We went camping at KOA San Diego over Labor Day weekend with a friend's family. There were four adults, four kids, and a very large pile of camping gear. There are many camping gears that I need to discuss, but this time, I want to discuss something new.
 |
| Starlink Mini Box |
Starlink Mini.
Normally, when we go camping, I use my phone as a mobile hotspot. It works fine, but with two families' mutiple devices, including four phones, a couple of laptops, and a smart projector, constantly connecting to mobile hotspot can get annoying.
I have to turn the hotspot on and make sure everyone is connected with correct password. And my phone is getting hot while the battery slowly disappears.
I've been curious about Starlink Mini for a while, and this camping trip finally gave me a good excuse to try one.
Before I get too far into this, though, I want to be clear about something. I only used Starlink Mini on this one camping trip.
So this isn't a six-month or one-year long-term review. I'm not going to pretend I know how it performs after using it every weekend.
This is simply what happened when I took it camping with two families and a bunch of devices.
And after that weekend, I definitely have an opinion.
Setup: Easy Peasy
 |
| Quick Connection Guide inside the box |
Inside the box, there were the Starlink Mini dish, a triangular kickstand, a power adapter, and a long cable. That's basically it.
There was also a simple six-step setup guide printed inside the box. One of the pictures showed trees with an small X over them.
The message was pretty clear: don't put the dish near a bunch of trees that are blocking the view of the sky.
 |
| Showing Obstructions in Starlink App |
I plugged it in, opened the Starlink app, and checked the obstruction map. The app showed me where the dish was seeing obstructions, so I moved it slightly, so it can be positioned in opened air.
About two minutes later, I was connected to the internet.
That's it.
I didn't mount it on a pole or put it on top of my car. I didn't build some elaborate camping setup for it.
I just put it on the ground at our campsite.
I was a little worried that some trees were obstructing the open sky, but our site was fairly open. After moving the dish a little distance, everything worked fine.
Even with little bit of obstruction, we were getting good signal throughout the day.
For power, I used the electrical outlet at the campsite.
We already had an extension cord and power strip running from the campground's power pedestal for our other camping equipment, so I just added Starlink to the setup.
Honestly, the whole thing was much easier than I expected.
So, How Did It Actually Perform?
 |
| Speed was faster than T-Mobile Hotspot |
We had seven devices connected:
Four phones
Two laptops
One portable projector
I ran a speed test, and Skylink showed:
169 Mbps download
13 Mbps upload
26 ms ping
For T-Mobile Hotspot:
70 Mbps download
19 Mbps upload
23 ms ping
Those numbers were pretty impressive for something sitting on the ground at a campsite. And of course, the Skylink was much faster than T-Mobile Hotspot.
But here's the thing.
The speed wasn't actually what impressed me the most. What I liked most was that I didn't have to manage the internet anymore.
With my T-Mobile hotspot, I'm usually the person responsible for keeping everything connected. I was constantly dealing with little issues. Someone's phone get disconnected, or laptop needs internet, and I have to turn the hotspot back on again.
For some reason, my iPhone 16 Pro Max hotspot doesn't stay connected for a long period of time when not in use. With the two families sharing the connection, it got annoying pretty quickly.
On top of that, my phone got hot and drained the battery really fast. With Starlink, it was much easier. I plugged it in, connected everyone's devices, and basically forgot about it.
Everyone had internet when they needed it without my help and I didn't have to keep checking my phone or worry about the hotspot.
That was probably the biggest benefit for me.
Movie Night at the Campsite
 |
| Projector was connected with Starlink Mini |
That night, the kids watched a movie inside the tent using our portable projector.
This was one of the reasons I wanted to try Starlink in the first place.
When I use my phone as a hotspot, streaming a movie while I'm also using my phone can sometimes cause problems. The phone is doing everything at once, and the limited bandwidth caused some buffering during the movie.
When we started the movie, I wasn't 100% sure if it will buffer or not. I kept waiting for the movie to freeze.
But it never did.
The kids watched the entire movie without interruption. And that made a bigger difference than I expected. The kids were happy because they got their movie.
The parents were even happier because we could actually sit around and enjoy ourselves instead of dealing with the internet.
Our friend's family was also impressed that we could bring a small satellite internet dish to a campsite and just have it work.
Looking back, that's probably the best review I can give it.
The kids were watching a movie inside a tent, everyone had internet, and nobody was complaining.
The best camping gear is probably the gear nobody has to talk about.
But Is It Worth the Money?
 |
| Starlink Mini Inside the Box |
I'm the stingy one in our family, so spending money on something that we might only use a few times a year isn't an easy decision for me.
The Starlink Mini cost me $240, including taxes and shipping. Let's put that a side for now. I just had to buy it, and that makes me not stingy.
The service costs $55 per month.
When I first saw the price, my first thought was:
"That's a lot of money for camping internet."
And honestly, it is.
Especially if you're going to pay for it every month.
But one thing that made the purchase easier for me was that the service is month-to-month and I can pause it when I'm not using it.
That makes a big difference.
I'm not paying $55 every month for something sitting in a closet.
If I know we have a camping trip coming up, I can activate it. When we're home and don't need it, I can pause the service.
The plan includes 100 GB, which is more than enough for how we plan to use it. We're not using Starlink as our home internet. We just want it when we're traveling.
For us, its job is pretty simple:
Give us internet when we're away from home.
If I had to pay $55 every month whether I used it or not, I probably wouldn't have bought it. The ability to pause the service is what made me spending the $240 upfront.
T-Mobile Hotspot vs. Starlink Mini
If we're talking strictly about cost, the mobile hotspot wins.
It's already on my phone, and if you have a good cellular plan and strong service at your campsite, there's really no reason to spend another $240 on a satellite internet dish plus $55 monthly charge.
But for our situation, the Starlink was more of a convenient. The biggest difference wasn't necessarily the internet speed. It was having a separate internet connection for everyone.
Our seven devices could stay connected without me thinking about it.
That's worth something to me.
Of course, there are downsides. The biggest one is the price.
$240 upfront plus $55 for the months I could get another cooler for it. If you only go camping once a year, I think it would be difficult to justify.
But if you camp regularly, travel with a lot of people, or visit places where cellular service isn't reliable, I can see the appeal.
Who Is Starlink Mini Really For?
I don't think everyone who goes camping needs Starlink Mini.
If you camp once or twice a year and your phone gets great cellular service, I'd probably stick with the mobile hotspot.
Why spend $240 on another device if your phone already does the job?
For us, though, the situation is a little different.
We sometimes travel with another family. That means several phones, laptops, and kids who want to stream movies.
Having a separate internet connection means my phone isn't responsible for everyone's internet access.
I also like having another option for future road trips and camping trips.
So I don't think Starlink Mini is something you should buy simply because you go camping.
But if you camp regularly, travel with multiple devices, or want a dedicated internet connection while you're away from home, it's worth considering.
Final Thoughts
Again, this was only one camping trip. I'm not going to pretend that one weekend is enough to give you a complete long-term review of Starlink Mini.
But based on this trip, I'm happy with it. What surprised me wasn't really the 169 Mbps download speed. It was how little I thought about Starlink after setting it up.
I put the dish on the ground, plugged it in, connected seven devices, and basically forgot about it.
Sometimes the best upgrade isn't something that makes your trip more exciting. It's something that makes one small annoyance disappear.
Comments
Post a Comment