Spot Messenger malfunction-dead batteries??? or....?

Been following Cpt. Hazard's trip on spot messenger, and his unit reported one position out of Kotzebue a few hours ago enroute Galena(maybe)... and then quit reporting. What is the battery life in those things, and, do they indicate low battery status to their operator and/or the web server?
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Worried, just a little... :-?

His SPOT sounds like it's working like mine did. Intermittent position reports were all I ever got. No bashing. Just the facts.

Stewart

It resumed reporting, he's landed OK at a stream north of Nome... must be the satellite coverage up there....

Globalstar.

SB

spot

the newest ones seem to work better and are easier to operate.

frankie....did you ever consider the loose nut behind the wheel...the one that forgets to turn it on?

Last year when I purchased my SPOT it worked great---position report approx every ten minutes. When I fired it up this spring---it functioned only sporadically. I departed KBOS for OSHKOSH last week and turned it on. It didn't begin reporting until I was in Indiana! Now it only functions when you hit the I'm OK button manually. This product now has serious issues and these folks are looking down the barrel of serious litigation if someone gets jammed up and relies on their SPOT for emergency assistance. Looks like it's back to the EPIRB.

I've been having trouble too. It only reports sporadically when I press the "ok" button. At least that was the case last week when I was out haying. And I just renewed my subscription too! :x

I used mine all weekend to report to the wife my location on a backcountry wilderness back pack trip and it worked just fine. If you don't use it for a while or move 600 miles since its last use it takes along time to "find itself", or something like that. Could that be a factor in the sporadic reporting?

Mine's working just fine, but when I use it on a new flight, it loses the last flights (on the website). http://fly.to/logan

The battery last a long time... When it starts getting low, the lights will turn from green to red giving you plenty of time to change them..
Mine works great and I watch my son at work with his all the time. Once in a while while he's tracking wolves, the telemetry receiver messes with it, but generally it works great.

spot

I have been using mine in my truck to test it. I can tell what parking space I parked in. Seem's to be working well. I went on a 10 hour flight this weekend and burned up close to $300. worth of gas and the spot was right on target. I'm still playing with it some and want to learn how to send pictures ect to friends on the spot web site.


Bill

I have a Spot 2 and it hasnt missed a beat in over 30 hours. Still on the original batteries.

Same with mine. SPOT 2 works great and batteries fine for several month. I take spare batteries with me, just in case .......

http://www.spotadventures.com/user/trips?user_id=56705

Happy landings, Anthony

I should have posted this earlier. In June I contacted SPOT and advised my unit was unsat. After lengthy conversation they decided that the potential acrimony with a customer with internet access to many potential customers wasn't worth it and they R&R'd at no cost with their new SPOT. I didn't need all the extra bells and whistles, all I wanted was tracking and the new unit hits the satellite every ten minutes like clock work. Another satisfied customer!

12 Geezer said:

I've been having trouble too. It only reports sporadically when I press the "ok" button. At least that was the case last week when I was out haying. And I just renewed my subscription too! :x

Click to expand...

My subscription ran out during a time that the plane was down for repair and my husband was just home from the hospital after a serious illness. A SPOT salesman called during this time to renew the contract. Since my only purpose for the subscription was related to the airplane and I didn't know when next I'd be using it (let alone all the medical issues we were dealing with at the time), I told the salesman that I would not be renewing until a later date. He would NOT take no for an answer and threatened me with dire consequences if I didn't immediately renew. He would NOT take no for an answer!! I asked him to please leave us alone and he would not. I ended up telling him that if he did not leave us alone, I would complain to his superiors and finally had to hang up on him. Luckily, he was smart enough not to call back. I suppose that since mine is first generation, it will be impossible to re-activate. I dunno if I'll ever want to have anything to do with this company again.

@dreamer, that sounds odd as Spot is pretty much an online presence. Could have been a scam. just saying. I would contact Spot through their website and tell them what happened and see if it is their real policy, or if it was appropriate action by one of their staff, or if they feel it was someone other than Spot.

For those with experiences with intermittent Spot posts, it may be due to the location of the unit in your plane. The Spot will need a clear view of the sky to do the uplink, and of course for the GPS to have the best accuracy. I fly with my Spot1 and now my Spot connect up on the dashboard between the V-brace for the Spot1 and forward of that with the Connect because it is so small. I put heavy duty velcro on the connect and sits flat. I really have no issues with missing any reports, maybe 1 out of 50. My wife puts the Spot1 on her sled when she runs on foot. It worked great all the way to McGrath, missing some in heavy canyon or trees, but pretty much always clicks them out. Just my experience that shows the technology is fine, variances may be in the location of the unit in the plane or whatever.

@scooter... perhaps, but that would mean that SPOT's database was hacked/compromised in some way?? It may have been related to the fact that I had been subscribed to the enhanced service/insurance with search and rescue ops covered in the event of need. Could have been the insurance company rather than SPOT themselves. I dunno... very aggressive salesman, quite insensitive to the situation at hand and a very poor listener. I'm just glad he didn't call back.

I used my Spot1 for the first time this weekend, just to be sure it worked. It did work pretty well, most of the time. It missed some OK's. I forgot to velcro it to the top of the panel before I left for E.TN., so I would take it out of the plane when I landed, then hit OK. Not sure why it would send some messages, but not others.

BTW, the only in-person contact I've had with Spot is at one of the big shows, can't remember if it was Oshkosh or SnF.

Hey Dreamer, hope everything is okay again. I miss your stories!