Accuracy Test with Trackimo Tracker

[Spanish Flyer]

I put it right on top of the head of the drone, where the front distant sensors are, stuck with velcro; I tried several times and I always got the same amount of satellites with and without it. The same goes for the flight manners, no change in behaviour. (Max. speed 64.7 Km/h).

Spanish Flyer

 

[aggillator]

I attached with a zip tie to the extended leg

 

[Need More mAh]

For a super 3D-printed holder for your Trackimo, contact Arthur Brutter who designed and sells a high quality and lightweight Trackimo holder that attaches securely to the rear legs of your Mavic Pro. The holder keeps the GPS unit abeam and away from the other onboard electronics.

Not only that, but Arthur designed and sells the absolute best iPad Mini bracket on the market for the Mavic Pro controller that places the iPad Mini screen above the controller WITHOUT blocking the Mavic controller's LCD screen. Arthur is a design genius! Prompt service and receipt of my order.

 

[aggillator]

you wouldn't happen to be Arthur, would you?

 

[Need More mAh]

you wouldn't happen to be Arthur, would you?

No, just an admirer of innovative thought and design. Anyone that contributes significantly to increasing my own fun factor deserves special recognition and I hope others will discover a fellow hobbyist's creative offerings.

 

[aggillator]

Where can one find his products to buy?

 

[msinger]

Where can one find his products to buy?

You can find them here on eBay.

 

[Need More mAh]

"The holder keeps the GPS unit abeam and away from the other onboard electronics."
My apologies, I should have said the Trackimo holder rides "astern and away" from the other onboard electronics.

p.s. ...note to self....Need More mAh needs to stick with using proper terminology in the future.

 

[Robbyg]

Prob cuz u never used either bro...? At least take the time to watch some videos of the marco polo being used and then do the same for trackimo if you cant believe all the reviews online like OP. The first Atari is more advanced. Maybe even Pong .

No offense to anyone Just saying...Think for yourself; they both have pro's & con's like everything else.

The Trackimo device is a serious little tracker, a high performer indeed. An obvious much better value for your dollar at least that part is not debatable. Spending 300$ for a 60's tech short'n spotty range beep'n arrow style tracker for a super long range 1000$ drone makes lot less sense to me personaly

Really!
I have owned both.

1) Trackimo battery life is pretty short. You better be able to get to the location within 48 hours or you can forget it. How many crashes have we seen on this forum that took days for the pilots to get back to the area and start looking? A Lot!
So it's 2 days vs 10 Days (Winner = Marco Polo)

2) Weight 42 Grams vs 12g (I could strap 3 Marco Polos On and still have less weight (Winner = Marco Polo)

3) Accuracy Trackimo is great if you have a GPS signal.
If your craft lands in a hole like the very famous case on this forum, your out of luck. If the Craft lands on top of the Trackimo your out of luck. If the Trackimo breaks lose and flies into a crevice or under a boulder your out of luck. No matter how the Marco Polo lands you will always have a signal. The range may drop off but you can certainly get within 1/4 mile worst case and have a signal. You should try a Marco Polo before you knock the old time "1960's arrow thing". It works and it works consistently well with no false readings.

4) Coverage: Trackimo great if your drone crashes in an area with 3G coverage. If not you have NOTHING to work with, your drone is gone for good. Marco Polo works anywhere in the world.

5) Operation: I found the Trackimo to be frustrating even when it was working. I had problems getting it to report the location. When it did report it the location it was off by a mile or more. As I moved towards the location it jumped to the right spot but later moved to another location. In the end it settled down but each time it sent me going in the wrong direction.

6) Price: $140 for the Trackimo then $60 per year after the first year. Marco Polo is $219 and thats for life.

As for the Marco Polo locator device, I stick mine in the glove compartment of my car. It takes the space of two Mavic battery packs and weighs almost nothing. Well worth it to know that I have something that will work no matter how or where I crash.

 

[SRJ_Mavic_PRO]

Sorry if this seems silly but other than finding your drone if lost what else does having a tracker on the Mavic or Phantom do for you. Also does the weight of it mess up the flight of the drone?

 

[msinger]

what else does having a tracker on the Mavic or Phantom do for you

Nothing.

does the weight of it mess up the flight of the drone?

No.

 

[Robbyg]

More weight means less flight time.
As for the need for a tracker well it's kind a like the condom joke. When the time comes you will really be wishing that you had one.

Rob

 

[Will.i.am]

The bottom line is that the Marco Polo works by tracking an RF signal, which requires continuous line of sight. Just like the Mavic controller. So if your Mavic goes down behind a mountain, you will need to walk around a bit to acquire the RF signal on your MP. So if your Mavic falls in a hole, I doubt if the MP will get a signal, until you walk up to the hole.

