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[sanjoseduke]

Does anyone have any experience with any of the Personal Tracking Devices like spot?
I'm looking to purchase a GPS personal tracking device that can transmit to others your exact location anywhere in the world. I've seen adds for the "spot" device and associated services.
Basically depending on the level of service you can press a button to:
1. Let others know exactly where you are and that you are ok.
2. Let others know exactly where you are and that you  need non emergency help
3 Let others know exactly where you are and that you you need urgent help (911). Search and rescue and emergency services will be dispatched by this button.
This looks very cool and possibly lifesaving technology.

SanJoseDuke

[naitram]

nige used one on his US trip

[Sklywag]

Hey Duke

Been using one for a year & a half now.  They are great.

Here is my story about it that I wrote on Pashnit when I lost it.  It let me find it, that was proof enough for me.

The system is great.  I thought I had a picture of it on the MC, I don't but I will take one & post it for you.  There is a nice mounting bracket for them now.  Ask any questions.


If when I get home the weather has held out & not snowed we willprobably ride on Sat or Sun.  This is the shared link to our SPOT unit.  I will turn it on if we ride this weekend & email you so you can check out the SPOT tracking map.    http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0SP3I6hdWJubYGQPt9SIJX2aDarYct9qz

--------------------

Well, SPOT is a very interesting unit. I have had one for almost a year now. We use it on our longer trips or when riding alone. This past weekend I had an interesting experience.

I usually have SPOT in a soft bag with clothes on the tour pack rack, nice & safe & the cloth bag lets SPOT send out it’s signals. I have tried it inside my tour pack & it just doesn’t work well inside the hard box.

The last couple of long day trips I have tie wrapped the mounting bracket to my tour pack rack. Well, two out of three trips this worked well. This past weekend was trip three. Seems like SPOT decided to leave the tour pack at about 140 miles into the trip. Of course being very observant I did not know it was gone till I got home to an upset wife.

Why you ask, well she tracks me when I gone making sure I keep moving and all is well. SPOT left the MC at about 12pm & continued to send out signals until I pulled into the garage at home, 5pm. Needless to say Trudy had called me numerous times with no luck as I was not in cell phone areas. She was extremely concerned as SPOT was telling her there was a problem. She was caught in a catch 22. I was with 24 other MC’s, no one had called her, I must be ok or someone would surely call.

When I got home and discovered SPOT gone I called customer service to see what to do as I did not want someone finding it & not knowing what it was pressing the 911 button. Customer service suspended the service and that kept anyone from abusing it. I did get all the tracking info off of my SPOT page before it was suspended and plotted into my GPS SPOT’s location.

I emailed out to a couple people that SPOT was gone, but I knew where its last known position was. Gary & Donna responded with, we live fairly close to SPOTs last location we will go see if we can find it. I sent Gary the last known information. Today Gary calls me & said he and Donna are on site, looking for that little rascal. No luck right off.

Now the important part. GPS accuracy, without WAAS, is 150’. Gary & I talked about that & he and Donna expanded their search. Low & behold Gary spotted SPOT hiding under the bottom rail of a fence. Maybe the reason for a limited amount of messages getting out. Gary paced off the distance to the coordinates that SPOT sent out, guess what it was about 150’.

So SPOT gave us a real live test without an emergency, SPOT allowed us to find it. Keep in mind for all those using SPOT that a search area needs to be expanded if you are looking for someone that has sent out a signal for assistance.

Great unit & it proved it’s worth to all of us today.

My sincere thanks to Gary & Donna for their recovery ride.

Yes, I am going to use a better mounting system. Ram Mounts now makes a SPOT bracket, yes it’s already ordered.
-------------------------------

This is a picture of Donna picking up SPOT from it's resting place, it could have been me being rescued!

[southtxcruiser]

sounds like money very well spent....

[sanjoseduke]

Wow you convinced me. Thanks for the info Bill. Could you please send me a PM with your phone number. I'd like to talk more about the unit, where to get it, what plan to take, etc.

I see there is a recall on the new units and they are not shipping right now.

