these GPS trackers which reassure

The keys are lost, the car is parked incorrectly, the dog has run away… Don’t panic, the trackers are there to help you. In the February issue, “60 Millions de consommateurs” conducted a survey on their reliability, their prices, their performances.

60 Million consumers This month is dedicating a major investigation into a comparative test of GPS trackers. Details on these tracers which can prove very useful with Hervé Cabibbo, deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine.

franceinfo: In fact there are several types of tracers?

Hervé Cabibbo: We have identified three categories of tracers, intended for very specific missions. First there are object trackers, small and light, which can be attached to any type of object, including a set of keys. This is its main use: not having to search endlessly for your keys.

Then there are trackers for dogs and cats. Also small in size, these boxes can be attached to the collars of these little animals. The idea is of course to follow their wanderings. And finally there are trackers for vehicles or people, which are a little larger, since they can be the size of a smartphone, and weigh up to 250 grams.

But is following someone forbidden?

Article 226-1, 3rd paragraph of the Penal Code, specifies that capturing, recording or transmitting, by any means whatsoever, the real-time or delayed location of a person without their consent is punishable by one year’s imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros. So yes, if the idea, by adopting this type of cookies, is to monitor your wife or husband, it is a very bad idea!

However, when it concerns a minor, the use by the parents can be done in the name of parental authority. We can obviously be reassured to be able to follow our child remotely on the way to school. But we must keep in mind that even a minor also has the right to respect for his private life. It’s all about consent. Tracking your teenager out for a night out is a no-no. Following your child on the way to school is yes, if they know that the tracker is in their schoolbag.

This can also be useful to secure a sick person at risk of wandering, for example suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

How do object trackers work, are they all effective?

Object trackers use several communication technologies, and above all Bluetooth in its low consumption version. The others work with the GSM mobile phone network and GPS for location. In all cases, the trackers must be combined with a smartphone, which serves as a sort of control console. Those for objects and animals are equipped with an alarm, which can be activated from an application.

The effectiveness of these tracers obviously depends on the communication network used. Bluetooth or Ultra-Wide Band for object trackers have a short range of a few tens of meters. This is enough to find your keys that have fallen behind a piece of furniture. The others are dependent on mobile networks in general, that is to say that in white areas, it will not work.

In any case, we have identified disappointing products in each category, but most work quite well, this is the conclusion of our test.

You have also tested car trackers, apparently they are popular, because they allow you to geolocate a vehicle, which can be useful in the event of theft ?

Indeed, car thieves can be tracked, at least during the first hours of their crime, which is enough to alert the police. It is no longer rare to see newspaper articles reporting such adventures. It works just as well for a bike, a computer bag or luggage. More simply, it can also be used to find your car parked in a city you don’t know well.

A tracker can also make it possible to find a pet that has been lost, how does it work?

The device, attached to a cat’s collar for example, transmits to the smartphone application the position of the animal in real time, but also the history of its movements. We can therefore calculate, in a way, the kilometers he traveled.

And how to choose your device? You say that there is a function that should not be neglected, it is the creation of a control zone, what does that allow?

Almost all of these devices allow the creation of a security zone. This is a geographical zone that can be defined in advance: if the tracker leaves this zone, an alert sounds on the smartphone. To take the example of the child who has a tracker in his schoolbag, we can define that the safety zone is the school and the way to get there.

And the price ? Is a plotter expensive?

€30 on average for an object tracker. From €50 for an animal tracker. From €70, in general, for vehicle or person trackers, but it can be much more expensive for the latter category. With the exception of object trackers, it will still be necessary to specify that an annual subscription must be added, which varies greatly from one reference to another: from €30 to €173.

But is the autonomy of all these devices sufficient?

For small object trackers, which work with flat batteries, allow at least 6 months. For others, equipped with batteries, their manufacturers most often announce 7 to 10 days. It’s actually much less, since everything depends on the user’s requests. Tracking a position in real time, or setting the device so that it regularly sends its position, are all actions that have a strong impact on autonomy.