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Customer Reviews and Ratings for SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger |
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Click here to Add Your Own Review. It's quick and easy. No login required.
80% of our reviewers recommend this item.
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Aaron
Boise ID
Apr 15, 2011
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LITTLE OR NO TRACKING:SUBSCRIPTION INCREASE $62 ?
I was one of the first few thousand to get a messenger. At the beginning the SPOT customer service was rude or non-existent. Had it from May 2009 until today, April 2011. On quite a few outings it would acquire a good signal at home before heading out and send a test message only about 50% of the time. During the hike/bike/whatever it would not acquire a signal the majority of the time, probably over 50% of the time, no signal, no tracking when I got home to check it online, and no messages to recipients. Service was $99yr. I just cancelled moments ago because with no notification ( I get their newsletter and promos via email frequently) I was charged $162.93 for this coming year. The crazy part is the yearly subscription on their site says $99. $99? $162? Hmmmm, seems to be a bit of a discrepancy.
Too much money for a device that isn't reliable.
Recommend? NO
78 viewers found this helpful.
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ATV Trainer
Ontario, Canada
Dec 15, 2010
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CAREFULLY READ THE DIRECTIONS
Pros: family feels better
Cons: not 100% reliable in an emergency
Use it for ATVing in the back country. Have had mine for nearly 3 years and while I have had full services, it only sent half of the tracking messages at best to my contacts, so I went back to the basic service. I now send a message when I begin and again when I end my rides. I strongly suggest you leave the unit on for quite some time after you push the OK button - don't assume a successful send to signal the end of your ride. Nice way to keep family informed that you are OK, however it worries me that a 911 emergency contact may never be sent because of vegatation cover.
Recommend? YES
83 viewers found this helpful.
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Paddlinfool
Sidney BC
Sep 27, 2010
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PLAN "B" IS NOW UNDERWAY
Pros: easy to operate
Cons: co-ordinates do not match my garmin gps
One of my better ideas...My wife now feels a little less apprehensive when I go out and hit the boonies. She now knows where to go look for the body when the proof is required for the life insurance claim. Does what it claims to do, but performance can be affected severely by "vegetation tunnels" and or deep valley travel. A good investment all around, and as I said, better to have a plan "b" than nothing at all. SPoTS co-ordinates do not match my Garmin GPS so I'm a little concerned over who is correct, but I guess they'll have a place to start looking....
Recommend? YES
92 viewers found this helpful.
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Simon
Calgary
Sep 23, 2010
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NOT RELIABLE, ONLY WORKS IN PEFECT CONDITION
Pros: none
Cons: not reliable, poor customer service,
I've been trying to make the device to work, worked perfvectly at home. Went on a 12km hike in the mountains, the device did not get any signal the whole way. I've sent maybe 10 ok messages, none of them went tru, maybe because I was in a valley, maybe later it was the clouds... For me it's not working 50% of the time, it's not worth it. The day you'll need to send a 911 message you better hope it happen on a nice day with no clounds because otherwise it might not work...
For a living a am a salesman and I was the best of my company last year, so I consider my English to be fair to good, but when I called the customer service to get help, i just got tranfered to a machine because I have an accent, the guy would not even listen to me. It's very frustrating, now I have a device that i cannot use, that is not reliable and I cant get help either.
YOU DONT NEED TO BUY THAT.
Recommend? NO
89 viewers found this helpful.
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Unka
Calgary, AB
Aug 25, 2010
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EXCELLENT TRACKING
Pros: good coverage
Cons: didn't start to track when it should have
Have recently tested this unit between Calgary to Golden and it worked very well in non-cellular areas.
The only concern that I found was that a couple of times after turning the unit on and pressing the OK button to start tracking, it didn't start. The 3sec indicator was flashing as it should but didn't receive any emails and positions where not being tracked on the website.
Other than that the unit worked and tested very well.
Recommend? YES
85 viewers found this helpful.
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A. Dial
Tallahassee, FL
Aug 25, 2010
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EASIEST GPS TRACKER
Easy to use, Good instructions, Arrived quickly.
Recommend? YES
87 viewers found this helpful.
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Emmbeedee
Ottawa, ON, Canada
Aug 17, 2010
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WE ALL HAVE ONE NOW!
Pros: works well, and is reasonably priced.
Cons: could use an external power source.
