Bike Trackers

[Colin S]

Does anyone use a tracker to let friends and family track their progress?
I currently use a software tracker on my phone but it sometimes drops out and my wife worries when she can't see where I am.
I am considering buying a hardware tracker, either the Trackting Bike T9 or the cheaper GPS21.
Has anyone used these or other trackers? What do you think of them?

Many Thanks

C

 

[Sharky]

WhatsApp location, is what I use when I am visiting or meeting up with the children.

 

[Oldhippy]

I wouldn't use one myself, I don't consider cycling dangerous in any way, it's transport. Where would it stop, walking to the shops, riding on a bus, driving and any time you leave home.

 

[Drago]

Where would it stop, walking to the shops...

...which per journey-mile is more likely to bring about your demise than cycling.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

Live Tracking on Lezyne Ally v2(?) app on mobile paired to my Lezyne Super Pro.

Keep meaning to have another look at Google Friends & Family tracking, last time I had a quick look at it, the tracking time was limited and I couldn't get it to work at all.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

I currently use a software tracker on my phone but it sometimes drops out and my wife worries when she can't see where I am.

Have you identified why it's "dropping out".

I cycle a lot in rural areas many of which have minimal to no mobile coverage. If your "drop-outs" are due to no mobile coverage then no trackers are going to work any better.

Maybe reassure your wife that you are capable of coping when outside her direct vision.

I've not used them as in my view cycling is not enough of a risk for others to be getting concerned when I'm out but that's my personal stance not a comment on how others might view it.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Does anyone use a tracker to let friends and family track their progress?

My wife and I use location sharing in Google Maps, usually if we’re meeting somewhere, or I’m picking her up at the station. If the GPS on your phone drops out from time to time, I don’t expect a dedicated GPS device will fare any better.

 

[Big John]

Me and the wife are dinosaurs when it comes to Tec stuff but she does use something called Find Hub which we both think is a Google thing. You have to keep 'refreshing' it to find the live location but it seems to work ok. It can switch out to Google Maps if you were to need directions because the default map is just about adequate but not great. It is fine for emergencies.....well, we THINK it is lol. It's only failed her once, apparently, and the only explanation was that I must have been cycling through a sketchy area for a signal.

 

[Gwylan]

Another vote for sharing location on Google. Frankly I'd rather not give any information to Google our anything similar. "They" already know too much and more than we realise.

Also have a cheap tracker fob hidden on my bike. That tells me to within a few metres where my bike is.
Hadn't thought of sharing that so people could narrow the search zone to find the body if it became necessary

 

[si_c]

I cycle a lot in rural areas many of which have minimal to no mobile coverage. If your "drop-outs" are due to no mobile coverage then no trackers are going to work any better.

Not quite true. A proper tracker such as Garmin's inReach or SPOT use a dedicated bit of hardware and a satellite communications subscription - as such they pretty much always work anywhere in the world. But for a regular tracking service which expects a mobile signal you're correct.

 

[Binky]

There the wahoo one I use that sends email with track of route but often goes AWOL
Probably best cost effective one is if you have WhatsApp is to use share location. That way they can see exactly where you are. Of course need phone signal for this but that's same for all apps.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I used Strava to map my rides

There is a beancon facility where it sends a text message to the otehr person and it includes a link
They can use that link to see your ride on Strava

We use this so that
a) if her son rings and say he is coming round with the grand kids then she can see if I will be back in 10 minutes
or I am wanderign around the far reaches of Warrington and am probably lost exploring so she better ring me


b) if I am not back an hour after she expected me back then she knows where to send an ambulance!!!

We do this after I broke an arm - then did it again and also found that my helmet had a massive area of compressed padding after one fo those incidents

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Find my iPhone. I am sure she does not watch it continuously. If she cannot cope with updates not being real time, all the time, then best she not look too often. Or indeed try to follow your location at all.

 

[HLaB]

When a group of us done the Lejog back in 2008 we used Garmin's tracker incase we got split up. Which we did quite a bit, as I couldn't go over 70% without blowing up. I later found out why, I had a catastrophic iron deficiency.