SPOT

[RTJohn]

I had coffee with the Santa Paula boys a few days ago. We talked about how we keep our families informed as to our whereabouts when we're on the road. They said they use SPOT. First time I've heard about it. Anyone else familiar with such a device?

[terryofperry]

I use it on multi-day rides. Many here have it. DeLorme inReach is another option as well as phone tracking apps. Search here and the web, a lot of information on them.

 

Terry

[mitchntx]

I'm able to make and receive phone calls while riding with my Sena20s. Its all voice activated.

 

While it might not have the "I've fallen and can't get up button", it does allow me to keep in touch with my family.

 

The intercom works great in group rides. Warnings about debris in the road, clear to pass signals, bio need alerts all make it much more fun.

[Beemer Dood]

I used my SPOT for the first time last month. I went along on a scouting ride with some friends who are starting up a business doing tours. I had no idea where we were going but set my SPOT to send tracking notifications to my wife, daughter and brother (and myself) so they could track my progress. I sent "OK" messages when we stopped for lunch and shut it off when we arrived at the stop for the night, after sending another "OK" message. Mrs. BD said that was nice that she could check in on her phone and computer to see where I was, at anytime.

 

When I got home, I relived the trip on my computer, writing down the route taken so that if I ever wanted to, I could repeat the trip or any segment of it.

 

I had cell serevice for most of the trip but there were times we stopped for lunch or just a break where there was no service. It was comforting knowing that I could call for help with the SPOT, even though there was no cell service.

 

I carried it in my tank bag for much of the trip, but after thinking about it, I started carrying it in my jacket pocket for the last several days, realizing that in an accident I might be separated from the bike, and unable to get to it. If that happened, I couldn't make the help call.

 

It's small and light enough that I've started to carry it in a pocket even on day rides where I'm not sending tracking info to anyone. If I need to call for help for myself or another rider, and I don't have cell service, chances are that I'll be able to reach the satellite. It's not 100% but then, nothing is.

[marcopolo]

Spot and InReach seem to be the most popular options. I have neither, but I believe that each requires some sort of subscription (for a fee).

 

The no-cost alternative, as mentioned already, is to use a mobile phone tracking App, e.g., Find My Friends for Apple iOS. You can share your location with one, or more, family members/friends. It works reasonably well. The downside is that you need cell service.

 

I also have the Garmin Tracker App on my Navigator V GPS. It also allows you to share your location with friends (it will send them notifications with a link that displays your location on a map). I've played with it, but haven't really used it. It seems a bit clunky, and you can only authorize it to share your location for short periods, like 24 hours at a time.

 

On multi-day trips, I generally just send my wife a text message to let her know where I am and that all is well. This works just fine, but doesn't do much if you run into trouble and are disabled, or have no cell service. I've also been known to call her from the bike using my Sena bluetooth intercom/iPhone. I've actually been surprised where I've found cell service, like the seeming back-of-beyond in Montana, for example.

[TripleThreat]

I purchased one several years ago in preparation for some remote trips. Used it a lot at the time. It was especially handy when I did an epic off road trip in Utah with a buddy a few years ago. I could use it to check in to let my family know I was OK at the end of each day of riding when we didn't have cell service.

 

Also, friends and family could follow along via a website to see my progress in real time. It also has emergency response notification and you can purchase medical evacuation insurance as a part of your annual subscription. That was especially important to me on the Utah trip.

 

It also has a function where you can program a short email where you ask your programmed contacts to send you help in case of a mechanical breakdown or a non life threatening injury.

 

I like it a lot. Gives me and my family some extra piece of mind. Mine is an old model and there are newer ones out there that offer more functionality.

 

It does require an annual subscription, and you can get different packages of service depending on your needs and the type of Spot device you purchase.

 

All together, I think it is a wise investment.

 

When I ride in more dangerous situations, like in Utah where I could have easily been separated from the bike if I accidentally rode off one of the cliffs (yikes), I wear it on my arm in a special holder that is an arm band, so the Spot is with me, and not the bike if we would end up apart and I was too injured to get to the bike to call for help.

[RedMac]

I use a Spotwalla compatible app on my phone called swconnect. No charge. I admit, it doesn't work when you are out of coverage, but it buffers the missed spots and uploads them when ever coverage is returned. My wife likes it because she generally knows where I am.

 

If you ride alot of remote areas and your life may depend on someone knowing where you are, it's not a good choice, I'd go with a spot device since it doesn't depend on cell service.

 

However as a general purpose tracker so your family knows where you are each day, it's pretty useful. Plus the cost is right (free). The only other caveat, is since the GPS is running quite a bit it will eat your phone battery. I keep my plugged in on the bike when I'm running it.

