Spot X with Bluetooth 2-Way Satellite Messenger | SOS Protection | Handheld Portable 2-Way GPS Messenger for Hiking, Camping, Cars| Globalstar Satellite Network Coverage | Subscription Applicable

New review:Well guys I've had a year now to test it out and besides a small radius around my house, it actually works really well. I went on vacation and work trips and used it with no problems. I was able to send and receive. I highly recommend this device especially if you go off the grid or want that extra net of safety that if you push that button, you WILL be saved. I highly recommend the overwatch protection thing they offer as well. For $29 a year not only will you be saved, but you won't have to pay for the rescue!Old review:I will do a more in depth review later but I had to come on here and worn you all before you buy it.This thing is able to send messages all day but it absolutely will not receive them in any location that has cell network 5G. The 5G interferes with the signal. The only place this is mentioned on their website is deep in the FAQ. No where on the sales page. I see they’ve updated the website to say the spot x is specifically for when you’re “off the grid and out of cellphone range.” There is no way for customers to know that that means it absolutely won’t work when one is in cellphone range.If you are ok with just being able to send your friends, family, and search and rescue messages but not revive any info back the. This is the one for you. If however, you’d like to be able to have a conversation, this ain’t it chief.Since it can’t receive confirmation from the satellites that the message was delivered. It just keeps trying to send them until it gives up. This uses much more battery.Additionally, no other messages will send while it is attempting to send the first one. The only work around is to send it and then wait until you think it sent, the. Cancel the message. This allows the next message to be sent.Attached you’ll see a photo of me testing the SOS feature. BAD NEWS. It works but the only way to cancel it after testing is for the satellite to beam back that it received the cancellation. this is impossible in a 5G area. You have an hour to test the SOS feature before it turns off and actually calls search and rescue. I was on hold for 30 minutes trying to get a hold of customer service to see if force restarting it would properly cancel the SOS. Time became to close for comfort and they still hadn’t answered so I had to decide between the time running out and rescue being wrongfully sent, or taking the risk of doing a force reset and them coming anyway. Luckily the force reset did work. I didn’t know that though until many minutes later when customer service answered and was able to check for me. The cool thing though is that at least customer service is 24/7.The website says that they’ll never ask for your secret account pin via voice and you’ll just input it on the phones keypad. This isn’t true as they asked for it via voice. The next day it was sent to customer service over the chat feature as well. I came to find that customer service literally knows everything about you. Name, home address, exact location if you have the device. Made me wonder if they can pull this information at anytime or only when a customer calls.

Used this device recently in the backcountry on a quick 3 day hunt. I was able to send and recieve texts no problem average send time was 3 minutes. Most of the time I was in a small gap in thick pines on the side of a mountain. Something to understand about the device is that it was meant for backcountry, where there isnt alot of radio signal interference. It will have a hard time functioning in the city or when there is a cellphone with connectivity near it. The set up was a bit aggravating because of the terrible response time and glitchyness of thier website. Overall im very happy with the purchase and plan options.

I will update this review after a few weeks of use.First, please keep in mind that this is not an end-all device to keep you in touch or save your life. All devices can and will fail at times. Even matches can get wet when you’re trying start a fire to send a smoke signal. This device is just another layer of safety. You shouldn’t be going into the snow-covered mountains with shorts and a T-shirt and this device and expect you’re gonna be fine.Negatives:Buttons can be slow or non-responsive. Type slow and deliberate. The buttons eventually work, even if it takes several times to push it.It takes forever to charge. They should have used USB C for charging.I do get a warning message to point the antenna at the sky. It takes up the entire screen. I wish they would have a real-time small icon that gives you signal strength.Icons are small and hard to read.You may never really know if a message is delivered. But you will know if the message is sent. Not sure what the issue is here.5G signals appears to have a significant impact on message receiving, but not message sending. Not really sure if this is an issue since if you have 5G, why are you using this to receive messages?Messages that are to be received by the device are supposed to be queued and received when the device connects. I’m having issues with this. However, this may be due to the initial activation. Messages sent right after activation were never received. However, a few hours after activation, when I’m away from 5G signals and have an open sky, incoming messages are received.Positives:I think it does pretty much what it’s supposed to do considering the technology and most likely cost prohibitions.Device cost is reasonable. Monthly plans are cheap, at least I feel so.Pretty rugged. Although I wouldn’t drop it on purpose.I would not recommend buying this if you just want to use a tracker. I’ve had a previous spot device that seemed to work better.I also would not recommend buying this if you just want an emergency SOS type device. There are better options for this, including other SPOT devices.If you are fine also carrying your cell phone with you everywhere, another device may be better for you as I think other devices can send messages using an app on the cell phone. This doesn’t really work for me as relying on another device and a cell phone at the same time it’s not what I’m looking for.However, if you’re like me, and want to throw this in your truck or go bag just in case, this will probably be the device for you. I like that it does not require a cell phone like other devices to send/receive messages.When in the city, messages are slow to be sent. This is clearly due to the obstructions. When away from obstructions, the messages are sent pretty quickly, especially if you are already connected to the satellites.For me, it’s the perfect device for now. However, SPOT will need to keep advancing their technology as there are other players in the market.I love the fact that if there is no Internet, or if there is a natural disaster, it’s more likely than not I can still send text messages, even if I am having a hard time receiving them. I’m assuming when I update this review in a few weeks, I will have the incoming message issue resolved.I am giving this 4 stars simply because of the technology and cost limitations. Five years from now I’d probably give it 2-3 stars if there is no significant upgrades. It doesn’t get 5 stars due to battery charging limitations and button responsiveness limitations.