Last year Garmin released their first ever portable tracking device which is GPS enabled.  Being the World leader in GPS technology you would expect this tracker to really deliver on what it promises.  But how does it stack up against the other devices on the market?  Here’s a short review of the new GTU 10 product which might help you make your mind up.

What is the Garmin GTU 10 Tracker?

Garmin describe this product as a cheap and affordable GPS locator that will allow you to keep track on the things that you love.  You can track movements of your possessions online with their innovative web-based application – meaning you can keep a closer eye on your kids, pets, and most valued property – a common item being the family car.  The unit will also let you download free Garmin GPS updates to it with each new release of the packaged software.

Great Features of the Garmin GTU 10 GPS Tracker

One of the stand-out features about this new GPS tracking device is the free Garmin Tracker App.  This lets you track movements and location even when you are on the move – and this is all done via text and SMS messages straight to your cellphone or smartphone.

Essentially this works very easily, because you create GPS boundaries (called geofences) on the online map application and as soon as one of your GTU 10 units breaks the boundaries of your invisible line, then an SMS will immediately be delivered to a phone number of your choice.

Track and Protect Your Children with GTU 10

As a working example, let’s say you pack your kids off to school one morning.  If you place a Garmin GTU tracker in their bag and set up a geofence on their school route then you will get an SMS if they don’t arrive at the location or the GTU 10 breaks the boundaries that you set up.

More About the Garmin GTU 10 Tracker

The product is very small so can be used discretely.  The dimensions measure less than eight centimetres in length so it can be attached to a bag or placed inside your car (under the seat in the padding is usually a great method).

You will have to register the tracker on the Garmin website, which is then you will gain access to the online-based geofencing security system – and you can set up as many geofence boundaries as you want – there is no limit to how you use your GTU device.

What Exactly is a Geofence?

A geofence is a virtual boundary and should the GTU 10 enters or leaves the lines you draw then you can also receive an email as well as SMS messaging alerting you to the security breach.

Features of the Garmin GTU 10 GPS Tracker

• High sensitive GPS map technology from Garmin
• Small, light and waterproof
• One year free tracking subscription
• SMS and email messaging for Geofence breaches
• Track history and routes of your GTU 10
• No contract or activation fees applicable

The Garmin GPS Tracker is a very affordable entry level device should you want to start tracking what you value most in life.  It retails at well under two hundred US dollars.

Read more about GPS Tracker Device Reviews on my blog.

It is an awful feeling to know your pet is running loose, undoubtedly in some sort of danger, and you don’t know where to look for him. The longer he’s gone, the greater the chance he will be hit by a car, attacked by another animal or taken by someone.

In the past, the options were to drive around in the car looking for that beloved pet, put an ad in the paper and check the local animal shelters. Times have changed and a GPS tracking device offers a simple, practical and affordable solution.

The newest technology allows pet owners to set up a boundary for the pet and the small GPS tracking device alerts them when Fido or Mittens crosses that line. The owner is alerted via text message or email. The owner also receives a real time location for the pet and driving directions to locate him. This saves valuable time if you are at work or at a location other than home. Someone can be called to pick up the pet quickly even if you can’t get there immediately.

Some devices have a button that can be pushed if someone finds your pet which will then alert you to his location. If you have more than one pet, some units allow you to track up to three animals at the same time. Hunters also rely on the GPS systems tell them exactly where their dogs have run as they retrieve birds.

A veterinarian’s son remembered how lost dogs ended up at his dad’s practice and often lacked any identification to facilitate a safe return. As a responsible dog owner now himself, he is grateful to have access to a GPS tracking device for his four-legged family member. Animal control agencies and humane societies can attest to the fact that pets are lost every day. Many do not have identification or a microchip.

GPS tracking devices greatly increase the odds that you will find your pet quickly and safely. They are relatively inexpensive, certainly less than a reward you might have to offer to find a pet, and the peace of mind they provide is worth a fortune. The collars are light, come in variety of sizes and are waterproof and durable. If you ever have to use a GPS tracking device to recover your pet, you will certainly think it is well worth the expense.

