[Fellow C-Dory folk Bill and El posted a quick review of the SPOT "Satellite Personal Tracker" today. SPOT is a clever little not-an-EPIRB and not-precisely-a-PLB product we've discussed before. Bill has given me permission to reprint his review here. See it in its original context over on the C-Brats site. --Tim]
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Here’s a little side tale on the Spot device. We took the Spot with us to Greece the past three weeks — worked great, for the purpose of letting the family know where we were and that all was fine with us.
1. Grandkids belong to a geography club at school — we sent them a Spot location every time we were at an interesting location (Greek ruin, usually) on our trip. They (and their club) could google earth the exact location, then use google’s satellite photo option and zoom down to see the site close up. So the class ‘joined’ us at the Acropolis, Aphea, Delphi and Olympic stadium — they then ‘wikied’ info on the sites and had a great time learning about Greek history.
2. There was a sharp earthquake while we were there — we sent the family a Spot location and ‘We’re OK’ message, within an hour of the quake — they knew we were fine and located on a boat off the island of Spetses, so no hazard from ground shaking. Good peace of mind for them.
3. We sent Spot locations from each airport on flight over and return –so they knew where we were and that all was fine. We had 4 flights in succession canceled at JFK due to winter storm on our return, and finally made it out on the last flight to leave JFK that day — it came to Denver via Salt Lake and our Spot locations let them know when we left JFK, that we were in Salt Lake, and then at our midnight arrival back in Denver (we should have arrived at 11:00 am that morning).
4. Will this work for us in our travels and cruising? No doubt about it! They will get our ‘We’re OK’ messages and know our location and condition. The locations were excellent, the ease of use superior, and generally a great addition to our (and our family’s) lives. We did not test either the ‘Help’ or ’911′ capability of the Spot, since this was unnecessary, but have confidence that it will work fine.
Is this a substitute for an EPIRB? No — Spot is waterproof, but takes a few minutes to send a message. You may not have time to be sure the message is received or if it will be acted upon, in an emergency. VHF Mayday is surely the best — you talk to a person and know they have your location and problem. (But we have sent Mayday without contact, so that is certainly not foolproof). But it certainly is a most useful device for us, on the water and off. Our kids will know our location (and that we’re fine) when we are out of range for phone or aircard. And it doesn’t interrupt the routine of their lives.
http://findmespot.com/ if you want more info.
El and Bill on Halcyon
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[Thanks, Bill!]
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Not to find fault with the user, but I wonder as to the legality of using these within a foreign country. Normally Satcom landing rights are a matter of national interest.