I do a lot of my riding on my own (nae mates you see) and often find myself in out of the way places well off the beaten track both day and night. While I always tell people where I’m going, routes change, timings change etc.

Even night biking playing around in the woods – phone signal not reliable and if you go over could be a long time before someone finds you. I’m also heading to the Alps en famille for 2 weeks and will be biking solo. I know the trails there are fairly busy especially the well known ones but again peace of mind. Was in the Sahara last year too and in retrospect one would’ve been useful then though thankfully didn’t need it! 😆

Been thinking about one of these for a while and very tempted to get one.

Clicky

Gives me peace of mind and also Mrs DB too.

Anyone had any experience of these? Seems like £120 well spent to me even with the £60 a year subscription charge.

I have a new and unusedone I want to sell if you are interested

I’ve got the older version which is good but i believe the new one has a stronger, more powerful antenna to allow for tree cover.
Mine is very accurate if in the open(around 10ft descrepancy) but fairly bad in tree cover(somewhere off the coast of nigeria?, nah probably a couple hundred feet in honesty)
I would reccomend it as would Mrs Flatfish for her peice of mind more than mine when im out biviing or out for an all dayer ie. lunchtime, back at the car, etc.
I don’t bother with the tracking feature, just regular subs.
I’d love a new lighter/ better patch antenna but there’s nowt wrong with mine really that worries me.
Only downside to the new one is the AAA batteries dont last as long as the older AA version but i think it’s something like 10 days of comtinuous use anyway.
My original batteries are still in it 3 years on from new, IIRC it’ll sit in standby for a whole year on fresh batteries!
Get one, you wont regret it.

How much you looking for righty?

I tested the original one and found you needed to stop for three or four minutes and hold the thing out at arm’s length to get a reliable transmission, which I found a bit irksome on the bike. Plus the simple indicators etc make it hard to work out if you’re actually transmitted anything. And as above on the tree cover. I’ve not used the latest one though. Somewhere in the back of my head, I seem to remember that there’s an option to give your mobile similar functionality, though I may have made that up. I’m in full-on Monday mode.

Yup I’ve got the ‘old’ one. I got mine last year for a solo round of the Munro’s. I used it when I was backpacking for days on end and couldn’t report in via phone. In fact, I stopped carrying a mobile and just reported in via SPOT. You can still buy the older AA battery type though the newer one is lighter, more sensitive and quicker to aquire a sat lock.

<edit> Re: the indicator lights point above. The unit sends 3 signals out to try and ensure 1 gets through. When 3 have been transmitted sucesfully, the transmit light goes out. They’ve changed this to positive confirmation on the new design. Go for that.

If you have the need, buy the new one, don’t bother with the tracking sub and take some spare AAA batteries.

Not sure how useful it would be mountain biking? Good in open area riding and I know we are not always in the wooded areas – but we do spend a great deal of time amongst the trees?

Righty – is yours the new one as per my link, or the older one? If the newer one, I’m interested. Mail me on profile (if not already sold to flatfish!)

mine is this one http://www.findmespot.eu/en/index.php?cid=101

I’m after £80 posted

I first saw this when I was out bivvying with flatfish and is the perfect way of letting the other half/family know you are ok.

I appreciate that folk want to be away from all forms of communication when you are out there but sometimes a reassuring text to the misses via such a system that all is ok is a good idea in my book.

Or if you are lying halfway up a bump, out of mobile signal and with a broken leg, they are VERY good idea.