Sunday, July 13, 2008

Spot - Personal Satellite Tracker review by Jeff Roy


For you Boy Scout troops and those of you who really enjoy the outdoors whether it is hiking, camping, or anything else where you are away from civilization, here is a product you may be interested in. It is from a company called Spot, and it is a Satellite Personal Tracker. You may be thinking GPS. It is, but it isn’t. A traditional GPS device has a little screen that tells you where you are and gives you directions, and that is about it. This personal locator device does not tell you where you are or how to get to a particular location. What it does do is tell others where you are and by doing so has saved lives. That is why I started out saying it is used most by those who do outdoor activities. When you purchase the device, you set up your own personal account, and include with it a list of email addresses and cell phone numbers. The device has no display to tell you where you are, but it does have a few buttons to notify others where you are. There is an ok/check button, a help button, and a 911 button. Let’s say you are going on a backpacking trip out in the middle of nowhere. At different spots along your journey, you can press the ok/check button. This sends a signal to the GPS satellites that gets forwarded to the email addresses and phone numbers you have set up to tell those individuals you are ok and where you are on your route. If something happens and you have an accident and need emergency assistance, you can press the 911 button. This notifies not only the individuals, but also the local authorities so they know you are in need of rescue and also your exact location. Taking it on a camping trip myself, I found it worked very well. And for a minimal service fee, it could mean the difference between life and death. For more details, feel free to check out the companies website at http://www.findmespot.com/home.aspx.

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