UKC Forums - Tracking technology....

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Posted by Okie Hunter on 01-02-2013 12:41 AM:

Tracking technology....

Tracking units have come a long way since I was hunting hard back in the eighties and early nineties. I was one of the first in my state to have a Wildlife Materials tracking unit... ah the infamous blue box!

With GPS, tracking technology has changed forever. These units are really neat. However, having said that, is this really "as good as it gets"?

My "day job" is head of operations of a used car dealership that specializes in special financing. We have a GPS tracking system installed on every car we sell on credit. This sweet little unit can be installed in a few minutes, is the size of a credit card and can track a vehicle anywhere... that's right, I said anywhere!

I can track any car from my cellphone. It's super easy and it will let me know if that car is across town or in another state. I get Google Earth to give me a birds eye view of the location. Simple stuff and far more superior than what is currently offered in today's dog tracking GPS technology.

So my question is this. Why cant this technology be incorporated into a collar so we can get this kind of tracking ability like I get when I am locating a car on a non-performing loan?

Check it out for yourself. The technology is already there. Here is the website for the company I use:

www.enfotrace.com

If someone can incorporate their technology into a dog collar, we would all be happy.

Posted by jculler8 on 01-02-2013 02:39 AM:

Re: Tracking technology....

quote:
Originally posted by Okie Hunter
Tracking units have come a long way since I was hunting hard back in the eighties and early nineties. I was one of the first in my state to have a Wildlife Materials tracking unit... ah the infamous blue box!

With GPS, tracking technology has changed forever. These units are really neat. However, having said that, is this really "as good as it gets"?

My "day job" is head of operations of a used car dealership that specializes in special financing. We have a GPS tracking system installed on every car we sell on credit. This sweet little unit can be installed in a few minutes, is the size of a credit card and can track a vehicle anywhere... that's right, I said anywhere!

I can track any car from my cellphone. It's super easy and it will let me know if that car is across town or in another state. I get Google Earth to give me a birds eye view of the location. Simple stuff and far more superior than what is currently offered in today's dog tracking GPS technology.

So my question is this. Why cant this technology be incorporated into a collar so we can get this kind of tracking ability like I get when I am locating a car on a non-performing loan?

Check it out for yourself. The technology is already there. Here is the website for the company I use:

www.enfotrace.com

If someone can incorporate their technology into a dog collar, we would all be happy.

I've always wondered the same and the only answer I have been able to come up with is that they have not figured out a way to market the product to hunters for the most profit available.

In my eyes, and I am not a guru, is that if they can put such a thing in a car and track it state to state, why not a dog collar?

Heck I could rig something up on a collar to protect a credit card and still transmit signal!

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Posted by garminguru on 01-02-2013 02:56 AM:

Well, first off, I hope the fact that you are tracking the vehicles of your "buy here pay here customers" is being fully disclosed to them. I understand why you are doing it. It is one of those deals where if they had paid their loans in the first place they would not have to come to you and pay a down payment equal to the worth of the vehicle and then 24 monthly payments of 300 on top of the down payment. Then, when they are 2 days late on a payment you run it down and do it all over again.
The problem with this technology is that it has to use the cell tower infrastructure to communicate the GPS findings back to you. You may say you can track any vehicle anywhere on earth but that is simply not true. No cell service and you will not track that car 1 mile down the road. I can literally take you five minutes from my house and drive you a span of about 15 miles and you will only get cell service in three very short spots and it will still be very bad when you do have service. And, when you use those towers, it comes with a fee. I prefer my astro and DC30 where it is paid in full, and I am not relying on a cell tower.
Your statement should be amended to say anywhere there is cell service. What do these devices cost your dealership a month?

Posted by Lee Currens Jr. on 01-02-2013 02:59 AM:

how much a car,i wonder how much for updates etc.

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Posted by lances on 01-02-2013 04:25 AM:

Garmin has one it is called a gtu 10.I have two that I use along with my dc 30 for when I lose them I can check it on my phone to get close to use the astro again.

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Posted by Okie Hunter on 01-02-2013 05:05 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by garminguru
Well, first off, I hope the fact that you are tracking the vehicles of your "buy here pay here customers" is being fully disclosed to them. I understand why you are doing it. It is one of those deals where if they had paid their loans in the first place they would not have to come to you and pay a down payment equal to the worth of the vehicle and then 24 monthly payments of 300 on top of the down payment. Then, when they are 2 days late on a payment you run it down and do it all over again.
The problem with this technology is that it has to use the cell tower infrastructure to communicate the GPS findings back to you. You may say you can track any vehicle anywhere on earth but that is simply not true. No cell service and you will not track that car 1 mile down the road. I can literally take you five minutes from my house and drive you a span of about 15 miles and you will only get cell service in three very short spots and it will still be very bad when you do have service. And, when you use those towers, it comes with a fee. I prefer my astro and DC30 where it is paid in full, and I am not relying on a cell tower.
Your statement should be amended to say anywhere there is cell service. What do these devices cost your dealership a month?

Wow! Do I sense an attitude coming from you "garminguru"?

