Spot Satellite Personal Tracker
Rating: 4 out of 5
Price: $170

Consider yourself adventurous? Maybe you enjoy kayaking through the boundary waters or skiing in remote areas of the west? Or maybe you go hiking in Europe in areas where cell phone coverage is non-existent. How much would you or your loved ones pay for peace of mind?

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Let me introduce you to the spot satellite personal tracker. This tiny, yet powerful device could mean the difference between life and death for those who venture into areas that cell phone signals don’t.

What’s so good about it? Let’s say you’re traveling in Europe and you’ve left your wife and kids at home. You’re going on a five day trip hiking and kayaking where you won’t be able to call back or check in at all. Wouldn’t it be great if those at home could know you’re ok without it hindering your trip?

Well it can with this device. With the Spot, there are three basic options available: you can check in, you can ask for help and you can call for a rescue.

To check in, just press the “ok” button. The device uses GPS technology to check where you’re located, and then beams an “I’m ok” message to a satellite. The satellite sends a text message and email with a link to your location to your family and friends.

If you need help, you press and hold the help button for two seconds. Same thing here, ur family and friends get a text and email with your coordinates along with a message that you need some help. These messages get sent every five minutes for an hour until the message is cancelled.

Finally, if you are in an emergency, you press and hold the 911 button for 2 seconds and a distress message along with your location is sent to family and friends. In addition, the message is sent to the worldwide emergency response center to help get you rescued.

Another thing that’s nice about this product is you can also have the device automatically track your location. Press and hold the “ok” button for five seconds and your location will be beamed to the satellites every twenty minutes. Your location will be plotted on a Google Map and anyone with the link can view and monitor your progress.

So how does this work?

Rather than use cell towers like your phone does, as long as the device has clear view to the sky it connects to a series of satellites overhead and sends the message there. The satellites then beam your message to antennas down here on the ground where they begin their journey through the Internet to your family’s cell phones or computers.

The device does need a clear view of the sky to send the message. It will send the same message 3 times in 20 minutes to try and ensure delivery. It doesn’t receive confirmation though that the message was sent which is a feature that would be nice to have in the future. Or, even a signal monitor would be nice so you could see if the device could see the satellites or if you needed to move into a different area.

The “check in” and “help” messages are able to be modified through the “Find me Spot” website. It would be helpful though to be able to type in those messages directly from the device in case you had something specific to send to your recipients.

The Upsides: While limited, the 3 different types of messages get out basic information and could get you rescued in the event of an emergency. It’s simple to use and not too pricey compared to satellite phones which cost upwards of a thousand dollars to purchase.

The Downsides: With no display there’s no way to know that your message has been received by the satellite. The manufacturer has the device sending out multiple duplicate messages to ensure one goes through, but it would be nice to have confirmation that it did make it, especially when it comes to 911 calls. In addition, a signal monitor would also be helpful, to allow people to see how easily the device is “seeing” the satellites much like a personal GPS device does in your car.

Overall: Despite some downsides, it’s a must-have for anyone that ventures into an area where they lose connection with the outside world. While it may not work 100 percent of the time, you’re better off having a way to get a distress message out to rescuers, than none at all. On a scale of 1 to 5 bars, I gave it a 4. It retails for $170 -- one year subscription is $99.