Keep track of the things you love most with the Pod 3 Customizable GPS Tracker. This system helps you find your items virtually anywhere in the world at the touch of a button. This device can track anything from your backpack to your pet using four layers of technology. The Pod 3 uses GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and even cellular connectivity. In addition, the cellular connectivity allows it to function in 175 different countries with unlimited range. Use the app to create a virtual fence, and, if your items leave this safe zone, Pod 3 will send you an alert. Additionally, you can monitor the activity of your items with the motion sensor alerts. Finally, you can even track and share the route of your adventures with the recording feature. In addition, Pod 3 is a modular system so you can create a tracker to suit your specific needs. Add on the XL battery, sound, light, ultrasonic, or power dock module to utilize the additional features.
Via Kickstarter
Save110 Users Saved This Product
Leave a Reply
The last firmware update caused my batteries to discharge at rapid rate (~2% per hour). This is with all features turned off in the app. This is why I need to understand what updates contain and is there a way to restore previous (stable) firmware.
Of course, as I write this, there is another update already waiting on the app.
I'm all for improved functionality and bug squishing, but stability should be a prerogative.
It's a very localised issue I was having, so no need to return - we were in a holiday cottage with zero cell reception last week, and indoor reception at our house is also poor, so the update wouldn't work.
Whilst outside and walking the dogs I get good reception, so I initiated the firmware update then, and it was successful.
I will see if this cures the issue with one battery.
Since I've mounted the Pod on a harness so it maintains a view of the sky all has been much better - but I think my experience likely highlights an innate issue with these products in general, in that their weight causes them to swing under the dog's neck, where they are shielded - care to comment?
there were two firmware changes to my Pod in the last few weeks. Do you publish a log of changes that I can review before installing new firmware? It would be nice if you would put a link to the changelog right into a message in Pod App, similar to how Apple provides link to new iOS revision changes.
Any news on the availability and delivery of the "modules" ?
You seem to be silent on this topic, which is beginning to worry me.
Thanks,
Simon.
My Pod 3 lasts 4-5 days with very careful use. We usually try t replace the battery though every 3 days as we once had our cat not come home on day 4 and her battery was barely alive when we caught up to her on day 5.
So 12 hours is very unusual. Do you have Zone Alerts or Adventure Mode activated by any chance? These modes will drain battery in 24 hours or even less.Also, how often are you tracking location? You can go to Location History and see all tracking points in the last 24 hours.
Finally, do you have WiFi at home and in the neighborhood that Pod 3 may rely upon to save on energy? And do you have strong 3G cell signal near your home location?
If I understand, you wanted Pod 3 to be able to fall back to a simple GPS tracker device if Data Plan is not activated. That is a nice idea, but I believe, it is not currently enabled by Pod makers.
Now I'm wondering how long we'll need to wait for the modules to be delivered, since they were a key feature for us in our decision to order the Pod3 units. Is there any news or information on this? I understand that the base units had to go through all sorts of hoops for certification, but I'm guessing that the light, sound and charging modules won't have the same issues.
Argos received their units over 2 MONTHS ago. On May 4th (3.5 MONTHS AGO) you said "that's correct, we've *started* shipping stock from Australia. On April 18th (4 MONTHS AGO) your estimate shipping was "Australia / NZ - final week in April " You then confirmed that Australia would be the first country to receive their units. Yet, they still haven't arrived 3.5 MONTHS later despite them being available all over the world. Honestly, the correct words for this should not be printed on here.
Battery life is greatly improved over pod 2.
Removed power button, which was useless for pod 2. Cons:
Activity monitor is really struggling. Doesn't sync as well or at all sometimes. Doesn't record anything for hours. ie: says rest when she's been running around the dog park for past hour.
Battery life if Safe Zones are disabled can stretch to 4 days before needing to replace. We usually replace after three days to have a safety margin.
Safe Zone tracking continues to be hit & miss, very much similar to description below by @Allen Wimberly.
