Spot 3 Satellite Gps Messenger - Orange

Spot 3 Satellite GPS Messenger - Orange

• Make sure this fits by entering your model number.
• S. O. S. - in an emergency, send an S. O. S. With your GPS location to geos, who facilitates search and rescue
• Check in - let contacts know where you are and that you're okay with a pre-programmed message
• Help/spot S. O. V. - request help from your friends and family at your GPS location. OR, ask for help from professional assistance organizations
• Custom message- let contacts know where you are by sending a pre-programmed message with your GPS location
• Track- automatically send and save your location and allow contacts to track your progress using google maps
• Service agreement required.

Buy Now : Spot 3 Satellite GPS Messenger - Orange

Brand : SPOT X
Category : Electronics,GPS, Finders & Accessories,Sports & Handheld GPS,Handheld GPS Units
Rating : 4.1
Price : US $299.95
Review Count : 958

Spot 3 Satellite GPS Messenger - Orange

• I\'d like to give the unit 5 stars, but there\'s a few issues that need to be addressed.The Good:The Gen3 is a big step up IMHO from the Gen 2. Battery life is much better (I don\'t know about the x2 battery life, I haven\'t used it that much), signal acquisition is faster, and generally the performance is more reliable. Make sure when you get the unit that you update the firmware however. Early on the original firmware sucked.The Meh:I would have preferred the USB port to be under the battery door. I know why they didn\'t do it (the unit can be powered via USB now, so putting it under the battery door would be not preferable), but it still annoys me as a minor pet peeve. I won\'t dock anything from it either.I\'m also meh on the \"basic tracking included!\" aspect of the subscription. It used to be 100 bucks a year, and tracking was 50 dollars a year. That was pretty significant, and while I did include tracking, I appreciated that it was optional. Now, it\'s not, but the \"bundle\" is now 150 dollars. It\'s cheesy, and I would have preferred maybe even a 10 dollar a year discount to acknowledge the new purchase point. Whatever.I\'m *really* meh on the new tracking \"options\". Yeah, it\'s cool you can adjust the tracking interval. But it\'s not 50 dollars a year cool for the next tier up that lets you go from 5 minutes to 60 minutes. If I\'m tracking via 60 minutes, I\'m actually paying more to use their system less, and that seems screwed up. The 150 bucks for the \"extreme\" tracking (so a total of 300 dollars a year *boggle*) for the ability to check in every 2.5 minutes with your progress seems... absurd. I don\'t know who would actually use/need that. At that point, your price level is 450 bucks, and that much money invested opens up a lot more options than the Spot here. But I digress. This is all \"meh\" because it\'s optional.The Bad:Billing sucks. No ways around it. I\'m not fond of it. Caveat Emptor to be sure.The manual is better but still not fantastic. I\'d say it\'s passable now. Gen 2 had a terrible manual.The website however is as painful as always. It needs a severe overhaul. I manage it just fine but it\'s not very intuitive or friendly. It looks like it hasn\'t been updated in years either, and it needs that. Badly.So 5 stars for the performance and the unit itself, as it\'s a big improvement and I\'m happy with the performance. Dock a star for the terrible billing and website and the less-than-friendly manual.Final note: This isn\'t a replacement for a Personal Locator Beacon/GPS unit. You probably know if you need one of those though, and I\'d say if you were serious about going into the boonies you\'d be best to look up one of those. For my weekender backpacking trips though I\'m okay with this.
• I went on a solo backpacking trip through 8,500 ft. of elevation change and 50 miles of trails, which took me about 4 days. Since I was deep in the mountains, I assumed that I would have no cell service. I was right. If you are planning a solo trip outdoors in a place you suspect cell service will be limited, I would recommend that you go with a satellite communicator for your safety. This one is a great cheap option if you\'re unsure about the concept or looking to save some money. DO NOT pay attention to the negative comments on here, as they are likely due to human incompetence or possibly SPOT has updated their device. Most of the negative reviews look to be old. In my opinion, there are two negatives to this device, which should not deter you away due to the cost of the device. 1.) Unless, I missed something-this is a one-way communicator (your loved ones/friends will not be able to respond to your messages/send anything to the device). 2.) There is a minimum $200.00 annual fee for the satellite and S.O.S. communication (which to me is very cheap). I do believe that Garmin devices also have an annual fee which is even more expensive plus the devices are much more expensive. This is likely your best option for the money spent.As I said, I was on the mountain for 4 days and the battery life lasted the entire time. However, I did turn the device off at night to be safe. **As far as features: It allows you to program 3 personalized messages online with your computer (prior to your hike/outing). One of these messages is a \"help\" message (not directed to emergency services, but to someone you know personally). There is a separate S.O.S. button for emergency services. My wife worried about me on my hike since I went by myself, so I purchased this to communicate with her. It worked great! I programmed one message to let her know when I made it to my campsite and used the second \"custom\" message option to notify her that I made it through the night the following morning. I then used the \"tracking\" button at the start of each hike. This sent my exact location (which is very accurate) to her via email and/or text message (which she could view via google maps along with my exact coordinates). You can customize this to update every 5,10, 20 minutes, etc. Upon returning from my hike, I checked the tracking map and it was very accurate. **ONE THING TO NOTE: it appears that the tracking map resets every time you turn the device off, so if you want a digital footprint of the entire trip- bring an extra\" set of batteries (in case it dies) and leave it on the entire trip. To me, this was not a big deal. I took pictures to document my trip and I have a map to see the trail that I took in case I forget :). When sending your \"check-in\" or \"custom\" messages, be sure to have a clear shot at the sky with the SPOT logo facing toward the sky. This will ensure that your messages gets sent. There is an indicator light that will flash to notify you that the message is sending. As long as this light is not red, rest assured-your message is sending. It will stop blinking completely when it has been sent, but I found that it actually send pretty quickly and will continue blinking even when it has already sent.Overall, this is a FANTASTIC communicator in my opinion. I had zero issues with it and it sent every single message that I attempted to send the entire trip and I was far in the wilderness.
• I bought this for my husband who does dirt bike trips, motorcycle rides, and hunting/fishing in the mountains where there is no cell phone reception. It does what it is supposed to do quite well, I have always received his check-ins from where ever he may be, even on his motorcycle rides as cell phone coverage is limited in certain areas. Now our son is old enough to accompany him on these excursions and I make sure it goes with them. He used it to notify us when his motorcycle had a mechanical issue he couldn\'t fix on his own in a no-cell reception area and we were able to find him. Fortunately he has never had to use the SOS feature. The annual subscription is a little hard to swallow in one lump sum each year, but it does work out to be around $20/month, which for a wife/mom\'s peace of mind, it is good investment and I look at it as additional insurance. If you are never going leave a cell phone zone, then yeah, it isn\'t worth the money but if you plan on doing a lot of traveling in remote areas with no cell phone coverage often, then yes, it is completely worth it.

Location:

Share :