kinda bummed

[patrickg450]

...........so I did a bunch of research, or so I thought. I purchased a Spot Connect to give to my wife to give to me for Xmas. Here I sit fooling around with, I was all jacked because I could send custom messages on my future rides. Well hell..........there's a USB port to run off of (battery life sucks I knew that) but all it said on line was "no longer water proof when being used". Talk about a understatement, in order to use it the cover with belt clip has to be removed, well I could do that but the plug is in the bottom and now it CANT be mounted in a ram mount for my bars. WTF!!!!!!

Going to have to call them folks tomorrow and seek an exchange or see if they make something so I can hook it up the ST and mount it.

Any one have the same unit?

Anyone choose a diff unit?

I got this one for the custom messages but now I think it aint worth it. My only other experience was a friend had a gen 1 we used about 4 years ago. Any input on which one is best please post away.

Merry Christmas.

PG

 

[rem]

Check out Delorme inReach SE. Awesome little unit. And they make a very sturdy custom fit handlebar (think motorcycle) mount for it. R Good luck.

 

[sportsguy]

Delorme Inreach SE here, too. Toss it in my bag and ride.

 

[terryth]

No issues with my spot connect at all that I have had for a couple of years now, just toss it in tank bag and go, never even though about having it powered from the bike. One set of batteries lasted my entire 21 day trans-labrador highway trip. I don't use the automatic every 10 minute transmit tracking feature (even then a set of batteries should last a couple of days) and only sent updates and texts when stopped and turned it off at night. Anyway, batteries are easy to find and easy to carry an extra set if needed

 

[EricV]

Spot 2 here. You can make the 'ok' & Custom ' messages read anything you want. Granted, you are not going to be changing them while out for a ride. I use the 'ok' as my brief stop message and the Custom ' as my done for the day message.

I mean hey, are you out for a ride, or not? How much do you really need to communicate?

If you're not using tracking, why do you carry it,?

 

[patrickg450]

Delorme Inreach SE here, too. Toss it in my bag and ride.

Never heard of it, will do a goggle search and see what I find. I basically want a device that tracks me so my family can see where I am at. I looked to the spot connect since I could send custom messages, (41 character text/email when I want to). When we did our CDR on DR650 we had the original one. My friends and co-workers tracked us for the 2 1/2 weeks. it was cool to log in and see where we had been.

I take at least 1 10 day trip and year and 4 or 5 3 dayers, this year I am planning on Canada 3 1/2 weeks. So thats why I got this one, thought I did all the research but I guess not.

 

[Hungry Tiger]

Decided on inReach SE: Iridium is better satellite system, can send messages from the phone or directly from the unit, message delivery confirmations, 2-way messaging is great in emergency, 100 hr battery life. Costs more, but believe me. The differential disappears in time of need. Lunched oil sump (no skid plate) in remote mountains on paved road, late night, no cell coverage & no other vehicle traffic for over 2 hrs. It was getting cold & lonesome. My son and daughter came from 2 different directions. They beat the Highway Patrol by 2.5 hrs. I was home in bed when they called to see if I was ok. Anyway, my vote is for in reach SE.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk now Free

 

[ADVFireFighter]

Spot Connect user here and ZERO issues. If you are gone for a month and use it daily, you'll use 3 sets of battery MAYBE... I used mine constantly when in Alaska hiking and on my adventures in Denali, forgetting to turn it off a few nights and it lasted forever with the batteries. I would never need full time power... What batteries are you using that you see you need to power constantly? There's no way you can go through batteries that fast...

 

[patrickg450]

I read the manual Spot provides, battery usage is 72 hours MAX. Of course this is subjective since it connects thru blue tooth and have the ability to send messages. The more messages you send the quicker you will go thur batteeries........


So if I leave it on and track for 12 hours a day according to them the MOST it will last is 6 days. It makes sense to me as blue tooth seems to eat up power, so thats why I wanted to power it via USB from the ST.

 

[kmac]

There is an app from "the cloud" I think that was free that allows parents to track their kids whereabouts that could possibly do what you need without the expense...obviously only when in cell coverage, but if you are looking to just keep them abreast of your journey it would work fine...then just a basic spot or similar for emergency extraction issues...just a thought.

