SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker – Full Review

I (and many others at my University and some I know in other organisations) have had considerable issues with reception all around the state of South Australia, with Globalstar satellite phones. This occurs in all sorts of conditions and regions-including in dead flat open desert country with stationary vehicle car kits (which have improved aerials and thus reception).

I wouldn't be surprised if its mostly the Globalstar network that is the issue with the SPOT.

I was thinking of getting one, despite the previously reported reception difficulties….I thought it would just be an "open air" GPS issue, which normally doesn't matter for me at all…but if the system is dependent on Globalstar I won't.

Of course, SPOT uses the data channel of globalstar, which may be more reliable.

However, I think I'll save up and get a new PLB. I usually carry a satellite phone and UHF radios in remote locations anyway (work requirement)…they can send the OK and Help messages alot better and with actual useful information (as suggested is handy for SAR by Ron Johnson-totally agree).

An excellent review of SPOT.

I've had my unit since they were first released and have enjoyed using it, but that's only been for kayaking, where, as noted, you do usually have an unrestricted view of the sky. Thus any comments here reflect that usage.

One good test was during this year's Everglades Challenge, a 300+ mile kayak race from Tampa Bay to Key Largo (www.watertribe.com). This was an overnighted replacement unit as my original one malfunctioned. One trick I learned is that you can't have tracking on and try and send an OK message – tracking must first be turned off. So for that, and having to let my base know where I was every 24 hours, the OK function was excellent. The unit even let my partner know I was coming in a day earlier than expected (no possible cell phone coverage).

All this being said, I also carry a PLB. For safety purposes, I do believe SPOT can be a useful addition to one's repertoire – and there are stories to back this up (eg. Canadian sea kayaker off Tasmania earlier this year), but for the fun aspect of being able to have friends and family know where you are, that you're "OK" and that they can track you, SPOT is a heap of fun.

I have had a Spot since last November and my results agree with the review. I have tried the tracking twice whilst skiing at the Mount Shasta Ski park and in two perfectly clear days I did not get a single track point on Google. Other times I have only had limited success with it.
Would I purchase again? No I would fork out the extra for a PLB.

Barry

Unless Globalstar has set their spacecraft to only support spot when over land masses (which I highly doubt), SPOT units should be able to have a spacecraft in view anywhere between ~57deg North or South. (The Globalstar constellation is in an ~52deg inclination orbit at 1350km altitude.) I think the coverage maps are just there because the SPOT emergency center cannot dispatch SAR resources to the middle of the ocean or southern Afica.

An excellent, in depth and very technical review. This review is likely the best review to date on the SPOT beacon.

Particularly important are the recommendations for improvement. I hope the company takes these recommendations to heart. Who knows, maybe even Globalstar can remotely upgrade its satellite firmware for better data linkage/reception.

Being an early purchaser and thus "test monkey" for the Garmin Colorado 300 GPS I'll wait a year or two until the SPOT beacon is improved so I don't carry yet another partially functioning device.

Wouldn't it be great if Garmin could merge the SPOT beacon with the Colorado GPS – IF both had the bugs worked out?
Seems a distinct technical possibility, if not
"politically" possible.

Eric

Hi Mitchell,

I don't have anything to add, either to your SPOT comments or the review, only to echo the notion that the concept is a worthy one that hopefully either they or somebody else eventually executes to perfection.

I do, however, want to respond to your AMEX comment. Many moons ago a buddy and I left Tuolumne Meadows for eight days in the Yosemite backcountry. Half a day in I discovered that I had–brilliantly–left the maps on my kitchen table. Well, our route took us past Vogelsang High Sierra Camp where my buddy, armed only with his AMEX card and to my amazement, bought us a map and a couple of Hershey bars.

Trip saved. We coulda shot a commercial right then and there.

… but too late to save me the cost of a unit and activation.
I'm delighted with the quality of your research and reporting on the SPOT. I too have had experience with the unit, most recently on an 8 day Grand Canyon crosscountry route, and like others had a roughly 60% success rate on all OK messages. Better than nothing I guess but not what I believed would be delivered by the unit.
I'd also like to comment on the web site, activation process and customer service. Unlike the reviewers I found the problems in these areas to be ridiculous. From start to finish it took me 68 hours, 7 phone calls, 4 emails and an overall blood pressure increase of 30 points (on both readings) to activate my unit. Not only that but my original order of the unit via google was with what turned out to be an unauthorized dealer who took my money and didn't bother to ship the unit. Told all of my problems would be looked into and the appropriate changes made by top sales personnel in the Canadian office well over a month ago and I'm still waiting for the promised follow up.
My advice, save your money. Me, I'm thinking of emailing "Survivor Man" about the dangers of delving into the dangerous world of start up high tech companies.

I have a SPOT and so far continue to use it and carry it along. Perhaps my expectations are lower than most but I'm happy with it. I feel that it has been better than a cell phone (which rarely works where I go) and even if only 50% of the messages get through, that's enough for me. Mostly I know a couple messages sent will keep my family assured that I'm okay but they also know that no messages does not indicate a problem. I also know that in an true real life emergency, the 7oz SPOT might help me out if I've exhausted every option to help myself out. That's about all I can expect from it right now but it seems worthwhile anyway. I will be taking it along for 2700+ solo miles in a couple weeks (on my mountain bike) and that will be an interesting exercise. At the very least, one "okay" message getting through per day makes my wife feel better.

Chris

Rick:
Well I stand corrected — but only about the AMEX card! It indeed may have greater utility than the SPOT — and it is much lighter!

What would you expect from Backpacking Magazine? They're so far off the mark on almost all aspects of gear and hiking it's almost laughable.

> To the reviewers, after all is said and done, if you're going out into the boonies, would you take it (SPOT).

It may be relevant to note that after the Review process was finished, we had two SPOT units available for any of the reviewers who wanted them (including me). My understanding is that none of the reviewers really wanted one, even for free. I didn't.

deleted – now understood the point