First Impressions

I’m very excited to activate my new Zoleo device, which I’m evaluating for use in Search and Rescue operations. The integration between cellular and satellite works great; it is impressive to turn off the device and still send and receive messages!

A couple quick comments; I’m sure there will be many more as the evaluation continues. 

1) The format for reporting location is inconsistent. The “I’m OK” message shows location as DD.nnnnn, which is typical for computers, while the text map preview shown via sms2.zoleo.com displays DDòMM’SS”, typical for map readers. Ideally, the preferred format could be selected per account and consistent for all messages; I’d like DDò.MM.nnn, common for SAR missions.

2) I like the Check in button, but ideally I’d like to see the Check in LED flash when it’s in the process of transmitting, and the envelope LED flash when an incoming message arrives. The tone it makes when sending a Check in or other message is fine, but useless in an airplane cockpit. The pattern of cycling LEDs certainly lets you know the unit is working, but it can be more distracting than a single LED letting you know that something is in progress or needs attention, the latter might be best by flashing, the former with a steady light until the message has been sent.

3) Incoming email is truncated as explained in the manual, but the resulting truncated message has a bunch of non standard characters in it, making it hard to understand. The ability to send a small text file (250 characters) would be great!

4) I’d like to be able to customize the “I’m OK” string, via the website or app. In our case, we use the terminology “Ops Normal” instead of “I’m OK”.

A question has come up; are any of the sent or received messages encrypted prior to transmission? This could be something as easy as an SSL connection to your server, or something more complex on the Iridium network.

Thank you!

Bill