mesbennett Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Read and interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on the SPOT satellite messenger which I note is sold at REI. Any comments on this device?? thanks maryb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Allen Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Mary- There's been a few folks using and testing it for skiing in the backcountry. Kinda like kayaking, there's a fair amount of potential risk, but unlike kayaking, there's not always a clear view of the sky. One discussion is here: http://telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.ph...=spot+satellite Take home is that it seems to do what is says it does, and unlike some of the personal locator beacons, it can send several messages including: I'm OK and located here (with position), I need help but its not an emergency, and more critically: I need help, send S&R. One issue some folks seem to have, possibly related to obstructed views of the sky due to high cliffs or overhanging trees is that it may take several tries for the message to be sent. I haven't heard of someone using it for kayaking. I think it would be ideal for extended expeditions where one couldn't be sure of local radio coverage. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Bolonsky Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Read and interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on the SPOT satellite messenger which I note is sold at REI. Any comments on this device?? thanks maryb Hi Mary, I'm currently testing and reviewing SPOT and have a demo unit. Send me your email or cell phone number and I'll put you on the testers list, if you want. This weekend I'll be transmitting about a half dozen HELP and OK messages from the South Shore. If you're on the list you'll receive my messages via email, with a link to Google Maps showing where I am, or via text message on your cell phone -- your choice. I've got 6 team members, including one in British Columbia, who will be taking the mesages, and am looking for one or two more. So far my experience with the unit has been quite good. As long as the unit's view of the sky is clear, the messages get sent as reliably as the sun coming up. The Google Maps are great. Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shewhorn Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 I just bought one as I'll be doing a 10 day camping trip up the coast of Maine this summer and most of the areas we'll be in will be out of mobile phone range and I suspect some of them will be out of USCG range (well... at least out of range of a 6 watt hand held). The unit itself is $150 and the basic service is $100 per year. It uses the Globalstar network. For $50/month you can get the tracking service which sends a message without your position every 10 minutes. Users can view your progress on a map. Here's the catch though, you have to give them your login ID and your password, the same UID and PWD that are attached to your account information and setup. Unless they change this I won't be renewing that service. I was under the impression that folks could subscribe to a feed of some sort or I could provide them with a URL that would allow them to track my progress. For that service to be worth it to me they MUST implement this as an option or at least give me the ability to assign user IDs and passwords which have limited permissions, in other words, the user can ONLY see the map with my progress. They will not have the ability to see or modify my account setup. Who knows, maybe they already have this but if they do it wasn't obvious to me. I'll be giving them a ring tomorrow to ask about this. Also, for an additional $7.95 a year they have a S&R subscription through GEOS Alliance. More info here: http://www.geosalliance.com/sar/ IMO if they REALLY want to get in with the ski crowd they need to put an avalanche beacon in this thing as well (that would be a separate product... an avalanche beacon umm... well I suppose if you were paddling near a glacier...). Cheers, Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEL Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 I just bought one as I'll be doing a 10 day camping trip up the coast of Maine this summer and most of the areas we'll be in will be out of mobile phone range and I suspect some of them will be out of USCG range (well... at least out of range of a 6 watt hand held). Where are you headed in Maine? Cell phone coverage is surprising good along much of the coast. Maybe its a generational thing or a different view about being out there, but in many ways being out of communication with the rest of the world is a good thing to me. Ed Lawson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob budd Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 For outdoor activity SPOT had a few limitations. I don't know how the competition compares but I've designed similar products and one of the limitations it the user interface. If you are injured it takes far too many operations to send a message and the local acknowledgement is not conclusive. That is, you want to push one button once and see a light go on indicating that the unit is responding followed by a (perhaps the same) light going off indicating the message has been sent. Instead you turn the unit on, then press another button to send a message, then need to catch the change in the flash sequence that persists for a short time to know a message was sent. I also am not sure the enclosure is well designed to meet its needs. The unit must have a clear view of the sky and needs to be lashed down or allowed to bounce around on a lanyard. As the former is much preferred, it doesn't have good features aside from the rings on the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shewhorn Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 Where are you headed in Maine? Cell phone coverage is surprising good along much of the coast. Last year in the Vinalhaven and Stonington areas we found that phone coverage was spotty in the locations we camped (and that was with both CDMA and GSM networks). We're starting in the same location, passing through Vinalhave and Stonington and then heading north up the coast. I'm working on the assumption that once we get past Stoning and start heading northeast that the coverage is going to be poor. Maybe its a generational thing or a different view about being out there, but in many ways being out of communication with the rest of the world is a good thing to me. Ed Lawson I think it's a GOOD thing (to be out of range). The only piece of technology I really want with me aside from the GPS (which isn't a necessity but it's nice to have) is an iPod. The phone is only on for about 2 minutes a day to communicate with folks back home that I'm still alive. Cheers, Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Bolonsky Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 Anybody wants to borrow a SPOT to try for two weeks, contact me. The demo units include unlimted sms text and email messaging with embedded Google Maps, to ten friends via either their cell phones or email accounts.. I have five units to lend out. No strings attached. Only thing I ask: if you need a unit mailed to you, you pay shipping from my house and back. Adam adambolonsky at yahoo dot com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEL Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 Last year in the Vinalhaven and Stonington areas we found that phone coverage was spotty in the locations we camped Yeah, its spotty and it will be a bit more so much north of MDI till you get closer to Machias. You can often get a signal if you can get some elevation and clear view of coast, but you have to hunt for it at times. Its not something to rely on when and where you might be at any point. Hope you have a good trip and get well north of MDI. It is really something up there..very different from Stonington, etc. Ten days is a nice duration Ed Lawson Pining to return Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shewhorn Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Yeah, its spotty and it will be a bit more so much north of MDI till you get closer to Machias. You can often get a signal if you can get some elevation and clear view of coast, but you have to hunt for it at times. Its not something to rely on when and where you might be at any point. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to get the Spot. If there's trouble and the VHF can't raise help it'll be the last resort. It'll also be a nice way to leave a breadcrumb trail with family and friends on the nights when we can't get any signal. Hope you have a good trip and get well north of MDI. It is really something up there..very different from Stonington, etc. We should be hitting MDI on day 3 or 4 so there'll be plenty of time to put it well behind us. I'm psyched! Now for a random note... I called Spot today and canceled the tracking service. The way they marketed it, they made it sound like it would be easy to give others a way to follow me (via their own login or via giving them a URL with my unit's ID or something) but there is no such feature. The ONLY way to check the track is to log in to your account so if I want anyone to be able to follow me in real time, I need to give them my login ID and account. To me that makes the feature absolutely useless. I'll have a GPS with me so I'll have my track already. The only reason I wanted the feature was so that others could follow my progress and if they can't do that in a manner that doesn't compromise the security of my account, the feature isn't worth $50 bucks to me. I can still send Spot checks which will give folks a link via Google Maps. They won't get an update every 10 minutes but so what. Cheers, Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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