User Review: SPOT Satellite Messenger

Above: The current SPOT Satellite Messenger, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed July 10, 2009 by woods114

Rating:
Price Paid: $150

The SPOT is unique in what it does. To my knowledge, there isn't any other product that's out there that has the same price point and performs the same function. So it's hard to assign a star rating to it when the device isn't perfect.

If it works for you in your activity, in your area, you're probably going to be a happy customer. I signed up for the 2-year service, which also got me a rebate for the cost of the device itself. So I pay about $15/month for the device, tracking, and even the optional rescue service.

One thing to keep in mind is that this is a totally one-way device. The only thing that you can do with it is *send* information. You can't get *any* information on the device itself -- not your current location, messages from your contacts, or even whether it was able to send your messages successfully. It's designed to be used only as a high-tech tracking and emergency beacon.

The device is fairly simple to operate and monitor. The only downside is that there's no good way to distinguish if you're in "OK" mode or in "tracking" mode, since they show the same status. You just have to know that you initiated the mode properly. This is unfortunate, since the two modes that are hard to distinguish are the two that you're going to use the most frequently.

The biggest downside for me is that this device simply does not work well in the hills of central Pennsylvania. Unless I'm at a very high ridgetop with a 360 degree view of the horizon, no messages make it out from the device. Even moderate hills (much less valleys) obscure the signal, and none of my contacts get the signal. I suspect the satellites are very, very close to the horizon here, and are just barely visible to the device even under good circumstances.

The end result is that I get better emergency coverage with my cell phone for the areas of forest that I'm visiting most of the time.

It seems that people in other parts of the country don't have this problem. In particular, the coverage in the western United States seems excellent.

So my advice is to see if you can make sure you get good coverage in your area first. The coverage map that the company provides isn't necessarily a good indicator that you'll be able to get a satellite signal when you need it.

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