This is a review of most of the available tracking devices that are battery powered and advertised to private investigators. I tested out most of the tracking devices available during the past 4-6 months and have reached definitive conclusions for myself. The reason why I am publishing this article is because I am tired of uneducated recommendations and referrals on the list-serves. If John Doe has tracker A he will say tracker A is the best but he never even tried tracker B-Z. Hopefully this article will clear up some of your questions regarding trackers.

Note: Some of these trackers I was able to borrow from friends, a few I was able to get for 30 day trials, and some I had to buy for testing. I didn’t take discounts or gifts for better reviews…

The first thing I’d like to mention is that no tracker is perfect. Each one I tested had its flaws so the question is which flaws are worse than others?

There are two types of battery operated trackers for private investigators, a true live tracker and a not-so-live tracker. A live tracker will give you true 10-second updates. So when you are in pursuit and you are logged into the mapping software on your smartphone you actually see where the subject is every 5-10 seconds and you are always 10 seconds behind the subject. A not-so-live tracker may offer 10 second updates but in reality it takes 60 seconds – 3 minutes for the tracker to tell the map on your phone the location of the tracker… so you are always up to 3 minutes away from the subject. Any surveillance investigator knows that 3 minutes is way too long in pursuit as by the time you locate the subject’s vehicle the subject is already inside the mall or in another car… and the subject is lost.

Let’s start with the not-so-live trackers… which is basically ANY tracking company that uses a tracker that looks like the one below…



They can be white or black, have stickers, come in Pelican cases with extended batteries… but they are basically the same hardware. So the reviews are on the software your company builds and the price the company charges.

When looking at a tracking company I want to know about battery life. Adjustment of pings from 10 seconds to 5 minutes and in-between to conserve battery life. Size of the tracker. Mobile site for tracking during pursuit. And daily reports with addresses. All of the below trackers are the same exact hardware so they are the same size.

Realistic battery time on these trackers with 10 second pings is 1-3 days and with 5 minute pings is about 10-18 days depending on subject vehicle activity. If you use 5 minute pings for monitoring and 10 second pings for 1-2 days of pursuit only, you should expect 5 days without an extended battery. The extended battery will give you over a month of pings but it quadruples the size of the unit.

The following companies use these trackers (with brief notes):

– Enduro (tracking the world) – Good software but pricey subscription compared to similar companies From $69.95 per month to $399 per year). Offers all the options mentioned above but last I heard, you still need to call them and ask them to adjust ping time. This is a bit of a pain because if I need 10 seconds updates RIGHT AWAY for a pursuit, I don’t want to call. But their customer service is very friendly.

–SkyPatrol AKA FastTrack Pro – Best priced subscription in the industry. But the customer service is horrible and the software has constant issues. To my knowledge as of today there is no mobile site so it is a pain to run the software while in pursuit. Their reports are great. Ping adjustment is difficult as you need to call them and ask and they may take a while to make the adjustment and may charge you extra if you go to 10 second pings from 5 minute pings. This company may be a good choice for someone that rarely uses a tracker due to the price.

– strong>Brickhouse – After speaking to users of this software, I decided not to even try this software as it doesn’t compare to competitors.

– Datablaze – In my opinion this is the best not-so-live tracker for the money. Their software has all the options that are mentioned above and you can adjust the ping time yourself on the website. The mobile tracker works flawlessly for a not-so-live tracker. Based on price and options, this is definitely the best not-so-live tracker out there right now.

TRUE LIVE TRACKERS

After a ton of research I was only able to locate 2 tracking companies that are truly LIVE. Meaning that when I am in pursuit I know exactly where my subject is within 10 seconds on my Android phone.

–US Fleet Track PTX5 – This tracking software has it all. It produces great reports and works great on your phone and computer. A big downside for me is that the mobile site does not use Google maps… I believe they use Bing instead. This is a personal preference issue for me as Google maps are much clearer. The other downside on the software is that you cannot adjust to the ping rate so you ONLY have 10 second pings; which provides 8 hours of live-tracking when the subject vehicle is in motion (6-8 days if the subject drives an hour per day for example). You can buy an extended battery which will give you weeks of power but you will quadruple the size of your unit.

The hardware of this unit is not so great. The device does not have an on/off switch so when you are driving to your jobsite to install the tracker; you need to take out the battery so you don’t drain it during your drive. To take out the battery you need to take out a long screw which hold the battery cover in place and holds part of the unit case together. This gets to be a pain and since the case is plastic, it feels flimsy and may eventually break. The last downside is that the unit is not dust/waterproof. So you need buy a Otterbox case to protect the unit which doubles the size of the unit. To avoid increasing the size, I just drilled a magnet into the unit and will use it as is until the unit breaks. This unit is the optimal choice based on price for pursuits if you plan to put the unit on in the morning of your case and take it off in a day or two.

