Spot X Satellite Messenger
SPOT X provides 2-way satellite messaging so you can stay connected to family, friends and colleagues whenever you’re outside of cellular range, including direct communication with Search & Rescue services in case of an emergency.
- Message – exchange messages with any cell phone number or email address from virtually anywhere in the world
- S. O. S. – send an S. O. S. To the 24/7 search & rescue center, message back and forth about the nature of your emergency, and receive confirmation when help is on the way
- Tracking – Select from 21/2, 5, 10, 30 or 60 minute tracking intervals, and let family, friends and other Adventurers follow your progress with SPOT easy-to-use google maps interface
- Check in – quickly and easily let everyone know you’re ok
- Post to social – Link your social accounts to keep your friends and family in the know wherever you go
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Allen G. –
I see a number of negative reviews on this device. I had one of the first gen Spot messengers that I ditched for the Garmin Inreach (which does have a number of advantages over Spot–complete global coverage being one of them). I just downgraded my Inreach plan and picked up a Spot X. So far I’m glad I did.First, this is important to understand: it’s a satellite device. You really have to be outside in order for it to work reliably. It looks like people are picking these up expecting them to be some sort of everywhere-Blackberry’ish device. It’s not. But it’s close enough such that, properly configured, it will give people a way to reach you (and you them) in a semi-reasonable amount of time. It also does a stellar job of tracking and reporting your outdoor location.Bottom line: I’ve spent about 2 weeks with it on my hip, indoors and out, and here’s what I’ve found. Outdoors, it always works. It tracks, sends and receives messages perfectly. In the car it’s a little less reliable but setting it in a little suction cup holder on the windshield also works perfectly. In the house, if I set it on a table by the window it works some-to-most of the time. Anywhere else indoors is a black hole. Battery life is reasonable although I don’t think it’ll run 10 days 24×7 with tracking at 10 minutes. So take a solar battery if you’re going to be off-grid a while.Things I wish it did better: the user interface. It’s a little cumbersome to see what did and didn’t get sent. It would be nice if there were an “if you really want to send this, you need to stand still and hold it up in the air” beeps after a couple of minutes of not sending. Email-to-text has room for improvement but if you just text message phones it works well. Also, there’s no 2-way coverage in Australia? Really?! The one-way beacon worked great there but it would be nice to text from the outback. But for the Americas, Western Europe and Africa it seems to have you covered. I’ll say that the one-way version also worked flawlessly in The Gambia a couple of years back.But for $20 bucks a month ($30 a month if you want to spend your whole trek texting all your buddies every waking minute) it’s a good deal. You just have to understand what you’re getting.
junyamiami –
If you have to be out of cell range this is the device you can use, I’ve used this brand and their service with other devises they offer and it’s been great.
BR –
My wife recently purchased the Spot X for me to use while going on backpacking and kayaking adventures. I was a bit concerned with the negative reviews, but after researching I realized that the people complaining were mostly users who do not understand the technology.I took the Spot X with me while backpacking this weekend and was very happy with the results. The unit successfully sent predefined messages, location tracks, and received custom messages from my wife and other contacts. We were in very poor weather, had dense tree cover, and I even had it under the rain cover for my backpack and it worked without a problem. I am very satisfied with the product and will be using it again this this coming weekend for a kayaking trip.The most important thing to know is this is not an iPhone with Verizon service, you will not be instant messaging on this device, that is not what it was designed for. But you can let your loved ones know you are having fun, are safe, or need help.
Ben Shamas –
Right out of the box, it reminds me of a kids walkie talkie. The keyboard buttons are similar in size to a BlackBerry. The other buttons, have no texture and dont light up. This makes it nearly impossible to use at night.My first one locked up and after talking to support they said it had to be given a “hard reset. The unit had to be plugged in to do this. And 120 outlets are around every tree in the wilderness so this is convenient. It also displayed random characters along the top and bottom of the screen while typing a text message, covering up some buttons on the screen.The second one had the same random characters across the screen.The third one has the same issues as the others. All along, the support team keeps telling me to do a firmware update. Like this will be the magic cure for these devices. It never helped. As a matter of fact, after the third one did its firmware update, it showed on the screen “last update 2010/12/1” which makes sense. That was only 8 years before it came out.Horrible horrible product that’s definitely not ready for consumers.Thank you to Amazon for accepting my return after the 30 day return window.
kirnma –
I just got my SPOT X and am trying it out. So far so good. It’s a bit bigger than I thought, but really solid. Messages I sent were received surprisingly quickly. I haven’t used it yet to fetch messages, but will try that this weekend. My only gripe is that the keyboard is pretty small and takes some getting used to, but the tactile feel is good. I’m sure I’ll get used to it in time. Overall, I am very happy to be able to send and retrieve messages anywhere I go.