Read more about GPS Tracker Device Reviews on my blog.

We are all over the ‘quick fix’ in our society.  Our hectic schedules and lifestyles lead to a tendency to cut corners.  This includes the use of technology.  We feel good when we can hand a GPS enabled cell phone to our kids thinking ‘they will be alright.’

Technology never replaces being there in person and performing your responsibilities as a parent.  However, we continue to go down this road.  Here are some things that you must never relegate to technology:

Spending Time. If you miss this one, then you are in big trouble.  Spending time with your kids to help them understand that they are loved and are important to you is the one task that you absolutely cannot avoid.  Using cell phones to text or talk to your kids is a poor substitute for being with them.  They get most of their security in life from being with you.  Plus, you cannot pass along values and important character traits any other way besides being there with them.  You must schedule time to be with your children in order to make it happen.  Busy lifestyles crowd out the important.  Make dates to be with your kids and you can accomplish the above.

Knowing Facts. You know your kids better than anyone else.  You should also know what they are doing and are capable of doing.  Unsupervised children who are not properly instructed on rules to be followed create an environment for disaster.  If you have kids that you know are followers rather than leaders, then you need to place higher restrictions on them.  Monitor the friends they hang out with and help them make wise choices.

Here are things that GPS Tracking devices can help you with when it comes to watching your children:

Knowing Location. There are small, unobtrusive GPS Tracking devices that can be placed into a backpack, small stuffed toy or even clothing that will allow you to track their location.  Also, vehicles that are outfitted with GPS Tracking devices will give you the location of your car by looking it up on the Internet.

Watching Speed. When teens drive, they are at risk and their age group is the most vulnerable for accidents due to lack of experience behind the wheel and distractions that take their mind off of their driving.  Also, they often exhibit an attitude that says ‘I know what I’m doing’ and that doesn’t help.  Again, GPS Tracking can help you with this by setting rules and standards for your teen drivers and then letting them know that they are being ‘watched.’  It can make a huge difference in the way they drive.

Monitoring Routes. Teens that drive on their own to a destination that you know about is worrisome enough without knowing the route they take.  You can see where they are going and how they are getting there with GPS Tracking.  Part of keeping them safe comes in the form of directing them on the roads and streets they drive upon.

Monitoring your children is a full time job.  But don’t turn over your responsibility to an electronic device.  Perform your functions as a parent and get involved.  Then, use technology where it makes sense to help you further your efforts.  Good luck.

Read more about GPS Tracking Devices on my blog.

This is a statement of the benefits of GPS Tracking.  One of the best ways to look at this is to realize that there didn’t use to be anything like this in our society.  Talk about vulnerability!  And, with the complexity of today’s lifestyles and difficulty with economic times in which we live, it is hard to think about life without tracking devices.

Tracking Anywhere Anytime. From the 24 satellites that are in orbit around the earth, we can track almost anything anywhere it goes at anytime.  That is, unless it goes into an area that is impervious to satellite signals.  But, even that is not completely hopeless, because the tracking history on an item can help at least provide a location of its last known address.  That gives a starting point for authorities to begin a search.  Think about how this could have helped Amelia Earhart in her effort to circumnavigate the earth in her airplane.  She could have been located and rescued.

Vehicle Tracking. We spend a lot of time in our cars.  And, some tragic events have occurred in them that could have been mitigated with GPS Tracking.  Would the outcome of Chappaquiddick been any different if a GPS Tracking device had been onboard?  Is it possible that Mary Jo Kopechne would be alive today?  Pure speculation, but the use of GPS technology has already produced results that have save people’s lives.

If only, if only, if only…but who wants to live in the past?  Let’s use technology that is available to use to better our lives and communities.

Safety and Security. People who place themselves at risk should use GPS Tracking devices.  This includes those who are involved in simple things like cycling and running for exercise.  It can be a dangerous thing to run or bike on the streets and roads around the cities and towns in which they live.  So, why not include a tracking device to help in case something should happen?

