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GPS Tracker For Flyaways - Any Interest?

Well, like I said in another thread a Mavic with full battery could possible flyaway 5-10 miles so it makes the MP not much use in a real world 'Murphy's Law' environment. Can't expect your Drone to stay within the 2 mile limit of the MP's range. That and the price led me down the GPS Tracker road. Personally not interested in a MP but glad it works for you. Would be interesting to hear from someone who's Drone flew beyond the MP range and how it turned out.
In answer to your question:
I have flown beyond the Marco Polo range.
If it did go down, in that case it is an easy task to go in the direction that it was flying to obtain a lock again.
On my test in Russia, at first I had no lock due to mountains, but after I traveled in the direction of flight, I got the signal back.
With GPS or cell towers in rough areas it is difficult to obtain enough satellites or will have no cell connection in many places I go.
My home is in Japan, and even with their high end tech all over the country, I still find myself with no GPS or cell service in valleys etc. (where much of the best scenery is found...waterfalls, etc.). So I fly in Atti to get my shots (as I flew RC helicopters for years before GPS).
When all tech goes down, the basics prevail.
But my hope is that someone can come up with something better, something reliable, something simple. Maybe it’s your system.
Maybe it could have multiple technologies: GPS, Cell, and a direct MP type system built together that adds redundancy and accuracy.
After spending as much as I have on all my flying platforms, I would certainly pay for such a system.
If you do develop your system, I would love to try it out. I go to many places in the world, in every environment. Best to you.
 
If your flying where it's forested, decent grass length in any or every direction; Id forget about GPS tracking.
You could be standing over your drone and miss it.

Even with Marco Polo is hard if you went down in scrub. Ive heard stories of drones up in the trees.

If your flying MP2, it pays for itself Thumbswayup
 
I have finished my testing on a particular model of GPS Tracker. It is small and lightweight (2-1/16" x 1-11/16" x 9/16" (52mm x 42mm x 15mm) at 1.22oz (35g)). It uses a magnetic Charging Cable so it has two tiny magnets on the bottom to the side in order to orient the cable. I have tested the tracker placed at the rear of the Mavic 2 Pro battery and it only changes the Compass Interference value by 50 (from 30 to 80) which is still way in the green. If you place it on top in front (where the GPS and Compass sensors are) it will go red and set of the Magnetic Interference alert. So as long as it's mounted to the rear on a M2p or M2Z or in the middle of the battery in a M or MP you're good to go. When you send it a 'Get Location' command it wakes from sleep (battery saving feature) and once it has a GPS Fix (5-30 seconds) it sends it's position to the tracking server (I have set up traccar on my server to work with these so you don't have to use the Chinese Tracking Server).

SpeedTalk has a Data/Text plan for $5/mo. You need Text to send SMS messages to the tracker to configure it.

Available now at DT-11G Tracker
 
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marco polo here too, wouldn't fly without it,
But is the frequency used by Marco Polo allowed in EU? On their website it says "Once tracking mode is activated by the locator, the Marco Polo system operates by using frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) on 50 frequencies between 902.5 and 906.5 Mhz.". That is licensed mobile phone spectrum and I have always thought the limited retail presence of their products here in EU was because of the radio frequency problem.
 
I just found my pro with marco pollo I am happy with it lost dec20th found dec 27th and was still holding close to a full charge on the locator on the drone also rained on snowed on and still preformed
 
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Well, like I said in another thread a Mavic with full battery could possible flyaway 5-10 miles so it makes the MP not much use in a real world 'Murphy's Law' environment. Can't expect your Drone to stay within the 2 mile limit of the MP's range. That and the price led me down the drone miniature GPS Tracker road. Personally not interested in a MP but glad it works for you. Would be interesting to hear from someone who's Drone flew beyond the MP range and how it turned out.

I am struggling with Marco Polo and other small trackers. Marco Polo looks like the best choice for drones. But other GPS is cheaper and I can afford it. Someone has recommended Spytec, but its size is still too large. Are there any better suggestions?
 
Well, there is a way to track beyond range. But it needs an internet connection to do it, and assumes you have Occusync if you flew far beyond VLOS. IE a Mavic Mini gone on a flyaway wouldn't be so easy to find using this.

If you have Airdata loaded on the device you use to pilot the drone, upload the logs for the flight to their server. Export it from there in .kml and open on Google Earth. You can see the flight path and last known position of the drone. That at least would get you into the rough area if not the exact spot. This is how I found my spark when it lost itself.

I'm not trying to trash you idea, as it is a good one. However, what has been said in this thread does represent the questions potential customer have, and I'm sure you can turn round the feedback here into USP's.
 
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i,ve got nothing but good to say about marco haven,t lost a one since i got it and one was out for 7 days in january its worth every penny , and again i haven,t tried the others
 
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