Trakdot Luggage Tracker, Flight Baggage Tracer (Portmantos Exclusive - Black/Orange)

UPDATE: Used this on a multi-connection trip this week. Washington-Dulles to Denver, Denver to Las Vegas - and then back through the same airports. Six day trip, four flights, battery stayed good. SMS notification worked perfectly every time. The timestamps are still an issue, and the app still is really not up to par. But the device does what it needs to do, reliably. Rating updated - since I'm reviewing the device, not the app. If they could fix the timestamp issue and overhaul the app, I'd give it five.---So, it does work. A few things to clarify though.1. Everyone in these reviews is using the term GPS. To be clear, this device does NOT use GPS. It uses triangulation from cell towers, which is an advantage in that it doesn't need line-of-sight to the sky (thus it will work inside a plane's cargo hold or even underground in the baggage handling systems of an airport) - but the location given is NOT as accurate as GPS. You'll get a general vicinity - not an exact pinpoint location.2. The Bluetooth function is fundamentally broken. It looks like it can work, but something isn't set up right. It unpairs itself after each startup it seems - or even after a certain amount of time. If you want proximity tracking, forget this. Get a $20 Tile or TrackR instead and throw it in your bag.3. The app for it is poor and clunky - but it does work. The timezone issue is ridiculous. It looks like they attempted to fix it and get it off GMT, but now I'm still off by an hour (in the wrong direction) due to DST. There's no excuse for this - but this is what happens when you outsource all your technology overseas and your local people are just "ideas people". This device suffers from the entrepreneurial failing in believing they don't need to understand the technology. Shame on them; a little tech polishing and this thing could be great.4. The complaints people are having about the power button are just plain bizarre. No, it's not as simple as an on/off switch - but it's really not that complicated. Yes, it's easy to tell if it's on. I'm not sure what everyone's getting so bent about. It's easy - Hold down the button, you'll get a red light. This means it's starting up. It'll then turn green when it gets a cell signal - then the light will turn off to save battery. To check if it's on, Press the button quickly - if you get a green light, it's on. Period. Nothing ambiguous about it. If you click the button and nothing happens, it's off. To turn if off, hold down the button until the light stops blinking.Overall, I'll keep using it - solely for its intended purpose. I also have a set of Tiles and I keep one in the bag with this. I travel weekly, so it can be a lifesaver - and it appears to work as tested in my first trip today. I literally activated it in the airport parking lot via my iPhone about 30 minutes after receiving it and threw it in my bag. (Dulles to Boston - notified me of my bag being in the vicinity of both airports.)I will be taking it again this weekend - Dulles to Denver to Las Vegas and back - and will update how well it works.

This great idea is past it's prime. Doesn't use modern cellular networks. I flew to from PDX the Philippines via Seattle SEATAC and my although I manually transferred my bags in Seattle, it never showed them leaving PDX. I wouldn't check in when I configured it so I called the company who explained that it will work in few places other than airports. Apparently the 2G system this device uses is phasing out. Regardless, if it isn't accurate at every airport, it will cause the panic it is designed to prevent. Had I not hand carried my bags at SEATAC I would have been very concerned that they never made the flight. Why it didn't show a loss of communication at PDX indicating the bag left is beyond me but while I knew it was beneath me on the plane it showed it was sitting at the airport I left and never did indicate it made Seattle on either leg of the trip.

Have only used it once after having to buy the year's subscription. When I arrived in New York from Houston, the tracker on my app still said it was in Houston which caused great worry. Then it came out the luggage carousel but it never updated that it had left Houston. I gave these as gifts last year at Christmas after reading about it as a new gadget that was great. I'll try it out again in April on another trip, but if it doesn't work again - I'm cancelling my subscription and apologizing to the people I gave it to.

Here are some of the problems with this:Very cheaply made and extremely hard to remove the batteries, even though frequently removing them is necessary.The IOS phone app is buggy: Bluetooth pairs and unpairs by itself (Bluetooth is used for figuring out how close your bag is to the baggage carousel); the app will not work unless your phone Bluetooth is on, even if you're not using this function; and the app function to let you add and delete notification cell and email doesn't work - you have to do this on the webpage.Tech support is virtually non existent with minimal info online about troubleshooting.Although you might be able to return the unit, you can't get a refund on your annual fee once you've started service.A couple of lessons I learned by trial and error:The cell signal seems to be very weak and only works once your bag goes outside the aircraft.To set up notifications, make sure the unit is turned on, WITH active cell signal, then turn on notifications.In a couple years or so airlines will be tracking bags for us with RFID luggage tags. Buy this only if you have to have tracking in the meantime.

This does not work. I activated then device and it showed that I was in the US. I was actually in Saudi Arabia. Don't waste your money on this. Does not work as advertised.

I bought these as Christmas gifts. I was not able to activate the yearly service. I just received an email from Trakdot informing me they are no longer working on a 2G network and are not in service or activating any devices. The seller should have informed me prior to purchase that they wouldn’t even be functional!

I originally gave Trakdot a one star because it did not work. Trakdot read my review and did a software update to the device with an email explaining what they had done and apologizing for the problem. I have since taken a business trip and the device now works as advertised. Thanks Trakdot for the great customer service.When I log in it shows my Trakdot is traveling through Scotland in 2013. The only problem is that I am in Maine and its 2016. I don't think this device existed in 2013. I tried the device on a trip from Maine to Florida thinking that it would reset during the travel. Nope, when I got to Florida Trakdot said it was still on a trip through Scotland. And I never got any type of notification to my phone during the travel.I wish I could say that at least I got a couple AA batteries for my money, but the device chewed through them too.This was a complete waste of money. Also, I thought the first year of service was included. It was not. Another $25.00 wasted.

Only used them one and they worked. There was a little delay with receiving the report, but that had more to do with my cell phone and finding data connection.