SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - For lost campers and outdoor adventurers, help is now on the way at touch of a button.

SPOT Satellite Personal Trackers - small devices that act as GPS locators and send out distress signals - are becoming increasingly popular among Yellowknifers who go out on the land and want their loved ones to know they're safe, according to staff at Roy's Audiotronic.

Users of SPOT can program their devices to send their location as often as every five minutes to someone tracking their progress from a computer using Google Maps.

The devices can also be used to send a distress signal to a SPOT emergency response centre, which then notifies the appropriate emergency responders - which may include the RCMP or Coast Guard, in the case of Yellowknife users.

"They're selling very well," said Kyle Lukaniuk, sales associate at Roy's. "It varies, but some weeks we sell five to 10.

"I've even had a couple of businesses that wanted to track some of their vehicles for dispatch reasons. It's catching on."

Bryan Rendell, owner of Wolverine Gun and Tackle, said he plans to offer SPOT devices at his store by the end of August.

"The biggest problem is people go out on the land or on the water and they don't have GPS, maps or compasses," said Rendell.

Rendell recalled a recent trip he took to Trout Rock Lodge on the North Arm of Great Slave Lake, where he encountered an 80-year-old Ukrainian man and his 60-year-old son canoeing to Norman Wells without a GPS system or a satellite phone.

"I said to this guy, 'Are you crazy?' He said, 'No, we do it all the time.' I said, 'Yeah, but it only takes one accident,'" said Rendell.

"The problem with everybody out there is they take everything for granted, but you could slip on one slippery rock, or fall down and crack your head, or get a fish bone stuck in your throat - there's a hundred different things that can happen to you out there."

Even the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans is using SPOT at its Yellowknife, Hay River and Inuvik headquarters, according to enforcement supervisor Gerald Fillatre.

"It adds peace of mind," said Fillatre.

"We're using them for officer tracking. When we have officers out patrolling in the field, we can have staff know where they are at all times."