Question
Member Martin asked:
I wonder if it is time to take a new look at the options available for satellite communications for ocean cruising given the changes we have seen only in the last few years.
Answer
In the past I have written long articles about the best ways to communicate and get good weather information while offshore, but these days I think it’s all got simpler. So here’s a quick overview of what I see as the state of play in early 2025:
I will not be repeating everything I have covered in previous Tips, so please follow the links in what follows.
Thanks for your update John! I agree with your assessment and while i would value a high bandwidth connectivity for my job I am struggling to justify the new pricing of Starlink on the ocean. We will be prioritizing our existing GO! For now. And we do of course always carry EPIRB as well as PLB for emergency use.
I don’t understand these claims that Starlink is now significantly more expensive for ocean going boaters. Previously, this required a Mobile Priority plan that cost $250/month for 50GB of data. Now it requires a Global Priority plan that costs $150/month plus charges for data blocks at $100 for each 50GB chunk or $500 if bought in 500GB chunks. So, 50GB of monthly Global Priority service costs exactly the same as it did when it was called Mobile Priority. The introduction of a cheaper, land-use only Local Priority plan option isn’t of much interest to ocean sailors, but it hasn’t significantly changed how much Starlink costs to use on the ocean.
Hi Mark,
You may easily be right. That said, Ben Stein over an Panbo usually gets stuff right, so beats me. Anyway, I have no interest in trying to parse Starlink prices, particularly given that as soon as I figured it all out (assuming I could given how difficult to understand their site is) they would probably change again.
Stein’s reporting was wrong. I think that is at least as much a matter of Starlink getting their initial communication of the new plans wrong as it was a matter of Ben jumping to an incorrect conclusion, but his updates to the article make it clear that little to nothing has changed in the pricing or usage of Starlink by sailors.
Hi Mark,
Like I said “The pricing and policies at Starlink are about as stable as the boss”. That said, happy to hear that it’s cheeper than we feared for cruisers who want Starlink.
You seriously won’t let that go even though nothing has changed for sailors other than the name, from Mobile Priority to Global Priority?
Hi Mark,
I don’t claim to have a handle on this but see Earl’s comment: https://www.morganscloud.com/jhhtips/qa-offshore-communications-in-2025/#comment-313943
I’m not trying to be argumentative here, rather I think it’s worth pointing out that Starlink have changed their terms many times and if a guy like Ben Stein has trouble keeping it all straight, as he freely admits, voyagers should be aware that things could change suddenly leaving them in a tricky situation if they don’t have backup. I also think that based on his track record I’m perfectly justified in warning that the boss is unpredictable and so could order some change with no warning that could be a problem for someone at sea who was overly reliant on the service.
Thanks for the easy clarification. I’m not sure where the “instability” of the owner or the service come from. I’ve had two units in three years (changed boats) and have had no issues with the service or the “boss.” Upgrading and downgrading plans has been prorated and simple. I also have iridium go but downgraded to basic plan for now. Maybe the instability just a political bias??
Hi William,
I guess you and I have a different definition of “instability” and no not political bias, just evaluation of management track record. Let’s agree to disagree before this goes to a bad place.
Previously you could use a Roam plan (72€/month in Germany, unlimited coastal data) and the activate Mobile Priority at around 2€/GB when going offshore. This is the option that is going away.
This was significantly cheaper for offshore sailors, as you’re not going to spend many GBs on an ocean crossing just getting weather and maybe updating your position trackers etc.
Hi Henri,
Thanks for the fill on that, makes sense.
No, temporarily opting into a priority plan from a Roam plan is not going away. Stein originally reported that it was, but then reversed his claim after Starlink clarified their communication of the new plan structure. It’s all in the updates to his Panbo article.
The Global Priority plan no longer has unlimited non-priority data for use in coastal waters. On the old Mobile Priority plan I paid $250/month for unlimited data when not offshore (averaging around 300gb/month) and only occasionally had to pay a little more for extra priority data while on an offshore passage. On the Global priority plan, I now have to pay $650/month every month for the same data usage. That’s a 260% price increase.
Meanwhile, the Global Roam plan is more confusing than ever. The newly rewritten TOS state that “Starlink may permit Roam Unlimited users to opt-in to purchase Global Priority data. Such permission may be revoked by Starlink in its sole discretion at any time.” This language isn’t exactly reassuring about service availability offshore.
Hi Earl,
Thanks for the real world fill on that, always the most useful when trying to parse this kind of thing.
