Spot 3

[Spud]

Original Spot for me. Keeps the wife from freaking out while I head into the great wide open all alone. And, for all of you city dwellers, you may not understand or believe this, but there are actually some pretty huge areas with no cell phone service, at which point you app's are useless. And those are the places to be on an FJR! I manually hit the button 1x / hour and the battery lasts forever. This is the little loop I just finished.

 

[PhilJet09]

Give us a link when ya try 'er out on one of your "high speed" pieces of equipment, Phil!

Monday

 

[nankoweap]

After about a month of waiting for SPOT to release the Gen 3 device, it finally arrived in the mail. Setup is quick and painless. With the new Gen 3 comes new service levels. Here's a link...

https://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=111

The Basic Tracking plan (a bundled version of the old Basic and Tracking services) costs $150/year. This is the typical tracking - every 10 minutes, turns off after 24 consecutive hours... The Unlimited Tracking service allows you to change the tracking interval to 5, 10, 30 or 60 minutes. Your device will also track until the batteries are dead. Unlimited Tracking costs $50/year. And Extreme Tracking is everything Unlimited is plus 2.5 minute tracking intervals and costs $150/year.

I'd like to track at 5 minute intervals, but I'm not willing to pay another $50/year for it. So I just opted for Basic Tracking.

The device comes with a carabiner and strap. Nice for tethering it to the motorcycle in addition to the mount. The device appears to be well-made and rugged. Buttons are easily operated with gloves on and provide positive feedback.

I haven't taken a nice trip with it yet, but so far I'm really digging the new device. I hope it proves to be as reliable as the Gen 1 device.

 

[Makuna]

I also got mine on Monday. Works pretty well, but I noticed a dead spot between Port Angeles, WA on HW 101 until I reached the other side of crescent lake.

This is the first one of these that I have ever owned, so I cant compare. I tried the messages, while a nice feature I was a little shocked on how long they can take to get through (one was over a hour, shortest was 15 minutes). In an emergency, that 15 min could mean life or death, but I guess any chance is better than no chance.

 

[nankoweap]

This is the first one of these that I have ever owned, so I cant compare. I tried the messages, while a nice feature I was a little shocked on how long they can take to get through (one was over a hour, shortest was 15 minutes). In an emergency, that 15 min could mean life or death, but I guess any chance is better than no chance.

Makuna,

What's your point of reference on timing? If it's the SPOT site itself, I can't speak to that, but if it's SpotWalla, then you're likely experiencing the various polling frequencies that were instituted back in January of 2012. Here's a blog post that explains the polling frequencies and how devices move between them...

https://blog.spotwalla.com/2011/11/upgrade-monday-december-12-2011.html

 

[jayke]

Heavy tree cover can be a problem for Spot tracking. The antenna for SPOT, at least on my SPOT2 is directly under the SPOT logo. I've found that if you have the SPOT flat on the mount with the logo pointing straight up to the sky the signal gets out better.

I started out using the SPOT laid back some towards me so I could see it. That didn't always work so well.

It will try to send the same track several times until it transmitts. That's probally why you saw the lag between tracks.

 

[Makuna]

This is the first one of these that I have ever owned, so I cant compare. I tried the messages, while a nice feature I was a little shocked on how long they can take to get through (one was over a hour, shortest was 15 minutes). In an emergency, that 15 min could mean life or death, but I guess any chance is better than no chance.

Makuna,

What's your point of reference on timing? If it's the SPOT site itself, I can't speak to that, but if it's SpotWalla, then you're likely experiencing the various polling frequencies that were instituted back in January of 2012. Here's a blog post that explains the polling frequencies and how devices move between them...

https://blog.spotwalla.com/2011/11/upgrade-monday-december-12-2011.html

I tested the nonemergency buttons. From activation to receiving text/email was the time mentioned.

I had the unit hanging off myself, so if something happens it stays with me . Next test is to have it mounted more label up.

 

[nankoweap]

I tested the nonemergency buttons. From activation to receiving text/email was the time mentioned.
I had the unit hanging off myself, so if something happens it stays with me . Next test is to have it mounted more label up.

Right on. Lotta "stuff" between that button push and receiving the text as I'm sure you know.

While someone from SPOT or Globalstar could provide a more technical and more authoritative answer, it's my understanding that the 911 messages are of the utmost priority. So when a satellite receives one and it's transmitted to a ground-based station, it's routed immediately to GEOS. I hope I never have to use it for me or anyone else, but I'm not too concerned about it unless I'm on the edge of their coverage area...

https://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=108