GPS tracking devices. Useful and/or affordable?

[Mitey Mo]

Well, I am quite distracted by Gerry's disappearance in Maine. I can see it so easily being me. I am near the same age and am "directionally challenged".
I've taken a compass and map reading course, I've practiced a few times, but I still get turned around so easily. I've been exploring GPS tracking devices on the internet looking for something lightweight, accurate, available for my husband to see where I am on the computer, good battery power and AFFORDABLE.
Any suggestions?

[Alligator]

You'd need a SPOT. Some of the apps for smartphones would work but not where there is no service. You might have battery issues as well. There's a service plan with SPOT.

[Drybones]

There's a GPS app for your phone called Gaia, a friend had it on the Art Loeb Trail and saved us from wrong turns several times. I believe they may still be working the bugs out of the Android version, his was on an Iphone and worked well.

[Just Bill]

The new spot, gen 3 was just released, I have one on order, but they run 150 plus service ($100 a year I believe?) The good news is, for a safety only piece, the gen 2 models are on sale now for $70 or so, and I believe the service is down to $50 a year for basic functions. The second gen spot was a vast improvement over the first and received excellent reviews. For SOS and OK messages home- you'll be covered, the new model is better, but mainly for tracking your hike.

[Hill Ape]

question about those spots. is there a way they can tracked, without a button being pushed? say for instance you're hurt and incapacitated?

[kayak karl]

question about those spots. is there a way they can tracked, without a button being pushed? say for instance you're hurt and incapacitated?

if it is on YES. so eventually somebody could come to help. the other buttons are help and OK. i had one with me. put pack in shelter and when getting water. i slipped on ice and slid down 30 ft. was ok but since i was at shelter nobody would of even considered looking till probably next day. other time i fell and cracked 2 ribs. again Spot was in pack not near me. i would say if you carry one, keep it on your person with your ID.

[Just Bill]

I have not found that anywhere, not even in the BPL review which is abnormally exhaustive. Short answer-I don't know for sure and can't tell you no with 100% certainty. Educated guess- I don't think so, what makes the battery last so long is that it is a Ping only type device- it's only actively working when it sends it's signal. When it verifies the signal has been sent, it shuts off all but it's most basic functions. The general "best practice" is to leave the tracking feature on, especially on the new model, assuming you fell and it stopped sending, you still had a tracking message go out within 10-20 min of your current position. Your FAILURE to press the button, is what causes a loved/trusted one to then notify authorities that you have failed to check in. The device will not know why you have stopped, only a human on the other end can help you when your OK message fails to arrive. THAT SAID- Spot data is available to your human and Emergency services when they call, putting the odds of them finding you much higher. If it's a big concern, call and find out-not meant to be harsh- the question you asked is a good one.

[Just Bill]

LOL- do I stand corrected then Karl? I looked for that feature in my research but couldn't find it.

[Hill Ape]

does that feature function even if you don't have a subscription? is it proprietary in that it can only be tracked by spot? or would any SAR team have the equipment to be able to pick up that signal?

[Hill Ape]

be as harsh as you want, i've got thick skin, if it comes to it we'll fling poo at each other. besides, from a guy with pigtails? c'mon man

[Just Bill]

sensitivity level is a bit high these days Kayak Karl may have to answer us both... As far as I understood it, the device does not have a signal. Think of it more like a flashlight- you turn it on and it flashes, then it turns off. I didn't think you could "call back" so to speak, but Karl may know more. You need to have a service plan, but the new gen seems to have basic tracking for free. I ordered one, should ship tomorrow, so when I get it set up I'll be able to tell you for sure. The pig tails are monumentally tuff, although I probably can't out poop an ape, so you probably have me there. As soon as humanly possible though Lone Wolf will be on this thread to explain to you that I am a liar and actually quite full of poop. Or knowing that fact he will egg you on into getting into a poop fight with me to see you lose. Mostly he'll have a good time, which is all that counts because deep down he's a pretty nice fella. A fact he will of course dispute.

[Hill Ape]

i understand about the pigtails, my girl loves it when i wear her lingerie. i'm familiar with locator beacons in aircraft, and understand what the capabilities might be, but have no first hand experience with personal units. its something i've been thinking about lately, with the recent deaths and missing on my girls mind when i go out.

[Just Bill]

I mainly have a desire to use the tracking features (go figure), but I do have a young son- so a little piece of mind for the wife is money well spent. Cell phones, despite the recent debate are no fun. Even when I snag a signal, I find myself talking to my wife when I didn't mean to. Even sending a quick text ends up with back and forth talk. I like my wife, so I find I can't stay disciplined enough not to turn a check in into a conversation. The Spot can sit on your shoulder strap, tell the wife you're okey-dokey, and god forbid possibly save your life. Really though- as my training runs have gotten longer, my Runkeeper app far exceeds the battery life of my phone. Leaving the phone dead in an emergency, and my training hike untracked- defeating the whole purpose of carrying the phone- so simple upgrade of a current device for me, with some nifty bonus features. https://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi...l_tracker.html this is the link to the first gen review, which explains the technology better. Further down you'll find the second gen review, which is much more favorable- the device has come a long way.