Yes, if you were using the business-oriented Priority plan in coastal waters instead of the far more common boater practice of using Roam, then there are more significant changes with the new split between Local and Global Priority and the impermissibility of using Local Priority for coastal coverage. For actual offshore communications, nothing has really changed: Global Priority is still required, still costs $250/month for the first 50GB, and includes unlimited low-speed data after you have exhausted your priority data.
If you allow me to quote you:
”The pricing and policies at Starlink are about as stable as the boss.”
it cannot be summed up more succinctly and more accurately. I almost fell out of the chair laughing when I read this.
we just went through the same assessment and considering that two users on Citrix can easily use up 50 GB in a day (ask me how I know) that gets pricey fast. Plus the hardware ain’t cheap, either. Cobbling services together is probably the most viable option.
What about the ability of iPhones (gen 15 and up?) to connect to satellite for text messaging?
Hi Susan,
Good question. In my view this is a feature that would be useful to a suddenly lost hiker, but pretty much useless for our purposes offshore since we can’t get vital weather information, GRIBs and weather maps: https://www.morganscloud.com/category/weather/book-weather-analysis/
And also, like In-reach etc this phone feature is no substitute for an EPIRB and an Iridium hand set (see links in further reading).
Not wishing to digress from the topic but merely as a point of information with regards to Susan’s suggestion and the possible use of modern mobile handsets.
Here in the UK ofcom are looking at licensing frequencies to access satellite comms.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/spectrum/space-and-satellites/consultation-enabling-satellite-direct-to-device-services-in-mobile-spectrum-bands/
Hi John,
Sure, direct to device (D2D) might change everything, but at present I don’t think it adds much and I’m guessing (wild) that it won’t give the band width necessary to compete with Starlink, but I could easily be wrong. Anyway, it will be interesting to watch.
Dear John, dear all,
Call me old-fashioned, but as a GOC-holder when offshore I like the SOLAS GMDSS approved systems like Inmarsat C, EPIRB and of course VHF. Lars Thrane has developed an Iridium Certus based device – LT-4200S – which is GMDSS approved and offers distress alert and call, safety calling and messaging, receives MSI (which is very important), offers voice calls and IP-data in the speed-range of the Iridium-Go! Exec for GRIB files and the like. That’s the Sat C plus the Go! Exec in one device. With a global coverage! The antenna is more on the heavy side with 3.7 kg, but still OK. Unlike the Go! Exec, its cable is of a decent length. The device runs on 24V but doesn’t seem to be difficult to install. The prize tag drives the tears to the eyes. But then, it is designed for the marine environment and offers GMDSS everywhere on Earth.
The smaller model LT-3100S is not in the Certus range, therefore with lower data speeds. But still GMDSS approved and with similar capabilities. It’s a little less expensive, but still painful.
You’d still need a second-hand Iridium handset for the raft, but I anyway don’t see a way around that.
I’d very much appreciate to read your thoughts on that.
Cheers
I’m interested to learn more real-world stuff about LT-4200S. What are the real-world grib download speeds compared to GO-exec? What’s the all up purchase price? What’s the monthly cost? I’ve gone with the following triple: GO-exec for offshore and liferaft. Cellular when coastal cruising in the pacific islands. Starlink roam as a last resort; typically paused. That seemed like the cheapest up-front cost and cheapest monthly, but with a range of data speeds. It will hopefully minimize the amount of $ I send to the world’s richest man. What’s your complement of devices? You have the LT-4200S, a plain GO and no Starlink?
Hi Glenn,
I haven’t bought the LT-4200S yet. I’m currently trying to identify solutions for a robust communication system when offshore. The Go! Exec (or even the Go!) is of course one of the obvious solutions and is probably the most cost effective one. But, unlike Go! or Go! Exec, GMDSS was developed for safety at sea, connecting directly to the MRCCs with the highest priority. John is right when he says that it is expensive and cumbersome for us yachties. On our boats we are not obliged to install the whole GMDSS system. We just cherry-pick what we like and use it when cruising, like DSC-VHF, EPIRB, AIS-SART and Navtex. Up until some 15-20 years ago, many blue-water cruisers installed – for a lot of money – MF/HF SSB equipment on their yachts, because it was and still is part of GMDSS. Inmarsat C is the only part of GMDSS that still would fit on small yachts. But it is very expensive for the few advantages it offers: distress alerts and MSI reception from 0° to 70° degrees of latitude. Iridium now broke the monopoly of Inmarsat on GMDSS and offers a global coverage (also above 70°). The 2 LT devices combine Sat C capabilities with priority distress calls to MRCCs. Rescue coordination is immediately handled by marine professionals, because unlike Go! Exec it is part of GMDSS. So, the question is, should we include these LT devices into the group of items that we yachties could/should cherry-pick from. They happen to offer IP-data transfer. The 4200 is in the range of 180kbs up and down like the Go! Exec (Certus 200). The 3100 is in the range of the Go!. I have heard that the RNLI is currently equipping their rescue boats with the LT devices. If it weren’t for the prize tag of 6-7000 € for the 4200 (and still 5000ish for the 3100), I guess I would be seriously tempted.
