GPS tracking App on mobile - Good Safety App ?
Just wondering if anyone out there used any similar tracking type apps on their mobile phones as a safety precaution. There may be other Apps out there better then this one ??. The one i found and tried the other day is called Share Where - Location Sharing (Pro version) for Android mobiles (cost for Pro version was a couple dollars).
Basically it is an App that you can set up to SMS/text your location to someone using the phones GPS (or triangulates from mob towers). You can set up the App to reguarly send a text/ email to whoever with your co-ordinates (Lat/Long). You can set it up to send a text say every 15 or 20 minutes for a set time period so once you have it set up you can get on with fishing etc and forget about it.....and others / wife/partner etc know roughly where you are in case the worst happens.......pretty cheap insurance I think in that it points any rescue party etc to your last position. Draw backs ....? If you get out of range of mobile signal it won't send a SMS (I'm not sure how far you have to go out before you lose signal), and possible extra drain on the phone battery with the GPS running. I'm pretty new to 'off-shore' fishing (and posting here) but keen to make my adventures as safe as I can and this App (and similar ones) seem like a good further layer of safety, and cheaper then things like a SPOT tracker etc.
Anyway just after peoples thoughts/experience re these types of Apps.
cheers steve
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
Phone range...
...I'm with Telstra (supposedly the best coverage)and the signal usually cuts out 5 or 6nm offshore from Mandurah.Presumably better range closer to metro area/Rotto?
Anyway, thanks for the tip..no doubt someone will benefit!
Swompa
Posts: 3891
Date Joined: 14/10/12
I am with Telstra and if you
I am with Telstra and if you tuck right into the back of Garden Island (I mean on the beach) there is no reception in places.
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
An alternative
An alternative that does not rely upon phone signal is to buy a small gps tracker.
We used one at Steep Point a couple of years ago. One of the guys on board does serious hiking and bought it along. We provided the web page to the local ACRM station so even though our radio coverage was limited, they and our wifes / partners back home could see where we were.
These also have a text facility that we used to send out a group text advising everyone when we were leaving the beach and had returned safely to the beach.
Good bit of kit. After initial purchase cost there are some ongoing data costs.
Fish! HARD!