SPOT services and SPOT-1 Vs. SPOT-2.

I know a lot of people here have the SPOT device on their motorcycles and are subscribing to their services.

My questions are:

1. How useful do you find it?

2. How good is it at finding your location, where do you mount it and how it affects its reception? I was thinking of super velcro'ing it to the glove box lid.

3. Is the message service and tracking services 100% reliable?

4. Do you subscribe to just the basic service or the extra tracking services as well? Have the tracking services proven worth the extra $$?

5. Does anyone here have the SPOT-2? Does it offer any significant advantage over the SPOT-1? Have the recall issues been addressed?

Thanks very much for your inputs!

I reviewed in this thread when they first came out.

I used a SPOT 1 for the first time just last weekend for a 1500 mile trip. A friend lent me his.

I carried it under the clear plastic on the the top of my tank bag. It seemed to work just fine.

My wife really liked being able to follow my progress, and there some comfort knowing that I could summon help if I needed it.

I plan on buying my own before my next long trip.

Here's my trip.

puppychow said:

I know a lot of people here have the SPOT device on their motorcycles and are subscribing to their services.
My questions are:

1. How useful do you find it?

2. How good is it at finding your location, where do you mount it and how it affects its reception? I was thinking of super velcro'ing it to the glove box lid.

3. Is the message service and tracking services 100% reliable?

4. Do you subscribe to just the basic service or the extra tracking services as well? Have the tracking services proven worth the extra $$?

5. Does anyone here have the SPOT-2? Does it offer any significant advantage over the SPOT-1? Have the recall issues been addressed?

Thanks very much for your inputs!

Click to expand...

1. For what it does, it's about the only game out there unless you want to buy a PLB but a PLB does not do messaging or tracking. I have it basically for peace of mind while riding back roads with no cell phone service, both pavement and off-road. I do a lot of hiking as well, so it's just another safety layer.

2. When riding, I use the arm band and don't mount it to the bike. If you go down and are separated from your bike then you're separated from your Spot. If I'm significantly injured or immobile, I want to have that SOS button on me, not on the bike. After all, I'm the one who will need help, not my ride.

3. Nothing is 100%. The messages goes out multiple times over a certain period of time to ensure the message gets through. I haven't lost a check-in OK message yet.

4. I got tracking included due to the Spot 2 recall. It's free for now so what the hell. But for me, it's not the reason I have one (which was a Christmas present anyway). We'll see if I renew the service when it expires.

5. Yes. I got mine as a gift but had to send it back for the recall. It did come back repaired but not to my satisfaction. There were/are quite a few comments about this on Spot's Facebook page. However a very very nice woman from Spot called me and got everything sorted. She sent me a brand new Spot 2 fresh from the assembly line and it has been working flawlessly so far.

I have found the MySpot/Spot Adventures on-line stuff quite clunky and not very intuitive, however.

Good luck.

I have a SPOT-1. Here's my two cents...

1. How useful do you find it?

• I find it very useful. It gives my wife a lot of peace of mind when I'm out on a long, multi-day ride far from home, to see where I am. A lot of friends and family also enjoy following my track online. I also like having a permanent record of the route for all my fun trips, using the Spot Trip Manager, which was recently renamed

SpotWalla.2. How good is it at finding your location, where do you mount it and how it affects its reception?

• I mount mine piggy-back on my radar detector, using a Garauld reservoir mount. The velcro strap keeps it totally secure, but it's still easy to remove at the end of the day. See

this thread for details and pictures. I sometimes overlay my GPS track on the SPOT track map, and they match up almost exactly 95% of the time.3. Is the message service and tracking services 100% reliable?

• In my experience, the message service has been 100% reliable, if I have a clear view of the sky. Tracking services on the SPOT-1 are NOT 100% reliable - but they are reliable enough for me. Heavily wooded areas can be a problem, since the trees block the path to the sky. I believe that tracking mode has been significantly improved with the SPOT-2.

4. Do you subscribe to just the basic service or the extra tracking services as well? Have the tracking services proven worth the extra $$?

• I use the tracking service, and find it well worth the extra money. (See my note under item 1)

5. Does anyone here have the SPOT-2? Does it offer any significant advantage over the SPOT-1? Have the recall issues been addressed?

