Loc8tor review - if you can't get a Marco Polo (outside of the US)

Ian in London · May 20, 2017

Hello guys

After learning the hard way about the need for trackers and losing my Mavic over the White Cliffs, I looked into some different trackers to fit on my replacement Mavic.

I found you can't actually get hold of the Marco Polo outside of the US, but found a pretty nifty alternative; the Loc8tor. Whilst not having the full range of the MP, it does have year-long batteries and is way smaller so you'll always have it in your bag when you need it.

I did a little review on it; defo not connected with them or anything; this is simply my view on what I spent my money on...

Cheers,

Ian

Ian in London

Kingkong · May 20, 2017

Looks interesting.

Range is 400ft 122m in best case clear line of sight scenario. In real world probably much less.

this might be too short in some circumstances.

However the low weight makes it very attractive for the mavic

Ian in London · May 20, 2017

Kingkong said:
Looks interesting.

Range is 400ft 122m in best case clear line of sight scenario. In real world probably much less.

this might be too short in some circumstances.

However the low weight makes it very attractive for the mavic

Well, that's what I was testing in my video.... it exceeded that.... my last test I was around 130-140 metres or almost 500 ft...

Ian in London · May 22, 2017

Someone mentioned the back end of the Mavic (above the flashing light) is a bad place to stick the tracker due to GPS and Ocusync electronics.... I've not had compass errors so far but not sure what the ocusync electronics are. Anyone got an idea on that?

GMG · Jun 3, 2017

I received mine and have it on the Mavic. I decided it can solve 2 problems as keys continually disappear in our household, so I ordered 2 additional tags, but in less than a week, I've had the tag pop open twice and the battery fall out. This shouldn't be an issue for using it with the Mavic, but has me scratching my head on how to ensure this doesn't happen with the keys, which are susceptible to more banging around. The issue is that the tags pop together with a pressure seal and it doesn't take much to jar them open. It occurred to me that buying some heat shrink tubing (like this) might do the job to secure it (and simply cut it off when it comes time to replace the battery, then apply another).
Bit of a risk, but I'm relying on the hope that if I can keep the temperature to not much beyond the minimum +70° shrink temp, then the internals will be fine, but if anyone has other suggestions, I'm all ears!

Fausto · Jun 3, 2017

GMG said:
I received mine and have it on the Mavic. I decided it can solve 2 problems as keys continually disappear in our household, so I ordered 2 additional tags, but in less than a week, I've had the tag pop open twice and the battery fall out. This shouldn't be an issue for using it with the Mavic, but has me scratching my head on how to ensure this doesn't happen with the keys, which are susceptible to more banging around. The issue is that the tags pop together with a pressure seal and it doesn't take much to jar them open. It occurred to me that buying some heat shrink tubing (like this) might do the job to secure it (and simply cut it off when it comes time to replace the battery, then apply another).
Bit of a risk, but I'm relying on the hope that if I can keep the temperature to not much beyond the minimum +70° shrink temp, then the internals will be fine, but if anyone has other suggestions, I'm all ears!

There are silicone cases on eBay...
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/162111821485

Ian in London · Jun 4, 2017

Or some black

GMG said:
I received mine and have it on the Mavic. I decided it can solve 2 problems as keys continually disappear in our household, so I ordered 2 additional tags, but in less than a week, I've had the tag pop open twice and the battery fall out. This shouldn't be an issue for using it with the Mavic, but has me scratching my head on how to ensure this doesn't happen with the keys, which are susceptible to more banging around. The issue is that the tags pop together with a pressure seal and it doesn't take much to jar them open. It occurred to me that buying some heat shrink tubing (like this) might do the job to secure it (and simply cut it off when it comes time to replace the battery, then apply another).
Bit of a risk, but I'm relying on the hope that if I can keep the temperature to not much beyond the minimum +70° shrink temp, then the internals will be fine, but if anyone has other suggestions, I'm all ears!

Or some black electrical tape stretched around it...

GMG · Jun 4, 2017

Wellsi said:
Or some black electrical tape stretched around it...

With going in and out of pockets all the time, not sure that'd last very long before becoming a gummy mess

. 3M makes a cold shrink product without adhesive, which looks interesting.

