Tag: tracking device

Car Tracking Devices: Considered and Evaluated

Car tracking devices are anything but cheap. If you are going to buy one of these high tech, expensive products there are several things that you should know about them before committing your finances (and in some cases, your security) on a device that you know will work in theory, but have no experience in practice.

The first area that this article is going to examine is the different ways that people often use car trackers. After a brief examination we will examine some of the tracker characteristics that any potential customer should evaluate before making their final decision.

Ways To Use a Car Tracking Device

There seem to be four main reasons to use a GPS tracking device inside a car. They are to track inexperienced, immature drivers, verify suspicions of infidelity, improve business operations, and recover property.

Teen Drivers

We have gone into great detail about the different reasons why a parent would install a tracking device in their teen’s car. We have even discussed some of the ways that a tracking device for cars can be leveraged to help make teens safer drivers. Needless to say we won’t go into a lot of that stuff here. You just need to know that more teens die each year from automobile accidents than any other cause. These are all preventable deaths and are often the fault of the teens themselves.

If you knew that a tracking device would save your teens life, would you spend the $400 for it?

Catching Cheaters

Cheaters suck. They often lie. They also need to be caught. Most of the time the person being cheated on needs help in pinning the cheater into a corner so that they have to admit their infidelity. GPS tracking can often help them in this endeavor. Simply install a tracker in the vehicle of the suspected cheater (but only if you own that vehicle – tracking another person’s property without their consent is illegal) and you can know for certain if they are staying at work late or doing something a little more suspect.

Fleet Vehicle Tracking

Car GPS tracking has a long and proven track record in commercial applications. It has been shown to improve worker productivity, reduce costs, enhance the customer experience, and improve vehicle maintenance. What more could a business owner want?

Theft Recovery

Theft happens. Having a device that will tell you where your car is in real time when you wake up in the morning and your car isn’t out front can be invaluable. It is also nice to know that the crooks that stole your car are going to prison rather than profiting off of your property.

Considerations For Choosing A GPS Car Tracking Devices

If you come to the conclusion that you need a device to track a car then you have to take several things into consideration when making your decision. These devices are anything but cheap, so making sure you pick something that is going to meet your needs is very important. Here is a list of some of the main things you will want to think through:

Hardwired Vs. Stand Alone

This may not sound like that big of a decision, but it is probably one of the most important decisions that you need to make. The main reason for this is battery life. Tracking devices, especially real time tracking devices, run through battery power very quickly. Some GPS car tracking devices, like the Zoombak, only have an active tracking life of several hours. That is extremely low if you need to track the vehicle for longer than that.

Hardwired car tracking devices have the benefit of getting their power directly from the vehicle itself. As long as your battery is live your tracker will be able to give you the position of the car. Some hardwired trackers can be installed covertly so that they are not easily seen or accessible. Others are installed under the steering wheel in the OBD-II port and can be easily seen if you know what to look for.

Stand alone devices do not benefit from the car’s power source and must rely on their own battery. This means that you can have an active tracking life of several weeks to just a few hours depending on the type and size of the tracker you are using. This can be fine – it just depends on what you are using the tracker for and how much money you want to spend on it all.

Real Time Vs. Data Loggers

GPS logger

Probably the next most important thing for people to think about when going with a car tracker is whether or not they want to see the position information in real time or if they are alright with recording the data and looking at it later, after the device has been retrieved from the vehicle. Most people want to do the tracking in real time. There is just something special about being able to watch your asset move from location to location.

The price tag on real time car tracking devices is nothing to sniff at. They are often much more expensive, two to three times as expensive, than their data logging counter parts – and that doesn’t even take into consideration the monthly subscription fee required by most tracking providers. When that is taken into consideration it can cost four times as much just in the first year alone!

But if your need is for a real time tracker then you are going to fork out the cash.

Web-Based Vs. Software Based

Many people looking for GPS tracking want something that they can access from any web enabled computer. This is most often available with real time GPS tracking devices. This is because the tracking device will transmit the position and vector data over a wireless network to your tracking provider. The provider will then make this data available to you on a secure website available on the internet. Only you are going to be able to access the information since you are the only one with the user name and password for the tracker.

Here is a graphic of how this all works:

How web based tracking works

Software based car tracking devices are generally data loggers. Most of the time the data logger comes with a CD that contains some sort of tracking software that you need to install on your computer to make sense of the data the device records. For example, the i-Got U GT-600 comes with this type of software on a small mini-CD. The software works with the device to display your trip data on pretty Google-based maps and helps you integrate photos into your journey. The software then lets you post this information out on to the web if you want to share the data with friends or family.

