I agree with much of what Ralph says and the way he went about setting up and using his SPOT. Good to confirm there is no SPOT-alerted S&R in Tuni; I take it's safe to say there's none in Alg either. SPOT never answered me on that one.

My experiences just back from Algeria are quite the opposite of Bergrider: sat phone (Thuraya) dependable as always; SPOT hit an miss. The fact that there was a tourist kidnapping soon after my group arrived in Algeria made it all the more important the SPOTs got through.

I suppose I could have been less tight and gone for the tracking option which I might do next time, but on this first occasion I settled on a 'Custom' message sent at lunchtime and an 'OK' each night, with emails and SMS of the nightly 'OK' sent to a short list including my mobile (but not sat).

None of the SMS messages for our 18 nightly locations got through to one mobile (though they had when tested in the UK in seconds) and about a quarter got through to my 'test' mobile (same provider, worked in Alg but not always in range, of course). At first I thought SMS only made it out if the SPOT was transmitting in an area with GSM (even though it's a GPS device) but on 3-4 days of the tour in the Sahara, northern Alg and finally in Spain most emails of locations didnt make it and they didn't make it onto the map either. Just as well most in the group were in mobile contact by then with home. On many of these occasions I can distinctly recall sending the SPOT.

And then, sometimes the map locations would be delayed by several hours (< 24) and all arrived at once in people's inboxes and on the map.

Due to these inconsistencies a couple of times worried people back home would try and call the sat phone to check all was OK. As Ralph mentioned a 12 hour delay before taking action might be a good idea, but within 2 hours of being grabbed the Italian woman who was kidnapped (miles from us) was in another country.

So, if it really matters perhaps SPOT tracking is better (so would be nice if the unit could be run off a 12v PTO like a GPS), or just telephone in every night with a position (and send a back-up SMS with long/lat off the sat phone). The best thing with SPOT is its small, easy to use and automatically reaches whoever wants to know. People back home reported it was fun to track our progress, too. The bad thing is it didnt always work for me and because of that can cause unnecessary alarm.

Chris S

Later...
Now I have RTFM I see one should leave it transmitting for 20 mins after the 'flying envelope' flashes. I never left mine on for more than a minute (assuming it had gone off) which might explain why some did not register. But those that did register were also on for only a minute. Could explain lack of SMS I am told, though off the Algerian coast (on ferry) the SMS was on my phone in seconds, as it was back in UK.

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Morocco Overland 4 (2025) • Trans Morocco Trail