander51]

We used a company called explorer satellite last year and had no problems at all I would use them again.

 

[Clovis]

Just got back from a trip with an Explorer Satellitte rental--phone and service were excellent. They Fedex it to you and you Fedex back after your trip. Came in around $100 for phone and call time.

 

[crumy]

I used satellite phone store . com for my rental this year. First time doing it. It was super easy. service was great and everything worked great. I had an iridium 9555

 

[Eyedoc]

I rented an Iridium phone through mobal and it was a very smooth transaction. No complaints here. We had 2 satellite phone in camp. The iridium got the best reception.

 

[flyinsquirel]

What was the other phone that didn't do as well as the iridium? Where was camp?

 

[bobhunts]

I had the Iridium in Alaska this year and no real complaints. The phone was rented in our drop camp package. Bob.

 

[sk1]

if actual "talking" is not imperative, the Delorme InReach SE is a great option. I just bought one myself this year when I was considering renting a satellite phone. You can text on it, although it takes time because you are using an arrow pad. However, you can use bluetooth to pair it with a smartphone, and text through your phone making it simple. So it allows two way texting (amount varies by your plan), has an SOS button to go to search and rescue, and allows an unlimited amount of texting your preset text messages that you can set through your account online. It also allows you to turn on a tracking mode that your wife or whoever you want can click a link and follow your trip. The unit is $300, and then varies based on plan month to month. I did the 4 month seasonal plan for $40 a month, and then ill cancel it until next hunting season once my 4 months is up. So a total initial investment of $460 with my plan, but now I own the unit and only need to pay for the plan each hunting season. I bought a small New Trent battery which can charge the InReach and my Iphone at the same time---this is only because I planned on being out in the mountains for 8+ days and had no idea if the battery would last in everything and wanted to be sure.


my post could be null and void if you physically need to talk, but this option was cheaper than renting a sat phone for me, and now i own the inreach and will only cost me $160 over the course of 4 months each hunting season.

oh, it also runs on the iridium network if you're wondering

 

[Craig4791]

Been using an iridium 9575 extreme this year. Have 100 min of call time on it. It's the only one I have experience with but it's done well.