Zoleo Global Satellite Communicator Review: the device for the adventure traveller
The Zoleo ZL1000 is a small device that lets you stay in touch when beyond the reach of cell phones. It uses the Iridium satellite network to let you send and receive texts, “check in”, and in case of emergency send an SOS message, the latter two with GPS coordinates. And it works anywhere in the world, almost. Iridium’s constellation of 66 satellites does cover the globe, pole to pole. However certain countries sanctioned by the US do not have access; the sanctions list includes countries like Iran, Cuba and Libya (but not Russia, Zoleo assured me, though rescue responses may be delayed there). All this is done using an app on your smartphone or tablet for the user interface, making for a small and lightweight device. You can of course send checkins and SOS alarms via buttons on the device if your cell phone can’t be used. When you have cell or wifi coverage, that is used, but in out-of-coverage areas, Zoleo automatically switches to satellite communication.
- The unit weighs 150g (5.3 oz);
- It is 9.1 x 6.6 x 2.7 cm (3.5 x 2.6 x 1.0 inches) in size;
- Location coverage includes GPS and GLONASS satellites;
- IP68 dust- and water-resistant to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) for 30 minutes (so: OK around water, but not your SCUBA diving buddy);
- Rubberized exterior is shock-resistant to MIL-STD 810G;
- The rechargeable (but not removable) lithium-ion battery is claimed to give up to 200 hours on a charge;
- There’s a two-year warranty on the hardware.
You pay a monthly fee for the service, but less than the corresponding sat phone would cost, e.g., Sat Phone service at US$60/month for 10 minutes voice and 10 texts. Not to mention the US$1,000 or so for the phone. Note: all functionality, including SOS response, requires an active paid-up subscription.
If you need voice communication, this is not for you; get a sat phone. If you are OK with texting in the middle of nowhere, get a Zoleo.
Optional accessory hardware includes two kinds of mounts, which I didn’t look at. There’s an unmarked depression in the top edge that is just the right size for a full-sized SD card, but my spider sense tells me it’s actually for holding the unit into one of the external mounts.
During part of June, 2022 the unit was on sale for C$200 (regular MSRP C$269, US$199) and included a bonus offer that, if you activated your service before July 1, would include six months of optional GAIA GPS service for extra maps — mainly trails and suchlike. I’d had my eye on this device for a while, so when the price dropped, I reached for my credit card and ordered from MEC (Canadian outdoor supplier Mountain Equipment Company, formerly Co-Op, sometimes called “Canada’s answer to REI”).
In the box
My Zoleo ZL 1000 arrived a few days later in a small box, slightly larger and thicker than the device itself. The box contains the Communicator, a carabiner to fit into the attached nylon strap, a quick-start diagram, a longer quick-start book (in two languages), the obligatory safety warning novelette, and a USB-A to USB-Micro cable (for the few people on the planet who use tech and don’t already own 27 such cables). Oh, and stickers. Yes, stickers.
The quick-start diagram suggests you charge the device fully, then activate it via a web browser, then install the app (Android or iOS) and link the Communicator with your phone or tablet.
Activation
Like a new cell phone account, there’s a web-based activation process you have to go through. I almost sent the thing back when the web site:
- Demanded that the phone number be in a specific format (no spaces, dashes or parentheses allowed); I have blogged elsewhere about why this is a bad idea.
- Discarded 100% of the input on the signup form just because my valid phone number was voted off the island because of a space.
- Gives a page with zero content (except header and footer) when I try to shallow-link to e.g., https://www.myzoleo.com/en-ca/.
But the little nerd inside me has an abiding interest in weird communication devices, so I persisted.
Activation is simple (if you don’t make any mistakes signing up), requiring the usual details, a credit card, device details (there’s no SIM card; the Zoleo has its IMEI number baked into the hardware), and your choice of plan.
Plans
Zoleo offers three levels of subscription:
- Basic — C$25/US$20 per month, 25 messages, extra messages C$.70/US$.50
- In-Touch — C$45/US$35 per month, 250 messages, extras C$.70
- Unlimited — C$70/US$50 per month, with as it says on the tin, unlimited messages.
With any plan you can pick your own “@zoleo.com” email, and will be assigned a unique SMS number. Messages sent to either of these will appear in the app when they wend their way up to the edge of space and back down (if you’re out of cellular and WiFi service).
The web site states that all three plans include “usage alerts and optional message top-up bundles”, but doesn’t detail these. Plans also give access to DarkSky™ weather forecasts, using your GPS location for greater accuracy.
After you have subscribed for the first three months of service, you can suspend and resume the service at will to avoid paying when you’re not using it. Suspended accounts pay C$4/month to maintain the number and other associated information.
