"The Spot" Personal Tracker

[ctdd2006]

What do you guys think of these?

 

http://radioworld.ca/product_info.php?cPat...roducts_id=4361

 

http://radioworld.ca/product_info.php?cPat...roducts_id=6974

 

My Father in law has a hunt camp 45mins north of us without phone or cell service.....getting in his mid 60's and occasionally is up at camp alone...wife and mom in law worry (has had the angio/stint thing done 5 years ago) and I was thinking of getting him one of these as unfortunately I can't be up there with him at all times (I'm sure he likes the solo time too! ) or for weeks at a time as he likes (god bless him!). Any feedback???

[BUSTER]

I love mine and use it whenever i go out hunting, 2nd year now and couldnt go where i go without it...by myself

Edited March 16, 2010 by BUSTER

[troutologist]

Coverage is great in N America. They have the new SPOT 2 coming out soon, supposed to be better yet.

 

It works pretty good, though one thing I worry about is setting a precedent for communication. You describe a situation where something like this is warranted, yet what if he forgets, batts run out or any number of things.

 

I would rather a device that will call in the cavalry when needed, not necessarily have you in daily communications.

 

But I digress, they function as advertised.

Edited March 17, 2010 by troutologist

[Astro-Mike]

I have been thinking of getting one as I am often solo in the bush..

it gets pretty good reviews but thee are a few drawbacks.

 

http://gpsmagazine.com/2008/01/spot_satell...erso.php?page=1

 

M

[singingdog]

For what you describe, the SPOT could be very useful. I have several issues with the SPOT, but for that kind of remote "Hey, I'm OK" checkup, it's useful. Be aware that It often increases worry, as opposed to reducing it. Several tripping camps used them last summer and were deluged with parents who were worried because they hadn't heard anything for 6 hours

 

If they would reconfigure the SPOT so that you could use the GPS as a navigational tool, and enable the text function so that you could choose what to write (instead of a pre-written message), the SPOT would be a far more useful device.

[BUSTER]

I cant find anything wrong with it, My wife can look at her email and see where i've being during a 1 week hunting trip, My kids can track dad's prgress and use the google earth to zoom in on the locations i've hunted, and when i get home I can really see the terrain iam using and often I've found little lakes right off the trail i was driving,and return the next day

Now I use my laptop and a wireless stick so even if I go hike for moose that day when i return i bring up spot locations and view it, sometimes I'll go to a friends cottage push the button then bring it up on the laptop and show the owner and boy are they impressed, sometimes again finding little lakes that nobody knew about, even my uncle who owned his cottage for many years, we we're able to fully plan out hunting areas ,this technology was never availible to the older chaps untill now,with out foot survey of the 1000's of acres of crown land, if you ever want to know whats down that trail just push the button go home and view, next day take the trail or know that it leads to a dam or creek......also it sends a text to a couple phone numbers you enter, one was my friends and he would go look and see where I've being thru out the week, I'll cover a boat load of land on quad in a solid 10 days of hunting...now I know where NOT to go next year and what trails i should have tried.....

[JohnF]

I don't know much about this but I've heard of folks renting satellite phones. I checked one link in Google and the first thing I saw was $19.95 for voice and sms. The sms service was 59 cents ofr an outgoing sms. Unless there's some tricks that might be a decent temp solution.

 

JF

[TJQ]

AS far as I'm concerned I would just go with the sat phone option, when I had mine, back 4 or 5 years a go, they had an emergency # and dedicated operator that knew your GPS position for rescue. The phones are not that expensive and airtime starts at $35 a month, unlimited...

 

To me (my opinion) make the spot device a bit useless if your going to be in the bush out of touch more than a few times per year.

[DRIFTER_016]

AS far as I'm concerned I would just go with the sat phone option, when I had mine, back 4 or 5 years a go, they had an emergency # and dedicated operator that knew your GPS position for rescue. The phones are not that expensive and airtime starts at $35 a month, unlimited...

 

To me (my opinion) make the spot device a bit useless if your going to be in the bush out of touch more than a few times per year.

 

 

Unless Global Star has launched new satellites stay away from them as their coverage sucks since a number of their satellites died.

Iridium sat phones work extremely well but are rather spendy to buy. But you can get prepaid cards for them.

I will be carrying the company Iridium with me on my epic camping trip in a week and a half.

Stay tuned for a detailed report after Easter.

[troutologist]

I had heard that Global Star had taken care of the problem, not 100% on this though.

 

Another option albeit more costly is a PLB device. Activate in time of need, its registered with NOAA and various emergency contacts. This is what we carry during field work up north. SPOT coverage is too sketchy up there.

[irishfield]

Just remember.. anyone carrying a 121.5 PLB... they no longer satelite monitor 121.5 (or so they say). They have been trying to get all of aviation switched over to 406 MHZ and while the bill is stalled sitting on a Transport Canada Ministers desk (and has been for over 3 years) and the technology isn't up to speed from manufactures with certification issues, and cost issues, for 28,000 aircraft to switch over in Canada... they told us way back 121.5 was no longer monitored and we were all on our own via overflight monitoring to help anyone.

 

There was also a very quiet recall on a Spot Model... I'll try to dig it up from one of my flying forums for you.. in case you have that model.

[irishfield]

The recall concerned the 2nd generation SPOT 2..

 

Spot LLC is dedicated to providing the highest quality and best performance products to our customers, therefore, Spot LLC will be conducting a voluntary return on any new model SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger™ (SPOT 2) purchased since October 1, 2009. During recent testing, we discovered that some of the new SPOT 2 devices might not meet battery and messaging operating specifications.

 

Affected Units

 

To see if your SPOT-2 unit is affected by this issue, please do the following:

 

* If you have activated your SPOT-2 unit, login to your account at https://login.findmespot.com, click on the My GPS Locations tab and a message will display indicating if you have an affected SPOT-2 unit.

