Spot GPS tracker Gen 1

rgranger

rgranger

.
Jan 19, 2010
12,560
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
So my son just purchased a Gen 1 Spot for use this summer while doing some research in a remote mountain location. Since Spot is now on Gen 3... the Gen 1 models can be found at very good prices.

Any known issues with Gen 1 reliability? I've never really felt the need for one since I have SOS on my VHF and usually sail close enough to shore for a cell signal... but for the price of the Gen 1, I've thought of getting one for myself to add to the safety factor when I'm coastal cruising..... and my wife would probably like it if she could see in real-ish time where I have spirited her kids off to.
 
Sumner

Sumner

.
Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country
I bought a Spot 3 about a year and a half ago. Bought a dirt bike and ride alone in the canyons where I live in SE Utah and are out of cell phone coverage a lot. I and Dottie feel better that I have it with me. Not sure how the response is now but in the past I've heard it can be slow, but still better than not being found at all until it is too late.

We will use it on the boat when we go to remote areas in Florida and the Bahamas and took it with us to Flaming Gorge Reservoir last summer in Wyo/Utah where there wasn't cell phone coverage for a lot of the lake and will take it on Lake Powell when we go there since you are out of cell phone coverage a lot.

Since you are still going to spend a considerable amount for the yearly coverage plan I think I'd want to spend the extra on getting the 3 vs. a 1 or 2.

I've turned it on a few bike rides for tracking but on the dirt bike you are on a very twisty track and move from one point to the next much faster than on a boat or foot, so it doesn't really show your track in detail.

Sumner
================================================================
1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac...
Endeavour 37 Mods...
MacGregor 26-S Mods...
Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Canada, Florida, Bahamas
 
HMT2

HMT2

.
Mar 20, 2014
900
Hunter 31 828 Shoreacres, TX
I rented a gen1 spot for an offshore race a few years back and as I recall the only issue was that it needed to be reset (powered off then back on) every 24 hours. It would stop tracking until you reset it. Other than that it was great.
 
chuckwayne

chuckwayne

.
Mar 20, 2004
1,746
Hunter 356 and 216 Portland, ME
I had a spot 1 and it worked fine - now have a spot connect and a gen2 and really like them too.
Spot usually has promos for new accounts - get the spot for 1/2 price($50) as a new activation .
I'd certainly grab a spot 1 if the other choice was none.
 
BarryL

BarryL

.
May 21, 2004
1,067
Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 409 Mt. Sinai, NY
Hey,
I have had a Gen 1 unit for a number of years now. It has worked fine for tracking and sending messages. I have never needed the SOS feature so I can't comment on how well it works.
Note that the price of the SPOT unit is low compared to the cost of the service. Paying over $100 / year gets expensive.
Barry
 
S

SFS

.
Aug 18, 2015
2,085
Currently Boatless Okinawa
The generation of manufacture really won't make up for their coverage issues. I won't own one again:

https://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/spot-tracker-gen3-issues.179959/&highlight=spot

See also post #20 in this thread:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13/spot-gen3-gps-tracker-170569.html

If you want reliable tracking, go with the DeLorme InReach product. The Delorme is the more costly and vastly superior product for many important reasons. You can get weather on it, it has two-way texting capability, you pay annually OR "only when you need it" (though at higher prices for the latter), and it uses the Iridium satellites for truly global coverage, which Jackdaw has written about somewhere. See posts #4 and #20 here for his take:

https://forums.sailboatowners.com/i...ces-or-alternatives.176183/&highlight=Iridium

Please don't buy a SPOT if you want dependable outgoing transmissions. That would be a false economy at best, and a false sense of security.
 
  • Like
Likes: jssailem
Chris & Lenore

Chris & Lenore

.
Apr 24, 2006
868
Aloha 32 Toronto, Lake Ontario
I'm following this with interest as I'm considering a tracking init.
I did find a big negative for the DeLorme units if you are in any other country than the US.
Checking their Canadian site I see all but the 74.95/mth plan (yikes!) have vastly restricted "tracking points".
For $34.95/mth you get 200 and for $54.95 you get 1000. That translates to a few minutes to a few hours tracking (at 10 minute intervals). The US plans (all but the cheapy) have no "tracking point" restrictions.

For SOS and messaging I'd use DeLorme in a heartbeat but definitely not for detailed position tracking.
Or maybe I am overthinking - one or two tracking points per day would probably be sufficient for "friends and family"?
I that case, the 200 per month with the $34.95/mth plan would be more than sufficient.

Thoughts?
 
BarryL

BarryL

.
May 21, 2004
1,067
Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 409 Mt. Sinai, NY
Hey,
I wonder if perhaps your SPOT3 is defective? I have not heard any other reports of long drop outs in the tracking. My friend has a spot (gen 2) that he used on his trips up and down the east coast and it always works. I have used my gen 1 unit for years and it always sends the position reports. One or two may get dropped but never for an extended period.

Barry

SFS said:
The generation of manufacture really won't make up for their coverage issues. I won't own one again:

https://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/spot-tracker-gen3-issues.179959/&highlight=spot

See also post #20 in this thread:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13/spot-gen3-gps-tracker-170569.html

If you want reliable tracking, go with the DeLorme InReach product. The Delorme is the more costly and vastly superior product for many important reasons. You can get weather on it, it has two-way texting capability, you pay annually OR "only when you need it" (though at higher prices for the latter), and it uses the Iridium satellites for truly global coverage, which Jackdaw has written about somewhere. See posts #4 and #20 here for his take:

https://forums.sailboatowners.com/i...ces-or-alternatives.176183/&highlight=Iridium

Please don't buy a SPOT if you want dependable outgoing transmissions. That would be a false economy at best, and a false sense of security.
Click to expand
 
S

SFS

.
Aug 18, 2015
2,085
Currently Boatless Okinawa
BarryL said:
Hey,
I wonder if perhaps your SPOT3 is defective? I have not heard any other reports of long drop outs in the tracking.
Click to expand
I don't want to rehash any of this (well, really I do, if it helps expose an unreliable product, backed by worthless customer service once questions arise about potentially defective units, and purporting coverage areas that have been created by statistical extrapolation of efficiency rates of message transmissions, but I digress) so I suggest you read the entirety of the thread I first posted the link to. The most telling data point? When my wife called the Coast Guard (Sector St. Petersburg), their response was "yeah, those units don't really work in a lot of places".

Could have been defective, sure. According to "customer service", the company engineers would make that determination if I sent the unit back. Hmmm, wonder what their finding would be? Doesn't matter to me if it was defective - it didn't work, I don't care why. So I replaced it with something that does, and works on an actual global satellite system.

Just trying to save the next guy some hassle, and his wife some worry. YMMV. Your boat, your life, your choice.
 
Last edited:
chuckwayne

chuckwayne

.
Mar 20, 2004
1,746
Hunter 356 and 216 Portland, ME
We've never had evidence of dropouts during our cruises in downeast maine - we're not sailing way offshore - and we run the spot constantly so people ashore can track the flotilla
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Top Bottom