SPOT Satellite Messenger - Amazon $125

[Corey]

For another 20 minutes you can get the SPOT Satellite Messenger for $125 using there lightening deals. Just go to the main Amazon page and click on the "Today's Deals" near the top of the screen. Free shipping and no sales tax. I think it goes until 7:00 pm.

Sorry for the late notice, but I just saw it and placed my order.

>> Corey

[Alex]

I have it, I use it, my family loves me for it

[BruteForce]

I too have one already, paid $149, but it included a nice carrying case in that price.

Signed up for all the services including the additional $100k insurance.

[Jaxx]

also another fan of the SPOT. Wife loves it to!

[Cirrus2000]

Another fan here!

I've only used it on one trip so far - just got it 3 weeks ago - and that was through thick forest. Reception for the tracking wasn't great, unfortunately, but when I made an effort to find a clear area (sending nightly "OK" messages, for example) they got through.

Fortunately most of my solo trips are either (mostly) in the alpine, or in the desert. Next trip: South Chilcotin Mountains of BC in late July. Lots of wide open spaces.

[R]

That's the kind of thing that would buy my wife a LOT of peace of mind. Is any software required on her end, or does it rely on email/internet?

[Alex]

That's the kind of thing that would buy my wife a LOT of peace of mind. Is any software required on her end, or does it rely on email/internet?

It just sends an e-mail with the coordinates, a prepared OK message and a link to maps.google.com with a big arrow of "YOU ARE HERE"

So if you know how to work an interweb, you are set!

[R]

Thanks. That's totally something that my wife would love me to have. I'll run it past her tonight. -R

[skianddive]

That's the kind of thing that would buy my wife a LOT of peace of mind. Is any software required on her end, or does it rely on email/internet?

It just sends an e-mail with the coordinates, a prepared OK message and a link to maps.google.com with a big arrow of "YOU ARE HERE"

She can also receive the messages on her cell phone.

NOTE: This "OK Service" is $99.99 a year.

With the upgraded "Track Progress Service" at $49.99 a year (and if you give her access to your SPOT account at findmespot.com), she'll also be able to track your progress in real-time with just a web browser.

[Brewhaha]

Just remember to turn off the tracking when you have your "boys night out".

[erial]

when you're in a spot and don't have a spot:

Bra helps in rescue of Springs hiker stranded in Alps
By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Originally published 08:11 a.m., June 23, 2008
Updated 12:13 a.m., June 24, 2008

Jessica Bruinsma broke four ribs in fall of some 20 feet.
Stuck, lost and hobbled in the German Alps, a quick-thinking Colorado Springs woman hooked her bra to a mountainside supply line, which alerted rescuers to her whereabouts just as they were giving up the search.

"We're going to have a party for her every June 19, and give her some new bras," Elana Bruinsma, said Monday morning of her sister, Jessica Bruinsma, 24.

The white sports bra has become the talk of the Berchtesgaden area of Germany near the Austria border.

"It certainly beats sending up a flare," one rescue worker told ananova.com, a British Web site.

A worker on the timber cable in the region alerted police when he found Bruinsma's bra hooked to the cable.

The incident inspired bloggers and wags, one of whom wrote to Backpacker, "Maybe we should consider adding Victoria's Secret to the Ten Essentials" - the list of 10 things all hikers should carry.

Jessica likely will be in Europe another week and a half, recovering from her injuries, her sister said. "She's OK, but she's bruised up pretty bad," Elana said. "She has four broken ribs and one of them punctured her lung. She probably needs an operation on her leg because of the nerve and tissue damage."

Elana said her sister was in Germany to help a friend run a hostel "literally in the middle of nowhere. She'd gone for a walk last Sunday night and didn't come back," Elana said.

"I talked to her yesterday. She said she'd kind of gotten lost that first day and then she tried to climb down something and fell 20 feet."

She noticed a supply carrier that ran down the mountain, but for two days it never moved.

It rained hard the second night she was stuck on the crag, "so she'd taken off her clothes to let them dry," Elana said. "She was going to use her bra for a sling because she'd dislocated her shoulder."

But then, the supply line began to move, and she got an idea. "I asked her if she could have gotten in it, but she said it wasn't big enough for that."

So, Jessica attached the bra to the supply line and hoped for the best. She told rescuers she hung out on the crag, drank water and ate biscuits.

After the worker spotted the bra and alerted police, rescuers changed their area of focus and reached her in a matter of hours on Thursday.

Jessica "does all kinds of things outdoors - she hikes, she bikes, she does marathons, triathlons," Elana said. "She was a ski instructor, she's led hikes in the backcountry."

Has she always been resourceful?

"Obviously, we know she is now," Elana said. "She really is a very low-maintenance person compared to the rest of us."

Jessica's mother happened to be in France on a hiking trip, and as soon as she heard the news, she raced to Germany.

Elana said she is looking forward to hugging her sister and getting more details of the great underwear ordeal. "It certainly is going to be a famous bra," she said.


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[trackrunner]

Why doesn't surprise me that when a woman takes off her bra the men come in herds.