I bought my first Spot unit back in November of 2008 to use on my motorcycle and it's worked perfectly since then. In 2009 we bought a second one for my wife who also rides but sometimes goes off on her own.
And now that our son has an off-road motorcycle, we bought him one too!
Nothing better out there to give you peace of mind about the ones you care about...
Recommend? YES
88 viewers found this helpful.
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stefan
BC,Canada
Apr 30, 2010
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SAFETY DEVICE? SPOT SATELLITE GPS MESSENGER
Pros: it gives you an idea for safeness, maybe
Cons: button are hardly to push
I bought the spot for my solo Trips( kayaking, mountainering and hiking). To have safety device with me - just in case, you never know.He is named as- the first world's satellite Messenger-before I got him, I checked the area who is covered, most parts of the world , they do. There are some uncovered areas, but for my use- canada and vancouver Island - you're in the orange coverage area(http://www.findmespot.ca/en/index.php?cid=109), that means 99% transmitting power. The set up was easy(Email and phone set up for the Oky button)My first Trip was a Backcountry overnight snowshoe trip strathacona park vancouver island, 20feet snow, snowstorm -nice.The deal with my wife to me was, to pushed the oK button every 3hours for these two days. She received only 5 of my 10 messages. And that isn't convincing, not even close. I have no idea whats happen in a emergency case.For me, the spot is not really 99% reliable or safe. The instruction time for pushing the button , they are not right.And some times you have to push really powerfull, which doesn't make sense.
Recommend? NO
125 viewers found this helpful.
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Chad
Sherwood Park, Alberta
Apr 23, 2010
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SPOTTY SPOT SERVICE
Pros: small, durable, efficient utility
Cons: poor functionality
This unit has great potential to be an effective safety check in device for people working or recreating in remote areas however, the 4 units we have were not reliable enough to meet required maximum check-in times. We tested the units in the far southeast of Alberta and found that 21% of the time when the "ok" button was pushed and the unit indicated it had satellite coverage and that a message was sent (solid green light for 5 seconds), the message was never received at either of the three pre-programed email addresses. This unit was just not bale to provide the level of confidence required to be used as a primary safety communication device.
Satellite coverage appeared to be ok overall, but spotty, as indicated by the units blinking light sequence, which only made the inconsistent messaging that much more disappointing.
Recommend? YES
139 viewers found this helpful.
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motoriley
Burbs of Montreal, Quebec
Mar 18, 2010
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SPOT IS SPOT ON!
Pros: fun for people to follow you, added safety
Cons: operation would be easier with more buttons
My wife bought me this little device so she could follow me virtually as I did a trip across Costa Rica. I only received it the day before I left but it was easy enough to set up and test before my departure. Despite spending the 8 days of the trip mounted to the handlebars of a rented KTM 690 that numbed my hands and screwed up the battery on my GPS it worked fine.
Recommend? YES
167 viewers found this helpful.
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Gps lacking
Whistler
Dec 25, 2009
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HIDDEN RECALL
Got it for Xmas. Tried to register it but it's been recalled. The retailer was not informed of recall. Very unethical sales practice. Will return to retailer and buy different product.
Recommend? NO
212 viewers found this helpful.
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SDs
South Central Alaska
Jul 21, 2009
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WORKS WELL (WITHIN DESIGNED PARAMETERS)
Pros: lightweight, extremely portable plan "b"
Cons: reliability proportional to amount of sky seen
SPOT works well within its designed parameters. It MUST be able to see the sky. When it can, tracking updates are punctual at 10 minute intervals. When on the dash of a car it misses as many as it gets, but the car is blocking half the constellation, it is very dependant on a full sky view to perform at maximum reliability.
The "I'm OK" function works well, however, it helps to have some sort of system worked out in advance with the folks on your email list (otherwise they think you're dead already, ask me how I know....) For instance, an "OK" check before leaving, an "OK" check at each evenings camp, and finally an "OK check upon arriving safely home. With or without the tracking this is a good idea.
The web interface is OK but not great. The "send to" lists are managed separately from the tracking web interface, and navigating within and between them seems clunky to me.
The three messaging levels are a nice feature. This allows for the possibility of check in messages, non-life threatening help messages (ie gas, tire, tools), as well as full blown 911 response all from the same unit.
If you keep your expectations reasonable, this is a great unit to have with you when things go wrong off the beaten path.
