SPOT Stories

SPOT Used In Alerting Authorities of Serious Motorcycle Accident

I was on a motorcycle trip to Death Valley this past weekend.  While riding on a loop from Furnace Creek to Shoshone a friend and I came around a corner to view a serious
motorcycle accident. Two cruiser-style motorcycles had collided and
both riders were immobile lying in the road, but conscious.
 
Based on the gas pouring out of both bikes, it looked like it must have happened no
more than 1 or 2 minutes before we turned the corner.  There is zero cell service out
there, a few miles east of Furnace Creek on 190. I pressed the 9-1-1
button on SPOT, and waited for the authorities.
 
In less than 5 minutes, a sheriff was onsite.  I couldn't believe someone
could get there that quickly, the downed riders were quite lucky. At
that point I had no idea of my SPOT message was the one that caused the
response, I was just happy that help had arrived so quickly.

I went on my way as soon as help arrived, and sent an OK message out to
alert my friends/family that the 911 should no longer concern them. GEOS contacted my family to confirm the 9-1-1. It turned out that both riders were helicoptered out of the valley, so their injuries must have been deemed reasonably serious, and I'm glad that help was able to get to them as quickly as feasible.

I relayed the story to the rest of the folks I rode to Death Valley
with, and I have a feeling I may have sold a few more SPOTs.
 
Alex Ciurczak
Milpitas, CA

Canoe Trip Takes SPOT Providing Peace-of-Mind For Family

Just wanted to let you know about my 18 year old son's adventure.  He and a friend are canoeing from the Minneapolis area to Hudson Bay, inspired by the book Canoeing with the Cree by Eric Sevareid.  They left last Monday, and expect to reach their destination in early July.  They are trying to go with minimal technology, so decided to use a SPOT Messenger instead of a satellite phone.

Though they have only been gone a little over a week, it's been fun being able to watch their progress. We're hoping their SPOT check-ins are the only feature they will use it over the next 2 months, but it's giving us a lot of peace of mind knowing that they are able to call for help in an emergency situation (we ordered the rescue insurance)
 
Here is a link to a website with more information on their trip in case you're interested.  There have been quite a few articles in local media about it, along with many of the newspapers along their route.
 
http://www.colton-seanhudsonbay.com
 

Patricia Bloomfield
Minnesota

SPOT Technology Comes in Handy For Federal Agent

I bought my SPOT with my own money.  I use it whenever I go into the woods by myself.  Since most of the time I can not get cell phone reception I use the SPOT to let my family know that I am okay.  This is especially important since this year I had a quadruple bypass (doing fine now) and my wife worries especially if she can not reach me by cell phone.
 
So about every hour I send her an "I am okay" message.  And if she needs me she can find me with the map function or a text message on the cell phone (if I get some reception).
 
I also have figured out a way to use my SPOT at work. As a Federal Agent sometimes I conduct surveillances on people suspected of possession of large amounts of narcotics.  Unfortunately, some of the places where these suspect hang out have poor or no cell phone coverage.
 
So I use my SPOT.  The message on the "OK" button says, "Checking in everything is okay." The "HELP" button message says, "Movement detected.  Send backup."
 
The messages are programmed to go to the cell phone and emails of the Command Post.  This way I can check in every hour or so.  And if the suspect shows up and I need backup, I just push the "HELP" button.  Of course the Tracking function helps the backup team catch up with us if it becomes a rolling surveillance. And if things go really bad, the 911 button gets major help on the way.
 
Thanks for a great product!
 
Stephen
Federal Agent

SPOT  Satellite Messenger Used By US Forest Service – Spotted Owl Surveying

Just wanted to say that contrary to what many have said, (and as you probably already know) the SPOT tracker works remarkably well under tree canopies and in steep canyons!

I am conducting Spotted Owl surveys this summer on US Forest Service lands, and because we go in to find the owls while they are active, the work requires us to hike cross country into some really remote and thickly forested areas to get to the birds at night.  These birds really prefer the thickest pockets of mature trees you can find in the forest, and would probably find Middle Earth’s Fanghorn forest to be a happy place!

Trying to get into these areas at night, coupled the fact that you can only see as far as your headlamp while you are hiking cross country in the dark, there are a few (sarcasm here) times when at least one of  my two cell phones work.  So, before I leave my truck to go to an owl site, I send out an OK check-in signal with my SPOT, then when we get into the study area at the bottom of the canyon under the trees and such (no open spots here), I send out another OK, then when I get back to the truck I send out a final check out signal.  And do you know what?  My SPOT unit has never not sent out a signal, even when I have to prematurely turn it off half way through the transmitting process because we moved or something.

Thanks for making such a great product, hopefully I’ll never have to use the 911 feature, but it’s sure nice knowing it’s there!

Cheers,

Anthony Mann
California