Hi Paul,
Do as you see fit, but given that EPIRBs (which I always recommend) are GMDSS and go directly to the correct RCC and that we can simply call the RCC with Iridium (I always had their numbers on speed dial in case) I just don’t see a reason to even worry about those old, expensive, many of them obsolete (Inmarsat C), technologies. Even Certus 200 is being fast overtaken by better technologies, so I would not want to invest heavily in it now.
This is backed up by a chat I had with a watch stander at RCC Bermuda in which he stated that their preferred situation, based on many rescues, for yachts is an EPIRB followed by a direct call from sat phone.
So yes, given unlimited funds, LT-4200 might be a good option, although the air time will also be way higher than GO, I am pretty much certain since there are no unlimited packages I can find, but for most of us who have to be careful to prioritize our spending well, I just can’t see how it makes sense.
Or to put it another way, in my view, there are many other things we could put the price difference between GO! and LT-4200 toward that would enhance safety more.
Hi Paul,
I have not looked at the full on GMDSS solutions for some years, but the last time I did I concluded that for us yachties they were not worth the, as you say, eye watering price.
My thinking is that if we have an EPIRB and a GO! particularly if we add a hand set there is just no justification to spend the extra for GMDSS compliance.
I guess one could argue that MSI messages were a justification, but if we want those we can get them over Navtex for much less and when coastal we will get the ones we really need to know about via VHF. And we can download MSI messages over an iridium GO or Starlink. More here: https://www.morganscloud.com/2016/01/04/qa-should-i-get-a-navtex/
https://www.morganscloud.com/2016/01/15/marine-electronics-recommendations-communications/
This is great John. What should I do with my functioning ICOM SSB and seemingly miles of copper ribbon in my boat? Sigh.
Hi Jesse,
Well at least you can sell the copper to a scrap merchant. Sorry, all I got.
Well, I’m keeping it for the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse, no doubt a result of the Trump tariffs and shortages of good Canadian bacon.
re “PredictWind unlimited”> The word “unlimited” is carefully defined by PredictWind (PW) as “data consumed by their apps, only”. Therefore “unlimited” equals inside the PW kingdom. I obtained my GO-exec sim from Ocens, where “unlimited” isn’t a marketing term, but rather the truth = all data. Why does it matter? I use LuckGrib (LG) for my weather routing at sea. I’ve raced it side-by-side with PW’s Offshore App, and there is no contest – LG is about 10x faster at downloading the gribs, over the flakey Iridium network. And once you’ve got your gribs, the routing runs locally (I use it on iPad), and is pretty much instantaneous. gribs are my biggest data consumer. So if I was on PW’s sim, it would not be covered by PW’s definition of “unlimited”. Further, most PW services are now tangled up with a PW Data Hub. I don’t want one. And I don’t like the “lock in” tactic. If you have a good NEMA network, and a good onboard WiFi router, with your NEMA data published over WiFi, then the Data Hub adds no additional functionality, and is just another bit of hardware consuming power and that you need to install and carry a spare for. The Data Hub is not a “good router”. A good one will put up two WiFi networks, one for the ship’s equipment, and the second for crew and guests. This allows you to keep the ship’s network locked down for better protection from hacking. My radar is on the ship’s network so that it can be connected to multiple chartplotter PCs. Can’t do that with the Data Hub. Sorry about the rant. Just doing my bit to attempt to slow down what seems to be a mass migration to PW, which is destined to join one of the big monopoly marine companies.
Hi Glenn,
I agree about PW and in fact warned of just that:
https://www.morganscloud.com/jhhtips/predictwind-unlimited-with-go-exec-better-than-i-thought/
And I agree on their Data Hub: https://www.morganscloud.com/2017/08/24/iridium-go-and-uuplus-real-world-use-review/
That said, great to hear that Ocens unlimited really is and can be used with my favourite viewer (like you):https://www.morganscloud.com/2023/11/17/weather-analysis-hardware-and-software-version-2/
I had a bad experience with Ocens and really did not like that for many years they were charging people on a per map bases for information that has already been paid for by the US Tax payer…for now, anyway.
