Email from space? Scoff if you must, but as we watched a satellite's orbit swing into view on the tiny tracking screen on Magellan's GSC 100 we were fascinated. And as the realization dawned on us that we had just received an email miles away from the nearest phone jack, we were seriously impressed. It's a good thing, too, given how odd we felt hunkered over the soft glowing screen on the unit with its whopping 5-foot antenna extended out in front of us. And given how far we were from a town, much less that phone-jack, it doesn't hurt that the GSC 100 includes a GPS locator, so our position was but a button-push away, too.

Sound silly? If you've even been a hundred miles offshore in sailboat, or spent a week or two hiking in the Grand Canyon and wondered what's going on back at home, you can probably see the appeal of this product.

Magellan is probably best known for GPS devices, and in some ways it shows. This $1000 8x3.5x1.75-inch, 2.5-pound GSC 100 device doesn't offer exactly the most inviting interface for typing in email. In fact, the small square grid of letters and punctuation below the screen, listed in alphabetical order, is one of the most awkward keyboards we've ever tried to type on. Even thumb typing on keyboards such as JVC's HC-E100, a portable phone-based, email device, was considerably easier. Later this year, Magellan plans to offer an interconnect for notebook computers; if you can afford to carry a laptop along with the GSC 100, it could make keeping up with your email considerably easier.

It won't make it inexpensive, however. For a $30 monthly fee, you're only entitled to 10 of the GlobalGram messages per month. And you're only allowed 30 message checks per month-- that's one per day. And if you're sending long emails, it could get expensive. Anything more than 500 characters will run you a penny per character.

And, in reality, there's no guarantee that the email actually flew down from the heavens. Orbcomm's GlobalGram messaging system, the network responsible for the communication satellites that the Magellan taps into, utilitizes a combination of independently owned GES, or Ground Earth Stations to complement its satellites.

The ground units also offer better connectivity. Currently, since there are but a pair of satellites in polar orbit, your connection to the sat network fades in and out as they pass the horizon and into your longitude. As we mentioned early, watching the satellite tracking screen, which counts down when until next satellite shows up is exciting, but will it make up for your down time?

What's your opinion? Post comments, rants, and raves on the Fresh Gear Message BoardIt could be exceedingly exciting, we imagine, if the NiCad battery pack inside the GSC 100 was running low, and you were waiting to send out a message. We had the unit run out of power once, and it left us with the very powerful realization that when the batteries have run out, and you're a day's hike from the nearest power socket, you're not getting email anytime soon. If you're an offshore sailor, or someone who spends days or weeks in the backcountry, power management will be something you should consider, even with the GSC 100's estimated battery life of 10 hours.

With all the caveats we've mentioned, is there really a need for something like Magellan's GSC 100? We have to offer an emphatic yes. Not so much because of executive types who find it hard to cut the office strings, even if they're trying to "get away from it all" on a mountain biking trip. The GSC is more for anyone who spends tons of time in developing countries where finding a phone can be a serious problem. Or, for the more paranoid of us living in areas where earthquakes and storms can rapidly stomp regular phone service into a fond memory, it's a way to let people know what's going on. With the Iridium satellite-based phone systems, which promise a single phone number that can roam with you across the world just starting to ship, were not sure just how cutting edge the GSC 100 will stay. For now, however, it's the only self-contained device we can name that will send and receive email quite literally in the middle of nowhere.


Company:Magellan Corp.
Phone:909-394-5000
Price:$999.00
Shipdate:Now
Category:Communications
Platform:N/A
Specs:2.5 pounds, 8.0x3.5x1.75 inches (HWD)
Requirements:ORBCOMM Service Subscription


Expertise Level: Usage:
Beginner:YES Business:YES
Intermediate:YES Consumer:YES
Advanced:YES Family:NO