Anytime you go into the woods, it's a good idea to tell someone where you are going. With SPOT, the Satellite Personal Tracker, you can send GPS coordinates over commercial satellites to tell the folks back home your exact location and status.

Turn it on, give it a good view of the sky, and send pre-arranged messages to friends, family or a search-and-rescue team based upon the level of need.

On an Idaho hunt, I used SPOT to check in with my wife and friends to let them know that I was all right. Had I needed help, I would have hit the HELP button, which would have signaled for someone to find their way to my position with GPS coordinates. In an emergency situation, I would have punched the 911 button to mobilize a search.

My use of SPOT was best-case scenario, allowing my friends and family to track my progress with Google Maps. According to my pre-arranged signal, I keyed two "Check-In" signals to let my wife know that she could expect me to bring home a bear rug.

In August 2007, SPOT announced integration with Yahoo! Fire Eagle, an Internet social network, which will allow users to share their adventure location "geo-tags" on the Web.

Suggested retail price: $169.95; one-year basic satellite service subscription retails for $99.99. Call 866-651-7768 or visit www.findmespot.com.