did everything i needed and was a whole lot cheaper.

it is pretty simple to use, after you set it up on their website. you basically supply email addresses and cell phone numbers of your contacts, change some messages if you don't like theirs, and you're done.

except for the '911' part. there's an emergency button on it that alerts their emergency reporting group and they hopefully follow up on it. you also get to tell them something about yourself. i entered our boat name and type, number of people (and cats) aboard, and a summary of our cruising plans.

using the device is also simple. turn it on, leave it alone for five minutes so it acquires a fix, press the 'ok' button, and leave it alone for twenty minutes so it can send the signal. then turn it off. the five minute and twenty minute periods are probably more than is needed to do their jobs but i figured they wrote the manual so i'll just to what they say.

it alerts cell phones via text message. it also send a url with your position. on smart phones like blackberry and iphone and maybe some others you can click on the url and see a graphic map with your position.

it also send an email to all the email addresses you give them. the email contains a url, you click on it and it brings up a google map with your position on it.

hopefully this will keep daughter number one happy and daughter number two in a job...