Reviewing The Shortcomings Of Passive GPS

Concerned families and smart companies are always looking for tools to enhance personal safety and accountability. This is why affordable GPS vehicle tracking products such as GPS data loggers have been so incredibly popular recently. Although data loggers can offer many positive features, there are five (5) problems with the tracking devices that all consumers should be aware of before making an investment in the passive trackers.

Problem 1: GPS Data Loggers Provide Offer No Automotive & Asset Security

If a consumer wants to purchase a GPS data logger to improve auto-theft security they will be s*** out of luck because passive trackers have no way to provide real-time updates. What makes GPS data loggers more affordable is that they do not have monthly fees because they do not send live data. Instead, all locational data and travel history are stored upon the tracker for the user to download at a later time. That means if a person purchased a GPS car tracking device and placed it on their vehicle in hope that if the automobile gets stolen they can quickly recover the vehicle they are going to be walking to their next destination.

Problem 2: GPS Data Loggers Provide No Panic Button Option Feature

Those who invest in GPS hardware for personal safety related to monitoring seniors will quickly realize that GPS data loggers simply are not the answer. This is because passive trackers have zero ability to send out alerts. That means if a senior wearing a GPS data logger falls and needs assistance the tracker they have will not offer any panic button that can be used to call out for help.

Problem 3: GPS Data Loggers Provide No Geographical Fencing

Parents who invest in GPS trackers to monitor the activity of their special needs children usually do so to prevent any wandering or impulse running. A common behavior among kids with autism, impulse running can leave a distracted parent frightened, especially if a family lives near a busy street. With geographical fencing though parents can be alerted the moment their kids walk out the front door. Unfortunately, GPS data loggers do not provide geofence alerts so parents better make sure all doors are locked if they want to protect their kids.

Problem 4: GPS Data Loggers Provide No Speed Alerting

GPS data loggers will store the maximum speed driven by a motorist per day, but parents extremely concerned with receiving live updates of unsafe driving practices by their teen drivers or companies looking to be certain drivers are following the rules of the road will find themselves disappointed. This is because GPS data loggers do not have the ability to provide real-time updates about the speed a driver is traveling. Speed alerts are a great feature that will send concerned parents or fleet managers a text message or email the very second a teen driver or employee is traveling at unsafe speeds. This will allow the parent or business to intervene before an accident potentially happens. By using a data logger the parent or business will have to wait until they download data to see speeding data.

Problem 5: GPS Data Loggers Have Limited Reporting Options

One of the reasons why many businesses call upon the use of a GPS tracker is for mileage documentation or some other form of daily driving reporting. However, since passive GPS trackers are not designed to read information from the onboard diagnostic port of an automobile they cannot determine whether a driver is aggressively speeding, braking, or leaving their vehicle in an idling mode. Since GPS data loggers cannot detect this information they also cannot offer reports on this data. Therefore, the trackers cannot provide overly detailed information related to complete vehicle activity and diagnostics.