View Full Version : Sponsored by SPOT
OS-Aussie
05-22-2008, 06:46 AM
Based on the sponsorship of SPOT who has one and how do you use it.
My wife likes me to carry mine in the vehicle when I am solo tripping to anywhere distant. It allows her to check my current location and provides her good times to call or not call. IE If the vehicle has been stopped for a while I may be sleeping, combined with the ability to check Google Maps as often or infrequently as she wants for her peace of mind.
flywgn
05-24-2008, 08:46 PM
It seems to me that your poll assumes that everyone has SPOT. I don't own one, but certainly can see the usefulness of it.
Allen R
Skylinerider
05-24-2008, 08:52 PM
I don't own one yet, but I do a lot of solo trips, and I see a very real need for me to get one quite soon.
sinuhexavier
05-26-2008, 02:37 AM
I've had one since January and it has been out on three trips with me. I have a nice list of family and friends that I keep in contact with and let them know where I am. It really gives the wife piece of mind and that alone is worth the price.
OS-Aussie
05-26-2008, 06:49 AM
It seems to me that your poll assumes that everyone has SPOT. I don't own one, but certainly can see the usefulness of it.
Allen R
I would have thought that was one of the last two options ????:friday:
I use mine while mountian biking AND Overlanding to tell my girl that I'm fine if I break something and take forever to get back. I use it to track my trip. I use it so she can watch a trip of mine "real time" if she is not feeling well. I use it to send an Okay message to my blog when I take a bunch of pictures so I can update readers as to where I am. AND so I can later tie those pictures to a specific location on google earth. :victory:
Yes, I love my spot.
I was even thinking about a "catch me if you can" game. I'll carry some cash on me and give it to the first person that uses the live SPOT tracking to find and catch me!!!!! They'll need wireless internet access of course. ; )
FlyNdrive
06-04-2008, 09:15 PM
It would of been nice to have selection for letting the family know you are OK because most of where we go is off the cellular grid. I use it more as a way to let the family of the status of my trips. I send out the OK message every evening.
Julie and I are off the trail for the day and are in a safe place for the night. I will update you to any changes.
I have never used the HELP or 911 buttons, but I feel safe knowing they are there. I also like the coverage area.
Thank you for supporting ExPo.
-Ben
weezerbot
06-05-2008, 02:08 AM
We use ours for checking in with the OK, but don't necessarily have the tracking on every time out, so I wasn't sure what option to pick on the poll there. Never used 911 or help feature. Still having issues on placement in the truck for good satellite position.
LaOutbackTrail
06-11-2008, 04:16 PM
I got mine for my Central America moto tour, but I havent gotten the service subscription yet since I'm unable to do the moto tour.
I took it out to play with it and its a cool little device, cant wait to use it. In the mean time its on the shelf.
craig
06-23-2008, 06:08 AM
The poll misses the case of, "I manually send I'm OK messages, but didn't pay for the tracking feature."
When I purchased mine, I decided that since it runs off of batteries only (lithium) that I would only turn mine on when I wanted to check in or need help. Most of the people I know that have them use them in this fashion as well. In fact I don't know of anyone that purchased the tracking option... they use a GPS to track and make a map when they are finished. The SPOT is just used to let people back home know that things are going well.
Craig
Von Petrol
06-30-2008, 07:19 PM
Ever racer has a Spot and is used for leaderboard tracking.
http://www.tourdivide.org/leaderboard
uphill
07-06-2008, 04:57 AM
I bought the spot.
Setting it off would make me feel somewhat like the old lady on the TV commercial who screams, "I've fallen - and I can't get up."
However if I was with somebody who had a medical problem or some other situation where life hung in the balance and I was out of phone range, this would be a good solution. It's not that expensive and provides great service from what I can ascertain.
I just bought one for a trip to Oregon with my daughter. My wife was on a trip herself and we had some unplanned days to just wander. I liked not having to plan where we'd be if it was remote, while still being able to give an OK to family back home. As it was, we stayed on paved roads and had cell signal most of the time, so it was no big deal, but as we headed from Bend down to Crater Lake then over to the coast for a few days, I really liked that at least 4 people knew where we were.
Jerry
08-25-2008, 01:52 AM
We plan on buying one next year when our travels take us to more remote areas. We would turn it on for the duration of any remote or long distance trip.
Tress
09-07-2008, 10:13 PM
My girlfriend and i are driving the PanAmerican highway, she is an only child and both our familes and friends are very eager to know where we are and how we are doing so this device has been awesome. The rents love to know that all is well even when we are out of cell range or wifi service and more than anything they have loved seeing where we are and what the area looks like. Personally my favorite part is looking at the macro scale topo images, its soo cool to see what all is around....
I don't have one as yet but plan on getting one. I do a lot of remote area 4 wheeling usually it is just my wife, kids and I in the one car and nobody else along. This device would definitely be of use should we break down in the wilderness or heaven forbid someone gets a snake bite etc. It is very dry out where we 4wd and temps can soar into the 120's easily during summer, with youngsters onboard we need a way of alerting people of trouble. Very little in the way of cell coverage out here either.
Well I have just purchased a SPOT system from a US ebayer seller, I should have it by the end of next week. Then I will purchase the service with GEOS international price to be on the safe side. Will also get the tracking feature and see how it goes.
