Got our Gen3 and setup for the RV - in a word, just outstanding. It's so simple and works so good, all tech companies should strive for this level of service and performance. Not only is the hardware excellent and easy to configure, the internet access, app and supporting service is nothing short of fantastic.
Bonus Option
You can now order a refurbished package in many mid-west and outlying areas as an option for $399 instead of the usual $599. Just find a location and request service and place your order - you can designate any shipping address so you can have it delivered to your actual location. When you get the package and hook it up it will tell you to use it at your registered location, so then just log onto starlink and change the service location to your actual location, or change the service to ROAM. I chose the latter as we'll use it when we travel. They don't have a way to back-bill for the discounted refurb package, and it's the exact same hardware and warranties as their regular package. Yep - saves you $200!!
I was trying to decide how to connect and power the setup with the RV. I have an outside outlet on my house bank inverter, but it's the outside radio so not really weather proof when camp-side. Then I got to thinking the ideal way to power it off-grid is with my Eco-flow Delta Mini - both router and battery unit can sit in a basement compartment - the wifi works just like you were sitting in front of it. The floor even has a solid sheet of aluminum which is the ceiling in the cargo bay, but in no way inhibits the wifi signal. Plus I have a "solar suitcase" pair of folding 80W panels and they put out about 3-times what the Starlink uses, so as long as there's sunlight it can go on indefinitely. Even with no charging input, the 880Wh of power will keep starlink going for about 12 hours. It is a pretty steady 50W of consumption, give or take a bit - uses a little more first powering up, then less when not active. And it's easy to just turn it off, takes just a minute or two to power it on and it reconnects to the satellites.
In really inclement weather I could run the dishy cable in and plug the whole thing in on one of my inside receptacles.
There's a lot of internet banter about creating a DC power supply for it, but really, a 300W inverter will do it, and if you already have an inverter system it is easily powered by that - right about 50W as I mention. That's about 5Ah at 12V, very easy to manage, even through an inverter.
So the ROAM service is 'best use' connectivity, it can be downgraded in a busy traffic area. Still, sitting at my house in Yakima we get consistently about 200mbs down, about 7-10 up. More than enough to run anything we have, YT streaming, vid calls, etc. At this time I'm not investing in any kind of mounting system, preferring to be able to just place it on the ground at camp where it can get access to the northern sky. Setting up with the app is super easy - it tells you where obstructions are and what direction to point it.
Some images and performance details:
The app has a really cool wifi router signal tester - you activate it and walk around your house or area, in my case the motorhome, and it tells you how well you're recieving the signal. We did this throughout the house too and it reaches everything but the back bedrooms at the opposite end of the house some 75-80 feet away. In a word, it works just KILLER.
Here's the speed test in the app - tests router speed as well as modem to satellite. In this test I was still getting enough throughput for excellent service. Other times I test it download speeds exceed 200mbs. As you can see, the router is really fast.
Here's my Delta Mini solar generator running it in a cargo bay on a cloudy day. Even so I'm getting enough solar gain to more than power the starlink - it's using right about 51Wh here, panels are outputting 86W. When the sun is full I get about 155W - not bad for a pair of 80W solar panels.
The dish - 'dishy' as they call it (I know, kinda lame LOL) is sitting on the drive just to the right here, facing the northern sky. It gets full unobstructed view to the satellites. On the obstruction mapping you can see the top edge of the roof of the RV as a blocked area. As long as it can see enough of the sky to pickup satellite transmissions it gives you internet access. It's actually more reliable than our cable-service thru spectrum, a 300Mbs internet service. I dunno, we may just switch and use the starlink. But Spectrum is $50 a month, starlink is $150. But a fixed location residential plan with starlink is $120. The mobile service has the option to turn it off by the month.
