GPS Tracker / Pet tracker

[wewin1]

I'm new to the board and the PV2+. I have had it for 2 weeks now and loving it. I have been reading about the horror stories about flyaways and decided that I needed to invest in a GPS tracker to protect my investment. I decided to try out this GPS tracker. http://www.amazon.com/Tagg-GPS-Pet-Trac ... words=tagg

Cost less then $100 and you get 3 months of service for free and it cost $9.95 for each additional month of service. I attached it to a random collar I had laying around the house and have test flown it without any issues. It comes with a base station so I can pop it off of the collar and place it on the charger when I'm not flying. Overall I am happy with it.

 

[Geeber]

I purchased the same Tagg tracker a few weeks ago and when I activated it I received 12 months service free even though the box said it just came with 3. I don't know why....maybe I just lucked out. I haven't attached it to my PV2+ yet. I ordered extra collar mounts and I was thinking about sticking one under the battery compartment like someone else posted.

 

[flyNfrank]

Smart thinking! Glad to see some take these fly aways serious. I have 2, and bought 3 Visions since Feb. I was going to go with the same setup you did, but at the last second went a different route the Flytrex Live Tracker. The monthly fee's are a turn off unless you can find a month to month type deal. I had even purchased a Real time GPS/GSM/GPRS Tracker the day before I ordered the Flytrex setup that I now need to sell. It weighs 71 grams remote controlled, cost $60 and add your sim card and NO monthly fee's. I no doubt would have went this route had the Flytrex not come into the scene.

At any rate what's important is you have a tracker. Btw, I watched right where my last copter dropped from the sky and I spent numerous days searching for it with no luck. When it went down I lined myself up with a couple of land marks and said ok, I know right where it is, I''ll come back in the morning when there is day light and get it. As I said I never located it. It actually fell into a cornfield and I'm sure I just walked past it during one of my many searches,

You might want to keep from mounting stuff near the compass, that bell can throw off the compass. People not calibrating them correctly could be one of the reasons for a fly away. That's another topic so I'll stop. But good for you for getting a tracker!

 

[WyattEarp]

$9.95 a month seems a bit high. If it were $40 a year or less I might give it a try. Are there any other tracking services out there that are cheaper?

 

[wewin1]

Smart thinking! Glad to see some take these fly aways serious. I have 2, and bought 3 Visions since Feb. I was going to go with the same setup you did, but at the last second went a different route the Flytrex Live Tracker. The monthly fee's are a turn off unless you can find a month to month type deal. I had even purchased a Real time GPS/GSM/GPRS Tracker the day before I ordered the Flytrex setup that I now need to sell. It weighs 71 grams remote controlled, cost $60 and add your sim card and NO monthly fee's. I no doubt would have went this route had the Flytrex not come into the scene.

At any rate what's important is you have a tracker. Btw, I watched right where my last copter dropped from the sky and I spent numerous days searching for it with no luck. When it went down I lined myself up with a couple of land marks and said ok, I know right where it is, I''ll come back in the morning when there is day light and get it. As I said I never located it. It actually fell into a cornfield and I'm sure I just walked past it during one of my many searches,

You might want to keep from mounting stuff near the compass, that bell can throw off the compass. People not calibrating them correctly could be one of the reasons for a fly away. That's another topic so I'll stop. But good for you for getting a tracker!

I'm going to be getting a different collar to try to mount it in a different place away from the compass. I might get the Flytrex later on and just put this tracker on my other quad or on one of my dogs.

 

[wewin1]

$9.95 a month seems a bit high. If it were $40 a year or less I might give it a try. Are there any other tracking services out there that are cheaper?

I was thinking the same thing, but it is month to month service and it's better then losing a $1300 quad. I saw that if you sign up for a entire year, it goes down to $7.95 a month.

 

[WyattEarp]

Yeah, I'm getting nickel and dime-ed to death with monthly re-occurring charges

Gym membership - not used - my problem
TIVO - I love but I need one for each TV arrrg.
On-Star - never needed it but who knows
Wife's tanning membership - don't get me started
Credit monitoring,...

Jeesh, I need to find a service that I can provide for a monthly fee - anybody want to buy monthly areal imagery of their house?

 

[kymedic121]

Very smart move. I chose the Pocket Finder. Granted the service is $12.00 per month but the service coverage is amazing and the programmable features, Cell App and PC interface are awesome.

 

[Awilson18]

Recently added the RF-V16 to my V2+. Very small and light. Activated a prepaid SIM card on TMobile and can text to get location as needed. $10 on prepaid card is like 100 text messages. If I have a flyaway I only need one...LOL

 

[shadowband]

Very smart move. I chose the Pocket Finder. Granted the service is $12.00 per month but the service coverage is amazing and the programmable features, Cell App and PC interface are awesome.

After researching all of the options, I went this route as well. I originally wanted to mount the silicone case to the phantom, and then insert the tracker into the case after charging; however, I couldn't come up with any simple, non-destructive mounting solutions. In the end, I went with your approach using the industrial velcro, leaving a cut-out to prevent the model/serial number from being covered.

Kymedic121 - thanks for all of the info that you posted on this topic, as it was very helpful. Fortunately, my maiden flight(s) went without a hitch yesterday so there was no need to track