'Find My Drone' Reliability? Tracking Alternatives?

[borgqueenx]

No problem. Cheapest i found with gps is this.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151285326347

But i recommend:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161145659880
Just check other posts in this topic why i think this one is better.
But i ordered both and will test them extensivly.

In addition, i have found that some of those rf-v16 trackers send link to google maps instead of gps123.org now...

How are you getting on with the RF-V16 tracker ?

I had one arrive this week, and for the life of me I cannot get it to be reliable.

When I text dw#
Sometimes it sends back nothing
Sometimes it sends links for google maps
Sometimes links for TrackAnywhere.org
Sometimes links for GPS123.org
Sometimes says GPS: in black with a link that opens in Apple Maps
Sometimes says LBS: in black with a link that opens in Apple Maps

I have tried it with Tracking off, Tracking On, with 5 minute upload

Status LED,s seem to have a mind of their own, I think they go to sleep,
but even after a reboot, they go off again very quickly.

The GPS led, and I guess GPS fix seems not as good as the TK102B I also
have, just liked the small form factor and weight of this unit.

The tracking on seems to work best, but tracking turned off is really hit
or miss of what it is going to do next.

With the TK102B, when I call it, a text is almost immediate for return,
the RF-V16 takes between 15 seconds and 5-10 minutes to get a reply.

Any ideas, I am banging my head with this thing

Ouch that's not alot of praise.
I have yet to receive them and will take 1-3 more weeks so i cannot say anything about experience.
But i feel your unit has something faulty since on a russian forum i see alot of praise, and people calling it reliable.

What i did hear is disabling gprs/uploading could help. But you already tried that. I recommend a factory reset, but again i dont have one yet.

 

[mitchsden]

No problem. Cheapest i found with gps is this.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151285326347

But i recommend:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161145659880
Just check other posts in this topic why i think this one is better.
But i ordered both and will test them extensivly.

In addition, i have found that some of those rf-v16 trackers send link to google maps instead of gps123.org now...

How are you getting on with the RF-V16 tracker ?

I had one arrive this week, and for the life of me I cannot get it to be reliable.

When I text dw#
Sometimes it sends back nothing
Sometimes it sends links for google maps
Sometimes links for TrackAnywhere.org
Sometimes links for GPS123.org
Sometimes says GPS: in black with a link that opens in Apple Maps
Sometimes says LBS: in black with a link that opens in Apple Maps

I have tried it with Tracking off, Tracking On, with 5 minute upload

Status LED,s seem to have a mind of their own, I think they go to sleep,
but even after a reboot, they go off again very quickly.

The GPS led, and I guess GPS fix seems not as good as the TK102B I also
have, just liked the small form factor and weight of this unit.

The tracking on seems to work best, but tracking turned off is really hit
or miss of what it is going to do next.

With the TK102B, when I call it, a text is almost immediate for return,
the RF-V16 takes between 15 seconds and 5-10 minutes to get a reply.

Any ideas, I am banging my head with this thing

Ouch that's not alot of praise.
I have yet to receive them and will take 1-3 more weeks so i cannot say anything about experience.
But i feel your unit has something faulty since on a russian forum i see alot of praise, and people calling it reliable.

What i did hear is disabling gprs/uploading could help. But you already tried that. I recommend a factory reset, but again i dont have one yet.

Thanks, I have not tried a total reset yet, will try it later

I badly want this to work, but it needs to be reliable

A friend had a flyway a couple of weeks ago, fitted with a TK102B tracker, we
managed to find it, but having the audible ring on this tracker would have made
looking up a 50ft tree easier

If it has a poor GPS signal, which it seems to have a lot of the time, the link it
sends is from cell towers, which can be 1-3 miles away.

I have sent a message to my supplier, and will also see what they suggest.

Make sure you have lots of credit on your sim, I have spent 25% of the cost
of the unit on testing alone.

A better manual would help, as I would like to understand why it sends all these
different links.

Would you have a link please to the Russian forum ?


Thanks, Dave

 

[borgqueenx]

Here you go, good luck:
http://forum.rcdesign.ru/f90/thread348092.html

Let us know how it went.

 

[mitchsden]

Here you go, good luck:
http://forum.rcdesign.ru/f90/thread348092.html

Let us know how it went.

