I wouldn't recommend a SPOT for that application. Too big, too heavy, no easy way to carry it on one's person. Reportedly, battery life on the new units is less than one day - the long distance moto people have been complaining bitterly about it.

They're more for active people on day trips out of cell phone range. Like us cyclists.... In spite of the short battery life, the new SPOTs are small and light enough to carry on a bici, unlike the old ones. But they're still more the size of a camera than a phone.

Drifty, but there's no age at which "the conversation" is more or less appropriate than any other age. Says the one who nearly broke my neck last month and STILL haven't tightened up my Living Will as I've been meaning to do for over a year.