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SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger unit | 
 enlarge | Brand: SPOT
Category: Sports
Buy: $135.68 - $176.99 (On sale from $194.91)
This item is no longer available
Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 3895
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.7 x 2
MPN: SPOT-2O / SPOT-2S
Model: SPOTGPS
UPC: 893049001240
EAN: 0893049001240
ASIN: B002PHRDQU
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| Features:
| • | Faster GPS acquisition for quicker 911 response | | • | Sends check in message, capable of tracking, sends help assistance message, alert SOS for emergency assistance | | • | More satellite detection than any competitive product on the market | | • | Operates under the harshest environments, temperature, altitude, humidity, corrosion, vibration, waterproof, and buoyant | | • | New smaller size, lighter weight |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
SPOT 2 Satellite GPS Messenger
Includes all the same functionality as before - now in a smaller, more feature-rich form factor.
30% Smaller
30% Lighter
Faster GPS Aquisition
New Features/Enhancements:
- Advanced GPS
- GPS aquisition light
- Custom message button
- Enhanced antenna performance
- Dedicated tracking button
- Improved tracking performance
- Safety covers over S.O.S. and Help buttons
- Replaceable button covers
- Illuminated buttons
- Message sent indicator light
- Includes armband case
- Recyclable packaging
Features:
SOS: Emergency assistance request sent with your GPS location to GEOS every 5 minutes until batteries die or until cancelled
Help/SPOT Assist: Request help from friends and family every 5 minutes for 1 hour. Up to 10 contacts - phone & email
Check In: Lets contacts know where you are and that you're okay. Attempts to send three messages to help ensure successful transmission. Up to 10 contacts - phone and email. Contacts will receive only 1 message.
Custom Message: Creates custom non-urgent message to send to friends and family
Track Progress: Acquires your GPS location every 10 minutes for 24 hours. Sends each location one time. Previous 2 track points sent with current track point helping ensure consistent recording of movements.
Emergency Response Center: GEOS is operational 7 days/week, 365 days a year, operating out of Houston, TX (2 addl. backup locations)
History Review: Review all Check In, Track Alert SOS, and Help locations via findmespot.com using Google maps for up to 30 days.
Shared Page: You can share messages and locations with others via a personal shared page or SPOT adventures account. Live data viewing up to 7 days, data storage up to 30 days. Can have up to
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
 Preforms at/above what I was expecting. August 17, 2010
Z. Knaus (Misawa, Japan)
Please understand that my review is based on what I purchased the product to do, not what they advertise they can. The primary reason that I bought this product is for it's tracking feature. I take a lot of long motorcycle trips that frequently leave the GSM coverage areas. I rely on the SPOT II to broadcast my last known location should I fail to return/check in on time.
During my research there was a lot of talk about reliability of the emergency features. Since this wasn't the primary reason for me purchasing the SPOT II I didn't concern myself with this. I have over the course of using it attempted to send out some messages that the device said were received but were not. This isn't always the case (and is always significantly worse in city limits) but none the less, I wouldn't set your life in the hands of those messages.
Battery life on this device is a LOT better than what I was expecting. The manual says to replace the Lithium batteries when the indicator turns on or at the two day mark (whichever comes first)... I was riding 15-16hrs/day and I used 1 set of batteries for 4 days before I chose to replace it (the indicator wasn't even on yet).
Overall, I really like this product. There isn't anything else on the market right now that has the same tracking features for nearly the same price so hopefully this kind of device will catch on and develop some competition. Do your research and check the forums, figure out what you want this device to accomplish. It's been a worthwhile purchase for me and if it broke (which I doubt because of solid construction) I'de buy another.
In the future, I'de like for the SPOT to be able to download a KML GPS log straight from the device to my computer with a sampling rate @~3-5sec. This would eliminate my need to carry a second GPS logger (because the every 10m plots I can download from the website just aren't detailed enough).
