Location Sharing Could Save Your Life

[dduelin]

This young man is extremely lucky. His friends found him still alive 3 days after crashing his bike and going down into a wooded ravine. If you are riding alone and don't carry a dedicated location sharing device like a Spot Tracker consider an app or setting on your phone that shares your location with family or a trusted friend. Phone apps only work inside of cell phone coverage but even off the grid your last cell tower ping could give clues as to the route your took from there. SPOTs and other low earth satellite based geo locators will work when phone coverage is lost.

No Longer Available

www.kcra.com

 

[Sadlsor]

This, on the heels of a rider who missed a turn last month on Hwy 129 (the Dragon), went about the same distance - 40ft - down the hillside and was trapped under his Harley for one full week.
By the time they found him, he was alive but in rough shape, and died a day later in ICU.
To think of all the riders and drivers who passed right by him in all that time, is sobering at the very least.
On ADVrider I suggested we include a whistle on our persons, as in this case he was not in a remote area, but unseen all the same.
But yes... a locator would likely have saved his life.
I have one now, but my wife is a technophobe so I'll have to add someone else to my status messages.
Any volunteers...?
(I kid. Yes, I know the SOS goes to first responders or a comm center who will call EMS. I bought a Garmin Inreach device and a subscription.)

 

[Cogmeister]

What3words has been suggested

Discover some of the many ways what3words can be used | what3words

 

[ReSTored]

Good advice.

We were in Castlegar, BC in September 2019 and there was a discussion with the friends we were staying with about someone on a bike who had disappeared a few months previously. To date, never found.

Lots of very remote areas in BC, but you could go off the road and down an embankment just about anywhere, not just in BC. The Kamloops guy was on an ST1100.

MISSING UPDATE: Police still searching for 58-year-old Salmo man - The Nelson Daily

Salmo RCMP continues the investigation to locateCory McKay. McKay has not been seen since June 18, 2019 at the Castlegar Shell gas station. Please see photo of Mckay, below, with the motorcycle he was believed to be driving when he was last seen. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of...

thenelsondaily.com

Missing motorcyclist found dead, police say - Kamloops News

UPDATE 6:55 p.m. The Kamloops RCMP says Miles Quigley has been found dead.

www.castanetkamloops.net

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/family-finds-body-of-missing-bc-motorcyclist-1.1295398

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/paul-kerr-missing-b-c-man-found-pinned-alive-under-motorcycle-1.3117608

 

[dduelin]

I bought and activated SPOT Tracker after a thread was started in ST-O concerning missing motorcycle rider Donald Masters. Unfortunately he did not survive but had a lot of people looking for him. Perhaps he would have survived his accident if his location was known. I have a SPOT and a Spotwalla account that I share with some motorcycle friends and my iPhone location is shared with family members.

 

[SMSW]

What3words has been suggested

Discover some of the many ways what3words can be used | what3words

The website says if you need help, you share your 3 word address with the call handler in their call center.... This assumes you have the presence of mind, after riding off the road down a rough embankment, and are lying under your motorcycle that you have cell coverage and said phone is not lying on the ground a couple of feet out of reach (having been broken off your Quadlock on the handlebars). It also presupposes cell coverage (or that you can pull your sat phone out of the panniers).

Still, it is better than nothing.

I suspect that the guys here who buy Spot/Garmin Inreach beacons will never need it. Having it suggests these people are more situationally aware, are prepared, and more careful than the guys who ride off wearing a do rag, shorts, and a T- shirt as their ATGATT.

 

[st11ray]

I have an old first gen Spot. I haven't activated it in a while since I haven't been riding much lately. I need to get a new one.
I also keep my phone in my jacket so that it's at least with me if I get separated from the bike and can't get back to it.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Years ago while on a Blue Ridge trip I saw a news story on a local TV station about an 18 wheeler that was found after having disappeared two or three weeks earlier. It was in Tennessee or North/South Carolina. He missed a turn and went off the road and down the mountain side. The trees closed up after he went through making him hard to spot from the air. Helicopters had been sent out to look for him and didn't find him. He was found badly injured but still alive when they eventually found him. He had survived on the small amount of food that he carried in the truck and by drinking rain water that he collected dripping off of the leaves around him.

