The Land Air Sea Tracking Key is an affordable GPS data logger which can log data every second. It runs on 2 AAA batteries and uses USB to download data to the user's computer. It is for applications where real-time tracking is not needed.

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Product Description

TRACKING KEY LAS-1505 LandAirSea Tracking Key

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3444 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: TRACKING KEY
• Model: LAS-1505
• Dimensions: 1.50" h x 6.25" w x 10.00" l, .37 pounds

Features

• Ideal For Parents Who Want To See If Their Teenagers Are Speeding Or Employers Who Want To See Where Their Employees Are Driving
• Small, Pocket-Sized Gps Device
• Receives Signals From 24 Gps Satellites Orbiting The Earth
• Internal Computer Accurately Determines The Location Of Device Within 2.5 M & Records Data Every Sec
• Can Be Easily Hidden In Or Under Car

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Customer Reviews

Excellent System at Low Cost
I was really suspicious when I went GPS shopping, because I'd heard so many problems about metal blocking signals and so forth. I put the tracking key through all kinds of tests in my van, hiding it upside down under the seat, inside the dash, stashing it back inside the compartment for the jack, surrounding it with metal and pointing it in all different directions (it recommends you keep it upright, but I found it doesn't make a difference, this thing still works perfectly!). It's only disadvantage is that as a data logger, you have to retrieve it before you get the tracking info to download to your computer. The battery lasted me about two weeks of regular driving, though, so it more than compensated. But yeah, as a first time buyer of a tracking device and thorough tester, I was highly impressed. It shows on an overhead map (adjustable to satellite images with Google Earth!) the exact path the vehicle took, or an animated time-clocked journey, showing where it went, how long it stopped, when it took off again. No matter how deeply I hid it in the car, it never lost my signal once. Shop around a little bit to avoid overcharging companies, and you might want to wrap a piece of black electrical tape on the green battery light on the outside of the case for better hiding. Definitely an excellent buy, I'd recommend it to anyone with covert tracking needs.

Works great, somewhat awkward to use
Although I plan to use this device to keep track of my soon-to-be-driving teenager's whereabouts, my first crack at it was during my own storm chasing activities -- deliberate self-surveillance. Outside our "day" jobs, my wife and I are professional photographers (www.insojourn.com) as well as storm observers, and have desired for years to have a simple and easy way to mark very specifically the locations and times of all our storm intercept activities, as well as our photography stops. This does the trick.

It seems you will need to be still for more than about 5-7 minutes for the output to show a stop, but because of two factors, we still get useful output, even for quick "pull-outs" to photograph a storm under potentially dangerous conditions:

1. High spatial resolution: Pulling safely off the highway, as storm chasers are supposed to do when performing photography, shows up on the tracking at highest (2.5 m) resolution as a knob or bump on the path.

2. High temporal resolution: The raw (.las) log file shows the times and locations, so one can see when one was stopped even for brief "stop-n-shoot-fast" situations.

The same concept can apply if you're monitoring your fleet drivers, and one goes through the liquor store drive-through when on the job. Zoom in far enough in Google-Earth, and you will see his track into that parking lot or off the road. I mag-mounted the tracker to the inner top/back window frame of my sedan, and its reception was almost flawless. I can't speak for its reception when placed in more surreptitious locations in a vehicle; but others here have posted glowing reviews.

My favorite aspect of the LAS Tracker is that its output uploads directly into Google-Earth, so we can use the latter to match all our photo locations to the landmarks around the shoot. A photographer can derive very precise directional and positioning info this way, in combination with the EXIF data from the camera that shows the lens' focal length, to better locate a distant subject, in addition to himself. Outstanding!

LAS Tracker has three minor nuisances, all involving the batteries.

1. One has to unscrew the battery compartment and pull the batteries to turn it on and off. I realize this was designed deliberately, so the subject of surveillance can't just switch it off. [My subject will be threatened with loss of driving privileges if any harm comes to the device, or its signal is interrupted for any reason, whether his fault or not.] But the battery compartment's screws are *tiny*, and therefore, easily fumbled, dropped and lost by someone like me with large hands.

2. The battery compartment is too deep for the batteries, which on rough and shaky roads, may pop loose from the terminals while still within the compartment. I jerry-rigged a solution by folding up a piece of #2 plastic between the compartment door and the battery slots, to hold them in place.

3. Battery life is far below what's advertised. When using Ni-metal hydride (rechargeable) batteries, I had to change them out every day. When I tried to leave them in two days, the batteries (new Energizers, BTW) ran out during the evening of day-2.

I don't use its own mapping software, just Google-Earth. So I can't comment one way or another about the software.

All in all, I do recommend the device, as long as you are willing to change/charge batteries daily, and to build that into your surveillance routine as habit.

Item works well for the price
I received this Tracking device 2 weeks ago. I wanted something that was inexpensive and I did not have the need for a subscription based product. I have access to the device daily. I put it inside the vehicle where it does not have metal overhead as indicated for best reception. On one of the reviews I read that the batteries are not lasting but one or two days for the reviewer. My experience over the last two weeks is very different. I am using a cheap alkaline Walgreens brand battery and just changed it today after 13 days. The low battery indicator was not activated but I felt it was time to change it just in case. The Past Track software that comes with it is not the greatest but it works. It also works well with Google Earth. There are a few different settings that can be customized for viewing and individual dates of tracking. As stated by the other review it does not show a brief stop as a listed stop, but once you see it in action it is easy to know if a stop was made. You also know for how long it was even though brief. You can even play a moving diagram of the vehicles movement and watch the clock at the same time. Over all if you need a device that you are able to access for downloading this is the one to get. I did a lot of research and reading for the different passive devices and this one comes out to be the best for the job it does. I have seen the prices are all over the board at retailers and the internet and 199.00 seems the lowest so far. I hope this is helpful to someone.