Findmespot - Satellite Messaging GPS / PLB

[RedMan]

This is the perfect Christmas Gift.



Gary has these over at ATVUtah.com
http://www.atvutah.com/cgi-bin/yabb2...1193180965/0#5

I REALLY like this. In fact I think EVERY Skier, hunter, hiker and offroader should own this device.

Its better than a PLB. (personal locater beacon)

It is basically a GPS, with the ability to send messages via satellite and call for 911 type help anywhere in the world.

I particularly like the fact that you can send a non-emergency help message.
"I need gas or a ride home" type message via SMS to your friends cell phone.

It means you can get help without calling the cavalry.

You can also send a second message "Everything is good, wish you were here" type message.

AND if that is not enough you can allow people to track you on the web, it will send its location every 10 minutes and post it on your website.

Best of all its CHEAP at $149 compared to a PLB at about $600. Yes you have service charges on top of that for the spot but it will take 4+ years to equal the cost of a PLB.

I love the marketing "Its your story, live to tell about it."

[RedMan]

I took my Spot to Glamis over Thanksgiving.

Works great, people in camp were happy to get a message when we out riding longer than expected.

This thing is very cool.

[Glockguy]

Very cool.

[RedMan]

AAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!

Get a SPOT!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080107/...mobilers_found

DOUBLE AARRRGGGHHHH!

Two skiers remained missing Monday. Searchers in a helicopter and on snowmobiles took advantage of a break in the weather to resume looking for them at Wolf Creek Pass, about 40 miles northwest of Cumbres Pass.

The men, missing since Saturday, were in their mid-20s and their car had New Mexico license plates, but their names had not been released.


Folks this is JUST PLAIN STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jaxx]

If only it would work as an avalanche beacon it would be the ultimate!!!!!

[RedMan]

Obviously it helps in an avalanche.


SNOWMOBILERS AIDING AVALANCHE VICTIMS USE SPOT SATELLITE MESSENGER TO SEND 9-1-1 MESSAGE FOR HELP

GPS Device Sends Location Data and Alert Message to Emergency Responders

Milpitas, Calif. (January 7, 2008)

[ExpUt]

The Spot is an excellent device, there are alot of folks in the overland 4x4 world currently using them. A good freind of mine left in November for a ~10 month trip through Central & South America. Driving and living in his Land Cruiser along the way. He has been using the Spot to check in, every day I get an email with a pre-programmed Spot message ie. "I'm OK, sitting on the beach in baja" or something like that. It provides a link to GoogleEarth where it will show exactly where he was when checking in.

[RedMan]

So I'm layin there for aboot four days ay.
The whole time I'm thinkin to myself, I'm thinkin "Why didn't I get a SPOT ay? Like RedMan said in the Forum".



CROWSNEST PASS, Alberta (AP) - For one Canadian paramedic, "survival mode" entails eating dirt, warming himself with dead beavers and fending off coyotes with a whistle.

All this while pinned under an ATV for four days and three nights in frigid temperatures.

Ken Hildebrand was riding in Alberta bush country collecting animal traps when his ATV hit a rock and rolled on his leg. He says he kept himself alive by picking at the rotting beavers and eating dirt for moisture. He says coyotes fought nearby, but he managed to keep them at bay with a whistle.

A hiker and his dog found Hildebrand in his fourth day and he was taken to a hospital. The ordeal may cost him his right foot, but one hospital official says it's amazing he survived at all.

The official says the only thing on Hildebrand's mind after the ordeal was that he'd miss his next paramedic shift.

[RedMan]

Can you say "Get a SPOT"?
Marooned for 12 days because they got stuck in the snow.



Kearns couple found alive by crew plowing road
By Mark Havnes
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 02/06/2008 08:38:33 PM MST

