New SPOT information

[catmando]

The ACR personal becon is far better than the spot new version. Remember you have a yearly subscription to the spot. The spot needs a clear view of the sat to transmit signals. The spots are cheaper in the retail store, there shouldn't be a price on your safe return to the people who love you. $1200 for an avy bag is worth it and $600 for an ACR is worth it as well. Forget about the spot tracker, spend the money on something that will actually safe you, and it will be there when you need it.

Not everybody has the best of everything although in a perfect world that would be great,It pisses me off when you say"forget about the spot"I think if your going to spend 600 bucks you should spend a thousand and get a sat phone.Unfortunatly I like many others cannot drop money like that but when I can I will............For now Im looking forward to upgrading my spot.
Enjoy your acr,hope you never need it!
catmando!

 

[SnowXTC]

Are you sure London Drugs has the Spot 2 for $120? Spot is selling the original Spot for $99 US.

I too am looking to upgrade. I would not give this up for anything. I use it sledding, the husband used it when working out of town with no cell service, use it with the jeep, it works and gives peace of mind.

 

[wide_open]

I was able to use my Spot 2 this weekend while sledding some incredible snow down the Pine Pass. Before we left the parking lot I put it in tracking mode and then put it in my breast pocket, and at the end of the day I took it out of tracking mode and then sent a message to my recipients saying everything was good.

Later on I chatted with the wife and she said she was tracking me all day, seen where I was stuck for awhile, and didn't even really need the all OK update as she knew we were back at the parking lot. Said it made her feel better to see what that we were moving. It is supposed to update about every 9 or 10 minutes, but depending on how I was positioned it was a little more. The next day I put it in my backpack and it seemed to track better.

For less than $300 bucks from purchasing and activating I feel that the Spot is definitely worth the piece of mind, even if it may not work perfect all the time.

Here's the link to my tracking so you can see how it works.
SPOT Shared Page

 

[Trax 2 Treadz]

I have written to the support team and asked the question but have no reply yet. They are quite busy and it may take up to 5 days. I'll let you know when I hear.

We are interested in trading our SPOT that we bought last year for a new one too. I thought I read somewhere that they were working on some type of trade program. We'll be watching to see how they respond. Thanks FS for asking the question.

 

[ferniesnow]

We are interested in trading our SPOT that we bought last year for a new one too. I thought I read somewhere that they were working on some type of trade program. We'll be watching to see how they respond. Thanks FS for asking the question.

Sent that question last Thursday to the support team at SPOT so I should be hearing back any day now. I'll share what I find out......

 

[ferniesnow]

Here it is, right from the Customer Support Center.....

We are currently running a rebate offer for our SPOT 1 device. The current rebate entails the purchase price of $99.99 with a $50.00 rebate on the SPOT 1 device.

Our marketing department is currently in the process of creating a promotional offer for our existing customers who are looking to upgrade to SPOT 2. Unfortunately nothing official has been announced yet. Please call or check with us in Dec. 2009.

They are working on it and that's good news......

 

[SKIROULE]

I picked up a Spot 1 a week ago before a trip to B.C last weekend. Even though it was a fair bit of money to purchase and with the full service pkg I was at about $260 by the time everything was said and done. What it did do is give my Wife, friends and family the ability to track our trip realtime online. I had alot of comments after our safe return, that it was nice to be able to see where we were and after a quick Ok message after we were off the mountain made my Wife feel better about the whole thing. Witchever one you buy, in my opinion it is worth it.

 

[rsaint]

I bought the SPOT 2 today, came to just over $177. I then searched Google and found the promo code "HUNTINGLIFE23" and entered it in when prompted and got 1 year free tracking ($50USD) value.

I went outside and tried the test message, and it said I was doing good and gave my long and lat. I took those numbers and put them right into the Google search bar, and the map showed up exactly where I had sent it from. I also tried the tracking feature, and it tracked me every 9 minutes wherever I was in Edmonton.

They 911 and the Help buttons are hidden under a flap, so there should be no mistaking pushing these buttons. Other buttons are easy to work and the whole unit is quite simple.

I'll try it out again more this weekend while sledding and get back to everybody.

Just got my Spot2 and used that code also and got the same 1 year free tracking . Good search thanks.

 

[vic]

Just hooked up & used our spot 1 (new from last year) paid the extra $50 u.s. for the tracking ability. While we were sledding in radium, the wife lost our signal numerous times, it seems when spot was in my pocket & we were moving (i.e. along a trail) it did not send signals...has anyone noticed that? Do you think it could have been the cloud cover (snow) or just the fact that we were moving and it could not get a track on us? Overall it did the trick, when we slowed down to play around or reached the parking lot it would send an update.

 

[ferniesnow]

Just hooked up & used our spot 1 (new from last year) paid the extra $50 u.s. for the tracking ability. While we were sledding in radium, the wife lost our signal numerous times, it seems when spot was in my pocket & we were moving (i.e. along a trail) it did not send signals...has anyone noticed that? Do you think it could have been the cloud cover (snow) or just the fact that we were moving and it could not get a track on us? Overall it did the trick, when we slowed down to play around or reached the parking lot it would send an update.

It needs a clear view of the sky to pick up the satellites. Cloud cover should not effect it's operation; mountains, heavy tree cover, and the fact that it was in your pocket will all reflect on the acquistion of the satellites. Page 13 in the User's Guide....."hold the SPOT messenger away from your body with a clear view of the sky until the lights turn solid for 5 seconds before attaching the device to your belt."

