Adventure Zone, & more Spot Hug details
Though already a fan of SPOT for reasonably easy and inexpensive boat tracking, I didn't realize until yesterday that there is a slick way to track whole fleets of Spot-equipped vessels (or back country runners, dog sleds, whatever), even with photos and commentary on the same site. Go to the Adventure Zone and select the NARC Rally for a current example. I'm not sure, but the service -- provided by TrackMe360, which rents Spots, among other things -- may even be free. And note how spread out and "off course" the NARC fleet (more info here) is, due to the atrocious weather that's plagued the Northeast lately. One thing I'm more sure of is that boats like these will find Spot services easier to use once they can install Hug systems, instead of using handhelds...
When Panbo readers tested Spot offshore, the biggest complaints involved the difficulty of mounting them on deck and keeping their batteries fresh. And while the Spot2 model is smaller and has an easier interface, it seems to go through lithium batteries quicker than the original. By contrast, the main tracker component of the Hug system -- seen at right below -- can mount under a fiberglass deck and can be wired to a boat's 12 or 24 volt supply, though it can also run, or fail back to, internal batteries. A Hug user will also have three different wireless ways to send off two customizable messages, or an SOS, or activate 24 hours of tracking (note on the Rally screen how some boats are using tracking, which costs $50/yr extra, while others are just sending an OK message every watch change or so). While Hug was previewed at NMEA, a lot more details were revealed in Fort Lauderdale...
As you can read in the Lauderdale announcement here, Hug is scheduled to ship in December for $450. A $150 {correction!} subscription will get you unlimited messaging, just like the handheld, plus unlimited "asset protection." The manual isn't available yet, but I gather that the latter is armed whenever a fob (in your pocket) leaves the wireless range of the tracker, which contains motion sensors so that it isn't constantly running its GPS to know your boat is still. When the armed Hug does detect motion, it starts sending alerts with position updates every five minutes to Spot's call center, who will contact you and the authorities as necessary. And that's not all...
As demonstrated on a large yacht in Lauderdale -- with lots of iPads for the web and email portion of the demos -- the Hug can also monitor a boat's battery bank and/or up to four inputs like intrusion and high water alarms. (They had the latter set up in the on-deck hot tub!) These are handled like regular Spot messages, in that you set them up on your FindMeSpot account web page where you can also designate a list of up to ten email or sms addresses to receive alerts, a different list for each sensor if you wish. Each alert event (no matter how many messages it involves) will cost you$1.50, which will encourage good sensors installs, but you'll also be able to pre-purchase bundles of sensor alerts at lower cost, like $50 for 50 events...
It may take a while for boaters to understand all that Hug can do for them, but might it be the right bundle of services at a good enough cost/install/performance level to make tracking and off-boat security/monitoring more than a small niche market? Your thoughts, please.
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By the way, if you drill down on the NARC Adventrue Zone site, you'll see that Airielle is skippered by Panbo friend Bruce Schwab.
Also, the reason I got into Spot this windy, wet weekend was because I'm helping two colleagues at Yachting get ready for a similar Newport/Bermuda/Caribbean passage. When the weather allows. I know they'll also be carrying an EPIRB as their primary SOS device, as I'm sure Bruce and the other NARC boats are doing.