Spotwalla Devices
- Thread starter Tom Honeycutt
- Start date
What Shawn said. What are your needs? You can get simple and cheap used Spot I, II or III units off ebay and various forum classifieds that you can set up for reliable pings to Spotwalla and are satellite systems with few gaps. I use a Spot III currently. I like that it uses (4) AAA batteries and has nicer, easier to use buttons, compared to the Spot II that I used before. (More glove friendly). The II & III units allow a custom message that you can create for one of the button pings, plus your OK message can be customized as well. All offer help and 911.
Edit - Spot I units use AA batteries, Spot II units use (3) AAA batteries. The required Lithium AAA batteries come in 4 packs. It's a little thing. Spot I and III units outlive Spot II units on battery power, fwiw, but Spot II units still will last 10+ days of near continuous use. Read up on the specs yourself if this is a concern.
Other units and the Garmin InReach allow two way communication via text messages, which many find appealing.
Edit - Spot I units use AA batteries, Spot II units use (3) AAA batteries. The required Lithium AAA batteries come in 4 packs. It's a little thing. Spot I and III units outlive Spot II units on battery power, fwiw, but Spot II units still will last 10+ days of near continuous use. Read up on the specs yourself if this is a concern.
Other units and the Garmin InReach allow two way communication via text messages, which many find appealing.
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I bought my Spot X (non-Bluetooth) because I wanted the ability to send and receive messages in the event of an emergency.
With the standard Spot units, you can hit the Check-In button (which will send a generic "I'm fine" message to the people you set up in your account), or you can hit the SOS button in an emergency. The downside to the standard units is that there's no way to verify that your message was received.
With my Spot X, I can have up to 14 pre-defined (i.e. pre-written) text-type messages pre-programmed, and can send an unlimited amount of those. So in my case, I set them up in my account to say different kinds of messages, and can send those different messages to different people directly from my unit. If I want to hand-type a custom message, it costs me 25 cents per message (and my package allows 250 per year).
The benefit to my Spot X is that if I send a message out, I can receive a confirmation back to me (in the form of a response from that person). That way, I know the message was received. It may be a small item, but I'm sometimes in areas where I have no cell coverage. Being able to get a message out - and have it conformed that it was received - is worth the expense for the peace of mind.
You'll have to decide what your priorities are with regard to communication. Cell service is not 100% reliable in 100% of the country, so you pays your money and you takes your chances.
With the standard Spot units, you can hit the Check-In button (which will send a generic "I'm fine" message to the people you set up in your account), or you can hit the SOS button in an emergency. The downside to the standard units is that there's no way to verify that your message was received.
With my Spot X, I can have up to 14 pre-defined (i.e. pre-written) text-type messages pre-programmed, and can send an unlimited amount of those. So in my case, I set them up in my account to say different kinds of messages, and can send those different messages to different people directly from my unit. If I want to hand-type a custom message, it costs me 25 cents per message (and my package allows 250 per year).
The benefit to my Spot X is that if I send a message out, I can receive a confirmation back to me (in the form of a response from that person). That way, I know the message was received. It may be a small item, but I'm sometimes in areas where I have no cell coverage. Being able to get a message out - and have it conformed that it was received - is worth the expense for the peace of mind.
You'll have to decide what your priorities are with regard to communication. Cell service is not 100% reliable in 100% of the country, so you pays your money and you takes your chances.
I recently upgraded my dirt bikes: I sold my '97 KTM 620 & '05 WR450F for a '20 WR250R and a '21 Tênêrê 700. In the upcoming week, I'm planning some deep Idaho mountain riding to continue the break-in on both. Since I'll be solo and out of cell range most of the time, my wife said she'd be more comfortable if I had a GPS tracker. Most of my rides include large areas outside of cell-coverage.
My quick research seemed to show that the Iridium satellite system may be more reliable that the GlobalStar system used by the Spot products.
Based on that (and other factors) I chose the Garmin inReach Mini and ordered it from REI last Tuesday. Although it was supposed to arrive Friday, I have yet to see it.
Anyone have real-world experience comparing Iridium and GlobalStar performance?
My quick research seemed to show that the Iridium satellite system may be more reliable that the GlobalStar system used by the Spot products.
Based on that (and other factors) I chose the Garmin inReach Mini and ordered it from REI last Tuesday. Although it was supposed to arrive Friday, I have yet to see it.
Anyone have real-world experience comparing Iridium and GlobalStar performance?
