If you're hitting the ski slopes this winter, why not upgrade from the tired old paper piste maps for something a bit more 21st Century?
Satski, appropriately unveiled last night at London's Ice Bar, is the first real time interactive GPS piste map, and "the piste map of the future" according to Piste Activities, the firm behind the device.
Real-time information
Using Satski, you'll be able to see where you are at all times, work out the best ski slopes and routes for you, navigate the piste, work out speed levels and replay your day on the slope once you're back at base. You'll be able to view and upload your routes onto Google Earth when you're done.
The very responsive colour touchscreen lets you view ski and snowboarding routes, whether you're a complete beginner or a bit of a skiing expert. You can set it to avoid black and red runs if you wish, or plot harder runs.
You'll be able to see real time statistics on your performance, including average ski speed, maximum speed achieved, distance, altitude, distance skied and altitude climbed/descended and more.
Points of interest
Satski also provides info on local points of interest on the mountain like restaurants, ski hire shops and lifts. It also includes a built in MP3 player and gaming features, should you choose not to hit the après ski and go for a quiet night in instead.
There's no tracking device on the device yet but is to be added for next season, Jean-Claude Baumgartner, COO of Satski told Tech..co.uk.
"If something does go wrong, you'll be given a series of emergency numbers, including local doctors, mountain rescue and piste security, to contact," he added.
Baumgartner also told us that there are plans to include the service in some PDA devices such as the BlackBerry in the future. "For the moment though, standard mobile phones batteries don't work very well in cold temperatures so there's an issue with short battery life. There are also issues with small screens and poor GPS reception. Saying that, we might sign partnerships with PDA makers in the future."
Battery life of the Satski battery is said to be up to 46 hours, and a backup battery with 12 hours battery life is included with all units sold.
Satski is available for hire at participating resorts, costing £28 or €40 per day. At the end of the hire period, you'll be given a CD-ROM with statistics and information about your day on the slopes to take home. Alternatively, if you've got lots of money to burn, you can buy your very own unit for a cool £1,500.
Your comments (8) Click to add a new comment
pkeen
September 5th 2009
8. I have read a lot of discussions about hardware reliablity and problems regarding Satski GPS. I personally have no experience with this product. However to all who are considering to purchase a Satski (like me), I would suggest to read the below forum: http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=48595.
How safe is Satski for advance payment credit card transactions and (longer term) service issues? Satski ltd. was dissolved from Companies House Register this year. I think this last fact and the discussion on snowheads forum say important things to make the right decission. The 'behaviour' of their CEO is also described in several forums. Check the WHOLE story out I would advise.
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envar
August 20th 2009
7. Experienced this device on 2 winter sports occassions. But it didn't pay off for me. The concept is good, but the product needs quite some improvement still. At the piste I've had a lot difficulties to read the LCD. Frequently is was lacking GPS signal receipt. The design looks very nicely on the other hand bat scratched and damaged easily in my pocket. Whilst the above, I will use it for my next ski trip. But I hope Satski will have a trade inn programm within a few years, when the product is fully ready to do what it promisses. Best, Envar
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jconte
August 11th 2009
6. Henry, Strange you the same person blogging all over the web - a group of us are wondering who you work for?
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alanackart
August 2nd 2009
5. Hello, I am waiting for a replacement unit for faulty unit since 3 months. Still haven't received anything. Some people are experiencing the same I read on a Ski forum thread. Just Google these 3 words 'SNOWHEADS+FORUM+SATSKI' and find out for yourself. Unlike product quality a Companies unreliability is not subject for improvement. This company is totally NOT reliable. Nor is it's CEO (JCB) I experienced. He was very rude to me AND to others! If you want to purchase a Satski GPS think about it twice I would suggest!
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john_rawbone
July 30th 2009
4. Hi me and Steve just returned from the prefect snow in NZ. The device was pretty ok in usage. For us the black piste navigation worked quite ok. Although some restaurants were missing in database. Device looks pretty cool. But the device lost GPS signal on certain sides of the mountain. So my playbacks are not accurately and complete. Also the screen was a little hard to read. But we bought the device mainly to record our tripz. Glad we shared the costs otherwise the device would be way to expensive! Rgrds, Josh Rawbone and Steve Wilson
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jconte
July 24th 2009
3. Sad you guys had this experience , we had great fun with ours , the concept is great and whilst hardware was not good Im sure this will improve. We loved it.
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