Duke

[sgchick]

I have a friend who is a policeman that uses something like this...They have some at Amazon...but you still have to purchase a plan somewhere. Sounds like a great idea for you Duke. Let us know what you find out!! Here's a link from amazon..  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000YTZV74/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=4273045255&ref=pd_sl_9w8cgjhan_b

This one is similar to the one my friend uses...pretty pricey...but no plan to buy   http://www.mypilotstore.com/MyPilotStore/sep/3650

[DavidB]

 Let me get this straight.
   With Spot someone can track you and find you if need be and you can initiate the search yourself with a push of button assuming you can crawl to it after a wreck .

Hey Duke

Been using one for a year & a half now.  They are great.

Here is my story about it that I wrote on Pashnit when I lost it.  It let me find it, that was proof enough for me.

The system is great.  I thought I had a picture of it on the MC, I don't but I will take one & post it for you.  There is a nice mounting bracket for them now.  Ask any questions.


If when I get home the weather has held out & not snowed we willprobably ride on Sat or Sun.  This is the shared link to our SPOT unit.  I will turn it on if we ride this weekend & email you so you can check out the SPOT tracking map.    http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0SP3I6hdWJubYGQPt9SIJX2aDarYct9qz

--------------------

Well, SPOT is a very interesting unit. I have had one for almost a year now. We use it on our longer trips or when riding alone. This past weekend I had an interesting experience.

I usually have SPOT in a soft bag with clothes on the tour pack rack, nice & safe & the cloth bag lets SPOT send out it’s signals. I have tried it inside my tour pack & it just doesn’t work well inside the hard box.

The last couple of long day trips I have tie wrapped the mounting bracket to my tour pack rack. Well, two out of three trips this worked well. This past weekend was trip three. Seems like SPOT decided to leave the tour pack at about 140 miles into the trip. Of course being very observant I did not know it was gone till I got home to an upset wife.

Why you ask, well she tracks me when I gone making sure I keep moving and all is well. SPOT left the MC at about 12pm & continued to send out signals until I pulled into the garage at home, 5pm. Needless to say Trudy had called me numerous times with no luck as I was not in cell phone areas. She was extremely concerned as SPOT was telling her there was a problem. She was caught in a catch 22. I was with 24 other MC’s, no one had called her, I must be ok or someone would surely call.

When I got home and discovered SPOT gone I called customer service to see what to do as I did not want someone finding it & not knowing what it was pressing the 911 button. Customer service suspended the service and that kept anyone from abusing it. I did get all the tracking info off of my SPOT page before it was suspended and plotted into my GPS SPOT’s location.

I emailed out to a couple people that SPOT was gone, but I knew where its last known position was. Gary & Donna responded with, we live fairly close to SPOTs last location we will go see if we can find it. I sent Gary the last known information. Today Gary calls me & said he and Donna are on site, looking for that little rascal. No luck right off.

Now the important part. GPS accuracy, without WAAS, is 150’. Gary & I talked about that & he and Donna expanded their search. Low & behold Gary spotted SPOT hiding under the bottom rail of a fence. Maybe the reason for a limited amount of messages getting out. Gary paced off the distance to the coordinates that SPOT sent out, guess what it was about 150’.

So SPOT gave us a real live test without an emergency, SPOT allowed us to find it. Keep in mind for all those using SPOT that a search area needs to be expanded if you are looking for someone that has sent out a signal for assistance.

Great unit & it proved it’s worth to all of us today.

My sincere thanks to Gary & Donna for their recovery ride.

Yes, I am going to use a better mounting system. Ram Mounts now makes a SPOT bracket, yes it’s already ordered.
-------------------------------

This is a picture of Donna picking up SPOT from it's resting place, it could have been me being rescued!

[Talon]

Here's the url to Nige and Jan's ride. They were coming to our house, the day they were to arrive we tracked them about two hours before they were to get here with this..

http://jasonjonas.org/spot/tripViewer.do?id=192

Craig

[sanjoseduke]

Let me get this straight.
   With Spot someone can track you and find you if need be and you can initiate the search yourself with a push of button assuming you can crawl to it after a wreck .

Yes that is what is advertised.

[Sklywag]

Let me get this straight.
   With Spot someone can track you and find you if need be and you can initiate the search yourself with a push of button assuming you can crawl to it after a wreck .

