Three years ago I first acquired the Spot Device and I wrote the following review for Amazon.com:
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An essential device for the Alaskan Pilot, November 17, 2012
5 Stars
I fly in the far North of Alaska in the Brooks Range, the upper Yukon Valley and North and West of Bettles. I do this for pleasure but danger always is lurking on the most familiar gravel bar or remote lake and I am frequently more than 500 miles from the nearest outpost of civilization. I use and count on the Spot device to let my wife and my friends know my where-abouts and that I have landed safely. My Spot has never failed me and has sent many perfect localization messages. I have reviewed the Spot messages after returning, I am in awe of the accuracy of the location on google maps.
For those of us who are pushing the envelope of safe return this device has changed the game and allowed us to fly with an extra margin of safety and given those who stay behind the reassurance of knowing that we are safe. I am grateful as are many of my pilot buddies for this essential and sophisticated device and service.
The passage of time has only enhanced my respect and appreciation for this technological innovation and its integration into the iPhone and devices supporting email.
I am embarrassed and ashamed for the whiners and complainers who have given poor reviews for the SPOT device on Amazon. These timid souls seem to be looking for something that will track and announce their course as they venture forth to their barbecue grills or their day hikes in the familiar hills of the civilized world, places where the true danger is more stupidity than geographic. Let them visit Alaska and contemplate the daunting nature of true risk!
When I fly from Fairbanks to Bettles I cross through two completely separate weather systems. If I venture North to Anaktuvuk Pass and the North Slope I enter a third and a fourth. If I fly West to the Kobuk Valley and Kotzebue Sound I enter yet another and if I angle Northwest to the Noatak Valley I enter even another distant weather sector. There are no locally based weather reporters in any of these regions, only automated sensors, which cannot always be relied upon to give up to the minute accurate weather data.
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Pictures follow of the SPOT Device in use:
When I fly from Fairbanks to Bettles I cross through two completely separate weather systems. If I venture North to Anaktuvuk Pass and the North Slope I enter a third and a fourth. If I fly West to the Kobuk Valley and Kotzebue Sound I enter yet another and if I angle Northwest to the Noatak Valley I enter even another distant weather sector. There are no locally based weather reporters in any of these regions, only automated sensors, which cannot always be relied upon to give up to the minute accurate weather data.
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Pictures follow of the SPOT Device in use:
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