SPOT GPS locator service

Yup... I like it. I can give the link to family / friends and they can track where I am. If I go off the road then there's a high probability it will aid in those looking for me if I can't hit the sos button. It's better than a cell phone or any of those apps as you must have coverage with those and even when sat coverage is spotty, it's still there and eventually will register a ping of your location. I have many times camped in an area with no cell service but know I can hit the OK button and Rita will get a text message or email saying I'm okay.

The downside is it's not cheap.
 
I use Spot tracker service. I have had it for a little over a year now. While not inexpensive at $99 a year for the service, I feel more secure knowing I can be located within 30 feet if the need arises.
My wife can also track my iPhone, so I have some redundancy.
I have been satisfied with the Spot tracking service so far.
 
I have one as well that I picked when I was riding my Wee "off the road". It makes the family happy, it might make a difference in an accident, but isn't particularly cheap... But in perspective nothing about this hobby is cheap, a SPOT is well down the cost list compared to most of the other items required...or just desired...
 
I have had one for a couple of years. I use the footprints or follow me feature when I am on long trips. On a couple of trips I managed to get to some lonely roads where there was nobody around. So even if you stick to paved roads it can still be handy. The "ok" button is great if you want to send a quick pre-programmed message. I use it in conjunction with the footprints button. So my family can see my progress and location when I am moving. If I am stopping for an extended time I hit "ok" so they know it is okay that I have stopped moving. I have camped in places I didn't have cell coverage and hit the "ok" when I stop.

I did get spotty coverage on some mountain roads. It needs a clear view of the sky to see all the sats. It worked great everywhere else.

Two lithium AA lasted for an entire 8 day trip without issue. So you can buy a four pack and have a couple extra just in case.
 
Rick's right. I am going to get one to have on the Epic Ride. But not for insurance. Mainly so folks can see where we are and be jealous. I'll link it to Spotwalla so the bread crumbs will stay there so we can look back and remember where we went after we get really, really old.

Joanne probably will never look at our trail because she refuses to "do" computers. But other people in town will tell her that we were in wherever we happen to have been.

About the insurance. Back in 2000 or so, a guy named Joe Young, a retired Special Forces Colonel and respected long-distance rally rider went off the road on CO-90 at 38.35468N X 108.97852W. He was probably within 25' of the road. He had been seen in Ridgeway, CO, and had said he was heading for Moab. He wasn't found for about 10 days. A year later a friend sent me the GPS coordinates and asked me to take a picture of the marker that someone from the LD-riing community had put at the place where his body was found. I went to the coordinates and walked back and forth for nearly an hour and never saw the marker. If Joe had had a SPOT and it had broadcast those coordinates, it would have been tough to have found him.

I'm glad Rick and I will have two of us along, but I'll also be glad to give people a view of where we are. I've watched some SPOT tracks and found them fascinating.
 
LOL, Jim! BTW, I forgot to mention my brother. He's a retired Colonel (Army), who had/has a dream to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. He started last April at the Mexican border and intended to hike to Canada last summer. But by the time he got to Lake Tahoe a bit after July 4, he had lost about 35 pounds and his wife suggested that maybe his health could be endangered if he continued hiking. He had less to lose than his big brother does -- he'd started at around 165 and he's 6'1".

At any rate, he had a SPOT. But he didn't have it set to leave a trail. It only "located" him when he pushed the button and sometimes he'd forget to push it. I was never worried about him, but I got awfully frustrated when I knew he was moving and didn't have any idea where he was.

BTW, he's going back on the trail again this summer and will leave Tahoe at about the time Rick and I are leaving Spearfish.
 
Paul, I read Wilde and asked Mike about it. He read it and dissed it. He didn't have much sympathy for anyone who'd carry such a heavy pack.

Of course, he doesn't have much sympathy for anyone who doesn't agree with him 100%.

Bless his pointy little head and his sometimes-teeny little heart. I love him, but he's one of those folks who you have to work to love some of the time.

BTW, I thought Wild was a really good read.
 
I run spot and I respecfully agree more with Phil Than rick. anothe incident was the gold wing rider out of salmon ID tha lay in a ravien off the road for 20 or 21 days before he was found , a spot unit would have cut that down considerbly, Mellow can probably provide his name , I cant remembrr it now . He was a NAM VET and a lawyer etc . personally if crap happens I don't want to lay in a hole like tht for 3 weeks before I am found. just my two cents worth.

Eldon
 
I wasn't concerned so much with the insurance angle as I was with the overall utility.

My mother is a worrier. She will be very glad when I finally retire and leave Saudi Arabia. My wife says she doesn't (and wouldn't) worry, but ...
 
Rick,

I may not have got it put on paper properly, but where you down play spot and don't see the reason for it that some of us do. Phil understands where we are coming from. When you have beeninvolved in a search where spot could possibly have had a better ending situation it really gets to play on your mind set. You run a lot of solo miles in some prety lonly country side and out of cell range, with out Spot or some similar devise who is going to have a good idea of where you are headed and what your ETA is

I was on the side lines while the Idaho incident was happening due to a broken Knee from a dirt bike dual sport ride, butI sart here at my desk and stayed with the search until its tragic end. The following year there was a groupe of searchers and others who got togather and drank a bottle of root beer at a small memorial service for the lost rider. I was privlaged to be invited to that event and I saw the place where it ended. with the water flowing in the river and the depth of the spot it would have taken a lot for someone not hurt badly to be able to makek him or herselfe heard from there if they happened to be pined under thier bike.

Since then I have used Spot and have my link availible for family members and some close friends Several of them are aware of when I am going soewhere and otheres kinow if they can't get me on phone that I am quite possibly on bike.I also have tracking on my cell and a couple of people follow it as well.

