Has anyone tried the new SPOT CONNECT??

Pedersen · May 25, 2011

Was supposed to have a release in january, but never seen anything about it after.
was supposed to have possibilyties for short messaging via bluetooth...
is there someone out there with any experience on one of these?

christopher · May 25, 2011

not too many comments out there yet.

5.0 out of 5 stars Spot Connect a winner!, May 4, 2011
By
Cramper - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Smartphone Satellite Communicator - Spot Connect (Misc.)
I felt inclined to write a review since there is very little real info on the spot connect right now. It works!! after receiving it, downloading the app on my htc evo. I fired it up synced it to the phone, briefed the owners manual, and the thing is ready to rock. As it advertises sends 41 charter text and email messages to a easy to set up group of people. From the time you hit send on your device to the time your text and email messages are received is under 5 minutes. The facebook updating also worked without a hitch. I had no problem syncing it and it appears to work within the standard range of all bluetooth devices. This is a must have for anyone going out of cell phone range. I was out of cell service for an extra two days in San Felipe Mexico due to vehicle trouble in the mountains, that I was suppose to be back in the US. While we were drinking Tecates soakin up the sun my family was planning my funeral in San Diego, wish I had it then. I cant wait to use the live tracking on my next adventure.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/voting/cas...ful.Reviews&voteSessionID=180-5695503-0416567

1.0 out of 5 stars Nowhere near Emergency Reliability, April 21, 2011
By
Patrick A. Jones (Green Mountain Falls, CO United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Smartphone Satellite Communicator - Spot Connect (Misc.)
Received this today, and after encountering multiple issues setting it up and using the incredibly sophomoric iPhone app, there is no way I am trusting my life to this cobbled together system. I can only wonder if the connection with the iPhone from inches away is that spotty, how reliable is the satellite connection? Not going to find out, but will go with a different company.

Pedersen · May 25, 2011

Haha, those 2 was from both outer edges of the scala...
better keep an eye on it during summer

backcountryislife · May 25, 2011

I've read a bunch of reviews on it & have seen very few negatives (the one above was the worst by far that I saw)

It's not a simple system, IF you want to send specific messages, but if you want to use it for the emergency tool that it is in a nasty situation, it's much simpler, just press the button.

My wife will be working in an area with no cell reception all summer,

And I like the idea of having basically a one way sat phone at a FRACTION of the cost, so I'll be getting one. The guy talking about "going with a different company" must know something I don't because I see nothing else like this.

backcountryislife · May 26, 2011

Ok... I just bought one from www.snowbigdeal.com about 5 minutes ago. (great guys to deal with btw)

I'll get back to you ASAP to let you know how it works in the mountains of CO.

I'm very excited to be able to use this for a number of uses. We both shoot photos on this river, her on the class III section, myself on the class V. III or V, things can go really wrong (not always in a horrible way, but trips being late, or a big swim from a company that slowed things down) & I like being able to send a specific message to what's up. I know days where I got slowed down in Gore Canyon (the nasty part of the river to the right in the canyon) she has been really freaked out, so this is awesome. One of my best friends nearly died in there 3 years ago, and we used a sat phone to get him out, now I can use the spot if I ever need to.

my cubicle:

^^^ shot I took, one of my favorites

^^^ didn't take this one.

hers:

Pedersen · May 26, 2011

Nice pics!
Think it was Snowbigdeal who helped me out with gear in january when I was over there, BCA Float30, Beacon, shovel and probe.
Great customer-service, I'm sure they will get my $'s next time.
Looking foreward to hear how it works, and if it's good I think I'll need one.

backcountryislife · May 29, 2011

ok, so I used it this weekend & have it all set up to go.

Couple observations.

With 14 preloaded messages, and up to 10 different contact groups, you'll likely never need to use the text feature (the only thing that costs extra)

I filled my messages with what we thought would be common.

gonna be late (got 4 of them depending on how late), on my way out, heading home... a bunch of more personal ones for Abby to send or me to send to her, (since you can choose who to send to), it's pretty useful.

very cool unit

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0lUqfJWkAUEB4FqSmvUyNPCW8LpzczR7y

NorthMNSledder · Jun 22, 2011

backcountryislife said:
ok, so I used it this weekend & have it all set up to go.

Couple observations.

With 14 preloaded messages, and up to 10 different contact groups, you'll likely never need to use the text feature (the only thing that costs extra)

I filled my messages with what we thought would be common.

gonna be late (got 4 of them depending on how late), on my way out, heading home... a bunch of more personal ones for Abby to send or me to send to her, (since you can choose who to send to), it's pretty useful.

very cool unit

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0lUqfJWkAUEB4FqSmvUyNPCW8LpzczR7y

Thanks for the write up, Seems like a nice set-up. As you use it this summer please let us know if you run into any problems. I'm going to pick one up later this fall and so far pretty much everything I have read is positive.

Oh ya.....Nice office!!!!

backcountryislife · Jun 22, 2011

One glitch & one issue.

#1. The issue...

Right below the "track progress" button on this screen is the logout button

It's not shown in this, but you get the idea, it's the same size as the other buttons.

