One thing to remember is that a Spot is a Globalstar service and uses the same satellites as their phones. When I turn my Globalstar Phone on it shows me what what quality of a signal I have to the satellite or a message "searching for service." They have gotten better but it is not uncommon to wait 2-10 minutes for a usable satellite connection. On a rarer occasion it may be 20 minutes. The satellites are low orbit which means they are passing overhead and always on the move. Another satellite should be coming by about every 14 minutes but depending on its position in the sky you will have different signal quality.

I was talking to my dad yesterday about my upcoming Quetico trip. He asked if I was going to have the SPOT with me. I said yes, and he said good - he can now live the trip vicariously through me. The "safety" feature didn't enter into it at all.

My dad is familiar with the limitations of the SPOT. A few years ago we were on a trip together and we capsized in the Russell-Sturgeon narrows when the water was high and moving fast. It took us an hour to get ourselves and stuff out of the water. Afterwards he asked me if I could have used the SPOT if we had needed it. I answered no - it wasn't on me and had been floating around in some pack somewhere. We never told my mom this