PocketFinder Outdoor Personal GPS Locator

I've been using PocketFinder for the past 2 years. I did a lot of research prior to purchasing (even reviewed Kickstarter) and found that PocketFinder had the best balance of form factor and features. I live in a suburb of Boston. Bought the first device for my daughter when she started riding the school bus. Bought another one recently for my son as well. I've used them when traveling to NYC. From my experience, they are super accurate. So accurate in fact that when my daughter is at lunch or recess, I can see the device tracking her in the school's cafeteria or in the play yard. The Zone feature is great because during the winter months, we don't have to stand outside and "guess" when the bus will arrive. We have a zone set up to trigger an alert and we know that once in this zone, we have about 8 minutes to walk to the corner.PocketFinder also works well as an adhoc GPS for your luggage! Throw one in the bag and you'll always know where it is!I think what most customers may not realize is that you will benefit by contacting their support to "tune" your device. I highly recommend everyone do this immediately and before they start using the device. The GPS sensitivity, sleep mode, and GSM wake-up can all be balanced for your needs. This will improve accuracy and battery life given where you live and how you use the device. Unfortunately, these adjustments can only be made by their support personnel. As for their support, I have NEVER had an issue with the speedy response and/or attention they give. Yes, support can only be initiated through their online form (there's no 800 line) but I have always been contacted back by email in less than 24hrs and/or received a call from the support rep.When you factor in the monthly cost and initial device investment, PocketFinder is better and cheaper.

I purchased this item for a friend whose child is diagnosed with asperger syndrome.Idea behind this product is wonderful however execution and most importantly customer service is nonexistent. My friend lives in Europe and I was assured that country I was taking this item to, will work without any problems. During the activation I explained this to person I was speaking to that item will be taken out of the country. Before I left a notice on my credit card that I was only charge $12.95 and not $29.95. I called them to find out why, I was told they did not have that information on my account. Okay I guess I can live with that, let's correct it and move on. They did charge me correct amount. Interesting thing to say that each time I called them I was asked to charge the unit(even though it was fully charged) while in Europe I was able to get the signal but it was very inconsistent and unit was most of time "sleeping" instead of showing accurate location. I call them to find out what is going on, I was told to place item on the charger(it was fully charged), then I was told framework was old and units needed to be updated and assured it will work after that. However it didn't. Again most of its time it was in deep sleeping and from time to time showing location. Very disappointing and frankly embarrassed in front of my friend whom I is sure I found the item that she needed. Just couple days ago I called them to cancel my account, I was apologize for item number working properly and my account was canceled. Just today I noticed charge on my credit card for $12.95. The fact that they charge me is something I would expect out of bad company but charging me $12.95 and not $29.95 it's why everyone should stay away from them!

Putting this review on hold after a helpful call from Pocketfinder customer service! Thanks to this call I'm now aware of some fixes to the problems I had outlined below, though I have yet to test them out, completely. Once I do, and all is well, I will delete this review and write the glowing version :) Part of the issue is that the following tips are not readily available in the instructions, so please call customer service if you find your device not doing what you would like it to, don't necessarily assume its just not capable. you might even all them ahead of purchase to see if it will do as you need it to.One thing I learned right away is that i CAN indeed find my own location in relation to the pocket finder...the secret was in the iPhone App. I was previously accessing pocket finder on my smartphone or computer by going to the pocket finder website and signing in there. When I did that, I could track the pocket finder, but not see my own location. Apparently there is an iPhone App for pocket finder as well. the iPhone or iPad app has self location capabilities, which solves my issue. There I am, a perfect blue dot...this should be a huge help in tracking my husband's location in unfamiliar areas! Unfortunately for android users, I'm told their app does NOT have this feature. For me, problem solved in that issue.The next issue I had was poor speed of locating, which I'm told was a setting issue. The user can set how often the device gets tracked, options being once a day, 4x a day, every 10 minutes, or every 2 minutes. The more it tracks, the more battery power is used, so I had it set for every 10 minutes. There is a locate button that I had pressed in between those 10 minute intervals if I wanted an instant update. HOWEVER, apparently, that LOCATE button is deceiving. It apparently does not actually offer an instant update. Customer service suggests setting it to the more frequent locating intervals for my purposes.....and here's a big surprise: It can actually be set BY CUSTOMER SERVICE ONLY to 1 minute intervals, if your usage needs can put up with the lessened battery life. it is not commonly shared because it will eat considerable battery power at this rate and they are worried that customers will dislike their product because it won't last. However, if you need more accurate and swift locating, and are aware of it's time limitations (my need for several hours use should be fine on 1 minute intervals setting) call customer service to get this changed. LIKE IN AN EMERGENCY, for example. I have yet to test this suggestion, but for my next use it will be set to the 1 minute intervals, and we'll see how everything goes then. I should have an update in a couple weeks or less.The following is my old review:I wanted it to track my husband during triathlons. Previously, I would choose locations to stand about looking for him to come out of swimming to cheer him on, and then to await in some other location for him to ride by on the bike for more cheering and rooting on, and try to track him down on the hours long run thereafter, which is always a crapshoot and is a lot of time spent standing around and afraid to DO anything entertaining for fear of missing a glimpse and a wave as he goes by. It was a frustrating business, as I had to watch everyone that passes and wonder, if I took a bathroom break or wanted to spend downtime checking out the area, had I missed him or was he still approaching? If he went by unnoticed I could stand for hours looking and never know, and easily miss him on the next leg for that reason. With him wearing the pocket finder, I hoped to find his location and position myself accordingly, and be able to predict timing of his arrival at my location easily.Sadly, it really has not been very helpful so far.Things that would have made this device useful:1. If it picked up moving targets faster. Each time I ask it to pinpoint the location it takes at least a full minute, sometimes several minutes, and often fails to get a lock on location at all and you have to ask it again and wait again. If he is somewhat close, I cannot afford minutes staring at my screen to see his progress. If I were trailing a child in trouble, I'd have ripped my hair out in frustration and probably had a psychotic breakdown to boot. It'd be like calling 911 and being placed on hold for several minutes. then disconnected. Then placed on hold when you called back.2. If it showed MY actual location in relation to the pocket finder location so that I can see where I am in relation to the carrier. Even as it successfully picks up his location, it's of little help if I cannot figure out where my own location is in relation to that. Is he coming toward me? or moving away? I see his icon, but is that close? Where am I on this map? Triathlons are not held in my hometown where I am familiar with what I am seeing on the map. I need a dot designating YOU ARE HERE on my phone's map so I can watch the icon that is my husband approaching me or heading away from me, as the case may be.I gave it 3 stars because I feel like with practice I can make this work for me...maybe. It DOES find the location accurately enough, eventually. It helped me realize when my husband had stopped for an unusual amount of time (turned out he had a mechanical bike problem and the race was over for him. That was useful). I am hoping to find ways to work within its limitations to improve my triathlon watching experience.