Battle of the Starlink Mounts: Which One is the Best for Australian Conditions?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ค. 2024
- www.starlink.com/?referral=RC...
Join us as we put four low profile mounting systems from three different brands to the test in Australian conditions.
We check out the instructions, how hard they are to put together and what we think of the materials.
Watch as Ant, Brendan, and I compare Star Mount Systems, Antenna Accessories, and the Australian-made Outback Comms Unit. Along the way, we share some laughs and reveal which unit we think is the best for your Starlink setup. Don't miss it!
0:00 Intro
0:50 Unboxing
9:49 Instructions
13:10 Marking the cut
16:10 The cutting begins
21:58 Fitting them in the mounts
26:12 Reviews Star Mount Heavy Duty
32:19 Antenna Accessories
40:41 Outback Comms
49:33 Starmount Low Profile
55:33 Final Verdict
As something to watch over time is material ‘crazing’ or ‘yellowing in colour’ due to our levels of UV.
As a suggestion, adhere a small 1cm x 1cm square of black gaffer tape or aluminium to a corner as a reference point to compare against in 6months time.
Yeah, UV will play a pretty big role in their survival.
With the Outback Comms. You can drill though the self tapper location with 5mm drill. Then you can use 5mm machine screws to mount it. To brackets for example.
I have the latest version that comes from Outback Comms and it's a marked improvement on the one covered in this video. No longer has the perspex cover. Still uses self tapped screws but when it arrived I couldn't tell where the seam was because it was so firmly screwed shut. It really looks the part too.
Thanks so much guys. Appreciate the video and you have really helped me with my decisions and process moving forward. 🙂
You guys do a brilliant job
This was amazing haha, Hacking away had no clue what the goal was haha.
Hi mate, you mentioned that self tapping screws can limit the life of the housing if the screws are often removed/installed. A little trick that I’ve always employed is when reinstalling self tappers, no matter if in sheet metal or plastic, I always start the screw by hand by slowly turning it backwards until it drops into its old grove and then turn forwards as to not ‘cross thread’ the screw and not over tighten them. If you were just drive every screw home using a cordless driver then a number of those screws are going to ‘tear a new one’ each time you reinstall the screws, hence you’ll stuff the housing prematurely.
I can relate to your challenges in extremely remote areas as I did a stint on Rivran in the NT as a bush mechanic many years ago. Cheers.
Absolutely, I always start threads by hand, and never over tension self tappers.
I've seen people do teck screws all the way until they spin, and think that's the right way to do it.
@@jack_out_the_backit’s the starting of the screw that’s important, if you turn them slowly backwards you can literally feel when they drop into the original thread that was cut when the screw was originally put in.
Unfortunately in this day most peeps have blinkers on and only see/know their own particular job and aren’t interested in broadening their horizons. As opposed to most peeps on the land need to learn to be self sufficient as the big green shed (Bunnings) is not just down the road and the more remote the more self sufficient. I class myself as pretty good for being able to think outside the box but even I marvel at your vast versatility. 👍
Great review! If I were in Australia, I would definitely consider the Outback Comms.
Outstanding boys
Hello from America, I had to subscribe to your channel, i love you guys and the way you look at things. Can't wait to watch the follow up video. God bless you guys and please keep doing product testing and review videos
Thanks for the content. Cheers
it was Rolf Harris with the wobble board lol
We know, we just don't talk about that.
Very interesting testing and analysis guys, haven’t got to the end yet but it is looking like very thirsty work. 🍻🍻🍻🍻. Good to see you’re sharing the love with beer brands.😂
Thought you were going to do a ratings review of the beer too 🍻 🥴.👍🏴
That was an awesome review and very entertaining! thankyou for the effort you blokes put into the video!
Often flexibility is important off road, helping to avoid damage with vibration and twisting. Time will tell under real world use whether flimsy or rigid wins out. I'd prefer the Aussie one, too. But probably the smaller flat mount will be available by the time I update to Starlink.
Flush cuts are different to side cutters. You can get them from super cheap auto or total tools etc in the Toledo brand. They are good for cutting cable ties and having a perfectly flat cut with no “tail” hanging out to cut you. Great videos keep them coming.
Nice video, thank you! ... My experience is that the Starlink proprietary STX connectors might not be as waterproof as many hope. In my case, about 3 weeks after I flat mounted my Dishy in the Starmount flat mount low profile, my system stopped working after a night with heavy rain. I then replaced the STX connectors with a waterproof RJ-45 coupler, which brought the system back to life. Thus my suggestion would be to consider a mount with a truely waterproof connector/coupler from a very beginning. Starmount's "all in one" model for example seemingly has such a connector.
Kinda want to see a shotgun test 😂 maybe the thin one will take a rock better because it’s less rigid 🤷♂️
Thankyou for the honest assessment.
