| SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger unit, Orange/Black |  | Brand: SPOT
Category: Sports
Department: Navigation
List Price: $199.95
Buy New: $135.68
as of 9/4/2010 21:50 EDT details
You Save: $64.27 (32%)
New (25) from $135.68
Seller: 7GIFTS
Rating:  18 reviews
Color: Orange/Black
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Number Of Items: 1
Size: 3.7-Inchx2.6-Inchx1.0-Inch
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
MPN: 411-SPOT2-O
Model: SPOT2O
UPC: 893049001219
EAN: 0893049001219
ASIN: B002PHRDO2
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Faster GPS acquisition for quicker 911 response | | • | Sends check in message, capable of tracking, sends help assistance message | | • | More satellite detection than any competitive product on the market | | • | Operates under the harshest environments, temperature, altitude | | • | New smaller size, lighter weight |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
SPOT 2 Satellite GPS Messenger
Includes all the same functionality as before - now in a smaller, more feature-rich form factor.
30% Smaller
30% Lighter
Faster GPS Aquisition
New Features/Enhancements:
- Advanced GPS
- GPS aquisition light
- Custom message button
- Enhanced antenna performance
- Dedicated tracking button
- Improved tracking performance
- Safety covers over S.O.S. and Help buttons
- Replaceable button covers
- Illuminated buttons
- Message sent indicator light
- Includes armband case
- Recyclable packaging
Features:
SOS: Emergency assistance request sent with your GPS location to GEOS every 5 minutes until batteries die or until cancelled
Help/SPOT Assist: Request help from friends and family every 5 minutes for 1 hour. Up to 10 contacts - phone & email
Check In: Lets contacts know where you are and that you're okay. Attempts to send three messages to help ensure successful transmission. Up to 10 contacts - phone and email. Contacts will receive only 1 message.
Custom Message: Creates custom non-urgent message to send to friends and family
Track Progress: Acquires your GPS location every 10 minutes for 24 hours. Sends each location one time. Previous 2 track points sent with current track point helping ensure consistent recording of movements.
Emergency Response Center: GEOS is operational 7 days/week, 365 days a year, operating out of Houston, TX (2 addl. backup locations)
History Review: Review all Check In, Track Alert SOS, and Help locations via findmespot.com using Google maps for up to 30 days.
Shared Page: You can share messages and locations with others via a personal shared page or SPOT adventures account. Live data viewing up to 7 days, data storage up to 30 days. Can have up to
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
 Great Product, LOUSY Website and MANUAL !!!! June 7, 2010
R. Brooks (Central, TEXAS)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
I bought a Spot GPS Messenger 2 in May 2010, mainly to use when I travel in my airplane or RV. This product has received more than it's fair-share of less than favorable reviews, and I too had earlier given this product a 1 star review here on Amazon, about 7 days after I received it. I was so frustrated at one point, I was close to cutting the Spot in half on a band-saw and posting a video of the severing on YouTube. I wasn't a "happy camper" the first week I owned this little jewel.
Here is the "meat" of some issues that need to be considered before you order this product.
#1. (Like most people advise) It is not a substitute for a full-fledged ELB.
#2. The website, where you must activate the Spot and purchase a service plan is totally convoluted. It is VERY difficult to navigate and understand. It took me more than a week to finally get their BIZARRE website figured out in order to get my Spot GPS Messenger 2 set up and working as I need it. The manual that came with my Spot 2 is TERRIBLE. I should cut the manual in half, and post a video of that on YouTube. These folks need to produce a better manual.
#3. If you buy this little jewel, you'll have a boatload of questions once you open the package. Rest assured, if you go to the "Follow Me Spot" website and look at the "FAQs" be advised that 90% of your questions will NOT be addressed on the website's FAQs.
#4. If you call their customer support people, be prepared to wait for up to 20 or 30 minutes for a real human-being who you can actually talk to.
#5. Don't even think of sending a question to these people VIA e-mail... You MIGHT be lucky if you get an answer in 7 to 10 days by e-mail.
#6. The buttons on the Spot provide NO TACTILE FEEDBACK (click) and it's somewhat difficult to determine if your button ("I'm OK" or "Send Help") was actually activated and worked... The button you push for the specific message eventually lights-up and blink when they have been "activated and sent" however when viewing these very tiny buttons in sunlight, they hard to see and determine if the message was indeed "SENT."
Once I FINALLY got my account established and my emergency contacts set up, I am having a lot more confidence in my Spot as a device that can contact my wife when I am in a remote area not having cell service. My iPhone has a couple of WONDERFUL apps where I can press one button and ask for 9-1-1 assistance and another app that I can press, to send my wife (or anyone having an e-mail account) a message showing my GPS location on Google Maps... but the iPhone doesn't work everywhere, and I love going into remote areas to tour ghost towns and old mining camps where there is NO CELL SERVICE FOR MILES.
