Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Stay in touch via satellite technology – whether you're just checking in, allowing others to check your progress, or calling for help.

• 100% satellite technology works where cell phones don't
• Vital line of communication with friends and family
• Emergency service when you need it
• 4 key functions for sending messages to friends, family or emergency responders
• Works around the world
• Satellite service subscription required
• Waterproof to a depth of 1 meter
• Floats in water

Communicate with friends and family and get emergency assistance where and when you need it.

Amazon.com Product Description:
Give your loved ones full peace of mind when you're on the mountain with the Spot Satellite Messenger. Whether you're just checking in, allowing others to track your progress, or calling for help, Spot gives you a vital line of communication with friends and family when you want it, and emergency assistance when and where you need it. Spot employs a GPS satellite network to acquire its coordinates, then sends its location to the recipient of your choice, complete with a link to Google Maps and a pre-programmed message. Unlike personal locator beacons, however, Spot does more than just call for help. The SpotChecking feature, for example, lets you notify your SpotTeam--the friends and family you've chosen as your contacts--and tell them all is well, notify them of your location, or save waypoints so you can review your route at a later date. You can also activate the SpotCasting feature to let friends and family follow your progress in real time (every 10 minutes). Anyone with access to your account information can log on and view your route, complete with virtual views provided by Google Maps. SpotCasting is a terrific feature for mountain climbers looking to celebrate their accomplishments with their loved ones.

The most important feature, however, is Spot's ability to call 911 in the event of a life-threatening or other critical emergency. Once activated, Spot will acquire your exact coordinates from the GPS network, and then send that location along with a distress message to a GEOS International Emergency Response Center every five minutes until cancelled. The Emergency Response Center will then notify the appropriate emergency responders based on your location and personal information. Responders may include local police, the highway patrol, the Coast Guard, an embassy or consulate, or other emergency response and search-and-rescue teams. Even if Spot can't acquire its location from the GPS network, it will still attempt to send a distress signal--without your exact location--to the Emergency Response Center, which will still notify your emergency contacts of the signal and continue to monitor the network for further messages.

Spot works around the world, including in virtually all of the continental United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia, and portions of South America, Northern Africa, and Northeastern Asia. And provided you're in a good coverage area, Spot offers a 99 percent probability of sending a successful message within 20 minutes. As a result, Spot is ideal for anyone with a taste for outdoor adventures, including boaters, kayakers, sailboarders, archaeologists, skiers, climbers, pilots, business travelers, snowshoers, and just about anyone else.

Spot requires two AA lithium batteries, with a battery life of up to one year in standby mode, 14 days in SpotCasting mode, or 7 days in 911 mode. And thanks to the water-resistant housing (safe in 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes), you needn't worry about using Spot in adverse conditions. Spot measures a compact 2.75 by 4.38 by 1.5 inches (W x H x D), weighs 7.37 ounces, and carries a one-year limited warranty.

Communication Functions:

Spot employs a GPS satellite network to acquire its coordinates, then sends its location to the recipient of your choice, complete with a link to Google Maps and a pre-programmed message.

• Alert 9-1-1 dispatches emergency responders to an exact location
• Ask for Help sends a request for help to friends and family with your location
• Check In lets contacts know where you are and that you are okay
• Track Progress sends and saves your location and allows others to track your progress using Google Maps

Battery Life:

• Power ON, unused: Approximately 1 year
• SPOT casting continuous tracking mode: Approximately 14 days
• 9-1-1 mode: Up to 7 consecutive days
• HELP mode: up to 1900 messages
• SPOT check OK up to 1900 messages

Specifications:

• Weight: 7 ounces
• Waterproof to a depth of 1 meter for up to 30 minutes
• Operating Temperature: -40ºF to +185ºF
• Operating Altitude: -300 feet to +21,300 feet
• Humidity and Salt Fog Rated

Accessories:
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Accessories:

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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

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Rating: - Lousy user interface makes it unreliable
I have used Spot for several months in my helicopter. Sometimes it works okay; often it doesn't. I have made many flights over rugged terrain to discover that my Spot wasn't in tracking mode. Many of my attempts to reassure my wife by sending an OK message failed to send any message. The problem is with the poorly designed user interface that depends on pressing buttons certain amounts of time. Also, the LED feedback is ambiguous: You can't tell the difference between tracking mode and check-in mode by watching the lights. This product is a great idea, but I can't understand how they could screw up the user interface so badly.