CEDAR CITY - Thomas and Tamitha Garner, the Kearns couple who have been missing in southern Utah for 12 days, were found this afternoon by an Iron County road crew near the Utah-Nevada state line.
The couple arrived at Valley View Medical Center in Cedar City shortly after 5 p.m.
Tamitha Garner was removed from an ambulance on a stretcher covered with a blanket; then Thomas Garner came out and was placed in a wheelchair, wrapped in a blanket, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses.
When asked how he was doing, he said, "Great!" in a strong, husky voice. And he said "Hi, Mom," to the waiting news media and its cameras.
The couple were taken into the emergency room to be examined. Rescuers also took their dog, Medusa, out of the ambulance. The frisky animal was hooked up to a leash and turned over to an animal-control officer.
The Kearns couple were found walking on Modena Canyon Road just south of the community of Hamlin Valley. The road runs through Modena Canyon. The road worker, who had been plowing snow, drove them to Modena, about 60 miles from Cedar City on State Road 56. There, they were met by the ambulance.
"They were stranded, but they managed to stay with their vehicle," Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower said.
The couple's truck was stuck in snow in a canyon in Beaver County on Jan. 26, authorities said. The couple stayed in their truck nine days and began walking out on Monday. They had hiked about 10 miles, building fires along the way to keep warm, before they were found today.
Darrell Wilson, the emergency room doctor who attended to the couple, said they were dehydrated, suffered frostbite on toes and fingers, but that they would suffer no long term damage.
"Their condition was stable. I was surprised after the trial they had gone through," Wilson said. "They were in good spirits."
Hours before being located, Thomas Garner's father, Gerald, told how family and friends hoped for a miracle that the couple would be found safe.
"I've put it in God's hands. He's the one in charge of the miracles," Gerald Garner said from his Taylorsville home.
About three hours later, Charles Hewlett, one of three members of an Iron County road crew, spotted the couple walking as he cleared snow from the roadway in a pickup truck with a plow, said Neil Forsyth, County Road supervisor.
"We debated for a while" on Tuesday whether to grade the snowpacked roadway, Forsyth said. "Just yesterday, we decided to do it and get it done. [The Garners] are pretty lucky we decided to go ahead and plow the road."
Because the roadway is so remote and rarely used during winter months, neither Beaver or Iron counties plow the roadway, Forsyth said. Snow drifts in the area ranged anywhere from 2 to 4 feet in some locations.
When Hewlett discovered the missing couple, Tamitha Garner "about jerked him out the grader," Forsyth said, noting that she was crying and happy to be found.
The couple had vanished during a weekend road trip in Utah's Dixie to photograph wild horses. They left Jan. 24 and had been last spotted Jan. 26.
- Tribune reporters Russ Rizzo and Nathan C. Gonzalez contributed to this story.

[Mooseman70]

All that because they decided to drive past a 'ROAD CLOSED' sign.

They are lucky they didn't die. Their poor judgement cost a SAR Team member his life.

[trackrunner]

I thought I read the SAR member died the next day when he got home. An autopsy report will determine the exact cause of death. Thought it appeared that exhaustion contributed to the death, he told his wife he felt tired.

[RedMan]

EXACTLY my point.

People forget that they put SAR team members at risk.

Leroy Davenport died because these people went out completely unprepared.

With devices like the SPOT and other PLBs there is simply no excuse.
If they had one they would have been rescued on day 1 and Leroy Davenports family would still be happy and whole.

[oldno7]

EXACTLY my point.

People forget that they put SAR team members at risk.

Leroy Davenport died because these people went out completely unprepared.

With devices like the SPOT and other PLBs there is simply no excuse.
If they had one they would have been rescued on day 1 and Leroy Davenports family would still be happy and whole.

The fact is that the Iron county SAR is very ill prepared to conduct any kind of snowmobile related rescue.

[Alex]

How well does this work in slot canyons?

I am definitely getting one for my rafting trips though, thank you for the review!

[RedMan]

Alex,

All I can say is your chances are much better with Spot than anything else.

It is considered "line of sight" but I know it works inside my house.
I have used it in very heavy tree cover, and through several deep canyons.

But if you are in a situation like Aron Ralston, in the bottom of the slot, rock over head and all around I doubt it will work.

In that case one of your friends (you didn't go alone right?) would need to scramble to a better location.

It has indicator lights that tell you if it has a signal lock so you will know if it can gt a message out.

That said, I am sure there is nothing better. Nothing else will get you a 911 response that quickly virtually anywhere you can see the sky.

[oldno7]

just bought one of these last week, played with it a little. Will give it a better test next week in poison springs.

[Alex]

I think you got me convinced as well, I am getting one from REI soon

[RedMan]

If you get your SPOT from Gary at ATVUtah.com he throws in a free carrying case. Worth about $15.

I like this case, it has pouches to carry a spare set of batteries.
Very rugged too, the clip is designed so it wont fall of a belt/strap.

Spot
http://www.atvutah.com/catalog/produ...roducts_id=122

Case
http://www.atvutah.com/catalog/produ...roducts_id=153

[theking648]

i saw a commercial for this with les stroud promoting it. so i know he wouldn't promote a product he doesn't belive in. it's a wouderful tool.

as for me i have no use for it because i know i can survive and i don't go out or very far into the woods that often. but for the average joe maybe a person who has "it won't happen to me syndrome" then it's a perfect product but also for people who go realy realy deep into the backwoods that couldn't realy get to any help.

i'm looking forward to reading about people's experiences with it

[RedMan]

I carry it in the car with me every day.