PTX5 with my homemade magnet



–Blacklinegps – I tested out there Javeline unit and was extremely impressed by the tracking quality. It works as fast as the USFleet track unit, their software is much more straightforward to use, and their mobile tracking is outstanding. The feature I was impressed by most is true (and tested) off the grid tracking that no other tracker is able to offer. All tracking companies use SIM cards for tracking so if cell coverage is lost the tracker will not work. It will start working within 1 – 60 minutes when returning into coverage. With this unit the tracker will not ping when out of coverage but the minute it gets back into coverage it will ping ALL the locations where the tracker was when off the grid… which is awesome when doing surveillance in the desert or forest. Plus ping time on this unit is adjustable online.

This unit’s hardware and build is more impressive than any other tracker I’ve seen. Its rubber and plastic but very strong. It feels like it won’t ever break or fall apart. It is water-sealed and has 1 power button so anyone can use it without confusion. And it comes with strong magnets so there are no Pelican cases to buy. At one minute pings the unit lasts for WEEKS which is extremely impressive compared to other trackers. But the unit is large… about 4x the size of US Fleet track. So in reality the unit is about the same size as any other unit with an extended battery. But due to the thinner shape, this unit will be easier to mount under most vehicles then a Pelican case with extended battery.

The other downside to this product is reporting. They do not offer downloaded reports with addresses that you can send to your clients. However I hear that this option will soon be available. I also hear that they are introducing a new unit called “dart” which is much smaller in size for more covert purposes.

Lastly, this unit is the most expensive unit out there. So this is something to consider as well, but you get what you pay for and AFTER they produce high quality downloadable reports, in my opinion this will be the best option out there and worth every penny. I also hear that the Dart unit will be much cheaper than the Javeline so it will be in the same price range as other trackers.

–Javeline–



OTHER TRACKERS

I didn’t bother testing trackers such as the Zoomback because they are more for public consumers and won’t compare to the trackers mentioned in this article. The only other tracker that caught my interest is: StealthFind. Their rep promised to send me one for trial but never did. He did give me access to the software and I monitored the tracker live. I cannot report if this is a true live tracker but I can say that their software was extremely impressive. This was the only software that impressed me more than the Blackline control panel. Without actually testing this product and the reason I didn’t purchase this product for testing was due to the battery life I observed. Even when the unit was set to one hour pings the battery consumption was less than 2 days to 0%. That was unacceptable to me. The rep told me that this is rare and was due to the Arizona summer heat, but I can only go by what I see without testing. This company offers a great payment option for some… they charge per ping rather than a monthly fee. For the PI that uses a tracker once every few months, this may be a great option! However if you use a tracker almost every day, this will be a more expensive option than a monthly subscription.

BOTTOM LINE

Before buying a tracker you need to ask yourself what will be the purpose of the tracker.

Do you plan on monitoring vehicle activity only from your office and sending you client status reports?

For this purpose you need a tracker with 3-5 minute pings, good battery life, and great downloadable reports for a good price. I recommend the Datablaze or Skypatrol unit depending on how often you will use it and how important is it that it ALWAYS works precisely. If you will use it often and you need it to have no errors, get the Datablaze. If you plan on using it rarely, I would go with Skyptrol due to cost.

Do you plan on renting the trackers out to your clients for monitoring purposes only?

For this purpose you need a tracker with an easy control panel and good battery life. One more thing to consider is the domain name… if you tell your client how to log-in will the client be able to easily determine how to buy a unit herself? Datablaze offers the ability to buy your own domain name. StealthFind has a separate domain name for the control panel which basically can’t be sourced back to their website. Skypatrol does not advertise their prices online.

Do you plan on using this tracker only for surveillance/ pursuit?

You need a live-tracker. If you need only a few days of pursuit, I recommend USFleet track as the units cost less if they are lost. If you plan to drop the unit on the vehicle and leave it there for more than 3 days, get the extended battery OR the BlacklineGPS’s Javeline as the Javeline can serve more purposes than the USFleet track such as off the grid surveillance.

Do you plan on using it for all of the above?

That’s a tough one. Currently I use Datablaze for long term tracking and rentals and I use USFleetTrack for pursuit/ surveillance cases. But in my opinion it’s a matter of time until the flimsy USFleettrack hardware falls apart (based on how I treat it). I am anxiously waiting for BlacklineGPS to create downloadable reports with addresses and the Javeline will become my primary unit for ALL purposes.

CONCLUSION

I can write a 4-5 page article on each tracker. This was just an outline of the most important aspects and this article was more of a lesson on what to look for. When I started looking at trackers a year ago, I didn’t know exactly what I needed and what to look for, now you know. If you have questions/ comments/ want more information or want me to write an article on a specific tracker – don’t hesitate to ask. If you want to send me a tracker to test and add to this list, e-mail me privately. I will try to update this article when needed.

P.S. Please post your comments below and not privately if possible… this way I won’t have to answer the same question’s over and over again in private e-mails.