Thank you for the link

I have had a quick read, and similar confusion in Russia

Also queried with my GSM operator yesterday, Charged for 41 text messages,
but only received 26. They said it was sending the equivalent of 2 texts sometimes

Took out a cheap package with my operator, unlimited texts, 500mb data, 30 day contract,
so I will continue playing for a while

 

[borgqueenx]

apparantly it sends different links for different conditions.
No internet= different link.
goff or gon = different link.
gps fix or not = different link.

 

[mitchsden]

apparantly it sends different links for different conditions.
No internet= different link.
goff or gon = different link.
gps fix or not = different link.

Yes I think that is correct, sending a dsp# first whilst testing should give me an idea
if the GPS signal is invalid or valid.

This morning, same testing place as yesterday at home, GPS signal is valid
and gon# set at 60 minute uploads, dw# results with a link that says
GPS: and 1st link = 2 doors away street address from my house, that opens in Apple Maps
2nd link (within the same SMS message) goes to gps123.org

The similar one I received yesterday when out shopping said LBS: instead of GPS:
(this location was about 80 miles away)

LBS appears to be about this, which I read elsewhere

"Don't compare LBS with GPS and AGPS. LBS stands for Location based services . It's a service done with the help of GPS/AGPS . For example 'Requesting the nearest business or service, such as an ATM or restaurant' is a service required by a user. There are many applications available for to provide above service. Those application will use either GPS/AGPS to find the location and service to user based on the location fetched.

So simply any application which use location to serve users are considered as LBS."

Edit: It has just sent me a text, battery is below 10%, so at least that works

Also just received this back from the seller

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hi my friend,

Good day!

Thank you very much for your kindly attention letter and patience to test it. About your questions, please note my answers as follows, which from our factory engineers directly, hope it can meet your demand, more questions, please contact us soon

When I text dw#
Sometimes it sends back nothing
if it no back you anythings, for sometimes, the RF-V16 no get the command which you sent to it successfully, you can try it again when you met like this.

Sometimes it sends links for google maps
If it reply you the google maps, there are two actors, one is you close auto tracking send goff# , so the tracker did not connect with server maps to get your address.
another actor is your sim card has no open GPRS function or your sim card APN set is not correct, which will make it get google maps link but no from server link

Sometimes links for TrackAnywhere.org
When you get the link from trackanywhere, means it no get good GPS signal,it use GSM station to make location , means via LBS ,and GPRS also not go through.

Sometimes links for GPS123.org
when it send GPS123, means it work fine, you open GPRS, and also gon#

Sometimes says GPS: in black with a link that opens in Apple Maps
Sometimes says LBS: in black with a link that opens in Apple Maps
It means you opened gon# function

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[borgqueenx]

maybe you can open it, and make the internal antenna a bit bigger.
Think im going to try it if i get it.
2 doors away doesnt say anything to me how many meters is the question.

Can you confirm what the seller replied is true? Will it only send gps123.org when gon# is enabled?

 

[mitchsden]

maybe you can open it, and make the internal antenna a bit bigger.
Think im going to try it if i get it.
2 doors away doesnt say anything to me how many meters is the question.

Can you confirm what the seller replied is true? Will it only send gps123.org when gon# is enabled?

2 doors away would be great, if it could repeat this every time I use it

Yesterday the LBS location was 80 miles away, and out in the middle of the
English Channel

If the GPS is valid, things seem good, if not forget it

Just checked back on my SMS texts, gps123.org only ever appeared with gon#
Will have a proper test when it is charged up again

 

[JWDrone]

Has anyone used the P2V+ "Find my Drone" in the vision App ? I land in different locations and go to Find My Drone in the vision app and it works perfect,, Pin points the location everywhere, even when its in my house. Why a need for a second tracking device?

Adds a extra layer of reliability.
What if connection is lost and it flies away...
Or what if it gets stolen(and you have the tracker build in on a way the thief doesnt see...
And other stuff that can go wrong.
If things go wrong, you didnt lost 1200 euro.

OK,, Good points but There is some downside I believe:
1) Adding any weight to the PV2+ is not good.
2) Adding unknown sources of magnetic devices cell phones etc, may cause compass malfunction
3) Crashing in a remote area or even close by could deactivate your GPS device.

