SPOT Question


I've used it in jungle areas in Australia in FNQ and its been OK although it can be slow to get the signal out.

In very steep ravines, it can be a problem. If you can't get agood view of the sky, the signal can't get out. However some models of SPOT can cache the signals and send them "later", when you do have a sky view.
 
Aussie123 said:
I've used it in jungle areas in Australia in FNQ and its been OK although it can be slow to get the signal out.

In very steep ravines, it can be a problem. If you can't get agood view of the sky, the signal can't get out. However some models of SPOT can cache the signals and send them "later", when you do have a sky view.
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Thanks mate that's what I was concerned about.

Did you find that you regained coverage after a few minutes or did you have long periods of no coverage. Did the track feature have many gaps in it?

If we get one it will be in primary jungle in hill terrain in Malaysia.
 
I wasn't using it for tracking, just for manual sends.
I wasn't timing it, but sometimes it could take 10 - 20 min (I think).
Other times it only took a few seconds.

From what I've read, the tracking will cache the waypoints (if it can't send), so when you get a sky view it will send all the cached points. This means that your tracking map should look OK; but an observer watching in real time would see you reach a point, then see nothing for a period of time, then see several waypoints all in one go.

I think the caching does depend on the model of SPOT you have.

And of course you need to pay for the tracking feature, in addition to the basic unit itself. I've not done this because I only wanted to do daily updates and have the help/911 functions too.
 
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BOD said:
Has anyone had experience with this device especially in heavily forested canopy and/or ravine country?

http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=102

http://www.findmespot.com/en/
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Yes I've been using it about two years now. The second gen units are much more reliable than the first generation units so don't buy a used one. The second gen units will cache pings when there is no clear satellite shot due to whatever reason.

They do work under canopy more or less. Canopy with heavy rain though can cause problems. You need to get out to a clear area to get reliable transmits. But it's going to all depend on lot of things. Out in the clear though I've never had a problem in rain or snow. The second gen units have a much improved antenna and are pretty reliable though. Much more reliable than a cell phone in serious backcountry conditions where coverage is bad. IMO.

Is this something you would invest in if you were 5 days out in remote jungle?
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Yes. A guy I know does expeditions into places like Peruvian jungles and takes one and it works well.

I hike solo about 95% of the time. The tracking feature leaves "bread crumbs" behind for your friends/family to see. So while it may not be perfect, it's pretty good. This is important because if you miss your safety check in time (e.g. call when you get back), they can send a search party immediately to your last known location.

This is different than the older Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) I carried. That had to be turned on before a signal went out. But if it is sitting in my pack and I get incapacitated due to nasty fall, etc. it won't be enabled. So nobody knows where to begin the search. With the SPOT it sends out pings every 20 minutes?? if I recall. So there is always a known last position and that's a huge deal for a Search and Rescue team. If you get incapacitated they will at least know where to concentrate the search.

Here is a hike that was mainly on a beach section, but also had some very thick temperate rain forest portions. It was remote with no cellphone coverage and not many people seen until the last day of hiking (three days). The coverage you can see was excellent. A SAR team would have no problem seeing where you were if there were a problem and emergency evac was needed:

Olympic-Coast-Hike-Topo-Trail.lowres.png
 
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