• I have a SPOT-1, so this doesn't apply to me.

My Spot experience is similar to the previous posters.

1. Agree that it gives my wife and family peace of mind. I got it after one particular solo ride where I had no phone service and realized that if I ever went off the road it would be unlikely that anyone would ever find me. So it gives me peace of mind as well.

2. It's pretty good. There are times when it misses on tracking and I can't always say it is strictly due to not having a clear view of the sky as one time I left it on in my garage and it had no problem sending out a signal through the roof for about eight hours. I have mounted mine on a Ram Ball that screwed into the unused hole next to the clutch resevoir. I also bought a SPOT cradle from Cycle Gadgets and as you can see I just wrap the tether around the base to keep it from flapping around (you don't have to put the tether on if you don't want to). I believe that SPOT recommends that it be at least 12 inches from your GPS device. I don't think mine is that far but I haven't had a problem that I know of.



3. As explained above, it is not 100% reliable but pretty close. Here is a link to my 600 mile trip from yesterday and the day before. It's supposed to send out a signal every 20 minutes. You can see that it missed a few...but not many and we have a lot of trees in PA and hills too. I guess you could say we have mountains too but really they are just big hills compared to the Western US ranges.

My Spot Shared Page

4. Basic + Tracking +GEOS Rescue Member Benefit

5. Spot 1 but I waited until they had a deal where you got the device for free as long as you signed up for the service for a year. I just renewed my second year.

I think others have mentioned...it's cheap extra assurance/insurance. I think it is a good value for what it provides and if it ever gets my butt out of big trouble it will have been an invaluable investment.

Do you have someone at home wondering about you when you ride? SPOT is worth it's weight in gold. I now consider it an essential part of my rally equipment. The tracking function is essential.

Thanks much for the inputs guys! I think I will be picking one up. Now, I just have to pick between the SPOT-1 for $99 or the SPOT-2 $149...

Agreed. Spot Rocks. Just re-upped for 169 a year which sounds expensive unless you think about being busted up unable to move, each breath coming shorter and shorter and the pain growing faster than imaginable and Spot is on your arm.... just sayin'.

2. When riding, I use the arm band and don't mount it to the bike. If you go down and are separated from your bike then you're separated from your Spot. If I'm significantly injured or immobile, I want to have that SOS button on me, not on the bike. After all, I'm the one who will need help, not my ride.

Click to expand...

Where did you get the arm band? Did it come with the unit? This sounds like something I would like to do as well - have it on me instead of on the bike.

puppychow said:

2. When riding, I use the arm band and don't mount it to the bike. If you go down and are separated from your bike then you're separated from your Spot. If I'm significantly injured or immobile, I want to have that SOS button on me, not on the bike. After all, I'm the one who will need help, not my ride.

Click to expand...

Where did you get the arm band? Did it come with the unit? This sounds like something I would like to do as well - have it on me instead of on the bike.

Click to expand...

The arm band comes with the Spot Satellite Messenger (Spot 2).

From the product info off the REI website: •Comes with snug neoprene case, armband, carabiner clip, car dash attachment and 1 set of replacement button covers

eg23232 said:

puppychow said:

2. When riding, I use the arm band and don't mount it to the bike. If you go down and are separated from your bike then you're separated from your Spot. If I'm significantly injured or immobile, I want to have that SOS button on me, not on the bike. After all, I'm the one who will need help, not my ride.

Click to expand...

Where did you get the arm band? Did it come with the unit? This sounds like something I would like to do as well - have it on me instead of on the bike.

Click to expand...

The arm band comes with the Spot Satellite Messenger (Spot 2).

From the product info off the REI website: •Comes with snug neoprene case, armband, carabiner clip, car dash attachment and 1 set of replacement button covers

Click to expand...

I also have a spot 2 with the included arm band, but how did you wrap it around your arm? Based on what I can see on mine, you've gotta have pretty large arms for it to velcro back around to itself even at the smallest setting (the excess strap after running it through the plastic piece is way too long)

I have the SPOT 2. It works great. The only "advantage" over the SPOT 1 as far as I know, is the smaller size. The SPOT 2 uses 'AAA' batteries and is rated for a shorter battery life than the SPOT 1, which uses 'AA's. Battery life in both cases is more than adequate, especially if you don't use the tracking function. Whether or not its useful is a subjective question. I hope mine is never useful. If it does become useful, I hope it performs as reliably as it has when I really don't need to use it.