 It's fun and a step up for emergency response. August 12, 2010
muckamuck
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought the Spot 2 from REI, somewhat reluctantly after reading many reviews here and other places. I found that it would reliably send OK's from the windshield of my car on the highway, but the real reason I got it was to satisfy my wife when I take our 18 foot boat 20 miles out to sea. I already have a 25 watt DCS marine vhf radio with GPS emergency button option that has the ability to send my exact location at the time of the emergency to the coastguard, but only within vhf radio range about 20-30 miles of shore (boardline distance for me). I reviewed EPRIBs and found while they are generally reliable as technology can be they can fail (read reviews of sinking boats with EPIRBs that never sent a signal and boats pulled from the depths to find the EPRIB stuck in the scupper). In contrast, with spot strapped to my life preserver in case I fall out of the boat (most people would not strap the larger EPIRBS on their bodies while boating) I send my location every 20 minutes. Even if I have an emergency and can't hit the SOS or the device fails to get GPS reading at that time at least they know where I was 20 minutes previous and epirbs can't do that. The real reason to get it is to reassure my wife at intervals that I'm OK and epribs can't do that either. As far as reception and transmission, on the ocean it works all the time as far as I can tell so I can check that it's actually working from day to day (do you test your EPIRB sending capablities every day??). Plus some people with teenagers may need to track their car for the day and EPIRBS won't do that.
All the other complaints are indeed a nuisance (customer service, the wires holding the batteries had to be stretched, not knowing if your signal got thru) and I guess you have to accept them or don't order it. I'm pretty happy with it. -Mark
 I like it, I'll use it, but there's a couple of problems... August 7, 2010
Rob Nevitt
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I just recently purchased a Spot 2 and have been testing it out.
It's small, light, and easy to operate. In spite of the fact that it's not a "true" emergency locator, it works well enough to let my wife an friends know that I'm OK on my solo trips. I've also read enough reviews to feel confident the odds are it will work as intended if I'm ever in an emergency situation. In spite of a few reports of the unit failing in these circumstances, there are far more reports of it having succeeded.
However, I agree with R. Brooks' review in that the manual is poorly written and the website is no better. One aspect of it's use that is so poorly documented that it caused me enough concern to call customer support (and the tech I talked to tried to tell me that it was my fault that I didn't understand what the manual was saying!). For all of the functions (Check-In, Custom Message, etc.) if you do not wait for a full twenty minutes after receiving the green "Message Sent" light before executing another function or turning the unit off, your message may not be received and relayed! Before testing, I read through the manual carefully. During my testing, the Custom Message function failed twice; once after I started the Tracking function a few minutes after getting the green "Message Sent" light, and once it just didn't go through. I have since read through all of the FAQs online and they also do not make it clear that you need to wait twenty minutes every time. The manual only states: "Let SPOT work until the end of the message cycle when the Check-In/OK or Custom Message light stops blinking."
In the "Message Sending Light" section a couple of pages before this, all that it states is: "Green - The Message Sending light blinks green after SPOT transmits the most recent message. Red - the Message Sending light blinks red if SPOT didn't send the most recent message." It should read: "Green - The Message Sending light blinks green after SPOT begins transmitting the most recent message. It will attempt to do so three times during the next twenty minutes. Green is not an indication that the message was received. If you execute another function during this time, your previous function will be canceled. The unit will not indicate when the twenty minute cycle has been completed. Red - The Message Sending light blinks red if SPOT didn't send the most recent message. It will only do so because the unit has malfunctioned and needs to be repaired or replaced." (This is according to the information I was able to eventually discern from my discussion with the customer service rep.)
I debated whether to give it three or four stars. I don't intend to return the unit. I plan to use it and I expect it to function well for my purposes. But due to the lack of clear instructions concerning the cycle waiting period and the potential problems it could cause, I am deducting one star. At best it's poor communication on SPOT's part; at worst they are concealing a significant drawback to its use. And I'm deducting another star because of the poor manual and website documentation, and the customer service rep's poor attitude.