Yes that is correct.  SPOT sends out longitude & latitude coordinates every 10 minutes if you have it in the track mode.  It also has three functions that can be sent out by the user manually.  One is the 'I'm ok' signal, you should start & end your trip with that one, it makes sure the unit is functioning properly & send out a pre programmed message to those that are in your profile.  In your profile you can set up people to receive the message by email or text on the cell phone(don't use JC, he doesn't get    text:-).  2nd one is 'help' that message gets sent sent to anyone you have designated in your profile.  You would need to have an agreement with that person on what they do if you send out the 'help' signal.  The other one is '911' if you send out the '911' the SPOT monitoring station dispatches a rescue team to your location, that could be police, fire, forest service, etc depending on the location the '911' comes from.

Remember to do any of this you have to subscribe to the monitoring plan, about $100 a year

The way I found my unit when I lost it was to look at the last location it was sending out, take the longitude & latitude & plug them into my GPS program and walla there was SPOT.

I have the original model & it works perfect ever after its tumble off the MC.

For purchase, just google it & find the best deal.  The monitoring comes from one place so that is where you go for the monitoring plan.

[sanjoseduke]

I have done some research and have found mixed reviews of the product and service. Like Bill, many people have had a very positive experience using the device. Some people had a lot of problems and complained of poor customer service. I think some of the problems were probably user errors (not using the device properly or not pointing it correctly or trying to use it where there was not clear coverage because of mts or trees.
All that said I ordered one as well as extra (24) batteries and a ram mount on Amazon today. Total cost including shipping for everything  $185.82.
When it arrives I will order the service including automatic tracking for around $150.00.
I feel it will give my wife and family a little piece of mind to be able to follow my travels when I leave on my bike for Cabo San Lucas next month. I will also use it while on my snowmobile and dirt bike trips in the back country.
I'll report my experiences after I return from my trip. If possible I will try to make it available so anyone can monitor my trip from their PC.

I am considering also purchasing a McMurdo FastFind Satellite GPS PLB Personal Locator Beacon which can be purchased for $300-$500. This and similar devices do not provide any following services however there are no service fees and it is used for emergency's only. This technology is commonly used by boaters but can be used for land travel as well.

[dmnrdn]

I also have the SPOT.  I use it on trips so my family has peace of mind and can see where I am at etc.  My son and daughter in law are in TX, wife and daughter here in KS.  I start the day off with the Check in and usually check in every 2-4 hours for their piece of mind.  Took if on a a 16 day trip through MO,IA,NB,SD,WY,MT,ID,CO an back to KS last year.  Tracked every route.  Trick to good tracking is to have the unit in clear site,  I mounted mine on a Ram Mount off my handle bars. It sits level with the top of my front brake reservoir. Best "Peace of Mind" thing I have bought for the family.

[DavidB]

  If your bike gets stolen in Mexico would you really want to know where it is and go try to retrieve it ?
 

I have done some research and have found mixed reviews of the product and service. Like Bill, many people have had a very positive experience using the device. Some people had a lot of problems and complained of poor customer service. I think some of the problems were probably user errors (not using the device properly or not pointing it correctly or trying to use it where there was not clear coverage because of mts or trees.
All that said I ordered one as well as extra (24) batteries and a ram mount on Amazon today. Total cost including shipping for everything  $185.82.
When it arrives I will order the service including automatic tracking for around $150.00.
I feel it will give my wife and family a little piece of mind to be able to follow my travels when I leave on my bike for Cabo San Lucas next month. I will also use it while on my snowmobile and dirt bike trips in the back country.
I'll report my experiences after I return from my trip. If possible I will try to make it available so anyone can monitor my trip from their PC.

I am considering also purchasing a McMurdo FastFind Satellite GPS PLB Personal Locator Beacon which can be purchased for $300-$500. This and similar devices do not provide any following services however there are no service fees and it is used for emergency's only. This technology is commonly used by boaters but can be used for land travel as well.

[dmnrdn]

  If your bike gets stolen in Mexico would you really want to know where it is and go try to retrieve it ?
 

LMAO

[Sklywag]

Here are the links to the mounting system

http://www.ram-mount.com/SearchResults/tabid/38/searchBy/description/criteria/083080079084/Default.aspx

http://www.ram-mount.com/CatalogResults/PartDetails/tabid/63/partid/082065077045066045049052057090045083080079049085/Default.aspx

I will get some pic's when I get home on Sat of it on the MC.