The plan was simple, if ambitious: a 246-mile round trip from St. Anthony, Idaho, to the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park. The route crosses three state lines—Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming—and climbs from highway flats into the dense pine forests and canyon walls deep in the giant national park. It’s a drive that usually guarantees long stretches of zero cell service, especially as you get deeper into the park.
But for this trip, on which I was joined by my wife and two small children, I was testing the Starlink Mini as a dedicated in-vehicle internet solution. The goal was to see if satellite internet could not only keep us connected in the deadest of dead zones, but also keep a car full of passengers entertained and let me do some work from the middle of nature’s splendor.
The Gear: Starlink Mini and Accessories
The centerpiece of this experiment is the Starlink Mini, the compact, portable version of Starlink’s separate, larger dish and router for residential use. It’s small enough to fit in a backpack and built to accommodate different power sources. And when it’s paired with Starlink’s Roam plan, it’s not just free to move to any location; you can even use it in motion, whether it’s on an RV or boat, or (in my case) a Toyota Corolla.
But using the Mini on the go isn’t as simple as setting it on top of your car. You’ve got to figure out how to mount and power it, and that’s where the extensive Starlink accessory ecosystem comes in. For this road trip experiment, our accessories were provided by two companies: Trio and Savage UTV.
Everything You Need to Take Starlink on the Road
To get the Starlink Mini road-ready, I started with the Trio Mini Speed Mount ($150). This aftermarket accessory consists of a two-piece plastic frame that bolts around the Mini, securing the dish while maintaining a low profile. It anchors to the car using four rubber-coated feet with powerful magnets.
Trio Mini Speed Mount magnetic rubber feet (Credit: Brian Westover)
“Powerful” may be an understatement—placing it on the roof of my Corolla, the snap was so authoritative I briefly worried it might deform the thin sheet metal. It didn’t, but removing it later required a mix of leverage and brute force that I was able to do, but my wife found impossible to manage alone.
SavageUTV Starlink Mini Rooftop Mount (Credit: Brian Westover)
I also got my hands on another vehicle rooftop mount, so that I could compare the options a bit. For this, I used the SavageUTV Starlink Mini Rooftop Mount ($249.95). It’s just as portable and uses similar magnetic feet to hold securely to the top of a vehicle. Unlike the Trio, the SavageUTV mount has a sturdy metal construction, with a tapered front fairing that makes it a bit more aerodynamic than the Trio. It also has integrated handles that make placing and moving the mount from a vehicle a lot easier.
For power, I obviously didn’t have grid access, so I skipped the standard AC wall plug and used a dedicated vehicle power adapter, the Trio 15-foot 12V cable ($35).
Power for the Mini on the road (Credit: Brian Westover)
The length was perfect for snaking the cord away from grabby hands in the backseat, though the integrated cigarette lighter plug does have one downside: It monopolizes the port, leaving you no spot to charge a phone.
Have tool battery, will travel (Credit: Brian Westover)
I also wanted to use my Mini away from the car, or when the vehicle wasn’t running. For that, I used a battery adapter, the SavageUTV Starlink Mini Dewalt Kit ($129.95), which let me power the Mini with the rechargeable battery from a DeWalt power drill.
You can estimate the hours of use you’ll get from one of these batteries by calculating the battery’s watt-hours and dividing by the Mini’s power draw. For example, my drill battery is a 20-volt, 2-amp-hour (Ah) battery. Since watt-hours are simply voltage multiplied by amp-hours, that means the little battery is a 40Wh power source. And since the Mini uses between 20 and 40 watts, that means I could theoretically get an hour or more out of my little drill battery. If you need to go longer, you could step up to a 5Ah or 8Ah battery, which would give an estimated 2.5 or 4 hours, respectively.
I could have used a different type of battery, like any of the backup solutions we regularly review, but this worked just as well with a battery I already had on hand. These kinds of battery power sources are especially handy for using the Starlink Mini off-grid, where plugging into wall outlets simply isn’t an option.
A gasket to seal the open window for the Mini power cable (Credit: Brian Westover)
The trickiest part of a DIY roof rig is getting the cable inside without wind noise. I wasn’t about to go all day on a road trip with the whistle of wind through a cracked-open window, so I used a SavageUTV window pass-through ($22.95). This is a rubber gasket that fills the gap of a window that’s open just a little.
SavageUTV Pass Thru being trimmed to fit (Credit: Brian Westover)
It’s a trim-to-fit product, but be warned: It has a metal strip inside the rubber for structure, so cutting it requires some effort and a stout enough cutting tool. (Think cutters from the toolbox or heavy shears, not standard scissors.)