While most car tracking devices don’t need some of the features available on the i-GotU (that device is designed to help people share vacations, hikes, or other fun excursions), they will have some sort of software that will help you make sense of the data on the tracker. This is helpful for users because it means you don’t need to know a ton about telemetry in order to make sense of your tracking information.

Covert Vs. Open

You are wanting a car tracking device for a certain reason, and that reason is going to determine whether or not you want to use a covert tracker or something that is a little more easily seen and accessed. Above we mentioned 4 different applications where are GPS car tracker would be useful. Here are some of the defining characteristics of a covert vs. open deployment in each category:

CovertOpen
Teen Drivers
  • Engaged in or suspected of illegal activity
  • Extremely rebellious and likely to destroy or bypass car tracker
  • Acts also as a good theft recover device
  • Parents have a relationship of trust and mutual respect
  • Teen sees tracker as safety device and is clearly aware of consequences of bad driving
Catching Cheaters
  • Cheater is suspicious of you knowing
  • Cheater could turn violent and abusive if your search for truth is discovered
  • Cheater is observant or tech savvy
  • None
Fleet Vehicle Tracking
  • Acts as an excellent theft recovery device
  • Catches wasteful employees in the act
  • Reminds employees to work their best all the time
  • Allows for integration with dispatchers, increasing efficiency in workforce
  • Promotes healthy employer/employee relationships
Theft Recovery
  • Hidden trackers will be overlooked by less accomplished criminals
  • Ability to work as long as the battery is still giving power to the car
  • None

As you can see, there are some applications where having an easily accessible car tracking device is not really in your best interest. You can still use it in these instances, you just run the risk of wasting your money.

Should You Use A Car Tracking Device?

Not everything labeled as a car tracking device is going to be what you are looking for for your particular needs. Be sure to carefully consider the purchase you are making. Ask questions of yourself and the potential supplier. The more questions you ask, the better informed you are going to be and the more successful you are going to be in your desire to track a car with GPS.

A Review of GPS Pet Tracking Systems

GPS tracking is getting small, and the smaller it gets the more uses we are thinking up. One of the more recent uses is GPS pet tracking. This works just like you might expect. The first think you do is you attach a GPS tracking device to your pet, with the most popular place for this being the collar of your animal. This is not the only place that a device could be attached, but it is definitely the most popular. Then, when your pet wanders off to an unknown location you simply go to your GPS tracking software and find out exactly where they are at.

Some GPS pet tracking devices make use of cell phone technology to transmit the location information from the dogs collar while other devices use radio signals. Each of these systems have their positives and negatives. For example, a device that uses cell phone modems will end up having a monthly subscription fee so that they can make use of the cell phone towers to transmit the information. It also means that your pet has to be within the reach of a cell signal for you to get information about where they are. The positive of this system are that the tracking can occur irregardless of your proximity to your pet. You could be in Paris, France and still know exactly where you pet is in Wasilla, Alaska as long as they have a cell signal.

For radio transmission models, the downsides include a higher purchase prices and a limited area of operation. Most models only let you track your dog up to a mile from your current location since this is the limit to the radio transmitter found inside the device attached to your dog’s collar. These pet GPS tracking systems do have a lot of upside too. The first is that they don’t cost a thing to operate. Once you purchase the device you won’t have to pony up any more cash for a monthly service fee. Another benefit is that you they can be used anywhere in the world as long as you are within range of your pet. Hunting in a remote area without access to a computer or a cell phone signal? Out camping with your pet in the wilderness? Exploring Antarctica? Then a radio transmission GPS pet tracking device is what you will want to take along.

Here is a short list of some of the available GPS pet tracking devices:

RoamEO GPS Pet Location System

The RoamEO GPS pet location system is a high quality tracking device that works on the radio transmission model mentioned above. It uses the MURS band at 154.60 MHz and has a functioning radius of approximately 1 mile. It also supports simultaneous tracking of up to three pets, making it great for hunters with a pack of dogs or a group of hunters moving together. It also works well for a family who wants to keep tabs on the family pets while they are out on an extended camping trip or who call the wilderness their home.

The LCD color screen is bright and easy to read in the sunlight. On the screen you will see your pet’s exact location along with their current movements and their current speed. If they are racing off the edge of the screen you know that your dog is getting close to being over a mile away and you better get going on find them. You can get all of the following on your LCD screen: your location, your pet’s location, distance in feet between you and your pet, your pet’s velocity in MPH, direction your pet is heading, a general compass to get your bearings, the location of your GeoFence if you have set one up, the battery remaining in the collars, battery life of the handheld unit, GPS signal strength, radio signal strength, and zoom scale.

