Have any of you heard of this new device that just came on the market? It’s a tracking device that is linked to email and cell phones so your loved ones can always be aware of where you are. Check it out at Findmespot.com. This seems to be a great idea for the offshore small boat fisherman or even the adventurous kayaker or wayward backcountry fisherman. It has a 911 function, is waterproof and actually limks to Google Earth so your exact location can be tracked. Ok, any of you who have soon to be teenage children, think of the possibilities. You could have them take the device with them and you can see exactly where they are every 10 minutes. This will be teir nightmare. I can already see a cottage industry of kids taking the device to church for others for a price while they sneak away for privacy. At 150 bucks or so the price point is less than 20% of a sat phone or efirb and the 99 dollar yearly fee to send messages is far below the lowest sat phone rates. If you don’t need to chatter, but just want to assure others that you are ok, this seems to be a good choice. I always have to tell my family that the seas dictate when I get back so don’t start worrying right away when I’m later than my usual time. Also I have had to leave some good bites just to get back so I wouldn’t unduely worry the family. This device seems to take care of most of these issues. The kicker is that it has almost a world wide coverage. So if I got a wild hair and ran off to Costa Rica to chase tarpon, my cross country dirt road adventure could be followed in great detail. Amazing. What’s next?

Randy

randy - 07 December 2007 12:20 AM

Have any of you heard of this new device that just came on the market? It’s a tracking device that is linked to email and cell phones so your loved ones can always be aware of where you are. Check it out at Findmespot.com. This seems to be a great idea for the offshore small boat fisherman or even the adventurous kayaker or wayward backcountry fisherman. It has a 911 function, is waterproof and actually limks to Google Earth so your exact location can be tracked. Ok, any of you who have soon to be teenage children, think of the possibilities. You could have them take the device with them and you can see exactly where they are every 10 minutes. This will be teir nightmare. I can already see a cottage industry of kids taking the device to church for others for a price while they sneak away for privacy. At 150 bucks or so the price point is less than 20% of a sat phone or efirb and the 99 dollar yearly fee to send messages is far below the lowest sat phone rates. If you don’t need to chatter, but just want to assure others that you are ok, this seems to be a good choice. I always have to tell my family that the seas dictate when I get back so don’t start worrying right away when I’m later than my usual time. Also I have had to leave some good bites just to get back so I wouldn’t unduely worry the family. This device seems to take care of most of these issues. The kicker is that it has almost a world wide coverage. So if I got a wild hair and ran off to Costa Rica to chase tarpon, my cross country dirt road adventure could be followed in great detail. Amazing. What’s next?

Randy

Hey Randy,

Sorry I didn’t get a chance to check this out earlier. This looks very interesting, to say the least! I’ll see if I can get a unit for eval / reporting to BTB and OCean Skiff Journal readers…

Just got off the phone with their Sales Manager. He is going to send me a 3 week demo unit, may have it in time for the SCI trip.

Ihope the demo kit gives you the tracking option. It will be interesting to see how it works.

Randy

Received the unit last night, have managed to pi$$ off my wife by having it text her where I was twice this morning. It does have the tracking option as well, but the 911 option is not enabled.

I’ll post some more stuff later. But initial impressions:

1. Seems pretty well built. It is JIS-7 waterproofed, which is 30 minutes at 1 meter submersion. The unit is supposed to float (I haven’t tried that yet), and operates when the unit is flat (not vertical, like a PLB)

2. Uses two AA lithium batteries, which look to be around $3.50 apiece (depending on brand & retailer), but they are supposed to last for a year of continuous use if you don’t send any messages, 7 days if left on continuous 911.

I’ll try to get on the water soon (not this weekend). If you guys want to track me when I’m on the water, send me an e-mail and whether you want e-mail or text message. If you want text, I’ll need your phone number and cellular carrier. This info will not be used for anything other than the test.

John, Boy that is encouraging. This seems like it will really fill a nitch. I might pick one up depending on how your trial goes.

Randy

I’ve finished my testing and research, hope to have an article posted shortly. Stay tuned!

John. I bought a Spot a couple of weeks ago. I used it on a trial solo run to SCI, picked up some reds, etc and calicos (I was too busy to post). It worked great on the trip. There was some initial learning that had to take place setting up the account and getting the emails registered. My wife really appreciated it and called it the best present I have ever gotten her. She was able to track my progess and return all the way home. I put the Spot on the top of my CC grab rail using a smal bungeed and it held securely. Here is a picture of the Spot on the rail mid way to SCI.
[IMG]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k175/nmkrbk/IMGP0298.jpg[/IMG]

I was able to also send an ok message which was handy because one of my batteries had gone low before the trip and I told my wife that I would charge it on the way and test it half way out. The ok message indicated that it was charged and all systems ok. The problem I had was that after I sent the ok message I didn’t reset the tracking for awhile until I noticed that the indicator light wasn’t blinking. So reset it and was back on tracking mode. The result is depicted on the screen photo below. I had diificulty coping the map so I just took a picture of the screen. We also found it easier just to log onto the Spot website and view the track using the Google maps feature.

[IMG]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k175/nmkrbk/IMGP0305.jpg[/IMG]

I am looking forward to your article because I know you are very thorough and I can just learn all i need to know from what you write. I’m lazy that way.

Randy

The article has been posted!

John

Great article John. I always learn something when I read your reviews. Thanks. The tracking aspect, and OK signal are what sells this device. They are flying off the shelves I am told.

Randy

I’ve had a Spot for just over a year. It’s a superb device that works exactly as advertised. As others have pointed out, it delivers great peace of mind just by letting you touch base with family/friends and by offering a reliable option to summon help (although I’ve never needed to ... knock on wood).

However, there’s one thing I want to point out to anyone who has one of these units: the account set-up procedure requires you to leave a credit card on file and they automatically bill the card for the next year’s membership fee without any warning or email notification.

Obviously, if you need to use the Spot to call for help it’s a good thing to have uninterrupted coverage but since I don’t plan any offshore/backcountry trips in the foreseeable future, I was planning to let the service lapse for a while and then reactivate shortly before my next trip.

On the upside, the 24 hour customer service department promised to refund the charge promptly and courteously.