I usually leave an itinerary with a trusted individual with a clear understanding of when to call for help if I have not checked in. But I go to the woods to disconnect and for a change of pace from normal existence. If I pack a cell phone, it is turned off. It is nobody's business to track my whereabouts every ten minutes or so. If I were part of a SAR operation, this might be a very useful feature.

Just another guttural growl from the knuckle-dragging Neanderthal hunched at the back of the cave, shielding his eyes from the light of the campfire.

I respect the fact that some people prefer privacy. However, I really like the tracking function of my SPOT 2 and use it often. When my wife travels alone, she likes to let me know of her progress and also mark points of interest for later reference. With the shared website feature, other family members can also follow progress without feeling that they are pestering the traveler.

Saw an add for this in an aviation magazine recently:
http://www.spidertracks.com/

Very similar to SPOT. It transmits the position of your aircraft every two minutes. Designees can view your progress on the web. If you go down, you've left a trail of bread crumbs behind.

It appears to be designed to be installed in your aircraft and not portable. Also several times more expensive.

Very interesting. As you say, it appears to be an aviation-dedicated product. I wonder how well SPOT's tracking system would work in a general aviation setting? I assume given the lack of any canyons or tree canopy, probably pretty darn good.

For those thinking about buying a SPOT, you should know that you can setup multiple "profiles" within SPOT. (FYI - I have no affiliation with SPOT, other than as a user)

Each profile contains info about who to EMAIL or SMS for the Check-In/OK and Help buttons, and what message to send; plus your Primary and Secondary Emergency Contact Info and an Additional Information (free form text field - several hundred characters only I think).

I believe that you can send the Check-In/OK and Help messages to up to 10 contacts (I think).

Only one profile can be active at any one point in time.


So you could setup a separate profile for scout trips, canoe trips, hiking, or 4WDing trips - whatever makes sense. You can edit these online as you wish.

For example you could setup a scout profile to send the OK message to your Regional Leader, partner and several parents but the Help message may only go to the Regional Leader and your partner.

This profile system is useful if you want to loan your unit to other people, you can set up a DougR profile, a Sue profile etc ... (I'm not sure how many profiles you can create). Useful if you want to share the unit.