The advantage of the Trackimo, or any cell-based gps tracker, is that you need only one good cell hit, and then you have exact coordinates that you can go right to. No need to walk around looking at a pointer. Newer trackers also have bluetooth for close in tracking, or where cell coverage is spotty. My plan is to strap a cellphone on my Mavic, which will have cellular, wifi, Bluetooth, and audible tracking. That, to me, would make the ideal tracker.

 

[Robbyg]

i would love to see a cell phone strapped to a Mavic! That is going to be one huge and heavy contraption to fly with. Bluetooth has 30-40ft range and is not practical. Once again I would point out the fact that the phone needs gps lock to give accurate coordinates or else you will get all sorts of wrong info and you need cell phone coverage for any of it to work.

Anyway it's each persons choice but fox hunting with radio signals is a tried and proven reliable method to locate an RC craft.

Rob

 

[Will.i.am]

i would love to see a cell phone strapped to a Mavic! That is going to be one huge and heavy contraption to fly with.

OK, here you go. The phone is a Posh Micro X S240 - the world's smallest smartphone.. It is just 89x47x11.6 mm and 52g. Twice as long as Trackimo but only half the width and height and only 10g heavier. Plus it's half the price of Trackimo and one quarter the price of the Marco Polo. No monthly fee if you get a Freedompop sim card with basic plan. You can get one on ebay for $50. It has full smartphone capabilities - gps, cellular, wifi, bluetooth, gyro, etc. It runs KitKat, and with the right apps loaded, you can have real time gps tracking via cellular, mid-range wifi tracking, and close-in bluetooth tracking. Then just call it up to pinpoint it by sound.

 

[aggillator]

Weird thing about trackimo is all these sellers advertise the bluetooth feature, and you see it in the app, but when I contacted trackimo about it, they said they're still working on it. I asked when would they be done, and the rep said they don't know. The bluetooth feature could be awesome. You get in the general vicinity using the gps coordinates, then the bluetooth tracking kicks in once you're close to it to give you a more pinpointed location.

 

[Flyboy36]

I just got my Trackimo (TRKM002) & decided to test its accuracy before I put it to work on my Mavic

I took it with me on a 75 mile trip today from eugene to salem and then back another 75. I put the update setting to every 1 minute.

The pics will show where the tracker marks me as parked and the colored arrow is where I actually parked. I made 2 stops, it was only 1-2 spots off.

Also, i left the tracker in my car then went inside my house to view the app which showed the 2 points almost perfectly with a directional arrow pointing from my phone's marker straight to the tracker's marker just as i pointed my phone at the car . That will be a huge help. Real time directional assistance. Also, they added a audible beep tone u can activate in case u cant get a visual.

It was much more accurate than i anticipated. When i watched the tracker app realtime when going 70 mph on freeway it would update my tracker point every minute to the exact point my cell phone marker would be while traveling that fast. I expected there to be some lagg. I did not expect it to be so quik/live

Also, note these are not only cellular 3G but they use GPS and WiFi so it will still work if your outside of phone reception. I believe it would have some lagg when running off just gps but you probably still find it. That i need to test. Also cellular roaming is free & it works world wide, one of only trackers to do so

The first year of service is truly Free with no cc# or personal info required fyi. The sim card comes pre loaded with year subscription. Its super easy to activate. The website has an online tracking tool thats similar to the app but with access to more advanced settings

For now i'll use my tile in addition to trackimo for added safety but i would be confident using only the trackimo



*note: the latest version of tracker IOS app has some bugs they are working out. It was just recently overhauled which caused a few new issues like only reading KPH no mph, text messaging not working on any reminder/button/fence functions, battery life meter gone, and its pissed off all their ios customers no doubt. But it was only few wks ago so i expect a fix asap. based on their history of updates it wont be long. Its still very usable obviously. The only bug that affected me is the batt meter issue really.

This is where I mounted it to my bird...

Price: 99$ on Amazon with free 1 year subscription
*after 12mo you must sign up for a 5$ a month subscription.
-the extra battery and charging dock kit is 20$'ish

How is this powered?

 

[aggillator]

Battery. Is it just me or is the android app not as good as the ios?

 

[Flyboy36]

Battery. Is it just me or is the android app not as good as the ios?

I agree. I hate apple phones, but I went out and got a ipad mini 4 just for my Mavic

 

[rjanumpally]

all these are giving me a headache. countetfeit 3gs, radio 1960s, I decided a $25 dollar tile will have a range of 200 ft and possibly even 400 per many youtube tests. And with 10 million users and the fact that I fly mostly in heavily populated beach areas it is likely to find a Bluetooth source and can easily be mounted on the head with velcrow I will just a buy a tile friends and family pack and use the rest for my wallet, keys, and car. Total cost $70 versus who knows what for all these 3g, 2g, radio options. I almost lost my $1000 mavic pro with case today by misplacing it somewhere luckily the restaurant kept it for me but I freaked out.