The website is just as bad. There is no way to find historical flights. It discards old tracking information with no way to get it back. I fear that if I crashed, the tracking data would disappear before someone could find me. Sometimes multiple flights get munged together into a big mess, and there is no way to sort it out.

I don't know how reliable the satellite and server technologies are, but the user interface is enough for me to reject this as something to bet your life on. I am getting a Guardian 3X installed in my aircraft because it is foolproof. It will work every flight, and there is no way to keep it from working. Also, the website seems much better. I'll probably get a new portable device for my survival kit; I plan to consider Spidertracks, a New Zealand product recently endorsed by Cessna. Maybe it won't have similar design flaws that could lead to tragic results.

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Rating: - Spot Satellite Personal Tracker
The reason for purchasing the Spot Tracker is when I go sailing in the Gulf of Mexico. I have used it around home just to test it out. It really works good and family members out of state can keep track of my locations on their PC. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 star rating is because I haven't use it when sailing. I have no reason to believe it would not work perfect.

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Rating: - Peace of mind in the wilderness
This unit provided peace of mind for our entire group during a wilderness canoe trip this past summer. We were able to keep our loved ones assured that we were O.K. and share our location with them every day, and we had the assurance that should something go wrong we would be able to summon help. Every message that we sent was recieved. The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because you have to sit there and stare at blinking lights if you want to be assured that your message was indeed sent. Perhaps in future models they will have a "message sent" light that would allow you to be aware of that important fact without having to sit and stare at the unit. I would definately recommend this unit to anyone who is traveling to a region where cell phone service is spotty or unavailable.

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Rating: - Very cool!
My company recently purchased four of these units for those of us who travel to remote areas where there is no cell coverage. So far, we have been very impressed with this little device!

It's great that not only can you send check-in messages to your friends and family, but you can see where you were, exactly, when you get home. The accuracy is unbelievable! I pressed the check-in button from several different locations across California, and later when I looked at the locations on Google Maps (with the link provided by SPOT) it was dead-on, precisely where I was - in every instance! It is so accurate that it literally pin-pointed the exact parking spot I was in when I left the office. If I ever need rescue, I know it will bring the search teams to my exact location.

The only drawback I have seen is that occasionally the website doesn't get updated with the messages, or it takes a long time. One day I pressed the check-in button 4 times during my journey and only 3 messages were posted online. Granted I did not have the unit in the best location (inside a truck). But knowing that when you send help and 911 messages it transmits much more often, I still feel very safe carrying the unit.

One thing to keep in mind: the unit requires an annual subscription of $100, and then if you want to use the tracking feature it is an additional $50/yr. But what is your life worth?

For the price and features, it is a MUST HAVE for those of us who go into the wilderness where cell phones don't work.

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Rating: - wouldn't trust my life to this...
i recently used the SPOT for a 3 week hiking trip in the sierras. it took me a few days to get used to setting it up for tracking. i'm not a big fan of "press once for..." and "hold for 5 seconds for..." button use. especially when there is no feedback other than a few blinking lights. some sort of audio or vibration feedback would be comforting in addition to the indicator lights. or an lcd display that told me exactly what the status was, if the signal was received, if the tracking mode is indeed on, etc...

in tracking mode, i was surprised at the end of my trip to see where the gaps were. it inconsistent with the terrain and tree cover. hours of blank spots where tracking waypoints should have been marked, sometimes above the treeline with open sky all around. the limited ability to function properly when tracking leaves me doubtful that this would do the job if i had a serious emergency.

i don't understand the lack of provision for some sort of tethering cable. the belt clip is entirely insufficient for keeping the device in place... i wanted to keep it on top of my pack so that it would have the best satellite visibility but didn't want use anything that would cover the case and impede the signal.

as this is the first year of release, i'll be curious how many false-alarms occur due to the exposed buttons. steve howe, the editor of backpacker magazine, had his send a distress signal by mistake when something in his pack pushed against the button. seems like there should be some sort of secondary protection, like a slide cover over the HELP and 911 buttons. to be fair, the 911 button has a raised edge surrounding it, making it difficult to set off inadvertently, but not impossible.

a small gripe that i have, is that at the end of my trip, the website didn't make it clear where to find my tracked path. it's under a tab labeled "messages"... mmm not very clear kids.

i like the premise for the SPOT, i just wished it was more reliable. i'll be curious to see how this product develops in the future.