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SPOT Satellite Personal Messenger

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Used mine this week on a trip to Amarillo for Christmas. Pretty niffty!


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Red Brown said:
Great multipurpose tool...can also be attached to my daughters car so I can see the route she takes to school :)

BTW, I saw the coverage map and the grey area is a non-reception zone. I thought the GPS technology is available on all points of the earth. The no-service area is near the mouth of the Amazon and bottom half of Africa. I guess they are referring to the non-GPS aspect of the device i.e. relaying the location to Google Maps.

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SEYA

RB
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I've been researching this for our upcoming Alaska trip. The "coverage" is indeed for sending messages, not receiving GPS. Their are two systems operating within the unit, a GPS receiver and satellite communications transceiver. I just got an REI gift card for Christmas - guess what I'm gonna get...:mrgreen:
 
Rob_S said:
Used mine this week on a trip to Amarillo for Christmas. Pretty niffty!
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Say Rob, I wanted to ask about the Google maps tracking feature. Does someone have to have a user ID and password to view the Google map? I'm setting up a web site for our trip next summer, and I wanted to embed the SPOT tracking map into the site so my family can track our progress. I've already experimented with embedding google maps, so I know I can do that with maps I create. Any info would be helpful. Thanks!
 
sparkyphotog said:
Say Rob, I wanted to ask about the Google maps tracking feature. Does someone have to have a user ID and password to view the Google map? I'm setting up a web site for our trip next summer, and I wanted to embed the SPOT tracking map into the site so my family can track our progress. I've already experimented with embedding google maps, so I know I can do that with maps I create. Any info would be helpful. Thanks!
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At the moment the only way to see the tracking map is to login with your account. And I can't see anyway to export the map coordinates to publish it publicly either. But, I did send an e-mail to the SPOT customer service and they replied saying that they are currently working on making the map publicly viewable without a login.

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Rob_S said:
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At the moment the only way to see the tracking map is to login with your account. And I can't see anyway to export the map coordinates to publish it publicly either. But, I did send an e-mail to the SPOT customer service and they replied saying that they are currently working on making the map publicly viewable without a login.

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Cool, thanks for the info. Still going to get it. :sun:
 
lddave said:
There is a thread on Adventure Rider that addresses the exporting of your SPOT Goggle map.
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Do you have the specific link? I did a search on ADV Rider and there are many threads that mention SPOT but, I didn't see one that spoke about exporting the map.

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I searched the laying down tracks forum using spot in the search this forum.
Came back has anyone seen or bought a SPOT?
 
I saw Les Stroud (survivor man) hawking this thing in a commercial last night while watching all my gun shows on Outdoor Channel. If I still did a lot of back packing and hunting out in the New Mexico mountains, I just might get one, but I can't really see it for motorcycle touring even though I never know if the old Wing will make it...:rofl: If I duck hunted the land cut much (2 hours by boat into the most remote area on the Texas gulf coast) I'd have one for sure. If I did a lot of off road out in desert areas or such as that, I'd have one. That guy who got caught in a grotto out in Utah and cut his arm off to get free could have used one. :eek2: This could literally save lives for outdoor types and even motorists that travel a lot in winter up north. I'm just old and broke and don't get out in the wilds much anymore. :tears:
 
At $150 it's kinda hard for me to justify not getting one. It doesn't appear to have the radio locater beacon that PLBs have, I imagine it's why the cost is so much lower. But still, just having the ability to transmit GPS coordinates with a call for help seems invaluable. After all, they have to know that you need help before trying to find you. The non-emergency uses are icing on the cake.
 
Texfire said:
It doesn't appear to have the radio locater beacon that PLBs have, I imagine it's why the cost is so much lower.
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I think that's the difference right there. Some PLBs have GPS receivers integrated in order to encode specific location, others just rely on triangulation of their broadcast signal. Most PLBs work an a could different distress frequencies, and that may well be part of the extra cost as well ... integrating transmitters on different non-adjacent frequency spectrums. With the SPOT, since it transmits directly back to them, can possibly get away with a much simpler transmitter design.

Since the SPOT is transmitting at a fixed interval, where the PLB is silent until activated, it might even prove to get help to you quicker if it is destroyed in an accident ... just because it transmitted it's known location minutes before an accident.
 
I got mine this evening. :trust: Activation was a snap and it worked as advertised right away. Tested a check-in message and tested the tracking function while out running errands. Everything seems to be in order.

By the way, the lengthly thread that lddave referred to earlier is located here. There is some really good info there, and one of the engineers who designed the SPOT is posting on that thread as well. His screen name is SpotMaker.

A lot of people are comparing the SPOT to a PLB. You really can't compare the two, since they are different technologies and serve different needs, although the SPOT can function as a "poor man's" PLB. A PLB is strictly for emergency use only, but the SPOT can be used that way, along with the Check-in and Tracking features, and the ability to signal for help from your friends an family in a non-emergency situation, such as a breakdown.

I think it can be best described as a device that fits a communications niche that bridges the gap between cell phones and satellite phones, and can be used in emergencies as well. I think it's a great bargain for what it can do.
 
sparkyphotog said:
I think it can be best described as a device that fits a communications niche that bridges the gap between cell phones and satellite phones, and can be used in emergencies as well. I think it's a great bargain for what it can do.
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+1
And for those of us who need it, it can be the mom/dad/spouse/kids "peace of mind" without taking time away from your travels. ;-)
 
I have decided to buy one.

I may even try to get it today so I can try it out on the End of Year Pie run this weekend.
 
Gilk51 said:
:thumb: Send me an email! I'll keep track of ya! :lol2:
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I figured I might need it if you get us hopelessly lost, or your bike dies in the middle of nowhere. After all it is a Strom:rofl:

Do you have GPS route available yet?
 
Simmons1 said:
I figured I might need it if you get us hopelessly lost, or your bike dies in the middle of nowhere. After all it is a Strom:rofl:

Do you have GPS route available yet?
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:thpt:

Yeah - I'll post it up for your approval...
 
Simmons1 said:
I don't need to approve it, just need it to load in my GPS, in case you decide to loose me on the way down.
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You can get loose anytime you want! I won't deliberately try to lose you... :lol2:

I'll put it over on the Pie Run thread in the next few minutes... :yawn:
 
My Spot worked great going to the EOY Pie Run and back. I am very impressed with it so far.
 
I will have it with me to show you.

I haven't tried it with heavy canopy yet.
 
I guess what I just haven't gotten my head around yet it. Will my family be able to view where I am when I am off on one of my 3 week summer disappear tours. (This year I am heading up to New Foundland).

I think I have an understanding that the answer is yes, but they have to log into my account as me. Does anyone know if they can just go to a web page and view it without logging on to any accounts?
 
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