The one optional service is “Location Share” for C$7.50/US$6 per month, which allows unlimited “check in” with GPS location and the ability to share your breadcrumb trail on a map with up to five contacts.
All plans include 24/7 SOS monitoring. Pressing the SOS button (with an active subscription) sends the alert to the monitoring centre who will notify your two emergency contacts and communicate with you via messages.
Emergency!
A cover labelled in red with the word SOS hides the actual SOS button (also red) to prevent butt-dialing the emergency center. After opening that cover, if you actually press and release the red button, well, nothing will happen. You have to hold it for three seconds to activate it. If you do, and you have a paid subscription, and there are Iridium satellites in view, a message will be sent to the GEOS International Emergency Response Coordination Centre (IERCC) (more IERCC details). And the machine will make some noise to let you know that it’s in SOS mode. If you made a booboo or your dog managed to activate it, you can cancel the SOS by holding the button for five seconds. Like calling 911, this emergency service is not a play-toy; they are busy handling real emergencies (as with telephone 911, you can arrange a test, but it’s non-trivial).
After turning it on and off a few times and using some features, I found myself wishing the designers had built in a “silent mode” that would turn off all the sounds. You might want to work silently, say, without alerting your captors or enemy in a conflict situation, or putting to flight the animals you’re photographing or hunting. Well, actually this does exist, but only in the App, not on the device. “I found it.”
Behind the box
Zoleo is a Canadian company, headquartered in Toronto. The device I received states it was “Designed in Australia. Manufactured in Malaysia.” Truly global, I guess. They’ve been around for a couple of years, and have received good reviews for this product.
To gauge their responsiveness to customer requests, I sent this in to the company:
Unless I missed it in the mini-manual, there is no LED pattern to indicate whether the ZL1000 has enough satellites in view to communicate reliably. Since the firmware is updatable, I wonder if this could be added. Maybe the power LED could blink blue instead of green when it is able to communicate? A very minor change but one that would give the user a bit of reassuranceOf course you can see in the app whether you have sat connectivity, but it would be nice if you could determine this just by a glance at the Zoleo.
The support person promised to pass the idea long both to the dev team and to product management, so there’s hope.
The device arrived with firmware version 1.7. The latest as I write this is 3.1–0. I was able to do a software update without any of the usual “don’t turn your device off!” warnings one normally gets when updating firmware. I suspect this means their software update process is more robust than most, since there is a “Cancel update” button on the phone app which is there all the time, up until the update finishes. I do not intend to risk bricking my device by turning the device or the phone off during update. All four LEDs flash green during the update, a distinct signal from any other lights pattern.
Minor Gotchas
As mentioned, there ought to be a way to see if the device has sat lock-in without using the app.
The power button is pretty small (to avoid accidental on/off), but that means you have to press fairly hard for the 3–5 seconds it takes to activate.
The check in button doesn’t have any ‘click’ to it, so it’s not easy to know that it’s taken your request.
There are some LED patterns that don’t seem to be documented.
For Further Reading: Other Reviews & News
The device has been out for a year or two and the reviews are pretty positive.
Why You need a Zoleo in the Yukon
A backpacker reviews the Zoleo Communicator. Points out one significant advantage over the competition: “The Zoleo app can send texts and email with cellular, Wi-Fi, or satellite connections … This prevents having to migrate conversations to a different app when you enter or leave the backcountry and eliminates any missing messages that were sent using the wrong platform.”
“Hiking Guy” reviews the Zoleo Communicator with lots of pictures and screenshots.
BC woman survives snowmobile accident; Zoleo gives coordinates to rescuers, helps save woman’s life.
The Competition
Apart from dedicated Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs), there are relatively few devices like this on the market, other than the Zoleo. Table 1 shows a few that I’ve found. There’s also a Garmin “GPSMap 66” that is quite a bit more expensive.
The Garmin InReach Mini 2 has only a little screen and is the most expensive of the three, at US$400.
Spot X has a tiny keyboard and a character-mode screen, thus it can be used without your phone or tablet. The keyboard adds a lot of parts to the device, so it costs US$250 compared to Zoleo’s US$200. Customer reviews are not favorable (2/5 on REI.com). Spot also makes an app-controlled messenger that is price-competitive with the Zoleo.
The Garmin and Spot X devices have a short, fat antenna protruding from the top, vaguely walkie-talkie style. The Zoleo and Bivy Stick have their antennae inside the plastic case.
Overall
This device does what it says on the tin, and I’m keeping it for use in my future travels.
Disclosure
I bought and paid for the Zoleo (during the June sale mentioned above) for my own use and my family’s. As is usual for iTriedThat, I did not identify as a reviewer, and no consideration was received from the vendor or the manufacturer.
