New SPOT Satellite Messenger this fall

More info:

another link

I know a lot of people would argue with me, but I don't think you can ever go wrong by waiting for Gen 2 of any product.

Cool- now that's getting into the range of a product I would carry. Some of the updates look like big steps forward.

Back in my single days, I would have scoffed at this. But now with a couple of kids at home, this would sure put everyone at ease. Especially on my increasing number of father/son trips, it would put my mind at ease as well, knowing that an out is easier to achieve.

Way cool- I'll be on the list for one of these.

The Spot is cool but the yearly fee is what makes me not want one. I think it's $99/yr….that's a lot of dough over time when you've already shelled out a lot for the device. Compared to a cell plan, $99 for a few messages seems awfully pricey.

Woo! They must have been paying attention because they actually made each of the changes I'd requested in all of the reviews that I posted sans the LCD that listed the UTM coordinates.

I was one of the early adopters but unlike some of the people here I actually had good experiences with mine.

Having used the 1st gen device a fair amount, I've found that it doesn't impact my hiking much at all as it's pretty unubtrusive. At dinner, I pull it out and hit the button while I'm boiling water. Or, if I find a really cool spot that I want to come back to, I'll tag it with an OK.

It does however, impact my homelife quite a lot, is basically my way of saying that my family doesn't freak on my solo trips at all anymore. My parents would worry like crazy and my wife would nag me about my trips if they were more than an overnighter. Now after a couple years they know that I'll check in if I need and have the option of rescue – no nagging from any of them. I use the OK a lot, but I've only had to use the help feature when I had vehicle problems.

Thankfully, I was able to customize my help info to mention my AAA number and to call them if it locates my position as on a road, so my dad who lives in Missouri was able to call a towtruck to help me when I was up at a remote trailhead in Colorado (I just needed a jumpstart). Three hours after sending the message, my assistance arrived, so it worked pretty slick. I'd have had a long hike to the nearest house and even further to the nearest cell reception.

I'll have to figure out what their upgrade policies are, but I know I'll be looking to switch as soon as they hit the market.

Oh, price wise, for me the $100 = more hiking time, working out over the year, it's not too bad. My least favorite bit though is to get the tracking option, it's $50 / year extra so I've never used it. They do however have an excellent rescue insurance plan.

It seems a pity that it doesn't have a readout giving you current UTM coordinates. I can't see myself carrying one of these *and* a GPS unit. Is there a reason why that functionality isn't available? I would have thought it would be very simple to implement.

my thoughts exactly, UTM cord. would make this multi-use :)

I won a Spot w/ a years service. Disappointed to say the least to see the version 2 still with no coordinates displayed. Version 3 perhaps? Service is way too expensive also. Why do we have to have a subscription? Why not charge per use. No message gets through, no charge. Would love a reasonably priced satellite phone.

I love my SPOT and will probably upgrade to the new one at some point. The tracking feature is the best part.

I've probably used mine for over 4,000 miles of mountain biking and hiking trips at this point, maybe more.

"Is there a reason why that functionality isn't available? I would have thought it would be very simple to implement."

Just a guess, but for 98% of their users, it'd be useless bordering on dangerous since a relatively select few can actually use UTM coords and do anything useful with it. There are also relatively few commercially available maps with UTM on them unless you specifically get them for that purpose.

Also the LCD screen "may" not be as bulletproof in water and other destructive testing. I know one of my friends left hers on the car and it bounced off on the highway at 80mph. Works good as new!

If I bought the new SPOT then I'd be carrying:

1.Garmin Colorado GPS
2.Panasonic LUMIX digital camera
3.SteriPen Adventurer
4.Ion single LED coin battery headlamp
5.SPOT personal locator/rescue beacon

YIKES! That's a lot of battery operated gear and spare batteries, EACH with its own battery type (unless the SPOT uses AA or AAA batteries).

Eric

Yeah, carrying all those battery operated devices is pretty crazy. Add in a music player or phone for some people (not me though). The GPS and the SPOT would be the first things to toss, and if choosing between the two I'd likely choose the GPS… depending on the trip. If you got lost you'd prefer the GPS, if you were seriously injured obviously the SPOT would be much better. Given the popularity of GPS units it just amazes me that they haven't provided that facility. The SPOT unit knows where it is right? It just won't tell you!

The SPOT uses AA batteries, it strongly recommends lithiums.

Regarding batteries:
I use AA's in my Garmin GPS, SPOT, Canon Powershot and I can use the AA's to recharge the internal battery on my Photon Rex. While not a deal breaker, it certainly helps to have everything on the same power platform.

Also worth noting, the SPOT will work on rediculously low batteries. As a test I ran them down so that it wouldn't turn on my camera and the SPOT still sent out a signal. They advertise a idle standby mode of ~1 year with the device turned on and ~72 hours solid for SOS with fresh batteries. While that sounds overly optimistic, I have no reason to doubt their claims. After 2-3 years (dunno for sure, it was the second month they came out), I'm still on the same set of batteries.

I did a Google search on the U-Box Amy-5M chip for the new SPOT and it appears to be marketed as a low power consumption higher sensitivity chip designed to do well in adverse reception conditions. This new chip with the GPS oriented antenna and additional features of the redesigned Spot makes it a much better option and one I would consider over my current ACR Microfix 406 especially since on my last two scrambles I did not hit phone reception until 2:00 AM, my wife was less then pleased. It would be nice to send a reliable OK message or let her track my progress with a dependable chipset and antenna.

Interesting.

I will take a close look at it. Primarily for my spouse back in the house when I am out hiking.

Maybe someone could come up with a cheap device that would display "I'm OK" every four hours. Give this to those who worry about you. They don't need to know that it is just a display only device : )

Maybe someone could come up with a cheap device that would display "I'm OK" every four hours