Overall, Pod 3 is serving it's function of locating the whereabouts of our cat with always using LoCator to fetch her out from wherever she hides. A quiet beeping sound that LoCator collar sensor produces serves as a great training hint for our cat to let her know she's beeing seeked. It's a pity that Pod Tracker devs decided to put this as a separate module. A very simple quiet beeping was all that was required, not the high volume sound, that no doubt, developers are trying to implement. After all, you don[t want to scare pets with some loud sound coming from your collar, especially if they are in unfamiliar territory.
Finally, received the Email today from Pod Trackers with free coupon for 6 months of additional free service. It was very nice gesture by Pod Trackers team - instructions on how to apply coupon were straightforward and I found out there is a Web interface that completely mimics the app - just what I wanted to monitor our cat from office. Thanks!
Let's hope you'll flush out remaining bugs and continue working on improving the functionality of the Pod, making it absolutely indispensable device for all pet owners.
I'm in Australia. Anyone in Oz actually received anything from this company????!!!!!
The Goods:
- Cat seemed to take the Pod without a problem. She's average size female cat, so we were worried it may be too big for her. We've attached it to her collar opposite to LoCator (more on that later) and she have been acting oblivious to the presence of now much larger cylinder right under her neck. - Pod is full choke of sensors, it would show position (but not triangulate) based on Bluetooth or WiFi signals and have better positioning if using GPS. - Activity Monitor and Security Zone are great concepts - feel like they are still underdeveloped - Adventure Recording is great too, just not for our cat. She's more then happy to snooze under the bush for hours and battery does not last that long. Perhaps we need to play with frequency of pooling - Changing batteries is piece of cake! Great concept, excellent execution. Maybe one advise is to mark positioning a bit better. Right now there is unlocked and locked symbols on the Pod that you are supposed to use as guidance. The problem is, when Pod is on a cat's collar and cat is not waiting patiently for you to replace the battery, the alignment may be a bit tricky. - The iPhone app was updated yesterday again - very happy to see that devs are constantly working on improvements and patches. There is even an iPad app, which is fantastic for such a small company. I know few examples of way bigger and more established companies that still lack a dedicated iPad app. - Annual contract price. It obviously varies by region and the what is affordable to one person would seem to be exuberant for another, but at least by USA standards, the price is well within the affordability level at close to $50 per year. Monthly charge seems pretty high, but if it is designed for a short term use (vacation), and can be renewed without issues, it's OK. The Not so goods:
- Several times Pod would not be able to refresh cat's location in various situations. Not sure why this is happening as we are blessed with very strong 3G signal from AT&T and good to strong signal from TMobile. And it happened even when cat was snoozing right in our feet on the bed. - WiFi locating needs to be improved or reworked. It may work in denser areas where there are dozens of WiFi networks and Google has a good database, but in our suburb area it would basically put our cat's location at the center of the house and be done. The problem is, our WiFi signal is pretty strong and easily reaches 50 yards from the house in most directions. So the cat can be virtually anywhere within this space. Just for reference, the area covering 50 yards is equal to ~ 70,500 square feet and the cat can easily fit within each and every one of them. For whatever reason, Pod does not seem to perform GPS location if it can detect WiFi. So why we know whereabouts of the cat, we don't know the actual location and good 5 years old LoCator is absolutely essential in finishing the search. The support web page states that Pod's purpose is to bring you within shouting distance of your pet. One small issue with this is that cats don't respond well to shouting if they respond at all. With our cat, I have to reach in the god damn bush if I want to retrieve her. Too early to say:
- Battery life. Definitely does not last 4-5 days even if all features are turned off. With safety zone turned on, you are lucky for it to last a single 24 hour window. But there are so many different settings that we are still learning the optimal compromise between functionality and longevity.
Bluetooth location - supposed to show you that you are close, but with no direction guidance I am not sure what is the purpose of this sensor beyond pulling data from the Pod. Seems more marketing gimmick then a useful feature.