And I have also taken PW to task for extravagant claims: https://www.morganscloud.com/2016/02/05/five-tips-for-choosing-weather-information-to-believe-and-pay-for/
While the politics and personalities behind Starlink make it a non-starter for many, there’s a number of other projects just around the corner that look set to deliver the same game-changing functionality that makes Starlink so compelling. Amazon’s own ‘Project Kuiper’ is due to launch 9 April with OneWeb, Viasat and others in the running as well. Unless one needs a new offshore comms system right now, waiting might be another option to the other very expensive, limited functionality choices on the table.
The link might be of interest: Top 10 Starlink Competitors and Alternatives in 2025
Hi Iain,
I hope you are right, but based on the actual track record, availability and pricing of other options I’m not that optimistic that viable competition for yachties to Starlink will be available any time soon. One kinda bright spot, in a weird way, is that the current policies of the US administration, and the involvement of the Starlink boss, may spur other countries to work together to support and fund alternatives because of the fear that Starlink service could be cut off for political reasons.
If you go Starlink, go with the mini: only 22w consomption, everything sits in the antenna, nothing else to install. Bandwidth is almost identical to the regular antenna. When offshore more than 10nm, activate the Global Priority Service for the time needed. A game changer.
John, Just Wow, that article sure sparked some minds.
Since we are currently circumnavigating the globe, I thought I would share what we’ve chosen to go by.
We’ve initially opted for the flat high performance dish with the big maritime plan of a TB of mobile priority with Starlink. We are 6 on board and I work remotely, so it made sense for us. I understand it’s absolutely outrageous for some people. We are not a luxury yacht. We are on a good old sailboat. The recent changes at Starlink actually brought our bill down by half as we can now go by 500 MB increments (half of the data chunk we previously had to purchase to travel without borders with Starlink). Even thought we are travelling the world, we are nearly always within 12 miles of a coast. If, for some reason, we have exceeded our 500 MB and are off the coast (+12 n miles), we use the toggle switch to pay for extra data. But trust me, you won’t put it on often. Just on passages. How much internet does one need offshore? The kids download a couple movies and books before we reach the 12 mile limit and we could only connect to send text messages to relatives and check the meteorological conditions, rerun Predict wind scenarios and the likes. Truth be told, we leave it open and just don’t stream Netflix or YouTube. Our families like to follow our progress and it’s very reassuring to them: https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SV-Seamer/ We have our 4 kids on board and the grandparents are watching that dot like hawks.
Starlink is flawless. It works everywhere, all the time. It even worked during a hurricane in Mexico (Lidia). When you are out of priority data, you are on the other side of the fence and no longer prioritized. BUT the speed is still amazing and that will never prevent you from checking the weather.
For us, the fact that I need internet to work, the added safety of constant communication with the outside world, the commodity that internet provides, it was and still is a no-brainer. And our bill was recently slashed in half…
That being said, we also have a Garmin mini II in case of Starlink failure or battery bank being empty (generator problems). We found ourselves on a completely drained boat 4 days of the coast of Mexico because of a generator issue. The Garmin mini was there exactly for this. It did a fantastic job. We took refuge on a military island off the Mexican coast 100 miles from our position, that being organized by us with our Garmin mini, our router and the Mexican Navy. Hand steering by compass with a hydraulic system is not a recommendation I make. lol. The sun eventually charged the battery bank and the instruments came back on. We fixed the generator (grounding issue) and we were on our way.
All that to say that Starlink or data roaming cards are worth nothing off shore. You need satellite. Period. Some sailors don’t seem to get it. Starlink is not safe and it can never be your only means of communication with the outside world. Garmin mini made sense to us. The probability of us using it is still really low (read Starlink or our battery bank failing). We have trustworthy people on land that can route and relay weather info in that “worst case scenario”. We did it, and it was more than okay. Garmin mini is a little bomb that pacts a punch. Charging it is part of our pre passage routine. It’s also clipped in the cockpit.
We have a registered EPIRB and each a location beacon in our life vest in case of COB.
For data on land, we use Saily. They are working on a worldwide eSim. Can’t wait for this.
Anyhow, I would add that if I’d be considering a Starlink now, I’m not sure at all I’d buy, cuz “elbows up” as Canadians!