The SPOT GPS MESSENGER can easily beam your pre-determined message to a satellite, when my iPhone can't work. And so far (after learning the pain-in-the @$$ website for SPOT, I now am confident I can go nearly anywhere and be able to get my pre-programed message to my contact list. PLEASE NOTE... You can not create "tailor-made" messages with the spot while out in the boonies. You have to get on-line with your computer, go into your "Follow Me Spot" account in advance and create a pre-determined message. You get a choice of 3 messages with the 3 different buttons on the Spot. Below are examples I programmed into my "Follow Me Spot" account. You will probably want something entirely different.
There are three options for sending messages... #1. (Which goes to my wife) is "I am safe, here is where I am."
#2. I need help and this is where I am. (I'll probably modify this message prior to going off on an adventure to tailor the message if I am traveling in my airplane or my RV.) #3. For my emergency message that would be sent to the nearest 9-1-1 responder, I set this up with text to advise the 9-1-1 responder "O-Positive Blood Type. This person is an aircraft pilot and might have had an unplanned, emergency/forced landing in remote area and could possibly be injured as a result of the forced landing. The emergency contacts for this person are ***** ****** ****** (this is where I list three names and cell phone numbers for my wife, sister in-law and brother in-law.)
Some of the criticism about the Spot is when the emergency 9-1-1 button is pressed, some 9-1-1 responders in "less sophisticated regions, a-k-a "Hootersville" have no idea what a Spot or ELB emergency might be, thus the reason why I say I am a pilot, and might have had a forced-landing, and advising of my blood-type and general health issues. (You can make up your own message, maybe saying "This person is on a hiking trip and might have fallen. 58 year old male, blood type is ??? and allergic to ????. Next of kin is ???????."
LAST BUT NOT LEAST....
My Spot GPS Messenger 2 does things an ELB can not do, which is to allow my wife to have some peace-of-mind with my "I'm OK message." Additionally, if I do have a forced landing and I DO NOT have a life-threatening emergency, I have confidence I can just send out a simple "need help message" and the local responder will show up, having called my wife first who will advise the color and type of my airplane. I can tell him "Hey, the engine quit in my airplane, and I just need a lift out of here to contact a mechanic." If that is the case, I sure don't want the folks at 9-1-1 calling Army Blackhawk helicopters with Airborne Rangers swooping down from ropes. Although I did purchase the insurance to reimburse the responders, should they show up in a helicopter.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE SPOT...
The Spot fits nicely on my arm with the enclosed arm-band that came with the unit. It also fits in my shirt pocket and isn't too heavy. I can Velcro it to the glare-shield (dash) of my airplane where it has a clear shot at a satellite.
It has worked well in sending out my test messages when sitting on the dash of my pick-up and while strapped on my arm. The ability of the unit to send out a "bread-crumb" trail of where I have been isn't a big deal to me, and although I've tried this feature a couple of times, be advised it sends out a message to your contacts about every 10 minutes and it DOES NOT exactly provide a trace of the trail (or route) you have been on. But, it still can be useful for tracking in an emergency. When I tried this "bread crumb trail" feature while driving my pick up on country roads, the device, when sending a "blip" every 10 minutes will show up on a Google Map and will not trace the road you are on, and it will "hodge-podge" across a map making what looks like leaps over hills, rivers and across valleys, instead of tracing an actual road or trail you are on. Not a big deal, but for those of us who are used to high-end GPS units that actually trace every foot of your path on long distant trips (my Garmin 496 does this in my airplane) it can be a bit distracting.
There are several features that I'll never use and I can't comment on them, but as a "pseudo" ELB, I think I will be very satisfied. And, as a way for me to communicate with my wife (since I often travel alone) it will give her peace of mind as I check in when in locations where my cell phone can't work.
I plan on making a video showing how this unit works in my airplane, my RV and my pick-up to put on my YouTube account. The videos I've seen on YouTube about the SPOT don't cut to the meat of the subject and the heart of the capabilities of this nice little unit. I'll also show on my YouTube video, what a pain in the @$$ the "Follow Me Spot" website is... Stay tuned, my moniker on YouTube is "tuutuutango" where you can see a video of an airplane I built in my backyard and flew for the first time.
BOTTOM LINE...
After spending just over $300 for the Spot and all of the features they offer to include RESPONDER REIMBURSEMENT INSURANCE (I bought everything) I feel good about my decision to go with this unit over a full-fledged ELB, because the Spot can do more than an ELB can do... It is lightweight and small but the company website and their manual are almost a joke and a royal pain in the neck.
Remember Steve Fossett, the millionaire pilot who was lost in the Nevada wilderness? Search and rescue teams spent nearly two months looking for this guy ([...]) and they never found him. Maybe, if he had a SPOT GPS MESSENGER (and a survival kit) like I do, he would have been found alive. I just hope if I have an emergency landing somewhere, someone doesn't stumble across my boney-fingers pressed on the 9-1-1 button, years after I crashed. I have to admit, I don't have total confidence in my Spot working, when I need it the most, thus the reason why I will probably also buy a ELB to go in my airplane survival kit as well.
Works Great! July 11, 2010
L. West (NorCal)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I had the SPOT 1 that was quite poor in reception and operation. I am very glad I upgraded to the Spot 2 Messenger as it fixes most all the problems with the SPOT 1.