The GeoFence feature allows you to set a GPS based “fence” for your pet. If they leave this defined boundary you will receive an audible alert so that you can go to the device and find out where your pet has wandered off to. This can be a real time saver for those that are going to be doing other things while they let their pets roam free.

If you like forest walks but your pet is often distracted by the random scent here and there and goes flying off into the wilderness then this pet tracker will probably be a good fit.

Garmin Astro GPS Dog Tracking System


The Garmin Astro GPS pet tracking system is very similar to the RoamEO device. It too transmits the position information of the dog via radio signals, but this time it is via VHF. The system includes a bright LCD screen and a tracking device called the DC 20. You keep the handheld LCD screen and your dog gets the DC 20. All you need to do to get the ball rolling with this system is to get it outdoors, turn it on, and attach the DC 20 to your dog’s collar or strap it on using a neoprene harness over its shoulders. Then you can just sit back and watch the tracking commence.

If you wanted, you could be updated with your dog’s position every 5 seconds with this GPS pet tracking device. This information will be breadcrumbed on your screen, giving you an electronic trail that your dog has taken. You can also switch to another view – the Dog Tracker page – where you will get an update on your dog’s current status. A dog’s status can be whether or not they are running, sitting, on point, or treeing a quarry. Great information for a hunter.

The Astro has an astonishing range of five miles (depending on terrain) and comes with a powerful GPS receiver that is capable of getting a satellite fix in the densest cover. You can also track up to 10 dogs at one time, making it much superior to the RoamEO even though it is being offered at a significantly lower price.

Also, since the Astro is a Garmin it has some of the best maps int he business and features some of the other features that one of their outdoor hiking GPS devices might have. It has a barometric altimeter, celestial information, a waterproof exterior, a microSD card slot of loading and downloading information, an area calculator, and a 3-axis compass. You can even get detailed city street maps and turn-by-turn directions making it the only GPS you will need when making a hunting trip.

Zoombak GPS Dog Locator

The Zoombak GPS Dog Tracker is essentially the exact same device that Zoombak sells as a personal locator and teen tracking device. As such, it uses cell phone technology to transmit GPS coordinates to the Zoombak servers where they make it available to their users in a variety of different formats (text message, email, Website). Unlike the previous two models, you always need to have access to the Internet to find your dog and your dog must always have access to a cell phone signal in order to be tracked.

The Zoombak also has a battery life of 5 days when on standby mode (when it is not transmitting any data) or it can send 150 locations. Most people will probably get somewhere less than 5 days and less then 150 location requests because no one immediately asks for 150 location requests as soon as they put fresh batteries inside their dog GPS.

The Zoombak is not for hunters or other outdoorsmen but is instead for more urban and suburban use. If your dog escapes your yard and is out on the lamb then this is the pet GPS tracking device that you probably want to use. It will enable you to find out where your pet is in reasonable amount of time, helping you recover your pet and avoid an unnecessary animal death.

GPS Pet Tracking Systems In Review

The main thing you need to decide when making a GPS pet tracking system purchase is what type of device you want, one that uses cell phone towers or one that uses radio signals to transmit information. The former is used mainly for lost animal recovery while the later is best suited for hunter, hikers, and adventurers who want to keep an eye on their pets. Once you have decided which one you want, finding a pet GPS tracking system that works for you is a piece of cake.

GPS Tracking Systems For All Facets of Life

If you have ended up going out and buying your own personal GPS tracking device you are going to come to a point when you are going to begin to need to get your tracking house in order. You will be flooded with a mountain of data about the location of the person, pet, or asset that you are tracking and you are going to need to turn all that data into meaningful information. Your device is going to need to fit inside of a meaningful system of interpretation.

Fortunately, most GPS tracking devices already come with a built in system that will help you analyze the raw data captured by your GPS. A car tracking system will put the data on a GoogleMap like interface and so will a covert personal tracking system. If you are using a fitness GPS tracking system like the Garmin Forerunner 405 or Edge 705 then this too will come with software that will help you turn the raw data of your workout into something that you can actually do something with.

And this brings us to a very interesting thing about GPS tracking, there is a system for tracking almost every aspect of our lives. You can track yourself when you are driving, working out, playing with your pets, or working and you can do the same for any other person that you love including your spouse or your children. With all this GPS tracking going on, it is no wonder that we have a hard time keeping it all straight in our heads.

