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gpspassion
93394 Posts |
 Posted - 06 janv. 2011 : 02:30:00
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UPDATED 20110322 : Test unit received, "getting started" notes posted below
CES 2011 PREVIEW:
The GTU-10 is very compact
Garmin announced the GTU-10 tracker at the CES 2011 show, here is the full presss release.
Product page : https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=209&pID=67686
Availability : 1st quarter
MSRP : $200 with a one-year subscription then $50/year
I was able to take a quick look at it during a demo drive around The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas. As seen in the pictures it is very compact and it is also very light. GPS/GSM Trackers are nothing new (see the Globalsat TR101-102 reviewed in 2006) and the Xexun "TK102" Tracker's topic is 118 pages long, but it's the first time a major player offers a turnkey solution : hardware + online service.
In other good news, the GTU-10 tracker can be controlled from a computer but also from a mobile device (iPhone or Android) via an optimized application that can also display its position and tracks on a map.
Let's stay tuned for more!
Here are a two more pictures :
Recharges via a miniUSB connector
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gpspassion
93394 Posts |
Posted - 17 févr. 2011 : 08:51:19
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| The GTU-10 is still not available AFAIK but I found the Android companion app in the "Android Market" today by accident (was searching under Garmin). Incidentally it wouldn't install itself on my 7" tablet, maybe because it doesn't have a GSM module. |
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gpspassion
93394 Posts |
Posted - 23 mars 2011 : 07:21:33
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GTU-10 has come in for testing! In other good news the iPhone application is also available now : http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/garmin-tracker/id416616873?mt=8 - The pricing has been finalized too now with a price of $200 that includes one year of standard tracking (more on that later).
Here are my notes on getting it up and running from a computer and iPhone :
A.Getting Started- Charged it with a standard USB charger until the LED turned green
- Connected it to my PC
- Logged into http://my.garmin.com to register it (had to update Garmin Communicator)
- Was given a link to configure the device from the web : https://my.garmin.com/myGCS/gofetch/trackableDevicesGetLocation.htm
- Found out about the Deluxe Tracking Service Plan that costs $4.99 per month. It adds 7 days of tracking history (the standard service shows the last 24 hours) as well as setting the granularity of the recording.
B. Using the GTU-10- The interface to set and control the GTU-10 is very streamlined and clear both on my.garmin.com and on the iPhone. I have a preference for the iPhone version as it is touch operated and browser version logs you out after a while
- The main controls are : power settings and geofences
- Power settings let you choose the update frequency and the app shows the estimated battery life : On Demand (7 days) - Moderate/15 minutes (5 days) - Balanced/5 minutes (3 days) - Heavy/30 seconds (20 hours)
- When you add a geofence the battery life can go up if you enable the "sleep mode" that allows the devide to sleep inside a geofence. It's not quite clear how the device decides to wake-up to check for that, possibly with some combination of motion sensor and special GPS firmware.
- Alerts can be set both for geofences and power status with notification either by email or SMS/text
- The full status can be conveniently checked : battery life, satellite reception, location inside a geofence or not, altitude, speed, estimated accuracy. The only information missing is the reporting status (power setting)
- Limitations found:
- Garmin specify that changes to the settings will be effective within 24 hours unless you restart the device. This is a big limitation if you were on the 15 minutes setting and need to switch to 30 seconds in case of an emergency. It's not clear why that is since the new settings could certainly be pushed at the next update
- Lat/Long not shown : when tracking the device you can only view the position on a map (Bing on a computer and Google Maps on the iPhone), there is no lat/long shown info available. That could be a problem if you need to navigate to that position. A workaround would be to try to match the position by looking at another map but that can be difficult.
- No track export: there is no option to export the track of the past 24hours. It's not clear whether the "Deluxe Tracking Plan" offers that option
To be continued...questions, comments? |
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gpspassion
93394 Posts |
Posted - 30 mars 2011 : 08:15:09
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After one week of testing I'm happy to report that the GTU-10 peforms as expected and is mostly useful to track departures from and arrivals into Geofences.
