It is hard to encapsulate the human side of the SPOT product line in a short pithy newsletter article. But we are going to try.

It is the combination of all the stories, all the “reasons why” people use this product that make the people who work for SPOT proud.  We at SPOT often say…there is a hand at the end of a SPOT and a life behind that hand.  Life is short.  Don’t waste it.  We get it.  We are so proud of our customers for all the reasons you live your life to the fullest and take SPOT along for the ride.  We actually don’t want to tell you why we do it, we are just going to let some of our customers do it for us.

Jeff Burke wrote us and told his story:

“THANK YOU "SPOT" FOR SAVING MY LIFE! On August 8, 2010 myself and a buddy were fishing on the Gulf of Mexico, 34 miles west of St. Petersburg FL when our 27 ft. fishing boat starting taking on water. We knew the boat was going to quickly capsize from taking on water and the waves. Urgently, we tried to call for help on our cell phones and CB radio but were out of range. Thankfully I belong to a boat club which provided the boat with a SPOT Personal Tracking device! I grabbed the SPOT device just seconds before the boat capsized. While standing on top of the capsized boat I sent out a 911 distress alert from the SPOT -- a couple of hours later we thankfully saw a Coast Guard helicopter flying towards us!

THE COAST GUARD HAD RECEIVED OUR GPS COORDINATES FROM THE SPOT AND WE WERE SAVED!

They used a basket to pull us from the water into the helicopter and flew us to the Coast Guard command center in St. Pete. The Coast Guard staff spoke very highly of the SPOT device and asked us all about how we used it. I learned a lot about how the SPOT technology works and can save lives that day. I am thankful that my boat club subscribes to the SPOT service and provided the device on the boat! We were in the newspaper and on TV the next day, the Coast Guard released the rescue video and I have a great picture of me getting off the helicopter, holding the SPOT in my hand still. A successful capsized boat rescue is big news in the Tampa/St. Pete area after what had happened to 4 NFL football players on a capsized boat last year.

THANK YOU SPOT FOR YOUR AMAZING TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICES!

Jeff Burke

Seminole, FL”

Jacob Shultz wrote us and told his story:

“Hi my name is Jacob Shultz and I work as a guide for St Elias Alpine Guides out of McCarthy, AK and lead trips in the Wrangell St Elias National Park.

The summer before last (i.e. the summer of 2009) I was working a 7 day back country trip and I hate to admit it but I lost my SPOT Personal Tracker. We stopped for lunch and I missed closing a zipper and the SPOT fell out. When I noticed it was missing there it was too late to go look. When I returned back to town I got online and sure enough it was still transmitting its location and I wrote down the coordinates. However no one returned to that area for the rest of summer. So I pretty much wrote it off as a loss.

I must say I was greatly in pressed with SPOTs customer service in promptly sending me a replacement!

Well this last summer (i.e. summer of 2010) I was greatly surprised when another local guide approached me and asked me if I lost a SPOT last season. I said yes and out of his pocket came my SPOT. He had just done the route I lost it on and happened upon it!

Also to our surprise we changed the batteries and it powered right up and works right as rain! That is pretty impressive after basically spending an entire year out on a mountain pass in the Eastern Chugach Mountains!

Your company makes a quality product and I just wanted to take a minute, tell you my experience and say thank you!”

Ester Vargas Pipersky wrote us and told her story:

“A couple years ago my 81 year old father had major thoracic surgery and lost 1/3 of his lung. Two weeks after surgery a sister went to check-up on him and noticed his 1971 Toyota Landcruiser was gone! As she stood at his house puzzled and worried at his whereabouts she heard the sound of the Landcruiser approaching. When he arrived she said ‘Daddy you should not be driving so soon after surgery, where did you go,’ he replied ‘I went to the mountains for a ride, but don’t worry I took my SPOT!’ Buying the Spot for Daddy was a good idea, I think! He feels safe traveling alone with his Spot LOL.”

Kevin Knowlton wrote us and told us about a rescue he and his team did:

“I am a member of the Nome Alaska Volunteer Fire Department and Search and Rescue unit. On At approximately 5:30pm on February 24th 2009 we received a tone out for a search and rescue. Upon reporting to the Fire Hall we learned that a hunter that was out alone on snowmobile hunting Muskox, had activated his SPOT using the Help feature. The e-mail message had the hunters coordinates and we where able to show on Google map the type of terrain that the signal was coming from. Weather was marginal with temps around 20 degrees and the wind blowing around 25 miles per hour, it was fogy and snowing horizontally. We dispatched a quick reaction team to the coordinates which where approximately 12 miles west of Nome and about 2 miles in from the coast. With in approximately 45 minutes of leaving the team was in the vicinity of the signal and with in minutes we found the hunter at almost exactly where the SPOT unit told us we would find him. His snowmobile had broke through the ice on a small creek and was stuck up to the middle of the cowling in ice and snow. the hunter was wet and the nearest shelter was over 2 miles away. With out the SPOT the out come for this hunter might have been a lot different. We may have not started looking for him until he was reported over due and we would have been looking for a needle in a hay stack. since the recovery our local weather has deteriorated to blizzard conditions and instead of a hunter and rescuers sitting at home this morning we could still be looking for him and preparing ourselves for the worst. Thank you SPOT, I own a unit myself and do not leave home with out it.”

To read more stories that go back to 2008, click around our Tell Us Your Story page.  Good stuff from people like you living their lives and taking SPOT along for the ride.  Peace of Mind and back up security when you need it.

Life is short.  Don’t waste it.

The SPOT Team