The SPOT GPS PLB is really neat. The prices of PLB's have really come down in recent years and the people at FINDMESPOT have made it very affordable.
Below is my Garmin GPS unit - I've had it for a number of years and it works great. It's not the latest generation and doesn't have many of the new bells and whistles like FM/Sirrus radio and weather satellite images - but it does the job and works nicely with the computer in uploading and downloading the information. The two biggest drawbacks to this unit is that it chews up batteries driving the color screen, even lithium batteries, and it does not have a user accessible memory card. The latest generation units do have standard memory card slots. My dad got me my first GPS device many years ago - a Garmin GPS12. It was the first generation of civilian GPS units and it got me hooked. Whatever you do, stayaway from the Garmin ETREX Vista as it was a piece of junk - very hard to acquire and maintain signals.
By the way, our max speed is incorrect, when the unit sometimes slides on the dash, it interprets that as a very high speed. I've seen speeds in the hundreds of miles from it sliding around. The top left was our altitude at the time, our overall moving average, moving average, distance to the next destination, what the next destination was. and the final time we would arrive at the final destination. I'd setup a huge GPS track using the Garmin Mapquest software so we could follow our journey and locate nearest towns, etc. It's something to keep you occupied during a long trip such as this.
One thing I do dislike about Garmin is that all of their accessories and cables are horridly expensive and they seem to change between unit releases.
The FINDMESPOT is the orange device on the dashboard. The other device is the Garmin GPS. They are not interconnected or anything.
What the FINDMESPOT does is you can use it in multiple modes:
1. 911 - in the 911 or emergency mode, it will send out a distress signal to the central dispatch center and they will contact the local authorities of where you are at to come to your rescue.
2. OK - All is well. This just sends out a signal with a predefined message saying that everything is OK or - All is well. This can be sent to up to ten email, mobile phone, or SMS accounts.
3. TRACKING - in the tracking mode, the device sends out a TRACK update of your current location every 20 minutes. This appears on a webpage using GOOGLE EARTH so that contacts you have provided the URL to can see where you are at and how you are progessing on your trip.
www.findmespot.com
The unit works relatively well, although I have sent it back for warranty repair as the OK button tends to stick. This is obviously an early device and a precursor of better things to come. I tend to be an early adopter of new toys so I'm used to things not working just quite right.
The unit works as advertised - although we had no need to try the 911 mode. The biggest issue is that you never really are sure if you are in the tracking mode or not. In order to be in the tracking mode, you have to press two buttons at once and look at the flashing lights. You also can not be in the tracking mode and send an OK message. I'm sure future revisions will add one more button for tracking and OK. Also, there is no way of knowing if your messages are being received by the satellite or not. In the OK mode, you have no idea if the OK message was received or not - so I had the OK message going as a text message to my mobile phone - which was great when we were in cell tower range. The inability to determine if your message got out or not could be really important if you were in an emergency situation. Another issue is that the TRACKING mode only attempts to transmit a signal every twenty minutes - it would be nice if you could change it to as little as one minute or even five minutes. One can cover a lot of ground in twenty minutes at 80mph. The device worked well sitting on the dash and sometimes when obscured by trees, etc. The lithium battery life was outstanding.
I actually got my FINDMESPOT free as there was a promotion if you purchased two years of TRACKING and standard service upfront, they would reimburse you for the unit price upto $150. The two year account I setup was about $300. You can only purchase in full year increments.
Here is some screen shots of our track log. I'd gone to a friends house in Dallas to pick him up and begin our journey (first two pictures).
The second and third pictures are a zoomed in view of our track in Colorado.
Even with the early limitations of the device, I will still give it five out of five stars ***** as it is cool and it does work and most importantly, it is relatively inexpensive.
Just think of the fun you could have violating peoples privacy with this! Put one in the back seat of your girlfriends or wifes car and find out where they are really going to! Want to know where your teenage kids are at - make them carry a spot. Do you own a business with delivery trucks, then mount a spot on it to find out in real time where they are.
The second "toy" I brought along was a satellite phone. I rented the phone as they are very expensive to purchase and the airtime minutes start at $1.79 per minute. This is not something that you'd want to use every-day-all-day in place of your mobile phone. I have always wanted to try one of these as I often times do very remote trips where the nearest phone could be as long as two-three hours away. In the Blackgap Wildlife Management Area of far West Texas, adjacent to Big Bend, if you have setup camp down by the river, then it is a very very long ride back to the main road over gravel roads. Then, once you even reach the main road you are another 10-15 miles from the nearest payphone - if it is working - at the Stillwell store. Thus, even in a minor situation such as multiple flat tires, something like this could really be useful. I've always wanted to go canoeing down the lower Rio Grande from La Linda to Lake Amistad - a journey on the river of about seven days. During this time, you are totally cut off from civilization and there will be nary a cell phone signal.
The rental costs on the phone are incredibly reasonable of less than $10 per day. They ship the phone to you via Federal Express and you ship it back to them by two day Federal Express. That is really the largest expense of the entire setup - the postage. I did use the phone to check in with the folks at home and kept the calls very short - less than a minute. My entire bill, for the entire eight day trip was just $104.00. $89.90 in rental and shipping and $14.32 for usage fees.
Motorolla, sometime ago, got into the satellite business and launched enough satellites to cover the earth and provide satellite phone coverage. The idea was to replace mobile phones with this and make it affordable. Unfortunately, the cost of launching satellites is very expensive and Motorlla ended up getting out of the satellite phone business. I'm not sure who owns the Iridium satellites now, I believe it is owned by the US DOD, Department of Defense, and they allow usage for civilian satellite phones.
The package arrived on time just as promised a day before I was to leave for Colorado. It arrived fully charged and ready to go. It is somewhat bulky and heavy, the newer generation Iridium satellite phones are much smaller and lighter and would be perfect for remote backpacking. I never really got the hang of setting up or checking the voice mail and it did take me a few times to place a call - as the way you place a call is an international call with a dialing prefix of a country code of "outer space". I was able to receive calls with no problem. One of the neat things about the setup is that it arrived with a magnetic antenna for the roof of the truck. The satellite phone must have a very clear view of the sky to work. The call quality was outstanding and there was no noticeable delay that sometimes makes conversations difficult - especially seeing how the phone bounced the signal upto a satellite orbiting the earth, then down to some central station, then across the telephone network to it's ultimate destination in Texas. The unit came complete with a carrying case, a 12volt battery charger for the vehicle, electrical charger, and international electrical adapters. It also fortunately came with a "cheat sheet" instruction sheet that made operation reasonably easy.
Overall, I'd rate the Irridium Satellite phone with five out of five starts. ***** I see no downsize to this and the rate is incredibile. If you need to use the phone for conversations that last more than a couple of minutes, then you can purchase additional minutes upfront at a reduced rate. They also offer monthly plans. I even gave the phone number to the support team at Synchro32 - just in case they wanted to call me and tell me we'd landed several new accounts or needed assistance with anything. Lee left me alone to enjoy my holiday. Synchro32 never sleeps.
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