Cheap GPS tracking device

victor2

It's not particularly new...
http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-bluetooth-tracker/
I believe the battery could last a year. It won't be broadcasting constantly. The top choice doesn't even have a replaceable battery and claims it will last a year, after which you have to buy another one.

davomcdave

I got some of these for my birthday last year.

The battery lasts weeks not months. It's good apart from that.

paddyrg

What's actually quite cute about this is that it'll indicate if it is in range of another person who's using the app's phone. That's awesome if there's a lot of people with the app switched on fulltime, but it requires a critical mass to be actually useful. If the app is lame, or a power drain, it won't be running on all handsets.

It also won't really give much directional info. Using the term 'GPS' is disingenious TBH

forgotmyname

paddyrg wrote: »

What's actually quite cute about this is that it'll indicate if it is in range of another person who's using the app's phone. That's awesome if there's a lot of people with the app switched on fulltime, but it requires a critical mass to be actually useful. If the app is lame, or a power drain, it won't be running on all handsets.

It also won't really give much directional info. Using the term 'GPS' is disingenious TBH

Exactly it doesnt have GPS, if someone close by has the app running and bluetooth switched on, and.. GPS enabled on their phone AND has data enabled. But the number of app downloads compared to users seems rather out of proportion.

bob_a_builder

Whats the incentive for anyone without the tracker themselves to install the app, almost zero !
So a very low chance of anyone with the app installed AND being within 10 meters of the tracker

I think they call that, its 'achilles heel'

paddyrg

bob_a_builder wrote: »

Whats the incentive for anyone without the tracker themselves to install the app, almost zero !
So a very low chance of anyone with the app installed AND being within 10 meters of the tracker

I think they call that, its 'achilles heel'

Nil! Waste of battery and data.

If it gets a critical mass, then that's a different proposition, but imagine how many people around your area at the 50m range would be likely to buy these and use them. You need that level of density across a population for it to be useful for locating anything with even crude accuracy. Every 2 lengths of a swimming pool another person running the app.

Now this could work if it was open sourced with multiple manufacturers, in a high density area, and cheap as chips, but if it's proprietary it'll simply never get enough support at the base cost to become a thing.

This is certainly an Achilles heel!

victor2

bob_a_builder wrote: »

Whats the incentive for anyone without the tracker themselves to install the app, almost zero !
So a very low chance of anyone with the app installed AND being within 10 meters of the tracker

I think they call that, its 'achilles heel'

The manufacturer/distributor would have to add an incentive. Like install the free app and get a credit for every different device it detects. Get so many credits and you get a free tracker yourself.
They would have to spend a serious amount of money on marketing though...

50Twuncle

victor2 wrote: »

The manufacturer/distributor would have to add an incentive. Like install the free app and get a credit for every different device it detects. Get so many credits and you get a free tracker yourself.
They would have to spend a serious amount of money on marketing though...

This has potential privacy issues as well !!
Will never work

kwikbreaks

Having made the effort to search for these things I took a punt on a cheap set of 5 on eBay.

This is the text of the return I've just started...

25 Jan
You created a return
Reason for return
Doesn't work or is defective
Comments
3 had flat batteries on arrival and the other 2 went flat overnight after starting them up. I bought new batteries. Of the ones I have tried all seem to sound at random intervals for no obvious reason. One flattened my new battery overnight. I tried a couple and the alarm function did work initially but stopped working later despite still showing connected. Another showed disconnected and would not reconnect even after resetting it. These are either part of a faulty batch or are a non genuine copy of the original (presumably working) design. None of them serve any useful purpose.

TLDR They are carp - don't buy any

Mr_Toad

A friend of mine has several, they were given to him by a client who sells them.

Even in London they didn't work that well as too few other people had them or the app on their phone. Outside London they are, to use his words, total rubbish. He has one in his wallet, on his car keys and in both his and his wife's car.

We were in our local and the best they could manage was to tell you they were in the building. They do have a beeper in them but it's so quiet you can barely hear it when it's on the table next to you let alone in another room.

Also it couldn't locate his car which we could see out of the window.

His summary was that he's glad he hadn't paid for them as they simply aren't worth it.