I bought a SPOT on Monday, June 30th at the Big 5 on Viscount. I told the manager that I hiked with the El Paso Ridgewalkers and he gave me 10% off the list price. I asked if he would extend that offer to other members of the Ridgewalkers and he said he would. He is a very nice guy, and I'll definitely buy more stuff at that Big 5 store location.
Registration was simple and straight forward. I created an account at
www.findmespot.com and logged in. The activation fee is $99.00 and it covers unlimited OK, Help, and 911 messages. There is an optional $7.95 fee and that gives you a $100,000 coverage for search and rescue personnel to come and get you. There is also a comment box where you can list your current medical condition and any medical information that a EMS crew might need to save your life. You can also list two people to be notified in the event that you might need to be rescued from a life threatening situation.
There is another optional $45.00 fee for SPOTcasting. The SPOTcasting mode sends a message every ten minutes. This creates an electronic breadcrumb trail that is displayed on Google Maps so that your friends and family can follow along on your adventures.
Next, you enter your SPOT Team members email addresses and cell phone numbers. These are the people that get an email or a text message on their cell phone every time you press the OK, or the non-emergency Help button. Pressing the 911 button will send out a 911 message every 5 minutes, and the GEOS Center will notify the people you have listed on your emergency contact list that you have sent out a 911 message.
Here is a link to my public SPOT page where you can follow my adventures.
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/gogl.jsp?glId=0Y7oViQvWUzJDIqoBR4Ul18a2QyaOFR2r
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