 

Runs on IOS (iphone) but no doubt there is a spotwalla app out there for android.

 

Edit - Bubbler GPS is a Spotwalla enabled tracker for android

http://bubblergps.com/

 

[Stbell]

I have Spot and enjoy having it. Actually my family really enjoys it. When I am doing cross country rides or 1000 mile days, my family always knows where I am and if everything is ok. It gives them piece of mind bein able to track me. There have been numerous times where I take an extended fuel stop and my phone rings asking if everything is ok. Spot is nice because it does not rely on cell service as stated earlier. It is a good investment.

[David13]

I don't have one as I don't want anyone to know where I am.

But there are extensive stories about using the device on advrider, including some rescue stories.

And a few stories where they worked, but then the ground forces didn't follow up on the rescue.

Most areas where you might go there would be cell coverage and other assistance around usually.

But into other areas of the world, or even just Mexico they can be helpful.

Plus the resources from advrider have been helpful when there were Spot signals coming in.

dc

[Blind Squirrel]

Much of my riding is alone, in areas with no cell phone coverage. I have one that I ride with on my right shoulder. Should something happen and I get separated from the bike, I have it within reach.

 

There is an annual fee for the tracking service. I gladly pay the fee so my wife can know where I am and that I am safe.

[johnlt]

I use one most of the time both on road and dirt. I'm out of cell coverage a lot of the time, especially in the dirt. If you don't want to pay for the tracking subscription, you can just hit the "I'm ok" button occasionally and it sends that location plus you still have the help and 911 functions available an there is no recurring charge.

[GordonB]

I like the fact you can build a list of who you wish to notify. One click, and all on the list will know you are safe, typically on the mid-day stop and upon arrival of destination.

[Scarecrow]

I got one a few years back to appease my wife who just hates me riding especially as I'm always alone and she worries big time.

 

I decided to get the Delorme PN-60W model which comes in two parts. One is a gps unit which works in conjunction with the "communicator" device. I got that instead of the basic one because in theory, it let me actually text out messages on the fly. So instead of just one "I'm OK" message, I could prepare a list of things like "stopping for gas," or "lunch time now," or whatever, including letting me send whatever message I wanted to type in at the time I was using it. Sounded good and I thought it would add to my wife's peace of mind. But I found that it doesn't send the message about 60% of the time. And it sometimes stops tracking somewhere along the way as well.

 

I was considering giving up on that model and getting a newer Spot 3 figuring maybe a simpler device would actually work. But I had already paid for this years service and the company is not flexible enough to let me transfer the service to a new device. So maybe next year before it auto-renews, I'll think about cancelling it and getting whatever model Spot has at the time.

 

Good luck with it,

[MikeRC]

Much of my riding is alone, in areas with no cell phone coverage. I have one that I ride with on my right shoulder. Should something happen and I get separated from the bike, I have it within reach.

 

There is an annual fee for the tracking service. I gladly pay the fee so my wife can know where I am and that I am safe.

 

This echos my experience. I usually ride alone, and may be out for many days with very spotty cell phone coverage. And I usually "improvise" my routing. I leave my Spot2 in "breadcrumb" mode and my wife (and other family members) love zooming in on Google Earth to try and figure out "why the hell is he out there?" The (for a Spot2) 3 lithium AAA batteries last about 40 hrs of continuous function in "breadcrumb" mode sending out a ping every 10 minutes. In other words for about 5 days of 8 hr riding. The only time my wife got really scared was when I was in a pretty remote part of BC and didn't notice the batteries had run out for 4 hours.

 

InReach used to have better world-wide coverage but Spot has pretty close to caught up.

 

It can also come in pretty handy when hiking, scrambling and backcountry skiing.

 

Mike Cassidy

[JR356]

I use a Spotwalla compatible app on my phone called swconnect. No charge. I admit, it doesn't work when you are out of coverage, but it buffers the missed spots and uploads them when ever coverage is returned. My wife likes it because she generally knows where I am.

 

If you ride alot of remote areas and your life may depend on someone knowing where you are, it's not a good choice, I'd go with a spot device since it doesn't depend on cell service.

 

However as a general purpose tracker so your family knows where you are each day, it's pretty useful. Plus the cost is right (free). The only other caveat, is since the GPS is running quite a bit it will eat your phone battery. I keep my plugged in on the bike when I'm running it.

 

Runs on IOS (iphone) but no doubt there is a spotwalla app out there for android.

 

Edit - Bubbler GPS is a Spotwalla enabled tracker for android

http://bubblergps.com/

 

 

If you are buying,get an InReach,much better satellite coverage than SPOT.

I used the SWConnect app last year and it works just fine for general on road tracking.No expensive device and no spendy plans!

