Initial Hands-on Report - Second Generation SPOT

We finally got our hands on one of the new second generation SPOT Satellite GPS Messengers. While we haven't been able to truly wring it out, a few days of playing with SPOT have given us a feel for both the improvements and other areas we weren't quite as impressed with. Check out our initial impression of SPOT 2.

http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=114

I know that you don't enjoy being critical of SPOT, and it doesn't have any bearing that they have hardly been a fan of you. I think this report, very honestly put, will hopefully be taken as real critical feedback that is outside the institutionalization they have within their own company.

I think SPOT could be great. But it doesn't look like it yet from a tester like Doug.

I am a SPOT user and look forward to the review. Take the gloves off.

Enjoyment or not has nothing to do with it. I just call 'em like I see 'em.

While I am appreciative of the fact that SPOT has numerous “saves” to its credit and, perhaps more importantly, has put a fairly capable distress alerting device in the hands of many who would otherwise never carry one, due to its value added capabilities, many issues remain unresolved from my perspective. Of course, the misuse of SPOT by users, the so-called "Yuppie 911" problem, has raised its own set of concerns and the backlash could seriously imperil lives in the end, but that’s a whole other issue for another day.

It's critical to me that consumers understand what they are getting, how it really works and whether they want to bet their life on something. Once they are educated, it's their decision

From my perspective, it's just another tool that has pros and cons for me to report on and give my opinions about, hopefully tot he end user's, the survivor's, benefit. What is done with what I say, well, I will admit it is appreciated when folks listen, be they consumers or manufacturers, but I hope it's because my comments make sense and are based on facts and experience.

Not sure how much you can blame Spot for "Yuppie 911", the same problem applies to cell phones and presumably to PLBs once the $300 unit becomes widely available.
At least they offer insurance as part of the fee (perhaps they could include it in the fee) which is a good step.

The current issue almost exclusively is SPOT related. Unfortunately, bad reporting has resulted in the term PLB being used interchangeably for SPOT. Everything else pales in comparison. When the state SAR coordinators and the others involved at higher levels are talking about this, they are talking about SPOT. They have been dealing with cell phones for enough time now that they have a handle on that and being two-way communication, can weed out many of the questionable alerts. Not so with SPOT.

It reads like a fair review to me.

If it isn't already a requirement, I'd suggest pushing the FCC to require SPOT to forward SOS calls to the appropriate authorities with or without subscription, just as they do with cell phones. If they're marketing this thing as a life saver - and they are - the life saving part shouldn't be turned off just because they didn't pay their bill.

My personal 2 cents on spot is that to make it useful, they need to make it capable of 2 way text. People would love that, especially the younger folks.

Perhaps, but first Globalstar will have to get its duplex satellite system rebuilt, and that's not happening as fast as they hoped.

Then there are the significant technical, size and cost issues, all of which impact marketability.

Is that just an availability thing?
When $200 PLBs are on sale at REI or (various deities forbid) they are made mandatory for national parks/inland boaters - will they have as many 'false' alarms?

The problem then is that nobody would ever buy a subscription and SPOT would go bust. I would like to be treated the same with or without medical insurance but it ain't going to happen.