Personally, I ride to get away...totally away. I don't usually want anyone to know much. I just ride....ride...ride some more...check in once a day or so, every other day if there is limited service. I know, I am weird and probably a bit crazy....well, definitely crazy, but the meds help a bit :

 

[patrickg450]

got a few big trips planned, my family like to follow me. run out of cell service about 2 a trip, or in case an accident happens.

 

[EricV]

got a few big trips planned, my family like to follow me. run out of cell service about 2 a trip, or in case an accident happens.

... so you're telling me you need a Spot II and tracking. Not sure what you're seeing or expecting to get with the Spot Connect.

Regardless, sign up with SpotWalla. Free and a lot more usefull than Spot's own system.

 

[patrickg450]

have always wanted one, a riding buddy of mine had one. It pooped out.......there is a chance I may have to do some alone riding as my usual guy are going to miss this trip. I liked the idea of being able to send custom messages, tell the wife where I am, how I am. Mom and Dad as well, thats why I opted for the spot connect.

Spotwall? gonna have to do a google search.

 

[EricV]

https://spotwalla.com/

I can appreciate your desire to send custom messages, but really, you only need to tell them if you are just stopped for a while, no reason to worry, or if you are stopped for the day, safe and sound. Looking at the tracking data tells them where you are.

The regular Spot is simple and easy to use. A set of 3 AAA 9x lithium batteries lasts me about 10, 20 hour days while using tracking and hitting the occasional Ok or Custom ping. The Spot III has a few additional features, but for 95% of people, it's not worth the extra money.

Something to understand about tracking on the Spot II. If you do nothing, it will turn itself off after 24 hours. Not the whole spot unit, just it will drop out of tracking. The Spot III won't do this. HOWEVER, when you're in tracking mode on the Spot II, and you use Ok or Custom for a ping, the 24 hour period of tracking starts over. I typically hit an OK when I stop for more than 10 minutes, like a lunch stop, or BSing with another rider I ran into, etc. I use the Custom message for my end of day ping. Even if I don't have cell service, the Custom Ping tells my wife that I'm safe and everything is cool. If she wants to know where I am, she can either click on the link in the message, (she gets email and phone notifications), or go to my Spotwalla Trip that I have set up. I set up one Spotwalla trip for a ten year period, and set up additional shorter Trips if I need or want to just track a shorter period, (or only want to give someone a short period to track me during).

What I dislike about the Spot Connect is that it's dependent on your cell phone. If I understand correctly from the Spot web site, if your phone is dead or broken, you do not have the ability to use the Spot Connect. Even to send a SOS or Help.

 

[Mark R.]

I agree with Eric, the Spot Connect is dependent on your phone, while the regular spot is not. I had a Connect and took it back and reactivated my old spot, because the Connect would not reliably connect to the phone via bluetooth. I like the rugged simplicity of the regular spot II that I have.

 

[patrickg450]

Yea I have already started the return process with Amazon, the connect is going back. I know a few members said they liked it and I thank them for their input but I elected to return it. I am leaning to the spot 3, what I read was the spot 3 turns itself off when it stops moving. The gen 2 has to be start/stopped.

Got my surgery in a few hours, this will be a post op decision.

Thanks

 

[True Grip]

Best wishes for a sucessful surgery!!

Don't think to much about stuff till you get off the percocets or your liable to have a garage full of stuff ;D

 

[snakebitten]

Lol. True Grip. I miss you man.

 

[tomatocity]

I agree with Eric, the Spot Connect is dependent on your phone, while the regular spot is not. I had a Connect and took it back and reactivated my old spot, because the Connect would not reliably connect to the phone via bluetooth. I like the rugged simplicity of the regular spot II that I have.

Or the SPOT GEN3 http://sectionhiker.com/spot-gen3-satellite-gps-messenger-review/ . Haven't bought the 3 yet but when I do it will because of the hard to depress buttons on the SPOT 2.

 

[EricV]

Or the SPOT GEN3 http://sectionhiker.com/spot-gen3-satellite-gps-messenger-review/ . Haven't bought the 3 yet but when I do it will because of the hard to depress buttons on the SPOT 2.

I have not experienced this problem. If, like the reviewer, you are pressing the button and it does not activate, (you do have to hold it for 3 seconds), then the unit is defective and you should contact Spot about it.

I have used my key tip on occasion for convenience, but the gloved fingertip is usually my poking device of choice.