I've spent the past two days testing the Trackimo trk12m on my Inspire 1 and I just felt it should be mentioned that I'm REALLY happy with the product.

While I'm personally not convinced there is much to the fly away issues other than a whole lot of pilot error, I decided to invest in this anyways as it has potential for so many other non drone related issues (don't have to remember where I parked when I go to a football game).

$139.99 through Amazon. The tracker works through 2g and 3g cellular networks so it has a more robust coverage network than even a new iphone. If your drone crashes into a tree and GPS is not available,it will triangulate using cell phone towers and in my tests that has been spot on.

The app for ios- just works. It's simple and perfect. The first year of service is completely free with your purchase (you don't even have to enter in a credit card) ..  

Happy to answer any questions. Hope this helps someone.

-chris

Hey Chris I was reading some of the reviews on Amazon and came across this one,
Also, the documentation is poor - the user cannot even tell if the unit is off or on! It would be nice if a tiny LED indicated that it was on.

Is this true?

Mike

Hey Mike .. I followed the documentation I received with it to activate and control it. To turn it on you press the power button for three seconds (like an inspire, it verifies you want it to to turn on)  and then it's on indicated by a green led..  The people that claim the documentation sucks are the same people that refuse to read the manual on this site..  

Too Long Didn't Read-  Press power button for three seconds. Green led indicates it's on.  to double verify just open up the app and have it locate the drone.  

If you want to make sure it's on at any point without even touching it, just open up the app and locate it.

Chris Con Posted at 2015-2-21 14:40
Hey Mike .. I followed the documentation I received with it to activate and control it. To turn it o ...

Thanks Chris that's the one I was wanting to get but didn't wanna be the first one to spend the $$$. After reading this mine is ordered and will be here Monday. You have any pictures where you mounted yours?

Mike

Not available in the uk yet, shame

Thanks for posting your review.  Can you tell me how/where you attached it to your Inspire 1?  Also, I see Radio Shack sells it for $49.99.  I'm wondering if they sell it WITHOUT the 1 year subscription included?  I understand that 1 year subscription from Trackimo is $49.95, so that would make it $100 vs $140 from Amazon.

mhervey Posted at 2015-2-22 00:52
Thanks for posting your review.  Can you tell me how/where you attached it to your Inspire 1?  Also, ...

The radio shack ver is the Trackimo TRKM-002 not the Trackimo trk12m..

Hi Chris...a question for you.  We are from Canada and spend four months a year in the States.  We cannot use our Canadian cell because of roaming costs so we buy a cheap tracphone and minutes of airtime.
So how does the Trackimo work if you were in Canada or elsewhere...say Europe?  

My iPad mini has a SIM card slot that I currently don't use.......same one I fly with.

Also I assume there is a Tracimo App that turns on the tracker?

First the mounting questions. Here is a photo of mine mounted. I simply used the including heavy duty 3M velcro.. The velcro is the type where you have to really apply some pressure to pull it off. I have complete confidence it will not fall off during flight.  Also it should be noted that the trackimo comes with a clear weather proof silicon case, which I will fly with but wasn't on when I took this photo.

Regarding the Radioshack question.  Radioshack is going out of business, so they might just be trying to liquidate stock as much as possible. Note: that is the older model which has been discontinued. I couldn't verify if it included the free year of service.  So  you could give it a shot I guess.

Elliot - The Trackimo ships free anywhere in North America and roams free globally.  So you can use it in Canada, The US and Europe for free at anytime  As long as the cell service is one of these frequencies -Quad gsm 850/ gsm900/ dcs1800/ pcs1900  -- That's basically all of earth except for China and a handful of other countries that use proprietary frequencies.
Edited to say.. Also you don't need to do anything with sim cards with this tracker.. It just works and the cellular stuff is internal.

svencool Posted at 2015-2-22 02:02
The radio shack ver is the Trackimo TRKM-002 not the Trackimo trk12m..

What's the difference between the TRKM-002 and the TRK12M?  
The reason I ask is because I also just purchased from Amazon for $139.99, and it was delivered yesterday. However, before I received it, I was doing some further research online and found the TRKM-002 offered on Radio Shack for $49.99. Have been trying to understand the differences ever since.  Interesting thing is, I received my Trackimo from Amazon yesterday, and on the packaging it says the model is TRKM-002, but on a smaller label that was added to the package it says TRK12M.  That would tell me that the TRKM-002 and TRK12M are the same physically, so I assumed the difference was only the additional subscription (perhaps the "12M" = 12 months??)

mhervey Posted at 2015-2-22 04:40
What's the difference between the TRKM-002 and the TRK12M?  
The reason I ask is because I also jus ...

Your thought process on that makes sense.. 12m standing for 12months.  Seems legit.. Does the 2 not include any free service? I don't know.. Still think Radioshack was so cheap because they are liquidating..
Edit: Just checked my packaging from Amazon Mhervey and it's exactly like yours ..  Says the old model number and then the new sticker at the bottom. I'm guessing that you are correct in saying that the only difference is the first year is free.  

What this means to everyone else reading this- Purchase through radioshack and buy a year of service seperately and you will save 40 dollars (+/- shipping)

Thanks for posting this, it's time to tag my bird!

