New SPOT 3 / GEN3 tracker - FAIL!

[nwdiver]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

You're lucky your Spot works at all. My brother just bought one for his daughter to take on a 2 week backpacking trip, and it never posted one position.

....... and she wanted him to know she was in Vegas

[ElGatoGordo]

Originally Posted by nwdiver

....... and she wanted him to know she was in Vegas

That's funny right there!

[WebBoatWatch]

Hi Paul,

I contacted you again because I read your displeasure with SPOT and was hoping to offer you our service that would satisfy your needs and also offer more features. We are NOT CELLULAR based WE ARE SATELLITE BASED, we also are currently getting approval from GEOS to offer their services to users.
We also DO NOT DISABLE any part of the boat through remote and it has never been a feature that has been displayed on our site. I do not know where this information was obtained.

What we DO offer is SATELLITE tracking, geo-fencing, wireless bilge monitoring, wireless intrusion detection, and other features. All our monitoring is wireless and is self-powered. It communicates the information obtained to your cellular phone, email and web log. Our service is also based on a monthly basis with no contract, but you can choose to be billed at your designated interval. Also, our LED is not as distracting as the SPOT LED.

Just wanted to clarify our service.

Originally Posted by phantomracer

I did update another post - http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post1304783 that I posted in before, promoting the new features

full disclosure- WebBoatWatch contacted me (again) to test their cell based tracker. Not for me - not satellite based and no call center like spot. No doubt will work for some. but not for me. Their product, to me, is even more dangerous - as it has the ability to remotely disable the vehicle. I can see my wife getting an alert that the boat has moved (because the mechanic I hired is doing a sea trial) ...and she kills the engine causing him to crash (or worse).
(edit) I don't know how you remotely disable a running diesel engine..but still its on their website as a capabiltiy to cut the fuel supply (in addition to having a starter kill - which is the only way to go. even car alarms do not disable a running car!) (end edit)

[phantomracer]

ah my bad. I was also contacted by another service. thought you were both one in the same. I was referring to eagle track. My comments in my above post should be directed at eagle track, not webboatwatch. sorry!

again, my bad!

do you have any pictures of the hardware? installation or other information? Is it portable like spot - ie all self contained?

I often take the spot off the mother ship with me when we go exploring in the dinghy or on land.

[WebBoatWatch]

Thank you Phantomracer.

It is portable and self contained but it is really not mean to be removed from the boat due to the other sensors located on the boat. I will private message you some more information.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by phantomracer

ah my bad. I was also contacted by another service. thought you were both one in the same. I was referring to eagle track. My comments in my above post should be directed at eagle track, not webboatwatch. sorry!

again, my bad!

do you have any pictures of the hardware? installation or other information? Is it portable like spot - ie all self contained?

I often take the spot off the mother ship with me when we go exploring in the dinghy or on land.

[J Clark H356]

Does the Spot 3 operate through fiberglass when inside? Seems like a good remote monitoring system, if left plugged in and inside the boat where it is weather protected and you have unlimited tracking.

Any actual users inside boats out there?

[phantomracer]

have had hit or miss with being inside the boat. im sure it can get the gps singnal, think it has issues transmitting. haven't tried the gen3 yet though. doesn't do well inside a car on the dashboard at all. the steel roof probably offers too much shielding

[phantomracer]

Originally Posted by phantomracer

..................

For the bad - most annoying, but not unsafe issue - their spotadventures page now shows a flag every 5 minutes when a track point is added - which makes the map look like a sea of flags - check it out - View A SPOT Adventure imagine your GPS plotting this way!! totally unreadable

.....................

I did find a workaround for this issue. In spot adventures, you can delete the flags for the tracking, while leaving the track..A bit annoying, but it does work. here is a track from this weekend View A SPOT Adventure

still annoying that you have no idea which is the departure leg, and which is the return leg,

How come after the handful of calls to SPOT, no one there could have figured this out?

Although their customer service department is very friendly, they are, for the most part, pretty green. Rarely (actually never) was a rep able to answer my question without contacting a supervisor. Granted, when I call, I generally have an oddball question (or complaint), so its understandable, but certainly shows their reps are pretty green.

Haven't decided if I am going to keep the 3 or go back to the 1, it does seem to work well, and the features are very good.

[phantomracer]

yea.. used the gen3 tonight on a long sail (well motor) back from Provincetown to Marion, MA, damn are those LEDs bright.. I moved it from the dash/deck to the TOP of the bimini facing up.. just the reflection of the lights off the sail cover back to the cockpit was annoying.. so annoying that the wife piped up (after saying all this time that I was over -reacting) and said that it was way too bright..

Put it in a black wool hat to keep the lights dim..

also .. if you have come out of the cape cod canal into Buzzzards bay at night...you will know what I mean .. if not not..picture a runway with green and red blinking lights, almost as far as the eye can see.. now add 1 (well 3) more blinking GREEEN lights to the mix... you are trying to watch all the channel markers.. it is pitch dark.. add an errant, way too bright, additional green light... just messes you up.. you are constantly looking at it..

I put it in a hat (someone else said a sock, etc) but that's what I had on deck..

going to keep the gen3 after all.. the features outweigh the safety issue.. and there is now a $50 rebate to previous SPOT owners to boot..

still think they should recall it and put a light sensor in, or something to block the lights.

but I stick by my original OP...its a fail, unfortunately. It has to be perfect to be a safety device. It shouldn't cause its own safety problem

my spot page is here if anyone wants to see the track http://share.findmespot.com/shared/f...V9JEHn2cGSJoko