To SPOT or not to SPOT

[fuzzydog]

I saw a program once on car safety. The narrator asked (rhetorically) "imagine you were driving a car that had been proven to protect you no matter how badly you crashed, and how fast you went. No matter what, you would not get hurt." Eventually, you would probably be driving very fast and very carelessly.

"Now imagine you were driving a car without seatbelts or airbags and with a long steel spike mounted on the steering wheel pointing directly at your chest" How would you drive? Probably very very cautiously.

I see the SPOT as being the same way - you give people a 'get out of trouble' card and they are going to push the limits without regard for being prepared because.....they have their 'get out of trouble' card. They can press the button and everything will be ok.

This is already being borne out - pretty much all of the SPOT rescues I have heard about were for people who got a SPOT and then went out into the wilderness totally unprepared and ill equipped.

All of the people who used to go out into the wilderness, with the proper respect for the conditions, proper planning and preparation, are still doing that but they don't need rescuing.

.02, for what its worth.

 

[WB9YZU]

Which GPS do you use? I have tried Motion X and it seems to no do what I want.

It's Motion X. I have GPS and DRIVE. Not bad products for what I paid for them. I hate that they can't run in the background, but that's an Apple Corporate issue, not Motion X's.

 

[DrMoab]

To the OP. Do you use an iPhone or Andorid?

If so I would seriously consider buying their unit that works in conjunction with your phone.

I had the first generation Spot. It worked great but my biggest issue with it was this... Lets say I break down and it's a radiator hose. I can hit the help button, which sends a message to my buddies saying I'm in trouble in this particular location. That's fine, but they really don't know what my issue is. Sure they can come get me, help me out, get me home but if I could have just sent a short message like "Im broke down here and I need an upper radiator hose" It makes the unit much more useful.

The unit that works with your smart phone does just this. It's a little expensive to use the messaging system. I think it's around .50 a message but thats pretty cheap when you think what I could save you in gas and time.

You can also save 20 pre-texted messages. Things like "We are in camp, everything is good" or "we are on the trail" Or I'm broke down and need a trailer...whatever you can think of. Those are totally free.

Also, that particular unit from them is twice as fast to lock on to sats and seems to not struggle as hard to find them in less than ideal conditions like over hanging trees and such.