I paid for the tracking service because I'm a gadget geek, and I paid for the roadside assistance service because its pretty cheap, and portable to any vehicle I'm using. I also paid for the GEOS member rescue benefit - in case I really get in trouble in the middle of nowhere. The only thing I didn't pay for was the replacement plan. The thing works now and appears to be pretty rugged. If it breaks I'll just buy another one.

I just bought the SPOT and it showed up in the mail this week. I haven't activated it yet and will do so this weekend.

BTW--I think with the upgrade they are closing out the older model. I got mine for $49.95 brand new, although they dinged me $15.57 for shipping/handling, so total was $65.52 shipped. Showed up right on time...

https://www.oncycles.com/catalog.asp?pn=MEP00001

Thanks for that link, Spud. I freaking LOST my spot a couple weeks back. Along with the tank bag it was in. Don't even ask. I suspended the service so I couldn't be dinged for any emergency calls somebody put out on my account, but I still have over a year of service paid up, so if I get another one I can transfer the service to the new device. I was considering getting a Spot 2, which is basically the same but a lot smaller by all dimensions, which is nice. Has a couple of extra features, like the ability to cancel a "help" call--say if you hit that button by mistake. But this is a great price.

OTOH, if an existing SPOT customer (like me) gets a SPOT 2, they'll discount the 2--some--and let you transfer your coverage. Overall, I like it, and I'll probably replace the lost one somehow. As another said, it gives you and the folks at home peace of mind, always a good thing.

dcarver said:

". . . sounds expensive unless you think about being busted up unable to move, each breath coming shorter and shorter and the pain growing faster than imaginable and Spot is on your arm...."

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Jeez, you paint quite a word picture there, Don.

phroenips said:

". . .you've gotta have pretty large arms for it to velcro back around to itself even at the smallest setting (the excess strap after running it through the plastic piece is way too long)

Click to expand...

Gee, you had a problem with that? :bb:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

SacramentoMike said:

phroenips said:

". . .you've gotta have pretty large arms for it to velcro back around to itself even at the smallest setting (the excess strap after running it through the plastic piece is way too long)

Click to expand...

Gee, you had a problem with that? :bb:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Click to expand...

I am only 170 lbs... so maybe I would have a problem too.. I don't have arms like these...



That is a really good price on the SPOT, however I might have to buy mine from Cabela's as I got a $100 + $75 gift card awards from work only good at Cabela's and they sell theirs for $99 for SPOT and $149 for SPOT2 and I can't think of anything else I might want to buy at Cabela's...

SacramentoMike said:

Thanks for that link, Spud. I freaking LOST my spot a couple weeks back. I suspended the service so I couldn't be dinged for any emergency calls somebody put out on my account

Click to expand...

Uhhh, not to be a wiseass SM, but why didn't you use the SPOT tracking system to locate your missing SPOT?

Spud said:

I just bought the SPOT and it showed up in the mail this week. I haven't activated it yet and will do so this weekend.
BTW--I think with the upgrade they are closing out the older model. I got mine for $49.95 brand new, although they dinged me $15.57 for shipping/handling, so total was $65.52 shipped. Showed up right on time...

https://www.oncycles.com/catalog.asp?pn=MEP00001

Click to expand...

Thanks puppy chow for the timely posting! And Thanks Spud for saving me some $$. I had already

decided on a SPOT 1 model, now I'll save some $$ with the link. I was gonna pick one up today for

the $99. BTW Yamaha dealership was gonna sell the SPOT 1 "at cost" to me for ($129) :lol:

Hudson said:

SacramentoMike said:

Thanks for that link, Spud. I freaking LOST my spot a couple weeks back. I suspended the service so I couldn't be dinged for any emergency calls somebody put out on my account

Click to expand...

Uhhh, not to be a wiseass SM, but why didn't you use the SPOT tracking system to locate your missing SPOT?

Click to expand...

It was on "manual" mode, where it marks your location only with a button push.

Dammit.