IMOP, important 'SPOT' question for SPOT owners. I need to know why ?

[~TABASCO~]

SPOT owners,

Ive always wondered why SO many people have the SPOT attached to there bikes / bars. I have a SPOT myself, I have it in the closest position to the center of my touring jacket. Please chime in with your thoughts. My thoughts are this, If you have an accident, and are thrown away from your bike how are you going to reach your SPOT for help? If you take turn to wide and lay the bike down (of course an accident) and your bike slides off a cliff, there goes your SPOT. Or if you side off the road so no one can see you and your seriously injured, your bike is yards away? Im my life I have torn up my shoulder and have broken my hip. (years of Motocross) If I had fallen and broken my hip again, I better still be on the bike or within arms length of the SPOT to call for help. And we know that would probably be doubtful. With a broken hip you cant move, if the bike was ten feet away I could probably not get to the bike and call for help. Assuming the bars where not destroyed along with the SPOT device.
I have mine in my jacket because if the bike gets away from me, or is destroyed, I still have the SPOT on me to call for help. I have it in the center, in case I where to break my right or left arm or wrist. I can get to it with either arm.

For the many people that have the SPOT mounted to the bars, have you ever thought about the bike not being next to you if your really hurt....... ? Your thoughts? Ive spoken to several people about this topic and it tends to be an interesting conversation. Im not saying one way is right or wrong, just my thoughts on the topic.....

 

[Mellow]

Some feel if it lands away from you... someone cares enough to notice many pings in the same spot and may try to call and send help... Me, I use the arm band or put it in one of my jacket pockets...

 

[justbob]

I carry my Spot in my jacket pocket also.
I think that some people that have them mounted on the handlebars are not paying for or using the automatic tracking.
So they need access to the unit to manually push the "OK" button occassionally.

 

[snuffcityrider]

Since I traded my spot connect for the spot gps I've been wearing it on my arm, which I guess you could still loose after a crash. Will the spot still track your movements while in your pocket?

 

[tubebender]

I carry mine in my jacket pocket for the very reasons you outlined above.
It may miss the occasional tracking point but when I really need it I'll know where to find it!

 

[Firefight911]

IMOP, important 'SPOT' question for SPOT owners. I need to know why ?

It's a good topic that comes up every time I teach my Motorcyclist First Aid.

It is a decision that one makes based on information gained, an informed decision.

Just as you indicate, if you separate from your bike and it is mounted to the bike, you may not be able to get to it. I have mine on the bike and, yes, I use the track mode all the time.

Now, if you separate from your bike and you have it on you and it now causes injury from impact with the ground or an object with it between you and the object it might have been better to not have it on you.

If you have an accident and are knocked unconscious it matters not whether it is on you or the bike.

I do it one way, others do it another. Make your decision based on good information and go with it. There really is no right or wrong answer only an informed decision.

Come to my next class and we'll talk about it!!


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[Don in Lodi]

Did I understand correctly that the Spot needs to be horizontal for the antenna to connect? Being vertical in your pocket would seem to purposefully put the unit out of service... until you're flat on your back on the road side of course. I thought the horizontal mount on the bars was for connectivity...

 

[Firefight911]

Yes, for optimum chance to conect you want it horizontal. Not mandatory but preferred for best transmission of signal.

 

[EricV]

I have a Spot II. I have it for one reason, so that my honey can see where I am when she is not with me. It does fuck all else.

It's mounted to the bike. Why not to me you ask? Because I've fricking crashed before!! Anything on you, that is breakable, will get broken during a crash when you are rolling and sliding down the pavement. AND, it will do some damage to you too.

But you say, what if the bike is not in reach? A valid concern. One word - TRACKING. If you can't hit the help or 911 buttons, (under guards on the Spot II, btw), the tracking will show the last hit, or your actual location. IMHO, w/o tracking, the spot is pretty useless. Tits on a Nun, balls on a priest, and a Spot that doesn't ping, all useless. You do not need to worry about the Spot being in reach IF you have tracking, and IF someone is watching your track.

Now if no one is watching your track.... perhaps.... just maybe... you should be a little more careful about how hard you're riding. The Spot can be a great tool, but you're the one riding the bike. The spot won't save you if you fuck up. You have to save you. That may indeed mean being able to hit the 911 or help buttons on the Spot, but that shouldn't be your first move, eh?

 

[colorider]

Good topic! I just got my Spot II and plan to locate it somewhere on the bike - probably in my tank bag.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it (probably).....

 

[Twitch]

I didn’t get my Spot2 because it has the SOS feature. I got it for messaging and tracking and spot recommends that it face the sky for tracking. However, if I find myself alone someplace remote or strange and feel like attaching it to myself, I can always remove it from the cradle and put it in the arm band so it would keep tracking. It’s not like it’s permanently affixed to the bar mount.

 

[Checkswrecks]

I've heard arguments for both sides.


