ZOLEO

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TIP: The online Bushwalk Inventory System can help bushwalkers with a variety of bushwalk planning tasks, including: Manage which items they take bushwalking so that they do not forget anything they might need, plan meals for their walks, and automatically compile food/fuel shopping lists (lists of consumables) required to make and cook the meals for each walk. It is particularly useful for planning for groups who share food or other items, but is also useful for individual walkers.

ZOLEO

Postby GregG » Wed 10 Jun, 2020 11:53 am

I have just read an advertorial about this Zoleo device which purports to turn a smart phone into a satellite communications device with world wide coverage, the article was pretty light on detail though. So, I am familiar with satphones but can anyone enlighten me on this particular bit of gear? I'm wondering about performance, cost, utility and whether its a gimmick.
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Re: ZOLEO

Postby Mark F » Wed 10 Jun, 2020 12:05 pm

It seems very similar to the Garmin Inreach Mini but 50% heavier and it seems on first glance to be missing a little functionality such as weather forecasts. Still needs a subscription which seems more expensive than Garmin.
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Re: ZOLEO

Postby GregG » Wed 10 Jun, 2020 9:23 pm

Thanks Mark.
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Re: ZOLEO

Postby Dexter » Mon 26 Feb, 2024 9:22 am

Sorry for raising this thread from the dead, but just having a read of various communicators and the issue I have is that I might only find time off work to do a handful of multi day walks a year. All the plans I've seen for Garmin and Spot have a way to suspend the service but also have expensive re-activation costs associated. The Zoleo site states "Suspend your plan when not in use for just $3.95 AUD/month. While suspended, your device will not transmit messages (including SOS). Unsuspend online any time with no activation fee." This seems far more reasonable even if the monthly costs are a bit higher. Does anyone have any experience using Zoleo?

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Re: ZOLEO

Postby MikeB62 » Mon 26 Feb, 2024 10:56 am

Yes, I have one and think it perfect for our needs. The $3.95 per month suspend works well. I have a PLB , but got Zoleo when we did Larapinta, as barley any mobile signal. We could message our kids anytime and the phone app works very well. With Zoleo you get a proper phone number anyone can SMS you even without app. But app gives you longer message length so is best to use. Last year were walking in the Pyrenees and I was sick for a few days mid walk. I went back to town and met up wife a few days later. So continued on solo sending zoleo one button check in's a couple of times a day which include co-ordinates. Then app messaged at night when at next refugee. There was no phone signal at all during this section of the walk...so a great solution for us. Garmin etc all work well, it's just a matter of which best supports your planned usage. For us, the good messaging app and cheap suspend mode are key features.
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Re: ZOLEO

Postby Dexter » Mon 26 Feb, 2024 1:30 pm

MikeB62 wrote:Yes, I have one and think it perfect for our needs. The $3.95 per month suspend works well. I have a PLB , but got Zoleo when we did Larapinta, as barley any mobile signal. We could message our kids anytime and the phone app works very well. With Zoleo you get a proper phone number anyone can SMS you even without app. But app gives you longer message length so is best to use. Last year were walking in the Pyrenees and I was sick for a few days mid walk. I went back to town and met up wife a few days later. So continued on solo sending zoleo one button check in's a couple of times a day which include co-ordinates. Then app messaged at night when at next refugee. There was no phone signal at all during this section of the walk...so a great solution for us. Garmin etc all work well, it's just a matter of which best supports your planned usage. For us, the good messaging app and cheap suspend mode are key features.


Yeah, that's it. I have no doubt the Garmin is very good. But expensive re-activation is a huge turnoff. They'd have my money if I could do some kind of pre-paid equivalent, or cheap suspend mode like Zoleo offer.
Great to hear some feedback on it as well. Seems like a good solution to me.
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