If an 18 wheeler can disappear and not be found for that long, imagine how hard it can be to spot a motorcycle.

 

[bdalameda]

I used SPOT trackers for years and changed over to InReach when Delorme came out with them due to being able to send Satellite text messages which I could not do with the SPOT(this has change now). Now InReach is pretty exclusive to Garmin and I carry a newer InReach Mini 2 now. I have found that the InReach Iridium network has much better coverage than the SPOT Globalstar network in actual use. I had both the InReach and the SPOT device with me on a fairly long ride to Montana a couple of years ago to compare both and the InReach had coverage in some mountainous areas and the SPOT did not. The SPOT network uses some cellular networks to relay information from nodes to their data centers to be sent out where the InReach uses more direct satellite links to their data centers for communications which has proven to be slightly more reliable.

 

[Mellow]

I like Life360. It is phone-based so depends on cell coverage but it is free and it's nice you can create a circle of contacts. That's nice when you have a few folks you're riding with and you'd like to know where they are on the way to a meeting point or if you do get lost going somewhere.

The new Garmin XT2 is supposed to support a way to see other XT2 users but I haven't looked into that since I'm on the XT only.

I dropped the spot due to cost as even the change in their billing was still too much $$ for me. Most of my riding is in places with cell coverage.

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

+1 on the InReach, the Misses made it a must have after I told her I was going into the woods for a few days and there will be no cell, Elk City, Idaho. She forgot I said no cell... now I pay the yearly for the ability to turn it on and off and can still text her when out of coverage, and it has a weather option. BTW, 2 days with no phone was great, I felt like John Denver, Rocky Mountain High.

 

[bdalameda]

I like Life360. It is phone-based so depends on cell coverage but it is free and it's nice you can create a circle of contacts. That's nice when you have a few folks you're riding with and you'd like to know where they are on the way to a meeting point or if you do get lost going somewhere.

The new Garmin XT2 is supposed to support a way to see other XT2 users but I haven't looked into that since I'm on the XT only.

I dropped the spot due to cost as even the change in their billing was still too much $$ for me. Most of my riding is in places with cell coverage.

The XT2 can track other riders if you and the other riders have the Garmin Tread app on your phone and it is linked to the XT2 it is called Group Ride Mobile. It is fairly easy to set up. They also sell a Group Ride radio type interface which is pretty pricey that works on the XT2 if you are in remote areas without cell coverage.

The XT2 will also link directly to your InReach device and you can send pre-programmed messages or emergency response or text messages directly from the XT2. This is pretty handy to use the XT2 to send and receive messages on. I just leave the InReach Mini in my pocket and use the XT2 to interface with it. This way if I ever get separated from my bike in an accident I can use the InReach Mini that I keep zipped up in my jacket to send for help. The battery in the InReach Mini 2 holds a charge for about a weeks worth of riding.

Differences Between Group Ride and Group Ride Mobile | Garmin Customer Support

Garmin Support Center is where you will find answers to frequently asked questions and resources to help with all of your Garmin products.

support.garmin.com

 

[Sadlsor]

I bought a used InReach SE+ (now discontinued) on ADVrider Flea Market, and it's still a viable unit. May be the last model prior to the Mini or Mini 2.
Didn't pay too much for it (I think.)

 

[amorley]

I have been using a SPOT since I learned that I prefer to ride alone. I was new to the ST-Owners group and some riders thought a SPOT was unnecesary until Donald Masters disappeared.

Started with Gen 1 in 2009 and I am now using a Gen 4 with tracking every 5 minutes. When I am on the road, I use the "Check-In" button every evening with messages going to Kathy and my two sons. My eldest son says he enjoys keeping the Spotwalla screen open on one of his workstation screens.

Like my Aerostich R3 and Helite airbag vest, my SPOT is part of my essential safety equipment.

Spot Gen3 mounted on a bush plane flying over the shores of Hudson Bay in winter. No cell phone service up there!

After the recently "lost" F35, maybe they should add a SPOT?