The arm band is probably the last way I'd carry it, there are just so many wild forces and gyrations during a fall that I would expect it to both get separated from the rider AND damaged.


In a pocket, at least it stays with you, like Tabasco wrote. On the flip side, I've seen stuff in pockets gets crushed and injure people. Unless I miss that I am carrying a pen, I won't carry it in a chest pocket while riding for this reason.


At least on the bike there are some protected areas. Plus, I try to be lazy and when it's not in my pocket it's less gear for me to contend with normally.

 

[Mellow]

There's a 1,000 scenarios where NOT carrying it on the bike will be a bad thing...

There's a 1,000 scenarios where NOT carrying it on YOU will be a bad thing...

I figure as long as you have one, you're doing better than most... Hope no one ever has to use it in an emerg situation.

 

[hojo in sc]

There's a 1,000 scenarios where NOT carrying it on the bike will be a bad thing...

There's a 1,000 scenarios where NOT carrying it on YOU will be a bad thing...

I figure as long as you have one, you're doing better than most... Hope no one ever has to use it in an emerg situation.

I agree, I don't think any particular location is a MUST over the other. When I ride my bicycle, I don't carry my cell phone in my jersey pocket (which is on the back) because if I fall, I will more than likely, damage my phone. Instead, it is inside a padded cell phone case mounted in the water bottle cage. If I crash on the moto with the SPOT in my jacket pocket, I'm afraid it will be damaged. If I crash and the SPOT is on the moot, there is still a chance that it will be violent enough to dislodge the SPOT, but I think it is less likely to happen.

 

[HoebSTer]

This is an itneresting topic about SPOT. After reading this, I looked at some of the reviews on the SPOTs. It is a mixed bag for sure, good and bad!!!

 

[EricV]

This is an itneresting topic about SPOT. After reading this, I looked at some of the reviews on the SPOTs. It is a mixed bag for sure, good and bad!!!

Remember there is a Spot I and a Spot II, most people will prefer the II, though it uses (3) AAA batteries and they last about 10 days of full use, where the original Spot uses AA batteries and lasts a lot longer. Many of the complaints with the Spot I were about missing pings. Spot II solves this by sending a lot more. They have slightly different features, and the Spot II has covers over the panic/help buttons, whereas the Spot I does not and there were some reported accidental activations.

Regardless of which device you choose, (there are 4-5 variations now), do go sign up for a free Spotwalla account. Spotwalla is sooo much better with the tracking than the Spot home page, and Spotwalla is free. You will need tracking for either to be really useful for someone to follow your progress.

 

[mrpincher]

Here's my emergency action plan - Chest pocket so I'll have it when I need it.


Plan A - Soon after departure from my bike, while I'm still in slow motion superman flight mode, I'll calmly reach into my pocket and hold the spot horizontal for a life sustaining ping. I know from experience it seems to take an hour to hit the pavement once a person is airborne, which leaves plenty of in flight time to fiddle with orienting the Spot correctly for a ping and maybe even sending a text or two, before the dreaded thud.

Plan B - If I take immediate leave of my senses, thus failing to extract it from my pocket while in superman flight mode, I'll probably hit the said dirt abruptly, probably rendering me into a deeper state of unconsciousness, probably won't really give a shit whether its pinging or not. In that case, Good luck to the coyotees trying to chew through my Armacor fabric encased carcass. ::025::

Sorry for the dark humor. :-[

 

[jajpko]

Here's my emergency action plan - Chest pocket so I'll have it when I need it.


Plan A - While I'm still in slow motion superman flight mode, I'll calmly reach into my pocket and hold the spot vertical for a life sustaining ping. I know from experience it seems to take almost a hour to hit the pavement once a person is airborne, this leaves plenty of in flight time to fiddle with orienting the Spot correctly and maybe even sending a text or two, before the dreaded thud.

Plan B - If I take immediate leave of my senses, thus failing to extract it from my pocket while in superman flight mode, I'll probably hit the said dirt abruptly, probably rendering me into a deeper state of unconsciousness, probably won't really give a shit whether its pinging or not. In that case, Good luck to the coyotees trying to chew through my Armacor fabric encased carcass. ::025::

Sorry for the dark humor. :-[

I's good. I like humor...It tends to put everything in perspective..

 

[EricV]

Plan C: Buy the $50/year tracking feature, create a spotwalla account, make sure your loved one/good friend has the link and is on the email notification list for your 'ok', 'custom' and 'help/sos' pings. Put the unit in tracking mode after you fire it up, go ride. Worst case scenario, you crash, Spot device is destroyed, you're unconscious, you're friends still know what road you were on and have a really, really, good chance of finding you fairly quickly once they realize your spot stopped moving/pinging and will pick up your trail at the last ping.

 

[Don in Lodi]

...rendering me into a deeper state of unconsciousness...

::003::