Ever had THE situation? You decided to get out of the house, for a trail run, or a bike ride, and after you reached the farthest point from civilization, the train left tracks. Or, your bike broke, or worse, you are injured and absolutely cannot proceed. Maybe you were cruising a fast descent and left the road into a ditch, out of site of others.
And there you are, recalling how you promised you knew what you were doing and would be home soon. Can’t get up, stuck. This never happens to any of us, or so we believe until it does. What do I do now?
I use Garmin Livetrack, sometimes, but not today, the phone signal was weak, I knew it would drop off. How long will it take for me to be found?
And that is why I a SPOT GEN3 around August of 2017, https://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=100. Friends had been posting their “follow me” links for long events, and I could see the results. Knowing this device has the SOS button, it seemed like a good solution to a problem we never want to have, such as the scenario above.
After a year and a half of use, I have never pressed the HELP or the SOS buttons. I use the “I’M OK” button randomly, on long events only. SPOT says the SOS button will get me rescued anywhere in the world. I trust that claim.
TRACKING, CHECK IN, CUSTOM MESSAGE, HELP, AND SOS buttons are easily accessible, with the protective (or preventative) covers on the HELP and SOS buttons. These silicone covers have been a mild issue, one of them began opening itself, and didn’t feel secure when closed again. With the risk of an accidental SOS signal, I thought it best to cover both a little strip of Gorilla Tape, (many tubeless bike tire “experts” have a roll).
The SPOT site offers discounts occasionally, I got mine for $150.00. While many people may balk at the service cost, $199.99 for a year, the peace of mind it provides is worth the price. I won’t go into detail on operation, there’s plenty of info easily available. Mine goes from bike to bike to running hydration vest constantly. My running vest is the Ultimate Direction Adventure Vest 4.0, https://ultimatedirection.com/adventure-vest-4-0/. That vest was purchased specifically for the variety of “sky facing” pockets, which can be an issue. SPOT says completely unblocked horizontal alignment with the sky is required, but many users have discovered variations that work fine.
There are other similar devices, SPOT has a new model with much more capability, and GARMIN has entered the market. You just have to decide which features are needed. I’d buy this one again!
https://www.larabar.com/ YUM YUM!
https://www.gorillatough.com/gorilla-tape/
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/fitness/use-garmin-livetrack-track-activities-real-time/