Worked flawlessly for tracking across the Eastern Hemisphere July 29, 2010
Eric Westphal (Houston, TX USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I recently bought the Spot 2 for a trip I was making in my single engine airplane. I was planning to fly from Texas up to the Great White North, thence to Greenland, Iceland, and then down through the UK to Italy and onward to my final destination in Cyprus. The trip went quite well and the Spot worked perfectly. It never missed an update, even in the most remote areas of Greenland. My wife and family really appreciated the steady updates of my location and the OK messages when I landed each day. It was easy to use and, even after 60+ hours of use, I'm still using the original batteries.
I know some users have issues with the emergency response function. Thankfully, I never had to test this, but even if I never used this functionality, it is well worth the acquisition and subscription fees just for family updates while traveling. My wife would also give it the 5 stars! The [...] website is also really nice to have--search for my Adventure there using N456T as a keyword. (By the way, I use a portable ACR 406 MHz ELT for emergency use anyway, so the Spot emergency function is just a third option.)
SPOT2 - Pretty Good Tracking Device for Outdoors July 20, 2010
P. Pollock (Los Angeles, USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Re-posting this review to proper place for product on Amazon Web page ...
I have a SPOT 2 tracker that I recently purchased from an REI outdoors store. I use the device mainly to provide added safety when I am doing long motorcycle trips. We also use it for our family vehicle during vacations, and I would cetainly take it if I was going hiking into remote country.
The SPOT2 design was modified by the manufacturer so that the keys that activate the SOS signal and the Roadside Assistance signal are protected by small covers. You have to open a small plastic cover and push these buttons - in order for the emergency services to work. That's probably a good design idea ... I can see where this device could generate false alarms if these buttons were not protected. It follows that you must be alert and conscious - in order to send an emergency request for help with the SPOT2. The device won't do it by itself - there is no auotmatic timeout system.
I decided to subscribe to the "tracking service", which allows the SPOT2 device to send updated signals with your position. You do pay extra $$ in order to have this service available from SPOT. But the charges seem reasonable. Basically, the SPOT2 sends a new location signal (with GPS info) through the satellite system every 10 minutes, and these automatic updates are recorded at the main Web page for SPOT. It would be helpful if the user could vary the time delay between these automatic tracking updates, but right now it's fixed at 10 minutes. I have tried the tracking out during some long motorcycle rides, and it seems to work pretty well. It's possible for a third party to log onto your SPOT page if you give them your username and password (Web page at [...]), then view all the updated coordinates, and plot them out on an online map (similar to Yahoo maps). So the online map display shows a series of points that are separated in time by 10 mins along your route. I have NOT had any problems with satellite coverage, nor any dropouts from the SPOT2 device. I have been using it in California. I think the tracking system is a very handy emergency system - because it does allow someone to check on your recent progress. Presumably if your course shows that you've come to a complete standstill for a long period of time, then eventually someone will wonder why. Of course, you need to BRIEF that person on what they are supposed to expect, and then what to do.
The only real disadvantage of the SPOT system right now - is with their Web page at [...] . The layout of the Web page is fine, but the response time for this Web page to actually come up on your PC is increibly slow. When you first log on, in order to record details for your SPOT user information, it may literally take a few minutes before the network computers at their site get back to you. Really slow!! Naturally, this does not inspire a lot of confidence in their overall system - given that the people running SPOT are supposedly operating a modern worldwide system for emergency messaging. They seriously need to update their Web services to a much faster response time! However, if you are patient then you will succeed in getting your device registered, and then in getting things working. I have noticed that the main problem seems to be the initial response from the SPOT service, but once they do come up on your computer then subsequent communications are a bit faster.
Personally, I think the SPOT2 device is pretty good and worth having as a valuable messaging tool in an emergency. Keep in mind that you must be alert and conscious to activate the SOS or Roadside Assistance buttons. However, if you subscribe to the tracking fature, and you provide a detailed briefing to someone you trust on how to monitor your progress, then the updated map of your progress would be a very useful emergency tool (NOTE: this feature does not require you to be conscious or alive in order to work - it just requires that the SPOT2 device can send receivable signals to the open sky).
Finally - none of this technology should ever be a substitute for good judgment and common sense. Those are the most important ingredients to staying alive ... any time you are venturing into some remote part of this planet.
Good luck!
And hopefully you won't ever need the real thing.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
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