The day I received the latest Spider model S3 from Spidertracks for evaluation I had to do a four-hour trip in my car, so I took the S3 along to get to know it. Before leaving I logged on to their web site and set up my account without any difficulty. Like SPOT you can direct messages to both email addresses and cell phones for SMS text messages. I set it up so all messages would come to me during my testing.

The unit only came with a brief guide, so I downloaded the user manual from the web site, but this proved confusing since the manual was written for the S2 model. There are several differences, so I hope they produce an S3 user manual soon.

Once the Spider is powered on it looks for the GPS satellites and the Iridium satellites and an LED indicator lets you know when it has found them. I found it would always lock onto satellites within 30 to 60 seconds. It then does nothing until it is moving at more than 40 knots, at which point it starts sending position reports every 2 minutes, and a blue LED turns on, so you know Spiderwatch is active.

Two things are then happening at the Spiderwatch servers. Each reporting point message is stored with your account so that a track of your route will be available at any time. Secondly, the Spiderwatch software is monitoring each of your position reports and timing the intervals. If it does not receive a report for 15 minutes, it sends out an email and SMS alert message to your designated contacts in what they call the Tier 1 alert list. The alert can be canceled in one of three ways – by answering an email alert message with the word “cancel”, by answering an SMS text message the same way, or by logging on to your account and canceling the alert.

If another 15 minutes goes by without the alert being canceled the software sends out a second alert message to the Tier 2 alert list. The expectation is that you will set the Tier 1 list to your friends or family members who have been instructed what to do if they receive an alert. Then set the Tier 2 alert list to some search and rescue person or organization that is prepared to take action.

The theory is that if your aircraft goes down it will lose power which will prevent the Spider from sending messages. This will trigger the alerting process. You can manually activate alerting by simply press the SOS button on the Spider and it will start the alerting sequence immediately as well as switch to 30 second reporting intervals.

My testing was varied. I used the S3 in my car on four trips, two of which were in the mountains (Kananaskis and Banff). I used it on five flights, two of which were in the mountains on a trip from Calgary, AB to Golden, BC and return (2.5 hrs). I tested it a total of 9 hours in my car and 5.5 hours flying. I examined my tracks after each trip and the Spider did not miss a single report.

I used my SPOT alongside the Spider and noticed a big difference in the quality of the tracks. The SPOT reports every 10 minutes which is not bad when you are travelling from A to B in the flat lands. But in the mountains, it’s a different story. Following the valley routes the SPOT shows track that jump over mountains as you wind your way through the valleys. With Spider reporting every 2 minutes the tracks shown on the Spiderwatch web site look very close to your actual track, confirming that you are indeed following your intended route and making locating a downed aircraft easy. I was flying at 130 knots and my tracks following my actually valley route precisely. If you prefer, over hostile terrain you can set it to report every minute.

Once the Spider starts sending reports it doesn’t stop until it either loses power or you press a button to tell it to cancel reporting (and tracking at the server). In this case the blue light flashes until it receives an acknowledgment message back from the server then the blue light goes off signaling it is ok to power down. If you turn off power to the Spider before that point it will begin the alerting sequence. So, the proper shut-down procedure must be followed to avoid false alerts.

I tested this a few times. In my car I forgot to cancel tracking before pulling the power and within 15 minutes I receive the alert messages. In the air I deliberately pulled the power and waited. I received both the 15-minute and 30-minute alerts on my smart phone, both as emails and as test messages. I then plugged the Spider back in and it automatically started position reports again within 30 seconds.

It seems to be pretty fool proof. The only proviso is the need to remember to hit the button to cancel tracking after landing and before shutting off the master. So, directing alerts to your cell phone, as well as others, will let you know if you forget to cancel tracking before you drive away from the airport.

The S3 Spider is designed for GA users and the company offers several different service plans to suit the amount of flying you might do. The lowest usage plan gives you 48 hours of tracking per year (4 hours per month) for $120. If you go over in any month, you pay the overage by the minute. Other plans give you more base time, similar to cell phone plans.

There are other convenience features and offerings unrelated to finding missing aircraft. The Spider can send four different Mark messages that you can use to identify waypoints on your tracks for later reference. When looking at the track on the web site you can click on a report point or Mark and it will display the date, time, lat and long, altitude, speed and direction of travel. It also lets you store a description with each data point for future reference. Since tracks are stored indefinitely you can use this as a virtual logbook. Spidertracks is in the process of developing something they call the Aviator Club, which will let you add lots of information to your trip records and share this with friends and family via a social networking forum. In addition to the photos, you took on your trip you can now keep charts showing your routes along with commentary.

This service has potential be a good alternative to ELT’s, not just a supplement. I am looking forward to watching as Spidertracks continues to develop their offerings, which are devoted to aviation.