First, I am not going to get into the nuts and bolts of the nature of my car biz with you on whether or not I tell them they have a tracker on their unit. I find it to be none of your business. Furthermore, you are delusional if you think the car biz is comprised of selling cars with a cash value of what I have as the down payment plus 24 payments of $300 per month.

Now back to the topic at hand. I will give you your point that the cell service may in fact play a part in the equation. I did not say I had built one of these yet, only that the technology is there if someone wanted to exploit it. There would be limitations with both systems. While the cell signal may play a factor in certain situations, I am willing to bet your Garmin will not pick up a signal of my hound being transported by a thief traveling down the highway thirty miles away. I am sure the enfotrace unit would be able to do it as I have seen the enfotrace unit do just that many times when I needed to locate an asset.

I cannot tell you an exact figure of what I pay for my enfotrace units I have installed on my inventory because I buy them in bulk and I have a contract with them. I will tell you that these units cost me less than $200 each, much less actually. I get the first year of reporting and logging in to find each particular unit for free with up to 100 "locates" allowed per year. Again, this is for the car business side of vehicle tracking. I am sure it can be modified to suit a hunters needs. After the first year, my cost is $12.99 per year for each locating device.

With the cost of an Alpha at basically $800, it would take me forty-six years (almost twenty-nine years with an Astro 320) in paying the yearly fees to equal the cost of these enfotrace units. So, go ahead! Own your Garmin Alpha outright for $800.

If someone has the divine intervention to incorporate this technology for hunters, I am sure the enfotrace will be sold for a lot less and give much better service than a Garmin. I know it will beat the Garmin hands down in several different situations when factoring the current limitations of the Garmin devices of today.

Again, I didn't bring this up to start some kind of flame about the Garmin being an inferior product. It isn't. The Garmin is the best thing going right now in GPS tracking for hunters today. But, if we should call the Garmin the do it all, end all when it comes to dog tracking units, we are limiting ourselves at making a good thing that much better. Sometimes, better ideas come from looking outside the box.

It is my opinion that the technology is at our fingertips to make hound tracking equipment the best it could possibly be with very little limitations. If I can track a 2003 Buick Century from my cell phone when it is sitting in a town forty miles away, surely the technology is available to do it with a hound tracking unit?

Respectfully,

Freddy Wells
Mounds, Oklahoma

Posted by Okie Hunter on 01-02-2013 05:20 AM:

one more thing!

The enfotrace unit uses both GPS satellite technology along with cell phone tower reception to pinpoint a location of their unit. The enfotrace takes both signals into consideration to pinpoint a location. I have never had a problem with finding an asset when I needed to. EVER!

I take that back. If the power to the system is comprimised, I cannot locate it. However, it will tell me the location of where it lost it's power and that will usually lead me to the asset. Also, if the unit does receive another power source at a later date, enfotrace will inform me of the location of my asset the second it happens. As of today, I have never lost an asset with one of these devices installed.

Again, this technology would be great if someone can figure out a way to incorporate it into a dog tracking unit.

Posted by garminguru on 01-02-2013 05:51 AM:

Hold up man and take a chill pill. I did not ask you ANYTHING about notifying your buyers of the GPS device I just said that I hope you did because unless they sign a consent for such there is no telling what kind of legal privacy types of messes that could get you into. I did not ask you anything so you need not tell me it is not any of my business, you posted here on the forum for all to see!

Back on topic... Those prices are reasonable but it sounds as if you are being charged per "ping" after the first year and that info would be important to know but yeah it could be modified for hunters. I would be prone to many "pings" per night so my bill would add up quickly.
While I agree that 90% of the locations an automobile would be, there will be cell service, I am not always sure that percentage would be that good on a hound, possibly, in general, but not where I hunt.
You keep saying the cell towers may this and may that when their website plainly states it uses the cell towers so there are no "mays" to it.
Your math is way off. I am sure they have a "sucker you in deal" to start with just like DTV and Dish network have, but once your hooked with the contract, that is when the pings start adding up.
While I agree it is something to look at, when you start using these cell towers that are very expensive to build and operate, your ability to access their channels is never free or cheap.

Posted by markknepp on 01-02-2013 12:01 PM:

I was in sam's club a few weeks back and they had something like this. Had a collar you Put on your dog and you could track it anywhere on with a smart phone or laptop. Believe it was $12.99 a month.

Don't know all the details but it's something I'd check into if I didn't already have a garmin.

Posted by jculler8 on 01-02-2013 09:16 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by garminguru
Hold up man and take a chill pill. I did not ask you ANYTHING about notifying your buyers of the GPS device I just said that I hope you did because unless they sign a consent for such there is no telling what kind of legal privacy types of messes that could get you into. I did not ask you anything so you need not tell me it is not any of my business, you posted here on the forum for all.

Dealership OWNS the car until it is paid in full. No names or cars were mentioned AT ALL. End of story.

YOU are the one nit picking on here like you do everyday! Go down to the local bar, you'll get more attention!

Posted by garminguru on 01-02-2013 10:54 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by jculler8
Dealership OWNS the car until it is paid in full. No names or cars were mentioned AT ALL. End of story.

YOU are the one nit picking on here like you do everyday! Go down to the local bar, you'll get more attention!

You again? I am not even going to comment this time!

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