5 Covert GPS Tracking Considerations
First things first. If you are running a business and are thinking about tracking your vehicles without your employees’ knowledge or permission, be careful. The rules on what is legal will vary from state to state and city to city. It’s a good idea to check in with the local police or an attorney before deciding whether you want to go the covert GPS tracking route.
Small, battery-operated covert GPS tracking devices have come a long way since we started offering the devices in 2004. In the beginning, the word “small” meant the size of a chalkboard eraser, but these days our flagship SageTracker unit is closer to the size of a matchbook. If you are thinking about buying a tracker for yourself, here are 5 features to consider:
Device Sensitivity
The ability of the device to pick up a weak GPS signal can be extremely important. In some cases, the device can be placed in plain sight, but it often needs to be concealed underneath a dashboard or under a seat. We’ve heard from quite a few people who were sold a device that does not work unless it has direct visibility to the open sky. If you need the tracker unit to be concealed, you need a professional-grade device.
Coverage
Most covert GPS tracking devices send their information over a cell phone network, so be sure you are using a good one. Some GPS tracking companies will cut costs by using a cheap cellular network, which will lead to reporting gaps outside of their coverage area. We only use top tier networks, which ensures the best coverage possible. If you do roam outside network coverage area, our tracking system will hold any tracking data that is generated until the unit is back in coverage. Once the device gets back into coverage area, it will forward all of the tracking information along to the system.
Battery Life
How long do the batteries last? This is one of the most important questions for a covert GPS tracking device. The answer will depend upon several factors including the amount of time spent in motion, how often the device is updating its location, and how strong the GPS signal is. It can be difficult to sort out exactly how long the battery life will be, and retailers like to be vague, or even misleading about this number. One common trick is to highlight the device’s “standby time”, which defines how long the batteries will last as long as the device is not actively tracking!
Customer Service
What’s the point in purchasing a highly technical device if you can’t get help to learn how to use it? We pride ourselves in having the best customer service in the industry. If someone claims to offer service, test them on it! We talk to people all the time that have been stuck with a gadget that the sales guy said was awesome, but when it did not work there was nowhere to turn to for help.
Cost
We all want the best equipment for the lowest cost, and we work very hard to provide exactly that. You will find cheaper units if you shop around, and chances are good that we have seen them too. We evaluate a lot of covert GPS tracking units every year, but we will not offer a device that does not provide reliable performance, period. No device is perfect, but we believe our SageTracker covert GPS tracking device is the best bang for the buck on the market.
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