Bivystick is an Easy & Affordable Satellite Communication Device.
Bivystick works with your smartphone and offers all of the benefits of a GPS unit and satellite 2-way communicator to send SMS messages, track and share location information, access GPS maps, get up to date weather forecasts, and initiate an SOS in the event of an emergency.
- Send and receive text messages from anywhere in the world
- Tracking and location sharing at a 10 minute interval
- Weather forecast 3 day or 7 day detailed based off your location
- SOS service to call in professional help when needed
- 5200 mAh backup battery for your phone
Amazon.com
eBay
stephanie vk –
was an Indiegogo contributor. I’ve used it twice so far to send and receive messages when I was out of cell service. The weather report function is very useful, also. All around it works great so far. There was an issue with getting it activated, and, I’m not kidding, within 2 minutes of sending an email for customer service, it was answered and the issue was resolved within 20 minutes. If that’s not great customer service, then I don’t know what is. I have not used the trip tracking function yet, (this is how I have convinced my wife to let me start going backpacking by myself again), and I will update my review directly after its first use. What I like the most is the credit plan is not misleading or just plain sinister like for example, the Spot communicator, (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look it up. And don’t EVER buy one, you’re welcome). If you’ve been looking for a simple, no frills sat communicator so your loved ones don’t worry about you, then this is it.
J Fiore –
I liked it because it was small enough to fit in my pocket. I used this when I go hiking.
TJ Torres –
I love the flexible plan you can get for this, how you can cancel anytime or keep it. It is a good size and very easy to use. It is nice that it can charge your phone in an emergency if you’re phone is dead. It seems to be built very rugged. I have had th he Spot satellite communicator and the bivy stick is better all around.
Herbert Cheese –
Does what it says it does, pretty compact, pretty rugged. Easy setup and no fuss connecting with the phone app which was nice. No complaints yet but I haven’t had to use it to rescue myself.
Yospeedy –
I bought the Bivystick directly from Bivy and not Amazon to save a few bucks. We spend a couple of months a year off grid and need a convenient method to communicate with the world. The other 10 months we do not need it. At first glance I liked the Bivy form factor, battery size, and no need for a subscription plan. I gave it 3 stars because it does send and receive text messages via satellite from the App on my iPhone. I would wait until they improve several things before purchasing this. There are many other choices on the market.I tested the Bivystick for about 6 weeks and I’m not happy with several things. First, if you cancel your base plan of 17.99 a month you lose your assinged phone number and are assigned a new one when you want to start up again. So everyone needs to forget the number you were texting them from and deal with a new one every time you do this. Second, getting and sending message from the app via satellite can be very very slow. From the same exact location and position on a table my times varied from a few minutes to over an hour with not a a good status of what is happening other than an indication it is linked one or more satellites. Third, The service doesn’t not work like other satellite services that support text messages, messages sizes are limited which is OK but the number they give cannot receive many types of text messages. After several question to Bivy tech support there is no support of an SMS gateway that allows you to get text messages from various alerts like stock, banks, alarm systems like Nest etc… This is very common for all cell phone and satellite phones etc. We tried having all our alerts sent to google number then forwarded to the Bivy number but Bivy doesn’t support that because they don’t support an SMS gateway. So when you are out in the wilderness forget about alerts. Maybe someone knows a method for IOS and will let Bivy know because they were clueless. Fourth, The app has no way to delete text messages that are sent or received. They simple stay on the list in event order. No response from Bivy support about this. This is pretty basic stuff. Fifth, the ON/OFF button and charger port is located under a hard to open cover on the bottom of the stick, it is not convenient and I had to pry it open most of the time. Last , I requested to return for refund we’ll see how that goes.
Christina –
Update 3/30/2020 FAST CUSTOMER SERVICE; my bivystick has not been charging fully only to two bars at a time. I contacted the bivystick company via email and was pleased with the response time, they got back to me within 6hrs on the same day I contacted them and told me to do a hard reset. To do this drain the battery till it is dead and once dead let it sit for two days. After two days see if it will charge fully. They said if it doesn’t to send it in and they will send me a new one.Such an added comfort to have this while hiking my solo adventures. Used the messaging system for the first time 5/13/19 in Mt Hood National forrest in a canyon, the message would not go through (could take a while to send message). It eventually went through, but I’m not sure as to when this happened and my dad recieved the message that I was ok. Tried to track my hike that day as well but couldn’t figure out how to do that yet. A bit more bulky and heavy than I thought it was going to be. Easy to set up. Every action uses one credit.
A. J. Tinsley –
Exactly what I wanted. I also have a Garmin Mini and that is a big disappointment.
E and C –
This hasn’t hit the mark for me. I hike in mountainous terrain and have only been successful sending and receiving messages when I’m on top of a mountain. Sending and receiving anywhere else wouldn’t send, and after waiting 30 mins, I’d give up. I don’t feel like it will be a reliable safety communicator if needed. As a primarily solo hiker, I wish I’d gone a different route.Messages sent fine from open fields or on top of mountains, which is nice to give a quick update to family.Solid points for battery life, and it’s nice as a charger for my phone.