Squiddley · Jun 4, 2017

Thank you for taking the time to make this video and share with the community... You have a lovely garden too [emoji1303]

Cut.Aussie · Jun 4, 2017

Wellsi said:
Hello guys

After learning the hard way about the need for trackers and losing my Mavic over the White Cliffs, I looked into some different trackers to fit on my replacement Mavic.

I found you can't actually get hold of the Marco Polo outside of the US, but found a pretty nifty alternative; the Loc8tor. Whilst not having the full range of the MP, it does have year-long batteries and is way smaller so you'll always have it in your bag when you need it.

I did a little review on it; defo not connected with them or anything; this is simply my view on what I spent my money on...

Cheers,

Ian

Ian in London

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I watched your original story of the Dover loss of your first Mavic and previously lost a mini (cheap) quad I fully understand how very hard it can be to locate a downed bird, in fact as I found that even if you have a good idea where it is you can spend hours or says searching.

I have BlueTooth Tile locator on the back of my Mavic, range is a bit shorter but I hope if I ever need it will dramatically reduce the time to find it.

GMG · Jun 4, 2017

I've gone ahead and ordered a few different types of heat shrink. Fingers crossed it does the job. If it works well, I'll go ahead and apply it to the one on the Mavic to give it a bit more protection and report back on how it went.

Oglo · Jun 4, 2017

I'm in Australia and ordered my Marco Polo direct from USA, came in about 6 days. Used Paypal.
uav-find

I've got 5 batteries and simply velcro onto the top of the connected one, easy as when swapping batteries. I figure the battery is potentially the least interfering place to put a transmitter. Unit has a stated range of 2 miles and more importantly for me doesn't rely on cell networks.
Tap on my avatar and you'll see it mounted. Pricey, but lowers anxiety when MP pops behind trees.

Ian in London · Jun 10, 2017

Cut.Aussie said:
I watched your original story of the Dover loss of your first Mavic and previously lost a mini (cheap) quad I fully understand how very hard it can be to locate a downed bird, in fact as I found that even if you have a good idea where it is you can spend hours or says searching.

I have BlueTooth Tile locator on the back of my Mavic, range is a bit shorter but I hope if I ever need it will dramatically reduce the time to find it.

Yeah, as said, I learned the hard way!

You might want to do an actual field test of your Tile similar to my testing in my video..... I'd be interested to know your findings as I think they're close to useless outside more than 20 metres away..... especially if it's on the ground
Cheers, Ian

Oglo · Jun 10, 2017

Yesterday flying some Litchi WP's I decided to try one at top speed to see how accurate it flew. Wrong!
Flying in my local wide open park with eucalyptus trees around the boundary. MP does wide arc and overshoots WP and crashes into the tops of some very thick foliage trees. Walk over to where it shows last GPS pix but can't see the **** thing. Thankfully I'd turned on my Mini Drone Keeper (also had my Marco Polo turned on but was too lazy to set up the base station and start tracking - just didn't think I'd need to as I knew the general area it was in). The only way I could find the MP was from the beeps from the MDK, it was totally buried inside a mass of leaves 6 metres up. Made me realize how easy it is to loose these Lily suckered.

Mini Drone Finder beeps after 30secs of no movement, loud enough to be heard maybe 40-50m.

I did a post showing my setup a while back:
http://mavicpilots.com/threads/tracker-
beeper-markings-reflective-mavic.16340/

Cut.Aussie · Jun 10, 2017

One of the things that's constantly amuses me is seeing people covering their Mavics with camouflage skins, wait till they crash in the bush somewhere then ***** they lost their quad

Fausto · Jun 10, 2017

I really appreciated the review. Another test might have been done in reverse; start at the Mavic and keep moving further away till the signal is lost? You'd know for sure the maximum distance.

kevinp1948 · Jun 10, 2017

I put the loc8tor on the back of my mavic but I had magnetic interference warnings on several flights and loss of GPS . After removing it I have had no more problems.

doccy · Jun 10, 2017

what about sticking it on top then?

DOC_XDA · Jun 10, 2017

I did place the loc8tor at the top (before the battery, not above it, at the front part) and I never had problems with interference...

hkflyer · Jun 12, 2017

I put my loc8tor on the front top of the mavic and got calibaration error....Once i removed it, it was fine....I am thinking of velro each battery and then place it on top of the batteries...
Any other suggestions would be helpful though