Neat! Findmespot satellite tracker/emergency locator

[Blaster229]

http://findmespot.com/Home.aspx

[Hello Kitty]

Tis an awesome little device! There's a group buy on MTF if anyone is interested in purchasing one.

[pbharvey]

I saw those in the latest Bass Pro ad. I was thinking about stashing one in the trunk of my kid's car, for safety reasons naturally.

[Hello Kitty]

If the unit can't see the sky, you wouldn't be able to see it... I'm going round and round trying to decide how I will attach it to myself. Will do some experimenting to see what works and what doesn't!

If you buy on the group buy at the MTF, in addition to the unit itself being $150 with a $15 rebate (they won't allow the advertised price to be certain things...), you get a discount on the upgraded service, which I will be getting!

[Blaster229]

Be nice to have for sure.

[Graybeard]

Hey, Nancy. What's "MTF"?

[unleashd]

Hey, Nancy. What's "MTF"?

Larry,

MTF = Motorcycle Tourer's Forum Their website is here

[kennedan]

So this past weekend I joined Rob out in WV on a rainy Saturday for my first bmwbmw ride.

Around 1pm we stopped, I took out a nalgene from the back panier, than for some reason put my pda style cell phone and the nalgene in the case together.

Between 1pm and 3pm the nalgene decided to call my wife a total of about 20 times. Poor woman thought I was in a ditch somewhere incapacitated and trying to signal her.

So, anyway, to get to the point - I bought the Spot online the next day, it arrived on Tuesday and I have been playing around with it ever since.

I opted for the 'tracking' mode which costs an extra 49 bucks a year. I thought it worth it to track my riding and our sailing forays out in Annapolis.

All in all I found that the transmit can get a little sketchy under any tree'd landscape, or - in general - limited southern exposure.

I tried a few different spots on the bike, and for now, the tank bag map case seems to have worked the best.

It doesn't quite get out a track message every 10 minutes as advertised but will get it out 10-10, then 30mins, then 20, then 10, then 1 hour later. The "I"m OK" has worked about ... 70% of the time. One feature I thought was pretty cool is that you can configure a publicly accessible web site (password protected or not - your choice) and send that to friends/family so they can see where your track is at any given time. Very cool.

In general I think this would not be a guaranteed mechanism for 911 help on a solo ride (for a variety of reasons - you may be stuck in a canyon, or separated, or god-forbid unconscious) but it will really make a lot of sense if you are paired up and another person with you knows how to use the device.

They could always travel a few hundred yards or what-have-you and initiate the 911 transmission with a clear line of site of the sky.

If you happen to be an REI member, it would be a good place to buy it - they are charging the same price as the web site, you get your REI redemption next year, and they will take anything back for any reason if you decide it doesn't meet your needs. http://www.rei.com/product/766529

Hope the mini-review is helpful.

-Ken
-------------------
2006 R1200 GS

[sundaeman]

...
It doesn't quite get out a track message every 10 minutes as advertised but will get it out 10-10, then 30mins, then 20, then 10, then 1 hour later. The "I"m OK" has worked about ... 70% of the time. One feature I thought was pretty cool is that you can configure a publicly accessible web site (password protected or not - your choice) and send that to friends/family so they can see where your track is at any given time. Very cool.
...

I picked one up a while back too. Haven't experienced the every 10m being all that, but I generally keep it in a sidecase and between the radio box plate and gizmos I'm sure there is some signal blocking. The OK rate has generally been really good in my experience. Sandy got a kick out of the web site when I did the Cape Fear mini.

FYI- The unit is Globalstar based, but seems to be more reliable than the phone service.

[Maria V]

A rider over on sport touring.net used one of these for a trip. She goes by " rocketbunny" and also has a blog.

[Hello Kitty]

http://forums.delphiforums.com/MCTourer ... sg=31463.1

Here's the link to the group buy on MTF if anyone is interested.

[BSK]

The club should get one or two that members can borrow when they are doing long distance trips.

[Hello Kitty]

The club should get one or two that members can borrow when they are doing long distance trips.

That's a nice idea in theory, but I don't think it would work out so well... People have lots and lots of ideas, but then we can't get anyone to actually do it... There was a proposal to have club tools or even just a data base with who has what tools. Great idea, but the reality doesn't match the theory...

Also, in addition to the purchase of the unit itself, there's the annual service fee.

There's also the account that has the information so that the people who man the control center have the information they need about who to call and who it has that has the unit and so the account would need to be updated everytime someone new took the thing.

May not sound like much to you, but we have a very hard time getting people to committ to organizing much smaller things. Things that are essential to the day to day running of the club.

I'm not trying to discourage ideas and suggestions, but asking that people understand that some things just don't work out as well.

[Bauer]

I like the idea of a database of tools. If people were willing, I'd be more than happy to set up a database. All I would need would be the list of tools people have and their locations. That is, of course if everyone plays nicely in the sandbox.

[Hello Kitty]

Unfortunately, that's the problem. Everyone says they will, but reality is different

Are you willing to be the one to hound someone who hasn't returned a tool or broke one? Then is the club responsible to replace it? It's been tried and not worked out. However, if you'd like to write a detailed proposal and present it to the board for review, you are most certainly welcome!!!!

Again, I'm not trying to squash ideas, just asking that folks need to think them through and then be willing to do the work to make the idea a reality.