My mom got me the spot gen 4 for Christmas. Im out in the middle of nowhere a lot of the time and am interested in having it for emergencies or communicating when I have no signal however I am not a fan of being tracked on the go. Is there anything to be concerned of with these type of products? Id say yes but I cant find anything online.
I haven’t used a SPOT for ten years, but at that time they were pretty limited in their comms. They weren’t on if I didn’t want them to be on, and even when in and supposedly with service, were flaky. Now, I use an InReach. It has more functionality than the devices in the past, but the connection isn’t really any better. All of these devices were owned and managed under government contracts but I don’t think they would be any different. I have never used them to track myself as I go, I use different equipment for that.
Long story short, you’ll worry more about getting service when you need than you will about being tracked when you don’t want to be. A tree canopy or tall canyon can prevent comms.
Stay safe!