This also goes for people who enjoy long treks in the wild or repelling down mountainous crags from dangerous heights.  Extreme sports activities carry their own risk for the participants.

Even those who are just taking a vacation with family and do not plan dangerous activities would benefit, too.  During the summer, some of the worst accidents occur and GPS Tracking can be there just in case.

The old cliché applies:  it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Read more about GPS Tracking Devices on my blog.

It is fairly common knowledge that the police can use the GPS system to find a criminal, whether he is driving a stolen vehicle with a vehicle tracking device or has kidnapped a child who is wearing a tracking device. Now, it turns out, the police can be found with GPS too. They are keeping tabs on each other, and it’s not just for safety – it’s also to make sure they are doing their jobs.

Because they failed to correctly parole their area, Officers David Muniz and Matthew Prince were charged in Cleveland this week by their department because they were clearly not doing their job. They had been sent on April 5 to investigate reports of a dead body on I-90. They drove past the body and reported that it was a deer. Later, the body was found to be that of Angel Bradley Crockett, a murder victim.

The officers’ patrol car was equipped with a vehicle tracking device. A closer look at the GPS record shows that they never slowed when passing the body, and they sat in a cemetery the majority of the night. Other Cleveland patrol cars, EMS vehicles, and fire trucks are also equipped with vehicle tracking devices. Cleveland Safety Director Martin Flask says the system will be used even more thoroughly in the future, to prevent similar incidences from occurring.

Vehicle tracking devices use the GPS satellite system to log the movements of vehicles. They can be used to pinpoint the current location of the vehicle, or to see the history of the vehicle’s movements. They have all kinds of uses. Parents use them to keep tabs on teenage drivers; they can see where their teen is and whether they are driving too fast. Many employers use them to make sure their employees are going where they are supposed to go, driving safely, and driving efficiently. This includes trucking and shipping companies and any other company whose employees do a lot of traveling for work.

Cleveland is not the only city that uses GPS to track vehicles. The approach has typically been to use GPS to keep dispatchers aware of where everyone is and allow emergency teams to work efficiently and safely. Now cities may find another purpose for using vehicle tracking devices – keeping city employees accountable to their jobs.

Read more about GPS Tracking Devices on my blog.

Some important trends to watch for in GPS Tracking devices are listed here.  These trends and movement towards more tracking can be viewed either positively or negatively, depending upon your outlook.

Personal Monitoring. We are witnessing more electronic devices that are intended for tracking as they infiltrate our society.  These include GPS enabled smart phones, small unobtrusive personal tracking devices that can be hidden easily, vehicular tracking devices, watches and more.  With the footprint of tracking devices getting smaller, their integration into more things will grow.  Small power consumption allows them to stay active for days between charges, too.

Tracking Things. With the global economy in a mess, people are getting desperate and are turning to thievery to get things they want and need.  GPS Tracking systems are being placed throughout the world to monitor things like shipment of products and large expensive assets that are motorized and/or mobile.  Many businesses with significant investment in assets understand how important this is becoming as a daily activity for them.  Desperate people often do not think through what they are doing, so a simple active tracking device is all that is needed to ensure that expensive items are able to be located within minutes of a theft.

Tracking and the Law. More court systems are turning to GPS Tracking to help mete out sentences to those who are convicted of crimes (often theft, etc).  Since prison populations are swelling and the cost of incarceration growing at mammoth proportions, GPS Tracking can offer less expensive home detention style sentences that allows a person to serve out a sentence while still remaining in society and being productive at a job.  Also, it helps reduce the chances that they will return to jail.

We live in a time that demands that those who own things keep a closer eye on them to help prevent or mitigate damage from theft.  GPS Tracking provides a way to do this in an inexpensive fashion.  For just a few hundred dollars (and really less than that), you can know where your important things are and if there is a problem with theft.  Security systems for houses have their place, but a GPS Tracking device attached to expensive items that are stolen will help recover them in hours, not days, weeks, months, or possibly never.

GPS Tracking gives you what you need to add a good measure of peace of mind to your life.

Read more about GPS Tracking Devices on my blog.