So in order to help us all get a better understanding of the GPS tracking systems out there here is a list of the different types of systems:

GPS Car Tracking System

There are two different types of GPS car tracking systems. One system works in real time and transfers information from the tracking device via GPRS to a server where you can access the information once it has been filtered through a GPS tracking software package. The second type of car tracking system involves the device simply recording the location data. The user will then have to retrieve the device and manually download the coordinates from the device to a personal computer that has GPS tracking software installed.

Each system is going to have its benefits and draw backs. For starters, real time GPS vehicle tracking systems are extremely powerful and can provide actionable information for a person tracking a car or other type of vehicle. If you need to know where something is right now so that you can route a company vehicle or to get your teenager help then you need real time tracking. But there is a serious drawback with this type of tracking system – it costs a lot of money.

Not only do you have to buy the hardware for this system, which can be pretty expensive as far as GPS devices go, but you also have to pay for a tracking software and data transfer system. This can be as little as a monthly cell phone bill to hundreds of dollars per month. But for the people that need this type of tracking service is there is nothing better.

Another potential drawback to this system is that the battery life of these devices can be severely impaired by constant communication with the tracking servers. Sending messages via GPRS while constantly computing position information from the GPS satellites orbiting the earth is not conducive to long battery life. Even devices that transmit data every 5-10 seconds can only last several hours under these conditions.

The data logging GPS tracking system is different. It often can provide continuous GPS tracking for long periods of time, dwarfing the battery life of a real time tracking device. These devices are also relatively inexpensive – costing under $200 for some makes and models. This makes GPS tracking an option for many more people who could benefit from this type of service. It is also great for tracking something covertly since you won’t have to go and replace the batteries in the device very often.

The downsides of this device is that you have to wait until you recover the device to get any of the information recorded by it. If you are trying to monitor a teen driver this simply won’t be a practical car GPS tracking system for you. You might wait weeks before finding out that they went 60 mph in a 35 mph zone and that type of activity has to be punished immediately.

However, there are plenty of applications for both GPS car tracking systems that will inevitably make them both viable candidates for a variety of tasks involving tracking with GPS.

GPS Child Tracking System

Almost all useful GPS child tracking systems are going to be in real time or, at the very least, on demand. These might be a kids GPS watch, a piece of clothing that has a GPS device installed, or a stand alone device like the AmberAlert GPS. The way these work is that you install the device on your child. The tracking company then makes the devices location available via the Internet of mobile phone.

If you are at work you can check up on your child’s location. If your child doesn’t come home from school on time you can check on their location. Pretty much anytime that you are interested in know where your child is or you are concerned about their safety you can check up on them.

Many child tracking systems are going to employ GPRS. GPRS is a cell phone technology that allows for the transmission of information wirelessly. Some devices will even use GPRS to determine the devices location, making it a GPRS tracking system.

GPS Fitness Tracking System

Still another tracking system that can be used by a person is a fitness GPS tracking system. One might use a specialized fitness device like a Garmin Forerunner 405 to gather information on a workout or training session. The GPS, often in conjunction with a heart rate monitor, will record all sorts of useful things and then once it is downloaded onto a computer turn that hard data into something extremely useful for serious athletes. They will be able to see graphs, charts, and maps of their workouts – interacting with their bodies in a way that they never would have been able to without a GPS.

The vast majority of fitness GPS devices are not real time trackers. Instead, they are simply data loggers. If you think about, there is really very little reason for a fitness device to provide tracking in real time since the person wanting to see the information would be outside doing the exercise. It would kind of defeat the purpose of the tracking.

GPS Dog Tracking System

The final system that we are going to cover today is going to be dog GPS tracking systems. If you were unaware that you can track a pet with GPS then now you know that it is possible. In fact, Zoombak, a prominent dealer in personal GPS tracking devices, has re-purposed their device for the express purpose of serving as a dog tracker.

When you think about this, it makes a lot of sense. Dogs tend to wander around, and if you live on a lot of land or in an area without a lot of private fences then your dog can really wander far away. This can be very alarming for children and people who have a dear attachment to their pet. Companies have realized this and made pet GPS tracking systems a reality.

There is nothing particularly special about these devices other than you can do everything that you could do with a person with a pet. Almost all pet trackers are real time GPS tracking device since it really doesn’t do you much good to know where a pet has been once you know where they are right now.