 

JR356

[Bill_Walker]

I run a Spot whenever I'm riding, with the "breadcrumb" feature activated, so people know where to look for me if I don't show up someplace. I also use it to send an "I'm heading out" custom message when I start riding, and a check-in message when I stop.

 

Because it's not uncommon to be out of cell coverage when touring, I've subscribed to both their medical emergency and towing plans. I used the towing request once, and the service was less than completely satisfactory, albeit ultimately successful. Here's the story, quoted from a ride tale I posted at the time (November 2012):

 

Clutch splines let go on TN-310 near Etowah (ET-o-wah), TN (N35 20.067 W84 29.092), on the first piece of long, straight road I'd been on all day, just after crossing the Cherohala Skyway. Just riding along, and suddenly I've got no drive. But it let go on a straight piece of road with wide, paved shoulders, sunshine, and even a puppy from across the street to keep me company while I waited for a tow. My cell was showing searching/no service, so I used the SPOT to call for a tow. They couldn't get through to me on my cell (duh!), so called Gay (my wife) and Susan (my daughter), telling them I had called for help (failing to mention that it was mechanical help, not medical, that I'd called for) and was unreachable, panicking them (I had sent a stopping/OK message before sending the tow request, but enough time went by between them that Gay thought I might have stopped for lunch and then continued on). Finally got a text from Gay and was able to reply, and then a call from SPOT, who I managed tell I was OK and needed a tow before the call dropped. Cell connection still kept dropping out. Got a call from the towing company, who needed to be told my location (um, SPOT, aren't you supposed to do that?). Lucky I was able to get that through before call dropped. The tow truck arrived about an hour after I hit the SPOT button. It was only 55 miles to the BMW MC dealer in Chattanooga! Of course, the SPOT folks had given the driver the address of an independent BMW CAR repair shop, but luckily it was only about a mile from the MC dealer. But all in all, I was pretty blessed here. I didn't break down on the mountain, or on a road with no shoulder, or where it was cold, or rainy, and I was close to a city with a BMW dealer and a commercial airport. And I had a puppy for company!

 

After I was back home, I sent them a complaint email, and got an auto-reply that I had been assigned case number XXXXXXX. Gee, that sure gives me a lot of confidence! I never heard anything back from them. Earlier this year I got a generic customer satisfaction survey email from them, and I let them have it, which resulted in a series of emails, so hopefully they've fixed their systems. I still use the device for tracking.

[MikeRC]

If you are buying,get an InReach,much better satellite coverage than SPOT.

I used the SWConnect app last year and it works just fine for general on road tracking.No expensive device and no spendy plans!

 

JR356

 

When I travel, I probably have mobile phone service 25-50% of the day. SPOT probably improves that to about 90%.

 

My son uses InReach (climbing/glacier travel/backcountry skiing) because of the mapping coordination with his phone, two-way communication feature, weather forecast and customized messaging.

 

SPOT has VERY questionable billing practices. The auto-renewal contract takes effort AND time on the phone to cancel the service. Don't expect it to be dropped just because your credit card expires or service contract reaches the end. SPOT probably drops 10% of messages (even check-ins) and tracking points (more than 10% depending on terrain).

 

As Bill (and others) has pointed out rescue coordination is not rock-solid. InReach would have the advantage due to two-way texting communication.

 

However......the InReach devices and service contracts (in Canada) are about twice the cost of the SPOT options. And InReach also doesn't have 100% coverage or success with rescues.

 

The safest investment would be a satellite phone but those contracts are $600 annually or more plus the cost/rental of the phone. If I was doing a Backcountry Discovery Route I would probably rent one for the trip.

 

Since I travel through someplace with good cell phone coverage almost every day I stop and get my messages and send a text as back-up.

 

But I'm going to look in more detail at InReach next year when my current SPOT contract is up for renewal.

 

Mike Cassidy

[MarkAZ]

Interesting to hear that InReach doesn't have coverage some places. IIRC, it uses the Iridium system that has 100% coverage, as long as you can see the sky. Perhaps if you were in a deep canyon it would be intermittent but otherwise it's supposed to be 100% (I just read an interesting book about Iridium). I don't know much about InReach...perhaps there are different models. I seldom am out of cell coverage so I use the SWConnect/Spotwalla apps on my iPhone so my wife can track me.

[Skywagon]

I carry one of these in my pocket when riding alone. It's not the perfect answer. If you are unconscious, it won't help much, but if you have enough ability to push a button should you fall...help will come. No fee. No ability to communicate back to others with spider tracks. There are other devices like this. Just google PLB. there are probably some with tracking. I carry this on my scoot, in my airplane, and when fishing. One device to call for help that works virtually anywhere.

 

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/acrresqplus406.php