Updating of the position outside of geofences remains a bit of a mystery to me as even on the Heavy/30 seconds setting, the position doesn't appear to get updated every 30 seconds but rather when the device is pinged from an iPhone/Android/PC Web Browser.
As I sensed when I posted the "limitations" above, the fact that settings get updated within 24 hours (I'm still trying to find a good way of testing whether it can happen quicker) is a problem, for instance if you're trying to extend the battery life by switching from heavy to moderate. On the other hand since the updating seems "irregular" it might be best to use Moderate/15 minutes (5 days outside geofences to 4 weeks inside geofences battery life) as the "On Demand" setting does not take geofences into account so you can't be warned via email that a goefence has been entered or departed).
Testing continues... |
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NoSmoke
Canada
130 Posts |
Posted - 21 avr. 2011 : 06:42:13
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Thanks for the information. I am v interested in this device to find my dog whenever he decides to go on a field trip. A couple questions:
To what precision can the geofence be specified and to what precision is an escape reported i.e. how many yards beyond the fence will trigger an alert?
I'm not clear if the lat/lon can be polled via SMS or is SMS simply used to transmit an alert?
One other, anyone know when this device will be available in Canada?
TIA.... |
Laurie Forbes |
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gpspassion
93394 Posts |
Posted - 22 avr. 2011 : 07:13:49
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Glad that my observations helped. Not sure about availability in Canada, I thought the US model would work in North America, have you been told it doesn't?
The Geofence gets drawn on Google Maps (satetllite or map) so will be as accurate as what you can see on the map. As for the accuracy of the detection, good question, I haven't tested for it specficially yet, will try that tomorrow. I'm assuming it's within the accuracy of GPS, i.e. 5/10 meters.
You can't control the device via SMS, it's only for alerts.
As a follow-up to one of my previous comments on the lack of automatic tracking shown on the map, the Deluxe Option has now been activated for my test unit and the good news is that the position now gets updated automatically based on the frequency set by the user (30"/5'/15') and as expected the positions can be viewed for up to 7 days and you can drill down to hourly intervals.
If you're going to be keeping track of an animal that seems like a must as you will not only be notified when it exits the geofence but will also have regular updates without having to poll the position manually...something that could be a problem if you do that after it's entered a building. It would have been nice to have that feature activated in the standard plan but I suppose Garmin has to pay for the extra bandwith generated by the position updates. |
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NoSmoke
Canada
130 Posts |
Posted - 22 avr. 2011 : 22:24:36
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quote:
Originally posted by gpspassion
Glad that my observations helped. Not sure about availability in Canada, I thought the US model would work in North America, have you been told it doesn't?
Yes, one Canadian supplier says May 1st and another says "coming soon". It think it makes sense as it looks like you do not buy & insert a SIM card so Garmin would have to have an agreement with a Canadian cell provider to provide service here(?).
quote:
The Geofence gets drawn on Google Maps (satetllite or map) so will be as accurate as what you can see on the map. As for the accuracy of the detection, good question, I haven't tested for it specficially yet, will try that tomorrow. I'm assuming it's within the accuracy of GPS, i.e. 5/10 meters.
OK. Can the map be zoomed?
quote:
You can't control the device via SMS, it's only for alerts.
Hmm, then I will have to have a smart phone or something to get an updated fix when out looking for the dog(?).
quote:
As a follow-up to one of my previous comments on the lack of automatic tracking shown on the map, the Deluxe Option has now been activated for my test unit and the good news is that the position now gets updated automatically based on the frequency set by the user (30"/5'/15') and as expected the positions can be viewed for up to 7 days and you can drill down to hourly intervals.
If you're going to be keeping track of an animal that seems like a must as you will not only be notified when it exits the geofence but will also have regular updates without having to poll the position manually...something that could be a problem if you do that after it's entered a building. It would have been nice to have that feature activated in the standard plan but I suppose Garmin has to pay for the extra bandwith generated by the position updates.
Thanks for the info. One other thing, I can't figure out how to get the "insert quote" to work automatically (it always seems to put the quote code at the end of the message instead of where the cursor is). And why can it not simply add the quote code automatically as one enters reply text? The only way I can figure out how to do it is to add the quote code manually around each paragraph of reply text I enter. |
Laurie Forbes |
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gpspassion
93394 Posts |
Posted - 22 avr. 2011 : 22:45:43
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Yes, and that doesn't take much time ;-) Back on topic.