***

GPS tracking systems are only going to be expanding in our lives. It is time we got used to the idea of using GPS for all of these various activities and got along trying to figure out what is the best use this tracking capabilities and how we can make society better with them in place.

4 Types of Tracking Devices Explained

When you think about tracking devices these days your mind will automatically go to toward thinking about GPS. Our culture has enough exposure through experience, news shows like 60 Minutes, and crime show dramas that GPS tracking can be incredibly useful for law enforcement purposes. But we are also beginning to realize that the ability to have tracking devices on our person at all times is also a desirable condition. We think of how useful it would be to attach a GPS watch to an Alzheimer’s patient so that if they wander off they can be easily located by their family. Or we might see how beneficial it might be to be able to monitor our teen’s driving while they are out on the road using the family car. We may even see how easily a tracking unit could help us make a decision about whether or not a spouse is cheating on us, the location information provided by a data logging GPS confirming our suspicions about their fidelity.

With all this utility staring us in the face it is no wonder that we are becoming a GPS-centric society. New devices and new ways to track things are being introduced at an ever increasing pace. Tracking technology still has a long way to go, and as our ability to make more powerful satellites, more accurate time pieces, and more sensitive GPS receivers continues to grow our ability to do more with tracking devices will increase. As this happens, more and more of our tracking dreams will become a reality.

In the mean time, lets take a look at the current state of tracking devices to help us get an idea of what is possible and where things might end up going to.

Cell Phone Tracking Devices

iPhone GPS Tracking

The first tracking device that most people are going to recognize is the cell phone. This is probably the most widely used tracking device today but very few people actually realize that there cell phone can be used to track their movements. All a cell phone needs is a signal from a cell phone tower and to be turned on for it to be one of the most powerful tracking devices on the market.

The way this particular device works is going to depend on your cell phone make and on the provider that you use, but you can summarize how each works by bringing up the principle of trilateration. How this works is that the cell phone does some fancy math to determine its location based upon the know location of either a cell phone tower or a GPS satellite, telling the mobile phone exactly where it is at any given moment in time. (I have explained this concept in my post about how GPS tracking watches work, so you can see that article if you want a more in depth explanation.)

This has obvious implications as a personal tracking device. Since most people use cell phones in some capacity almost everyone is going to be able to be tracked in this way. Now some phones and phone service providers like to make the tracking function of their phones widely know – for example the iPhone, Blackberry, and other smartphones will shout this information from the top of their lungs – but there are a lot of other phones that offer this functionality that can be used as tracking devices on a consumer level. The reason that I say on the consumer level is that the police and other first responders have the ability to track cell phones of all varieties, thanks in part to a 2005 law requiring this functionality for emergency response purposes.

Some mobile providers will offer consumer grade tracking on their phones as part of a family tracking plan. I have seen rates for this starting at $5 a month – which is really inexpensive for those who already have the data plan that these programs often require. But there are also ways to get GPS tracking on your cell phone for free. I have compiled a list of free GPS applications for cell phones, but these services are generally restricted to certain phones and require that you have a robust data plan to take full advantage of their functionality. They are extremely powerful and cheap, but even cheap GPS tracking can be expensive if you can’t afford a data plan for your phone.

Vehicle Tracking Devices

Another type of tracking device that people are going to think about are vehicle tracking devices. These are really commercial grade trackers that offer a whole host of important fleet management features for businesses and corporations. Some of the better devices can do much more than simply track the movements of a vehicle. They can:

  • Give directions to a driver, making routing and other business related activities much easier and much more efficient.
  • Monitor important vehicle metrics like speed and direction as well as other vehicle performance indicators like the ease of stops and starts.
  • Cute an idling engine that has been running too long.
  • Turn off vehicle lights that have been left on by a driver.
  • Give GPS coordinates to the authorities in case of a theft or medical emergency.
  • Serve as an electronic and positional time card, helping workers work harder while on the clock.

The thing about vehicle tracking systems is that they are anything but cheap. The tracking device itself will run you several hundred dollars depending on the level of functionality that you want the device to have.  GPS bus tracking devices are going to be different than GPS fleet tracking devices because they will do different things. They will therefore have different costs associated with them.

Another things about vehicle tracking that is going to raise the price a bit is paying for the tracking service with your provider. This can range from tens of dollars per unit to hundreds of dollars per unit. Most companies are going to give you a reduced price for each unit you track, but there is little you can do to reduce costs here expect for try and find a free GPS tracking software package. These do exist, but instead of money you will have to invest time to get the system to work just like you want it. For some individuals it is just going to better to go with a paid tracking service.

