High Sierra Topix

Sounds good to me, I am not big on mandates either.
It should be an easy optional feature to build into a new unit, it might open up a whole new market. Then again with business desiring continuing revenue a fee free system might not be an easy sell in the board room.

I was also checking out this device since I dropped my Globalstar
account.
I never had problems attaining reception, though in some places it
took a little longer to get a fix on a satellite, or I could not carry on
a very long conversation, which it is not really what I intended to use it
for anyway, but thats not something Id want to say to my wife.
The reason I dropped Globalstar was the billing fiasco that carried
on for several months after which I got tired of dealing with.
Would I recommend them, yes, if and only when they hired some
competent people in the billing dept!
Iridium is supposed to be better in all aspects but is even more expensive
so they are not a viable alternative for me.
I never carried a phone anyways till 3 yrs ago when my wife said
"carry a phone or don't go".

Gee, not having a phone and being alone are some of the reasons I like backpacking.

frediver wrote:The price of the unit is not that big a deal but the continuing price of service charges is the deal breaker for me.
I dont need anymore easy monthly charges to protect me !
How long will it be before we are required to have a device like this whenever we go out?
IMO FRS/GMRS handie talkies should have a signal feature built into the units.

I suppose if you went out every month then it could get to be expensive. But, there is a monthly pay as you go plan...$10/mo. For people like me who only hike in the summer, then it's not too bad.

I will be getting the Spot soon, probably this week. After not being able to contact anyone a few weeks ago to say "I'm ok", I decided its probably best to get one. SnowDude knows I can take care of myself, but when I missed work and didn't (couldn't) call, he was a 'little' concerned.

My friend Jay got one, and he's a GPS geek so I am confident it will be a good thing to have.

Trailbud got one, he sent me a pre typed text message that he was allright. You can put several phone #s in to get a message, this will let those worried know you are just going to be late.
Leaving the 911 call for, help me now!

I just got a Spot locator about a week ago. I like the goggle map link feature which makes it simple for the recipent to see the location. I also got the recovery insurance for $7.00 That's a good deal.

My wife also thought this sounded pretty good for my solo trips. So I emailed Spot sales about whether they have shorter terms plans than the one year and received the following reply:

"An annual service agreement is our only activation package available. It words out as $8.33 per month, not too costly."

I guess some people don't quite understand what living within a limited budget entails.

LMBSGV wrote:My wife also thought this sounded pretty good for my solo trips. So I emailed Spot sales about whether they have shorter terms plans than the one year and received the following reply:

"An annual service agreement is our only activation package available. It words out as $8.33 per month, not too costly."

I guess some people don't quite understand what living within a limited budget entails.

Their website says $99.99 per year or $9.99 per month. Connect to http://www.findmespot.com/downloads/spe ... _10507.pdf

I emailed SPOT sales about that spec info. They replied that the $9.95 a month plan was under consideration, but had not received final approval and so was not yet available. I'm not quite sure why they are posting a spec sheet that has not been approved, but perhaps if we email/write/call saying we are more likely to buy one if there is a monthly plan, they will approve it. Or maybe the sales department doesn't know what's going on in the rest of the company. Has anyone else contacted them directly about this?