Ecco GPS Review

Summary

IDC Design Corp’s tiny new Ecco GPS system clips to your car keys…and helps you find your car (or another set location) without a bulky navigation unit.

Sure, the big companies often make a big splash at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but that doesn’t mean smaller companies can’t bring cool products to the show floor. IDC Design Corporation showed off its Ecco Personal Pocket GPS Locator, aiming to give travelers and other folks a handy, reliable way to get back to particular locations…like their hotel, or where they parked their car.

The Ecco GPS is a small device designed to work like a key fob, and be small enough to fit into a pocket with ease. Unlike traditional GPS devices, the Ecco doesn’t pack maps and attempt to give turn-by-turn directions in a creepy shades-of-HAL-9000 voice. Instead, when a user needs to get back to a particular point, he or she just pushes one of three location buttons on the unit. When the user wants to get back to that spot—for instance, a car, a hotel room, or a particular booth on the CES show floor—the unit displays an arrow pointing toward the location, along with a display estimating the distance to that point.

The Ecco device charges via USB, and IDC Design Corp. says the device can track distance up to 9,999 miles—which unless you’re regularly abducted by aliens, ought to be good enough. One downside of using GPS for the service, however, is that the Ecco doesn’t have any perception of altitude, so users trying to get back to a location in a particular building might find themselves directly above (or below) their intended location.