I recently lost my SPOT gen 3 while mountain biking, and I thought I would share my experience.

First I looked for a tracking signal on the map. There were none. I did notice the device was turned on, on the day I lost it though.

Then I looked for a replacement. I decided to stick with SPOT because the device is half the price of the Garmin Mini, and half the monthly price. Plus Garmin is 10 min tracking, and SPOT is 5 min. So I Purchased a SPOT get 4

The SPOT gen 4 is a little bigger than the Gen 3, and more square shaped. I had a little trouble fitting it in my Chute SmakPak, but I managed. Same basic controls and layout though.

I called the SPOT support line to replace the unit, and was told that had I called BEFORE I purchased another unit, they could have sold me another SPOT gen 3 for about $50. Bummer... I then asked if they could alert me if the lost unit was turned on and showed a position. No, that would be giving out confidential information (sigh). But I did request that the unit be de-activated such that it would be unusable to anyone who tried it. They were able to do that at least...

Matt