Hi Marie,
Great fill thanks.
One thing I would caution about and the reason I prefer Go! over things like in-reach or garmin mini as backup is that I think relying on a person ashore to translate weather and routing to a text is fundamentally hazardous. In fact I think this may have been a major contributor to the loss of Solution where the skipper was relying on his navigator ashore for routing decisions relayed in text. My guess is that if the skipper had actually viewed GRIBs and current charts he would not have ventured into the situation that broke his boat. Even pro weather routers sitting ashore repeatedly make dangerous calls.
I have written more about that and the importance of making final routing decisions aboard, not remotely, here: https://www.morganscloud.com/2008/05/01/weather-routing-and-the-skippers-responsibility/
One other thought from your experience. I would be looking at upgrading the main engine alternator as a backup for the generator and to save generator time when you must motor. A good alternator with a decent regulator would have been able to keep up with your usage in no more than two hours a day of running, and probably an hour or less if well configured.
More on how to do that here:
https://www.morganscloud.com/2013/11/06/10-tips-to-buy-and-install-a-liveaboards-alternator/
https://www.morganscloud.com/2022/01/30/wakespeed-ws500-best-alternator-regulator-for-lead-acid-and-lithium-batteries/
Hi John! Thanks for your input.
The skipper is responsible for routing and taking the best decisions for his crew, indeed. I too would prefer Go! as a secondary means of communication with the outside world because it provides internet. But, where should we stop the expense? Go! feels like a redundancy of a redundancy at this point with all we’ve put in place since that dark boat night event.
We have very good sailors around us, including one regularly involved in rescue, and they would route us as conservatively as we would, risk wise. If anything, one of them can do it better than us and the other just as well. It would be very temporary as we have several redundancy to make sure our Starlink does not fail us:
I read your article on the loss of the sailing vessel Solution with avidity a couple weeks ago. I wonder exactly how they could miss this… You are right that routers put sailors in dangerous situations on repeat. Choosing a conventional router is no light decision. As a matter of fact we fired one this past year and I’m not sure we will ever hire one again. He was unhappy we questioned his routing. He was literally failing to see in how much of a dangerous situation he was asking us to put ourselves in. We of course defied him. He was really mad and we were like “Just check the weather!”. He was in the wrong and also had made and reiterated a very important typo for coordinates. Coordinates!! He realized his mistakes when he finally listened, apologized after we fired him, but we decided we were better off on our own. And that guy is a well known router… Classic routers are not on call for this emergency scenario of us no longer having access to internet. And yes, a lot of texts would be exchanged if ever. A lot of double checking by us.
Still on the matter of communications at sea, we’ve notice a lot of grudge against Starlink in the sailing community, but honestly from sailors that refuse to play by the rules Starlink has set up (and I know the rules fluctuate, but certainly not as much as the pricing which is what people are often mad at). Many insist on finding ways to go around the system, refusing to commit to a plan that is made to go hand in hand with their sailing journey. I’m part of a What’s App group of sailors discussing Starlink and I’ve lost interest mainly because a lot of it is Starlink bashing and workarounds. Starlink is of course full of troubles if you are constantly trying to find workarounds by changing your service address and plan. A lot of sailors are waltzing that. If you are not in a van, don’t take a plan for a van because vans don’t go over the seas… Many refuse to accept that Starlink runs a monopoly. It’s the only product allowing you to have internet like landbased folks. I’m not sure a worthy competitor is going to show up soon. We decided it was best to surrender, pay the big bucks for the right plan and rely on Starlink to deliver. And Starlink delivers. This opinion is unpopular, people feel cheated, but Starlink keeps all the flexibility required in its terms and conditions to act the way it does. And people are obviously accepting those terms… The facts are there, just surrender or adopt another solution. Your analysis is flawless in that regard: a mix of Go! and sim card is not only smart, but much cheaper. I don’t think we would have Starlink if I didn’t have to work. Me working is also the only reason we are able to keep sailing. Who wants, or rather, who needs internet like at home on the water?!
