Birthday Present

I would go for the Sat phone for sure.....EPIRB you might never use but with the Sat phone you can always make a call when you need to

Hi Brian
I have a Qualcom sat phone its cdma and a sat phone, I got a letter the other day saying that the cdma feature won't work next year but the sat phone will.
I will still use this phone at the moment.
I have the phone on a Globalstar plan that enabled me to get the phone for $499, and not the $2000 retail, its a 2 year $70 pm plan and you get $70 per month free calls.
Just ask a reputable dealer, and after 2 years you can change to a lesser plan, I never leave home without mine.
Cheers Steve Top End Explorer Tours

Brian, get a satphone if she's rich or got good credit :))) But Beware Globalstar. Check recent posts about their sats going down etc etc
Much better of with slightly more exe phone to start with, and reliable service, something I didn't find with that mob.
If she needs an extra reason for a satphone, its because you can ring her if she ever wants to stay at home :)))

Hi Brian, We have had Globalstar for about 3 years now and have had no problems with lost satellite etc. as others have mentioned. We received a letter from Globalstar the other day telling us that we are going to lose the CDMA part of it, something to do with Telstra not allowing them to use Next G. No matter where we have been if we have needed the phone we have had coverage, even on the CSR. We don't find the loss of CDMA a problem as we have mobiles that have coverage in that area. We bought our sat phone outright and we have it on a $35 plan and have $10 free calls per month. We didn't bother about the car kit.
Have you thought of looking for a second hand one.

Cheers
Dunworkin

I Globestar problem was from there own site ........... saying what the problem was.

I did find the sponsors page after i had put this topic up. I find it also helps to get a range of comments from people that own a p[roduct and get reviews and not a sales line so to speak.

I have not looked at a 2nd hand one .............. but worth considering as long as its newish tech not old style I guess.

Brian

Naaaaaaaaa neither of those. Look here this is a mans' present, dont wimp out with an epirb or satphone...
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" as for a Sat phone do you have a phone account with these IE fees paid every month if you use it or not?"

If you buy a Motorola 9500 or 9505 and have a Telstra GSM Simcard with International Roaming, you can make a Satphone call at any time without paying any extra monthly fees.

This service works on the Iridium Satellite network so you won't run out of Satellites soon. "The 66 Iridium Satellites and 9 operational spares are expected to be in good health for the next seven years" (Aviation Week & Space Technology 19 Feb 2007 p55)