Another lucky unprepared hiker has been found safe… Good example to everyone that you can never take any situation for granted and that you must always prepare for the worst.

http://www.katu.com/news/19656804.html

Jamie

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When going back makes sense, you are going ahead.
- Wendell Berry

I've thought about bringing this up a few times, but never got around to posting it...seems like now is a good time.

I've been doing nearly 100% of all this years hiking/backpacking by myself, and while this wasn't something that I even thought about all that much, it was sometimes worrisome for friends and family.  So to appease the loved ones and also give that little voice in the back of my mind a rest, I purchased a SPOT satellite messenger.

For those of you not familiar with this thing, it cost me $150 for the unit and it is $100 a year for the service, and basically allows me to stay in constant touch with whomever I want or need to, including sending a signal for help in an instance such as the one above.

SPOT has three buttons on it.

1. An "okay" button that when pressed will send emails/text messages to everyone you have entered into your program saying basically "everything is fine, don't worry" (you enter the text you want...mine actually asks for pizza to be dispatched to my coordinates!) and also with a link to Google maps which shows exactly where you were when you pressed it.  Everyone breathes easy and knows you made it to your destination.

2. The second button is "help".  This buttons sends a message to everyone saying you are in need of non-life threatening assistance.  Basically alerting any knowledgable or useful people you may have assigned that you could use them about now.  This function keeps sending them the message and a google map of where you are in intervals, in case you are moving.

3.  The third button is "911".  Press this one and not only does everyone on your list get a message saying to rally the troops, but it also goes out to the local search/rescue/fire/police to get someone out to you ASAP.  Again, everyone knows exactly where you are and it tracks your movements so you don't have to stay put in a dangerous situation.

For an extra $8 or so bucks a year it comes with $100,000 dollars of insurance to cover your rescue...meaning that for $108 bucks you can rest assured that you are always able to get help and almost more importantly in most situations, let everyone at home breathe easy when your doing fine.  I figure I will go on about 10-15 backpacks and more than 30-40 hikes this year minimum, meaning I will be paying about $2 a hike for this comfort...seems like a pretty good investment to me.

For a couple extra bucks you can turn on real time tracking allowing people you have given a passcode the ability to log on and watch you move along your route...tracking your progress.  This of course counts yourself and adds a new way to check your trip details.

It weighs about 7-8 ounces and is less than 4.5" x 3".

For those of you who want to know more about this thing...check it out here.    http://www.findmespot.com/home.aspx

 

-aaron

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"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." -Lao Tzu

I strongly recommend reading impartial reviews on the SPOT before purchasing it! The tests of it by both backpackgeartest.org and by Backpacking Light indicate that the thing doesn't work a large portion of the time. I've seen individual complaints from a lot of other users. You can get your money back from REI, but persuading the SPOT folks to refund the service fee takes a lot of work. The advertising for this gizmo appears to be a triumph of hope over experience. It's a promising idea but needs a lot of technological improvements to be good for much.

I read a lot of reviews on the SPOT and decided to purchase a Personal Locator Beacon instead. Far more reliable technology--the PLB uses the US DOD satellite network instead of an iffy private satellite network that has had a lot of problems. Registration with the US Coast Guard is free and you can update your profile online at any time, including info for each trip. And the initial cost is no more than for the SPOT plus a couple of years of service fee.

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May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.--E.Abbey

I read through many reviews and found about 10 to 1 were liking their unit.  Amongst those who did not, there were many who simply couldn't get the website to work (worked fine for me).  I have sent about 20 messages through mine and have a 100% success rate while hiking and driving.

The PLBs are super nice, but I didn't have (and won't any time soon) $550 bux for one.  Also they lack the single most important feature from SPOT for what I wanted it for...to tell people that I am okay.  It's nice to have contact outside of just when I am about to die; my mom in the deserts of Nevada now knows when I reach camp and where I am wandering around out there instead of just finding out I had a trip after the fact.

Also, the help feature allows me to carry it in my car and alert folks for any number of other situations which may arise: out of gas, break down, keys locked in; all while I may not be able to get cell service or just can't reach anyone that way.  Stuck on the side of a dark road feels a lot better if everyone you know has a text message and an email that you need help.

I think SPOT is a great alternative to the beacons which many cannot afford and am very pleased with its additional functions!

-aaron

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"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." -Lao Tzu

I saw the news segment on the hiker on the 11 o'clock news last night on katu. Portlandhikers.org had a mention, some photos and TRs were used to indicate various wintry conditions in the area. I thought, cool :)

This chain was a reminder to do my annual test of my PLB and review my contact information on the NOAA website. Like a smoke alarm -- don't forget to check your batteries each year.

I found it interesting that in the United States this year alone through May 139 people have already been rescued this year alone. http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080604_sarsat.html

 

 

 

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“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.”
~John Hope Franklin

Part 2 of previous message.

