Spot failed

tex78

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Yup seen that too

Makes me not want to hook up the old spot, cause when ya need it it might not work

I have heard in reach with same issues too


It is a GPS, battery operated, electronic device in a harsh climate

So ya just never know
 

LBZ

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Used mine once for an emergency and it worked. Have only sent messages with it since. Hopefully it will get help coming if needed again.
 

Zrock

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They should have a spot on the site where you can put your unit into test and test all the functions
 
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Bnorth

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Spot is junk. Brother in law had one fail when he needed the SOS and have heard other stories of the same happening. Inreach or nothing, use the test feature monthly.
 

AreWeThereYet

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I'm confused,.. no mention of Spot,.. but they mention cell service,.. did his avy beacon fail or spot?????

A Snohomish County man learned his emergency locator beacon didn’t work in the worst moment possible; after a horrific snowmobile crash in the snowy vastness of Mount Baker.

He was able to radio his friends, who then tried to use emergency locator beacons, without any luck.
 

Bnorth

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I'm confused,.. no mention of Spot,.. but they mention cell service,.. did his avy beacon fail or spot?????
emergency locator beacon is not an avalanche transceiver. I read another account of this and it specifically mentioned a Spot.
 

teamdirt

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You should be testing and updating your Inreach before every trip or at least once a month. Inreach strongly advises it.
 

RGM

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I wonder if they actual knew how to use it and how many people actually read the manual for any of their safety gear. You need to hold the 911 button down for about 5 sec (until it starts flashing) before it starts sending. This is obviously to reduce false activations.
 

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I read the actual persons account of this and they said they had called spot to test it after this happened and said every function worked except the sos, I'll see if I can find it again
 

tex78

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I read the actual persons account of this and they said they had called spot to test it after this happened and said every function worked except the sos, I'll see if I can find it again
That's 100%

They even called spot and tested it over the phone with spot and it did not work for sos function

Spot felt bad and gave them the option to have the newest version of spot equivalent to what he had, more of a hush hush tactic if ya ask me


He posted on Facebook to let everyone know his story
 
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Quicksand

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Taken from the FB post


SPOT LLC #spotsaveslives did NOT save my life. It in fact it failed me at the most critical moment. U.S. Navy did however come to the rescue. Here’s a little update to the story that KIRO 7 News ran on my Mt Baker rescue. I had just suffered a horrendous compound fracture of the lower leg way out in the Mt Baker Wilderness. In a location and terrain that necessitated a quick rescue to save my leg and my life. I hit the SOS button on my SPOT. To my horror the button did nothing after repeated attempts. Then even crazier my friends #spotgen3 wouldn’t activate the SOS either. Both units were blinking green, were blinking all the correct lights in the start up self test. I have been running SPOT devices in my #airplane and all my #backcountry, #floatplane, and #snowmobile adventures for at least a decade. I have persuaded many friends to buy the device over the years. This however was the first time I needed it. Part of me is glad it happened. Because during all those preflight and pre-ride discussion where I’ve looked people straight in the eye and said this is your best way to rescue. I’m out of the hospital and well enough now to call SPOT and get their take on it. Tech support had me go through various tests. Then had me test the “help/sos” functions. NOPE. Still doesn’t work. Nothing lights up. Just the blinking green light at the power icon. So they have me try the “ok” button. Yep. Still works normally. Now here’s my biggest concern. How many units are like mine and my friend’s @krispelan ? How many still work in track and ok lulling you into a false sense that the unit will work when you need the SOS or HELP function? Scary to say the least. So if you have one of these devices I suggest you call SPOT LLC and have them test your unit. I requested a credit towards #spotx in lieu of a new #spotgen3 replacement they offered because I don’t trust the hardware. He told me to sell it on ebay��‍♂️��‍♂️. Ok right... I’ve given you my trust and money all these years and I finally need your services. The least you could do is upgrade credit me to a two way comm unit so that I know it’s working. At least I’m told my GEOS rescue insurance should still apply. What would you do?


#KIRO7Seattle story


https://www.kiro7.com/news/north-so...wo-snowmobilers-in-separate-crashes/923142305


Update: Thank you so much for sharing this story. I hope it saves someone’s life. I just received a call from a high manager at SPOT after this went viral. Sad that it took that for someone in the company to think this was serious. We’ll see what they do to make it right and assure us that their products are reliable. I’ll keep you posted ��


Update #2: SPOT management just called me again(the morning after this went viral) They are very apologetic and sound very sincere in there concern about what happened to us. I think it’s sincere but also a bit of damage control. They tell me that this is a “one off” that this unit worked(or rather didn’t work) in the manor described. They are taking both of our Gen3 SPOT devices to see what happened. In addition they are sending me the new SPOTX that offers texting so that I can verify that it’s indeed working. In addition they are giving me a free one year extension on my plan. They say it’s the least they can do. So for now I will accept the SPOTX and subscription and try it out for the next 17 months. I will however be supplementing it with another device and an Eprib. So long story short I think I got a bad manager the first time I called. He didn’t seem to care about the gravity of the situation. Didn’t even ask for the defective unit to test it. And of course even worse telling me to sell replacement SPOT product on Ebay to buy another SPOT product. He really acted like a blocking agent rather than a problem solver. However now the upper management is trying to make it right and show us how serious they consider these devices to be to us. They tell me they are going to use this as a training tool for their employees. I’m still apprehensive to trusting a gen3 after what happened. If you have one in my opinion I’d get it checked even if it’s still working in the “OK” function it may not be working in the SOS function as mine did. I thought it only fair that SPOT had a voice in this too that’s why I’m giving these updates. They tell me they have over 6000 rescues. My goal is to inform others because of the life saving nature of the device.


the updates are new since I last read it.
 

