Personal Tracking Device

I dunno anything else but a SPOT that can send continuous location updates.

** Maybe the newer SPOT Connect device & your cell phone can work around the $49. Track Progress fee by using texts.

Recently Gearjunkie did some reviews of some products. Wondering if anyone has any real world use or other suggestions.

AMOD AGL3080 Data Logger
http://gearjunkie.com/amod-photo-tracker-gps-for-outdoors

Pros: Cheap, small and light
Cons: Not waterproof. Only stores waypoints, Must be uploaded after the fact from home.Not very reliable.

Garmin GTU 10 GPS Tracker
http://www8.garmin.com/ces/gtu10.html

Pros: Cheap, light. Garmin quality. Price includes 1yr service
Cons: Relies on AT&T coverage, not satellites, short battery life. Can only view last 10 points in the history.

Cut the umbilical cord invest in backwoods survival and first aid school instead learn a new skill set.
I just don't understand new have to be connected electronically 24/7 culture now days.IMHO
Terry

Terry, maybe read my entire post before you make assumptions. I've nver even own a cell phone.

>>>In short looking for a simple lightweight system that can be used to verify speed hikes without much fuss.

Shawn

>> In short looking for a simple lightweight system that can be used to verify speed hikes without much fuss <<

If all you are looking for is tracking your speed over distance, then why not just carry one of the small data loggers or a small GPS (Garmin Fortrex)?

The Spot's track points wouldn't be good for your purpose anyway as they are not all that reliable in my experience. Do you really need a live (satellite) feed to capture this info or can you wait until you get home to review the data and post it on a web map?

The SPOT system is likely to be more expensive that you state. Not everyone can get them to work and the company warrants them for only 12 months of ownership. Once they stop working, they might as well be a rock. Sweet concept though…

SPOT messenger is great as a safety/check-in device. I haven't had a problem with it being able to send a location. I do keep it still for a few minutes and try to send the Ok/check in message from location with the most sky visible, and it seems quite accurate, even in fairly steep valleys with limited sky visible. The real/time tracking won't work as well: you'll have to keep it mounted on the top of your backpack so that it sees the sky, and it will likely lose tracking now and then based on conditions.

It does update your location to a website that others can follow.

The tracking feature will eat through the batteries. It updates every 10 minutes for 24 hours straight. Searching the FAQ at findmespot gives an estimate of battery life:

http://faq.findmespot.com/index.php?action=showEntry&data=1239

So under best case scenarios it will give you approx. 3.5-7 days of full 24/7 tracking. Assuming that you turn off the tracking while you sleep will of course extend the battery life.

The spot uses 3xAAA lithium batteries. These are pricey little suckers. By the time you add the $50 yearly tracking subscription and the batteries, the cost starts to climb.

My fist year with the SPOT I had the tracking, but have since cancelled it for this year: I bought the SPOT primarily as a safety device for solo trips. The thought of eating away the batteries on relatively frivolous task of tracking my location every 10 minutes, and then having the device run out of batteries if there is a "real" emergency isn't something I want to experience.

Buy the SPOT for safety. To track your progress keep a map, a pad of paper, and a stop watch.

The 'My Tracks' program on my android phone will do most of this.
If you're in the wilderness with no cell/data connection you'll have to wait till you get to civilization to upload the data.
My cell phone has a pretty good GPS: Samsung Galaxy s2 on ATT.

Shawn,
If you want a personal tracker device you can use the Garmin fortrex or maybe a even a lighter weight nike shoe pod paired with a ipod. Load up at home your tracking on your computer.

I just am getting ticked people don't know basic outdoor skills and are depending more and more on electronic like the spot to let family members know they are okay . Or using GPS units just to drive around town or back country navigation instead of using maps.
I read a article in Outside magazine on how the personal beacons are sending out false alarms, I am lost messages when their not lost at all . Search and rescue are searching for them or ignoring them because their is so many false alarm sent out.

I guess I am old fashion I don't own a cell phone like you because of the cell phone their are no pay telephone booths any more. I still use dial up for internet and over the air television antenna instead of cable.

Kickin and screaming in to the electronic age,
Terry

Just get a smartphone with a high-quality GPS. Which is basically any smart phone these days. There are tons of programs that allow you to do GPS tracking without a data connection, whether it's Android or iPhone. Seems like the most sensible multi-use solution to me too. Lets you ditch your camera too.

