Peace of mind for solo explorers

Post by **Dr. Strangelove** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:20 pm

so, how long do the batteries last?
Is there a recharger or ?

A battery check button?

JOhn

Post by **mcooperstein** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 11:26 pm

Not wanting to hijack the thread but...

Well, SPOT seems like a kewl gadget, one of those that you hope you never have to use.

I was told recently...that all new cell phones have to be '911' capable in order to work on all the 'major' cell networks (Sprint, Alltel, etc.). I was wondering exactly what that meant and started asking around. In order to be '911' capable the phone device has to be able to inform a 911 center of your location. How does it do that? It would have to have more then two cell towers to triangulate an accurate position, and many rural areas have one tower operating which would make tracking useless. The answer, is that there is a GPS chip in all new cell phones, and as we all know, GPS is very acurate.

This sort of bothers me, in that the phone company can now determine 'exactly' where you are, if you own a cell phone, and most people do. I kinda feel that this is an infringement on my basic liberties. I for one dont want the goverment to have that kind of knowledge of my whereabouts. Do you?

Regards,
Mark

Ves · Post by **Ves** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:22 am

mcooperstein wrote:Not wanting to hijack the thread but...

...
This sort of bothers me, in that the phone company can now determine 'exactly' where you are, if you own a cell phone, and most people do. I kinda feel that this is an infringement on my basic liberties. I for one dont want the goverment to have that kind of knowledge of my whereabouts. Do you?

Regards,
Mark

Yeah, next thing you know they'll be implanting GPS chips into our bodies, at birth, along with a small device that will give us an electric shock if we exceed the speed limit.

Post by **GypsyRR** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:44 am

Dr. Strangelove wrote:so, how long do the batteries last?
Is there a recharger or ?

A battery check button?

JOhn

I bought one and activated it with all of the services they offer at this point.

In "on" mode the batteries last one year. Battery life is dependent on usage. But even in continuous tracking mode, they will last 2 weeks (per their website).

There is not a recharger that comes with the unit. A couple of extra lithium batteries in a pack would always be with me on a solo adventure.

The unit does a self check every time it is turned on. If something is not working right, it alerts you. When battery usage is low (30%, I think) then it gives a blinking red light to signal the need to replace them.

So far, the only thing I don't like about it, is that you cannot set the time. I think the time is GMT, so you have to make sure your 'alert team' knows that when they get messages from you. They did tell me that their developers are working on that now.

Post by **mcooperstein** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:45 am

Ves wrote:Yeah, next thing you know they'll be implanting GPS chips into our bodies, at birth, along with a small device that will give us an electric shock if we exceed the speed limit.

You can already do this for your pet. No kidding. Theres a company that will implant a subdermal locator chip in your favourite pet in case he takes off. I've heard that there is company's that will do this for your children as well, but I havent been able to substantiate this.

Mark

Post by **MikeCam** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 2:47 pm

Mark,

If it is a problem, take out the batteries or remove the antenna.

The "always on" GPS chip for cell phones does not tell you your location nor permit you to use a mapping feature, it merely reports that phone to the monitoring company (along with every other phone) who then save the data until it's needed. That is at least one step removed from government tracking you personally. Not a big step, to be sure. But bureaucracy collapses from its own weight quite often.

Post by **GypsyRR** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:11 pm

MikeCam wrote:Mark,

If it is a problem, take out the batteries or............

Yes! I've already thought through my 'work arounds' with the SPOT when I suddenly don't want to be tracked, or when I need to confuse the 'alert team' I chose. Not that I'm planning to, but sometimes - well, you just don't wanna be found.

Post by **OU812** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:15 pm

Looks like a great piece of equipment for the lone riders. Joe, your I-phone looks like it has taken a beating!

Post by **taosports** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 12:09 pm

Just thought I'd add some new info for those of you who have the SPOT tracker.

They have updated their website with an option to save your route as a .gpx file with just a click of the mouse. It saves the file on your desktop. To view it on Google Earth, you just drag the .gpx file from your desktop and drop it onto Google Earth. How cool is that!

Post by **NoRRmad** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:42 pm

GypsyRR wrote:
MikeCam wrote:Mark,

If it is a problem, take out the batteries or............
Yes! I've already thought through my 'work arounds' with the SPOT when I suddenly don't want to be tracked, or when I need to confuse the 'alert team' I chose. Not that I'm planning to, but sometimes - well, you just don't wanna be found.

On my (RAZR) phone, GPS is an option that you can turn off, EXCEPT for 911 calls. If you call 911, GPS turns on when you hit SEND.

Just FYI. Your phone may vary, check the manual.

Post by **JCsman** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:21 pm

NoRRmad wrote:On my (RAZR) phone, GPS is an option that you can turn off, EXCEPT for 911 calls. If you call 911, GPS turns on when you hit SEND.

Just FYI. Your phone may vary, check the manual.

Now that is interesting!

Thanks NoRRmad.

Now if I just had the coordinates of wherever I left that manual.