1. The nülink 1695 (connected GPS) works in Canada with an option so I was assuming that Garmin had been able to secure the same type of agreement for their tracker, apparently not.
2. You can zoom in as much as the map resolution allows. The "browser app" uses BING maps and the Smartphone apps use Google Maps, so you can check what you're getting in your area with your browser.
3. You'd need an iPhone or Android smartphone.
I did some testing yesterday night and as expected the geofencing resolution is within the normal GPS accuracy, i.e. 5/10 meters. When I set the geofence from my browser I saw a note saying the accuracy of the geofence varied from 2 to 15 meters.
Currently running a test with the GTU-10 set to 30" updates in a moving car (on the dash) and while the tracking worked fine for a few minutes it stopped updating after a few minutes until I polled it manually. It could be because I had switched to 15' earlier today and the setting just kicked in (well ahead of the 24 hours).
Oddly enough the position got updated every 5 minutes from 12am to 8am although it was set to 30" and inside a geofence...it seems the tracking behavior lacks consistency at this point! |
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NoSmoke
Canada
130 Posts |
Posted - 23 avr. 2011 : 03:48:19
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Downloaded Bing maps and found the resolution where I live is v low but barely usable I guess and could be used with a lot of squinting. Google coverage is much better - don't know why they would use Bing and not Google for the browser.
Maybe I could set up multiple geo-fences and run outside to the right one when it alerts via SMS but I suppose it is not smart enough to specify which fence the alert occurred for(?). Otherwise I suppose I could just set the fence small enough (but not so small as to cause false alarms via location fix drift)and go to the roof top for a bird's eye view :)
I wonder what GPSCity's return policy is............
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Laurie Forbes |
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gpspassion
93394 Posts |
Posted - 23 avr. 2011 : 04:32:36
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| Actually it does tell you what geofence has been entered end exited in the emails it sends (presumably in the SMS too) and on the iPhone and Android app the "status" page tells you in which geofence it's located, not sure about the browser, will check later. |
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NoSmoke
Canada
130 Posts |
Posted - 28 avr. 2011 : 00:48:48
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Thanks for the information.
One other question if I could - since the unit does not send lat/lon when notifying of exit from a geo-fence via email or SMS and, since up to 10 geofences are supported, I was wondering if one could set up 9 contiguous fences (one in the center and 8 (maybe labeled N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W & NW)surrounding it so, if a fence is exited, one could at least tell in which direction the dog is going.
But, the question then is, will the unit send an alert if the dog is only moving from one fence to an adjacent fence? Obviously one would not want that to happen as there would be a bunch of spurious alerts as the dog just moves about the allowable area. I'm guessing that would not happen because if it did, the usefulness of multiple fences would be much negated. |
Laurie Forbes |
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gpspassion
93394 Posts |
Posted - 30 avr. 2011 : 08:56:22
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| Good idea but an SMS/email will be sent when one geofence is exited and the other one entered. It doesn't mean multiple geofences are not useful, case in point a 100 mile trip from geofence A to geofence B. The parties are informed when the trip starts and when the trip ends. |
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NoSmoke
Canada
130 Posts |
Posted - 01 mai 2011 : 00:22:04
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quote:
AS PER THE FAQ, NO NEED TO QUOTE A MESSAGE DIRECTLY ABOVE YOURS, MAKES THE FORUMS EASIER TO READ, THANKS ;-) GPSPASSION TEAM
Hmm, pity. They should program it so going from one fence to another in contact with the first should not trigger an alert but, if the fences are separated, then alert. Looks like I will have to go with a TK102 or some such (or buy a smart phone  ). |
Laurie Forbes |
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gpspassion
93394 Posts |
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smiley1081
Italy
1269 Posts |
Posted - 13 sept. 2011 : 10:01:10
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| BTW, does it also keep a log internally? |
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gpspassion
93394 Posts |
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[TOPIC] Garmin's turnkey GTU-10 Tracker - Testing
