Spot 2

[simmo]

Hi Members, just intrested in finding out if anyone has a Spot 2
and if it would be worth getting one for saftey reasons.
I know we talk about weight but for what it would weigh im sure it
would be a good investment. just a quick read up it sounds like
the Spot 2 is like a personal destress becon .
Cheers Simmo

[doogs]

It is not a personal distress beacon, an EPIRB is a lot more reliable if that is the most important thing to you. Saying that I bought one recently, but haven't had a chance to use it yet. I like the message feature for peace of mind for my family, and also the tracking. But an EPIRB/PLB is a better option in my opinion if having a device for solely emergency purposes.

[Bluegum Mic]

Hi Simmo.

I've got one and I love it. I've never had a problem getting a message out on it. I haven't had to use it as a PLB yet (and hopefully never) but so far I've been very happy with it's performance. I appreciate there are times where you are going to be under a very dense canopy where it may be hard to get a signal out but then again most devices will struggle in such situations. Big thumbs up from me.

Cheers

Mic

[Franco]

A mate had the Spot 1 and since last year he has switched to the two.
Never had problems with the 1 but the 2 is faster.
He likes arctic type weather and so far I have had readings (with Google maps) from British Columbia,Alaska ,Minnesota ,Tasmania and we recently used that in the Victorian Alps (Spion Kopje).
Peace of mind for family and friends...
Franco

[shazcol]

We have had a spot 2 for a few months and the custom message feature is very useful if you exit a track not at your intended finish destination for what ever reason. Also very useful for 4WDing when you get stuck down some track (not needed that one just yet). We just send around a trip plan to those who monitor our progress and they know what's going on as they can see where we are going and where we will end up. I made sure that those who monitor us should not panic if we ever set it off as it could be for people other than us we have come across in distress.

We have our messages setup like this:

SOS - (you have no control of this one, except who you setup to get notified) + AMSA.
OK - "We are OK here, sent from our Spot tracker." (not sure what else you can say for that one?)
HELP - "Non life threatening help or assistance needed near here for us or somebody we have come across in trouble"
CUSTOM - "Car trouble or alternative location pickup required near here, come and get us when you can as planned."

Interested how others have their messages setup, particular the help and custom message?

[rsser]

'Send help' = 'have hit SOS; you may be contacted by police; no further msgs'
Custom = 'delayed but fine'

Assumes folk back home have the itinerary; mine expect an evening OK msg on a multi-day tour.

[Franco]

This is the kind of map family and friends get :
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&g ... &z=12&om=1
Without having to send any particular message. Yair has the understanding with the pick up party (if any) that if he is not at a particular location the night before the pick up they should wait till he gets there.
So that implies a delay but without immediate danger.
The custom message or the SOS will take over if there is a danger...
Franco