Anyway I will follow this thread to see if anyone has found their lost phantom via an external tracker

 

[UrAwFuL]

Was gonna go for the Tagg system, but I realized that I may have months that I won't have time to fly out at all. After reading a bit, I think the service gets deactivated after some time. And if I went for the TK102B, I just need to find a good service.

I guess I'll be going for the TK102B.
- How's it's reliability?
- What service do you use?
- Where did you buy it from?
(Looking for a USA shipping eBay seller that is not selling clones...)

 

[LuvMyTJ]

The PocketFinder has no contracts and cost $12.95 for months that you use it. Works excellent.

 

[borgqueenx]

maybe you can open it, and make the internal antenna a bit bigger.
Think im going to try it if i get it.
2 doors away doesnt say anything to me how many meters is the question.

Can you confirm what the seller replied is true? Will it only send gps123.org when gon# is enabled?

2 doors away would be great, if it could repeat this every time I use it

Yesterday the LBS location was 80 miles away, and out in the middle of the
English Channel

If the GPS is valid, things seem good, if not forget it

Just checked back on my SMS texts, gps123.org only ever appeared with gon#
Will have a proper test when it is charged up again

Awesome! So it will always be goff# for me xD. The gps123.org link is useless anyway.

Can you also test if dw# works with a different phone number? Using the password first?

 

[tbenst]

Has anyone heard of the Spot Trace? It uses satellites for communication so should work anywhere in the world, unlike the other trackers in this thread that require a cellular connection--good luck if you're in a remote park. $100 + $100/yr contract. It's also waterproof and offers updates every 5 min (or 2.5 for another $100/yr).

The one downside may be its weight--87.9g compared to 25g for the Trax and 60g for the TK-102b. I just bit the bullet and ordered one.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

I looked into this, but the size & weight! :shock:

 

[Doono]

Cool bag J Dot.

 

[beckham388]

OK, so here is a summary based on weight:

Retrievor - weighs 18 grams (.63 oz) Pre-sale - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/retr ... retrieving - No I am not an investor...
Trax - weighs 25 grams (0.88 oz)
Locca Mini - weighs 25 grams (0.88 oz)
PocketFinder People Locator - weighs 39 grams (1.4 oz)
Drone Mods UAV Locator - weighs 56 grams (1.9 oz)
Global Tracker (Tk102) - weighs 60 grams (2.1 oz)
PocketFinder Pet Locator - weighs 68 grams (2.4 oz)
EagleEyes FPV Station - weighs 78 grams (2.7 oz)
SPOT Trace - weighs 87.9 grams (3.1 oz)
SPOT Connect - weighs 139 grams (4.9 oz)

 

[Mori55]

OK, so here is a summary based on weight:

Retrievor - weighs 18 grams (.63 oz) Pre-sale - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/retr ... retrieving - No I am not an investor...
Trax - weighs 25 grams (0.88 oz)
Locca Mini - weighs 25 grams (0.88 oz)
PocketFinder People Locator - weighs 39 grams (1.4 oz)
Drone Mods UAV Locator - weighs 56 grams (1.9 oz)
Global Tracker (Tk102) - weighs 60 grams (2.1 oz)
PocketFinder Pet Locator - weighs 68 grams (2.4 oz)
EagleEyes FPV Station - weighs 78 grams (2.7 oz)
SPOT Trace - weighs 87.9 grams (3.1 oz)
SPOT Connect - weighs 139 grams (4.9 oz)

That looks interesting. When will be available ?

 

[Dirty Bird]

The Retriever is really tiny, plus communicates back via satellite. The subscription price is really cheap too ($1.79 a month!). Wonder when it will actually become available and the price?

 

[UrAwFuL]

The Retriever is really tiny, plus communicates back via satellite. The subscription price is really cheap too ($1.79 a month!). Wonder when it will actually become available and the price?

Production ships typically around one year after end-date. But the fact that their Facebook page hasn't made an update since November 2013 makes me kinda nervous about investing on it.

Update: June 2014. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/retr ... g#activity

 

[beckham388]

Not sure when (if) the Retrievor will be available, but I do like the self charging feature as well as using it being light. I created the weight summary in an effort to help those that are having trouble deciding on a tracking option.