Car Tracking Devices

Very similar to vehicle tracking devices, car tracking devices are used track a car or vehicle but they often lack some of the functionality that the more commercial grade vehicle trackers might have. For example, a car tracker usually doesn’t have the ability to lock and unlock doors, cut the engine, or notify a driver if they are idling too long. A vehicle tracker does this because that is the market it is catered to (businesses with fleets of vehicles it wants to monitor) while car trackers appeal to individuals who want to see where their car is or to recover a stolen vehicle. In the world of GPS car tracking, there are two main uses: to monitor an individual’s activity or to recover a stolen vehicle.

There are a few different reasons why a person might want to install a GPS tracking device inside of a car for the purpose of people monitoring. One reason is that the person might be a suspect in an ongoing police investigation and the police want to monitor their activity without the cost associated with physical surveillance. Using GPS is a lot more cost effective, and as long as a warrant has been obtained, they can track an individual for as long as the court deems appropriate.

Zoombak GPS Tracker

Another reason might be to keep track of a teen’s driving habits. By installing a GPS device in their car you can get a lot of information about how they drive, where they drive, and when they drive. This can be used to enforce family driving rules and create a safe environment for them to drive in. Teen drivers have one of the highest incidents of fatal car crashes of the age groups recorded by insurance companies, so finding a way to help them drive safely should be the top priority of any parent. For some, this means using a GPS tracking device as an aid.

Still another reason to install a car tracking device would be to see if a spouse is cheating on you. While most of the time a tracking device is only going to tell you where your spouse has been, this knowledge can be extremely useful in determining the truth about their actions. If they said they are going to a friends house but their car ends up somewhere else then you know that something might be going on with them. You can call them very innocently and ask them how so-and-so’s house is going and if they tell you that everything there is fine even though they are not there you might know that something is up with them and that you should maybe investigate things further.

For each of these uses you will notice that being able to do a lot of the stuff that GPS vehicle tracking can do is superfluous. What a person in this situation needs to do is be able to track the movements of a person – and not always in real time either. While it is nice to be able to track a teen in real time or to see if a spouse is cheating as it happens, a data logger will generally do just as a good.

However, when it comes to being able to recover a stolen vehicle having a real time GPS tracking device is going to be a good idea. That way, when the criminal takes away your vehicle the police can have real time tracking information that will lead them right to your property. That way the criminal can be caught and your property can be returned to you. One of the major theft recovery GPS tracking devices is LoJack and it has been around for years. It is very effective at helping police find stolen property.

GPS Tracking Watches

Finally, the last tracking device that we should talk about are <link>GPS tracking watches</link>. A GPS watch is exactly what it sounds like – a watch that has all the functionality of a GPS device. When you take a look at it, there are two main types of GPS tracking watches and each type has a corresponding use. There are watches that act as data loggers and there are watches that act as real time trackers.

Garmin 405 GPS Tracking Watch

A data logger might be something like the Garmin Forerunner 405. This is a fitness GPS tracking watch that is the top of the line and has tons of really cool features. It is great for serious athletes who want to take their training to the next level and is even better for multi-sport athletes. When paired with a heart rate monitor it provides some of the best workout metrics of any device on the market. It is also a stereotypical example of what a data logging GPS tracking watch is good for. The device logs workout information like speed, altitude, direction, total time working out, and heart rate. This watch is just a data logger marketed toward runners and is the ultimate fitness tracking device.

GuardianLion LEO GPS Tracking Watch

A real time tracker might look something more like the GuardianLion Leo. This is a full featured GPS tracking device that fits on your wrist. It combines the best of cell phone technology with the power of GPS location data to create the ultimate safety device for kids and those suffering from Alzheimer’s. It allows parents or caretakers to have a real time knowledge about the location of their charge and even allows them to get into contact with that individual through the watch itself! This is extremely powerful technology and until recently these watches were so bulky as to be comical. Apparently, the GuardianLion Leo is small enough to fit comfortably on a writs and actually looks something like a normal watch.

The Future of Tracking Devices

The future is going to be portable, personal tracking devices. As we can already see with the GPS tracking watches and cell phones, the technology is making great strides toward becoming more and more consumer friendly. It is being packaged and delivered in a way that is very palatable for consumers and this means that tracking devices are going to be here for a very long time and in many different forms. If I had to put money on one become dominate it would have to be the cell phone, but the future is by no means certain. We will just have to wait and see what happens – but I know this for sure, GPS is going to be a big part of my childrens’ lives and an even bigger part of their childrens’ lives.