Good to see Guinness in your fridge.
$129 now for outback comms to cut dishy for you. And $502 now for the flatmount.
flush cutters and side cutters are actually 2 different tools (and yes we do have both in Australia) difference is flush cutters don't leave a bit on the cable tie and side cutters do.
Very good. This Black is Best.
Excellent - "Shit Loads of money & He didn't bring a carton " hahaha
Great educational video. How are the different mounts holding up on corrugated roads?
The two that I use, the Starmount and the Antenna Accessories are going well, the Antenna accessories hasn't moved at all, the Starmount magnets have been coming loose, a bit of Loctite would fix that issue.
Great episode guys, very entertaining as well. I noticed you didn't use the On/Off switch that is on the original mount? Is it always on when the car is turned on and powered through the antenna lead? Can you also show how you mounted them on each of the vehicles and what challenges you faced. Cheers!
Hi Colin. We are doing some follow up videos on the systems that cover the way we power the units.
The on/off switch was to disable the motors when in the heavy duty star mount kit. It's not standard.
Depending on the config of the vehicle we have them as always on or on with the ignition.
I didn't like having the system get a surge from the start circuit of a vehicle, however from our testing it hasn't negatively affected our units.
The Antenna Accessories top may be thinner , so it might not Attenuate the RF comms as much as the other two products.
We use to have a starlink unit inside a Pelican case with no effect on signal quality.
And it was thick black plastic.
We fitted it out with its own power supply for less than the antenna accessories unit.
Great review for anyone in the market for one. An amusing video if you are not. I guess we might have to wait 12 months for the final asessement.
Great video. How does the router get set up in the vehicles?
We have two ways, one is a 12v conversion. The other is too use a 300w pure sine wave inverter.
We have also done a few Aux power systems that are on a separate battery so the start battery doesn't get run down.
Thanks 👍
I'm enjoying this but how long were you drinking before you started???
Hey fellas I just joined so not sure what your describing, does the star link antenna go inside the mount?
Yeah it does, We cut them down to fit inside the mount.
How many cans did it take to do this project ?
would be great if you included links to the products
I can't imagine kydex being a good material for it. It would get so soft in that Australian sun and warp.
So far we've been running the antenna accessories mount constantly since the video, it seems to be holding up ok, some parts have seemed a bit flimsy, but nothing has broken on it.
how about links to where each can be bought?
New Comms one came with a mount this time called the rugged
They look great! Given the experience with the older version I wouldn't have any doubts about them!
As someone coming from no mount or dish, would you guys say doing a flat mount with a standard would be better or getting the flat hp. As we know flat hp has the high power draw (main concern) and expensive, but a little nervous about long term durability with the flat mounts. Thanks for any input!!
Hi Rachel, I have not tested out the HP dish, and my main concern with them was the physical size, and the risk of damage, due to the large surface area.
With all the mounts we have tested, and we have a new mount on it's way to test, we have found that the additional surface protection is really comforting, especially through the rough environments that we operate it (with things like trees and branches rubbing over the top) We have actually found that the starmount systems Perspex cover has warped with the temperatures that we encounter.
@@jack_out_the_back Yeaa I’ve seen some comments from other people who have starmounts about the warping. Not sure if the other models that you tested ship to the US? You’re right the hp is pretty big and heavy/takes up a lot more space. Seems durable though and from what I’ve read from others Starlink replaces dishes for free that have any issues, but definently the 1-200 watt power draw is hard to feel good about
Power budgets are the key, and in Australia, no one has noticed any difference in the performance.
How does the dish move like it would normally to follow satellites etc? Because don’t these new mounts just sit flat of the roof on a vehicle? Cheers Jack, interesting video.
The dish actually moves very little after finding it's optimum position.
The technology in the units allow them to actively turn off any signals that would interrupt signals of geosynchronous sattelites (i.e GPS/Iridium) that are directed towards the equator.
We have found lower latency in the units that are locked in position looking directly upwards than the tracking units. (Roughly 18ms)
Yep the Australian one because they will cut it for you
Watch out for any of the fasteners over time don’t work themselves out. All fasteners (esp, Self tappers) have a tendency to do this because of vibration and hot/cold temperature cycling.
Yeah I figure for a full lock down it would be good to use Loctite or similar to keep it in place.
Our biggest issue has been magnets working their way off on corrugations.
A drop of sealastic on the screws as you put them in will solve that.
40 thou to 1 mm
Another good update Jack and Ant, was wondering what the rubber skirt things are around some of your 44 gallon drums in the hanger shed? Also looks like your loosing a bit of solar at Packshorse from the small shadow overshadowing your other big panel. Good to hear if you can’t find Ant he will be out at Packhorse watching the footy😂. Or maybe not given the Mozzies. 🦟 Good on you for looking after your IP.