Rather than relying on a smartphone linked over Bluetooth or a community of people utilizing the same tracking device, the Remora tracker is a standalone tracking device that uses cellular data to track your position in real-time on Google Maps. In addition, users can track the speed that a tracker is moving in addition to elevation changes over time using GPS data.
While tracking elevation is ideal for anyone that hikes mountainous areas of the wilderness, the Remora tracker also includes an impact sensor. If a hiker takes a significant fall or a cyclist were to get hit by a car, the impact sensor would trigger a location notification that’s sent to your emergency contacts. Assuming your emergency contact also has access to the real-time tracking data, they would be able to see if you are moving at all on the map.
Another feature of the Remora tracker is the ability to setup geo-fencing areas that will trigger alerts if a virtual fence is broken. This would be particularly ideal for children that take a specific route to school, either walking with friends or riding on a bus. If a child was kidnapped, the tracker would trigger an alert as well as provide the speed and direction at which the kidnapper’s car was traveling.
Geo-fencing is also ideal for pets. While microchips do a good job of keeping track of a pet’s owner, microchip tech is completely reliant on the pet getting scanned by a veterinarian or a shelter. A pet owner is dependent on others to find the animal. Alternatively, a pet owner with with Remora tracker would be able to go directly to their pet’s location using the real-time tracking data.
Other potential groups that would be ideal for the Remora tracker would be anyone that has difficulty communicating such as elderly folks suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease as well as children that suffer from Autism. It could also be useful for specific objects, like using it as a well-hidden, lo-jack system for your car or tracking lost luggage that your airline seems to be moving all around the country.
Interestingly, the company developing the Remora tracker is including an athlete mode that updates your friends and family with progress when competing. For instance, you could send out a link when you start running a marathon and your friends would be able to track your real-time position in the race as well as receive a notification when you finish the entire route.
While there are a number of backing levels on the device’s Kickstarter page, the eventual retail price for the tracker will be $79. Different from other trackers on the market, there will be a $10 monthly subscription fee to pay for the cellular data connection. The tracker is waterproof, ideal for triathlon swimmers, and can provide temperature alerts. Battery life is currently undetermined at this time with a potential range of three to ten days. The company is working to push past the ten day mark prior to shipping the device.
As with all Kickstarter or Indiegogo projects, be aware that manufacturing delays often push delivery of the final product to weeks or even months beyond the original projected shipping window. The current timeline projection of the Remora tracker is to move into beta testing during December 2016 and ship the final product during early 2017, assuming the project is fully backed.