SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker

Under Construction

www.findmespot.com
(866) 651-7768
Covington, LA

How it works Spot uses satellites to send location information for you anywhere in the world.

You login to your account and specify messages to send and contacts to get them when you push the OK/Check-in or Help buttons and emergency contacts when you push the 911 button.
An 24/7 staffed emergency response center gets all 911 messages and will dispatch local search and rescue personnel. They will also contact your emergency contacts to get information about your group, medical conditiions, etc.
Spot gets your location from GPS satellites
When you push a button it will send the button code and your location to a communications satellite which forwards it to their hub.
Their hub will look at your profile to decide who to notify.
Hub will send text or email to specified contacts.
Text will just have longitude and latitude e.g. ll=40.5845,-74.5431 and the specified message e.g. "all is well. We're having fun"
You can paste the long. and lat. into google maps (without the "ll=") to get the location.
Email will have a link to a map and the message.
For 911 The emergency response center will notify the nearest emergency response group. and call the emergency contacts in your profile.

Set up contacts
https://login.findmespot.com/
It will default to my devices menu - Click on your device.
You can set up multiple profiles for different groups or people
Click on Active Message Profile - Click "Assign" next to the profile you want
Click on "Check in" to specify message and contacts for OK/Check-inmsg
Click on "Help/Spot S.O.V (Save our Vehicle) to Specify contacts to get help msg.
Click on S.O.S to set up emergency contacts for 911.

Click on share at the top of the page to get a URL (web address) you can give to friends so they can see where you've been.

Set up device:
Push ON/OFF - light should start blinking.
If you have traveled more than 600 mi since last use it may take 4 minutes to get coordinates.
It took longer for me.
It didn't seem to work in my house; You may have to go outdoors with a clear view of the sky.

911 - Hold the 911 button for 2 seconds
  The 911 light will blink in sync with the on/off light
  To cancel hold the button for 3 seconds - It will blink red
  It will go on solid for 5 seconds when a message is being sent
  It will keep trying to send the message for 20 minutes
  
Help works the same way

OK doesn't have a cancel function
Light will go solid for 5 seconds when a message is being sent.
I got tired waiting for it to send and just left it in the open for 15-20 minutes.  It will keep trying for that long.
Communication with the messaging satellite is sometimes slow.

For tracking hold the OK button for 5 seconds or more.
It won't send the OK message to your contacts, but
It will send the location to the server every 10 minutes 
and people see where you've been with the share URL (web address) (see above).
If the OK button keeps blinking after 20 minutes it is in tracking mode.
As far as I know you have to turn it off to get out of tracking mode.

Tracking turns off every 24 hours.

Batteries: (Requires lithium)
Should last for 14 days.
ON/OFF flashes red when batteries have approximately 30% of their life or less left. ON/OFF indicator light blinks RED every second: -> Replace batteries User Guide

Quick Reference Guide at faq.findmespot.com




First use: turn SPOT on, press the OK button and let cycle for 20 min

    * Tracking: Turn unit on, hold OK button for longer than 5 seconds   
    * Tracking turns off after 24 hours. Engage Tracking every morning
    * If On/Off light and OK light blink in unison for longer than 20 min., then you are in Track Mode
    * If lights blink in unison for only 20 min., you were in OK mode
    * Once in Track mode, holding down the OK button will cancel Track

Additional Notes:

    * One set of AA Lithium batteries = 14 days of Tracking
    * GPS Fix = On/Off and OK lights blink in unison
    * No GPS Fix = On/Off and OK lights blink out of unison
    * 9-1-1 Mode: Press and hold for at least 3 seconds unit you see green light blink
    * Cancel 9-1-1, press and hold button for at least 3 seconds until red light
    * It will take longer (4 min) to lock on after traveling more than 600 mi

My notes:
- There is a 15-minute delay from the time the message appears in your account until it appears on your Shared page.
- If it cannot get a GPS location it will send a 9-1-1 or help message anyway and wait 5 min. to try and determine its loation.

Links:
SPOT_UsersGuide_2007_10_16.pdf

last updated 6 June 2011