FlyNdrive
09-18-2008, 11:35 AM
Let us know how it works Mav.
-Ben
Let us know how it works Mav.
-Ben
Will do Ben, I gather you want to know if yours will be worth bringing down with you?
FlyNdrive
09-18-2008, 12:23 PM
Will do Ben, I gather you want to know if yours will be worth bringing down with you?
You know for testing I could of sent you mine.
Will had his sent from Colorado to North Carolina through FedEx while it was left on. It left a tracking hit every time the package was in a clear line of sight for the duration of the trip.
Lost Canadian
09-19-2008, 02:27 AM
Interesting story about my SPOT. I'm not sure what happened but my SPOT was either stolen or I lost it while out on Titicaca in Peru. Anyway if anyone is worried about the service I will vouch for GEOS 911 people. Somehow the 911 was tripped after my SPOT went missing. I was nowhere near the distress call when it went off but the good people at the GEOS 911 center in Houston somehow managed to hunt me down while I was in a bar in Cusco to ask if I was alright.
How they found me I have no idea, it must have taken some searching, but they did it, which is really cool!
http://trevorbrown.smugmug.com/photos/375431725_KK5br-M.jpg
Interesting story about my SPOT. I'm not sure what happened but my SPOT was either stolen or I lost it while out on Titicaca in Peru. Anyway if anyone is worried about the service I will vouch for GEOS 911 people. Somehow the 911 was tripped after my SPOT went missing. I was nowhere near the distress call when it went off but the good people at the GEOS 911 center in Houston somehow managed to hunt me down while I was in a bar in Cusco to ask if I was alright.
How they found me I have no idea, it must have taken some searching, but they did it, which is really cool!
Well that is a great testimonial for the product, I am even happier with my decision to purchase one.
Jerry
09-19-2008, 02:53 AM
Not only first class service but potentially life saving response. A Spot Personal Tracker will be on my Christmas list. Thanks for posting your experience.
Tress
09-19-2008, 07:13 AM
Wow, i can tell you my mother is happy to hear of that response time, must have been quite a startle to have someone approach you in a bar about a A Spot 911. Were they able to tell you where the signal was sent from?
Tress
09-20-2008, 07:11 AM
Did they charge you for the money it took to respond to the 911?
:REOutIceFishing:
Lost Canadian
09-20-2008, 10:59 AM
Wow, i can tell you my mother is happy to hear of that response time, must have been quite a startle to have someone approach you in a bar about a A Spot 911. Were they able to tell you where the signal was sent from?
It was a cell phone call to someone I was travelling with. Now that I've been home for a few days I've been able to get the full story. As it was told to me the GEOS 911 center got in touch with my emergency contact. My emergency contact not knowing exactly where I was put them in touch with the family of someone I was travelling with. That persons family then gave the GEOS 911 people the cell phone number of the person I was travelling with, and while sitting in a bar in Cusco his phone rang and he said to me " it's for you, someone calling about a GPS emergency or something like that..."
Did they charge you for the money it took to respond to the 911?
No. I bought in for the works, the basic 911 coverge, tracking, and the $8 GEOS services insurance.
Well my SPOT hardware turned up today from the Canadian ebay seller, now I just have to buy the service which I will do either today or tomorrow.
It is a lot smaller than I expected, I was expecting something the size of a Fluke multimeter but this is more like a mobile phone size.
I like the phrase on the lid of the box as you open it which says. WELCOME - Opening this box is the first step to making sure you don't come home in one. :)
weezerbot
09-29-2008, 07:08 AM
Just though I'd throw this out there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf7-9te-TMM
Schattenjager
09-29-2008, 10:30 PM
On that video he said it is good to "21 feet above sea level" at 2:09 on the video clock. Did he mean to say 21K?
On that video he said it is good to "21 feet above sea level" at 2:09 on the video clock. Did he mean to say 21K?
Yeah I heard him say that too, I did not get what he was trying to say though cause what difference would altitude be to the signal so long as it had good LOS to the satelites?
weezerbot
09-30-2008, 02:11 AM
I'm sure he meant 21k feet as per the specs on the SPOT page....
SPOT works around the world virtually anywhere
* Operating Temperatures: -40°F to +185°F (-40ºC to +85ºC)
* Operating Altitude: -300 ft to +21,000 ft (-91 m to +6,492 m)
* Weight: 7.37 ounces (209 grams)
* Dimensions: 4.38 x 2.75 x 1.75 inches (approx. 111 mm x 69 mm x 44 mm)
* Floats in water
* Waterproof to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes
* Humidity Rated:
o MIL-STD-810E Method 507.3, 95% to 100% condensing
* Salt Fog Rated
o Per MIL_STD 810E Method 509.3, 5% NaCl, 95% distilled water
* Vibration
o Per SAE J1455
o Random, 20 Hz to 2000 Hz, 0.04g2/Hz, one hour per axis
* Drop
o Dropped twice on all six sides from one meter onto hard surface.
And why wouldn't altitude make a difference? Have you ever been above 21k feet and not frozen your *** off?? If the thing freezes over how is it going to work even if there is a perfect LOS?? :smilies27
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