Crawdaddy 96 Posted January 7, 2010 Just saw this posted over on D37: http://www.district37ama.org/forums/showthread.php?t=34710 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blind_in_1_ear 0 Posted January 7, 2010 he was even at the Crawford house!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagstr 287 Posted January 7, 2010 Looks interesting. And the Spot Communicator...does it replace or support the interface with the GPS device?? Could be 3 devices to haul around. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim 0 Posted January 8, 2010 While I have a PN-40 that I don't love (Garmin 60cx arrived today and is waiting for me to open) due to the software being "too powerful", I also have a Spot II. I love the Spot II! It works wonderfully. My reservation with the PN-60/Spot marriage is the lack of buttons on the Spot. If you take a spill, you better hope your GPS didn't get schwacked, or you are SOL when it comes to sending a tracking, OK, assist, or 911 message. And, you better hope you can make it back to your GPS to be able to send the message. And then you better hope you can get at it, that it isn't under the bike or something else where you have to dig it out or lift the bike with a broken leg or something along those lines. When you REALLY need the Spot, you won't be too capable of doing much of anything. I carry the Spot strapped to me on my Camelbak. I even have concerns that if I get thrown from the bike that I might not be able to get my Camel off to my back to get to the Spot (such as a broken shoulder/collar bone). Maybe I should carry it on my arm/shoulder? That being said, I love the idea of being able to send messages from the Spot, as you don't have to worry about cell service. I just don't like having to rely on my GPS to hit a 911 or OK button. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bbg.will 0 Posted January 8, 2010 My reservation with the PN-60/Spot marriage is the lack of buttons on the Spot. I read on the delorme website, "As an emergency back-up, the SPOT Satellite Communicator has stand-alone capability to send location-based SOS notification to an emergency response center" .02, i'd give .03, but i don't have anymore. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim 0 Posted January 8, 2010 Great to hear! It would almost sway me back to the Delorme/Spot combo, except then I still have to bother learning Topo 8 to run the GPS. I got frustrated with it Sunday and ordered a Garmin. I am sure it won't be that much easier to use, but hopefully I can figure it out cause the Delorme software just kicked my ass. My reservation with the PN-60/Spot marriage is the lack of buttons on the Spot. I read on the delorme website, "As an emergency back-up, the SPOT Satellite Communicator has stand-alone capability to send location-based SOS notification to an emergency response center" .02, i'd give .03, but i don't have anymore. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crawdaddy 96 Posted January 8, 2010 I got frustrated with it Sunday and ordered a Garmin. I am sure it won't be that much easier to use, but hopefully I can figure it out cause the Delorme software just kicked my ass. Garmin Mapsource is EASY to use..... That said, the new Delorme IS cool because you can access/use preloaded track files on the microcard........which means you can preload a BOAT LOAD of tracks.......that's a nice feature since you can only use 20 track files "preloaded to internal memory" using a 60/76CSx (until such time as you hook up to a laptop and clean house by deleting/adding tracks).......unfortunately, neither Garmin nor Delorme will allow you "access" newly created .gpx files in the field......they'll only allow you to "create" tracks and send them to the micro card........perhaps that's not THAT big a deal since you still have an active track log in internal memory that you can refer to for backtracking of near term terrain.....another advantage of the Delorme appears to be the fact that you can also write waypoints to the .gpx file on the micro card whereas you can only write tracks to the micro card with a Garmin.......any newly created Garmin waypoints are stored in internal memory/track log.......so it's kind of a pain (using a Garmin) when you open active track files on the card but then also have to upload the unit's "internal track log" to pick up any new waypoints you may have set..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darylhunter 1 Posted January 8, 2010 I'm pretty happy with my PN-40. I have downloaded tons of imagery for all the areas I normally ride. I have a 30 GB SD card and have been able to copy tracks to the card. The user interface isn't quite as well done as the Garmin GPSMAP60CS that I have but Delorme Topo software is very useful. I'll have to call my friend at Globalstar and get the skinny on the SPOT III or whatever they're calling it. I was going to upgrade to the SPOT II but may wait depending upon what I hear. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
paulmbowers 236 Posted January 8, 2010 Be aware the SPOT II has a full recall right now- they had some issues, and have no replacement yet. I wouldn't rely on a Spot II until that's fully fixed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ShocknAwe 0 Posted January 26, 2010 Be aware the SPOT II has a full recall right now- they had some issues, and have no replacement yet. I wouldn't rely on a Spot II until that's fully fixed. I talked to SPOT today. They expect to be selling Spot 2 in March 2010. If you purchase Spot 2 from another source (such as eBay), you can send it to Spot to fix the battery issue. They are not providing estimates as to how long it will take to fix your Spot 2. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
