The Great Big SPOT Thread

I must confess I have not heard about Delrone's InReach before and after reading about it I am now officialy over the fence on which to choose. Okay, it is more expensive but the Iridium network should be superior, right? This is safety so the extra buck$ are not the biggest driver...

Which is best??? Any additional views?

I plan to buy over the next couple of days and have it delivered to my hotel during an upcoming business trip so I need to make up my mind quickly here...

Best Rafa

I have had a 1st gen SPOT for years now and really like it. My mom really likes me having it I can send her the link to my SPOTWALLA page and she can track where I'm at and that calms her down a bit on my longer range excursions.

I have had luck dropping it in a jacket pocket and having it still work. I also velcro it to the fairing on my bike a lot and haven't had any issues there either. But as stated above that could leave me with no SPOT in the event of an accident.

I prepaid a year, used it and hated it. And there was a lot of lag of it updating. Mom, wife or GF will see you two towns over on the web page as you ring her doorbell.

The they tried auto-renewing me and charged my card after I had asked them to cancel my account many times. American Express made it right.

I won't even turn my bike around in their parking lot lol

Sorry Steve, is this about SPOT or Inreach? I have heard that problem about SPOT on Amazon customer reviews... So this is really happening? Sad to hear...

Had one for 4 years and never used it for an Emergancy , but good for tracking .
How much is your life worth ??????? For the small amount that you pay for the year.:huh
Tezza.

It's to keep the batteries from leaking all over the place over time. These things have such a long battery life and some folks don't use them that often that they have a tendency to sit around with the same batteries in them for a long time. I used mine on longer trips for tracking and I've probably only put 3 or 4 sets of batteries in it since I bought it.

If you've ever found a flashlight that has had a set of regular Alkaline batteries sitting in it for a long period of time you probably found a lot of corrosion in the flash light and the batteries were possibly seized in the tube.

Lithium batteries generally do not have this problem, they are much less susceptible to it. Running Alkalines in the unit will not damage it as long as they do not leak. I'd just suggest putting it on a 30 day batter inspection cycle if you decide to run Alkaline batteries in it so you can catch any corrosion issues early.

Bzzt. Wrong, but thanks for playing the game!

If you read Spotmaker's excellent posts (before he finally gave up) you would know why the Lithiums are required:

Spotmaker said in this post (among many others)

"Once again, the primary reason we tell you to use Lithium batteries is because Alkaline batteries DON'T WORK if the temperature is below freezing! This has nothing to do with what device they are powering.

Put alkalines in your SPoT, send check in messages during a relatively warm day, it works great. Then, you get a sudden temperature drop, you're getting hypothermia, you hit the 911/SOS button and those alkaline batteries aren't working anymore!

So, the new SPoT insists on Lithium batteries for the same reason the old one did.
__________________
I work for Axonn LLC, the company that designed and manufactures the SPoT Satellite messenger. However opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of SPoT INC. or Axonn LLC."

Ok. Thanks.

I came on on the tail end of this thread because of a recent merge. Sorry didn't read the whole thing.


Sent from my iPhone

No problem - the question comes up periodically, so those of us who've read from the beginning have seen it often.

I must disagree. I rode to Ushuaia in 09/10band had it in tracking mode all the way. It worked fine. That was with a V1

That can be fixed

I have mine mounted to the dashboard if my bike. It has a steel cable clip attached to it by wire

I then have a steel cable that clips to that clip and the other end is attached to me

I have tested this a few times now, not intentionally, and each time the Spot comes with me when the bike goes the other way

You still have to be conscious to push the 911 but an ascending track number in one location is as good as that

It seems that the problem here is about SPOT using Globalstar's network vs Iridium in the case of InReach. Please check coverage maps here:

http://www.gtc-usa.com/satphone/Coverage_Maps.html

As you can see map is "grey" at SA's southern end. I think you might have gotten lucky during your pass by the area.

I have asked before but I rarely see people talking about InReach and I am inclined to take my chances with it since the gadget seems a bit more flexible / better tech plus the coverage issue. Bear in mind I LIVE in Brazil so SA coverage is critical and the far end of the continent is definetly in my plans... any MAJOR issues against it?

Going back to the satelite coverage issue I read somewhere (sorry to miss the link here) that Globalstar has been improving its network recently by launching new satelites while Iridium's are supposed to need a major revamp in its satelites by 2014/15. As you folks know those businesses have not been as profitable as expected by the early 2000's, had to file for cahpter-11, so any major investment needs on their part is something to be considered by users beforehand...

Does InReach gets access to the same 911 network SPOT does? What about GOES? Any similar service available?

Great 2013 folks!!

Travellingstrom can you show us a picture of your Spot leash set up?

HI

This is the original setup, but was not perfect, it was fine tuned over time






The mount was changed to a RAM mount after I had physically seen one, it works a treat.

The main difference is, the connector at the SPOT end is now sitting in the front of the SPOT, I have wrapped tape around it and then a length of wire to hold the snap lock, you can see it in the bottom of this next photo






That connector is a marine fitting, I have no idea what name it goes by, but the cable side bit needs to be slid back before they disconnect or connect. There is s ball nestling in there which helps the swivel

The other end is just a jaw type dog clip, this clips to my jacket zipper usually.

When it is in the RAM mount, I don't seat it back all the way in, I rest the small wheel thing of the release lever on the join of the two SPOT shell halves at the top. This makes it release smoother and I have less chance if being clocked in the head by a cartwheeling spot. In the lower photo it is seated all the way because I am surrounded by traffic and have no need to tether myself. I only tether when I am up in the hills or by myself

I hope all that makes sense, if not and I will try another way

Cheers
TS
--
www.TravellingStrom.com -- blog www.richardstravelshop.com -- shop

sad, bet they wished they had a SPOT. These are 2 separate incidences.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121220/NATION/212200415

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-170666/Girlfriend-left-freeze-death.html

That's terrible.

I used to think of the Spot as something I'd only carry on the bike but with the weather being so unpredictable, it makes more sense to carry it at all times unless you spend all your time in the city.

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20121231/NEWS07/121239866

Doesn't mention the SPOT specifically in the story but my wife was watching the news on TV and recognized it. She is a big fan. When she called SPOT a while back to get some help with their website during one of my trips the rep on the phone told her "if it wasn't for wives and girlfriends we'd be out of business."

Drew

Wives, girlfriends and mothers.

Just got my spot, it sez in the manual it should be 12" away from another GPS device. Is this an issue??

Travellingstrom has his mounted right next to his in the picture. I like the wire to rider system. I may try it with a tank bag and I am hooked up ear buds to the satellite radio from a tank bag anyway. Just one more thing to unhook.

Never had an issue with mine and I usually have 2 GPS's on my bike at all times.