Personal Locator &/or SPOT ideas ???

[zutta Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close zutta]

We have a Spot 1 and have had now for about 4 years. Still using original battery, so that is not a con. Works under all but the heaviest tree cover, easy solution, walk a few metres. A very good investment that the annual cost makes worthwhile, your friends and family know where you are each night. Highly recommended.

+1 on the battery life

My mate gave me his spot for our oz trip, has original battery's in it. going for 2 laps of oz on same batts :P

I'm about to renew for another 12 months and i'm dropping the tracking feature to save $50 as we just haven't used it, bring it down to $130/yr

We have our CHECK IN /OK set to notify our list of contacts (10 max email & sms) that we are out of phone range and are ok, which i send every time we arrive at a new location with no service.

CUSTOM MSG is set to ' Living the dream" to send to our family and friends to remind them where we are and how much of a good time were having

HELP MSG- we have 2 reliable contacts (parents & good friends) that will get a txt & email with our location and a msg " we our out of service, we are ok but have broken down and need assistance asap" also have my rego and nrma details and contact number for them in this msg.

As i said i really don't need it tracking us 24/7 just hit the button every few days and everyone on our list gets an email with a map of our location. our plan is unlimited emails and 200 txt/sms up to 10 contacts per feature excluding HELP or SOS which is 2 contacts.

Once you have the device $130/yr is cheap insurance even if you only take it with you one trip a year

[rob_macca67 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close rob_macca67]

Cool....

So, u have to set up the messages and their contents b4 hand.... How many messages can u have set up.... 3 or more, is that right?


So, your messages are:

Message-1 is: "CHECK IN /OK" sent to 10 people

Message-2 is: "Living the Dream" to let everyone know you're ok

Message-3 "we our out of service, we are ok but have broken down and need assistance asap" to let your 2 contacts to send help

For a Life Threatening situation, u just a push the emergency button one?

Any more preset messages that u can have set up?

That 200 txt/sms... is that characters per message?

+1 on the battery life

My mate gave me his spot for our oz trip, has original battery's in it. going for 2 laps of oz on same batts :P

I'm about to renew for another 12 months and i'm dropping the tracking feature to save $50 as we just haven't used it, bring it down to $130/yr

We have our CHECK IN /OK set to notify our list of contacts (10 max email & sms) that we are out of phone range and are ok, which i send every time we arrive at a new location with no service.

CUSTOM MSG is set to ' Living the dream" to send to our family and friends to remind them where we are and how much of a good time were having

HELP MSG- we have 2 reliable contacts (parents & good friends) that will get a txt & email with our location and a msg " we our out of service, we are ok but have broken down and need assistance asap" also have my rego and nrma details and contact number for them in this msg.

As i said i really don't need it tracking us 24/7 just hit the button every few days and everyone on our list gets an email with a map of our location. our plan is unlimited emails and 200 txt/sms up to 10 contacts per feature excluding HELP or SOS which is 2 contacts.

Once you have the device $130/yr is cheap insurance even if you only take it with you one trip a year

[r4ndll Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close r4ndll]

Any thoughts on the emergency response process and time lags? I believe Spot goes to US operators who then raise a 000 call in Australia, who then initiate SAR via Rescue Coordination Centre, whereas Australian registered PLB initiates directly with RCC immediately.

What's the response times to SPOT emergency?. The old style PLB's could be up to 5 hours depending on sat position but the newer ones are seconds. In an emergency I'd want instant response times

[JoshF Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JoshF]

On the V2 you have 4 buttons

Ok, check in, help and SOS. You have three preset messages only

SOS doesn't message your contacts but you do provide a name and contact number for emergency services to call if they see the need

[gantulga Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gantulga]

I carry satphone out in the countryside. i can tell you that i never had to use it except for one occation where a truck was rolled over and driver suffered injury. although i seldom ever use it, it's good to know that it's able to send distress signal and text message with current coordinates. just like your average 2000' cell phone except huge antenna. only drawback is it's durability and battery capacity.

[JoshF Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JoshF]

Cool....

So, u have to set up the messages and their contents b4 hand.... How many messages can u have set up.... 3 or more, is that right?


