Personal trackers

milleniumaire

New member
Nov 4, 2021
2
0
I'm looking for a GPS tracker for my elderly parents who both have dementia and still live at home. Although they have carers visiting, they sometimes decide to go for a walk, which means the carers arrive to a empty house and we then have to track them down!

The big issue I'm finding with trackers is short battery life. The intention is to put a tracker into a handbag (removing all other handbags from their house so this is the only handbag she uses), possibly in the lining so she can't find it!

However, to have to remove the tracker every 2 or 3 days and charge it, means there will be periods of time (during charging) when the tracker isn't doing its job.

I had considered purchasing two trackers and switching them every 2 or 3 days, but for the type that have a monthly subscription, this is very costly. The alternative is to purchase a tracker that uses a removable SIM card. If two trackers are purchased, on swap-over, the SIM could be moved into the replacement tracker and there is therefore only one monthly subscription - the cost of the single SIM.

The main issue with SIM type trackers seems to be that it is necessary to send texts to them to get a positional link supplied, which is then used to locate them on a map. Ideally, I would prefer the type that broadcasts its position and this can be seen at any time on an app (mobile phone or PC) and for it to maintain a history.

Geofencing is a definite requirement, so that when they leave the house we are immediately informed. It also needs to be possible for multiple people to be able to monitor their location e.g. me, my sister, my brother and the main carer!

Is there such a product on the market?

Thanks.
 

Jaded'n'faded

Registered User
Jan 23, 2019
5,259
0
High Peak
I'm sure there is - others here have used them to good effect.

However, I did consider getting trackers for my 4 cats and came up against exactly the problems you're having - multiple subscriptions needed, some are very short range or not accurate enough, and the whole issue of batteries/charging. At least you can get cats microchipped!*

I hope you find something...

*Apologies for inappropriate humour...
 

andiowls

New member
Dec 28, 2021
3
0
hi. im looking for exactly the same thing for my mum. she as alzheimers & lives at home on her own .. but is going out several times aday. we have installed the ring doorbell camera so we can time when she leaves/ returns to the house but we dont know where she is goin.
 

milleniumaire

New member
Nov 4, 2021
2
0
hi. im looking for exactly the same thing for my mum. she as alzheimers & lives at home on her own .. but is going out several times aday. we have installed the ring doorbell camera so we can time when she leaves/ returns to the house but we dont know where she is goin.
Hi, in the end I purchased a TS10 Care Tracker from trackershop-uk.com. (I tried to include a link, but you have to have posted 10 times before they allow this, so sorry as it would have made it easier for you to find the product).

The tracker itself isn't that expensive, at £58 and I purchased a one month subscription initially, to try it out. This cost £18. Having had it for 3 weeks now, I've been really pleased with it and have just paid for a 12 month subscription, which costs £99.

Despite being told by customer support at Trackershop that it was NOT possible to remove the SIM, actually it is, but requires a couple of very small screws to be undone. As I said in my original post, I was planning to get TWO trackers, and ideally, to move the SIM between them, so one was always in use. However, the battery has lasted nearly 3 weeks and we charge it overnight, so one charge every 3 weeks is not as bad as we anticipated, given many trackers have batteries that only last days!

The online tracking webpage is very good, just what I wanted. You can see the GPS moving in real time, plus use history to view previous dates and times. It also gives you an update of the state of the tracker, including the battery.

There is also an app available for mobile phones. As I use an Android, I downloaded that version of the app. Unfortunately, it wouldn't work on my wife's Samsung Galaxy S6 as it is too old! Mine is a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, so also old, but only around 4 years, rather than 6. The age/version of the mobile/software compatibility isn't something Trackershop makes easily available and I had to ask customer support for it. They did provide me with a "mobile web site" that my wife can use on her mobile, rather than the android mobile app, but it doesn't have the same functionality.

The tracking software has already caught my parents going out wandering on a couple of occasions, and I'm able to distinguish between them walking or being driven (by their carers).

