Super TrackStick GPS Vehicle Tracking System Data Logger

The mini is doing the job. It does not have to be out where it can see the satellites, and does the job it is meant for. I left it in the car under the seat for a week and the battery was still above 60% with the memory at 18%. There was an anomaly on the 5th day but overall this device is providing us great feedback on where our vehicle has been, driving speeds and delays.

I am not the kind of person that writes a review for every product that I buy, but with all of the poor reviews of this product, I feel that I should comment about my limited experience since recently purchasing this device. All of these poor reviews gave me great reluctance about taking the chance on buying such a product, but I figured that I could make the purchase, and then I could just return it if it did not work. So far, this seems to be a good purchase.I bought this for logging my path during backpacking and hiking, and to geotag photos from my outings, so that I won't have to try to remember where I took pictures along my hiking routes. I wanted the lightest possible unit that would perform these functions while using the least number of the lightest batteries that would last for the longest time on hikes in the back country, where I will not have access to recharging batteries. Full GPS units do a great job of tracking, but they also weigh a lot, and they burn through batteries much faster than a unit like this. My goal is to use the logger on the trip, bring it home, plug into a computer, upload the data, and synch with pictures that I will upload to my PC from a digital camera.I have only had the unit for three days, but I have tested it for several hours during that time. Here is the initial review.The base unit, without batteries, and only using the clip to attach the unit to clothing or other location (not the magnetic attachment for cars) weighs 1.9 ounces, which I checked using a digital scale. With the set of rechargeable batteries that I am using for testing, the unit, clip and batteries weigh 2.8 ounces (batteries .9 ounces total). My research indicates that two AAA Lithium batteries should weigh a total of .6 ounces, which would bring the total weight of this set up to 2.5 ounces. If using alkaline batteries, the final weight would be 2.7 ounces.The box comes with the unit, a magnetic clip, and the clip for clothing or other attachment. The clothing attachment clip is plastic, but it takes a great deal of strength to detach from the unit after you connect it, and it holds securely onto clothing. I would not worry at all about the unit accidentally coming detached from the clip. In that regard, the manufacturer even mentions that the clip is purposely built to be tightly connected, just for this very purpose.The box does not come with software or a user guide. There is a sticker on the unit indicating that the user must download the software and guide from the manufacturer's web site. (In that regard, my understanding is that the software will only work on a PC, not a Mac or other operating system, so make sure to check on this before making your purchase, should you have a computer that uses an OS that is other than Windows.) I downloaded and installed the software on my personal computer without any issues. If you do not already have Google Earth installed on your PC, which you will almost certainly want to use, there is also a link on the manufacturer's web site for downloading this software.Next, I turned on the Super Trackstick, plugged it into my USB port, and the software recognized the unit. I checked out the user guide, which is somewhat out of date and a bit generalized to a few other similar units of the manufacturer, but this was not a big problem. I spent a few minutes configuring the unit. So far, so good. Since there was no data on the unit, the next thing to do was to take it outside for a test.The first time that I turned the unit on in a place where it should have received a satellite signal, it took a good ten minutes to get a lock. The user guide does indicate that it can take up to 15 minutes to get a lock, so this was consistent with the user guide information. (More on future attempts below.) When the unit gets a lock on its position, the little indicator light blinks green every few seconds.Next, I took about a 15 minute walk with the unit. I then returned home, connected the unit to my PC, and uploaded the data, per the instructions. Everything worked exactly as it should. I exported my route to Google Earth without issue, and the I spent a few minutes playing with various options for how I could configure that. No problem.Next, I attempted to update the software. I wasn't sure if that was required, but I decided to give that a try. I got an error message, but it was a generic one that could mean anything from not being able to connect to the web site to already having the current version installed. After trying a few times, I found the contact information on the manufacturer's web site, and I sent in a request for assistance on that. Jumping ahead in the story, the bottom line is that I received a reply email the very next business day (considering that I sent the request at about 3AM). This stands out against the reviews where people mentioned that they tried for months on end to contact the manufacturer without success. BTW, the response indicated that I had the latest software and firmware revisions, so I am guessing that this is why I received that error message. I can't say this for sure, but that is my guess.The next day, I took the unit for about an hour's long walk. This time, even though I was starting from the same location, it only took maybe three minutes, maybe even less (I didn't really time it), to get a satellite lock on the unit. I came home, uploaded the data, and everything worked as it was supposed to work.Today, I placed the unit in my car, on top of the dash, and I ran errands in the morning. Afterwards, I came home, parked in my garage, and then I forgot to bring the unit inside or to power it off. After an hour or so, I went to the garage, clipped the unit onto the brim of a baseball cap, where it fits perfectly while keeping the antenna pointed toward the sky, and then I took a six mile walk. When I got home and uploaded my data from the day, other than being a little off from when I first left my garage (probably because I didn't wait more than a minute before departing, which didn't allow a good satellite lock), all of the data from my day was pretty much as it should have been.Even with leaving the unit in a high rise condominium parking garage, where it surely had no signal during its time there, there is still plenty of battery life left in the unit, according to the battery life indicator in the software. I say this because another reviewer mentioned that the unit will go through the batteries quickly while searching for a satellite lock. Of course, I didn't leave the unit on for more than a couple of hours in this condition, but I could see no significant reduction in battery life from this happening.Speaking of battery life, according to the manufacturer's web site, non-rechargeable Lithium batteries can last for up to a month, depending on usage, of course. I have no idea how long the batteries will actually last before needing changing or recharging, but it certainly seems like I should get maybe up to at least two weeks (of about three hours per day) out of this current set, if not more. This should work out well for the length of time that I expect to be out in the back country on any given hike. Of course, I'll always bring some spare batteries with me, but considering that the unit only needs two AAA batteries, even carrying the extras will amount to very little extra weight. The only issue to which I don't yet have an answer concerns actual battery life. Unless I edit this review to indicate a major difference between the expected and actual battery life, assume that it came out as I have written here.All that I can say is: so far, so good. I am attaching a Google Earth export to this review. The red line was my path of travel. There are different options for what you can include in the export, and how it will look in the final rendering, but this gives you a good idea of what this little unit can do. For hiking and geotagging (which I have not yet tried, so the result could be fine or a failure), this looks like it will be a good option for me.

