Personally I'm not too keen on the subscription thing - while it is kinda nice that the SPOT can report back even when it's *not* an emergency - just to keep people aware of your progress if they're interested - it's a feature I don't think I really need.

I've got my eye on the MicroFix units - since they and the technology they use seem to be pretty much worldwide - I may eventually decide I'm wealthy and buy something like the Microfix 406 Nice part, no subscription, but no "trail reports" back to loved ones or anything like that - basically you buy it hoping to never activate it