Click on a question or scroll down for the answer.

• Where do people typically hide GPS trackers?
• Can I view tracking information remotely on my computer or smartphone?
• How long does a tracker battery last? Can I get an extended battery?
• Do I need a mechanic to install a hardwired GPS tracker?
• How do I get email or text notification when the car is outside a designated area?
• What is GPS Tracking and why choose SURFTECHNOLOGIES?
• When Does A Wired Tracker Make Sense?
• How Does Real-Time GPS Tracking Work?
• When is a GPS Data Logger Right for Me?
• What are the Advantages of GPS Loggers?
• How Often Does the Tracker Report the Vehicle's Position?
• Does the tracker monitor speed?
• Can I track multiple devices simultaneously?
• Can I track a device that will sometimes be indoors?

Where do people typically hide GPS Trackers?

This information would be provided with your GPS on purchase

Can I view tracking information remotely on my computer or smartphone?

Yes, if you have a Real-Time GPS tracker. Depending on the device and platform you choose, however, mobile monitoring may have additional associated costs.

Real-time GPS trackers let you sit at home, in your office, or on vacation and see the location of the vehicle or vehicles that are being tracked. You can access the activity anywhere you can access the Web, including on your smartphone.

How long does a tracker battery last? Can I get an extended battery?

Most devices have a default battery life of about a week under what is considered average use, which would be about 2 hours of driving each day. Keeping a spare battery can be beneficial to elongating tracking time; you may have daily access to a vehicle, which would allow you to keep one charged and simply switch batteries daily. If you need the device to report for longer periods between charges, most have extended battery kits available. For example, the Enduro, Enduro pro & World Tracker  extended battery gives you up to six months of battery life. These kits will sometimes double the size of the base device, but can allow a device to track over 10 times longer than their standard batteries would.

Some battery-powered GPS trackers, have a motion sensor so the tracker is only on when the car is moving. Allotting one hour of usage a day, these devices can last up to 30 days without recharging. Battery life for other battery-powered trackers can range from one to five days.

Do I need a mechanic to install a hardwired GPS tracker?

From an installation standpoint, the hardwired tracker is like a car alarm or car stereo. If you're handy you should be able to install it yourself. Otherwise, your local mechanic or stereo installer should be able to install it while you wait.

How do I get email or text notifications when the car is outside a designated area?

Real-time trackers let you set up many different types of alerts:

• Up-to-the-Minute reports: Most devices allow you to create reports that provide information up to and including their last reported location. How far back a report can pull information varies by device.
• Geofencing: Geofencing allows you to mark an area on a map. You can then choose to receive a text message or email when the device enters or leaves that area.
• Motion Alerts: Many devices can be set to send text message or email alerts any time the vehicle begins moving. Some alerts can be customized to only send during certain hours. For example, a fleet owner may want to be notified if any of his trucks are being driven after hours.
• Panic Alerts: Panic buttons are integrated into some designs; they allow someone to send a signal to the tracking platform by sending a command from the device, which can be set to send an alert via text message or email.
• Two-way Communication: A few devices allow for 2-way communication. This allows you to talk through the tracker or even send route plans.

What is GPS Tracking

GPS tracking have many uses depending on your need, the following are most common uses,

Monitoring of spouses, if a partner is suspicious of cheating

Monitoring a family member for safety

Monitoring the safety of a teenager driver making sure they are driving within speed limits.

Monitoring your business assets and drivers saving you money on fuel and illegal use of business vehicles.

Monitoring the elderly with memory loses

Monitoring your pets and many other applications. There is a solution for every need.

When does a wired tracker make sense?

A hardwired tracker is wired directly to your car's electrical system and gets power from the car battery. Obviously, you need to own the car to use a wired tracker, and moving the tracker from vehicle to vehicle can be difficult.

Wired trackers are excellent if you're sending a child off to college with a car or if you have a fleet of cars or trucks you want to track.

All hardwired trackers support remote viewing on your computer, and some from your smartphone, and email or text alerts. They also have a monthly fee.

How does GPS tracking work?

GPS trackers read signals transmitted by satellites in Earth's orbit. They use these signals to triangulate their exact location; the more satellites they can detect at any given time, the more accurate the location data will be. Our trackers are typically accurate to within a few meters.

Trackers vary in how they process the location information. Loggers will store the location data to their internal memory to be retrieved by connecting the device to a computer later. Real-time trackers will transmit their location as it is received, usually by sending messages through a cellular data network.

Because real-time trackers use cellular communication to transmit data, there is a monthly subscription charge. Your paid subscription gives you access to an online tool that allows you to see your vehicle locations.

At the same time, the tracking information is stored on a secure server for later retrieval. How long that data is stored on the service depends on the device. In most cases, you can generate a report and export the information to your computer.

When is a GPS data logger right for me?

GPS loggers store location data to an internal memory source. Generally speaking, GPS data loggers are the smallest of GPS trackers, making them easy to hide and virtually undetectable by GPS detectors. They have longer battery life than battery-powered trackers and are less expensive. Plus, there's no monthly fee.

However, loggers don't allow you to remotely track the vehicle on your computer or smartphone and don't let you set up email or text alerts. To get tracking data, you need to take the logger out of the car, connect it through a USB cable to your computer and download the data.

A data logger is great for a delivery company supervisor who want to review daily logs or a parent who wants to check on their child but doesn't need to do it in real time.

What are the advantages of GPS loggers?

• Adjustable tracking intervals: You choose how often a device records its location. Generally, the more often the device records, the shorter the battery life.
• Motion activation: Many devices contain a motion sensor, so that they can conserve battery life by only reporting while moving.
• Custom reports: These can vary by device and software, but most often include Stop Reports, Speed Reports, Drive Time Reports, and Mapped Reports. Some devices can provide different types of information as well, like altitude or fuel efficiency.
• International use: Most loggers can be used internationally without any special programming.

How often does the tracker report the vehicle's position?

Reporting intervals vary by tracker and platform. Some track every few seconds while others, will provide information only every few minutes. While some devices' tracking interval can be adjusted "on the fly" from the server's user interface, others have a fixed tracking interval that cannot be changed.

Does the tracker monitor speed?

Yes, loggers and trackers can both provide speed reports. Some of these devices have motion sensors and track speed internally. Others measure the distance traveled between two location reports and extrapolate that data to provide speed.

Can I track multiple devices simultaneously?

Yes, depending on the device, most could be tracked simultaneously as a group

Can I track a device that will sometimes be indoors?

GPS generally functions only when the device is outside. Some devices can back up to Assisted GPS, or AGPS, using cellular triangulation to provide a device's position. AGPS is not available on all devices, and is not as accurate as true GPS, sometimes being off by 300 feet or more.