Who uses a Spot?

[My Harem]

I was wondering if anyone uses a SPOT or something similar or if most of you use a sat phone.

I picked one up before my first guided trip last year, a dall hunt in the yukon. My wife and the kids loved watching the progress (tracking feature)i was making and the different places i was going . When the kids got back from school it was a race to the computer to see where i went and how far I walked that day. I was able to program one of the funtions that "all was good" and it put my wife at ease as i "checked in" each night.

I found it a great way for them to semi participate in the experience even if they were not there.
My wife and 4 girls wont let me ( nor would I) leave home without it now. even if it is somewhere close. I never go hunting without it now - even to a treestand.

 

[6t4nova]

I have one and used it last year. It worked pretty well and seemed to keep the wife at ease. I didn't use the track function on it but may enable that for this year.

 

[Gman]

I use a spot. Love my wife to death, but after a long day of being disconnected and hunting hard I dread getting on a "chatty" phone call with her. Sitting at 12,000 ft with a warm mountain house on my lap and being asked "what do you think?" about unimportant issues brings out the less-than-desirable husband side of me! I like to let everyone know I'm okay without actually talking to them. I know it doesn't sound charming but it's the truth. Now, if I was living in the field or gone for 2 weeks then I'd be all over renting a sat phone. But for a week to 10 day trips, the SPOT is great.

 

[Matt Cashell]

I have a SPOT2, which has been very reliable for me. And I also like it for the reasons Gman mentioned.

 

[Bighorse]

Me too. Tracking feature disabled. I like to send out ok messages frequently so there is some kind of timeline. I also hit it for a kill site. Just in case I have any trouble with F&G I can say exactly where the kill site is. If I've found something interesting I'll send out a message too. Later I got back and look at the topography via mapping and see how it compares to what I actually saw.

 

[T43]

I have one and used it last year. It worked pretty well and seemed to keep the wife at ease. I didn't use the track function on it but may enable that for this year.

Dito. I turned on the track function this spring to track my wife while she traveled with our kids through the cell phone dead zones. She felt better about the trip and so did I. I've used it a few times since and plan to have it track my 6 day bivy hunt this fall.

 

[BuckSnort]

Sometime in the next few weeks I will be purchasing a Delorme InReach.. I like the ability to receive texts as well as conformation of whatever info I relay back to friends/family.. If I sprained an ankle or some other mild form of distress I don't want a full out rescue from search and rescue and can text friends/family for help and receive their text's back confirming they got my message..

 

[Matt Cashell]

Jason,

I like the functionality of the In Reach, but that is a chunky unit.

I suspect SPOT will have a 2-Way communication unit in the future as well.

I haven't had any trouble getting my messages received with my SPOT2, though.

 

[My Harem]

Yeah the two way was not avaliable when I bought.
Gman - you a bang on- one of my biggest reasons to hunt/ get out is to get away from it all - especially phones/texts/email.