Luggage Tracking Technology
#61
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,543
I didn't pay much attention to Trakdots, but it didn't seem to have as much traction as the bluetooth-using Tile stuff; and the Trakdots batteries most commonly would die within 3 weeks or less IIRC, something that put it closer to on par with GPS-based trackers (with their own issues too) when it came to battery life than with the bluetooth technology used by Tile.
Tile can only be used at a distance if someone else happens to be near the object, the cellular trackers phone home. It shouldn't be compared to the Tile units, but to the GPS/cellular units that these days cost several dollars a month. Tiles will tell you where you mislaid something, my TrackDots would tell me if my bag got sent to the wrong city.
#62
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With ours I figured each of them would use a pair of batteries for a long trip (and I removed them at the destination, that was just from finishing packing until unpacking.) Considering that it ran an actual cellular transmitter I'm not going to be upset about it's power consumption.
Tile can only be used at a distance if someone else happens to be near the object, the cellular trackers phone home. It shouldn't be compared to the Tile units, but to the GPS/cellular units that these days cost several dollars a month. Tiles will tell you where you mislaid something, my TrackDots would tell me if my bag got sent to the wrong city.
Tile can only be used at a distance if someone else happens to be near the object, the cellular trackers phone home. It shouldn't be compared to the Tile units, but to the GPS/cellular units that these days cost several dollars a month. Tiles will tell you where you mislaid something, my TrackDots would tell me if my bag got sent to the wrong city.
Each of the three kind of trackers have their ways of working out better than other kind of trackers, but not having to deal with battery/recharging issues as frequently also has its benefits. I don't know of any place where a bluetooth tracker would run afoul of law enforcement authorities, but there are places where a GPS tracker could be an issue in a way that a bluetooth tracker would not be.
#63
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,543
Given that luggage tends to go to/from/via places where lots of people go and that people tend to come to places that act as crossroads of sort, I suspect that it doesn't take too many million Tile app users to be out there on the relatively beaten path for getting informed in a way that makes it obvious to the owner of a luggage item with a Tile Pro tracker that the luggage with the Tile tracker got sent on a plane to the wrong city.
Each of the three kind of trackers have their ways of working out better than other kind of trackers, but not having to deal with battery/recharging issues as frequently also has its benefits. I don't know of any place where a bluetooth tracker would run afoul of law enforcement authorities, but there are places where a GPS tracker could be an issue in a way that a bluetooth tracker would not be.
Each of the three kind of trackers have their ways of working out better than other kind of trackers, but not having to deal with battery/recharging issues as frequently also has its benefits. I don't know of any place where a bluetooth tracker would run afoul of law enforcement authorities, but there are places where a GPS tracker could be an issue in a way that a bluetooth tracker would not be.
#64
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I wonder if there is any comparison report done on how a luggage item with both a Tile Pro and a Samsung SmartThings Tracker inside does in reporting back in various trips within the the US and the world.
#65
FlyerTalk Evangelist



Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,543
Yes, but once it's stored away, the GPS/LTE/4G connectivity may also be poor to non-existent, and the cellular GPS tracker batteries usually seem to die way faster than the bluetooth trackers.
I wonder if there is any comparison report done on how a luggage item with both a Tile Pro and a Samsung SmartThings Tracker inside does in reporting back in various trips within the the US and the world.
I wonder if there is any comparison report done on how a luggage item with both a Tile Pro and a Samsung SmartThings Tracker inside does in reporting back in various trips within the the US and the world.

