The Carey Adventures

SPOT has a great offer going on right now until August 3rd, 2009; Purchase a SPOT Personal Satellite Messenger device and signup for two years of service and tracking to get a 100% refund on the cost of the SPOT, essentially making it free (except for local taxes, or just go to Oregon and buy it ).  Details of the offer can be found one the rebate form found here. 

For those of you not familiar with SPOT, it’s a one way messenger which uses GPS and Satellite communication technology to broadcast your position or to ask for help.  It’s useful for the solo traveler who wants a bit of piece of mind while out in the wilds.  It features both a HELP and 911 button (as well as OK) to send select messages to the right people.  It also features a pretty cool tracking feature that will send out location stats every 10 minutes for mindless updating.

I wrote a review of my experiences last summer in this post entitled SPOT Personal Satellite Messenger Deliver.  It’s nice to see the price hasn’t gone up since then!  Since last summer I have used the SPOT device to stay in touch with family, my daughter specifically, on trips to Nepal and Peru, plus backpacking trips in the Washington Cascades.  For me, whether I’m out solo or just on a hike with my daughter, it’s nice to know I have another tool in case things go south.  Notice I said ‘another’ as there is no good replacement for proper preparation, leaving a detailed itinerary and knowing how to use a map and compass (those old fashioned things that don’t use batteries) to get you home safely. 

Plus SPOT now has a cool site to help share your adventure called Spot Adventures.com.  This site allows you to share your location information during and after an adventure as well as include photos.  A good sight for the geeky adventurer (guilty).  Here’s an example of a someone’s adventure as logged on the site.  Pretty neat stuff.

If you travel into the backcountry often, or just want to keep those back at home informed of your wellness while traveling far from home (it’s cheaper than calling home to let people know you’ve landed safely in Zambia), take a serious look at SPOT messengers.