The new SPOT 2 Messenger is MUCH better. For example, on a wilderness use underneath thick foliage, the SPOT 2 worked surprisingly fast. After Power On, I hit the OK button which started blinking. The green GPS LED illuminated in ~15 seconds indicating reception and location was found, while I was under thick trees! The after a few more seconds GPS and Transit LEDs blinked Green together for another 3 seconds. Then only the Green Transmit LED stayed blinking to assure transmission was successful. Everything happened in under 30 seconds from Power On under thick trees. This is far better than up to 20 minutes on the older SPOT 1 in the open, and the SPOT1 never worked under trees.
Overall, the LED lights make more sense now, and a portable plastic instruction card included. The LEDs now shows more feedback on success or fail like described in the example above.
I like the new cover over the Help and 911 buttons. They include a couple spare covers in case they get broken lost, but they're locked down by the back plate anyway.
I'm glad I upgraded. In sum it's a major improvement in every way:
Much Smaller - about the size of a cell phone but rounder
Lighter - less than a cell phone
Better Buttons - now with protecting covers on emergency buttons
Better Indicators with more feedback
Much Faster - seconds versus minutes to receive GPS and transmit messages
Better Reception - works fast and under deep woods, as well as my top Garmin GPS
As for usefulness, last weekend I ran into the Ranger today at one of my favorite MTB parks, Henry Coe just south of San Jose. It's a very big park 10s of miles across and many large mountains and deep woods to get lost in, with rescues often needed.
I mentioned I had a SPOT and asked the Ranger's opinion. He said the SPOT saved two people in just this one park in the last two years - one was a biker who broke his collar bone and helicoptered out. The other was a camper who got appendicitis and couldn't move out of his tent. He said they were both in remote and hidden locations that would have taken a lot of work to find. Instead, he drove exactly to their location in under an hour, and helped the injured to a hospital.
The Ranger said he permitted one biker to put the Ranger's email into biker's SPOT notification list. He finds it fun to watch where the guy is going on Google Earth, each time the biker rides the park, sending OK messages with the SPOT.
Anyway, I was surprised that the SPOT was so useful and the Ranger liked the SPOT so much. I was expecting to hear him say something about false alarms and no real emergencies. Instead the Ranger said the opposite - the SPOT was extremely helpful to them and he wished everyone had it.
I personally find it useful to send OK messages to my wife on my remote mountain biking trips. That way she can see my progress and if I'm running late. It also comforts me to know if something bad happens to me such I can't hit the buttons, she can follow the OK "dots" on the Google Map links and start looking where they end. Other PLBs can't do this.
A Potentially Live Saving Product December 8, 2009
hdtravel (USA)
11 out of 15 found this review helpful
I had the Spot 1 and now the Spot 2.
They are just fantastic devices.
I have used mine at many locations around the USA and overseas.
They work very well. No traveler and/or adventurer should ever leave home without one of these.
It is excellent for checking in with 'ok' messages and getting help ( roadside & boating assistance ) and for real emergencies.
The safety and peace of mind that they give you and your loved ones is priceless.
I highly recommend SPOT.
Worked flawlessly for tracking across the Eastern Hemisphere July 29, 2010
Eric Westphal (Houston, TX USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I recently bought the Spot 2 for a trip I was making in my single engine airplane. I was planning to fly from Texas up to the Great White North, thence to Greenland, Iceland, and then down through the UK to Italy and onward to my final destination in Cyprus. The trip went quite well and the Spot worked perfectly. It never missed an update, even in the most remote areas of Greenland. My wife and family really appreciated the steady updates of my location and the OK messages when I landed each day. It was easy to use and, even after 60+ hours of use, I'm still using the original batteries.
I know some users have issues with the emergency response function. Thankfully, I never had to test this, but even if I never used this functionality, it is well worth the acquisition and subscription fees just for family updates while traveling. My wife would also give it the 5 stars! The [...] website is also really nice to have--search for my Adventure there using N456T as a keyword. (By the way, I use a portable ACR 406 MHz ELT for emergency use anyway, so the Spot emergency function is just a third option.)
Spot GPS Messenger testing and first expedition July 19, 2010
Wilderness explorer
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Purchased the Spot GPS messenger for use in the Australian Wilderness.
Spot GPS messenger performs better than expected.
During testing:
- Messages were sent & received in under 60 seconds, from Spot power on, to receipt as an SMS on nominated mobile phones;
- Messages were successfully sent despite extensive overhead coverage. Most impressive were the successful messages that transmitted from my living room, with only the skylight offering a view of the sky;
- Spot GPS unit is smaller and lighter than I imagined it would be.
During first expedition:
- Worked well, with first message being sent and successfully received within 60 seconds of power on.
- During the entire trip, all but one message was successfully received by my wife.
- The one message that did not transmit was sent from inside a wet tent, under a soaking wet rain forest canopy.
- Next time in wet conditions I would leave the Spot Messenger running for the full hour of the message cycle and let all three messages get transmitted.
Having a Spot messenger means I can push my expeditions further and into tougher terrain, knowing if things do go pear shaped, I can call for assistance.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
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