Thanks for the Picture Chris!! I was just thinking do you have to take it off to charge it? If not was thinking of a second was to secure it. I don't know if the adhesive on the velcro that sticks to the plastic would be effect in zero degree weather,  but was thinking that one could take some tape and go around the unit as well as the frame work. To give it a safe guard Was just thinking I guess if it did fall off I'm suppose to be able to find it lol as long as it didn't break on impact.

You don't have to take it off to charge it. It includes a mini usb to regular usb cable that you can attach to charge without removing the tracker. So if you feel more comfortable with additional tape (just in case)  then you can permanently affix the tracker.
-chris

Chris Con Posted at 2015-2-22 07:06
You don't have to take it off to charge it. It includes a mini usb to regular usb cable that you can ...

Nice!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the review... I think I will order one directly through trackimo site... So I think I read somewhere I just have to keep paying a service provider every 3 months to keep a pay ad you go number for it?

Acidsnow Posted at 2015-2-22 07:36
Thanks for the review... I think I will order one directly through trackimo site... So I think I rea ...

^I don't understand what you are saying. .. Pro Tip : Proof Read.

Service provider.... For a cellular number....does it not need one?  

It doesn't . You don't need a sim card or a cellular provider or number.. It just works.

Excelent review. Thanks.

Wow, that's cool. i just ordered. Thank you!

I just got my Trackimo today and just got it activated and it has done something no GPS ever has lol. I nailed my home address!!!! Can't wait to send it out with my son and track it while he drives away Thanks Chris!!!!!!

Mike

Just curious Chris Con as to where you mounted it, i see in the picture how you did but what is it actually mounted over on the Inspire, what is that black part, do you know what the part is, seems to me it could be some sort of antenna? Ordered one of these today and just want to make sure it's mounting location is not interfering with anything on the inspire itself.

Thanks

FlyoverSystems Posted at 2015-2-25 16:16
Just curious Chris Con as to where you mounted it, i see in the picture how you did but what is it a ...

I think this were were the flight data is stored. But would be nice to here for sure tho! I know in most of our aircraft at work DC9's 767's are in the tail of the aircraft. What they figure is the safest spot.

Mike

svencool Posted at 2015-2-25 21:39
I think this were were the flight data is stored. But would be nice to here for sure tho! I know i ...

I been asking DJI what this box is on the rear of the Inspire and simply get no sensible answer or just "I dont know", not what you want to hear.  But still havent found out what the thing is.

http://i1123.photobucket.com/alb ... Inspire%201/box.png

GB44 Posted at 2015-2-26 02:36
I been asking DJI what this box is on the rear of the Inspire and simply get no sensible answer or ...

interesting . . . is anybody gonna take the cover off and take a pic?  I guess I can if nobody else does at the end of the day when I get home from work.

Thanks for the info. Very helpful - prob will pick one up myself.

chad@spark6.com Posted at 2015-2-26 03:42
Thanks for the info. Very helpful - prob will pick one up myself.

Cheap investment compared to what we all have already spent! I will be doing a live test today with my son driving around with this Trackimo.......

Well he just left just about 25 minutes ago and I set it to update every minute. So I pretty much watched him drive to our gym. Seen when he parked in the parking lot. Speed went to 0 but its top speed was off for sure as it 55mph on the way there and it was saying 75mph. I did see it's suppose to get more accurate with use I guess. But as far as position It was SPOT on! The Gym is 32 miles from home so it had no problem tracking that.

I feel pretty confident now that if my inspire did fly off that I could find it pretty darn quickly as I have the app loaded on my phone as well.

Mike

svencool Posted at 2015-2-26 07:06
Well he just left just about 25 minutes ago and I set it to update every minute. So I pretty much wa ...

Nice to know the range will be exactly what everyone is looking for to recover potential lost aircraft.

Acidsnow Posted at 2015-2-26 11:36

Acid...


So what do you think the actual plate/ box is for then ? ?

GB44 Posted at 2015-2-26 22:30
Acid...

its useless really . . . added weight . . . BUT it looks like it there by design for a purpose, but I just can't quite figure out what future "upgrade" or "add-on" could go there??? I dunno . . .

Its there to feed the ribbon cable to the led and usb.

Blade_Strike Posted at 2015-2-27 00:01
Its there to feed the ribbon cable to the led and usb.

Blade,

Does that mean it is ok to put GPS devices on the surface of this plate with velcro.  Nothing will be affected !!

Here are some screenshots of the iPhone app that I cobbled together off the App Store and my own phone.

GB44 Posted at 2015-2-27 00:17
Blade,

Does that mean it is ok to put GPS devices on the surface of this plate with velcro.  Noth ...

Yeah, I wouldn't be worried about it. I might pick up one of these and print out a mount for the arm. You will get better GPS performance if pointed to the sky.

Blade_Strike Posted at 2015-2-27 02:30
Yeah, I wouldn't be worried about it. I might pick up one of these and print out a mount for the a ...

Cheers for the reply Blade.  

I take it therefore the rear of the battery over the black box with the DJI logo could be the best spot to locate a GPS without compromising the fore and aft balance too much.

I was up at Joshua Tree National Park a few days ago.  It is fairly close to normal cell coverage however in this area the there was no cell coverage.  I have a Marco Pollo on the front of my bird for areas such as this and I have a Trackimo coming for areas with cell coverage.
At least if something's goes wrong I can hopefully find my bird....cheapest insurance around I guess.