You noticed the "malfunction", so remember what you did and change it for the next time out. You'll get it and it will work great...

 

[vic]

It needs a clear view of the sky to pick up the satellites. Cloud cover should not effect it's operation; mountains, heavy tree cover, and the fact that it was in your pocket will all reflect on the acquistion of the satellites. Page 13 in the User's Guide....."hold the SPOT messenger away from your body with a clear view of the sky until the lights turn solid for 5 seconds before attaching the device to your belt."

You noticed the "malfunction", so remember what you did and change it for the next time out. You'll get it and it will work great...

First time user,had it on the dash of the truck, signal when we left Radium,then at about Parson going into Silent Pass,at the road parking,then a few more while sledding.No real belt clip on my snow gear so i throw in my upper jacket pocket to keep batteries warm,and not lose it. Should i maybe put in bag on the sled or in the back pack? Batteries don't work well when cold.Thanks for any info.Wife still has great idea where we are but no signal every 10 mins like they claim.

 

[ferniesnow]

First time user,had it on the dash of the truck, signal when we left Radium,then at about Parson going into Silent Pass,at the road parking,then a few more while sledding.No real belt clip on my snow gear so i throw in my upper jacket pocket to keep batteries warm,and not lose it. Should i maybe put in bag on the sled or in the back pack? Batteries don't work well when cold.Thanks for any info.Wife still has great idea where we are but no signal every 10 mins like they claim.

Do you wear a back pack? I use the belt clip and put mine on the chest strap. Been there all last season and no problem. Not really cold enough to effect the batteries and it was never cold enough last winter when I was riding to effect the batteries. Remember that when the batteries get low, a red warning light will come on. I have learned that to send an Okay message requires at least 12 minutes for everything to work so that it shows up on the computer properly. About enough time to push the Okay and then have a little snack and a drink. I do not have the tracking feature as I don't think it is necessary. My wife just wants to know that I am Okay.

 

[Dean10]

Their web site claims Spot will send a message/location 99% of time with in 20 minutes....???

Its not quite as good as we thought it was. We have been unhappy with our Sat phone reliability, so we thought the Spot would fill that gap, BUT, it actually uses the same globalstar network of satalites, so I can only assume it will suffer the same reliability issues.

If I need to wait up to 20 min to get a signal through, its no better than the sat phone, think i prefer the sat phone

 

[milton]

We rode boulder Nov 20/21 and was socked in pretty good. i tried sending out OK messages all day both days to my family and none were received. I bought a spot for several reasons but one of them was gettin trapped around there in the fog. It happened to our group two seasons ago and after that i went a bought a spot, so how clear of a sky does it need to get the signal out? As we all know 3/4 of the time it is socked in around Revy.

 

[vic]

Do you wear a back pack? I use the belt clip and put mine on the chest strap. Been there all last season and no problem. Not really cold enough to effect the batteries and it was never cold enough last winter when I was riding to effect the batteries. Remember that when the batteries get low, a red warning light will come on. I have learned that to send an Okay message requires at least 12 minutes for everything to work so that it shows up on the computer properly. About enough time to push the Okay and then have a little snack and a drink. I do not have the tracking feature as I don't think it is necessary. My wife just wants to know that I am Okay.

Yes ,wear a snowpluse pack,wear my beacon under my jacket because cold kills your battries was told to keep close for your body heat,Gps,etc. Will try it on the pack strap like you said next time out.Going down the trail 20-40 mph will have a great windchill affect. Don't need ok message she can see when we are back at the truck . Appreciate your info . Thanks again

 

[teeroy]

Their web site claims Spot will send a message/location 99% of time with in 20 minutes....???

Its not quite as good as we thought it was. We have been unhappy with our Sat phone reliability, so we thought the Spot would fill that gap, BUT, it actually uses the same globalstar network of satalites, so I can only assume it will suffer the same reliability issues.

If I need to wait up to 20 min to get a signal through, its no better than the sat phone, think i prefer the sat phone

spot doesn't use the same two way technology that the globalstar sat phones do and are not affected with the same issues.

 

[teeroy]

Yes ,wear a snowpluse pack,wear my beacon under my jacket because cold kills your battries was told to keep close for your body heat,Gps,etc. Will try it on the pack strap like you said next time out.Going down the trail 20-40 mph will have a great windchill affect. Don't need ok message she can see when we are back at the truck . Appreciate your info . Thanks again

spot comes with lithium ion batteries, which are unaffected by cold. in the manual it clearly states to only use lithium batteries for this very reason. alkaline batteries decrease output as they get colder and even though they may be brand new, they may not have enough power for spot's critical functions. lithium output stays linear until they die.

 

[ferniesnow]

spot comes with lithium ion batteries, which are unaffected by cold. in the manual it clearly states to only use lithium batteries for this very reason. alkaline batteries decrease output as they get colder and even though they may be brand new, they may not have enough power for spot's critical functions. lithium output stays linear until they die.

Great info teeroy. I didn't know the theory about the linear output. Thanks, fs

Now just waiting to hear about the rebate program for the SPOT2.....

 

[teeroy]

Great info teeroy. I didn't know the theory about the linear output. Thanks, fs

Now just waiting to hear about the rebate program for the SPOT2.....

no problem fs.

I too am eagerly awaiting the promo news, will definitely upgrade when they come up with something.

 

[vic]

Thanks for the info,learned something new today.