SPOT PRODUCT TEST

[vegasvfr]

I WILL BE TESTING THE SPOT FOR ISSUE 3504. I AM WORKING 3503 NOW. IF YOU HAVE A SPOT OR HAVE HAD EXPERIENCES WITH A SPOT, SEND ME YOUR OPINIONS, GOOD OR BAD, ODDITIES AND TECHNIQUES TO GET THE BEST OUT OF THE UNIT. ALSO ANY EXPERIENCES WHERE YOU USED IT IN AN EMERGENCY OR UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATION WHERE YOU NEEDED HELP.

I APPRECIATE YOUR HELP

NICK ZARRAS
MANAGING EDITOR
STAREVIEW MAGAZINE
NSD98@EMBARQMAIL.COM/EDITOR@RIDEMSTA.COM

[Brick]

Nick I have been and am still using the first "gen 1" Spot since they first came out. I'll try to write something up to send you. I'm a fan of Spot.


Let's Ride!
Brick

[RIDEMYST]

Sent you an email of my review. -JEP-


Sent by using these little bitty keys on my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TN2Wheeler]

Me too

[Downs]

I've had one for..............a long time now I'm not even sure how long.  It's survived everything I've thrown at it and it has been permanently mounted to my Strom for over  a year exposed to the elements 10 hours a work day now but I had it well before that. 

I've never had to use it for an emergency situation.  I have the full featured subscription that has tracking and all that with it.  I find the tracking most useful for keeping the family updated on my whereabouts.  But at least on the Gen 1 I find the tracking to be lacking at higher speeds.  Such as interstate speeds.  It doesn't seem to track me until I slow down in a town or stop for fuel or something.  I can ride 100 miles at 65 to 75 and only have two tracking dots when they're supposed to track every 10 or 15 mins I think.  I'd have to look that up again. 

The Gen 1 spot has a very long battery life.  14 days on standby and 7 days in tracking mode.  In my experience those numbers are conservative and I've gotten much longer life out of the unit than 7 days even when tracking constantly. 

Here's a SPOT map of a Friday/Saturday ride and camp.  It ran for the full two days and that's the number of tracking pins I got.  It could just be a problem of I have it mounted in a bad spot and I'm blocking it's view of the sky too much.  I've though of mounting it on the top case instead. 

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=10ce3574146983646b

[Brick]

Downs how many miles did you ride in those two days? And I assume you turned it off at night? I know I do.
I know we are supposed to have them on our person but I always said I didn't want to land on it should I crash. However now I have a jacket with a pocket for one and will try it there.


Let's Ride!
Brick

[TN2Wheeler]

Mine does not "track" reliability unless it has an unobstructed view of the sky.  I doubt that it would work well in a pocket. 

[Downs]

Downs how many miles did you ride in those two days? And I assume you turned it off at night? I know I do.
I know we are supposed to have them on our person but I always said I didn't want to land on it should I crash. However now I have a jacket with a pocket for one and will try it there.


Let's Ride!
Brick

250-300.  A bunch of it off road.  And it wasn't full day riding either day.   between setting up camp and tearing down and what not maybe 6 hours of riding per day tops.  There should be a lot more tracking point on there.  I think I'm going to move it to my top case or onto a bar mounted spot and try that out and see if it's better.  I carried  mine in a pocket for a few trips but worry about falling on it and causing even more injuries and I experienced similar tracking issues as what I have now.

[Brick]

Yes there should be a lot more teaching points!
Have you tried www.spotwalla.com? It produces a great route for trips or hat day rides. And you can give your friends a url to check and even leave messages for you.


Let's Ride!
Brick

[Downs]

if you go back to my post it's a link to Spotwalla

Here's one from today with the unit in a different spot.  Mounted on my brake fluid resivour which is about 12 inches up and 18 inches to the right of where it was.

better but not as good as I hoped.  Next experiment is to move it to the top case where it has basically unlimited view of the sky.

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=10d0e574269cdb3b4a

[TN2Wheeler]

if you go back to my post it's a link to Spotwalla

Here's one from today with the unit in a different spot.  Mounted on my brake fluid resivour which is about 12 inches up and 18 inches to the right of where it was.

better but not as good as I hoped.  Next experiment is to move it to the top case where it has basically unlimited view of the sky.

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=10d0e574269cdb3b4a

I find mine works better when mounted above other things (cables, GPS,  etc). Even so on heavily forested roads, of which there are many here, I see drop outs (skipped updates). The SPOT unit pings the satellite a limited (?) number of times at each 10 minute update. If it can't "see" the satellite that update is skipped. 

[stevegrab]

if you go back to my post it's a link to Spotwalla

Here's one from today with the unit in a different spot.  Mounted on my brake fluid resivour which is about 12 inches up and 18 inches to the right of where it was.

better but not as good as I hoped.  Next experiment is to move it to the top case where it has basically unlimited view of the sky.

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=10d0e574269cdb3b4a

I find mine works better when mounted above other things (cables, GPS,  etc). Even so on heavily forested roads, of which there are many here, I see drop outs (skipped updates). The SPOT unit pings the satellite a limited (?) number of times at each 10 minute update. If it can't "see" the satellite that update is skipped. 

Sounds like the times my GPS (in heavy tree cover) shows me riding off the side of the road (I swear I was still on the pavement not flying through the air over the ravine).

I've never used one, but think they are a really good idea and great piece of mind for family. We've jokingly referred to them as ankle bracelots for riders, but Woovis said he calls his "my freedom pass, because with it I am free to travel at will and Pam can see where I am".

[RichGrab]

We've jokingly referred to them as ankle bracelots for riders, but Woovis said he calls his "my freedom pass, because with it I am free to travel at will and Pam can see where I am".

but Woovis said he calls his "my freedom pass, because with it I am free to travel at will and Pam can see where I am".


Freedom Pass - that's a good one.

[Brick]

Yea but a couple of years ago I was doing the Three Flags ride and we were going through Navada. Dan Thomas wanted to park at the Mustang Ranch...


Let's Ride!
Brick

[stevegrab]

Yea but a couple of years ago I was doing the Three Flags ride and we were going through Navada. Dan Thomas wanted to park at the Mustang Ranch...


Let's Ride!
Brick

Then you find some truck driver to take your SPOT to the next town, and leave it at the hotel for you