RGM

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Taken from the FB post


SPOT LLC #spotsaveslives did NOT save my life. It in fact it failed me at the most critical moment. U.S. Navy did however come to the rescue. Here’s a little update to the story that KIRO 7 News ran on my Mt Baker rescue. I had just suffered a horrendous compound fracture of the lower leg way out in the Mt Baker Wilderness. In a location and terrain that necessitated a quick rescue to save my leg and my life. I hit the SOS button on my SPOT. To my horror the button did nothing after repeated attempts. Then even crazier my friends #spotgen3 wouldn’t activate the SOS either. Both units were blinking green, were blinking all the correct lights in the start up self test. I have been running SPOT devices in my #airplane and all my #backcountry, #floatplane, and #snowmobile adventures for at least a decade. I have persuaded many friends to buy the device over the years. This however was the first time I needed it. Part of me is glad it happened. Because during all those preflight and pre-ride discussion where I’ve looked people straight in the eye and said this is your best way to rescue. I’m out of the hospital and well enough now to call SPOT and get their take on it. Tech support had me go through various tests. Then had me test the “help/sos” functions. NOPE. Still doesn’t work. Nothing lights up. Just the blinking green light at the power icon. So they have me try the “ok” button. Yep. Still works normally. Now here’s my biggest concern. How many units are like mine and my friend’s @krispelan ? How many still work in track and ok lulling you into a false sense that the unit will work when you need the SOS or HELP function? Scary to say the least. So if you have one of these devices I suggest you call SPOT LLC and have them test your unit. I requested a credit towards #spotx in lieu of a new #spotgen3 replacement they offered because I don’t trust the hardware. He told me to sell it on ebay��‍♂️��‍♂️. Ok right... I’ve given you my trust and money all these years and I finally need your services. The least you could do is upgrade credit me to a two way comm unit so that I know it’s working. At least I’m told my GEOS rescue insurance should still apply. What would you do?


#KIRO7Seattle story


https://www.kiro7.com/news/north-so...wo-snowmobilers-in-separate-crashes/923142305


Update: Thank you so much for sharing this story. I hope it saves someone’s life. I just received a call from a high manager at SPOT after this went viral. Sad that it took that for someone in the company to think this was serious. We’ll see what they do to make it right and assure us that their products are reliable. I’ll keep you posted ��


Update #2: SPOT management just called me again(the morning after this went viral) They are very apologetic and sound very sincere in there concern about what happened to us. I think it’s sincere but also a bit of damage control. They tell me that this is a “one off” that this unit worked(or rather didn’t work) in the manor described. They are taking both of our Gen3 SPOT devices to see what happened. In addition they are sending me the new SPOTX that offers texting so that I can verify that it’s indeed working. In addition they are giving me a free one year extension on my plan. They say it’s the least they can do. So for now I will accept the SPOTX and subscription and try it out for the next 17 months. I will however be supplementing it with another device and an Eprib. So long story short I think I got a bad manager the first time I called. He didn’t seem to care about the gravity of the situation. Didn’t even ask for the defective unit to test it. And of course even worse telling me to sell replacement SPOT product on Ebay to buy another SPOT product. He really acted like a blocking agent rather than a problem solver. However now the upper management is trying to make it right and show us how serious they consider these devices to be to us. They tell me they are going to use this as a training tool for their employees. I’m still apprehensive to trusting a gen3 after what happened. If you have one in my opinion I’d get it checked even if it’s still working in the “OK” function it may not be working in the SOS function as mine did. I thought it only fair that SPOT had a voice in this too that’s why I’m giving these updates. They tell me they have over 6000 rescues. My goal is to inform others because of the life saving nature of the device.


the updates are new since I last read it.

The thing is you can not hit the button. You have to press and hold. I would really like to see a vid of him testing it with spot.
 

donnie

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I have the gen3 and a spot X. The spot X text worked pretty good until I was in a panic one day and couldn't type on the little key pad properly. The spot X receives text as well. I don't trust the gen3 anymore cause I would change the messages online, and when I would send new messages, it would still send the old message. 2 way communication like the spot x is the way to go.
 

Quicksand

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The thing is you can not hit the button. You have to press and hold. I would really like to see a vid of him testing it with spot.

I’ve got a spot 2 and you have to hold every button on it. Including power, have to hold them all for about 3 seconds to make them work. I assume they would know this and would have tried holding the button down longer
 

Zrock

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The thing is you can not hit the button. You have to press and hold. I would really like to see a vid of him testing it with spot.
if he went through testing with the tech then im sure they covered this... Not the first time i have heard of this issue and it seems to becomming more of a issue the more people are getting in trouble out in the back country and having to rely on these for help
 

RGM

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if he went through testing with the tech then im sure they covered this... Not the first time i have heard of this issue and it seems to becomming more of a issue the more people are getting in trouble out in the back country and having to rely on these for help


Tech support, LOL he was probably in Mumbai
 

AreWeThereYet

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I have the gen3 and a spot X. The spot X text worked pretty good until I was in a panic one day and couldn't type on the little key pad properly. The spot X receives text as well. I don't trust the gen3 anymore cause I would change the messages online, and when I would send new messages, it would still send the old message. 2 way communication like the spot x is the way to go.

Don't you have to sync the device to update just like the inreach?
 

donnie

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Don't you have to sync the device to update just like the inreach?
Yes, you change settings and sync the device from your spot account. I am not familiar with inreach. I would do this, but when I activated the ok or custom message buttons, it would forget the new settings and send the old message. Sometimes I would have to sign into my account 10+ times before it would recognize my user ID and password. I have spoken to Spot CS more than once regarding. When it works, it works 100% of the time lol.
 
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