So, your messages are:

Message-1 is: "CHECK IN /OK" sent to 10 people

Message-2 is: "Living the Dream" to let everyone know you're ok

Message-3 "we our out of service, we are ok but have broken down and need assistance asap" to let your 2 contacts to send help

For a Life Threatening situation, u just a push the emergency button one?

Any more preset messages that u can have set up?

That 200 txt/sms... is that characters per message?

For the OK, Update and Help buttons you an have up to 10 destinations (combination of SMS or email). Each of the 3 functions can have completely different recipients as each is set up online separately. Therefore your help list can be different to the I am ok/update list. For example on a recent Scout hike the local ranger was included on the Help list as he was a friend of the leader in charge so he would be aware if a help required situation arose.

For Scout functions I always ensure the Leader in charge of the event (if they nominate more than a few Help contacts) puts in place a call plan so if a parent or others involved receive the call they all work as planned to solve the problem. The above mentioned ranger was part of the call plan as he was closest to the activity plus other leaders who were doing progress monitoring (and no they didn't need to activate the help function on the event)

There are no more than the three preset messages and you can only configure them whilst you have internet access.

[rob_macca67 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close rob_macca67]

For the OK, Update and Help buttons you an have up to 10 destinations (combination of SMS or email). Each of the 3 functions can have completely different recipients as each is set up online separately. Therefore your help list can be different to the I am ok/update list. For example on a recent Scout hike the local ranger was included on the Help list as he was a friend of the leader in charge so he would be aware if a help required situation arose.

For Scout functions I always ensure the Leader in charge of the event (if they nominate more than a few Help contacts) puts in place a call plan so if a parent or others involved receive the call they all work as planned to solve the problem. The above mentioned ranger was part of the call plan as he was closest to the activity plus other leaders who were doing progress monitoring (and no they didn't need to activate the help function on the event)

There are no more than the three preset messages and you can only configure them whilst you have internet access.

Thanks for that Josh.....

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

I've been involved in several "rescues" where they had a PLB. I've yet to go to anyone using a SPOT. There are 3 dead guys out here still un-recovered because they had neither. This is my personal stance: I have a PLB 406GPS. I figure that, if I am really in the manure then I will pop that puppy and await the cavalry. I think that if something goes wrong with the vehicle then I am usually travelling with another car. On the rare occasion where I'm out alone then it's quite rare that nobody will come along the same track with-in a couple of days or so. I carry sufficient food and water to last at least a week without rationing. If no-one has come by then I will use the PLB for help. If you are so remote, and on some un-chartered goat track, then you should have put in place a plan outlining your exact timings and ETAs as well as letting people know your exact itinerary and comms plan. If not, don't bloody go out there because our bosses are getting really picky about the over time.

[zutta Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close zutta]

Cool....

So, u have to set up the messages and their contents b4 hand.... How many messages can u have set up.... 3 or more, is that right?


So, your messages are:

Message-1 is: "CHECK IN /OK" sent to 10 people

Message-2 is: "Living the Dream" to let everyone know you're ok

Message-3 "we our out of service, we are ok but have broken down and need assistance asap" to let your 2 contacts to send help

For a Life Threatening situation, u just a push the emergency button one?

Any more preset messages that u can have set up?

That 200 txt/sms... is that characters per message?

the 200 txt/sms per year is for each msg you send that goes to a mobile number. Length of msg is limited to a certain amount of characters.

for example for my OK MSG i get 10 recipients total inc email and sms , i have 8 emails go out and 2 txt msg's. (the txt go to our parents.)

I'm only using 2 txt out the 200 allocated each time i press the CHECK IN/OK. If you had all 10 slots set to mobile numbers you could use the 200 up pretty quick, they do sell add on msg packs for $20 for another 200 though. hope this helps mate

[JoshF Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JoshF]

and the most important piece of advice (IMHO) is there is zero value in having one of these devices if it is safely tucked away in the glovebox or under the seat if you have escaped your vehicle as it burns away and the device is still secure where you left it. You need to keep it within easy reach for exit or attached to your person. If you have more than one device in a convoy make sure they are spread out between members ie a PLB and a sat phone