ACRBivy Stick Satellite Communicator - Two-Way Global SMS, GPS Tracker, Off-Grid Communication, SOS Emergency Beacon, Satellite Messenger & Location Sharing - iOS/Android App

UPDATE: November 11, 2023. The Bivy Stick is still working just fine. On a recent camping trip, I sent and received 84 messages from family and friends while off-grid deep in the forest. I still highly recommend this device.They say that the Garmin inReach is the best SOS locator out there. Since I don't have an inReach I can't say whether it is or isn't. I do know that there is no way I'm going to pay the high price for an inReach when there are many alternatives out there for far less money and will do the same thing. I chose the ACR Bivy Stick for my Locator. I've had it now for two months and have used it a lot. Where many people go wrong is that they buy something like this and then go out off-grid and expect it to work perfectly. That is a reasonable expectation. But the problem is that they don't take the time to really learn the device and practice with it a little. When I received mine I took it out in the desert and sent and received several messages to my sister, and to my own cellphone. I also sent messages to my email address. At first the email did not work. Or so I thought. I later found out that my email account was putting all messages from the Bivy Stick in a Spam folder. That was an easy fix once I got home. I then sent a test SOS to Global Rescue to see how that worked. They told me that I could test the SOS feature anytime, just be sure to let them know that it is only a test. I did find out that the Android app does have a few minor bugs in it, but nothing that would affect how it worked. Tech support asked me to let them know of any bugs so they could fix them in the next update. Which I am doing.On my last 5 day camping trip in the High Sierra mountains (off-grid) I sent and received daily TEXT messages to my sons more or less just to test the device and really get to know it. I did learn that you really do need a pretty clear shot of the open sky for best signal strength. But that is true no matter which device you use. I am very happy with the Bivy Stick. Even if money was no object, I still think I would buy the Bivy Stick over the Garmin inReach. I am not knocking the inReach! I just can't see where the inReach will give me that much more in reliability and features than the Bivy Stick. The bottom line is, practice with it and learn to use it. Had I not quickly learned about my email account Spam folder I would have been disappointed with the email feature and would have blamed it on the Bivy Stick..

Amazing product

Did a Cottonwod pass to Whitney with this and love it. Its lightweight, stays out of the way and worked pretty well at least in the eastern sierras. I wish I had this with me in Mongolia but that was 2018. I will continue to carry with me on motorcycle and backpack trips.

Bought this for my son to use while on a seven day camping trip. He had a blast camping and hiking and we felt secure being able to track his progress. Unfortunately, once he packed all his equipment back to the vehicle my son discovered no keys and no cell service. We were able to message back and forth through the bivy stick to arrange a tow .

This product is great when it is working correctly. But there was one time we left port and in the middle of the ocean, discovered that the subscription renewal did not fully activate and we were two weeks at sea with no contacts for weather planning.

Randomly started transmitting the SOS signal without being activated. Luckily I was in cell range and is able to tell them it was a false alert. Otherwise, I could only assume a rescue attempt would have been made when I was offshore fishing, when one was not warranted. customer service did not want to accept the fact that the device was defective, and kept saying maybe somebody else pressed it or maybe it hit something inside my backpack I’m like, there was nobody else, and I don’t have it in a backpack! it would not even stop transmitting when I try to power it off. Finally it completely died on its own, and will not turn back on.Update.New unit received, but now this one doesn’t seem to receive any messages. I’ve communicated this to customer service. They made a few attempts to help me, but no follow through. we’ve never been able to get it to work, and they have never offered me any kind of refund. Complete waste of money. Hopefully Amazon will help.

Great device and great value. I've taken it on many hikes now and being able to communicate with friends/family while way out in the wild is great. Also let's you share your location, check weather, and maps although having a dedicated GPS map service should be part of your gear load-out anyway. The customer support is amazing as well. I highly recommend this product if you don't want to drop all that money on a Garmin. Super happy with this purchase.

We bought the Bivy for our climbing and off grid 4x4 trips. It did not disappoint. It worked well with our phones, sent regular messages to family and friends, provided weather reports, and tracked our position so that we could use offline maps to navigate. When I had a problem with the monthly credits, the customer service was friendly and stellar, solving the problem and more than making up for the inconvenience. Highly recommended.