Details on the New SPOT 2

Hi,

I have just updated my web site with details on the new SPOT 2. It has some
nice improvements over the original SPOT. It will be available on Oct.
20th, 2009.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/spot.htm

Best Regards,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.

About a year ago, there were some folks on this group that claimed to
be working with Spot on a version to transmit altitude. Can anyone
update on that matter? Spot 2 doesn't seem to resolve two basic
weaknesses: that 10 minutes is too long and we need altitude reporting.

On Aug 5, 6:33*am, Steve Koerner wrote:
Spot 2 doesn't seem to resolve two basicweaknesses:
that 10 minutes is too long and we need altitude reporting.

Can't help with the altitude, but you get 5 minute points out of
'Help' for an hour. Help messages are delivered immediately. Tracking
points are cached by Spot on their server, so updates can take a few
minutes extra on top of the ten minute gap.

--
Philip Plane

No help Philip. The help button is reserved for special meaning.

Consider how much more interesting Spot would be if we had say 1
minute reports in track mode that included altitude. And its not just
a matter of being interesting -- it would also be much more useful for
safety as a reliable reverse ELT.

I was going to tackle the matter of communicating our special needs
with Spot until someone here posted that they were doing it. That was
quite awhile ago -- I'm wondering what the results were.

Steve,

I was communicating with the SPOT folk earlier this year. I had
exchanged e-mails with someone in their R&D department, in which I
begged them to add altitude to the message structure. I gave them all
the reasons why this was a great idea, at minimal cost (GPS altitude
already being part of the NMEA sentence, etc), so I'm very, very
disappointed to see they went the cheapest possible route and left the
message content alone.

I'm now hoping a competitor will pick up this fumbled ball and run
with it. (NK .... ?)

-ted/2NO

I'm trying to get a direct answer from my contacts at SPOT but I was
sorry they didn't do it for this model of the SPOT (I think they call
it version 1b internally). They have a model 2 on the books though
and I'm pretty sure they intend to include altitude with that model.
If I get confirmation of this I'll post again.

Later!
-Mark
On Aug 5, 9:23*am, Tuno wrote:
Steve,

I was communicating with the SPOT folk earlier this year. I had
exchanged e-mails with someone in their R&D department, in which I
begged them to add altitude to the message structure. I gave them all
the reasons why this was a great idea, at minimal cost (GPS altitude
already being part of the NMEA sentence, etc), so I'm very, very
disappointed to see they went the cheapest possible route and left the
message content alone.

I'm now hoping a competitor will pick up this fumbled ball and run
with it. (NK .... ?)

-ted/2NO

On Aug 5, 10:10*am, MarkHawke7 wrote:
I'm trying to get a direct answer from my contacts at SPOT

Mark,

Since you have contacts there I'd be interested to know why they
changed from 2xAA to 3xAAA cells. Was case size the only
consideration, or perhaps the increased voltage increases the uplink
TX power? In any event I'd far rather have the longer life of AA
cells than a smaller case size.

Andy

Hi Andy,
I will ask. My guess is that it was case size but I'll ask. I do
know that the next model is supposed to be 15%-20% smaller than the
current one. When they were telling me about it before, they did
emphasize that the actual transmit power did not go up. I didn't get
alot of details but I got the impression it had more about antenna
design to improve the actual efficiency for the transmit. I'll ask
again about that as well and see what I get back.

Later!

-Mark
On Aug 5, 12:11*pm, Andy wrote:
On Aug 5, 10:10*am, MarkHawke7 wrote:

I'm trying to get a direct answer from my contacts at SPOT

Mark,

Since you have contacts there I'd be interested to know why they
changed from 2xAA to 3xAAA cells. *Was case size the only
consideration, or perhaps the increased voltage increases the uplink
TX power? *In any event I'd far rather have the longer life of AA
cells than a smaller case size.

Andy

On Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:11:47 -0700, Andy wrote:

On Aug 5, 10:10Â*am, MarkHawke7 wrote:
I'm trying to get a direct answer from my contacts at SPOT

Mark,

Since you have contacts there I'd be interested to know why they changed
from 2xAA to 3xAAA cells. Was case size the only consideration, or
perhaps the increased voltage increases the uplink TX power? In any
event I'd far rather have the longer life of AA cells than a smaller
case size.

I suspect we're in the minority and Joe Hiker would far rather have small
and light than long battery life.

Hopefully the Mk 2 will provide the best of both worlds, which would be
either:
- add an external power socket while retaining the 3 x AAA internal
cells

- replace the AAA cells with a 1500 mAh LiPoly rechargable and
a mini-USB charging socket. Alkaline AAA cells are 1250 mAh.

All hiking-type Garmins have internal batteries with an external power
connector, so IMO its odd that Spot doesn't.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

On Aug 5, 11:44*am, Martin Gregorie
wrote:
On Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:11:47 -0700, Andy wrote:
On Aug 5, 10:10*am, MarkHawke7 wrote:
I'm trying to get a direct answer from my contacts at SPOT

Mark,

Since you have contacts there I'd be interested to know why they changed
from 2xAA to 3xAAA cells. *Was case size the only consideration, or
perhaps the increased voltage increases the uplink TX power? *In any
event I'd far rather have the longer life of AA cells than a smaller
case size.

I suspect we're in the minority and Joe Hiker would far rather have small
and light than long battery life.

Hopefully the Mk 2 will provide the best of both worlds, which would be
either:
- add an external power socket while retaining the 3 x AAA internal
* cells

- replace the AAA cells with a 1500 mAh LiPoly rechargable and
* a mini-USB charging socket. Alkaline AAA cells are 1250 mAh.

All hiking-type Garmins have internal batteries with an external power
connector, so IMO its odd that Spot doesn't.

--
martin@ * | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org * * * |

Their choice of a primary Li battery is completely understandable
given their assumption the device is mostly for occasional use and an
emergency signaling. The e2 Energizer Li-FeS2 batteries have much
longer shelf life than a rechargeable Li batteries. SPOT is slow to
wake up to realize tracking is the killer application in lots of
different areas maybe they know much more than we do about their
customer usage (but I'm not so sure).

I also suspect the move to AAA batteries was purely based on packaging
size. The new AMY-5M GPS chip used in the new SPOT SPOT can operate at
1.8V or 3.0V, and the old STX-2 Axionn chipset that drove the original
SPOT messenger was a 3.3V device. No sign yet on an upgraded STX
module announced from Axionn, and they may not have done much to the
Globalstar data-out side of this except improve the GPS/Globalstar
antenna as they claim. Going to a higher nominal internal voltage
would be pretty unusual (i.e. is not likely to be the driving reason
for using 3x AAA). A quick disassemble will tell a lot.

If I was SPOT I'd be looking to charge significantly more for external
power + altitude and other features.

Darryl