“This was the best thing that we had on our trip!  Everyone thought I was a genius and the family back home really appreciated it as well!  One evening I neglected to send the OK at the usual time ( I sent it later) and I was chastised! Thanks for making the process so easy!”

Ed P., Dallas, TX

The Spot Rental worked fantastic on my trip.  I used the Spot in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness in North Eastern MN in May 2009.

Robert Kolm, Howell, MI

“The SPOT is cool, I just don’t have enough need to justify buying one and paying the annual fee, so your service is really handy.  Being able to see OK messages home really reduced the stress levels of my wife and my mother.

Kenneth Kemp, May 14, 2009

September 11, 2008

“I really enjoyed the service you provide.  Exactly what I needed at a reasonable price.  Thanks!”

Larry Woellhart, Huntsville, AL (rented a SPOT from TrackMe360 for 2 weeks)

August 29, 2008

“The device was used this time on a 7-day canoe trip down the Dumoine River in Quebec…Thanks for your excellent help, and I will certainly use your service again in the future.”

Peter Skaller,  Housatonic, MA

My son Bevan and I decided to try this new format for an O-event.
Mats Jansson at TrackMe360 makes it possible to orienteer in
breathtaking Sierra environments by staging the event over a month
or two (no permits required). A team can sign up to run (in our
case, walk) the course on any day. Coordinates are emailed the
night before and the map is standard USGS 1:24,000 scale. It’s all
enabled by a GPS tracking device that records where you’ve been
without any user interface to indicate where you are on the
course… At the end of the run, you simply send in the tracking
device to TrackMe360 which is used to verify that you actually
visited the controls (streamers). The tracking device also uses GPS
time to record your time (maybe even split time, although this
doesn’t seem to get posted on the results website).

The control placements are essentially Orange level on a BAOC map.
But coupled with the relative imprecision of a USGS map, a couple of
the controls had some surprising challenges. In particular, since
anything other than forest vegetation is not mapped, route choice
can lead to surprises in the area of Silver Lake (near Kirkwood ski
area). Large granite boulders and cliffs resulted in an unexpected
effort to get to one of the controls. And sometimes waist-high
brush (obviously not on the map) got in the way of taking the most
optimal route to the control.

We chose to do the Long course (27K), which had 8 controls and a
1000 meter climb (optimal). Probably 60-70% is off-trail. We walked
most of it, with a few downhill runs, and a few more slow rock
scrambles. We did not do the optional peak climb because we didn’t
think the additional time would be less than the reduction of 90
minutes from our overall time on the course (if we’d done the
optional climb). Maybe for those of you in better shape, it would
be worth it. In fact we averaged a little less than 3K/hour over the
whole course.

We were pleasantly surprised that two of the controls had some very
interesting route choice options. Again, because of the poor map
quality, there is a little more luck involved than I’d prefer. But
in retrospect, on the two controls that we bobbled due to poor route
choice, a closer inspection of the map would have resulted in a
better approach.

If you decide to do this Mountain-O, be sure to carry a water
filter. We each started with 2 liter CamelBaks, which we finished
by lunch and the 1/2 way point. We then refilled (pumped 4 litres)
from a well marked spring but at a lower than optimal location. The
water was a bit contaminated from previous high altitude cattle
grazing, but we survived. The last third of the course has
plentiful water from streams and lakes.

Bottom line, if you like to hike in the Sierra, then you should try
this O-event. It will help you to sharpen your large scale
navigation skills, and give you plenty of great views.

For more information, click here.

Jim and Bevan Waite

Dear TrackMe360:

We made it to the summit! Using the Spot while climbing Mount Shasta in northern California, provided the peace-of-mind that help is on the way if we needed it. The OK feature provided our friends and family with timely information about our location and that we were “OK”. The tracking feature was a fun way for friends and supporters to follow our progress. Your service was excellent. For someone like me, who might do one or two epic trips a year, being able to rent the SPOT is perfect. Thanks for being there!

Randy Mintz – Folsom, California

Baja, Mexico – March 28, 2008

Dear Mats!

Thank you so much.  This gadget saved my butt, by keeping my girlfriend up to speed on where I am, and providing peace of mind.  I will certainly rent from you again.  I’ll e-mail you with a link to the story of the trip (long and funny) when I write it all up.

Take care,

Alex Gershenson, Santa Cruz, California

(Alex rode his enduro motorcycle solo through the length of Baja over the course of 7 days in March 2008)

“No one figured the best use of the SPOT was for retrieving a STOLEN motorcycle in the middle of the Baja 1000!! Seems that after one of our riders was evacuated from a crash in a remote area by helicopter, some opportunistic vultures decided to steal the bike. While they had the presence of mind to knock off the rallytracker, they obviously did not know there was a SPOT Satellite Messenger located on the bike. Thanks to the SPOTcasting tracking feature, the bike was retrieved! SPOT saved what was left of the day. SPOT served us well for tracking our race progress as well as alerting us to obvious malicious, criminal activity after our rider went down, in effect – the new Baja LoJack!”

www.baja.net Forum

Chuck Wallace, M.D.
501x Team Rider
2007 Baja 1000

“Whether you are hunting, camping, fishing, boating, or mountain climbing. SPOT is a must for any outdoor activity. I can now send updates on my whereabouts while traveling for work, let my family know I’m OK while deep-sea fishing, and have a back-up plan in case my truck breaks down on the way to another TV shoot. Without question, SPOT is one of the most amazing new products for the avid outdoorsman.”

Henry Waszczuk, Host of the Nationally Televised Angling Shows Fins & Skins and Fishing the Flats