If you go with Spot, a I or III will generally last 10 days w/o issue. As Shawn said, the batteries are quick and easy to replace w/o tools. I always carry a spare set of batteries on the bike, it's just part of the process. While the lithium Energizer batteries aren't that hard to find, (Walgreens seems consistently to have them all over the country), when you need them NOW, naturally it can be a pain. Some truck stops and other stores carry them, but selection varies all over. They run about $10-12 a pack of 4.
All Spot units have a flashing LED that will turn from green to red when the batteries get low to warn you to change them prior to the unit dying. It continues to ping for quite a while after it turns red, fwiw. I prefer to bike mount the unit so I can see it and easily hit OK at stops. Everyone differs, but I use OK for short stops where I want to mark something or am just taking a break, then the Custom button, (on Spot II and III), for end of day stops where I'm safe in a hotel/stopped for the night. Each message is programable on the II and III units. IIRC, the Spot I units, (first version that came out), do not have the 'custom' button.
I believe the I and II Spot units will turn off after 24 hours if they are just in auto mode w/o any manual pings being made. Some riders have been bitten by this if they don't monitor the unit and are not in a habit of doing manual OK or Custom messages during the day. For a 48-10 ride, I would make an OK at every State receipt stop at minimum. My habit, as mentioned above, hitting an OK at short stops and Custom at end of day stops avoids the issue of auto shut off after 24 hours. I also don't leave the Spot on at night during trips. No point in pinging when you're in the same place for hours.
All Spot units have a flashing LED that will turn from green to red when the batteries get low to warn you to change them prior to the unit dying. It continues to ping for quite a while after it turns red, fwiw. I prefer to bike mount the unit so I can see it and easily hit OK at stops. Everyone differs, but I use OK for short stops where I want to mark something or am just taking a break, then the Custom button, (on Spot II and III), for end of day stops where I'm safe in a hotel/stopped for the night. Each message is programable on the II and III units. IIRC, the Spot I units, (first version that came out), do not have the 'custom' button.
I believe the I and II Spot units will turn off after 24 hours if they are just in auto mode w/o any manual pings being made. Some riders have been bitten by this if they don't monitor the unit and are not in a habit of doing manual OK or Custom messages during the day. For a 48-10 ride, I would make an OK at every State receipt stop at minimum. My habit, as mentioned above, hitting an OK at short stops and Custom at end of day stops avoids the issue of auto shut off after 24 hours. I also don't leave the Spot on at night during trips. No point in pinging when you're in the same place for hours.
I'm a newb, so my opinion probably doesn't count for too much. I went ahead and got a spot gen 4. I've used it on a few trips so far just to get familiar with it. spotwalla is not the most intuitive app I've used, but after a little tinkering, it seems to work well. I have only used the checkins and tracking link so far.
Sorry, no experience with the Spot 4, but at a glance, it's just an updated version of the 3 in a new package. One difference I did spot is in the service plan offerings. The Spot 3 gives you the option for extreme tracking at a lower price under the basic plan. The Spot 4 does not give an option for extreme tracking, (at least as shown on their web page, which may be wrong and you just have to contact them to get extreme tracking if you need/want it).
Both use 4 AAA batteries. They do list rechargeable batteries as an acceptable option on the 4, I don't recall seeing that listed for the 3, but never looked for it specifically.
Both use 4 AAA batteries. They do list rechargeable batteries as an acceptable option on the 4, I don't recall seeing that listed for the 3, but never looked for it specifically.
Thanks Eric & Greg. Looks like you can get extreme tracking on the Gen 4 with the Flex Basic Plan. Costs an extra $6.25 per month to add that option. I'm still working with an ancient SPOT that transmits every 10 minutes. Gen 3 & 4 can be set to transmit every 5 minutes. Extreme tracking shortens that to every 2.5 minutes. I don't know that I would ever need extreme tracking.
Spot X for me, based on the ability for 2-way message exchange when out of cell coverage range. Here in Australia you do not have to venture far from any metropolitan area to lose mobile telephone signal. I already had a Findmespot account for my previous Gen III, so I went with the Spot X so I did not have to change service providers. I did look at the Garmin In-Reach. Very similar devices. I have a charge option on my bike so recharging the Spot X every couple of days is not a big ticket item. My wife insists I have this for her piece of mind. Got stuck once (major tyre failure in 'remote' area) and my wife was very worried. We are both retiring in 2022 and will use our caravan to tour the country. Figure we can use the Spot X on our travels as a back-up in an emergency (much cheaper than a satellite phone). For us, a purely peace-of-mind device.
