I am looking for a cheap but usefull way for people to see where I am when I hike and know if I am okay?
I need to find a way to do this at the lowest possible price. I am leaving for the Military on October 24th, I am really scared and having a hard time with my life and relationships. I just need something that I can hold with me while I venture into the wilderness. Truth is I just lost the love of my life who I thought I was going to marry, my friends are all addicted to drugs, and I don’t know who I am anymore and on top of that I am going to Basic Training then AIT for Combat Medic, then Airborne school then Ranger school. So right now I got a lot on my plate. I have been hiking before in Colorado I am going somewhere in Maryland or PA this time and actually camping and carrying a ruck for a good week, just something to get away from everyone and have time to find myself before I leave.
I do not have a smart phone or anything of that sort, I have a verizon something that takes pictures and can send them thats about it.
if you have a smartphone just get google maps and sign into lattitude
It sounds to me like you could use a cheap portable GPS tracker.
Name brands are really expensive which seems like a waste of money, so I would say that a cheaper non-name brand GPS tracker would be better.
Given that you are going into the wilderness I suggest a tracker with SOS calling is a good option. One of these trackers is helpful because if you do get into any trouble or someone needs to contact you in an emergency then the tracker doubles as a phone.
You can also set them to send an SMS of your location at regular intervals (to your family or loved ones), or they can text your tracker as and when necessary and get an SMS in return sending your location.
Finally it should be small and rugged, so you can tuck it away in your backpack and not worry about it.
Here’s a good one which is pretty cheap too:
http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/trackpro-mini-global-gps-tracker/
This one comes in at well under $100, so is pretty good value.
You can buy one over the shelf, but you pay extra for their name. In my experience, If you buy from China you will often be getting the same hardware as the name brands, but without the name and the high cost associated with them.
Good luck with everything!
if you dont have a smart phone, just take pics of where you are and email it to them
BTW if your going to basic training, be sure to pick up a copy of The Ultimate Basic Training Guidebook at UltimateBasicTrainin.com
Most Tracking devices rely on the nearby wireless network to send your coordinates.
If you go in the wilderness, I doubt a cell phone will even work there, so most of these devices will not work.
Good luck.