[Wise Old Owl]

You'd need a SPOT. Some of the apps for smartphones would work but not where there is no service. You might have battery issues as well. There's a service plan with SPOT.

OK I just switched off all the services on my smartphone except GPS in fact the lowly Motorola in AIRPLANE mode ... continued to map on Google maps... I have not fully tested it... I will feild test it shortly.... Mapping works in no signal areas.


When I was in Delaware Water Gap, a rare signal area, on the ridge I was not interested in signal but the mapping kept working and topo.

[Shutterbug]

You'd need a SPOT. Some of the apps for smartphones would work but not where there is no service. You might have battery issues as well. There's a service plan with SPOT.

Before you buy a Spot, check out the Delorme InReach. There is a big difference. The Spot is a one way device -- it sends out a signal. The InReach both sends and receives. That is an important difference. I was a big fan of Spot until last October. I was on a Grand Canyon hike when one of the members of my hiking group had a medical emergency. I sent out the SOS message with my Spot. The indicator on my Spot showed that the SOS was sent; however, it was never received. The medical emergency was resolved without help, but when I got back, I tried to track down what happened to my message. The Spot folks said it was never received. The InReach works the same way, except that you can carry on a two way conversation with the responders. The track feature works the same on both units. Every 10 minutes a message is sent showing the units location.

[Wise Old Owl]

Good to know shutterbug!

[Just Bill]

I did take a peek, I think on your recommendation Shutterbug actually...Anyway- weight, battery, and tracking were my main goals- edge seemed to be with the spot- the OK and emergency are bonus features for me. For the rest of you- do your homework, but that young man there has an excellent point.

[Alligator]

OK I just switched off all the services on my smartphone except GPS in fact the lowly Motorola in AIRPLANE mode ... continued to map on Google maps... I have not fully tested it... I will feild test it shortly.... Mapping works in no signal areas.


When I was in Delaware Water Gap, a rare signal area, on the ridge I was not interested in signal but the mapping kept working and topo.

The GPS part works but communications typically work through the cell phone part so no tracking. For instance, the GPS symbol will show on my phone but I cannot get directions if I don't have cell service. I think it has to be a 3G signal at least. So the phone might tell you where you were at but you can't communicate that to anyone. Sat phone would do it or something that communicates through satellites.

For me, if I put the directions in before losing cell service, the phone will still navigate. I don't know how much info it stores and what happens if it needs to recalculate in a dead cell zone. (A little off of her question that is.)

Hadn't hear about the InReach I'll take a peak at that device.

[Just Bill]

I bought myself a fancy Jobs-a-ma-phone. It was a T-Mobile, great around here, lousy on the trail. If a cell phone ends up your device of choice Verizon, followed by AT&T seem to be common winners in the service category. Also a bit of surprise for me- Cell signal and data service are not the same animal, I occasionally had one or the other, but more often than not I had no data service; so no apps, no options. If safety is the concern, I don't think a cell phone does the job. As a camera, MP3 player, pdf reader- the Iphone is nice, and also a convenient thing to have when in town as payphones are a thing of the past. Camera, phone and music combined in one device has been a good enough weight savings for me. The spot or in-reach is a different deal- but does what it does better than any other device and compliments or replaces a phone depending on what else you use your phone for. I'd strongly recommend the BPL articles if you have access. They also did in depth reviews of various communications options in their typical extremely detailed fashion.

[Follow My Spot]

I have both a SPOT 2 and a DeLorme inReach SE, I love both devices but they've each got their advantages and disadvantages.
SPOT doesn't work in polar regions or Africa, it seems also to only work well when facing up (sometimes a bit difficult floating around in the top pocket of a pack), it seems lighter, uses 3 AAA batteries (I think SPOT 3 uses 4) but batteries are expensive Energiser Lithium but at least you can take spares, there do seem to be some reliability issues with older devices (and with newer ones in the last week - see SPOT facebook page) though mine's always been very good, messages are one-way (out) and pre-programmed, subscription is cheaper.
DeLorme inReach is a bit more expensive both for Device and Subscription, I've only had mine a few weeks so can't really vouch for reliability though I had to soft-rest mine twice which is apparently unusual, the big benefit is that an inReach is custom messages both ways, you can in theory have a conversation on one though you really need to use the EarthMate app on an iPhone/Android phone via bluetooth to send custom messages, the big selling point for me is you actually know that the message has been sent, with a SPOT you're never really sure,. The inReach SE charges via USB, so over about 7 days you'd need a USB battery pack.
Both need a clear sky to work, under a forest canopy in my experience they only work 5-10% of the time, and that's probably when the signal was from a clearing, they work great in open terrain. In a steep gorge they're unlikely to work at all.
There's also another UK unit called a Yellowbrick, they have a very nice map interface (called YBlog), they seem to be targeted mostly at yachties, I have no experience with them though