GPS Locator Experiences/Recommendations?

[FlyerFocus]

For when that drone goes down unexpectedly ...

... has anyone purchased geo-locators and have any experience with them? What's needed? How expensive?

Any recommendations?

 

[msinger]

You can find a list of commonly used trackers here.

 

[FlyerFocus]

Awesome. Does anyone know if they'll let you use your own sim card instead of having to sign up for their cell service? When TMobile did their "add a line free" promo I went and grabbed an additional line which I currently don;t use for anything.

 

[timmer]

I'm on my second year using the 2G Trackimo. When this subscription ends I'll probably get the 3G version.

So far I've had no need for it, knock wood.

 

[SilverStone641]

Flyer, I use this cheap tracker with a TMO sim I bought seperately: https://www.amazon.com/ABLEGRID-Rea...F8&qid=1484081402&sr=1-7&keywords=GPS+tracker

It works great! .....when I remember to charge it.

 

[mandalay]

Awesome. Does anyone know if they'll let you use your own sim card instead of having to sign up for their cell service? When TMobile did their "add a line free" promo I went and grabbed an additional line which I currently don;t use for anything.

I use a T-Mobile SIM card bought on Amazon to use with their lowest pay-as-you-go plan ($3 a month) giving you any combination of 30 minutes of talk or 30 texts, which are plenty for trackers.

 

[FlyerFocus]

Flyer, I use this cheap tracker with a TMO sim I bought seperately: https://www.amazon.com/ABLEGRID-Rea...F8&qid=1484081402&sr=1-7&keywords=GPS+tracker

It works great! .....when I remember to charge it.

$22 is more my speed! Thanks.

 

[FlyerFocus]

Flyer, I use this cheap tracker with a TMO sim I bought seperately: https://www.amazon.com/ABLEGRID-Rea...F8&qid=1484081402&sr=1-7&keywords=GPS+tracker

It works great! .....when I remember to charge it.

Actually it says it needs a 2G sim. Do you know if TMobile has those? My phones are 4G.

 

[Gunslingertom]

Actually it says it needs a 2G sim. Do you know if TMobile has those? My phones are 4G.

2G is going to be completely phased out in the US this year. Some phone service providers already have. You need to get a 3G tracker.

 

[rge]

Not sure you need it. I was flying when the Go app warned RTH was kicking in because, the remaining battery was needed to return home. I was feeling adventuresome and cancelled the RTH. Was going for a new distance record of a little over 4 miles. When I finally turned around and started heading home, I realized I must have had a pretty good tail wind since, I couldn't get over 25mph coming back. Panic set in when the critical battery autoland kicked in while I was still out 1.5 miles. I found what I thought was a clearing and it went down. Using the Go app on the iPad w/GPS, I jumped in the car and used the blue dot representing my controller position and the AC red arrow to get closer to where it went down. After driving down a lot of dead ends got close to the red dot which indicated the AC went down in an overgrown corn field. I kept expanding the resolution of the map until it was at maximum as I trekked through 7 foot corn stalks. When the controller showed I was at the AC position, I looked around and sure enough it was within 5 feet. The best moment [emoji3]


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[FlyerFocus]

2G is going to be completely phased out in the US this year. Some phone service providers already have. You need to get a 3G tracker.

A rep at TMo told me yesterday that TMo will support 2G until 2020.

 

[FlyerFocus]

Not sure you need it. I was flying when the Go app warned RTH was kicking in because, the remaining battery was needed to return home. I was feeling adventuresome and cancelled the RTH. Was going for a new distance record of a little over 4 miles. When I finally turned around and started heading home, I realized I must have had a pretty good tail wind since, I couldn't get over 25mph coming back. Panic set in when the critical battery autoland kicked in while I was still out 1.5 miles. I found what I thought was a clearing and it went down. Using the Go app on the iPad w/GPS, I jumped in the car and used the blue dot representing my controller position and the AC red arrow to get closer to where it went down. After driving down a lot of dead ends got close to the red dot which indicated the AC went down in an overgrown corn field. I kept expanding the resolution of the map until it was at maximum as I trekked through 7 foot corn stalks. When the controller showed I was at the AC position, I looked around and sure enough it was within 5 feet. The best moment [emoji3]


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

I like stories with happy endings. When you said "Not sure you need it" are you referring to one of the posts above or are you referring to a GPS tracker of any kind? In other words what is "it" that we don't need? The pronoun use is ambiguous. And if not with GPS how did you track it?

 

[Gunslingertom]

A rep at TMo told me yesterday that TMo will support 2G until 2020.

That's odd. I thought it was a government thing.

 

[FlyerFocus]

That's odd. I thought it was a government thing.

