got the S.P.O.T

my lovely wife bought me the S.P.O.T for are anniversery[ man i wish i would have not bought her a new broom....:) j/k] so does anyone have one? i need to read up on my next steps to get it activated. and is it worth getting the "tracking" feature?
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AGCHAWK
OK....being a military man I should be MORE than used to accronyms...but I have no idea what a SPOT is. Fill me in Killer!

Is it one of those emergency thingamajiggers?!
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killerbee
lol yes it's an emergency " thingamajigger" lol
i'll find a link i can post up later today. but it's cool, you can send "ok" messages to 5 emails and/or 5 cell phones. also you can send "help-non emergency" messages[ lots of hunters use this for "i killed an animal , so i'll be home late". and also you can send "911" to all those same people + [most importantly] it send it to your 911 office /search and rescue.
it'd great for giving my wife a little peace of mind when i do my solo bivy hunts each year. i'll get a link and post it tonight
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AGCHAWK
Gotcha. That's what I thought it was but wasn't sure.

Yea, that would be pretty cool! I'll have to take a look at them one of these days.
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"killerbee" wrote:lol yes it's an emergency " thingamajigger" lol
i'll find a link i can post up later today. but it's cool, you can send "ok" messages to 5 emails and/or 5 cell phones. also you can send "help-non emergency" messages[ lots of hunters use this for "i killed an animal , so i'll be home late". and also you can send "911" to all those same people + [most importantly] it send it to your 911 office /search and rescue.
it'd great for giving my wife a little peace of mind when i do my solo bivy hunts each year. i'll get a link and post it tonight
 My in-laws got my wife and I one for xmas this year since we do a lot of backpacking and backcountry skiing and I am planning on using it this fall for some solo hunting. They are nice and work well. The tracking feature is nice if you are planning on long, multi-day trips and your loved ones want to track your progress but for just day excursions it may not be worth it.
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My family got me one last year. I used it on a ten day hunt in CO. Sent an ok message 7 nights in a row. One got out. Remember it is a GPS. Make sure you have a clear view of the sky and give it awhile (20 minutes or so) to aquire sat signal before sending. I would turn on my handheld GPS and wait for it to aquire then send the spot ok. You can't tell from the spot if it goes through are not. Let your family know they may get the message and they may not. Do not trust this with your life if you get hurt or lost. I've used it for the last year and the service is spotty at best. It's a great idea if you could tell for sure if the signal goes. Good luck.
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ABert
"maintguy47" wrote:My family got me one last year. I used it on a ten day hunt in CO. Sent an ok message 7 nights in a row. One got out. Remember it is a GPS. Make sure you have a clear view of the sky and give it awhile (20 minutes or so) to aquire sat signal before sending. I would turn on my handheld GPS and wait for it to aquire then send the spot ok. You can't tell from the spot if it goes through are not. Let your family know they may get the message and they may not. Do not trust this with your life if you get hurt or lost. I've used it for the last year and the service is spotty at best. It's a great idea if you could tell for sure if the signal goes. Good luck.
 This is what I've heard and has made me reluctant to get one. Think I'll wait a bit longer to see if things improve.

Killer, hopefully you won't have these problems as all the kinks are gone. Keep us up to date on how yours works for you.
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killerbee
acually, i've heard alot the same. thats why i haven't bought myself one. but i have one now so i'll use it and be able to give another first hand opinion.
from what i've heard, asking around, you just cant expect more than it's capablilities. compare it more to a gps a couple yrs ago. it takes a deffinate clear view of the sky. and give it time to do it's job. you cant turn it on, push the message button, the turn it back off. i haven't activated it yet, hopefully next week i'll get more time.i have to re-read the directions, but there is a light blinking system, to assure you a message has gone through. some guys say absolutly every message they have sent has went through. others , like MAINTGUY said, say they have problems with half of their messages not going through. so -- i dont know?? hopefully after playing with it, it will work great. a little peace of mind to the family will be worth packing the few extra ounces around. i'll let you all know how it works for me.
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