Santa in the FedEx truck showed up with my new SPOT X
SPOT X 2-way satellite communicator arrived late yesterday and I got a little bit of time to play with it.
A few things:
The screen is not backlit, so using it at night requires some sort of external light. I know other units are similar. Still, there should be some emergency light for those moonless nights.
It takes several minutes to send off messages. This is not like texting. I knew this. It beams up to one of 24 possible satellites, which then beam back down to earth to another person's phone or email. The process can take 5 or 10 minutes. Again, totally known in advance. But what I didn't expect the messenger to follow/track me around our pool while I was sending out some test messages.
It can only send out 3 messages at a time so if you want to send out 4 messages, you have to wait until the first 3 are gone, then you can send out the 4th message.
The SPOT X comes with a dedicated phone number so you can have your contacts include that phone number in your contact info. They will then know that the messages are from you, not spam.
The unit allows you to preload 14 messages. You get unlimited sending of those messages without incurring any fees. It comes with samples but I edited those better suit my needs. This is a great feature. If you have access to a computer during a long trip you can change these daily to fit your needs/plans. I wrote messages regarding food, fuel and sleep stops, emergencies, etc. I even included a statement NOT to reply to the SPOT X unless it was an emergency because I have a limited plan on 'custom' messages.
The map below is the unit tracking me while I was transmitting from my pool deck tonight.
Since I typically ride alone this tracking will give my wife some peace of mind while i am off exploring the wilds of Indiana/Illinois, she can live the map open on an old iPad we have and the map will get a "breadcrumb" added every 10 minutes.
It will also give some peace of mind to our daughter and other family members when my wife and I ride on our long distance trips or do our backpacking trips. We have a Route 66 ride in planning stages and plan to hike across Wales, UK early next summer. The SOS button will work 24/7/365 regardless of cell service or location.
SPOT X 2-way satellite communicator arrived late yesterday and I got a little bit of time to play with it.
A few things:
The screen is not backlit, so using it at night requires some sort of external light. I know other units are similar. Still, there should be some emergency light for those moonless nights.
It takes several minutes to send off messages. This is not like texting. I knew this. It beams up to one of 24 possible satellites, which then beam back down to earth to another person's phone or email. The process can take 5 or 10 minutes. Again, totally known in advance. But what I didn't expect the messenger to follow/track me around our pool while I was sending out some test messages.
It can only send out 3 messages at a time so if you want to send out 4 messages, you have to wait until the first 3 are gone, then you can send out the 4th message.
The SPOT X comes with a dedicated phone number so you can have your contacts include that phone number in your contact info. They will then know that the messages are from you, not spam.
The unit allows you to preload 14 messages. You get unlimited sending of those messages without incurring any fees. It comes with samples but I edited those better suit my needs. This is a great feature. If you have access to a computer during a long trip you can change these daily to fit your needs/plans. I wrote messages regarding food, fuel and sleep stops, emergencies, etc. I even included a statement NOT to reply to the SPOT X unless it was an emergency because I have a limited plan on 'custom' messages.
The map below is the unit tracking me while I was transmitting from my pool deck tonight.
Since I typically ride alone this tracking will give my wife some peace of mind while i am off exploring the wilds of Indiana/Illinois, she can live the map open on an old iPad we have and the map will get a "breadcrumb" added every 10 minutes.
It will also give some peace of mind to our daughter and other family members when my wife and I ride on our long distance trips or do our backpacking trips. We have a Route 66 ride in planning stages and plan to hike across Wales, UK early next summer. The SOS button will work 24/7/365 regardless of cell service or location.