I looked on the FCC website and didn't find anything about 2G deprecation being mandated. I did find this from a non-FCC source:

5) Will 2G disappear completely?
No. Several carriers have made commitments
to support 2G spectrum, largely to support
the millions of M2M connected devices.
Because of the low bandwidth requirements
of most M2M applications, even a small sliver
of spectrum can support hundreds of millions
of M2M devices. Sprint is pursuing the
opportunity seemingly vacated by AT&T, and
has indicated they intend to maintain a 2G
network for the long term – at least through
2020. T-Mobile, while it is dedicating a large
portion of its spectrum to 4G, has also
committed to keeping a signicant portion of
spectrum devoted to 2G to serve its M2M
customers long term. Verizon has said it will
turn down their 2G and 3G networks by 2021.

Source: https://connectedworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Whitepaper_RacoWireless_TheSunsetof2G.pdf

 

[mmtphoto]

I have had a TRACKIMO for over a year now and it was good until they did a software update on December 2ed or 3rd 2016-since then lt terrible tracking on IOS, and they do not reply when you email them. I had just paid for another year of service (October 15, 2016) so I'm stuck with what has been a pretty worthless service since said update.
I won't make the same mistake again, I especially have a problem with any service provider who will not even respond. TRACKIMO is a bad deal in my experience.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[timmer]

I have had a TRACKIMO for over a year now and it was good until they did a software update on December 2ed or 3rd 2016-since then lt terrible tracking on IOS, and they do not reply when you email them. I had just paid for another year of service (October 15, 2016) so I'm stuck with what has been a pretty worthless service since said update.
I won't make the same mistake again, I especially have a problem with any service provider who will not even respond. TRACKIMO is a bad deal in my experience.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

How did you do an update? Was it automatic? 2G?

I've noticed my 2G has not emailed me for a while when it hits the 10% battery level. Charging it up now to see if there's any difference.

Ha ha, I just received an email and will check the tracking function once it charges.

 

[mmtphoto]

How did you do an update? Was it automatic? 2G?

I've noticed my 2G has not emailed me for a while when it hits the 10% battery level. Charging it up now to see if there's any difference.

Ha ha, I just received an email and will check the tracking function once it charges.

they changed the app on my iphone on Dec 2 or 3rd, I noticed immediately some of the information was different, like MPH was obviously in Kilometers per hour in spite of it being set properly for MPH (unless my drone is traveling in excess of 65-70 MPH on a regular basis)-If I track it on PC, everything seems to be about the same. It will notify me when it starts to move but rarely updates location (again IOS only) so they screwed up the app and it still does not work properly, more than a month later. The most annoying thing is that they initially acknowledged problems with the app when I emailed them a couple days after the update, and they replied that they were aware of issues and said it would be fixed in 'a couple of days'-since that lone reply, no response to subsequent emails, period. That tells me there is an issue they cannot solve and since they have collected their $60 for the next year, it doesn't matter to them. I have removed the app and re-installed it a couple of times but nothing has changed-it also is not as accurate in Android since the 'update', it takes more time for updating location and is constantly giving me locations that are only approximate, and 'searching for' a better location. This actually worked amazingly well for the first year and one month I had it, then they 'fixed' it with the so-called update (sound familiar?) If I track it on PC it works almost as well as it did prior to the update, but android and especially IOS are terrible now, and no response. Don't waste your money if you want to track using IOS or even android.

 

[Gunslingertom]

I looked on the FCC website and didn't find anything about 2G deprecation being mandated. I did find this from a non-FCC source:

5) Will 2G disappear completely?
No. Several carriers have made commitments
to support 2G spectrum, largely to support
the millions of M2M connected devices.
Because of the low bandwidth requirements
of most M2M applications, even a small sliver
of spectrum can support hundreds of millions
of M2M devices. Sprint is pursuing the
opportunity seemingly vacated by AT&T, and
has indicated they intend to maintain a 2G
network for the long term – at least through
2020. T-Mobile, while it is dedicating a large
portion of its spectrum to 4G, has also
committed to keeping a signicant portion of
spectrum devoted to 2G to serve its M2M
customers long term. Verizon has said it will
turn down their 2G and 3G networks by 2021.

Source: https://connectedworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Whitepaper_RacoWireless_TheSunsetof2G.pdf

Be great if this is correct. I got my information from a tech specialist at Sprint. Doesn't mean he knows anything tough, I guess... Still be a good idea to go 3G I think. I was planning Trackimo, until I read the above reply.

 

[timmer]

OK, thanks.

Mine seems to be working correctly after I charged it. My app seems fine, although I did have to log in to it so maybe it updated as well but miles were still set to mph.

I'm running the app on an iPad Air2 with the latest OS.

 

[mmtphoto]

Be great if this is correct. I got my information from a tech specialist at Sprint. Doesn't mean he knows anything tough, I guess... Still be a good idea to go 3G I think. I was planning Trackimo, until I read the above reply.

I use my trackimo almost every day either flying or with traditional camera equipment that is out in the field, and since this update really cannot rely on it to tell me anything with regards to actual location of my equipment while monitoring it using my IPhone. If I got a reply I'd not be as annoyed but I do not get any response so I have pretty much decided I will look elsewhere for a tracking solution.

anybody want to buy a small paper weight with 9 months of 'service' left?