16/10/2024
By far the biggest question I am getting at the moment is about Starlink Mini - so, here is everything I know so far. It's my opinion, based on my testing, or the testing of people that I trust...this is not a recommendation, yet.
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The first three generations of Starlink used a comparatively large dish (called a Dishy) and generally weren't suitable for most ocean rowing boats as there was limited space on the roof, meaning smaller solar panels, or at least casting a shadow over a solar panel.
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On the larger Rossiter boats, Starlink worked quite well as there was more space. People that used it generally loved it. But there were some major drawbacks.
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Power - it draws a LOT when it's turned on, that does drop down significantly once it's settled, but it's still a lot more than a BGAN terminal.
Size - as mentioned above - it's not really suitable for most ocean rowing boats
Portability - starlink had to be plugged into the boat to operate. It doesn't have a battery built in (unlike a BGAN terminal) so if you use it at night, it's just drawing from the battery and the battery is not being replenished because there is no sun - with a BGAN you can charge it at midday when the sun is strong and use it whenever you like.
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The Starlink Mini however, comes pretty close to solving most of these issues.
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Firstly YOU MUST BE ON THE RIGHT CONTRACT - this is important - MOBILE PRIORITY - 50GB is the one you need (or MOBILE PRIORITY - 1TB if you think you will be a heavy user) - if you're not on that, it'll work perfectly in testing on land, and then you'll go away to sea and you'll find you're internetless.
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The unit is MUCH smaller (it's small laptop sized), and so it takes up much less space - however, you may not even need to put it on the roof. Inside a GRP/fibreglass ocean rowing boat, Starlink will work perfectly from INSIDE the cabin (tested in an R45 on land) - ideally mount it to the ceiling NOT directly behind the solar panel (e.g. right down the end of the bow cabin)
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Starlink have released a mini-USB-C cable for it - and this means it can also be run from a powerbank - this means you can charge the power bank at midday and use starlink at any time of the day. It seems like a 40,000 MaH powerbank should power the Starlink for about 3 hours.
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Whilst it does take up considerably more power than a BGAN terminal, it draws considerably less than it's predecessor, less than the watermaker during a recent test.
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So, why wouldn't you choose Starlink Mini?
- Whilst it uses less power, it still uses a lot more than a BGAN Terminal. If you're going to use one make sure your power managment is ABSOLUTELY NAILED ON.
