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1. 

   Macatawa
   Member

   After reading this I don't think I'll have any issues buying a PLB and relagating SPOT to be a fun tracking toy... good grief!

   Aegean SPOT Distress Signal Details Emerge

   Posted 11 months ago #
2. 

   BustedRudder
   Member

   It would be nice if they had a "track only" subscription price now that they have conceded they are useless in an emergency..

   They left a VM at the home number. Wonder if anyone looked at the track straight into a rock?

   yuk

   Posted 10 months ago #
3. 

   CleanSlate
   Member

   I'm viewing the Spot as a device to communicate information to friends and family (and race officials) and the PLB as a device for life-saving emergencies.   For example, the SPOT help feature would be useful to get friends and family to come to help you out if you were safely beached somewhere with some problem with your boat.  I would plan on only using the SPOT SOS as a backup after already activating my PLB for truely life-threateneing emergencies.

   I really do like the tracking feature of the SPOT and have used it for several kayaking and hiking adventures. 

   Posted 10 months ago #
4. 

   ridged8
   Member

   Well, have my shared page set. Sent a test message, all seems to work ok. I'm viewing it as an electronic babysitter, of sorts.

   Posted 10 months ago #
5. 

   Meatloaf
   Member

   There are now 2 other options besides the SPOT.  I wonder if Chief will allow them instead of the SPOT, but keep the PLB as a requirement.

    

   Meatloaf

   Posted 10 months ago #
6. 

   DogsLife
   Member

   I have owned the original SPOT for years. The tracking is nice by I rarely look at it after a trip. It is my wife insurance. Since I very ofter go out by my self it gives her a piece of mind to know where I am. Many of us have a leash to our resposibilities. The SPOT makes that leash much longer... 

   Posted 10 months ago #
7. 

   ridged8
   Member

   What are these other options you speak of Meatloaf? And speaking of going out alone, Road ID is also a good cheap addition...

   Posted 10 months ago #
8. 

   Meatloaf
   Member

   In the first paragraph of the article in the lead post ...   DeLorme <font color="#336699" size="2">InReach, or Briartek<font color="#336699" size="2"> Cerberus,

   More expensive than a SPOT ... but maybe they are better ... have not seen one yet.

    

   Meatloaf

   Posted 10 months ago #
9. 

   Maverick
   Member

   I have owned and used the original SPOT for a few years here in Australia, I actually imported one from the USA as they were not available here at the time.

   Although I have never used it in a distress situation, my experience with the tracking side of it makes me doubtful of its performance if the weather is very overcast such as a storm condition. I have noted that my tracking data has more missed GPS points on overcast days and the Globalstar satelite network is not the greatest either.

   For peace of mind I use an EPIRB and DSC enabled VHF radio, make sure you set up your DSC function on your radio so as to make use of this feature and be careful when doing it as a lot of VHF radios only give you one bite at the apple. If you screw it up then most times you have to send your radio in to have the DSC feature reset.

   Posted 6 months ago #

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