Whether you want to send your fleet through Africa or through the North America, the Informer Lite is the perfect GPS fleet tracking device. The Informer Lite is not only easy to use, but it is also an affordable solution to any fleet tracking problem.

There are many different parts of the Informer Lite that are entirely appealing. Not only does the Informer Lite include geo-fencing capabilities, but it also includes:

• Rapid Tracking: when this feature is turned on, a high-quality map will refresh every 30 seconds. This allows for real-time viewing of any vehicle that is being tracked.

• Speed Alerts: find out how fast one of your trucks is going, and gain alerts via text every time the speed limit you set is broken.

• Routing and Re-routing: send any of your trucks to any destination by providing detailed directions.

• Color Graphs and Reports: forget about trying to decipher difficult graphs and reports – all of the reports and graphs that come with the Informer Lite are colored and highly detailed.

It’s also easy to view your fleet with our Virtual Earth satellite function, which allows you to view any vehicle from the viewpoint of a satellite. Since the Informer Lite works in conjunction with our servers, any information that you want to keep can be stored in our servers for up to one year. Additionally, the Informer Lite is U.S Military and SAE certified, which makes it easy to track any government vehicles.

Installing the Informer Lite is also easy to do, since we have more than 1700 professional installers located throughout the United States. This device is generally placed underneath a vehicle’s dashboard, and the internal antenna that comes with the Informer Lite is strong enough to work through a truck’s dashboard.

Presently, the Informer Lite can be purchased for $295 (plus a $35 activation fee) through Rocky Mountain Tracking, Inc. We accept various types of payment including PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. We also know that your privacy is important, which is why any package that we send to you will only be marked with a discrete “RMT” insignia.

If you’re looking for an inexpensive fleet tracking option, the Informer Lite is the best choice. There’s a reason why the Informer Lite is easily one of our most popular fleet trackers: this GPS tracking device is powerful, accurate, and easily affordable. Call one of our representatives today or order your Informer Lite online through our website.

Read more about GPS Tracking Devices on my blog.

Police officers get a lot of bad press. They are stereotyped as donut lovers who are continually taking coffee breaks and who abuse the speed limits. And many of the police officers portrayed on TV are either seen as unintelligent or lazy. Police departments around the country are cracking down on their officers, demanding that they be consistently working and not taking unauthorized breaks. But how are they doing this?

The answer comes in the form of GPS trackers. These days GPS tracking devices are used for more than just monitoring shipments and keeping young drivers from speeding. They are being used to monitor police officers too. Real time tracking systems placed on a vehicle will send out signals to satellites. These signals will then be used to determine the unit’s exact location, direct of travel, and speed. This information can be viewed on any computer with internet access. The information from GPS tracking devices can be viewed on a digital map to create a precise picture of everywhere the vehicle went in a day and how long it remained parked in a specific location. This digital map can be used to verify that individuals are in the places that they claim to be.

In April of this year, a policeman in Massachusetts was asked to resign because of information that a GPS tracker attached to his vehicle had collected. According to the tracker, Ronald Goulet had been running personal errands instead of patrolling. The tracker proved that the former police officer frequently left the car idling or parked at his home or other residences. After this information was gathered, the police officer was suspended and he eventually resigned. The police department that he worked for has since been tracking all of their officers with GPS tracking devices.

Because of the findings of this Massachusetts police department, many departments will likely begin using GPS trackers in the next few months. It is always important that employees are consistently working hard while they are on the clock, but this is even more important for those who are employed by the government. It is the job of law enforcement officers to keep the citizens of their town safe, and they cannot be doing that if they are using their working hours for social visits and personal errands. Companies all over the country are severely punishing the employees who misuse company time and company vehicles. Police departments should be no different.

Read more about GPS Tracking Devices on my blog.

Police dispatchers – the brains, eyes and mouth of the police force – are a crucial link in increasing police effectiveness. If the dispatcher can receive, process, and communicate information more quickly, then the police have a greater chance of getting to a crime scene in time to stop the crime. Police departments who have installed GPS tracking devices in their patrol cars give police dispatchers a tool so powerful that police can stop crimes that would otherwise occur too quickly for them to intervene.

