GPS Tracking Key Pro

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Hacked Gadgets has been asked to provide a paid non-biased opinion of this technology.

The GPS Tracking Key Pro is the latest product by LandAirSea Systems. They have been making GPS devices since 1994 so they’re not new to this industry. There is a laundry list of features that make this device quite appealing. Since this device is meant to allow covert tracking, size is very important. As you can see in the picture the device is tiny! The main bulk of the system is the two batteries that power it. Even with only two AA batteries it can still operate for up to 80 hours. Depending on the application I was thinking that may be a bit limiting but I see that you can also connect it directly to a vehicles battery with an optional cable.

Since this device has been built with covert tracking in mind the internal GPS antenna doesn’t require a clear sky view of the GPS satellites, in fact you can stick this unit in the glove box and it will still work.

When you are ready to see where the GPS tracking key has gone you need to plug it into a computer and run the custom software that comes with the device. You are then able to see where the device has been graphically on a map. If you are old school you can also just read a text printout. After having a look at the sample text printout I can think of lots of great uses for this. Small business owners need to keep a vehicle log to write-off vehicle expenses. The text log shows you by address where you have driven and it gives you the exact distance between the locations. This way it would be very simple to have a quick look at this every few days and determine what mileage was for business use.

 

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10 Comments


  1. I can’t imagine the address numbering is going to be very precise, given that programs such as Delorme and websites such as Google Maps are sometimes off by miles on long stretches of road as far as street addresses go.

    Also, does it work in KM?

    For a hidden system, it doesn’t sound bad, but I’m sure there’d be an easier way for mileage tracking by way of carputer and GPS.


  2. All issues of privacy aside, I’d question the ability of it to work under a heavy layer of sheet metal. Gloveboxes are typically made of plastic under plastic dashes which are under glass – usually not much of a shielding problem there, but if you put it under the hood, trunk, roof…whatever, I believe that the signal would get spotty.

    If this is *not* the case, the major market for such miraculous reception will be with every other GPS application as well particularly handheld units for hikers.


  3. I’m sorry, did you mention you got paid for writing three and a bit paragraphs about this thing? And not really what anybody could call a review either, given you don’t seem to have actually road-tested one.
    How do I get into this line of work!?
    😉

    I was also half expecting this device to include some kind of real-time positional updates transmitted via 3G/EDGE, or even SMS? I thought all trackers did. I guess the article just about puts that fact across – it only clicked with me when I went to their site!


  4. Hi Stu,

    The first line of the article discloses that this is a paid non-biased opinion. This unit doesn’t do real time tracking, it just records information to storage in the device. The Victoria does do real time tracking though.
    http://www.landairsea.com/gps-tracking-systems/gps-tracking-victoria.html

    Stay tuned for more information since I will be kicking one of these around in the near future. I will put it through some good tests to see how it holds up and how well the software works.


  5. Thanks Alan
    Look forward to the info.
    You see all this is quite poignant to me, seeing as my car (a fast VW Golf V6) was violently stolen from me by three youths back in January this year.
    I spent the next month or so, being quite paranoid and in shock, developing a tracking system utilising the hardware of a Windows Mobile 3G phone with GPS – transmits a simple 1 packet lat-lon update over 3G to a web server.
    I wrote a .NET mobile application, and paired it with a ASP.NET web application running on a server at home, then utilised Google Maps to visualise the data.
    I tested it on my workplaces Touch Diamond phone, 3G with built in GPS, I gave the phone to my mum, and I told her turn-by-turn where she and my step-dad were going when they went out somewhere I didn’t know. Worked flawlessly, with maybe a 4 second delay at worst!
    I then bought a WinMo phone on Ebay to put it on permanently, eventually install in a car, but the software wouldn’t run correctly on it – a crap old 2G GPRS T-Mobile WinMo v5 phone, and I lost interest, I was calming down a bit too as I slowly recovered from the shock, the ‘project’ went on the back burner.
    .
    As you might understand, the details of the project are kinda top-secret! Don’t want anybody knowing too much about it – security by obscurity if you will! Suffice it to say I still haven’t implemented it in my new car – battery life and recharging being a bit of a killer.
    In a few weeks time, I’m swapping my main mobile phone, a WinMo HTC TyTn2 with an iPhone 3GS, so I’ll be using the TyTn2 as my tracker, should work fine cos its 3G and WinMo v6.
    I spoke to the police officers dealing with the case about my tracking system, and they said it was definitely possible for them to pursue the car given the info from my tracker!
    Would have been pointless developing it if they couldn’t.


  6. interesting, could be useful for post-mortems of exploration treks, given an 80hour battery which sounds like it could be augmented.
    The limitations on this sort of thing is usually the amount of memory available.
    Good to someone was considering the usual faults of limited signals and power barriers – with the charging port you could simply stack bigger batteries for applications which are not size-sensitive, perhaps?


  8. This device is a passive system, but the good thing about that is that their are no monthly fees! This GPS tracker is the most used device among law enforcement agencies since it has the ability to record up to 100 hours of vehicle movement with high-grade lithium batteries. This really is a great GPS tracker for teen tracking.


  9. Erica and Nicole — shills?

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