Recommend? YES
277 viewers found this helpful.
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Charles
Calgary, AB
Apr 22, 2009
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A DEFINITE LIFE SAVER
Simple to set up, simple to use. No one should go into the back country without one.
Recommend? YES
250 viewers found this helpful.
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csousa
Winnipeg, MB
Apr 22, 2009
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GREAT FOR MOTORCYCLISTS
Pros: size, ease of use, web site
I was concerned about how intuitive the lights/indicators would be to know if signals were successfully being received and sent. The unit is simple to use and monitor.
The unit is simple to use and the web site is phenomenal. Allowing our family to keep track of us on extended motorcycle tours works really well.
Recommend? YES
249 viewers found this helpful.
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Rick
Ottawa,Ontario
Apr 20, 2009
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SPOT SATELLITE MESSENGER
I have the spot for about a month and like it very much. I use it in my airplane and report my location every (about) 10 minutes. It a must
Recommend? YES
304 viewers found this helpful.
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Ken M
Ancaster, Ontario
Apr 19, 2009
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SIMPLE AND CONVENIENT GPS LOCATER
Cons: unit does not indicate message received
Works well in Canada and Mexico. Simple and inexpensive way to let family and friends know where you are and that you have arrived safely at your destination. Have not tried the tracking option yet. Important to have "SPOT" turned on for a few minutes prior to sending message and to leave it on for at least 20 minutes after sending the message. Works on dash of truck but not in a bus.........still experimenting with locations. Extremley accurate location on Google Satellite Map. I have not determined the best way to use the "need help" message feature, I need to put some thought into what I expect my contacts to do should they receive a "need help" message.
In summary, for my purposes (i.e. letting my family and friends know where I am as I travel around the country), I am extremely pleased.
Recommend? YES
295 viewers found this helpful.
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D. Webb
Salt Lake City, UT.
Apr 7, 2009
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SPOT GPS FOR EMERGENCIES
Pros: small, portable & works, like googlemap interface.
Cons: hard to tell when the signal has locked and sent.
Utilizing for emergency assistance when out of cell phone range. Spot units are assigned to land survey crews that are working in remote areas of Utah, with no other radio or cell phone coverage. Units have been tested and seem to work so far. If the units assist in one emergency situation I think the cost will be justified. Uses the batteries up to fast when in Track. I like the Google Map and cell phone interface.
Recommend? YES
232 viewers found this helpful.
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Mike
Vegas
Mar 3, 2009
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GREAT PURCHASE
Cons: still trying to figure functions
I love it. I mounted on my motorcycle for riding by myself. It allows my wife to watch and see that all is OK. She then lets me ride more.
Recommend? YES
323 viewers found this helpful.
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Simon B
Quebec, Canada
Feb 23, 2009
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NICE TOOL IF YOU KNOW THE LIMITATIONS
Pros: sturdy! good size, works for me!
Cons: know the limitations! can't try before buy.
My use of the "Spot" in somewhat different from what it was intended to do. I use it to track my progress as I drive for a long period of time out of cell phone range and in passable driving conditions. The Spot allowed my loved ones to see where I was while on the road. I only use the Tracking service since I want my position to be updated every 10 minutes. The system works well as long as you position the GPS at the right place. In my case, the lower windshield, facing towards the road is the best place for me to have my position broadcast at 90% of the time. Obviously, if I'm in a valley with a lot of trees around, it may not work but after a few trips I repositioned the GPS a few times to see which place had the best result for me. The suction mount a very sturdy! It will easily fit an helicopter windshield and will stay there even with a lot of vibration I'm sure! The mount is made of metal, is big and heavy, I was very surprised. The GPS itself is about the size of 2 cases of music tapes stacked on top of each other. It is well made, looks solid. I which however that there was a little LCD screen telling us the Lat/Long when it got the signal from the Sats. A signal indicator would have been nice too. That's the only drawback of this thing and I don't understand why they didn't build it like that. I mean, you're in the middle of nowhere, you want to send an emergency signal but you have no idea if it went through or not...
Since I don't use the Spot for extreme expeditions or anything like that, I'm pleased with the product for what I use it for. Make sure you know the limitations before you buy. Because you can't "try" the unit to see if ot works for you, you have to shell out the whole 100$ service fees to have it to work... and you'll probably have to fight to get your money back.
Recommend? YES
278 viewers found this helpful.
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