Once installed, it sealed out the wind whistle perfectly. However, this setup introduces a critical safety check: You should familiarize yourself with how to interrupt the automatic roll-up window feature on many modern cars. Usually, it’s just a matter of inching the window up a bit at a time, or pressing the “down” control before the window fully closes in automatic mode. If you forget, you risk pinching the cable or crushing the gasket.
With the Starlink Mini securely on the car’s roof, powered by the 12V adapter, and the cable snaked through the window with the cable pass-through sealing the gap, we were ready to load up the family and hit the road.
The Drive: Connectivity in Motion
Loading up the kids was easier than usual, once we explained that they would get to watch their favorite shows or play games the entire time. That’s one way to make a six-hour round trip more palatable to a little kid.
One thing I was pleased with almost immediately—aside from the speedy Wi-Fi—was how well the rooftop mount held firm. As we hit the highway and reached 80 mph, the magnetic mount was rock solid. More impressively, the connection didn’t flinch; there were no issues with dish position or satellite tracking. This was just as true whether we turned onto a curved road or entered a wooded area with tall trees on either side.
Trio rooftop Mini mount at the gas station (Credit: Brian Westover)
The only real hiccups were self-inflicted. Because the 12V port cuts power when the car is off, every gas station stop meant the internet died. And, for peace of mind, I also stowed the dish anytime we had to leave the car unattended. Given how portable it is, it would be absurdly easy to unplug the dish and walk off with it, so I locked it in the car every time we had to take the kids for a bathroom break.
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SavageUTV Starlink Mini Rooftop Mount in use (Credit: Brian Westover)
Entering Yellowstone typically marks the death of your cell signal. As we crossed the park boundary and the bars on our phones vanished, the Starlink Mini kept humming along. The Starlink Mini’s in-motion capability meant data punched through the tree cover and canyon walls without issue. My wife streamed music, and the kids watched Netflix on their tablets, completely oblivious to the fact that we were digitally isolated from the rest of the world. It turned a potentially cranky long haul into a peaceful drive.
Starlink Mini and bison (Credit: Brian Westover)
We made several stops to watch wildlife, including elk, buffalo, fish, and one particularly bold crow. Since the car was off, I switched to my favorite experiment of the trip: the DeWalt battery adapter. The product is a bit crude, a step or two above DIY, but it does the job, letting you slot in the drill battery for portable power and offering an uncomplicated way to just plug in and go.
Using battery power makes the Starlink Mini truly portable, even more so than the vehicle setup. With this adapter, I had no trouble using the Mini in the middle of the woods or sitting at a picnic table in a cell dead zone. Even with the vehicle turned off, I had Wi-Fi for multiple devices.
Wi-Fi in the great outdoors (Credit: Brian Westover)
Meeting a Fellow Traveler With Starlink
At one stop, I ran into another Starlink user named Elliot who put my rig to shame. When I first spotted him, he was conducting a Zoom meeting from the side of his truck, connected via a Starlink Mini he’d set up next to the vehicle.
He was using a dual-battery DeWalt setup similar to the one I had, but that allowed for hot-swapping—he could keep the internet running indefinitely. Frankly, once I realized that a two-battery model would allow perpetual portability, I got a bit jealous.
Elliot’s dual-battery adapter for the Starlink Mini (Credit: Brian Westover)
Elliot explained that he’d used the Starlink Mini to stay connected to the office while traveling to various remote locations across Canada and the US, including Alaska. He laughed as he told me about the Zoom meeting he had just finished up; a coworker had asked where he got his high-resolution “nature background.” He pointed to the river and mountains behind him and replied, “It’s not a background. I’m actually here.”
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The Destination: Old Faithful Outdoor Office
We arrived at Old Faithful with 45 minutes to burn before the next eruption—plenty of time to test the Mini as a remote workstation. While tourists around us struggled to send text messages on the lone overloaded cell tower serving the area, I was pushing serious data.
Using Starlink Mini off-grid with the SavageUTV Starlink Mini Dewalt Kit (Credit: Brian Westover)
A speed test in the parking lot showed 308 Mbps down and 28 Mbps up. That is not only usable, but it’s also faster than some home fiber connections! In an area where everyone else was fighting for a signal, it felt pretty great to have the only fast connection around. I cleared my inbox, responded to Slack messages, and uploaded photos to Google Drive with zero lag. Not only that, but when my kids got bored after 20 minutes of literally watching a hole in the ground, they got to use the Wi-Fi, too.
