Which spot?

[alisdair4]

I am considering buying a Spot tracker for next season. The Spot connect is 120 quid, the spot GPS Messenger 100. Does anyone have experience of either device, and the Spot system as a whole? Is it worth paying the extra for the connection bundle with the connect?

Thanks

 

[Buck Turgidson]

I have experience with the spot personal tracker.
They don't have full global coverage. The coverage they have can be intermittent. In an emergency they are ******* useless.
I would look at the competition carefully before going with spot.
And DO NOT use it as your primary emergency system.

Other opinions are available.

 

[armchairsailor]

Second that. Sometimes takes hours for messages to be sent through and no confirmation available for you to see if it went and when. See if InReach is available: I'm testing it for my company at the moment, and it seems good. You can set it up to send and receive emails and texts, as well as set preset messages (14) to cover most eventualities.

I've not tested it out hugely, but I see that it's a definite improvement on spots.

 

[Graham_Wright]

They don't have full global coverage.

Is this a lie then?- http://www.findmespot.ca/en/index.php?cid=109

 

[alisdair4]

Thanks all, I am only thinking of using it to keep SWMBO reassured when crossing eg the North Sea or sailing out of 3G coverage in the Western isles, so I would presume that the Satellite coverage would be OK there.

I am concerned about the prospect of delay to messages, so will research the Inreach option.

I have an EPIRB, DSC radio etc - but I take your point, Buck!

 

[[70521]]

Do you have AIS? If so set her up with an account on Marinetraffic.com and add your boat to her fleet.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Is this a lie then?- http://www.findmespot.ca/en/index.php?cid=109

??
Look at the map!

We had periods of 18hrs with no message getting through in the area marked as 99%.

 

[alisdair4]

I do have AIS, but only a receiver, not a transponder.

I have just had a look at the Inreach Site: http://www.inreachdelorme.com/ and this also seems intersting. The hardware is considerably more expensive than the Spot, however, if it is more reliable, this may be worthwhile.

 

[Graham_Wright]

??
Look at the map!

We had periods of 18hrs with no message getting through in the area marked as 99%.

Does this need reporting? - Did you?
(Probably ignored if so).

 

[Buck Turgidson]

We certainly did.

 

[nimbusgb]

Spot is a good, reasonably priced tracking system 'with limitations' relative to what you pay for it. Ifyou want 100% total reliability you are into thousands in investment.

provided SWMBO understands those limitations and does't freak out just because the signal has not updated in hour or two then it will be OK.

I do the same when I'm off sailing or driving long distance.

http://cariad.imolesworth.info/?page_id=79 turned off for the adriatic ferry trip but the drive across Europe is covered and if you zoom in on the Greek bit theres days of sailing around the Ionian. One day we didn't turn on the unit. You can see that not every 10 minute transmission is a hit.