GPS Tracking device

DV Mavic · Feb 1, 2017

Has anyone checked out the Ping that's coming out. Looks pretty cool. 1st year subscription included, runs Bluetooth, cellular triangulation and gps so should be very reliable. It's on indego and its suposed to be available may/17.

cybertech · Feb 1, 2017

Ping is a Trackimo clone. Trackimo is just as small and does all those things, check in SOS etc. First year free. After that just $5 a month. FYI it doesn't interfere with the Mavic GPS nor does it interfere with Tile. The only thing ping might have on the Trackimo is battery life. I haven't ran Trackimo out yet, but I don't think it would last a full week.

Sent from my SM-G900T using MavicPilots mobile app

msinger · Feb 1, 2017

cybertech said:
Ping is a Trackimo clone. Trackimo is just as small and does all those things

We won't know what it can do for sure until it's in our hands, but the Ping tracker claims to be quite different. It's smaller, lighter, waterproof, the battery lasts much longer, and the yearly service fee is $24 less.

rbhamilton · Mar 9, 2017

I just tried my RF-V16 on a number of locations. All failures. The top front gives compass errors. The top of the battery, back of the craft or side of the craft all seemed to work well. I took off with 16 sats. But after about a minute the Mavic went to ATTI mode. This is wide open skies in the middle of the desert so absolutely no reason for it to lose sats. Landing it was tough. Good learning experience though because I don't usually fly ATTI.

Without the tracker it flies like a dream and GPS is rock steady. It's the tracker for sure. Possibly mine is throwing off more RF than other identical units? But what's the point of a tracker that sends your quad on a wild fly-away? I guess if you lose it and it crashes you can at least find it's carcass but no thanks to that!

I think to be safe the tracker needs to be off the body of the Mavic entirely.

I ordered one of these: RF-V16 Tracker Holder for DJI Mavic Pro | eBay

If it works I'll let you know.

On the plus side, I did find a very low tech method of increasing your odds for a safe return. I got a non-ferrous metal dog tag printed on-line. Added bonus you can put your FAA registration information on the tag too. They don't seem to mess up the compass or GPS.

Amazon.com : Providence Engraving Aluminum Pet ID Tags for Cat and Dog : Pet Identification Tags : Pet Supplies

temptation · Mar 9, 2017

could this be used with mavic? TrackR - Lost it? Find it. not to many information on device..

DV Mavic · Mar 9, 2017

No. It's only Bluetooth so unless your real close it won't show up.

temptation · Mar 9, 2017

Haha, they have video of girl find her car few blocks away.. so its fake right? And other guy find stolen bike 10 days after somewere.. hm..

DV Mavic · Mar 9, 2017

I guessing as I actually have one on my keys that doesn't work sometimes on the other side of the house.lol

temptation · Mar 9, 2017

But, if you lose mavic, you got data from phone, and you can calculate landing area, would be easier go to that spot and press sound button? Hm.. maybe would be helpufull in some cases, and its cheap, and no monthley fees..

DV Mavic · Mar 9, 2017

Ya I guess in that respect it would work. I haven't lost my mavic yet so never thought of it that way. I have a flytrex on my p2v+ that has saved me twice on very remote ground missions but it takes a sim card and works great just not sure it works with the mavic yet. Flytrex also has to be soldered into drone.

moonlitnite · Mar 9, 2017

While not GPS accuracy, weight-wise it's hard to beat the Marco Polo homing device transmitter.

rbhamilton · Mar 9, 2017

temptation said:
Haha, they have video of girl find her car few blocks away.. so its fake right? And other guy find stolen bike 10 days after somewere.. hm..

I have the Bluetooth TrackR system. It's not great. But it would absolutely help you find your car.

If you forget where you parked your car and it has a TrackR - you look on the map and it shows the last known location of your car. Presumably where you parked. Unless your car moved I guess.

The idea is it uses crowd sourced GPS. Say you drop your keys with a Trakr attached. Your phone app will show you the last known location of your keys. You can turn around, go back to where you dropped them and pick them up.

Say your bike gets stolen. The bike will be on the move. But the next time some other person with a TrackR passes your bike, his phone app will notice your bike's TrackR and send an updated location to the web. You can have fun chasing your bike around town all day. WooHoo!

For a drone crashed alone in a remote part of the woods? Not too helpful.

Will.i.am · Mar 9, 2017

moonlitnite said:
While not GPS accuracy, weight-wise it's hard to beat the Marco Polo homing device transmitter.

That's if you don't consider the handheld tracking device that you have to carry around with you.

Myk · Mar 9, 2017

Probably a stupid question, but doesn't the controller give you the GPS coordinates of the drone? I'm getting ready to bite the bullet and order a Mavic tonight,but I have a Hubson 501s. It flew away on me and crashed. On the controller it still had the last coordinates, I typed them into Google Maps on my phone and it showed it's location on the side of a dirt road 1/2 mile away. Walked right to it, it was about 1 foot from where it showed on the satellite picture. Why does the Mavic information only get you to a block size area?

rbhamilton · Mar 9, 2017

Myk said:
Probably a stupid question, but doesn't the controller give you the GPS coordinates of the drone?

For sure. Just so long as it's connected to your remote. But when it's not connected to your remote? Like if it goes behind a mountain or if you are pushing the limits and it's 7km away then a strong wind blows it even further away.

Suddenly * poof * it's not connected anymore. That's where the trackers pay off.

F6Rider · Mar 10, 2017

Will.i.am said:
That's if you don't consider the handheld tracking device that you have to carry around with you.

The tracker is not that large, it fits in a pocket of my sling bag no problem, and I only stick it on the charger once a week to top it off, same with the tag. Glad I had it as it saved me a lost Mavic when I clipped a tree limb at 80' or so and landed in tall grass and weeds 1/2 mile away.

Red_Raven · Mar 11, 2017

My kids had a cheap gps watch so I could locate him if he would get lost when we were traveling. Thank god it never had to be used. But now when he's older and there is no need for the watch (besides he's to cool to use some lame kid device lol) i stripped off all but the device it self and used doubletape to mount it on my mavic. The device has proven justified it's use when it once saved my phantom when it flew away and I was able to locate it.

temptation · Mar 11, 2017

svavar said:
My kids had a cheap gps watch so I could locate him if he would get lost when we were traveling. Thank god it never had to be used. But now when he's older and there is no need for the watch (besides he's to cool to use some lame kid device lol) i stripped off all but the device it self and used doubletape to mount it on my mavic. The device has proven justified it's use when it once saved my phantom when it flew away and I was able to locate it.

Could you provide some pictures how it looks on mavek and links on device?

Red_Raven · Mar 11, 2017

temptation said:
Could you provide some pictures how it looks on mavek and links on device?

Here is the device :

Original wonlex setracker kids gps watch comparison

I won't be home untill tonight (gmt0) and i'll post pictures asap.

Red_Raven · Mar 11, 2017

temptation said:
Could you provide some pictures how it looks on mavek and links on device?

I stumbled upon this pic on my phone. It's not a good one and it's on my phantom. It'll have to do untill I get home.

The reason I chose this device was the lack of availeble devices for sale in my country and since this was already owned I figured it'll do the job.