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If you have ever been camping I’m sure you have found yourself in locations without cell phone service. Or maybe you live someplace with no cell phone service. Believe me such places do exist. So what do you do if you have a flat tire or need to call for emergency medical services or need help from the police? Well I have found a relatively inexpensive peace of mind solution. The spot GPS tracking device. SPOT 3 Satellite GPS Messenger – Orange
This handy little device is super easy to use. You need to be outside (not indoors) to use it. There are only a few buttons to choose from on the device we use. One button sends an email message to designated friends and family saying you are ok and just checking in, complete with a link on google maps to the exact location where you are standing when you hit the button… even if you are standing on top of a remote mountain.
This is a one way communication device. You can communicate out, but they can not send you a message back (ahhhhh peace and quiet!). We use this button in “code” sometimes too. We hit it once to let the other person know “I’m going out to check something and if I don’t hit this button again in the next hour to tell you I’m back then you need to come check on me” which comes in handy if you live on a rural farm! Then we hit it again when we are done with the task we are doing to let the other person know all is well. This also makes it so that we are testing the batteries and the system to make sure it is working properly. Later that day we ask each other… hey I was doing such and such did you get both spot messages?
The second button sends roadside assistance. So if you are out hunting and your snow mobile dies on you in the middle of the woods… yep they send someone out to help you. No matter how remote the location is! How cool is that?!?! Or your RV gets a flat in the middle of a rural campground with no cell phone signal… yep help is on the way with the push of a button. This covers regular vehicles and all recreational vehicles. Whew! Worth it just for that button alone, right?
The third button is a bit more serious. It actually has a flap over the button to keep you from accidentally pressing it (so no worries). But should you need emergency services… you get caught in a brush fire, lost in the woods, someone in your party has a heart attack, you get attacked by a bear, you get into a nasty vehicle accident… any of the worst case scenarios that you hope never happen… you hit the button and they send rescue services like police, fire, ambulance, air evacuation… you name it they will show up to rescue you and it includes insurance to pay for that rescue!
I carry mine in my purse or the glove box. I purchased one for my father who carries it with him similar to those life alert type devices you see that work great in the city but not so great if you live in a no cell phone rural farm area. He clips his on his belt loop. My adult children each have one. One son uses it when traveling and hunting. The other son is in the Army and has traveled all over the world and carries it with him when he is out and about for safety reasons. It works almost everywhere in the world! He even sent me an “I’m ok just checking in” email once and when I clicked on the google map link it showed the exact location… he was on a boat getting ready to Scuba dive in the middle of the ocean (Australian Great Barrier Reef) which totally made me jealous and cracked me up at the same time! lol
So if you travel, hunt, live in a rural area, have an older family member that still gets around but you worry about etc… getting a spot GPS tracker is well worth looking in to! I found myself carrying it this summer as I was giving civil war battlefield tours for a museum in a rural location with no cell phone coverage but a bear had been spotted a few days earlier by some visitors. I thought to myself “I better start carrying my spot on these tours in case I run into a bear or one of my tourists has a heart attack, or I have a heart attack walking up this mountain to the battlefield site and see that bear! Lol I had been leaving it in my purse locked up in the museum… but quickly started taking it with me after the bear sighting!
We honestly don’t leave home without our spot device. Because I figure it is easier and faster to push one “help” button than try to dial 911 only to find out you don’t have cell phone service… or you get put on hold! Did I mention that as long as you keep that device on your person (and the batteries are not dead) the rescuers can find you even if you are unconscious and have been moved (don’t want to be dragged by no bear!)?
If you are worried about people being able to track your every movement… I figure they can already do that with my cell phone and other common everyday electronic devices and I’m not doing anything worth them wanting to track me anyway lol. They’d be pretty bored if they did lol. Or you could just remove the batteries and carry them separately I guess… but that just seems to defeat the purpose to me.
Anyway, if you find this to be something that could help you or a loved one you might just want to go to the SPOT website and watch their videos that explain how it all works and then explore their service plans. Remember they gear their product more towards hikers and hunters and adventurers but if you think about it …it is very versatile and has so much more potential for those of us who are not regular city dwellers lol. Think outside the box with this one.
I purchased all four of our spot devices on amazon SPOT 3 Satellite GPS Messenger – Orange
But you can also get them at any local hunting and camping store. So shop around for the best price.
Conestoga Chuck 