Spot GPS Satellite Messenger

Several years ago I did a 12,500 mile, 36 day ride to the Yukon Territories, Alaska and back through British Columbia and Moab, Utah). One of the many things I did in anticipation of that trip was purchase a SPOT Satellite Messenger. The reason that I got the SPOT was that I was planning to ride through some very remote areas in Canada and Alaska. If something went wrong and I needed help, I could send out a request for HELP and whoever was available to respond would have my exact GPS coordinates.

In addition, the SPOT allowed people to follow my physical progress in Google-Maps and gave me an opportunity to send a couple pre-written messages to emails and texts. One of my daily messages was a simple note to my family that I was done riding for the day and off the road. After that trip, I cancelled the service, but still had the SPOT Tracker.

Fast forward to this past weekend with my son and I riding up in the Richloam WMA. At one point during the ride I had a fall that tweaked my knee a little. Nothing serious, but when my wife saw me limping in at the end of the day, she suggested that I dust off my SPOT and re-establish the service just in case something more serious happens. I thought that was a good idea and that's exactly what I did.

One thing that I learned right away is that my SPOT Tracker is a little outdated. It's the Generation 2 version of the tracker and there's now a Generation 3 and a number of other devices. The Generation 2 tracker can be found online (e.g. Amazon) and other retailers for around $100. The new Generation 3 is about $150.

There are a number of service programs and additional features. The Basic Service Plan is $150 a year ($15 a  month). However, be aware that when/if you sign up, there was another $9.95 network fee. So it's more like $160!

And what do you get to do with it...

Basically, you get to send two pre-written messages, track your progress, send a Help! message and send an SOS! message. That's it. It is not a two way communication device. My understanding is that there are other products and services that now offer two way communication. That makes sense as technology advances. However, since I already have a SPOT device I'm just going with the basic service for the principal reason that my GPS coordinates will always be known.

The next question I had is where to mount it. It needs to face the sky. There are not a lot of options on the DR650, but I have both a cradle for the device and a very versatile Ram EZ-Strap Mount for it that opens up some different opportunities.

Ultimately though, I simply strapped it on the bar.

Now I'm covered.

UPDATE:

As mentioned, my Gen2 Spot may be a little dated, but it's doing its job. However, I went ahead and ran down some articles about options among the more contemporary Personal Locator Beacon devices (PLBs).

Outdoor Gear Lab did a comparison of the DeLorme inReach, ACR ResQLink and Gen3 Spot.

Andrew Skurka, in his Blog I came across, does a good job explaining device types and comparing the DeLorme products, the ACR, Gen3 Spot, the Spot Global Phone and a few other devices.

Both good reading if you're in the market for one of these devices.