Trakdot Luggage Tracker, Black/Orange, One Size

I am a techno-geek who loves to try out the latest electronics gadgets. Since I also travel on vacation periodically to multipledestinations throughout the world I was particularly intrigued to learn of a device that allowed me to keep track of my baggage.Here is my experience. I purchased 4 trackdots through Amazon (Units A,B,C & D) and then two months later another two directly fromTrackdot (Units E & F) in order to take advantage of a free lifetime subscription. I believe the units from Trackdot were newerthan those from Amazon as the manuals were bigger and more detailed but otherwise they were all identical. I registered/activatedall 6 devices under one account using the Trakdot website, gave each one a unique name (A thru F) and color, and then linked eachone to three devices (my cell, my wife's cell (for SMS) and our joint email (as backup)). Prior to our trip I tested battery life(got about 14-15 days out of each with fresh Duracell Duralock AA's dated 2021) and even did a test-run to BWI airport whereupon each device texted and emailed us that they were at BWI in Baltimore. So far, so good. As noted in other reviews these devices will ONLY text or emailyou once when they are in the immediate vicinity of an airport (maybe a 4-5 mile radius?) and nowhere else. Furthermore these devices use cellulartriangulation for location, not GPS, so the map function on the phone app will only tell you the approximate location of your device(county or province) when not at an airport. With all 6 devices sitting on my kitchen table the map showed each one as far as 6-10 miles apart. So, you will NOT be able to use these devices to track down the thief who stole your bags from the claim area by telling the police exactly where they live. When the time came to leave from PHL I inserted fresh batteries in all six units, turned them on and basically just threwone into each of 4 checked bags (C, D, E & F) and the other two (A & B) into each of our separate carry-ons (as a control). The ON/OFFmechanism is a little wonky but when combined with the sciphoid shape of each unit does effectively help to prevent inadvertentdeactivation when burried in a suitcase that is stacked under ten other suitcases. As we drove from Baltimore to Philadelphia weboth received text messages from each unit on our phones while passing 3 or 4 different airports in the vicinity of I-95N. Then onarrival @ PHL another flurry of SMS messages from each unit. So far, so good. I checked-in 4 bags (units A-D) and took the 2carry-ons with us to the lounge (units A & B). As indicated on the Trakdot website none of the units posed any problems or concernsgetting past the TSA. 9 hours later we landed in Rome (FCO). Turned on our phones when we got to the arrival gate and promptly received 6 emails that ourbags were at PHL. My heart sank. However, at this point the only thing that prevented me from having a massive stroke was that both units A& B reported the same thing which was impossible since our carry-ons were right by our side. Went to the baggage claim area andafter 20 harrowing minutes here come all 4 of our bags. When we got to the hotel I checked all 6 devices only to find that none ofthem was able to connect to the cellular network in Rome (red LEDs on each). I didn't recall Rome as being on the list of airportswhere the device does not work but apparently it doesn't. At this point I just left each device on and the next day we departed ona cruise from Civitavecchia. From this point on everytime the ship passed close to an airport the devices texted me until thebatteries died. I got texts from Santorini, Istanbul, Athens, and other locations I'd never even heard of just because we wereclose enough to their airports. The devices were all working properly at this point (All except device E....more on this later).Now, however the batties only lasted about 6 days versus 15 days sitting on a shelf at home...I suspect that constant roaming/searching for locations utilizes a huge power draw so this may explain why reviewers' experiences with battery life are so vastly different. Left Rome 12 days later with fresh batteries (still no SMS or email from devices at Rome airport). Flew to Paris (CDG)where all devices (except E) texted me and my wife as expected. However there was almost a 20min difference in notifications fromthe first device to the last to send an SMS so despite receiving an SMS from device A on our way to the baggage claim area, Ididn't get messages from C or F until we were in a taxi on our way to the hotel. The units were all turned off at the hotel until 4 days laterfor our next leg from CDG to LHR. Again all reported in with SMS @ CDG and LHR (except E) but with a 15min differential in response fromslowest to fastest. Ditto for flight back from LHR to IAD. On returning home I was ready to send device E back to company as defective, but decided to check my account one more timeand noticed that the previously registered SMS and email information for only device E had mysteriously disappeared from my account. Not surewhy....nothing was done after initial setup and this unit worked fine from BWI all the way to PHL. Re-entered info and now device worksfine again. Lessons learned: These little things are a great concept and can really give the frequent flier piece-of-mind but theystill need further development. Trakdot should setup a user-defined database of airports that work and airports where users havehad trouble connecting. Always travel with fresh AA batteries...expect only 5-6 days continuous use at best depending on cellularconnections/device activity so plan accordingly. Also use the zipper pull-tab on your suitcase as a tool to remove the batteries from each devicewhen replacing...if not you WILL lose multiple fingernails trying to get them out. DONT rely on just one device...the more thebetter as reporting times after landing can vary from seconds