Let’s illustrate the power of this tool with a walkthrough of relatively common crime: home burglary. First, we’ll look at how a police district that has not installed GPS car tracking in their police cruisers handles a home burglary.

A scared, frantic lady makes the call to 911, reporting the crime. The dispatcher spends 2 minutes recording information from to the call, before sending a radio call to officers on patrol. The dispatcher looks up the caller’s location on a map. 30 seconds later, the officers respond with their locations. The dispatcher frantically finds the officers’ positions on the map, and takes another 60 seconds to figure out which units to dispatch to the crime scene. The dispatcher then gets back on the radio, and dispatches the closest units to the scene. In 30 seconds, the called units confirm the dispatch. The police officers then take the next 60 seconds to look up the location on their own map, figure out the quickest way to get there, and start driving to the scene of the crime. If the police department is lucky, all necessary units are less than 8 minutes away from the crime scene.

In this scenario, the police who had no GPS car tracking were able to arrive and secure the situation in 13 minutes. While admirable, the thieves left a full 3 minutes before the police arrived, giving them a chance to get miles away from the crime scene.

Imagine the same scenario with a police department who has GPS car tracking installed in their police cars. The dispatcher still spends 2 minutes talking with the caller and records the situation information. This time, however, the dispatcher automatically finds the caller’s location on a map. The GPS tracking system allows the dispatcher to instantly see the locations of the officers in relation to the crime scene. Within 30 seconds, the dispatcher sends the GPS coordinates to the onboard navigation systems of the officers near the scene. All those officers have to do is follow the navigation directions, and 6 minutes later, arrive at the scene. Total time is 8 minutes, 30 seconds, which is enough time for officers to make it to the crime scene and apprehend the criminals.

GPS tracking allows police dispatchers to quickly and effectively coordinate police forces with zero guesswork, and zero wasted time. All of this means that police departments with GPS car tracking can provide a much safer place for all of us to live.

Read more about GPS Tracking Devices on my blog.

Emergency rooms across the nation overflow with patients, making efficient use of time a top priority for doctors and nurses. As hospitals look for ways to increase effectiveness, treat more patients, and make sure each patient receives excellent care, some are looking to GPS tracking to help monitor the process.

One hospital in South Carolina now utilizes GPS tracking to monitor patients from the moment they check in. As each patient arrives, he or she receives a GPS tracking device to wear on the wrist, allowing hospital staff to see where that patient is at all times. As the person progress through emergency care and eventually receives a room assignment, each nurse or doctor can see the patient’s exact location, enabling faster and more efficient treatment. So far, the technology has been well received among both patients and hospital staff.

Before a patient arrives at the hospital, the ambulance or helicopter he’s traveling in will most likely be equipped with GPS vehicle tracking, enabling faster response time and most effective use of the vehicles in the fleet. When emergencies occur, knowledge of which vehicles are in the vicinity and which ones can reach an injured person the fastest could save lives.

In addition to patient monitoring, GPS tracking can also help hospitals keep track of equipment before, during, and after surgeries or procedures. Nurses report an average savings of fifteen minutes per shift when they can locate equipment with GPS tracking rather than spending time tracking down the items themselves. In a hospital setting, fifteen minutes could make the difference between life and death.

Outside the hospital, GPS can help monitor patients who have a tendency to roam and become lost. Many Alzheimer’s patients benefit from carrying tracking devices which allow caregivers to keep an eye on them remotely. If a patient should wander from home and become lost, the caregiver can pinpoint his or her location immediately. More and more GPS companies have begun catering to Alzheimer’s patients, with life alert systems and even GPS equipped shoes helping to make the safety of these elderly citizens a top priority.

Advances in medical care save thousands of lives each year, giving families more time to share with one another and a greater appreciation for the value of life. As more and more hospitals implement GPS tracking into their daily routines, the new capabilities will give doctors and nurses the support they need to continue the work of keeping people healthy.

Read more about GPS Tracking Devices on my blog.