Spot Gen 4 Satellite GPS Messenger | Handheld Portable GPS Messenger for Hiking, Camping, Outdoor Activities | Globalstar Satellite Network Coverage | Subscription Applicable

This is one of the best devices on the market. it comes with ult lithium batteries,less than 100 bucks, less than 150 for a years worth of service with no deadspots in the entire US. as long as the device is not covered by metal it works perfectly.Most trackers cost up to 10 times as much that are more difficult to use, have contracts, annoying front end programs and more.If you need to track something, or want to protect your watercraft, atv, MC, or car, this is the easy way to go. Its not for fleet management use. You can even use this on a large pet if you fasten it to their collar.5 star cause it needs no improvement.As far as the contract goes, if you don't want to renew, use an expired card or dead card after signing up. The 120 bucks a year is better than having 500 cops in airplanes looking for your missing object. This thing is cheap insurance, saves time and money. Ive installed over a thousand GPS devices in my career.The spot trace is the best performing box for the buck.

I've had several models of Spot devices over the years, and this is the best one yet. Message transmission is incredibly fast and reliable - almost instant in many cases. The batteries last a very long time, too. I use it several times a week as I travel to remote, mountaintop locations for work, and can easily let my family know I've arrived safely and, using the custom message feature, let them know heading home.If I had one complaint, it is that the unit turns off after maybe an hour. It would be nice if it stayed "armed" to send a message for longer, so you don't have to hold the power button for 3 seconds and allow it to re-acquire GPS before sending another message. The first gen model stayed on for days and I loved that feature.But seriously, this is an awesome PLB and half the price of other brands. Go for it.

I’ve been looking for a GPS tracker for my motorcycle, when I found Spot. I knew about Spot satellite pager, but didn’t know they also make this GPS tracker! Before this a bought some other generic brand trackers, none of which worked well. Some promise more functionality than Spot, but none actually deliver.One of the problems with those trackers is that they rely on cell service. No reception - no tracking.Spot doesn’t use cell service. It uses satellites. Every 5 minutes by default it will “yell” it’s location with all its radio power, hoping there’s a satellite in the sky near by to hear it :) And from my experience so far, there’s about 1% failure rate (i.e. it sent the signal, but it was never received by the satellite). Which is not too bad. But it worked flawlessly when I was riding in the mountains, where there’s no cell reception at all!The unit is very small and easy to hide on a motorcycle.Now onto the bad part:1. It uses AAA batteries. You can install rechargeable batteries, but you won’t be able to charge them while they’re installed in the Trace. I’m not sure whether it can seamlessly switch between power from USB and power from the batteries or not, but I hope it can: changing batteries in it is a bit of a hassle: you need a screwdriver. And I’m not yet sure how long the batteries are going to last in real world.2. There are two LED lights, which blink very brightly, so you may have to cover them with something, otherwise they give away the placement of the device.3. There is a power button on the unit, making it easy to turn it off if located by a thief. Although, he could just as easily remove the batteries, so I guess there’s no point in hiding it :)

The device itself is fine. The problem is with the required service to make it work. I ultimately had to return this and go with a more reputable brand that cares about reliability. When I first bought the device I was completely unable to use it the first weekend. Their website to set up an account and pay for the service was down and made it impossible to create an account to activate the SPOT. They have no customer service outside of M-F, 9-5. So instead of going on a hike with our new Spot, we waited. On Monday I called and they explained "it was just a server issue", and "nothing to worry about". While on the phone the issue was resolved and I proceeded to create my account and sign up. Fast forward a few weeks. We came down out of the mountains to panicked friends and family because, while the SPOT confirmed that the check-in messages were delivered, they, in fact, were not. Tried several more times while in civilization, each time the SPOT confirmed the message was sent. No messages were ever actually delivered. Waited (again, until Monday during working hours) to reach out to support. They confirmed, again, that it was "just a server issue, nothing to worry about because they are now aware of it and working on a fix". The attitude of the company is what sealed the deal to completely stay away from them: they had no regard for the fact that it straight up didn't work. They didn't care that it could have been a life or death emergency and their product didn't work. No acknowledgement that there was a real issue, just a small "blip" that was getting fixed. This device is for emergencies and needs to work. Repeated "small" server errors don't seem to bother them. I suggested they maybe have a system status page to let customers know if there's an issue. That suggestion was met with argument: "Why would anyone want to know when the system is down" and "our engineers don't know how to update the website if they know there's a problem". Yikes.Bottom line: I don't trust this company to communicate in the event of an emergency. Twice bitten is enough for me. Device has been returned, service refunded, and I'm not looking back.