One thing I noticed about setting up zones is that they need to be "large". When indoors the GPS signal seems to cover an area of about 200m and initially I kept getting false alerts. Having now made the zones large circles around their house I haven't had a false alert. Interestingly, since charging the tracker for the first time, the inaccurate GPS readings from indoors seem to have stopped. I'm not sure why just yet!

We have placed the tracker in my mothers hand bag and removed all her other bags, so this is the only one she uses and she always carries it when she leaves the house. I suspect we get such good battery life from the tracker because it is mainly stationary. My parents might leave the house once a day if/when their carers take them for a coffee.

I also claimed back the VAT on the purchase of the tracker. Their website suggests this is easy, simply email them and they send you a form to complete. In reality, it took a couple of weeks and multiple emails to both get them to send the form, then for them to process the VAT refund. They could have done this much better. Their customer support seems to be very hit and miss.

So far, we have been very pleased with the tracker and it is working well.
 

Maddy33

New member
Nov 21, 2021
3
0
I was looking for the same thing and ended up getting an Apple AirTag. You can put these on a key ring and easily track on a phone by multiple people - not sure if the geofencing is possible but it will definitely give you an accurate location and the battery does not need to be changed and lasts ages. Hope that helps
 

Libbybookworm

Registered User
Apr 6, 2018
135
0
In the past I've purchased two quite expensive tracker watches, both of which required a substantial monthly subscription and frequently went wrong necessitating lengthy returns to the supplier. In the end I downloaded Find My Kids from Playstore onto both our phones and our son's, which works perfectly. There is an annual charge but it works out far less than I was previously paying. It alerts me when he leaves or enters our home and I always know where he is.
 

Kits69

New member
Jan 4, 2022
1
0
Hi, in the end I purchased a TS10 Care Tracker from trackershop-uk.com. (I tried to include a link, but you have to have posted 10 times before they allow this, so sorry as it would have made it easier for you to find the product).

The tracker itself isn't that expensive, at £58 and I purchased a one month subscription initially, to try it out. This cost £18. Having had it for 3 weeks now, I've been really pleased with it and have just paid for a 12 month subscription, which costs £99.

Despite being told by customer support at Trackershop that it was NOT possible to remove the SIM, actually it is, but requires a couple of very small screws to be undone. As I said in my original post, I was planning to get TWO trackers, and ideally, to move the SIM between them, so one was always in use. However, the battery has lasted nearly 3 weeks and we charge it overnight, so one charge every 3 weeks is not as bad as we anticipated, given many trackers have batteries that only last days!

The online tracking webpage is very good, just what I wanted. You can see the GPS moving in real time, plus use history to view previous dates and times. It also gives you an update of the state of the tracker, including the battery.

There is also an app available for mobile phones. As I use an Android, I downloaded that version of the app. Unfortunately, it wouldn't work on my wife's Samsung Galaxy S6 as it is too old! Mine is a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, so also old, but only around 4 years, rather than 6. The age/version of the mobile/software compatibility isn't something Trackershop makes easily available and I had to ask customer support for it. They did provide me with a "mobile web site" that my wife can use on her mobile, rather than the android mobile app, but it doesn't have the same functionality.

The tracking software has already caught my parents going out wandering on a couple of occasions, and I'm able to distinguish between them walking or being driven (by their carers).

One thing I noticed about setting up zones is that they need to be "large". When indoors the GPS signal seems to cover an area of about 200m and initially I kept getting false alerts. Having now made the zones large circles around their house I haven't had a false alert. Interestingly, since charging the tracker for the first time, the inaccurate GPS readings from indoors seem to have stopped. I'm not sure why just yet!

We have placed the tracker in my mothers hand bag and removed all her other bags, so this is the only one she uses and she always carries it when she leaves the house. I suspect we get such good battery life from the tracker because it is mainly stationary. My parents might leave the house once a day if/when their carers take them for a coffee.

