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Free SPOT

Bud

It is what it is.
Just got e-mail. Purchase one year of service for $149.99 (basic service and tracking) and the SPOT is free.

Linky
 
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I just ordered mine. I am very pleased with the price, but confused by the addition of sales tax. I contacted and asked who they were collecting sales tax for but no response yet.
 
I bought one too

I also bought one. I've been wanting to get one for a while but I kept putting it off. Now family members will be a little more at ease when I am away for a while.
 
Sales must be down, an indication of tough times.

Good to know. If they have this deal now, they'll have it again.

I think I'll get one if I decide to get a sailboat and I am out sight of land.
 
Extra sales tax

Sales must be down, an indication of tough times.

Good to know. If they have this deal now, they'll have it again.

I think I'll get one if I decide to get a sailboat and I am out sight of land.

I too have been looking at the Spot. Last year while riding through NC and the Blue Ridge I ran into a fella with one. He showed me all the bells and whistles and I was very impressed. He also had a Whistle tied to it and ssaid if he runs off the road he can also blow the whistle to attract further attention. Great Idea I thought and I too ride with one now.

Hey, I have a Northern 29 Sailboat for sale. Sleeps six and is Fully offshore equiped.

I think Spot is Canadian so the extra tax is most likely Quebec sales tax and Federal Sales Tax.
 
Hey, I have a Northern 29 Sailboat for sale. Sleeps six and is Fully offshore equiped.

Too small for the 3 to 4 months I'll live abord, if I decide to go that route. I'm looking more at a 38 footer.

And then the SPOT will only be used for a distant family member to see where I am. Trust me, for SAR, I'll have an automatically deployable EPIRB on the boat and a PLB attached to my PFD. I don't mess around when it comes to safety.
 
Sales must be down, an indication of tough times.

Good to know. If they have this deal now, they'll have it again.

I think I'll get one if I decide to get a sailboat and I am out sight of land.

Or they're coming out with a new model.
 
I ordered my spot last week and have been playing with it for a couple days.

Initial impressions:
Heavier than I thought
Stopped tracking me (still don't know why)....last track was an hour before I stopped riding.
Where to put it....It comes with a belt hook....but my belt is covered by my jacket when riding. It needs to be visible to the southern sky. Ram has mounts for it but if, say, I hit a dear and get tossed from the bike and can't get to the spot it won't do me any good...seems like it needs to be on my person. I'm going to try to fashion an arm band for it like they have for ipods.

I'll continue to play with it but I don't have an immediate trust factor since it stopped tracking (the tracking indicator was definately on). We'll see....

Anyone have ideas about wearing the spot?
 
I finally got a reply from spot. The tax is a telecommunications tax. That did not occur to me.
 
Thanks for the heads-up on the free Spot offer - I ordered mine yesterday!

It will be great fun now that our friends and family will be able to track our upcoming kayak trip in the Grand Canyon!
 
I've had mine since August 2008 (they were offering the same deal at Airventure in OshKosh, WI last year).

1. Watch the credit card billing. I got billed twice because of a 'mistake' I made when activating the unit. The people at SPOT were quite helpful and corrected things - but you have to catch it.

2. The GPS receiver is not as sensitive as some of today's consumer units. This may be because they had to use a rugged, low power receiver, but it does have trouble getting a fix and contacting the comm satellite if you have a lot of trees and/or buildings blocking large portions of the sky. (understandable and acceptable, simply not as sensitive as units which use the SirfIII chipset)

I put it on top of my tank bag and have had good luck with it on the open highway.
 
Thanks for the heads up.... :thumb been looking to get one for a while... though a bit $$$ strapped right now... it is a worth while device...

i also have an EPhRIBs device i carry in my rally jacket... it is shock proof....
 
Is the Free Spot still available?

Used "Linky" in Sibud's message but didn't see this promotion anywhere....:dunno
 
They sent me a second one.....no idea why. Thought I'd wait awhile before I called them to see if they noticed one's missing.

Still haven't been successful in getting it to track me. It starts and then drops out after a bit....never picks back up. Lights indicate it's sending a signal....but....

Customer service has not been able to assist me. They claim I have it too close to the sparkplugs....:dunno

Anyone figure out how to wear the thing (on your person) when riding?
 
I have done some testing with my SPOT.
Last fall we went from Reno, NV to Carmel by the sea, CA and I had the SPOT in the front pocket of my Santiago jacket.

It was on tracking and the website tracking showed tracking messages 1 through 10 then the "OK" message which was #13. Along the route messages 11 & 12 were missing.

Going home I put Spot in my RKA tank-bag in the clear map section and when I got home the website had all of the tracking messages.

A coulpe of weeks later we went from Reno, NV to Citrus Heights (A&S BMW) and I put SPOT at the bottom of my empty tank-bag and all of the tracking messages came through.

Going home I put SPOT in my GIVI back box and all the tracking messages came through.

I was surprised that it worked through the tank-bag and more surprised that it worked in the GIVI box.

From what I know from friends and myself if you have it in a pocket you body will block the signal.

The logo on the front must face up.
 
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