I am sure we will kick this subject around more either in CO, or in Spearfish, or both.

Eldon
 
In the case I referenced, about Colonel Jim Young near Paradox, CO, it looked as if he had had a heart attack and die almost instantly. A SPOT would have simplified things for the big group of people who hunted for him over three states for nearly 10 days. Don't think it made any differene to Jim.

Even if he had had a SPOT and triggered the 911 function, from my experience in searching for the marker at the place where he'd be been found, it's entirely possible that people could have been within a few feet of him and not found him.
 
EX WINGER said:
I run spot and I respecfully agree more with Phil Than rick. anothe incident was the gold wing rider out of salmon ID tha lay in a ravien off the road for 20 or 21 days before he was found , a spot unit would have cut that down considerbly, Mellow can probably provide his name , I cant remembrr it now . He was a NAM VET and a lawyer etc . personally if crap happens I don't want to lay in a hole like tht for 3 weeks before I am found. just my two cents worth.

Eldon
Click to expand...

Eldon, that was Donald Masters. He was found with his cell phone next to him but in an area with no service. We can all assume a thousand scenarios about such situations. He went down in a curve that was a gentle easy one and not even very technical, some had thought perhaps a deer or some animal ran in front of him and in reacting was possibly sent off the road. The trees are thick in that area and once off the road, hid his location until some hunters found him. There were several motorcycle sites that sent a handful of retired and out of work riders in the area looking for him from a rider's perspective as there just was no clue where he was and his last communication point was too old and far away to be of much use.

Here's the thread:
http://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?72221-Donald-Masters-Search-Found-(Facts-Only)

This sparked an interest in many members, including myself, at ST-Owners. Being of the Touring state of mind, many of us are loners... We travel alone and to remote locations because that's the whole point.. to get away. Many folks hate technology for the sake of hating it and not wanting to be tied to it but there are times when it can be your friend. There are a handful of incidents where riders with broken legs or arms have used the spot because they were in a remote location and needed help. I would not call this device insurance, although you can get some additional coverage to help if you do have a call and it may help cover the cost of that, I would call this a tool.... just like your GPS, tire plug kit, etc... I'm not sure I'd call this a safety device as it's similar to your phone, just better coverage.

One thing I really like about it is I have an app on my phone and tablet that I have some friends' spot url stored on and I can pull it up to see where they are. In the case where I may be waiting on a friend to show up for the start of a trip I can see where he is and how long before he meets up with me or if he's in one location for a while... I can zoom in and see if he's at the side of the road or a mcdonalds.

It's just a tool that's available to you. If you see a need/use for it and you feel it's worth the cost then great, get it.. if not, save your money for something you put more value on... simply a personal preference.
 
Thanks, guys. Like Rick said, I asked for comments and opinions. And I got way more - in a good sense - than I expected.
 
JohnC said:
Anybody here using it? Comments? Opinions?
Click to expand...

I have one and use it when I am out riding solo (either just myself or just my wife and I together). I don't just rely on SPOT however to provide friends/family with knowledge of where I am. I also "file" a "flight plan" with friends/family so they know where I plan on being at any point in time. I send a notification out at the end of each day and when I stop for a break. The "tracks" feature takes care of the positioning identification while I'm riding.

A set of lithium AAA batteries last me about 4-5 days of all day riding. The device is easy to use and relatively small so finding a location for it to transmit is not to hard. I find it a nice tool in communicating with others while I'm on a ride.

Between SPOT and the "flight plan", I feel quite comfortable that should something happen that our friends/family will be able to provide assistance without much "blind" searching.
 
SPOT can be useful, but if it were MY life, I'd go with something like this:

http://www.acrartex.com/landing/resqlink-resqlinkplus-personal-locator-beacons/

I'm on the answering end of the phone when SPOT and AFRCC calls. Last time I dealt with SPOT, I had a nice 30 minute conversation with the guy about SPOT's limitations. And I wasn't happy with them.

Yeah, you're not going to get the breadcrumb and other little 'whizz bang' things, but when you're out in the sticks and its a 400 milliwatt signal or a 5 watt signal trying to get through the tree canopy or thick cloud cover.....

I just wish these products were like my aircraft ELT. Don't have to manually push the button.
 
I'm going to revive this thread. On my recent 100CCC ride I had all my eggs in one basket (I was using my iphone for GPS, Spotwalla, etc, etc) and after going through a monsoon it died. I was all wet but my phone left me high and dry - I was up a creek without a paddle. So a couple of newbie questions to any of you out there using this "high tech" stuff as I am seeking to diversify before my next LD ride; 1) Is the Gen 3 Spot Tracker worth the upgrade price from the Gen 2? 2) Do you have to pay for their tracking if you are using Spotwalla? From what I can tell, it looks like they both do the same thing, but Spotwalla is free. Any other information or advice would be much appreciated. Wendell
 
Wendell,

You have to pay for your basic Spot service reguardless.I have not paid any attention to the GEN 3, I went to Gen 2 a couple years agon and it works very well. I do have a Spotwalla link, and I think it si a beter track , just my opinion. Jason Jonas the guy behind spotwalla Know both systems extreamly well and if you have a problem he can answer most any question and is very prompt in doing so. I also have the Spot rescue feature, and my bill is $179.00anualy. EXPENSIVE, to my way of thinking , NO! , I am taking my grand daughter with me more and more, Her parents as well as other family members and several close friends are watching it when I am out doing most anything whether in Vette , family car or any of the bikes. Grand daughter is totally knowledgable of spot and how it works, She will be 15 in august. She knows how to activate the SOS function if bad crap should happen, not only is she proficient with it, and cell, and computer skills , she is also a very proficient handgunner and knows where to find what ever we happen to have with us and how to make it work, quite efficiently if needed.
 
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