On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:08:46 -0400, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

Another choice has become available in the last year or so, the SPOT
device. The SPOT is a handheld unit that combines a GPS with a
satellite uplink transmitter. You can use it to send "help" messages
or to send position reports every 10 minutes which can be displayed on
a web site. Priced at $150 or so, it's not really a replacement for
an EPIRB but can be used that way in an emergency.

http://www.findmespot.com/en/

We used one to track our trip to the Bahamas last June and it worked
well. There are a few operational tricks that need to be learned but
by and large it is easy to use and does what it is supposed to.

I've looked at those - seems to be a neat device.

Does it track in real time like APRS does?

Almost real time. It sends up a position report every 10 minutes and
the track on the web site is updated almost immediately.

Here's some real time data from Skip and Lydia. They are in the
Abacos on their sailboat "The Flying Pig".

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0sKGa9AJRCF45FaX5L5g6PLcZGvSb3n Me

or

http://tinyurl.com/yhs2uaw