I have to admit that I do find the SPOT as an interesting alternative that bears exploring. I like the idea of being able to give feedback to family and friends. Another plus is that if you have been checking in on a daily basis should something happen and you were not able to activate your PLB there would be a reference point for SAR to start from if somebody calls for a rescue. Or if you do need to spend that unnexpected night out and it is not a life threatening event requiring activating your PLB you can send an ok message to your caring family member.

I think both have merits and when the battery life expires I have something new consider.

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“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.”
~John Hope Franklin

The testers who have used the SPOT under real backpacking conditions (in forest, deep canyons, etc.) have invariably found that very few, if any, of the messages go through. It's not something I'd want to rely on in an emergency. I can forsee a lot of false alarms when anxious relatives call SAR because they haven't received "OK" messages for a couple of days. Check the reviews on www.backpackgeartest.org and on the various backpacking forums. If you're a subscriber to Backpacking Light or don't mind paying $5.00 for their review, it will give you the most recent results of thorough and extensive testing from a backpacker's perspective. While the PLB has a higher initial cost, the total cost over its 5-year battery life is considerably less than the SPOT because there's no annual service fee. I'd post more details but the dreaded "server error in application" is striking again.

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May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.--E.Abbey

I'll keep it short. I'm having the same posting problems. I do agree that the ACR PLB is a proven technolgy and is probably the most reliable. But the each have their place and don't plan on replacing mine.

I think it can be argued that both can provide a false sense of security and don't replace common sense. Frankly, I don't trust my PLB in deep canyons or heavy forest either. It would be fun to see a field tests of the two types in the same conditions.

One thing for sure this is a great forum for conversation and everybody here probably leaves home with their 10 essentials in their packs and good sense on most days :-)

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“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.”
~John Hope Franklin

    Great to hear that everyone out there has some solid input towards devices that might help us find ourselves if the situation occurs. Point that we all need to take away from this post I hope is that no matter what device you choose, whatever you can do to better your chance of survival the better. My hope is that people reading these posts from near and afar will understand per the example that you can never undersetimate any situation, be it a day hike or an overnight… always be prepared and expect the worst.

Cheers and be safe…

Jamie

Trailkeepers of Oregon

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When going back makes sense, you are going ahead.
- Wendell Berry

Absolutely. May all who visit this site have safe adventures and great stories to tell.

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“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.”
~John Hope Franklin

zombie:

I read through many reviews and found about 10 to 1 were liking their unit.  Amongst those who did not, there were many who simply couldn't get the website to work (worked fine for me).  I have sent about 20 messages through mine and have a 100% success rate while hiking and driving.

This item really intrigues me, especially since I usually hike solo (with my dog).  The feature that is the most useful that a PLB can't do is the "OK" function.  I'm sure my wife would love to know I'm OK, and would worry less on hiking and backpacking trips if she could get these messages.  After reading the reviews on backpackgeartest.org, I just want to ask a couple of other questions:

• What kind of terrain have you used it in successfully?  Woods or canyons?  There was one reviewer who did several hikes in the western cascades and had no luck at all.
• I'm assuming the 20 messages you've sent are "OK" messages and not the tracking function?  I'm not too interested in the tracking function, since my GPS can give me that info.
  

In reading things, it just seems odd that some people are having difficulty with the units, and others are having great success.  I'd love to be able to try it on a hike and see how it works for me.....Anyone know if they can be rented?

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Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: WOW-What a ride!-Dean Karnazes-"Ultramarathon Man"

I researched it last night too, and think for the most reliablilityfor rescue the PLB's are best. Like any tool a multi-functiion tool will do many things well but a tool designed for a single purpose will nearly always do that single job better.

The weakness of SPOT is that it has a weak GPS unit and relies on private communication satellites of a company that has had challenges with those satellites. The PLB's (some have gps and some don't) when sending out their signals rely on satellites that use a different technology (doppler) and are depended on by commercial, military and other critical services. Also the PLB transmits a signal that SAR can follow with a beam antenna when they are in the general area.

 

 

 

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“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.”
~John Hope Franklin

part 2  The strength of the SPOT is that you do have the ability to keep your family members in touch with your whearabouts. You can easily change your contacts and can have more than two contacts. It is also not an all or nothing signal. You can have an I need help signal depending on how plan your communications with your family. Maybe they know to just drive to the trailhead because you have car troubles in the middle of the forest rather than calling out the troops for an all out SAR, Another plus is you can replace the batteries in the field. And, if they know that you are ok they will not be calling for the sheriff in the morning if you don't come home at night. When my battery runs out on my PLB I hope they have a version that does both well.

 

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“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.”
~John Hope Franklin

I found a VERY interesting note in a backpacker.com test report, one which may explain the wide variety of results:

OK, I can't post the text due to the dreaded "filegroup full" error, but you can see the full post here.  Look for "Does SPOT work?"

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Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: WOW-What a ride!-Dean Karnazes-"Ultramarathon Man"