[Consolidated]: Luggage Tracking Solutions (was: Trakdot to help you track your...)
#46
Moderator, Hertz; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: KRK
Programs: UA 1MM, BA GGL, Hyatt Glob, Hilton Diamond and others
Posts: 12,689
I've been using it quite regularly. Battery lasts me at least a few days and usually works well (there are a few airports I've flown into which the trakdot didn't register it)
#47
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: SCE, GRU
Programs: UA MP Premier Gold (Life), Hyatt Explorer, Various other hotel FS pgms
Posts: 195
#48
Moderator, Hertz; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: KRK
Programs: UA 1MM, BA GGL, Hyatt Glob, Hilton Diamond and others
Posts: 12,689
ORD, DUB, FRA, CPH, HEL, MSQ, KRK, WAW, OSL, GDN, BRU, ARN, and a bunch others (sorry, I can't recall them all).
Ones that didn't seem to work were LYR, TLL, LED and DME
Those are the ones I can recall.
#49
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: SCE, GRU
Programs: UA MP Premier Gold (Life), Hyatt Explorer, Various other hotel FS pgms
Posts: 195
I think for this new technology this is an impressive list of working airports. Like I said before, my original experiences gave very poor results (not tracked, tracking on another continent, brand new Duracell batts DOA, and so on). Lithium batteries would work longer, but they are more expensive and prohibited on flights.
Did you sign up for the lifetime service when it was offered a few months back? They (he, Harry) is offering this lifetime service again for USD 40 until the end of this month (Sept 2015). I'm just hesitant to put $40 out if the batteries go dead in a few hours; no reason to expect that would change ...
Other opinions / perspectives would be welcomed. I think I would love this if it really worked and I was an excited early adopter when this was first announced.
Did you sign up for the lifetime service when it was offered a few months back? They (he, Harry) is offering this lifetime service again for USD 40 until the end of this month (Sept 2015). I'm just hesitant to put $40 out if the batteries go dead in a few hours; no reason to expect that would change ...
Other opinions / perspectives would be welcomed. I think I would love this if it really worked and I was an excited early adopter when this was first announced.
#50
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 413
I spoke to the Trakdot distributor in my part of the world.
There have definitely been improvements in battery life since the first model came out
I read a lot of Amazon reviews, they are now much more positive
I have ordered some on a 3 for the price of 2 deal. I am not travelling for a few months, but will post my experiences with it
There have definitely been improvements in battery life since the first model came out
I read a lot of Amazon reviews, they are now much more positive
I have ordered some on a 3 for the price of 2 deal. I am not travelling for a few months, but will post my experiences with it
#51
Moderator, Hertz; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: KRK
Programs: UA 1MM, BA GGL, Hyatt Glob, Hilton Diamond and others
Posts: 12,689
I think for this new technology this is an impressive list of working airports. Like I said before, my original experiences gave very poor results (not tracked, tracking on another continent, brand new Duracell batts DOA, and so on). Lithium batteries would work longer, but they are more expensive and prohibited on flights.
Did you sign up for the lifetime service when it was offered a few months back? They (he, Harry) is offering this lifetime service again for USD 40 until the end of this month (Sept 2015). I'm just hesitant to put $40 out if the batteries go dead in a few hours; no reason to expect that would change ...
Other opinions / perspectives would be welcomed. I think I would love this if it really worked and I was an excited early adopter when this was first announced.
Did you sign up for the lifetime service when it was offered a few months back? They (he, Harry) is offering this lifetime service again for USD 40 until the end of this month (Sept 2015). I'm just hesitant to put $40 out if the batteries go dead in a few hours; no reason to expect that would change ...
Other opinions / perspectives would be welcomed. I think I would love this if it really worked and I was an excited early adopter when this was first announced.
My batteries do last a while - usually I can get quite a few days (almost a week) out of them. I've forgotten to turn off the unit for a day or so after I landed, and I was still able to use it for the flights back.
#52
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Gteborg Sweden
Programs: SPG GOLD / BA GOLD/Club Carlson Gold/AMEX Plat.
Posts: 1,043
Just came back from a 10 day trip to Sinapore. Flew from GOT-ARN-DOH-SIN-DOH (8 hour connection)-ARN-GOT. Rec'd multiple updates via SMS and email. Status was always good. Just remember to shut it down when U leave the airport. I had no troubles or worries. Used them to HKG via DOH as well. Going to the USA via LHR with no problems as well. Love this product. Can't U tell 😜
#53
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: CGK/LAX
Programs: KF,JMB, OZ, SPG,AA,UA,AS
Posts: 1,163
I purchased a Trakdot last month before taking a three week round-the-world trip. Overall, I have been pleased with the device and I am happy I made the purchase. I will be purchasing two additional units before my next trip in December.
My itinerary was as follows: LAX-TPE-CGK-SUB-HKG-PVG-FRA-MAD-LIS-BCN-MUC-MEX-LAX. TPE, HKG, FRA and MEX were only airports where I was in transit all other airports were destinations.