SavageUTV Starlink Mini Dewalt Kit and a crow (Credit: Brian Westover)
Trading Mounts for the Return Trip
When we finished up at Old Faithful, it was time to turn around and make our way back home. Switching the Mini in and out of the vehicle mounts really drove home the importance of easy-to-access design. The Trio is a sturdy enough mount, but it requires an Allen wrench to open back up. The SavageUTV mount, on the other hand, uses chunky thumb screws that let me open it up and install the Mini securely without having to keep track of a separate tool.
(Credit: Brian Westover)
I was initially worried that the metal construction of the SavageUTV mount might interfere with the radio-based communication between the Mini and satellites overhead, but it functioned flawlessly. Plus, with the addition of integrated handles on either side of the mount, my wife was actually able to unmount and stow the dish without assistance the next time we had a bathroom stop.
Finally, as we drove, it got pretty dark. These boring stretches of road, where the ride is long and the kids are tired and cranky, are the bane of any parent. But the Starlink setup made things a lot more bearable. I’m not usually one to pacify the kids with screens, but this sort of road testing was the whole point of the trip, and I have to admit, being able to hand my kids their tablets for games and movies made this last leg of the drive a lot easier.
Lessons Learned: What the Road Taught Us
After 246 miles and a day spent working from a geyser basin, a few key lessons emerged that any road warrior or digital nomad should keep in mind.
SavageUTV Starlink Mini Rooftop Mount with tool-free thumb screws (Credit: Brian Westover)
Tool-free is king: When you are setting up and tearing down camp every day, small frictions add up. The Trio Flatmount is a solid piece of kit, but needing an Allen wrench to remove the dish felt like an unnecessary hurdle. The Savage UTV mount won the day thanks to its thumb screws and integrated handles. If you plan to move your Starlink Mini between a roof mount and a backpack often, always prioritize hardware that doesn’t require an extra tool to operate.
Don’t rely on your car’s battery: Running the Mini off the car’s 12V port works perfectly while driving, but it tethers your internet to your ignition. Every time we stopped for gas or a stretch, the Wi-Fi died. For casual road trippers, this is a minor annoyance. For serious nomads, it may be a deal breaker. You need an independent power source—whether that’s a “house battery” in your RV, a portable power station, or a hot-swappable tool battery rig like the one my new friend Elliot used. True freedom is being able to turn the engine off without turning the world off.
(Credit: Brian Westover)
In-motion internet is a game-changer: The ability to maintain a high-speed connection at 80 mph, through canyons and pine forests fundamentally changes how you can travel. You no longer have to plan your route around where you can get a signal for that 2 p.m. Zoom call. The passenger seat is now a fully viable office, meaning you can cover miles during the workday rather than burning your weekends driving.
You’ll probably need to trade convenience for security: The Starlink Mini’s portability is its greatest strength and its biggest liability. Because it is so easy to pop off the roof, it is also easy to steal. If you are using a magnetic mount, you may want to stow it away for rest stops. If you are building a permanent rig for a van or RV, I highly recommend considering a locking mount or a permanent bolt-down solution to avoid the hassle of stowing the dish every time you need a bathroom break.
(Credit: Brian Westover)
It’s not just for work: I went into this trip focused on upload speeds and latency, but the biggest win was arguably the peace in the back seat. Having reliable streaming for a six-hour haul made the trip enjoyable for everyone, kids and adults alike. Whether you are a digital nomad or just a parent trying to survive a family vacation, reliable internet in the middle of nowhere is a luxury that is hard to give up once you’ve experienced it.
The bottom line? Using Starlink Mini on the road is great! Yes, it requires some setup and the investment in a few accessories, but the freedom of uninterrupted Wi-Fi, even in areas where 5G mobile data won’t reach, is exactly the magic the Starlink Mini is built to provide. If you’re hankering for boonies, backcountry, or badlands, but still want to stay connected, this is the way to do it.
About Our Expert
Brian Westover
Principal Writer, Hardware
Experience
From the laptops on your desk to satellites in space and AI that seems to be everywhere, I cover many topics at PCMag. I’ve covered PCs and technology products for over 15 years at PCMag and other publications, among them Tom’s Guide, Laptop Mag, and TWICE. As a hardware reviewer, I’ve handled dozens of MacBooks, 2-in-1 laptops, Chromebooks, and the latest AI PCs. As the resident Starlink expert, I’ve done years of hands-on testing with the satellite service. I also explore the most valuable ways to use the latest AI tools and features in our Try AI column.
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