 

[motornut]

OK I do prefer riding alone on trips and into the forest service roads in my neighborhood here in Washington. My wife has been on me to get something that will tell her where I am, I had 2 flat tires on my KLR and road it out, but there was no cell service where I was.
So now I am into finding about cost, having a lot of add-ons and bells and whistles isn't high on our list. She just wants to know where I am and I think it is not a bad thing to know.
I do not have a smart phone and do not intend to fall into that rabbit hole.
Am looking for input because if I put in search it comes up with what the screen wants you to buy. I have been to REI and they show what they want you to buy.
Give me ideas that work best for you on bikes, with a bit on how much. I can do research but am not sure where to start.

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

OK I do prefer riding alone on trips and into the forest service roads in my neighborhood here in Washington. My wife has been on me to get something that will tell her where I am, I had 2 flat tires on my KLR and road it out, but there was no cell service where I was.
So now I am into finding about cost, having a lot of add-ons and bells and whistles isn't high on our list. She just wants to know where I am and I think it is not a bad thing to know.
I do not have a smart phone and do not intend to fall into that rabbit hole.
Am looking for input because if I put in search it comes up with what the screen wants you to buy. I have been to REI and they show what they want you to buy.
Give me ideas that work best for you on bikes, with a bit on how much. I can do research but am not sure where to start.

Here are two mentioned above, good place to familiarize yourself.

Which inReach Device is Right for You? | Garmin

Find out which inReach satellite communicator is right for you based on your favorite activities.

www.garmin.com

SPOT Service Plans | Saved by SPOT | US

SPOT offers a variety of service plan options to fit your needs. Plan options include contact plans for year-round use and flex plans for seasonal use. Service plans are required for device use and purchased at the time of device activation.

www.findmespot.com

 

[dduelin]

The man in the article was riding in a rural community in a county of half a million bordered by I-75 and I-40. I live in a metropolitan area of over a million residents and can get into rural areas of no service or sketchy service beginning just 30 miles from home and I ride these roads all the time. Learning this I have reconsidered my past use of my Spot gps tracker only for longer rides out of my day ride radius. Day rides don’t come with guaranteed cell service.

 

[SMSW]

Day rides don’t come with guaranteed cell service.

And that renders the new feature (ok, not so new) of newer iPhones (and Androids) that will send an emergency call when it detects a crash moot. We can ignore the false alarms because those were teething problems, but this feature does not track you (AFAK) nor will it call for help if you have no cell service. Still, it is nice to have a backup with accelerometers monitoring your motion.

 

[dduelin]

I used SPOT trackers for years and changed over to InReach when Delorme came out with them due to being able to send Satellite text messages which I could not do with the SPOT(this has change now). Now InReach is pretty exclusive to Garmin and I carry a newer InReach Mini 2 now. I have found that the InReach Iridium network has much better coverage than the SPOT Globalstar network in actual use. I had both the InReach and the SPOT device with me on a fairly long ride to Montana a couple of years ago to compare both and the InReach had coverage in some mountainous areas and the SPOT did not. The SPOT network uses some cellular networks to relay information from nodes to their data centers to be sent out where the InReach uses more direct satellite links to their data centers for communications which has proven to be slightly more reliable.

Are you sure about the use of cellular data and difference in coverage? I could not find any corroboration that Spot uses cellular networks at all. When prompted the tracker device sends GPS location or text data up to a network of low earth orbit satellites which then relay that data directly via downlink to Spot's monitoring facilities. If the Spot monitoring facility is not "seen" by the responding satellite the data is relayed to a satellite that can downlink directly to the monitoring facility. Spot uses the same GlobalStar 48 low earth orbit satellite system for GPS location that InReach uses then uses cellular or land line to notify the emergency or routine contacts the Spot user has listed in his/her account. Presumably these contacts are going to be inside of reliable cellular or land line networks which is the only part of the system that may use cellular networks.

 

[Sadlsor]

Give me ideas that work best for you on bikes, with a bit on how much. I can do research but am not sure where to start.

I bought the used Inreach SE+ for about $200, and my service is $25/mo. I chose that subscription primarily for the shorter tracking intervals, and was motivated due to my upcoming cross country ride, so I won't have Roz calling me every few hours.
Don't like talking on the phone while riding, and it's annoying to have to find a stopping place to return a call.
There's also a package that you can turn off temporarily, like a month- by- month, but I don't remember any significant savings.
Lastly, I'll write it all off on my taxes, since I'm a contractor and not directly reimbursed for gas or miles.