Bulldrek v3.0

So the deal is this: about a year and a half ago, SDQ got a promotion to juvenile parole. Now she has to drive all over the state every week, within about a 200 mile range, in some pretty remote places. The other day, she was out in the middle of nowhere. We've been having some really funky weather lately and the wind has been crazy. Because of this, in addition to passing semis on 2-line highways, she nearly lost control of her car twice. Also, some of the kids she deals with live in remote places and are not supervised by the most responsible or polite people. The state, while providing her with a vehicle, does not equip the vehicles with any kind of GPS tracking, which to me seems pretty dumb just in terms of asset management. So anyway, we're thinking about handling this ourselves.

Ideally, we'd like something that can be used for navigation as well as tracking and can be moved from her state vehicle to our own vehicles, but I haven't found anything like that in a cursory search. I suppose their must be laws that prevent that. So something small that she can keep in her purse or on her person would work. She doesn't have or want a smart phone, so app tracking like InstaMapper isn't an option.

I found this, but it seems kinda pricey. Anybody have any experience with this kind of stuff?

Raygun wrote:Anybody have any experience with this kind of stuff?

No, none at all.

Not that that helps you any.

I have a gps device that plugs into a USB that came with some tracking/mapping software. If she was already carrying a laptop, she could use this when needed but it's not the sort of thing that you could easily use and drive at the same time.

I bought mine for $5 at a yardsale - don't know the retail price.

If the purpose is to document where you've been just in case, how much to lo-jack SDQ's car?

You're describing a smartphone. I'm not sure why she doesn't want one, but it's like saying, "She needs a device that can push lead downrange, but she doesn't want a firearm." I don't know of any GPS tracking device as powerful and versatile that features connectivity [without which, the device is largely useless for your purposes].

Double post.

paladin2019 wrote:If the purpose is to document where you've been just in case, how much to lo-jack SDQ's car?

The purpose is to be able to locate her in case something happens when she's in some remote area. Unfortunately, Lojack's vehicle recovery service doesn't cover Montana. At all. Besides that, the car she uses is owned by the state, so modifying it in any way isn't possible. I have found other vehicle-based solutions that are less expensive than Lojack but would work in terms of tracking. It would be better to have something she could keep in her purse or a pocket, though.

3278 wrote:You're describing a smartphone. I'm not sure why she doesn't want one, but it's like saying, "She needs a device that can push lead downrange, but she doesn't want a firearm." I don't know of any GPS tracking device as powerful and versatile that features connectivity [without which, the device is largely useless for your purposes].

Well, it's not really that she wouldn't use a smartphone if she had it, it's more that she doesn't need one for all the usual smartphone business and we were looking for a less expensive solution. But if the standard for this kind of thing is $200 up front and $30/month, then we might as well consider getting her a smartphone with a data plan, assuming the GPS tracking functionality is similar. Due to topography and the remoteness of some of the places she has to go, she's frequently out of cell range which I assume in the case of a smartphone might interfere with the uploading of tracking data.

Raygun wrote:Due to topography and the remoteness of some of the places she has to go, she's frequently out of cell range which I assume in the case of a smartphone might interfere with the uploading of tracking data.

Yeah, but that's going to be the case with every single type of solution, with the sole exception of satellite devices, which are significantly more expensive. That said, the SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger and its related devices might serve the need, but I'm not certain those will track her location unless she hits the panic button. But if you're looking for stuff that'll work outside the cellular grid, SPOT is probably a good company to poke at: if they don't offer the functionality, they may be able to at least point you in the right direction.

Yeah! That's more like it. Thanks.

I use my smartphone for GPS work all the time, even when I am way the hell out of any kind of cell reception.

I know at least a dozen people that have the SPOT.

Another place to look is www.ADVRider.com

They are Adventure Bike Riders who go to very remote areas. They not only have gadgets they can recommend but charging and wiring solutions.