Who is the nutcase

[Relentlessfishing]

I realize the Iridium is the go to phone but there is now another option Inmarsat came out with a handheld. It is very much like a cell phone text messaging email ect.... very fast to lock onto signal and as sat phones go really affordable, the text option is awsome 40 cents a message. Incoming text is free. World wide coverage I have had mine a few months now and it has been flawless just my 2 cents and no I do not work for inmarsat just trying to save someone some money Iridium is super expensive.

[twofinbluna]

mine works great also. It just takes 3-5 minutes from the point I go in the cabin to get the Pelican case till I'm connected.

You are right, even if you leave it on and on the dash, it would not be the quickest way to call in an emergency if things are happening really fast. But definitely a good thing to have if you are going to be outside of VHF range and do not have an SSB.

[rmoody79]

I hope that post about 22ft CC's being that far out was a joke, I couldnt imagine someone thinking about burning out 170mi in a 22ftr to georges

[thirsty]

I have a sat phone. I play with it twice/year. Its politely a P.I.A. to use and just as much a P.I.A. to hear from.

If I were sinking or burning or in other critical distress - VHF Mayday is #1 as I can get that done correctly, accurately and concisely in 10-20 seconds. Or try again in 10-20 seconds.

I can flip the EPIRB switch in 5 seconds and have it xmitting in 10.

Then I can go get the Sat phone out of the pelican case; flip the antenna to the up position; go out on the deck (which might be underwater), point the antenna at the sky; turn on the phone, wait for the little bars to come up saying it has signal and is registered. Then I can press hot key 1 and wait 30 seconds for the call to go through.

Then I can file the mayday I could have done 5 minutes ago by VHF.

and yes I am well aware of the conditions a VHF won't work under...

Bring it with you in the life raft assuming you have time to deploy that as well...

[twofinbluna]

I realize the Iridium is the go to phone but there is now another option Inmarsat came out with a handheld. It is very much like a cell phone text messaging email ect.... very fast to lock onto signal and as sat phones go really affordable, the text option is awsome 40 cents a message. Incoming text is free. World wide coverage I have had mine a few months now and it has been flawless just my 2 cents and no I do not work for inmarsat just trying to save someone some money Iridium is super expensive.

I was mostly referring to not getting a Globalstar phone...