Recently, an interesting tracking device was introduced on the crowdfunding service Indiegogo. The BluTracker is a Bluetooth-based tracking device with a long range of 800 m (2500 feet), motion detection and a battery that lasts over 2 months. Almost all tracking devices, like PetTracker, use GSM connectivity, which comes with a monthly fee. There is no additional cost for the BluTracker, which is really a great advantage.
But how is this possible with Bluetooth?
They use in-house custom modified RF amplifiers designed for very long ranges and a special long range omnidirectional antenna. Cool, right? But it doesn't get any worse when you look at the features. The device works with a special iPhone app that's really basic but good enough: on Google Maps, you see yourself as a blue dot and BluTracker as a red dot. There's also a geofencing option. You can draw a circle on a Google map and every time the BluTracker moves outside of that geofence, your phone will alert you. Great for tracking pets or kids.
The radar function
But there's an even cooler feature for indoors where you can't use GPS. The Radar Screen feature displays the BluTracker on a radar-like screen with the relative distance of the BluTracker to your phone (but not the direction). So once you've found a BluTracker you want to find on the radar screen, you walk in a certain direction and see if it's getting closer or moving away. Not bad at all.
The verdict
The company is offering an early bird pre-order deal for just $69 with an expected delivery date of April 2013 if you want to reserve your copy now. The plan is to sell the BluTracker for around $85 once it's available in stores later this year. That's really not a bad price for such a device. It's small, lightweight, waterproof, has a long battery life, a motion detector, a range of almost 1 km and no additional mobile data charges. I'll definitely be buying one when it comes out.
Source: Engadget
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