The Great Big SPOT Thread

That's your prerogative, but it's far from "the ideal position" for the reasons I mentioned.

If you have to have it on you, there are arm band holders which provide better sat coverage because the unit is held more horizontally, the Spot is easier to use because you can see the buttons, and they're less likely to cave in your chest if you land on them.

Or, put your SPOT on the handlebars to do the tracking and "I'm OK" stuff and carry a PLB (which is supposed to do a better job of calling in the Marines) in a pocket that won't cause broken bones when you do the inevitable get off.

guess i should be more careful with kids sitting on my bike... lesson learned.

i assumed that the batteries were dead, so i swapped them for new ones, and now it wont turn on...

how do i reset the "Help" button on my SPOT2?


thanks
edd

If someone I am riding with has a serious prang and needs help I wouldn't hesitate to mash the emergency button on my Spot. But can I also send a custom message that would tell my contacts that it isn't me?

Not as far as I know. But, on mine(version one) I had planned if the occasion arose to so exactly that, send a 911, then once emergency services had responded and arrived on scene send an ok message, or even three.

If you set up your contact list with a list of scenarios then one of them would be to stop worrying about your personal safety if a 911 is followed by 3 oks

If course, you could remove your family from your 911 message list, saves them worrying and there is nothing they can really do anyway, leave it to the professionals to respond and to contact your family via your SPOT contact details

Cheers
TraveklingStrom

The Spot II has a custom message you can set up before the event to do just that. Or if you have a Smartphone or web access, you can modify your existing message at the moment.

I know the Gen3 has a custom message button. You can configure that to say something like "Activating the spot for someone else". Send that message out and then send the SOS message. BUT if you do that you need to wait until that message gets sent before pressing the SOS button. Because I believe once you hit the SOS button, it cancels sending any other messages, tracking points, etc.

I took my Gen3 spot on a 3400 mile trip the last two weeks. It's worked great. My family had a live feed of my progress. I'm sure that helped calm my mother down while I road my scary motorcycle around.

The Spot's USB port is in a bad location though. It should be on the side of the unit, not the bottom. If it was on the side I could plug a usb cable into the spot and then slide it sideways into a sleeve on my tank bag. Unless I can find a 90 degree usb cable that fits it, it's kind of useless.

I'm planning on going on a 3 week trip through the Himalaya and was thinking about a Spot. Not for the emergency situations (it's an organised trip with 11 other people, a car, a road marshall, a guide,...) but just so people at home can follow me on a map.

Here in Europe I use a GPS tracker for that.

But I read that anything with satellite communication is forbidden in India ? Do they only mean satellite phones and stuff or also locators like the Spot ?
I know satellitez reception is about 50/50 there, but I'm just seeing it from the legal side of the matter.

I'm finding that when I send an okay message, it no longer gives a link to a map, just coordinates. That isn't nearly as good as it used to be.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

Email sent from Spot still contains a map link. Text/SMS messages only have coordinates.

Think about an inReach instead. Satellite coverage virtually anywhere on earth - including India. If asked, just tell them it's a GPS - which it is.

These guys have it:

http://www.usbfirewire.com/u_microb_cables_angled.html

But, even with a 90 degree cable, the connection inside the SPOT feels unsupported and weak. I plugged mine in, wiggled it a bit, and decided not to even try. I just pretend it's like the old SPOT- batteries only.

...............shu

Hi all,
Yet more problems with my spot connect.
Went for a ride yesterday,so installed new lithium batteries before heading out.
Started tracking and off I went.
During the 5 hours out on the road, the device shutdown 3 times...?
Not the first time this has happened. Device powers up again with a press of the button, but unexpectedly turns off for no apparent reason.
Tried to login to my account when I get home, only to find that I am locked out, yet again.
Rang customer support you tell me they do not know why I was locked out, so a quick reset and I'm in...!
Check the tracking log and only have a handful of locations on the map showing my ride from the day before, obviously attributed to the mysterious shutdown..

I now have ZERO faith in the unit in an emergency, as a press of the SOS button may not stay active if the unit again shuts down.

They offered me a $50 credit towards the price of a new unit, but I would not even consider another one.

NEVER AGAIN WILL I BUY A SPOT UNIT.

I bought this thing for use in an emergency, but if it is unreliable, what's the point...?

They didn't offer to replace it? What's the warranty on the spot?

I think the Spot Connect has a lot of issues but my Spot I and II units have always been reliable. Maybe you should see if they'll allow you to switch to a different model?

I bought the replacement unit insurance when I purchased my first SPOT II. For a $30 deductible they send me a new unit when one fails.

If you buy something at REI and it fails, take it back to REI and you get a replacement free or a refund. I assume this policy works for SPOT units.

I was told there is nothing they can do, apart from a credit towards another unit which I'm not interested in.
Next purchase will be a sat phone, for emergency use only.

My experience with spot has not been great and would not recommend it to a friend. Too many issues with both their hardware and software, and given that this unit is deigned to help you in a bad situation, that's just not good enough in my book.
My subscription is up in February and I will not be renewing it.

Paper weight anyone...?

I got rescued by a SPOT II message the other day as there were no cell services where I was at the time. Some flash floods had left some dicey road crossings and I had made several of them... till the last one. the mud looked the same but it was deeper and I got stuck big time. I unloaded the bike and still could not budge it. I hit the help button and my wife got the email that she needed to let the sheriff in that county check on me.

They asked about any medical conditions and over did it and sent in the sheriff, EMT, fire department. Within about 20 minutes there was a guy in his pickup next to me asking if I was the guy they were looking for and if I was OK. He then called off the ambulance that was coming from ~60 miles away. All I needed was some help pushing back and that we did. Loaded all the luggage back up and turned back to an alternate route.

SPOT worked as it should have and saved my butt. I bought the II rather than the III as it's too new and untried. I would have loved to have had a Connect but have read too much negative about that thing and they apparently haven't fixed it yet. Too bad.

Good to hear it worked out well for you Bob!