GT03B GPS - what's inside

I received by mail the long-awaited GT03B GPS tracker, ordered more than a month ago. It was not enough internal struggle whether to buy this thing. It’s not cheap, but where is the guarantee that it will also work “not cheap” ... I need a tracker. I have many children and would love to control their movement around the city, as well as the social circle. The device allows you to see its position on the website www.cootrack.com and receive SMS messages by SMS request or in case of emergency situations when the armed mode is activated. He remembers 4 phone numbers, and interacts with them. Understands the format for recording numbers in the form +3753312344567.

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The first thing that caught my eye when I opened the box was its size. For some reason, I expected significantly more. The device seemed to me very compact. In addition to the tracker itself in the box there were: a charger, a USB interface cable (aka a charging cable), a battery and instructions. The device itself had 2 switches, a mini-USB connector, 2 LEDs and a relatively large red SOS button, which can also be illuminated from the inside by a separate LED. That is, the LEDs in total 3. The body of the device is painted with a pleasant to the touch velvet paint resembling rubber.
Having assembled the device, I set it to charge. Until a full charge it was not distracted for 3 hours. After that, real life began - the period of development and adjustment. I inserted an active SIM card that was free at that time and began sequentially, looking at the instructions to send an SMS to the device, and then carefully study its answers. Then he checked the security functions. I must admit that while I understood the syntax and its features - I made a mistake more than once. The device was either silent or sent an error code. But still, we must admit that it’s elementary to configure it and then it clearly works with these settings regardless of the SIM card change. I tried tariffs only voice. Then online tracking does not work. I also tried only Internet tariffs - then voice functions do not work, that is, remote listening and dialing by pressing the SOS button.
The device is controlled and programmed exclusively through SMS and external buttons / switches. Any attempts to connect it to the computer fail. A known-good USB cable was taken from the video camera (I want to emphasize its quality by this) and logging on Linux was turned on - not a single line jumped into the log under any circumstances. That is, from USB it can only be charged. How to control the device can be found in the instruction manual , so we will not dwell on this.
The next day, the navigator, which from the evening after the experiments did not turn off and did not put on additional charge, was sewn into the pocket of one of the children going to the day camp. It is sewn in so as not to get lost. After they left, the site was opened and ... The wife did not find a place for herself with delight :). Throughout the day, she could know exactly where the child was. It should be noted that the device allows you to track not only by GPS, but also by GSM. In case the satellite signal disappears, on the map at the current point, not the letter “G” (GPS) in the blue inverted “drop” is displayed, but the letter “L” (LBS) in green. In the case of the mode of determining the position on the cellular network (LBS), the accuracy drops sharply and the position can randomly roll on the map for kilometers, depending on the switching of cells, but nevertheless, on the whole, this gives a quite digestible picture of the situation.

Lbs

Additionally, the device reports the charge level of its battery, the time it took to get the coordinates without the possibility of binding in my time zone, and the address that, apparently, is received from Google. You can see all this in the screenshot. The card can be switched to satellite imagery mode. The tracker reports the charge level with four discrete values: 95%, 55%, 30% (in this case, it complains that it is low power via SMS) and the last one sends a message like “I am shutting down due to a dead power source”. In the latter case, its status, of course, goes into Offline mode and the “drop” of gray color remains on the map. Everything, then you can only catch the baby, darn darn, remove the tracker and recharge it. The first time he worked continuously for less than a day. That is, from the evening of the previous day with the experiments to the next dinner.

GPS

The operation of the SOS button (hold for 3 seconds) is marked by the double operation of the vibrator in the tracker. Yes Yes! There is a classic vibration motor that is used in mobile phones and this is the only mode in which you can feel it.

Button

By the way, there is also a microphone in it to listen to the surrounding space. The microphone gain is very strong, so the sound is not pleasant due to the present level of distortion. So, after the vibration is triggered, the tracker sends out a group alarm SMS message to the phones that you have programmed into the tracker and proceeds to the subsequent consecutive ringing of these numbers until at least one of them is dialed. Mobile hysteria will last about 5 minutes, then the tracker will calm down.

SOS

To the question “how does the tracker work with the operator’s network, does it fall asleep” I will answer this way: the LEDs fall asleep and stop blinking. Radio channel - does not fall asleep. He works constantly. I found this out with a conventional radio. The frequency of sending data to the server ranges from 20 seconds to one minute. Perhaps this is not a tracker that works like this, but the Internet via GPRS. Perhaps I measure in the open air - I would get other results.

Track

That's probably all that I would like to tell you about this device. In general, it suits me and solves my problems.
What I would like to see in it, but what is missing in it: buffering the received coordinates in the absence of GSM-connection, the ability to specify your server for data transfer, a capacious (longer-lasting) battery.
What is very pleasing in it: dimensions, the ability to navigate through GSM-cells.

Finally, a few more photos for you:



Top right - vibration motor








All the best to you :).

UPD: Having been in one place for a long time, the GPRS tracker returns coordinates every 3 minutes.

UPD2: Unfortunately, as practice has shown, the majority of readers of my article are fragile youths who see in it nothing more than an encroachment on their personal freedom. That is, personal fear is excited and ... a clear indicator that their affairs are far from the truth and perfection. They, these cases, must be hidden. And a penetrating hatred of their parents and especially their care. Probably not even conscious.
Bottom line - killed my karma and a lot of poorly adequate posts in the comments. It's a pity. I was hoping for a different outcome.
The technical part generally disappeared behind a wave of violent protests.

UPD3: Added photos with relative sizes.

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