Review on Spot SPOT TRACE 01 Trace Orange Small by Jacob Rasmussen

I used to/now have had two other trackers. The first one had a much more basic presentation of information, so I replaced it with this one: SpyTech STI GL 300 (Spy Tec STI GL300 Mini Portable Real Time Personal and Vehicle GPS Tracker). I wasn't happy with the battery life so I ordered Spot Trace. My rating is based on a comparison of the two products. To be honest, I don't use Trace to track an asset in case it gets stolen; I use it to continuously monitor an asset for different periods of time. Spot Trace attracted me for two reasons: better battery life and the ability to change the frequency of reports, which in turn increases battery life. Spot Trace was easy to activate and practically up and running within minutes of receiving it. At this point, however, I realized that one of the features that interested me the most was not meeting my expectations. You cannot change the reporting frequency on the fly. To change this, Trace needs to be connected to your computer via USB so that a firmware update can be performed. My original intention was to use Spot Trace as SpyTech's backup, set 60 minute intervals and increase the reporting frequency once SpyTech's battery dies. Impossible. That plan went there. My choice to switch to "Extreme Tracking" turned out to be a waste of money for this reason, as I never set the total tracking time to 2½ minutes. I also wanted to see what tracking looked like, so I threw the Trace in the bag I take to and from work. I left the trace at factory defaults and reported it at 5 minute intervals. The app and website provide enough information to see Trace's location. Two key bits of information missing from the trace tracking messages I'm used to from SpyTech are the current battery level and speed. Trace lets you know when your battery is low, but doesn't help you when your asset is on the move. And the ability to know the speed is very useful for me. I then changed the trace to report at 10 minute intervals. I'm not exactly sure what the problem is here, but I haven't received any reports from Trace between the first 'Motion detected' message and the 'Plant stopped' message. There were no tracking reports during my two hour journey. I then factory reset the trace and everything worked fine. After both changes, Spot Trace Updater showed that the firmware was correct. I haven't tried contacting support yet because to be honest I'm annoyed. I will update this review as soon as I do. As a result, I didn't start Trace as planned. To accommodate batteries for longer life, Trace is significantly larger and heavier than SpyTech. So it's harder to hide where I've hidden SpyTech, so it will take a little ingenuity and a little time. The benefits I see in Trace are: • Extra battery life • The lights stop blinking after 20 minutes to be invisible.” The downsides I see in Trace are: • It's harder for me to hide (Your mileage may vary) • Battery status is only reported when low • Speed is not reported • Changes to some settings, including the reporting interval, require a firmware update • After changing the trace reporting interval, no tracking was seen at all -Updates provided.That's my two cents. Again, my usage isn't necessarily intended for trace. So this could be perfect for you. I recommend reading the manual before purchasing so you know what you're getting. I don't think Revain will let me post a link to the user guide, but you can easily find it online. /2017 and activated on 09/09/2017. The discount is available on the Spot website.