Noel--

I bought the Spot Connect device. I am disappointed. The use of the
thing is much too abstract and complicated. I have wasted hours
getting it set-up and I have found the instructions to be inadequate.
My confidence that it will all work when I need it is signifcantly
lower than when I was using a regular Spot unit. The messaging
concept is attractive but I think basic Spot is a better choice for
soaring.

Spot connect battery life is much shorter than even Spot 2 despite
moving back to AA size batteries. I suppose that is associated with
power draw for the bluetooth radio.

The down side to Spot 1 is the stupid switchology (you can get past
that with practice of course). Spot 2 improves the control
arrangement and the unit is smaller and has a fill-in function for
missing past transmissions. The later is a nicety that probably won't
add anything to safety though.

Part of making Spot 2 smaller was to change from AA batteries in Spot
1 to AAA batteries in Spot 2. I think that was a bad move because it
greatly reduced Spot 2 battery life compared to Spot 1.

Anybody want to buy a slightly used Spot Connect?

Steve Koerner (GW)