to as much as 20min. Also keep one in your carry-on as a control soyou dont have a heart-attack like I almost did in Rome. I never used the Bluetooth locator on my iphone...it only worked withinabout 10-20feet at home and my eyesight is better than that. Finally, before and during each trip periodically check your accountat the Trakdot website to make sure that any of your devices contact information hasn't disappeared between journeys. Happy travels!Follow-up: started out as a great product with a few flaws in 2015(see above). Since then, progressively more unreliable on multiple trips both domestic & international. Now on a recent trip to Hawaii thru MIA DFW and HNL NOT A SINGLE ONE of my 6 trakdots worked. Fresh batteries in all. Only 2 ever gave me the green light connection signal on power-up but I threw them all i to bags just the same. NOT one EVER texted or emailed me during our entire trip through thise major airports. NOT ONE, EVER. Based on other users experiences I think the company may be out if business and no longer supporting this product. Maybe cellular connection fees are too costly to maintain? Not sure. Either way Amazon needs to stop selling this product because it doesnt work anymore. I will throw all 6 of mine in the trash tomorrow....just extra weight in my bags now.UPDATE: As of October 1, 2018 all worldwide cellular carriers have officially stopped supporting 2G networks. This is what Trakdot uses to function. So now all of my devices are officially useless. Trakdot sent current subscribers an email that says they are working on a solution, but there is no solution other than to sell you a newer product (whatever that might be) at a discount. They do point out that the Bluetooth functionality still works which is great if your bags are so close to you that you can see them. What’s the point? I guess I’m a sucker according to PT Barnum.

Most of you have probably experienced the "missing" or worse, "lost" bag on your trips. I was visiting my friend a few weeks ago and he had a few of these "Trakdot" luggage tracking devices. I had seen similar devices before (on Kickstarter) but the Trakdot seemed like it his a nice sweet spot of cost and annual service ($20/year, first year free). So this post is about my experience with this device.What is it?The Trackdot [Amazon - $69.95, Direct - $49.99] is a small black box that runs on two AA batteries for 48 hours. Included in my device, purchased from Amazon was 1 year of service. I don't know how much it is after that (I think $20/year) and I'm not sure it will matter (see more below). It contains a GSM SIM card allowing it to send text messages from anywhere in the world. The idea is that when ever the bag arrives at any airport, it wakes up and sends you a text message telling you where it is.Trakdot also has an iOS and Android app that allows you to pair it via bluetooth and receive push notifications. I found the iOS app to be quite buggy. It never kept my signin info, I never got push notifications, and the Bluetooth feature is bizzare. I could not really understand how to get it to work. The idea is that if the bag is within 40 ft of your phone it will vibrate. This could be useful for example to detect of the bag is on your plane. However, when it vibrates it doesn't stop. You have to exit the app. I'm not sure what the purpose of that is.Why did you get it?Well, I wanted to make sure my bags were on the plane I was on, that they made their connections etc. On the way home our 90 minute layover turned into a 30 minute layover, and it gave me piece of mind to know that when I landed at SeaTac my bag let me know it was there. Had I not received the SMS I could have immediately gone to the lost bag counter and possibly even told them where it was (maybe it went to the wrong city).So how did it work? Well it worked OK. I did receive an SMS before departing Seattle. However, I did not receive one upon landing in KEF airport in Iceland. I sent them a support request and didn't hear back till a few days later. And till now they don't appear to have a grip on why. When leaving KEF to CDG I did get an SMS (great, maybe there was a bug), but then when arriving in Paris at CDG I got my SMS message after retrieving my luggage from baggage claim (30 min later). So it worked, but not how I would expect. I expected to get an SMS within a few minutes of landing.On the return trip things fared a bit better. I did not get an SMS in KEF Iceland, despite the fact that we were on the ground for an hour.... but then I got an SMS immediately when arriving at SEA (within minutes of landing).So, my guess is that this device works great in the United States, and is pretty spotty internationally. I am still waiting to hear back from them about this experience. Based on this alone, I could not recommend this product to anyone till these bugs are worked out.How has it made your life better?Well, primarily piece of mind. If this technology were more mature, and the cost were lower, I could see this being pretty standard in a few years. In fact, given that there is an opportunity for an annual service fee and a better customer relationship / insights, I could see all the big baggage companies offering this service themselves (Tumi, Rimowa, Briggs & Riley, Victorinox, and so on). In fact, this seems like a good upgrade to the Victorinox Swiss Army Bag tracker program.However, this is still a pretty immature product category and given the issues that I experienced, they have a long way to go to stabilize the technology.But for the price, I think it's a reasonable product and assuming the bugs get fixed, I could see owning these for all my luggage in the future.Are you going to keep it?Since I purchased this already (sunk cost), I plan to keep it. I wish they would move to a device that lasted longer (lithium disposable batteries, or rechargeable) as well as an iOS app that wasn't incomprehensible and SMS messages that were reliable.