In my opinion
the SPOT Satellite Messenger is the best thought out and most helpful device on the market to have in an emergency situation. However, what makes it even better is to have it for non emergency systems.
We have for the last year been selling a Personal Locater Beacon or PLB. This past year though in August I was walking along the beach during the Outdoor Retailer (OR) Show's Outdoor demo event when I stumbled on to the booth for the SPOT satellite messenger. I stood there and listened to the sales pitch and a light just clicked on, no a light exploded in my brain realizing the immense impact that this device could offer to not only Canyoneer's, but to anyone who frequents the outdoors. I was so impressed in fact that I didn't get much sleep that night. The next morning I returned to the OR Show and immediately sought out the booth for the SPOT. I sat down with a sales rep and placed an order for the device right there on the SPOT! (Pun intended).
If you look at a comparison between the SPOT and older versions of PLB's the immediate difference may only be seen in price and service plans. Most people get stuck here without comparing functionality. Originally PLB's have one function, to call for emergency help. Push the button and Search and Rescue (SAR) is sent out. The older unit we sold cost around $650.00 to purchase and had no annual fee after that.
The SPOT has this same feature of pushing a button and having SAR teams respond to your location. The Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) is $165.00 for the SPOT. Quite a bit lower than the traditional PLB's. However SPOT does have an annual service fee of $99.00 or on a monthly basis of $9.99. You can also add on a $50.00 per year tracking service and a $7.99 a year insurance fee. Here is where some people compare prices and don't like the idea of having to pay a fee every year. Hopefully as more user's come on line the service fee's will drop, but for now this is still a GREAT price to consider for you safety. I want to explain why before you get fixated on price alone.
Where older PLB's have the one function, SPOT has this function as well, but it also has so much more. This is where the traditional PLB's stop and SPOT continues on and earns it's "Messenger" title. SPOT has the ability to communicate with your friends and family advising them of your location and your status. Now it's not a telephone, cell phone, or SAT phone, but it does use a similar network as a SAT phone and is actually designed and marketed as a side company of Global Star Satellite Phone company.
If you take a look at the button functions of the SPOT you will notice it has a "help",
"ON/OFF", "OK", and "911" buttons.
These functions are what gave me that sleepless night the first time I saw the device.
The "Help" button is used for non-emergency/non-life threatening situations. This is for when you don't need the National Guard or SAR teams called in. Say you lock your keys in your car, or get stuck in the mud, or even have an injury that is obviously not life threatening.
The "ON/OFF" button I hope is self explanatory.
The "OK" button is what really intrigued me to lose sleep. You push the button and your friends and family know that you are OK. What does this mean, and why did I lose sleep because of it? In Canyoneering 99% of the time we are away from any phone service at all. What we have done (if we are smart) is left information about where we are going, what we are doing, and when we will check in with friends of family members. What happens though, is that we spend a little more time in the canyon taking pictures, or we take a longer rest, or a rope gets stuck and we take more time pulling it. There is a myriad of things that cause us to be a little late, but nothing serious. We have now missed our check in time and we still have 1-2+ hrs of drive time to get to phone service to call. Our family has now called the local SAR because we haven't checked in and they are pacing the floor. With the "OK" button all we have to do is periodically push the button and a message is sent to our contacts informing them that we are just fine. There is no need to have them pace the floor or contact SAR. This feature itself is worth the expense. How much do you pay per month for your cell phone, and they don't work in the outdoors. You break down the cost on a per month basis, once the unit is purchased, the cost is $8.25 a month for the annual service.
The last button is the "911" button. This one is your emergency button used to summon SAR and the National Guard. When you push it, a signal is sent to the GEOS satellite system and transferred to the Air Force in Houston, TX. They then receive the information and contact the nearest SAR teams to your location.
A little more about how the unit operates and how information is received. Once you purchase the unit and activate it you have access to a web based information form. Each time you go out on a trip you can log into this site. Enter information about your trip. You also choose up to five contacts. You enter either an e-mail address or a cell phone number for those contacts. These contacts are placed under either "Help" or "OK". You also enter a pre-determined text in these two fields. In the "OK" field I would enter something like, "This is Jared checking in and letting you know we are OK." Under the "Help" field I would enter something like, "We have had a situation and need some help, please contact the local authorities to my location."
Once you have entered this information you are ready to go on your trip. Now what happens when you push these buttons? When you push either the "Help" or the "OK" button your pre-entered text is sent to your contacts cell phone as a text message or their e-mail inbox, depending on what you entered. Along with you pre-entered text, a link is sent directing your contacts to a Google embedded map showing you location along with the Lat/Long GPS coordinates of your location. These features are indispensable in the outdoors where cell phone service is few and far between if at all.
A few more words about the cost. The unit from our store costs $159.00. Your yearly service fee to the company, not us, is $99.00 per year (broken down to $8.25 a month). Or a monthly fee basis of $9.99 a month. I anticipate that you pay more than this for you cell phone which won't work in most outdoor environments.
I mentioned earlier the optional $50.00 tracking fee. This is an add on feature. If you opt for this it gives you the option to activate your unit for a 24 hr. period and it will automatically send out a notice to your contacts every ten minutes instead of having you activate it. This function is optional and can be added at any time. Once activated it will track your progress through the day.
The $7.99 per year insurance fee is something I would highly recommend. For $7.99 per year it gives you $100,000 of insurance ($50,000 per incident). This covers helicopter evac
s and such. This feature is what you need to have rescue service outside of the continental United States. If you are planning on traveling the world with this unit, you will want this insurance. One other thing with this insurance is it is optional also, however it is only $7.99 per year if you sign up for it when first activating the unit. If you sign up later it is somewhere around $120 - $150 per year.
Our companies focus is on currently on the Canyoneering community, however this device is not limited to only Canyoneering use. The SPOT Satellite Messenger is perfect for anyone in the outdoors. Hikers, Hunters, Rock Climbers, Campers, ATV'ers, Fisherman, Boaters, Sailor's, Snowmobiler's, Skiers, etc. It is also a great unit to keep in the glove box of a vehicle while traveling. You never know when your car is going to break down out of cell phone service. This past Christmas this unit was our number one seller which gives me great hope that we are going to have more people in the outdoors better prepared to receive emergency help. I would entertain any questions about the unit as well as feedback on the unit from current customers.
We will also be opening up units to be used as rentals as needed. If you would like to try one out contact us for rental information. $20.00 per day.
