anyone have GPS tracker experience for elder parent car?

[kpatter]

My dad has dementia and he and my mother live in rural west texas. He is 86 years old. My sister and I have discussed attaching a GPS tracker to his car. He has disappeared a few times and my mother has to go looking for him.

He is not at the point yet to where he is a danger on the roads.. he just gets in his truck and goes looking for my mother when she is at the farm.

I found one called a "Bouncie" on amazon that got decent reviews..attaches to the obd port..
Roughly 90.00 with a 9.00/month subscription.

Does anyone here have a recommendation for a decent GPS tracker? We are new to all this.

Thank you.

 

[cptbarkey]

If you have an iPhone, the simple answer could be a iTag plus a mag holder, stick in the far right rear. They do trill if another iPhone comes by but thats for privacy reasons. I have and use several for my fleet, plus my keys, wallet, luggage.

My dad was in the same situation the last few years of his life with dementia. Multiple police phone calls, he drove to the military base airport to report to duty again, several other incidents. He had me gaslighted for some time until the Dr showed me what was left of his brain after he finally landed in the hospital unable to walk. My sympathies.

 

[walterjay]

I hope it all goes well for you and dad. Yesterday we had to pull the keys from my 90 yr old MIL. She is stewing over it. Had to be done though.

 

[y_p_w]

If you have an iPhone, the simple answer could be a iTag plus a mag holder, stick in the far right rear. They do trill if another iPhone comes by but thats for privacy reasons. I have and use several for my fleet, plus my keys, wallet, luggage.

My dad was in the same situation the last few years of his life with dementia. Multiple police phone calls, he drove to the military base airport to report to duty again, several other incidents. He had me gaslighted for some time until the Dr showed me what was left of his brain after he finally landed in the hospital unable to walk. My sympathies.

AirTag probably won't work unless within Bluetooth range of an Apple device, which would be very spotty in a rural area. They have no native GPS or even Wi-Fi triangulation and communication is only via Bluetooth with Apple devices. Approximate location would be determined solely via whatever nearby Apple device is within range.

Is it a vehicle that had OnStar? That could be turned on and vehicles tracked via their mobile app.

https://www.onstar.com/services/mobile-app

 

[AZjeff]

If you have an iPhone, the simple answer could be a iTag plus a mag holder, stick in the far right rear.

Airtags work by connecting with nearby devices to determine location. Might be sketchy in rural west Texas.

From Apple:

Your AirTag sends out a secure Bluetooth signal that can be detected by nearby devices in the Find My network. These devices send the location of your AirTag to iCloud — then you can go to the Find My app and see it on a map. The whole process is anonymous and encrypted to protect your privacy.

y_p_w beat me to it.

 

[Imp4]

My mother has dementia and we are working through a similar process. My mom now gets tested twice a year in a ride along assessor. We all have iPhones and what has worked for us is an AirTag in the glove box and another attached to her keychain.

It’s a pretty nerve wracking day to day but it’s what has worked best for us. Good luck to you and your family.

YMMV.

 

[nomas]

My niece is trying to figure out what they want to do in regards to their 18 yr old daughter . She's going to go to college 4 hrs away and is a ditzy blonde .

 

[Nukeman7]

My niece is trying to figure out what they want to do in regards to their 18 yr old daughter . She's going to go to college 4 hrs away and is a ditzy blonde .

College age kids won't go anywhere without their smartphone. Install the Google Maps App. and covertly enable the "location sharing" feature on her phone so you can track her on Google Maps with your phone.

 

[kpatter]

My dad has dementia and he and my mother live in rural west texas. He is 86 years old. My sister and I have discussed attaching a GPS tracker to his car. He has disappeared a few times and my mother has to go looking for him.

He is not at the point yet to where he is a danger on the roads.. he just gets in his truck and goes looking for my mother when she is at the farm.

I found one called a "Bouncie" on amazon that got decent reviews..attaches to the obd port..
Roughly 90.00 with a 9.00/month subscription.

Does anyone here have a recommendation for a decent GPS tracker? We are new to all this.

Thank you.

unfortunately.. my mom, sister, and I have Samsung androids..

 

[BornSlippy]

College age kids won't go anywhere without their smartphone. Install the Google Maps App. and covertly enable the "location sharing" feature on her phone so you can track her on Google Maps with your phone.

I think on iPhone you have to enable it every 30 days. On Android, you get an email every 30 days reminding you who you are sharing your location with.

 

[reemoeMO]

I have used and recommend the LandAirSea 54 GPS Tracker. Only $14.95 on Amazon. The subscription for 3-minute updates is very reasonable. It's smaller than a hockey puck, is magnetic, so can be stuck on any metal part of the car. The only negative from my view is that it must be charged roughly every 10-14 days.

 

[y_p_w]

My mother has dementia and we are working through a similar process. My mom now gets tested twice a year in a ride along assessor. We all have iPhones and what has worked for us is an AirTag in the glove box and another attached to her keychain.

It’s a pretty nerve wracking day to day but it’s what has worked best for us. Good luck to you and your family.

YMMV.

AirTags might be OK in a suburban environment if it's passing by a lot of homes with Apple devices or if a car with an Apple device passes close. At the very least it would ping the last known location, which could be useful. Still - I look at my suburban area and if I accidentally dropped an AirTag in my back yard, it might not be in Bluetooth range of anything unless someone happens to walk there.

I suggested checking for OnStar partly because it uses satellite communication. Rural areas may or may not even have good cellular access.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

I think on iPhone you have to enable it every 30 days. On Android, you get an email every 30 days reminding you who you are sharing your location with.

I don't recall having to re-enable anything on mine. Initial share location with my family and that's it.

My niece is trying to figure out what they want to do in regards to their 18 yr old daughter . She's going to go to college 4 hrs away and is a ditzy blonde .

Separate conversations on trust and communication. I have "find my" enabled on my iPhone as well all on my plan (kids/wife/father-in-law). We have a excellent communication/trust/respect with our kids. We know they go to bars and out with friends. They also take Ubers with other related horror stories. The "find my" as explained is in case something goes wrong. Where were they and how fast can I get there if an emergency? My sons Kia Forte and daughters Honda CRV also have an airtag in them.

We also use Snapchat. In case they don't want to call. Send me a daily picture, it lets me know you are alive but we text and call frequently anyway. My "streak" with my son is almost 1600 days, my daughter 1200 days.

I don't have it on mine as on my Android when I had it the battery drained a lot faster. My wife and the kids also have Life360 that she started using when they were in high school and doing sports etc. It also has the TILE chips to help find lost stuff.

 

[CarLuver]

like folks are saying , with an airtag you need another iphone to be close. i put one in my moms car ,but we are in an area where iphones dominate .

There are lots of stand alone gps trackers out there . i personally think the cost is worth it if i had to pay. many times my mother has gotten lost and if it was not for tracking i could not help her