GPS Tracking

flyrider said:

Reading many, many reviews of SPOT, and I'm reluctant to purchase, given the quite large number of negative reviews. If a spouse thought you had a functional tracking device, and yet it failed to work...guess what: The spouse would assume something bad happened, which might be worse than no tracking data at all.

Still researching and soliciting comments from SPOT owners. Thanks!

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Have used my Spot II Satellite GPS Messenger http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=102 for a couple of years. Have run through western US Wyoming and Montana, around Lake Superior, up to Alaska and as far north as Inuvik 30k from the Arctic Ocean and never had an issue. Had tracking running all the time and it worked flawlessly. Wife could look at the map and see exactly where i was and using street view see exactly what I was seeing. (not sure if that is a feature you want)

Only minor issue is the need to use 3 expensive AAA lithium batteries but on our 25 day Alaska trip I started with the same batteries I used on our Montana trip last year and only had to change batteries 2 times.

The DeLorme inReach is a competing product to SPOT. It looks like DeLorme made products that paired to SPOT previously before making their own SPOT-like product. I don't have experience with either yet but have been comparing the two. What I've found thus far in comparing the two is

Pro's of inReach
-- two way messaging versus only outbound messaging
-- better coverage area (may not apply depending on individual needs)

Con's of inReach
-- pricier subscriptions (which both require)

Speculation I've read about
-- easier to pair/use with smartphones with inReach

Cheers,

garthw said:

Have used my Spot II Satellite GPS Messenger http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=102 for a couple of years. Have run through western US Wyoming and Montana, around Lake Superior, up to Alaska and as far north as Inuvik 30k from the Arctic Ocean and never had an issue. Had tracking running all the time and it worked flawlessly. Wife could look at the map and see exactly where i was and using street view see exactly what I was seeing. (not sure if that is a feature you want)

Only minor issue is the need to use 3 expensive AAA lithium batteries but on our 25 day Alaska trip I started with the same batteries I used on our Montana trip last year and only had to change batteries 2 times.

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Did unit come with batteries? Also, what is cost of batteries? Thanks.

flyrider said:

Did unit come with batteries? Also, what is cost of batteries? Thanks.

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I bought my unit used and it came with batteries.

In Canada the lithium AAA batteries are $12-15 but in the US they are a lot more reasonable but still $8-9 for a 4 pack. Never really tried to shop them out anywhere. Just bought them at Walmart so you may be able to find a better price.

You can use standard alkaline batteries but they say that they wear down quite quickly. Never tried them to see if the economics would work out better. In the end it is really not a huge issue but a built in rechargeable lithium would be a great feature to add.

I bought a Spot2 a month ago since I am now traveling solo. I know some here have talked about why they use it and that they didn't buy it for the SOS feature. I bought it for 2 reasons; 1. Since I'm traveling solo now, my friends and family wanted to know where the heck I am, and 2. I use the caribiner clip provided to actually clip it on my belt loop of my Olympia pants so it's on my person. What use is it if you have a high side and you are thrown from your bike and can't crawl back to get it? Regardless if you are thrown into the woods without a clear signal; I want the best possible chance to push that SOS button!

Not sure about the first generation, but the Spot2 (second generation) has two buttons; a "check in/ok" button and a "custom" button. You can put 10 entries and a customized message that you create into each of those buttons. It can be a text or email, but only 10 total. So what I've done is put the same entries in both, but used different messages. The "check in/ok" button message is something like..."Hi, I'm checking in as I travel, all is okay". The "custom" button says "I've arrived safely at my destination". So my friends/family can track where I am riding and then they get the message that I've arrived. Keeps me from texting from my phone when I get to my destination, especially if cell signal is weak. Works great!

Where have you purchased this? Online...from whom? Thanks.

The lithium batteries last a LONG time. I replace them about once a year, which is typically 15k miles or so.

flyrider said:

Where have you purchased this? Online...from whom? Thanks.

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Purchased mine from West Marine. But you can get them pretty much anywhere; Cabela's, Eastern Mountain Sports, Best Buy...google it, and I'm sure you'll have a lot of info about where to purchase!

Gps

My wife tracks me with Google Maps Latitude. Not sure how it will work out west but worked fine on trip from Richmond, VA to MOA rally this summer. Works for free on Android phones. Can't hurt to try it. I will tell you at times it is very accurate to the point she can see what business I am in. No strip clubs for me.
Ken Denton

tommcgee said:

The lithium batteries last a LONG time. I replace them about once a year, which is typically 15k miles or so.

