Totally reliable. I think there might be some places the satellites do not cover - off of Madagascar and part of south east Africa. Other than that - I would sail the seven seas with it.
Tracking - you can set it to send a message every ten minutes if you want - but that would run the battery (user replaceable) down pretty quick. We just push it when we feel like it. I did three deliveries last year and pushed it leaving the dock in the morning, at noon and on arrival to the dock or mooring at night. My wife followed along where ever I was.
On our trip back from Pennsylvania last week we hit SPOT every two or three hours and mother-in-law followed along. Here is what she got:
SPOT Check. Rik & Linda on a trip home. Click on the link to see where we are.
ESN:0-7357294
Latitude:39.3474
Longitude:-77.2919
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:01/19/2009 10:45:47 (America/Halifax)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=39.3474,-77.2919&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1 I do not work for SPOT. Anything I can answer - go ahead and ask.
Rik
Rik and Linda Hall
MysteryIrwin Citation 34
#266