I also claimed back the VAT on the purchase of the tracker. Their website suggests this is easy, simply email them and they send you a form to complete. In reality, it took a couple of weeks and multiple emails to both get them to send the form, then for them to process the VAT refund. They could have done this much better. Their customer support seems to be very hit and miss.

So far, we have been very pleased with the tracker and it is working well.
hi hope it has helped your parents - my dad has servere dementia and keeps going walkies - would you recommend the TS Tracker and how much is the cost as it says £99 excluding tax £82, is that correct?
 

Shedrech

Registered User
Dec 15, 2012
12,649
0
UK
A warm welcome from me too @Kits69

I hope you can find more info on that tracker ... @milleniumaire hasn't yet been back here since their post, sometimes it's not easy for members to be online regularly
 

mpjsols

Registered User
Jan 4, 2022
10
0
I was looking for the same thing and ended up getting an Apple AirTag. You can put these on a key ring and easily track on a phone by multiple people - not sure if the geofencing is possible but it will definitely give you an accurate location and the battery does not need to be changed and lasts ages. Hope that helps
I am considering the AIrTag, it relies on other peoples Iphones being near to report location, it does not have a GPS, but I think this will be good enough as there are a lot of people around with iphones. It won't geofene his house particularly as until he passes someone with a phone location will not update, but if he goes to town I will know pretty much where he is.
 

HarrietJD

New member
Jan 20, 2022
8
0
Hi, in the end I purchased a TS10 Care Tracker from trackershop-uk.com. (I tried to include a link, but you have to have posted 10 times before they allow this, so sorry as it would have made it easier for you to find the product).

The tracker itself isn't that expensive, at £58 and I purchased a one month subscription initially, to try it out. This cost £18. Having had it for 3 weeks now, I've been really pleased with it and have just paid for a 12 month subscription, which costs £99.

Despite being told by customer support at Trackershop that it was NOT possible to remove the SIM, actually it is, but requires a couple of very small screws to be undone. As I said in my original post, I was planning to get TWO trackers, and ideally, to move the SIM between them, so one was always in use. However, the battery has lasted nearly 3 weeks and we charge it overnight, so one charge every 3 weeks is not as bad as we anticipated, given many trackers have batteries that only last days!

The online tracking webpage is very good, just what I wanted. You can see the GPS moving in real time, plus use history to view previous dates and times. It also gives you an update of the state of the tracker, including the battery.

There is also an app available for mobile phones. As I use an Android, I downloaded that version of the app. Unfortunately, it wouldn't work on my wife's Samsung Galaxy S6 as it is too old! Mine is a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, so also old, but only around 4 years, rather than 6. The age/version of the mobile/software compatibility isn't something Trackershop makes easily available and I had to ask customer support for it. They did provide me with a "mobile web site" that my wife can use on her mobile, rather than the android mobile app, but it doesn't have the same functionality.

The tracking software has already caught my parents going out wandering on a couple of occasions, and I'm able to distinguish between them walking or being driven (by their carers).

One thing I noticed about setting up zones is that they need to be "large". When indoors the GPS signal seems to cover an area of about 200m and initially I kept getting false alerts. Having now made the zones large circles around their house I haven't had a false alert. Interestingly, since charging the tracker for the first time, the inaccurate GPS readings from indoors seem to have stopped. I'm not sure why just yet!

We have placed the tracker in my mothers hand bag and removed all her other bags, so this is the only one she uses and she always carries it when she leaves the house. I suspect we get such good battery life from the tracker because it is mainly stationary. My parents might leave the house once a day if/when their carers take them for a coffee.

I also claimed back the VAT on the purchase of the tracker. Their website suggests this is easy, simply email them and they send you a form to complete. In reality, it took a couple of weeks and multiple emails to both get them to send the form, then for them to process the VAT refund. They could have done this much better. Their customer support seems to be very hit and miss.

So far, we have been very pleased with the tracker and it is working well.
Hi
Can I ask if you are still happy with this tracker? I need to buy a couple for my mum and have come across this website.
A 3 week charge would be good as doing every couple of days isn’t sustainable with everything else I have to do as well.
 

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