PQAAADOWqtjRIcOgABjal4dIm2OE9CDc0lJ9vqltJRXCGC3QsVE00YiEVGwM9xPagIRtkiUv-A_5P9ExJAuQxdIFf3YAzfqVac0BdqhtDbcj1DbIlLNR5uwEOj3B.png

If you accidentally hit the logout button when in the backcountry, you're SOL... you can't log back in. That button needs a secondary (are you sure???) kind of button press so that this doesn't happen, or it needs to be moved to an options type screen. This happened to Abby the first day & she was unable to send the second message.

#2. The glitch...

If you try changing the preloaded messages while the spot is in the backcountry (no reason to do that, but I was wondering if I could get the spot to "see" a change in messages, so that I could send a message TO it during the day) what happens is that it changes the order of the messages, and when the spot sends "message #13" which you had set to say "good day, coming home soon" the new message pushed that to a different spot, so instead you sent "holy balls, something just went REALLY wrong, I need help" instead.

So, don't mess with the messages while the spot is out there & not able to connect to the network.

Other than that, it has been working great for us. She's in a canyon, and it sends within about 2-3 min each time (she only turns it on when sending, so it needs time to find satellites, like a GPS) so that seems pretty reasonable to me.

20-30 messages later we're very impressed, it works great aside from the issues I mentioned which are easy to circumvent.

Pedersen · Aug 9, 2011

Thanks for the feedback, think I'll buy one very soon.

NorthMNSledder · Aug 16, 2011

So if I understand it correctly you can change the 14 preloaded messages when ever you want to (keeping in mind BCIS note about not doing it while out backcountry). But you could change them before every trip if you wanted too for different type of message depending on the circumstances of the trip.

Sled208 · Aug 16, 2011

When you say you're SOL after you log out when a cellular network is not available, you mean that the satellite texting is no longer available and it will only function as an emergency beacon (like the previous models)?

backcountryislife · Aug 17, 2011

Sled208 said:
When you say you're SOL after you log out when a cellular network is not available, you mean that the satellite texting is no longer available and it will only function as an emergency beacon (like the previous models)?

yes, you lose the functions that the droid or iphone brings to the table, and all you have is the 911 button.

FYI... they put out an update after I called them & explained the issue, which made it so at least that button is no longer on the page, now you have to scroll down the page to get to it, so you'd have to do more than just accidentally touch the screen to log out now... if you go into the market it should show you that an update is available for the software.

As for the messages... you could change them every day if you wanted to, doesn't matter, just has to be done before you go out in the backcountry & you need to sync before you leave.

I also find that when you're in fringe areas of service you may need to turn off data on your phone. My phone tried syncing over & over last weekend because it thought it had service, once I turned off the data (airplane mode won't work, as it won't use bluetooth), it connected like it should, and worked fine.

rmk2112 · Aug 17, 2011

Great info backcountryislife...your info is right on the money....as usual!!

I wanted to add a couple things to your comprehensive list. This info pertains to the iphone 4 app, I don't have any experience with the droid and SPOT

1. It's not really a glitch, but you'll think it's one if you didn't know.

When you have connected successfully and all is set up, you begin your trip and turn on the "Track Progress" mode. It will start tracking you and laying down progress pins on the map in your app....just like it should.

Let's say you happen to need another app on your iphone and go back to main menu & click on whatever app you wanted....Camera, Altimeter, etc. Then you go back into the SPOT Connect app and look at the map....

The connected track progress timer will go back to zero and you will have 0 confirmed locations!
You will think you have lost all your previous tracks! You haven't, The app on the phone doesn't have the ability to hold the track progress pins in memory...But, all your track pins have been and will continue to be logged, in order for viewing on your shared page when you log into your PC after the trip.

2. Also, here's a screen shot of the iphone and the "log out" button. It's up in the corner and out of the way on all screens.

Dam Dave · Aug 21, 2011

https://www.findmespot.com/upgrade/

$50 off a online purchase from Spot LLC
or
$50 rebate in form of VISA card from a participating retailer purchase.

Ordered my upgrade yesterday, I have had every version of the Spot, looking foward to useing this new one, anybody want to buy a Spot II:becky:

RMK SeVeN · Sep 25, 2011

So it's my understanding that your phone has to be operational in order to use the new Spot Connect, is this true? I understand you don't have to have cell service since the devices connect via Bluetooth but what happens if your cell phone battery dies? Are there buttons on the SPOT connect device to at least send for a 911? Or if your battery on your phone dies or something happens and you lose the connection between the phone and the spot are you SOL?

I have the Original Spot and am looking to upgrade. Right now I am leaning toward the SPOT II because I would hate to be in a position in the backcountry where I fall in a creek, phone battery dies, etc etc to render my phone inoperable and not be able to communicate with my SPOT.

newmy1 · Sep 25, 2011

You can 911 from the device itself.

RMK SeVeN · Sep 25, 2011

Ahh, much more desirable now!

christopher · Dec 1, 2011

So..

