SPOT Tracker experience

[bpeschka]

The reviews of the Spot and Spot Messenger that I read, on Amazon for example, are terrible with regard to Spot reliability, customer service, and the company's ethics in rebilling, etc.

Do the SPOT users here have this kind of negative experience with SPOT?

If you're doing TDR, you don't seem to have much choice other than going sans SPOT, but it would be interesting to hear what others are really experiencing.

Thanks

[Done]

In the 4 years that I've owned my Spot, I've never had a problem. I've avoided what I think has been one of the biggest source of problems: lack of vibration resistance. A lot of people carry Spots tied to the handlebars, where they basically get shaken to death. I've always carried mine in a bag on the top of my shoulder, which hugely reduces vibrations.

But mine is just one opinion, based on a pretty narrow set of observations.

[Matt Schiff]

I'm surprised by the fact that for hours on the trail the spot may not send a signal. It seems like it doesn't take much for it not to get satellites. I rode around the city of Fort Collins with it strapped to my backpack and while it is supposed to send a signal every 10 minutes or so, it missed half of those transmissions. I also have experience using one for over a year while bike touring. Each day we would transmit one signal of our location. Many times we'd check the website to see it didn't work. At one point a new spot unit was sent to us and it worked much better but we were still never sure it transmitted a location without checking the website. We might wait 20 minutes and still no signal was sent. Imagine this in an emergency situation. The product could definitely be improved upon.

[Done]

It seems like it doesn't take much for it not to get satellites. I rode around the city of Fort Collins with it strapped to my backpack and while it is supposed to send a signal every 10 minutes or so, it missed half of those transmissions.

Yeah, I've found that if I don't keep it pointed up, it misses a lot of transmissions. It would be nice if the antenna were a little less directional. If I just stuff it in my pack, I'm lucky if 1/3 of the pings make it through. Carrying it on in a pouch on the top of my shoulder strap helps a bunch--about 90% of the transmission make it though.

[adelorenzo]

Its needs to sit face up and fairly flat that is the nature of its antenna. The top of a pcoket of a pack is good or sometimes I like to carry it strapped on to the top of my backpack.

I've been using mine forever (I think five years) and it's been reliable without fault. When doing live tracking it occasionally drops some points depending on geography, tree cover etc.

The biggest thing is that is can be a life saver in an emergency so it's a good piece of gear to carry for that reason alone. Lighter and cheaper than a sat phone although those definitely have their place as well.

[adelorenzo]

I forgot to add that if you are using one, the handlebar bag is a great place to put it in the small pouch on top. That way it sits flat with a good view of the sky. If  I had thought about it I would have asked Scott at Porcelain Rocket to put a dedicated spot for it on there. 

[mtnbound]

I have had limited use of a Spot, but I didn't have any problems.  I strapped it to the top of my seatbag (Revelate - it has loops on the top to strap it on) so it was pretty flat and unobstructed.  I also have a FS, though I don't know if that has any effect on it. 

I have wondered, when such electronics take a beating when strapped to components w/o suspension (i.e. if you strap to seatbag on a hardtail), if that affects performance.

[GrizzlyAdam]

Mine has always worked pretty well. I upgraded this spring to the newer model, and it's been fine so far. Customer service, etc, has been fine. I get an annual email telling me I'm going to be billed on XXX date, with plenty of notice to cancel if needed.

[bpeschka]

Thanks to all for the input. 

I have a mesh pocket on top of my seatbag that seems to be a good spot to put the Spot Tracker.  I think I saw some other(s) mention this placement here on the forum.  It should have a good view of the sky and be removed from the GPS that may be on the bars.

[rhino]

I have gone through 3 spots so far. My current one works perfect. My recommendation is buy them from a retailer that allows returns of EVERYTHING.  I think the big problem with the reviews is people don't know how to use them correctly.  If you track, send Ok, and keep hitting the buttons it cancels one out.  I'm not saying that of the users here, just my observation of reviews at online sites.

If you need a true emergency beacon also consider a McMurdo.  The McMurdo is registered through Cospas-Sarsat. I carry a McMurdo FastFind 220 and a SPOT. The McMurdo is not a tracking device, but a true rescue beacon on a dedicated search and rescue satellite system unlike SPOT. My understanding is SPOT is on a commerical satellite system.  The McMurdo has no yearly activation fees and does require it to be sent back in for battery replacement every few years.  

http://www.cospas-sarsat.org/
http://www.mcmurdomarine.com/en/products/plb/fast-find-220

[Done]

I have a mesh pocket on top of my seatbag that seems to be a good spot to put the Spot Tracker.

That's not a bad place for tracking, but not a great place for 911. It's not hard to imagine many emergency situations in which you wouldn't be able to reach your bike.