Comments on: Personal Tracking

By: Geoff C

Geoff C — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:58:21 +0000

Bill,
Another negative report then, this clearly isn’t the thing for me. That’s an amusing vision of a walker with the thing mounted on his head, we’ll all be going around looking like the Borg!.

By: Bill McLaren

Bill McLaren — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:54:52 +0000

Don’t expect the spot to work any place with hills or trees i.e. any place you might feasibly want to use it. When I complained that the tracking doesn’t work i.e. got 2 tracking messages while next to the house but nothing in the next 2.5 hours while out with the dogs I got this back;
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Since SPOT is a line of sight product, using SPOT is forested areas, around mountain elevations, near houses or buildings all impose delivery limitations. SPOT should be held out horizontal with the logo side facing upward when trying to send messages for optimum success. SPOT requires a 180 degree clear view to the sky. The SPOT communication satellites are not stationary thus requiring such a open view to the sky.
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So in otherwords you have to hold it out facing upwards (arm might get tired in tracking mode for a few hours at a time) or perhaps use the belt clip to mount it to the top of a helmet (presumably above the flashing blue light you already have there ). You also have to make certain that if you do have an accident of illness that you have it at the top of a hill without any trees.
Quite clearly their service DOESN’T WORK for anyone who wants to use it in the outdoors, it may be fine for boats etc. but that is not how it is being advertised. My recommendation, avoid. I am now going to have to try to recover the money from them, if needs be I’ll just get the credit card company to do it since , as far as I am concerned, they sold the service by false advertising.

By: Geoff C

Geoff C — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:07:59 +0000

Well he was certainly glad of the SPOT then, and a good example of correct usage of the panic button. It’s good publicity for the manufacturers too.

I’m still waiting to hear from Winwoods about the Golite, I’ve no idea how long these things take.

By: Martin Rye

Martin Rye — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:37:52 +0000

On the SPoT there is an interesting story of it being used on the TGO Challenge. It’s posted on the Challenge web site by a Challenger who used it to get rescued. He gave the SPoT top marks.

PS got your rucksack repaired yet? I have never seen that happen, Lets hope it is a once in a lifetime event.

By: Martin Rye

Martin Rye — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:56:21 +0000

Geoff,

Their seems to be quite a bit of difference of opinion on the SPoT, but I’m interested in the fact that Pete over at PTC only missed one ping on a three day test. Maybe someone will use one on the Challenge this time. Chris Townsend could be testing it as we speak. A two week walk would be a very good test.

By: Geoff C

Geoff C — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:58:10 +0000

Martin,
I’ve been following Pete’s reports on the SPOT and his experience is opposite to all the others I’ve heard. In any case I’ll sit tight for a while.

I haven’t seen the Trail article but I’m not surprised if the MRT are apprehensive: most of the discussion and controversy about the SPOT are to do with that panic button, which is inviting misuse.

By: Martin Rye

Martin Rye — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:22:25 +0000

There is a good article on the SPoT in the June issue of Trail. Interesting comments from Mountain Rescue Teams on what they think would happen if it becomes a widely used device in the UK hills. Pete over at PTC liked it for the reassurance value and for that I’m thinking of getting one to keep the Wife happy on solo trips.

By: Geoff C

Geoff C — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 07:27:41 +0000

Chris,
Thanks very much for this report. It confirms what I’ve since heard from another technically competent source: that even the easy part - the GPS position lock - is unreliable, let alone the transmission of the position to the web server which is where I thought all the problems would lie.

The consensus seems to be that ‘Location Based Services’, of which personal tracking is one aspect, represent a huge business opportunity and will expand very quickly. I’m hoping that the technology will improve in the same measure. Perhaps Garmin will come up with something.

By: Chris Rogers

Chris Rogers — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:19:02 +0000

Spot is a great concept that doesn’t work. The unit, in an effort to save power, is so underpowered that it cannot link up with its GPS satellite to determine its position. Spot could not determine its location on the top of a 7,000 mountain with a totally unobstructed view of the sky, it could not find its location in a 1,000 acre treeless meadow and it couldn’t find its location in downtown Los Angeles. Even the lowest cost Garmin or my Blackberry can do better than Spot. It is not much good to send a Help message or 911 call with no location.

Perhaps I just got a bad unit. Hoiwever, my real problem began when I contacted the customer service line at Spot. They are not knowledgeable and really don’t seem to care about helping their customers. Bad product and bad company…do not buy this product!

By: Phil W

Phil W — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:55:41 +0000

Geoff, yes reading again I see your point. Though to work it all depends on 3, 4 & 5! I think you’ll be waiting a while. I seem to recall that some time ago there were some similar solutions being touted using mobile phone technology. Keep an eye on the children! It used mobile signal triangulation - don’t know if they ever really got anywhere commercially? But of course would be next to useless for your purposes away from urban areas and in respect of the accuracy a GPS can offer.