SPOT is running a Christmas Promotion right now.
http://www.findmespot.com/holidayoffer/

But one of the new SPOT CONNECTS and get a $50 rebate in the mail.

Best price I have found anywhere so far is

for $119.97 BEFORE the rebate!

http://www.amazon.com/Spot-Connect-...HSATOW1ROJ1T&s=generic&qid=1322789761&sr=1-24

Thats a pretty good deal, so I am thinking about buying one of these to use with my Apple iPhone 4s.

But now there are a few more reviews and some of them a VERY negative??

===
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Seems to be more trouble than its worth, July 11, 2011
By
Bike Rider "Bike Rider" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Spot Connect: GPS Messenger/Tracking System (Sports)
I spent the entire afternoon and evening trying to get this unit to work as advertised. I'll be sending it back tomorrow.
Pros:
1. It's small and lightweight

Cons:
1. It won't reliably pair with my iPhone 4. It did a couple of times, but then lost the pairing; taking more time than I wanted to spend trying to get it to pair again. Had to turn the iPhone OFF/ON several times before getting it to repair. Then it lost pairing again. I give up.

2. I was able to get it to send one "I'm OK" message, but that was it before the pairing was lost. Was never able to send another.

3. I expected the unit to send location information every 10 minutes to the google map, but it only sent the one I'm OK message and never any more. Without iPHone connection, it won't really do anything. It only had an ON/OFF button and an SOS button that I never want to accidentally touch.

4. There is no forum on on-line help except for their FAQs, which are mainly geared towards selling units, not helping with problems. I searched for forums or blogs, none found. If I can't get them with phone support tomorrow morning, I'll be sending the unit back and getting one of the other self-contained units. All I really want is for people to be able to track my while I'm traveling on my motorcycle or hiking in the mountains.

5. The little rubber door for the two buttons won't stay closed. It opens, exposing the SOS button to inadvertent pushing (which could be extremely costly)

Summary: This unit is complicated overkill that requires everything to operate and link perfectly. I've only had mine for 12 hours, but frustration has set in. (can you tell by my review?).

===

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars does not work AT ALL, September 20, 2011
By
Jared R. Stanley (nyc) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Spot Connect: GPS Messenger/Tracking System (Sports)
"hey i have magical beans to sell, if you buy them you'll be able to float around the room and become invisible!"

that's how i feel about this product.

tried it multiple times. DOES NOT WORK.

paid ~$150 for the unit, paid ~$120 for the service.

pros:
-idea is awesome!
-unit is small!(so are magical beans though)

cons:
- iphone app SUCKS. bluetooth connection is poor, and the UI is terrible. see for yourself, it's free in the app store.
- the unit has blinking lights, but could use more indicators. there are only like 2-3 states to the device(i.e. powered on, sending, error) - please communicate with the user! give us some status: message sent, message failed(this is the only one that would have shown for me).
- clearly the biggest dealbreaker is that it DOES NOT WORK. at all. the lights blink, it does its thing, and nothing happens.

Spot has ruined their reputation with this product, simply by not responding to this thing. It has been out for months and they've really not done much to alleviate frustrations with this thing. Recall, Press Release, something to show they're attempting to fix this. Their support is TERRIBLE - rude, not knowledgeable, and have no answers(no wonder they're rude! they have nothing to say to angry customers!) - again, call and ask questions about the success rate of this thing i'm sure you'll get an earful.

please read reviews around the web and make your decision - i'm not from a competitor(i wish there was one, i would buy it!) just a customer that Spot sold a crappy piece of plastic to. I HOPE someday soon this technology works, i cant wait to use it.

====

4 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Nowhere near Emergency Reliability, April 21, 2011
By
Patrick A. Jones (Green Mountain Falls, CO United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Spot Connect: GPS Messenger/Tracking System (Sports)
Received this today, and after encountering multiple issues setting it up and using the incredibly sophomoric iPhone app, there is no way I am trusting my life to this cobbled together system. I can only wonder if the connection with the iPhone from inches away is that spotty, how reliable is the satellite connection? Not going to find out, but will go with a different company.

====

WHO IS USING THIS WITH THEIR iPhone 4 or 4S and having NO PROBLEMS??

turbolover · Dec 1, 2011

I have a SPOT II and it works great.

I bought it specifically for sledding but also use it for motorcycle rides and backpacking.

Use ONLY LITHIUM BATTERIES. They are not joking rechargeables will jack it up. Personal experience.
I personalize the messages before I leave on a trip. Whos along and what we are doing. ie sled, hike etc.

I have had it for almost a year and i use the heck out if it.

The Connect is a good idea BUT there is no back up except HELP if you lose pairing connectivity. You phone dies and you are screwed. My Droid X2 eats the battery like crazy. Also I rely on it too much for work. It aint goin sledding.
I have an old razor that will hold a charge for days that I take riding with me.
For use as an EMERGENCY DEVICE I want a backup on it. If they would make the Connect usable with the Old Spot buttons in addition to bluetooth connectivity, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
Until they get it figured out and make it work I am going to stick with what I know works.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk

Has anyone tried the new SPOT CONNECT??

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