The SPOT Satellite Messenger is reluctantly one of my favorite pieces of gear I took on my South American trip.  SPOTis a unit that provides the ability to send a few select messages from your current location using the Globestar satellite contillation.  With the complete service package, you are able to send unlimited "OK" messages, track points (sent every ten minutes), "help", and "SOS".

I would try to send OK messages daily every time that I started traveling and at the end of the day once I found a hotel.   This was a great benefit so that my family would always know approximately where I was if something were to happen.  The track points I would start once my OK message went through and I was on the bike, actually traveling.  The track points are a great method to passively send messages.  For instance, if I were to get in a wreck or my bike were stolen, these would probably me the messages that are actually useful.  Track points are like digital bread crumbs that are sent to the SPOT webite that you can track on a google map.

Fortunately, I never got to test the HELP and SOS buttons.  The HELP button is used when you need help, but are not facing imminent death.  Once a HELP message gets through, a text/email message is sent to the people in your emergency contact list stating your request for help and the location.  I could see this being REALLY freaky to receive because there are no further details and I could see pressing help from anything from being stuck in the desert in Bolivia with a flat tire or having a minor crash and not being able to walk.

The SOS or 911 button, well, I'm still not sure when it is appropriate to use it.  I bought insurance so that just incase I do use it, my recovery is paid for.  According to the SPOT site:  " Use this function In the event of a life threatening or other critical emergency to notify emergency services of your exact location and that you need assistance. The GEOS International Emergency Response Centre alerts the appropriate agencies worldwide – for example contacting 9-1-1 responders in North America".  My understanding is don't press this button unless you're REALLY screwed.

Performance:

The unit worked great.  Suprisingly great.  Almost all my OK messages got through as well as the majority of my tracking messages.   I even dropped the SPOT messenger from my motorcycle on the highway traveling at 60mph and the unit still functioned.  I'm REALLLY glad it did as this happened before I even left the US!

My main complaint with the unit... It is such a pain to actually ride with on a big trip on how I use it.. Here's what I do:

Check out hotel, packup bike, put tank bag on bike...

Press OK, once quickly

get geared up, leave town

Then I usually forget to turn on tracking for 30 or 40 minutes into my ride.

Once I remember, I fumble with gloves in my tank bag to squeeze the OK button for 3 seconds to turn on tracking mode. My god is that hard to do through plastic driving very curvy mountian roads with one hand.

Yeah, the spot interface sucks for me on a bike. Pressing and holding buttons and waiting for the right blinking sequence is a pain.

Conclusion:

For tracking and family passification, the unit is great.  I'm still not convinced that it is useful in real life/death situations or even minor emergencies because of the wide ambigioutiy of the difference between the HELP and SOS buttons.  But honestly, for the price, it is such a good deal.  If you're doing any sort of off-the-beaten-track travel, I'd pick one up.   Just make sure you're in a region where there is coverage.

My favorite message:

ESN:0-7381807
Latitude:0.0
Longitude:-78.4543
Nearest Location: San Antonio, Ecuador
Distance: 2 km(s)
Time:10/22/2008 17:54:24 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=0.0,-78.4543&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Sent from the Equator!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me start out by saying that I'm a map junkie.  I spent way more in maps and hauled more paper maps than any sane person should have.  For me, it is part of the fun... but if you're only going to buy a few, here are the ones you should buy.

 Overall, I'm a fan of the ITMB maps  from Canada. They happened to be the maps that Key Maps in Houston carried the most.  I had one for _every single country_ I would drive through.  MASSIVE overkill, especially in Central America.  The Waterproof ITMB maps are superiour and while they're hard to write on, they are the only maps that will take the abuse of being folded in bad ways in a tank bag.

The one exception is Mexico, where you should use the Guia Roji.

Here's my list of maps that I recommend if you're going to traveling the similiar overland route from Mexico to Argentina:

Mexico: Guia Roji Mini Atlas - Covers Mexico, Belize, and some of Guatemala

Guatemala: ITMB Guatemala - This one will cover Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and most of Honduras

Costa Rica: ITMB Costa Rica - CR, Nicaragua, and most of Panama that you can drive

Central America: ITMB Central America - This one is a must... You could get away without the Guatemala/CR maps if you just had this one.  Too bad they don't have a waterproof version.

For South America, because the countries are so much larger, I generally used each countries' own ITMB map.  Instead of providing links, you can just look those up yourself :).  The only exception is for Chile. You can just use the Argentina map for Chile unless you're going to North Chile.

The special case for South America is Bolivia.  I tried using ITMB, Nelles, and another German map company's map and none of them were reliable.  Often the maps would say that a road was paved and it wasn't.  In Uyuni, I even went around town to the little paper shops and bought a printout of a map that was supposed to be good, but even that was wrong.  My GPS maps were wrong too... Nothing was useful in Bolivia except for dead reckoning and asking bus drivers.