"So under best case scenarios it will give you approx. 3.5-7 days of full 24/7 tracking. Assuming that you turn off the tracking while you sleep will of course extend the battery life."

If this is true, then there isn't a smartphone I know of that could come close to matching it. If you turn constant tracking on in a smartphone, it won't even last a full day.

After hearing Dave Chenault's story of how he dropped his spot while crossing a river. While floating downstream it activated the 911 button. No response was ever sent. Toy.

Shawn is going for the "unsupported fastest known time (FKT)" on the Colorado Trail this summer: http://fastestknowntime.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=west&thread=10&page=1

The FKT website guidelines for such an attempt strongly encourage some kind of digital verifcation.

The Spot2 is probably the best, most self-contained, device for this, and would probably work pretty well since much of the CT doesn't have thick forest cover. The expense is a major drawback, but it can be rented for a one-time trip for a lot less, e.g.: http://www.lowergear.com/product.php/id/261

The other route is to carry a GPS and record the track and post it to site like connect.garmin.com. That has been used for FKT verification before. However, for a 10+ day treck, the battery requirements would be a dealbreaker. One idea, however, would be to only turn the GPS unit on, and record a bit of track, each time you're 1/2 way between car-accessible trailheads. That would pretty much prove you did it because it would be no easier if you got car rides. However, I'd run that idea by the FKT site administrator first before using that method for verification.

Good luck Shawn!!! Going 486 miles with NO food re-supply can't be easy.

When a group of friends did the Leadville 100 (mountain bike) last year, we tested a few options so we could track their progress and be ready for them at the pits . It was also for all the family and friends back home to get live updates from the course.

One of the guys had a SPOT and we tried the GTU 10. The GTU 10 was way more accurate and timely in displaying their location. We created geofences before and after each of the checkpoints and would get email/text alerts within a few seconds of them crossing the "fence." The SPOT was much slower to give an update, so by the time the screen showed their location, it was at least five minutes later. This may not make much of a difference for your purposes, but for us, we needed it to be as precise as possible.

We did testing during their training rides and came to the conclusion that the GTU was the clear winner. Since the SPOT was fine for a backup, they just took both devices for the race. It was interesting to see the comparison of the maps after the race.

While the battery life is stated to be one day to one month, it really depends on how often you will need to have pins dropped. I think it lasted for a couple of weeks of training rides.

And, as you know, this uses AT&T for the service. So, if you will be outside of cell phone coverage, this may not work for you. Also, it definitely held more than the last 10 points of history, I never counted them, but I'd say at least hundreds, if not thousands.

Jeffrey, you beat me to the chance in trying to clarify what I would be using this device for. Your info was exactly what I was looking for. Great tip on the rental program. I was going to borrow a friends SPOT1 and then pay the activation fee, but this is a way cheaper option, and saves me from having to purchase something I'll probably never use again.

I have an old Geko 301 that might serve your idea of uploading the way points after the fact for verification purposes. It will be much better in the long run if friends, family and sponsors can follow the progress as well. Something to consider.

Jennifer, thanks for the first hand experience with the GTU 10. I'll have to give it some deeper thought, but based on price I think I'm still leaning towards the SPOT.

I'm wondering with the rental program if I can still set up a SPOT Adventures webpage and have it saved after I return the device. I'm thinking so given that the webpage asks for your device ID number and I'm sure all the past adventures aren't keeping current activation plans. Thoughts?

Great info everyone, Keep it coming!

@Shawn

As I mentioned above, the Spot might not give you the confirmation you want. It can leave out track points (presumably poor reception or busy satellites… no way of knowing really. Even worse, it seems to cache the traverse points so that when you get a black-out (so to speak) it keeps the track points in a buffer and sends the saved ones all at once. The track points will have the correct time but will be all stacked in the same location (the location is populated with the coordinates of the point when it gets a gps lock again). Not really great for what you need.

Here's a shot of a track (10 Km loop) from my Spot compared to my GPS. Now I don't expect the Spot to put down a ton of points but it has consistently missed the points on the north half of the loop (done this several times with similar results)

The missing points all showed up (piled up) at the location of the first point the unit transmitted after the series of lost coordinates. I suspect this is Spot's way of making a near perfect record of "all points sent" which is true but they were incorrect locations.