GPS messenger = SPOT satellite messenger...have one for $100 @ Cabella's...not cheap and not light either! But it keeps mom+dad, friends, brothers, and most importantly gf off my back by sending them updates nightly.

And as everyone's said they were deffinitely plugging for certain companies and were semi-biased to what they had in their packs and how much "use" they got out of each of those items. As I stated, it was more for beginners, but there were a few of us in the room that you could tell were more into the "sport" of backpacking and each of us chuckled at an item or 2 when they were talking about it.