Bought a SPOT connect geek gadget so that you can track our progress and we can post short <41char updates!

I bought the device from a UK distributor Global Telesat Communications and I found it a tough decision to purchase, because the hardware costs 150GBP and the upkeep is 100+ GBP a year plus extras. Extras like a SOS extraction service I've yet to figure out.

After receiving the device (which I've since called puck) in London, I tried it though I frustratingly couldn't get a message out. The Android application was a little disappointing, and to actually send a message doesn't seem instant. It seems to queue up and sends it over a ~10 minute interval... So the whole experience from the Spot connect Android client is a bit ridiculous. Watch bluetooth sap the Nexus S's battery until the message finds a window to be sent (perhaps). There is no confirmation on the client itself whether it sent or not, only on the puck itself, when it blinks red, meaning that it failed...

Days later in Steyning, I managed to send a couple of messages (to great relief), though they did not appear on a "Public shared map" I created:

https://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0E4XTjiADylnLZeEL5e24gU0yUzxckg9Q

Also my initial "testing 123" check-in message was written days back in London, however it only had the timestamp of when it was actually sent today. So... that sucks.

So far the SPOT service does seem quite unpolished, though I hope the SPOT customer services will come through to make this work better for us. My next biggest concern is how long the batteries work. 2xAA batteries will track Team Geekout for how long ? Pity it doesn't have a USB charge interface.