The great outdoors is a big place to be, and when you're out of contact with friends and family on extended backcountry trips in harsh terrain, things can go wrong without anyone ever knowing about it. Obviously, bringing along a cell phone is a great idea, but most of us travel in areas much too remote for a cell signal. An ever better idea is the subscription-based satellite personal tracking device called SPOT, which allows the user to send an emergency 911 call from practically anywhere. You can just let people know you are doing fine by a push of the button, providing your coordinates in latitude and longitude along with the date and time of day of the message. SPOT lets users send and save their exact locations, too, allowing your friends or family to track your progress (in real time) using Google Maps from any place on earth.
We tested SPOT during our trip to the San Bernardino Mountains and added our email address so that we could see if it sent tracking messages from the trail. Within no time, we began to receive our SPOT generated messages. Using only one set of batteries, SPOT can send up to 1,900 "OK" messages. SPOT operates in altitudes as low as minus 300 feet to 21,300 feet, and in temperatures from -40 degrees to 185-degrees Fahrenheit. The initial cost of the SPOT unit is $99 for the basic service with the option of purchasing SPOT features like Track Progress or $100,000 in GEOS rescue coverage.