Craig, I've just bought - a couple of weeks ago - a SPOT Satellite Personal GPS Tracker .. the Gen I model. You can pick one of these up, brand new, from eBay for around £109-£115. Example here.

As John says (in post #4 above) the Gen II SPOT is having problems at the moment .. and is under a general re-call, which is why I went for the earlier Gen I model. Moreover, if you take a look at a direct comparo between the two versions - click here - then, well, you will soon see it could be argued that a Gen I SPOT is the better buy in any case!

I've fired-up my new SPOT (Gen I) and it seems to perform well .. e.g. fixing my location has never been more than +/- 2-3 metres out so far.

I also confirm what John says about a continuous tracking mode with a SPOT. It can fix your ongoing /moving location, in near real time, every 10-20 minutes .. although you have to pay an additional annual subscription for this service. SPOT annual subs are:-

Basic service: 99€ (£87)
Track Progress service (linked to Google Maps): 39€ (£34)

You can also buy into a Rescue Benefit insurance scheme, but I haven't bothered with this particular extra.

There's more than one way to track your trip progress too. For instance, there's a real good set-up with Spot Trip Manager (also linked with Google Maps). Indeed, I notice that several HUBBers here have signed-up for this excellent free service.

Good luck with your final choice. Please let us know how you get on.

Cheers

KEITH


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