US$29 TrackR Bravo from Phone Halo - @TheTrackR Crowd GPS Network to Track Lost Items

Despite my misgivings about smartphones and their propensity to track you, I do like GPS Technology in general.

The main reason why I dislike GPS in smartphone is the possibility that thieves can use LBS built into Apps to track your whereabouts with harmful consequences as noted in my blog article entitled “The Reason why I don't like Smartphones - Location Privacy and How to disable Location Services on Android and iOS”.

Especially when used by Law Enforcement to catch people or just stopping Feral Cats and Dogs from killing off all the wildlife as noted in my blog article entitled “Your Wild Life Cat Tracker Project - How the Jamaica Cat and Dog Migration Project would reduce impact on Birds and other Fauna”.

But finding most items is my favorite usage of GPS and the upcoming TrackR Bravo Tag fits the bill as described in the article “TrackR bravo is a coin-sized tracking device that makes you look forward to losing things”, published June 15, 2014 By Jason Hahn, DigitalTrends.

Phone Halo – Serial Crowd funding company that Got off the Beach and jumpstarted Personal Tracking

The US$29 TrackR Bravo is the latest in a line of GPS Tracking products similar to the Nokia Treasure Tag that make finding small lost items you've tagged a snap as described in my blog article entitled “Nokia Treasure Tag to launch in April 2014 - Pirates on the Caribbean on Stranger Tides will find locating lost keys that much easier”.

Measuring some 3.5 mm thick and 34 mm in diameter, it's about the size of a British Pence and just as thin, the US$29 TrackR Bravo comes in the following four (4) colours:

1.      Black

2.      Rose Gold

3.      Steel

4.      Sky

It's the result of an Indiegogo crowd funding campaign by the company Phone Halo for the TrackR Bravo started on Monday, June 9^th 2014 to raise some US$20,000 by Thursday July 24^th 2014. The campaign surpassed that goal and as of Wednesday November 12^th 2014 stands at US$1,401,325.

Apparently their Indiegogo campaign may still collecting funds for people interested in getting in on the action as production is on the horizon in December 2014 with delivery slated for Wednesday January 7^th, 2015 for those intrepid Indiegogo Backers.

This isn't by any means their first product.

Launched back in 2009, Santa Barbara, California based Phone Halo, led by founders Chris Herbert and Christian Smith, graduate (finally!) of the University of Santa Barbara after Chris Herbert’s Car Keys got swallowed by the beach sand. After shaking the sand off their feet and brainstorming a bit, they’ve managed to successfully crowdfund a total of five (5) tracking product namely:

1.      Cobra Tag

2.      inSite

3.      StickR TrackR

4.      Wallet TrackR

Their most memorable being the 3 Credit Card thin Wallet TrackR that was crowdfunded in 2012 as reported in “Hands-On With The WalletTrackR, The Gadget That Keeps Tabs On Your Most Valuable Stuff For You”, published Nov 14, 2012 by Colleen Taylor, TechCrunch and “Ultrathin Wallet Trackr monitors your billfold without the bulge”, published November 15, 2012 5:55 PM PST by Antuan Goodwin, CNET News.

TrackR Bravo - Phone Halo best Crowdfunding with Trackr Crowd GPS Network to find really Lost Items

Despite the diminutive size of their latest device, the TrackR Bravo, the battery inside of this little tracker lasts for a full year of operation using a CR1616 coin cell. Working with Apple iPhones as well as Google Android smartphones, not only can you use the TrackR Bravo to locate your items, but the TrackR Bravo itself can also be used to locate your smartphone.

Press the button on the TrackR Bravo if your smartphone gets lost in your room and it'll sound a Notification tone to help you find it that much easier. Unlike the Nokia Treasure Tag, not only does it work with any smartphone to keep track of your tagged items, it also tracks items even when they're not within the 100m range of your smartphone's Bluetooth Sensors.

Once someone else who has the TrackR Bravo app installed on their smartphone comes within 100m of the lost item, its location is noted and sent via the Internet to a Central TrackR Server then relayed to your smartphone, effectively Trackr's Crowd GPS Network. To build up the reach of their Crowd GPS Network 

TrackR is currently giving away US$200,000 worth of their TrackR StickR as explained in the article “TrackR, The Coin-Shaped Dongles That Help You Locate Lost Items, Now Talk To Each Other” published Mar 10, 2014 by Sarah Perez, Techcrunch , in order to encourage more people to install the TrackR App.

Trackr's Crowd GPS Network - US$200,000 Free StickR TrackR to get the ball rolling right

The US$25 StickR TrackR was another previous product that was launched earlier in January 2014 at CES (Computer Electronics Show) that tracks anything that it can be attached or stuck to as explained in the article “Easily attachable StickR TrackR locates and tracks devices”, published January 5, 2014 10:27 PM PST by Xiomara Blanco, CNET News.

It's also the smallest when compared to other Personal GPS Trackers such as Protag's Duet and

Tile's Tile as explained in the article “Finding the Best Lost-Item Trackers: Tile, TrackR and Duet Reviewed” published June 17, 2014 7:16 p.m. ET by JOANNA STERN, The Wall Street Journal.

By their reckoning, the US$20 Tile, another product that also has a well-established GPS Tracking Network of smartphones, was the best, with low marks being given to the StickR TrackR for its low cost and sporadic Bluetooth connectivity. But it's early days yet and TrackR has decided to put a Bravo product forward and grow their Trackr's Crowd GPS Network, as their fans love the product enough to Track it to life.

Personally I’m still waiting on a Personal GPS Tracker that works independently of the smartphone and STILL has 1 year batter life. Something which I think smartwatches may eventually achieve being as Fitness Trackers such as the US$199 Microsoft Band has its own GPS built in as noted in my blog article entitled “US$199 Microsoft Band - Fitness Tracker with Microsoft Health Apps and Windows Phone Executive Perks with Cortana Voice Commands”.

When that product gets made, you can bet it's be the most crowdfunded Personal Tracker on the Planet Earth, as even NSA and CIA spies will pitch in to fund its development.

Here’s the link:

The TrackR Website

The TrackR Bravo Facebook Page

The TrackR Twitter Account

@TheTrackR