* If you have not activated your SPOT-2 unit, do not activate. We highly recommend you return your product for replacement at your earliest convenience.

 

The Exchange Process

 

* Replacement units are anticipated to be available in early 2010. More details to follow.

* If you exchange your eligible unit, you will also receive 1 additional month of your current SPOT service plan and associated services.

* Once exchanged, you will receive a new SPOT-2 unit.

* Please follow this process to receive your return shipping materials. These will be sent you upon completion of the form.

* Ship only your SPOT-2 unit and take out batteries prior to shipping.

 

Important notes

 

This does not affect SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker (SPOT-1) nor is it an upgrade program to transition from SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker (SPOT-1) to the SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger (SPOT-2).

 

 

For more questions

 

* Please call toll-free 1 (866) 727-7733

* Email: [email protected]

 

Thank you for being a SPOT customer and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. SPOT LLC is dedicated to providing the highest quality and best performance products to our customers.

_________________

Edited March 17, 2010 by irishfield

[singingdog]

I cant find anything wrong with it, My wife can look at her email and see where i've being during a 1 week hunting trip, My kids can track dad's prgress and use the google earth to zoom in on the locations i've hunted, and when i get home I can really see the terrain iam using and often I've found little lakes right off the trail i was driving,and return the next day

Now I use my laptop and a wireless stick so even if I go hike for moose that day when i return i bring up spot locations and view it, sometimes I'll go to a friends cottage push the button then bring it up on the laptop and show the owner and boy are they impressed, sometimes again finding little lakes that nobody knew about, even my uncle who owned his cottage for many years, we we're able to fully plan out hunting areas ,this technology was never availible to the older chaps untill now,with out foot survey of the 1000's of acres of crown land, if you ever want to know whats down that trail just push the button go home and view, next day take the trail or know that it leads to a dam or creek......also it sends a text to a couple phone numbers you enter, one was my friends and he would go look and see where I've being thru out the week, I'll cover a boat load of land on quad in a solid 10 days of hunting...now I know where NOT to go next year and what trails i should have tried.....

 

That technology has been available ever since hand-held GPS units were available.

 

A good hand-held GPS with maps will do everything you describe (except send a text and update onto Google Earth automatically) without paying any fees and without having to go home and check your computer to access the information. If you had a map-enabled GPS unit, you could get all your information immediately. Instead of finding out the next day that you had been next to a good looking small lake, you would know it immediately and be able to walk over and fish it.

 

Imagine if they enabled the GPS feature of the SPOT, while keeping the the text and Google Earth features as well. Imagine if they let you enter the text you wanted at the time, instead of limiting you to a text message that you had to select before heading out: that would be a useful device.

[AzuluSpookd]

I think the emergency button is the seller on this unit....

 

I was thinking of getting one, solely for that purpose, as the guys in our group are a little older and we are far away from anyone and there is absolutely no cell phone coverage for hours.

 

Isn't there a monthly fee with this as well? How much is it?

[ctdd2006]

I saw it was a 100/year

[BUSTER]

That technology has been available ever since hand-held GPS units were available.

 

A good hand-held GPS with maps will do everything you describe (except send a text and update onto Google Earth automatically) without paying any fees and without having to go home and check your computer to access the information. If you had a map-enabled GPS unit, you could get all your information immediately. Instead of finding out the next day that you had been next to a good looking small lake, you would know it immediately and be able to walk over and fish it.

 

Imagine if they enabled the GPS feature of the SPOT, while keeping the the text and Google Earth features as well. Imagine if they let you enter the text you wanted at the time, instead of limiting you to a text message that you had to select before heading out: that would be a useful device.

 

A good hand held charges up the wazoo for maps and a good hand held does not do everything i described? like you said send text and update automatically onto google earth and I dont know of any hand held for 100 bucks with a 911 feature

I paid 100 bucks for the unit and it came with first year free , this year i paid the 100 to renew just for the 911 feature for when i hunt or hike alone , how much for those sat phones? Finding out where i've being when i get home is just a cool feature ,but the best part is the wife and kids can check out where Iam while I'am still out in the feild, does that hand held Gps do that? does that hand held call for help with a help button? say iam stuck in the mud i can ask for a non-emerg helping hand, my friend can look on his computer and see exactly where Iam, try telling your buddy on your sat phone you took a left then a right then over a hill and a left no wait maybe it was right ??????? one can travel far into the woods on a quad... enjoy you stay in the bush .....I know iam going home , and only for 100 bucks.....easy choice for me

[JohnF]

Horses for courses. The OP was asking for suggestions for keeping tabs on an elderly loner. My impression was that they'd probably have a pretty good idea of where he was but not how he was. The locater feature wouldn't help with the how - but I can see the benefit for someone out wandering in the bush.

 

JF

[chris.brock]

I was on a canoe trip, 2 people, 1 canoe and we lost the canoe in some nasty rapids. We were on our way to James Bay, no logging roads and impossible to walk out. I hit the help button (not the 911 button) on spot at 6:30 pm and the Hearst Fire Helicopter was there to pick us up at 9:30 am the next day. The help call went to my family back home and they organized the fly out.

 

The only problem with spot is that the messages are limited. Ok, help or 911. When I hit the help message, I knew my family would freak out, I would send 1 help, 1 ok, 1help, 1 ok etc., so hopefully they would figure out we were ok but needed help, and since the message was from beside a nasty rapid, they would figure out we dumped and lost the canoe.

 

Spot is a great product. I bet there will be better ones coming out later but who knows when.

[chris.brock]

Our Spot cost $150 to buy, and $100 per year for service. I split it with my Dad and brother. Whoever is doing something in a remote area takes Spot, saves us money