SPOT GPS Beacon Safety Device

On my winter camping trips I have a Personal Locater Beacon that accompanies me that will allow our camping party to send our GPS location along with a distress signal that will bring in a search and rescue team. It is a great device, but can only be used in a true life threatening emergency and bears significant costs if used for any other circumstance. I also have a Breitling Emergency watch which can transmit an emergency beacon on an aviation rescue frequency that carries the same penalties for non-emergency use. Both devices are also quite expensive, with the PLB costing about $700.00 and the watch several thousand.

What has been missing in the market place is a beaconing device that allows for non-life threatening emergency use or to check in with an “A OKAY” message to family and friends. The Spot Satellite Personal Messenger helps fill that void by providing GPS location services with messaging services over the Globalstar Satellite messaging network. What is unique to the SPOT device is that in addition to a 911 (genuine life threatening emergency) button, it also provides two additional communication features which can be set up by the user to trigger messages to their preferred recipients. Users can trigger and “OKAY” message which sends a scripted message to selected email address or cellular phones via SMS. This allows you to check in and designate that all is well. It also puts your location on a Google Maps page so that your recipients can track your location and follow your trip. It also has a user configured “HELP” button which will send a message the user creates (via a web interface prior to departure) to selected recipients. This can help trigger a desired action (e.g. request an extraction or assistance) without engaging a full search and rescue effort (which will incur significant costs).

Your GPS location and message trigger (e.g. OKAY, HELP, 911) are sent via the Globalstar satellite network. As a disappointed Globalstar satellite phone customer, I was concerned about using a device on their network, but in researching the issue I discovered that their completion rate for one way messaging is over 99% and that service degradation is not expected on the messaging network like it is on the voice network. The argument makes sense given the SPOT device must simply transmit one small packet as opposed to maintaining a voice quality connection. In addition, the technology is deployed in lots of freight tracking products so there is a strong commercial incentive to make sure it is reliable. Global coverage is available with the exception of portions of South Africa. A full coverage map is available on the company’s web site.
In our tests, the device worked exactly as specified. Upon receiving the device, it was easily registered and configured via the company’s website. It should be noted that there is a subscription fee for using the device of $100 a year. It is not clear whether you can still use the 911 feature if you don’t subscribe, but I can’t imagine them ignoring a life threatening emergency beacon because the user didn’t pay the fee, much like the cell phone companies can’t ignore a 911 call on a non-subscribed cellular phone.

The GPS has reasonable sensitivity when traveling in a vehicle, but it appeared that there were messaging delays to the SPOT network from inside the vehicle. Given the device is intended for use in open areas, it performed as expected when used outside in a static location. While we did not test the 911 feature, the OKAY and HELP worked as specified with email and SMS messages being sent to our specified contact list. The device can also be put in tracker mode, which will broadcast your location every 10 minutes for 24 hours.

The SPOT device should be a regular component of any outdoor enthusiasts kit or as a nice component to travelers that frequent areas where cell phone reception is not available. With a price point of $150.00, the cost of entry is not significant and the subscription can be viewed as a $100/year insurance policy. Well worth the cost if it keeps your family from worrying or should you ever need to deploy the device in a true emergency situation.

Amazon Kindle review

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