Personal GPS tracker recommendation?

[Experimentalist]

My family and I are signed up for a two-week vacation in Europe this Spring.

Thinking ahead to potential challenges, having some means of locating others in our party could be useful. I'm partly worried about older family members, and partly worried about younger family members with poor judgement.

I see there are GPS tracking options available, some easily pocketed.

Does anyone have experience with such things? Is one brand better than another? Are there details the newbie may not be aware of?

This would be for "overt" use. In other words I'd buy one for every member of our party, tell everyone in advance what the item is, what it does, and why I want to use it.

 

[joefrank64k]

I think Apple AirTags would work great for the purpose you’re describing (as would Find My if everyone allows their location to be shared).

I always have an AirTag in each piece of luggage and backpack. A four pack is ~$70.

 

[fiatlux]

For young kids and elderly you can buy shoe insoles that will accommodate an apple air-tag as well

 

[Warpspeed]

Apple has this feature on their phones - does everyone in the group have an iPhone by chance ?

 

[fiatlux]

Apple has this feature on their phones - does everyone in the group have an iPhone by chance ?

The thing is, if he's going to Europe, unless he buys internet for every single person he's not going to be able to see their location. Having an Apple AirTag eliminates that problem. BTW OP, buying E-Sim online now is an easy way to get service now overseas for a very affordable price.

 

[bonesurf]

The thing is, if he's going to Europe, unless he buys internet for every single person he's not going to be able to see their location. Having an Apple AirTag eliminates that problem. BTW OP, buying E-Sim online now is an easy way to get service now overseas for a very affordable price.

this. good advice

 

[2muchsoysauce4allthisrice]

Garmin Inreach? Great for the backcountry and off the grid? Uses satellite tracking. I use the Inreach explorer +.

I am saying this assuming that they are not paying for cell phone coverage where their phones have signal.

If you want overt; go with the mini.

You can see their location on your phone once they send you their map share link.

If you all will have cell phone coverage and not limited to wi-fi, have apple phones, just share your location with each other.

I have tried this portion but….If you don’t all have Apple phones there are probably apps where you can track each others locations? Remember hearing about those parents that install apps on their kids phones to track their location without them knowing?

 

[2muchsoysauce4allthisrice]

If you have Apple iPhone 15 or newer, with the newer update iOS, users can share their location with you via satellite once they have signal again.

Will you or them be paying for cell phone coverage in Europe where you can use internet? Just asking because sometimes people don’t; and wait until having wi-fi access for calls.

WeChat is actually a good app for calling each other with wi-fi or internet service. But the person you are calling also needs a profile and have the app. Great way for making international calls to people around the world using simply wi-fi.

 

[9mmContagion]

Can’t beat air tags. Price and capabilities are unbeatable for what you are looking to use this for. Just make sure everyone is aware, because they will notified that they’re being tracked

 

[Call_me_Tom]

I travel for work and use AirTags for everything.

However, because the AirTag uses other people’s Apple iPhones for location tracking it’ll send them a warning message that there’s an AirTag near by that could possibly be tracking them. For my young children that spend half a day at school, daycare, etc. and around the same people all of the time setting off their AirTag I use Apple Watches.

The Apple Watch will send GPS location from the watch and not rely on random people’s iPhones for location and sending them constant warnings of possibly being tracked.

 

[2muchsoysauce4allthisrice]

I have tried this portion but….If you don’t all have Apple phones there are probably apps where you can track each others locations? Remember hearing about those parents that install apps on their kids phones to track their location without them knowing?

Correction: I have NOT tried this portion

 

[2muchsoysauce4allthisrice]

If you have Apple iPhone 15 or newer, with the newer update iOS, users can share their location with you via satellite once they have signal again.

Correction: once they have access to satellite again. They will need to manually share their location by pressing share location via satellite on the iPhone.

 

[boltstop]

For the price, AirTags can't be beat.

These are passive and millions are in use everyday around the world.

There are neck lanyards on Amazon (similar to luggage tags but with a longer cord) that kids and elderly can put around their necks and inside their jackets so as to be unobtrusive.

 

[CWINSD]

I have everyone on my family connected to Life 360 and can track their location on my iPhone as long as they have their phone's etc. with them. Also have Air Tags and can track on Find My.

 

[Experimentalist]

Hey everyone, thanks so much for all your insights.

I think most - if not everyone - in my party will be using Android phones. Unfortunately that greatly reduces the utility of Apple AirTags.

The idea of tracking apps installed on cell phones is interesting, I'll have to look into that.

The Garmin InReach is appealing for several reasons. Unfortunately the cost of buying one for each person in our party is prohibitive.

There are some interesting options, like this tracker for sale on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/【2025-NEW】Mi...437499&sprefix=person+tracker,aps,160&sr=8-10

A number of options are available, the above link is but one example: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=person+t...refix=person+tracker,aps,160&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

So many of these items can be acquired at more reasonable cost. The real question is reliability.

I may buy one and play with it, just to satisfy my curiosity.

 

[2muchsoysauce4allthisrice]

Yes, Euro trips can be expensive. Having family over there helps; I just stayed at their place.

You would still need internet access on your phone while out in public too see their current location even if they were using those tags; unless you plan on waiting until having access to wi-fi at the next cafe, restaurant, or hotel.

The Garmin Inreach is good at tracking where you can set it at the interval of how often it tracks too. The lowest is every 5 minutes.

The iPhone satellite location sharing is spotty for backcountry use; I think there are less satellites that it has access too. I don’t know if it’s using iridium or not. But I know for satellite phones, iridium comes at a higher cost but will be the best for satellite access while Inmarsat is more limited to certain locations or spotty.

The tag options sounds like a good fit for this scenario or overt mission. Take a look at those tags you mentioned, find out if there is an option of setting how often the tracking interval is which shows you their last point.

 

[NATEWA]

I have a Garmin inreach mini 2 and Zoleo. Put the Garmin in the safe and will keep the subscription active on the Zoleo.

Cheaper than the Garmin and the app is easy to use. Not sure how it works with an android.

For AirTags, there is a way to remove the speaker so thieves can find it and remove it.