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Unless you have tracking turned on. Then, they only last a couple of weeks.

flyrider said:

Reading many, many reviews of SPOT, and I'm reluctant to purchase, given the quite large number of negative reviews. If a spouse thought you had a functional tracking device, and yet it failed to work...guess what: The spouse would assume something bad happened, which might be worse than no tracking data at all.

Still researching and soliciting comments from SPOT owners. Thanks!

Click to expand...

Definitely and issue. I was using the tracking feature and I had to remember to press the "I'm OK" button if I stopped somewhere along the way. Or else my wife noticed that there were multiple tracking messages from the same location on the side of the road. Apparently. it caused some concern until I started moving again.

Where do you guys mount the SPOT? Or do you just pull it out of the pocket and hit "OK"? I just ordered one, so now the details are more important...thanks!

flyrider said:

Where have you purchased this? Online...from whom? Thanks.

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Online from Cyclenutz www.cyclenutz.com Tony is a great guy to deal with & I like supporting small businesses vs big box retailers. I have the spot tracker.

The SPOT II works fine inside the top of my tank bag facing upward - no special mounting bracket needed.

The AAA lithium battery 4-packs are available from Amazon.com for less than $10 delivered to my door.

flyrider said:

Where do you guys mount the SPOT? Or do you just pull it out of the pocket and hit "OK"? I just ordered one, so now the details are more important...thanks!

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I would re-iterate what someone mentioned in an earlier post. I always keep it in my jacket pocket. There would be nothing worse than going down on the bike, needing to use the '911' function and not be able to get to the unit. The SPOT II is smaller than the series I and will easily fit in a jacket pocket.

Sailorlite said:

The SPOT II works fine inside the top of my tank bag facing upward - no special mounting bracket needed.

The AAA lithium battery 4-packs are available from Amazon.com for less than $10 delivered to my door.

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Good...thanks!

Got my SPOT a week ago...finally activated the account today. Sent a trial message...wowee...this is great! I think we have a winner in this product...thanks for all the info, guys.

I have a Spot and used it for a trip from The Netherlands to Africa (Dakar) through the Sahara desert. Since then, I use it on trips and on holidays.
It works most of the times. That is, it will miss a few points here and there. But it's to be expected when you consider the technology.

It uses GPS for it's positioning (duh!) and that'll work 95% of the time. Things like positioning of the device are important, but not crucial. I had it in a backpack when traveling to Africa and on my RT it's in the topcase. When you travel through dense forrest, GPS reception suffers. Bad weather is also a factor.
But the problem is not the GPS reception, but how it transmits it's position to the world. That's also through a satellite. And my guess is that it only tries it one time, and it doesn't know that at that moment, the satellite was not in good view and the message didn't came through. So, it just sends one message every 10 minutes and that's it. It can happen that it misses out a couple of hours. I had that on a trip through the Alps in Austria.

But, all things considered, I still think it's a good solution. The smartphone is only an alternative when you go out on short trips or have a powered holder for them. A smartphone like an iPhone doesn't hold out for more that a day when you use GPS and a dataconnection if used continuously. And you don't have mobile data in remote areas. That's the big advantage of the Spot. It will last 6 weeks easily on a set of Energizer Ultimate Lithium. A friend just borrowed my Spot for his trip from Kazhagstan to The Netherlands. Six weeks usage all day on one set of batteries. No worries about when you can recharge or mobile data connections. It just works!

richardak said:

Definitely and issue. I was using the tracking feature and I had to remember to press the "I'm OK" button if I stopped somewhere along the way. Or else my wife noticed that there were multiple tracking messages from the same location on the side of the road. Apparently. it caused some concern until I started moving again.

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That's just a matter of instruction. I tried the Spot out before I went to Africa and noticed it's misses a point once in a while. I also noticed that the OK message sometimes doesn't get through. So I told everybody that they shouldn't worry when they see no movement (or no new points) for a while. Just tell them that the technology isn't perfect. When they count on the OK message, they start worrying.

And - but that's my opinion - when people at home get nervous so easily, they shouldn't watch the thing so often. Or try to relax. I don't want to go on a trip having to think about the homefront getting nervous about an unplanned stop. So that's what I tell them and they have to do with the info what they want. But not lay it on me. I go out on the bike to relax.

I understand some users keep SPOT in a tank bag or top case. Since SPOT instructions say it needs a "clear view of the sky", it would seem these locations would degrade performance.

True?