Mine must be the debunk one built on a Friday night at the shelf. My batterylife on a Lithium battery roughly 10 hrs! Not as advertised or even on othercomments. I have been going through batteries like underwear! Naturally I amgetting to hate ordering from Amazon as getting ahold of one of their vendorsis a real PITA! The Trackstick.com website was quick to reply but I did notbuy the item from them. I believe my "Super" Trackstick is not so super as Idon't see the Powersave feature as advertised and juice keeps dying with atmost 2 days activity for me! Covert magnet is good and signal capture isgood, even under the engine (under metal blocking open sky which they don'tsuggest). That does make some signals goofy but you can easily spot theoutliers. Geospacial software and Google Earth are easy to use if you have abrain and can operate Windows. Again my only problem is lack ofcommunication from my vendor Telespial Systems (no a voice mail at 8am and no reply to myemails constitute as quality conversation), and battery life sucks. It is advertisedto last weeks at a time but really only records 10-30hrs of data. Time wasted if constantlyscanning for a signal. I've seen other comments of similar posts with little juice life.

I bought the strongest lithium batteries (8 x )and they only lasted 2 or 3 days in this device, not 6 or 7 as the manufacturer suggests. The thing turns off for the night at one location and turns back on in the middle of the day, at another location that is 100's of miles away from where it turned off the night before. When it's on, the information it records is excellent, but it's never on, so it's useless. This device has been used for MONTHS and has NEVER recorded accurately. I contacted the manufacturer who suggested it was a signal problem. The device had a signal and recorded the location when it turned off for the night, it should have had the same signal the next morning when the vehicle started moving, at the same location, but it didn't. The manufacturer suggests moving the device around...no matter where it was put, nothing helped. Also,the manufacturer sells this device to be used "covertly" but doesn't advertise that it may be illegal to use it "covertly". I would not recommend purchasing this item. You waste alot of time and money retrieving the device and buying and changing the batteries only to download the information it recorded and find out you're missing days, miles and hours or information it missed because it didn't automatically turn on, like it's supposed to. If you need a tracker and can use a hard wire device, buy a hard wire type that can be monitored in "real" time, you will pay more initially , but for what I've spent buying lithium batteries every three days, I could have bought the more expensive, hard wire, real time, better device.