Good point for the alternator. We left Mexico with a working alternator. We like redundancies on our systems. But, nothing happens alone and it’s nearly never daytime when it does. Moreover, we’ve been taught the hard way that weird stuff will happen after a couple days in a washing machine. The full story involves an alternator that stopped working we don’t know when because we were sailing, a bad jybe with the parasailor the night of, a line stuck in the prop as a result of said jybe, a low battery alarm, a failing generator, a night dive to free the prop to allow us to motor, a completely dark boat, using our garmin mini, 3 hours of compass steering, heaving too, taking refuge on a military island where the only thing we could do was drop the hook (that’s all we needed honestly), although my husband did convince them to let him surf their wave after he fixed the generator… We’ve learned a lot from and since that dark boat night. Sailing sure provides for stories, good and bad. When my husband and I grow very old together, I only dearly hope that we have the brains to reminisce about those stories and fully appreciate the predicament we conditionally once chose to expose ourselves to with our little family and say that it was all worth it. Sounds cheesy, but I’m all about that cheese!
Hi Marie,
I agree, people spend way too much time trying to game Starlink and then bitch when it all goes wrong.
Also interesting about your experience with routers. Maybe not throw the baby out with the bath water, though. I have found that as long as we sanity check what they say routers can be very useful for their deep experience with weather patterns so I used to use Commander’s Weather for really tricky voyages, but rolled my own most of the time.
I also agree that we have to draw the line somewhere on backups, but I still think I would prefer Iridium over Garmin because of the voice ability to talk directly to an RCC in an emergency. This ability has proved its self in many rescues and medical emergencies. You might consider a second hand Iridium hand set, which would also give you data backup for the Starlink, and it’s easy to take into a liferaft.
Thanks for your reply John!
I prefer when it’s a first hand recommendation for routers, someone with specific credentials. Don’t worry, I’m not throwing the baby out with the bath water from having a single bad experience. All the other experiences were good. I’ve heard good stuff about Commander.
Like I said, I also think Go! is better, it provides internet and we can talk, we both agree it had quite an edge over Garmin mini!
This discussion about communication seems to have focused mostly on access to weather and Gribs. But for general communication I like the InReach. It offers straight forward text communication, no more no less. Also, I can take it with me aboard other vessels, so I find it a solid and inexpensive tool.
NAVTEX? Is this still viable? I have not seen a working reciever in more than a decade. Back in the day I really depended on it as a parallel to the Weather FAX.
On passages with Starlink aboard, I find the access to weather data convenient, but the crew ends up buried in their little screens and the cockpit conversation suffers dramatically. A schedule where the starlink is turned off 90% of the time would probably help.
Hi Carl,
I guess we will have to agree to disagree on the InReach or Iridium GO! or hand set call. That said, if all you want the inreach for is to text friends, sure I see that. When I get worried is when people propose these units a substitute for other functions, particularly: https://www.morganscloud.com/jhhtips/there-is-no-substitute-for-an-406-mhz-epirb/
I agree on the drawbacks of always on internet at sea: https://www.morganscloud.com/2025/02/25/6-tips-for-mindful-watchkeeping/
And here’s my thinking on Navtex, very much in line with yours: https://www.morganscloud.com/2016/01/15/marine-electronics-recommendations-communications/ (scroll down)
Absolutely, InReach is not an Epirb. Nor is it a weather source. It really only provides one primary service: world-wide text communications. But that one thing it does very well. Tapio was very glad to have his YB3 when his Iridium handset failed in the life raft. I do not plan on being in a raft any time soon… but I do like being able to easily send updates and tracking ashore and a good night/goodmorning message to the family…
NAVTEX still works and provides me with regular weather information both area forecasts and station reports, among other navigational warnings. NAVTEX remains part of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS). For me it just sits there recording information and makes a useful, independent back up. In my case it also serves as a repeater for NMEA data at the chart table.
Which Navtex do you use? The last one I had aboard a vessel that worked was a Furuno that printed out on thermal paper. I liked it very much. Despite the draw backs of thermal paper.
ICS Nav6 Navtex, the standard version, but earlier model than shown in the link, but with the updated antenna after my original “shark fin” style failed. The latest ICS models also have atmospheric pressure trending, if that is needed, and laptop, interface.
https://www.icselectronics.co.uk/leisure/nav6
No paper required and past reports are maintained in memory for a period of time.
Correction, it’s the older version of the Nav6 Plus, which does not have the digital barograph capability. See table of comparisons in the link above.
Hi Carl and Alastair,
Good to hear that Alastair has had good service from the ICS. That said we had a terrible time with one of their units, albeit nearly 20 years ago. The most disturbing part of the whole experience was how ICS treated us: https://www.morganscloud.com/2006/01/01/ics-navtex-problems/
Given this I would go with Furuno: https://www.morganscloud.com/2016/01/15/marine-electronics-recommendations-communications/
But then I would be the first to say that I’m a Furuno fan boy and very biased (with justification) against ICS.