Check this thing out.



http://www.globalcomsatphone.com/spot/

Could work for the Tybee and other offshore stuff. Says it's waterproof.

Mike Hill

That's pretty sweet and reasonable.
$150 for the unit and $50/yr unlimited use. Heck, it's quicker and cheaper than an epirb.

The way I read the product spec at findmespot.com, the basic service is $100/yr and optional unlimited tracking an extra $50 on top of that.

But I agree - very nice.

I like how it will transmit the location of the unit every 10 minutes to your "ground crew" so that they can watch your progress during a race. Sure beats trying to call someone with a cell phone in the middle of a race.

Hey all you dad's with teenage kids, buy one, don't tell them, mount it in their car or backpack, whatever, and track them every Saturday night! There is a cellphone gps tracking service too I think, for about $30/mo. of course.

Perhaps these 200gm units will be available to the public, someday:
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/gps-05zzzh.html
http://www.tdfblog.com/2006/07/tour_de_france_.html

Timbo,

They already have this service. It's called "Teensurance", and you get a discount on your auto insurance for signing up. Get it for your kids.

They put a thingy similar to this, and you can do several things:

(l) locate the car using google maps IN REAL TIME
(2) send a page or text message to you if a certain speed is exceeded
(3) notify you if the vehicle has left a certain area (city, suburb, specific radius)

and a few other things I can't remember. One of the guys in our office here has one somewhere in his car and it is pretty neat to look up the car on the maps....

Big Brother is your friend.... Big Brother loves you....

Dude...I'm there! But it looks like you have to manually trigger a bread crumb.

SpotCasting transmits automatically every 10 minutes for 24 hours. Reactivated after 24 hours by one button press.

What is it with all of the survailance crap!!??
How would you have coped with being constantly followed?? What would you think of your Dad if he set you up when you were just rying to get laid, let off some teenage steam and test your luck?????

GPS chips need to be owned by the people at all times...the governemnt could make SO MUCH MONEY out of knowing where we are all of the time and what speed we are travelling at.

Try this for size.
Your car is being traced...whenever you speed your are fined. Call it a road speed damage tax. You recieve the bill at the end of each month......another shunt in the arm of our finance for the leaches.


The government should ALWAYS be afraid of the people....especially as the survailance available now finds excuses to be used.

Tracing your childrens actions instead of developing trust instills in them that they should not expect to be free and can be treated as a dangerous potential.

Orrrrr...We're racing in the Tybee 500 and you can track our progress via the website.

Can we track everyone or just you?
That could be fun.

Jake, I'd really like that! Might ease some of the worry on those wild legs too. Hope you and Chaos and Velocity can do that! Brian

Anyone who has unit on board.

Unfortunately, it looks like Team Seacats is going to sit out the 2008 Tybee but in all likely-hood we'll be back for 2009.

So has anyone tried or heard anything more about this device? Sounds like it would have awesome potential for a race like the Tybee 500 and other distance races. We are hoping to return this year for the 500 and think anything we can do to increase publicity/ exposure would be a great thing for the future of the event.
For me, watching races online is best when in realtime and can compare location of teams on a map with speed, heading, and position as available data. Does this device have the potential to do that for us or is there something else that may???
Thanks,
chris
www.acceleratedchaos.com

Chris,
Check into kattack.com
Not sure if you can have it relay to a computer instantly to track live but it might be worth checking into.
These guys brought units to Buzzards Bay Regatta on the 505's and several college regattas this fall (the team racing was really cool to watch). It is a small unit that can strap onto the mast or etc. We want to get them at my school for reviewing practices after.

I take that back. Frank is going to be back in style (I'm just sitting this one out).

similar to what these guys are using i guess

http://www.crossingtheditch.com.au/

Welcome to England, and coming soon to a state near you.