In every airport listed above the Trackdot eventually registered the location of the device and sent me a text message and e-mail confirming that my luggage was at the airport. Generally, the length of time for the Trackdot to register was less than 10 minutes from arrival at the airport. The one exception was at TPE. While in transit at TPE it took over an hour for the device to register the location, which was disappointing.
The other airport I had an issue with was at Munich. When arriving at the airport my device registered the correct location as MUC. About 25 minutes later I received another another text message indicating my device was at MXP. I'm not sure what happened as my bag certainly did not run off to MXP in the 25 minutes I had been at MUC.
Other than those two small hiccups I was very pleased. The battery life was also better than expected. Looking forward to using the device in the coming months at ORD,SIN, NRT, DPS, BKK and CMB.
My itinerary was as follows: LAX-TPE-CGK-SUB-HKG-PVG-FRA-MAD-LIS-BCN-MUC-MEX-LAX. TPE, HKG, FRA and MEX were only airports where I was in transit all other airports were destinations.
In every airport listed above the Trackdot eventually registered the location of the device and sent me a text message and e-mail confirming that my luggage was at the airport. Generally, the length of time for the Trackdot to register was less than 10 minutes from arrival at the airport. The one exception was at TPE. While in transit at TPE it took over an hour for the device to register the location, which was disappointing.
The other airport I had an issue with was at Munich. When arriving at the airport my device registered the correct location as MUC. About 25 minutes later I received another another text message indicating my device was at MXP. I'm not sure what happened as my bag certainly did not run off to MXP in the 25 minutes I had been at MUC.
Other than those two small hiccups I was very pleased. The battery life was also better than expected. Looking forward to using the device in the coming months at ORD,SIN, NRT, DPS, BKK and CMB.
#55
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: London, UK
Programs: bmi DC, BAEC
Posts: 1,081
I'm still happy with it !
#56
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Exec Club Gold
Posts: 335
Dixons downstairs in T5 had a couple of shop soiled ones for just 30 quid (including first year subscription) ... so I grabbed one last weekend ... and it worked well whilst travelling in the US ... but arriving back into LHR it took about an hour to notify.
I'm still happy with it !
I'm still happy with it !
#57
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 413
I just used Trakdot for a 36 hour continuous journey, Perth to Dubai, Dubai to LAX, LAX to SFO (had some delays !) I got a buy 3 for the price of 2 so i put 2 in my checked in luggage. I had email and SMS reminders, Trakdot worked wonderfully. Always got the emails and SMSs when i arrived at an airport, it really does put your mind at ease. And after 40 hours in the trakdot, the batteries still have a status of good. In one of the trakdots, i put the Duracell batteries which came with it, in the other i put Duracel Ultra aka Quantum batteries in it.
So yeah i would definitely recommend Trakdot now that the battery life issues have well and truly been resolved since launch
So yeah i would definitely recommend Trakdot now that the battery life issues have well and truly been resolved since launch
#58
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: DC/SF/Herault
Programs: UA 1K 1MM; AA 2MM
Posts: 174
I just used my 2 Trakdots on a 15-hour trip from IAD to Montpellier and both worked fine the whole way. One of them (my older one) consistently seems to connect to the network much faster than the other, but they both ultimately do connect and let me know where my bags are (so far always where I hoped they would be. )
Battery life has not been a problem for either one of them - even when I sometimes forget to turn them off promptly.
Battery life has not been a problem for either one of them - even when I sometimes forget to turn them off promptly.
#59
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: DTW
Programs: Dirt Status w/ All
Posts: 5,040
I still don't get the point of this device - especially if it is not 99.9999% accurate.
If you land at a connection and don't get an update your bag is there too, what do you do? Go running off to a transfer desk to demand they start searching for your luggage? Seems like the high miss rate just causes extra anxiety when your bag is where it should be but the notification fails. Your bag can also be lost even if you are both at the same airport, so it can offer a false sense of security too.
Has anyone ever used one of these to actually assist the airline in finding a lost bag?
If you land at a connection and don't get an update your bag is there too, what do you do? Go running off to a transfer desk to demand they start searching for your luggage? Seems like the high miss rate just causes extra anxiety when your bag is where it should be but the notification fails. Your bag can also be lost even if you are both at the same airport, so it can offer a false sense of security too.
Has anyone ever used one of these to actually assist the airline in finding a lost bag?
#60
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,320
I still don't get the point of this device - especially if it is not 99.9999% accurate.
If you land at a connection and don't get an update your bag is there too, what do you do? Go running off to a transfer desk to demand they start searching for your luggage? Seems like the high miss rate just causes extra anxiety when your bag is where it should be but the notification fails. Your bag can also be lost even if you are both at the same airport, so it can offer a false sense of security too.
Has anyone ever used one of these to actually assist the airline in finding a lost bag?
If you land at a connection and don't get an update your bag is there too, what do you do? Go running off to a transfer desk to demand they start searching for your luggage? Seems like the high miss rate just causes extra anxiety when your bag is where it should be but the notification fails. Your bag can also be lost even if you are both at the same airport, so it can offer a false sense of security too.
Has anyone ever used one of these to actually assist the airline in finding a lost bag?