I will be doing solo horseback riding soon and my mom wants me to have something on my person during the rides so she can check on me and my location without me needing to answer a text or phone call. It’s purely a safety thing and exclusively for me when I’m riding alone. Outside of riding, the tech will be turned off and stored with my riding stuff.
What would y’all do in this kinda scenario? I value the opinions of the people here in regards to tech more than the search results I was getting when I looked it all up.
If cell phone coverage is not an issue, I’d keep it simple and just use a GPS tracker app on the phone, then keep it on silent.
I would assume line of sight and/or distance would be an issue, otherwise I would consider a meshtastic setup.
If it’s purely in case of emergency, consider a SART or EPIRB (or similar), but that wouldn’t allow for live tracking - but if you do set one off, you will definitely be found.
Just share your location on Google maps temporarily, that’s the easiest. You will have your phone with you and if your phone doesn’t have a signal it’s unlikely anything else you might be willing to take with you will.
This is exactly what I did on a 22 hour train ride. My friends could see where the train was, it didn’t cost me any money because it was just using me existing phone and data plan, and it automatically shut off after a set number of hours so there’s no forgetting to turn it off.
Actually any kind of road trip my wife and I like to do this with our friends because it’s fun following the other person’s progress while they do something cool!
If you need something outside of normal phone service and price is not a problem i would suggest a Garmin InReach.
Along this vein, there are a variety of backpacking GPS trackers, usually ranging from 200+, IIRC. Made to operate in your pack, they check in intermittently with a noted loved one. Pricier ones also have texting hookups to your phone, and I believe most/all have a panic button
This reads like an ad, I’m sorry lol
Definitely some cheaper options available then the garmin for sure. It’s just the only one I’m personally familiar with. Mine is also about 5 years old and i can imagine the market has filled the gap between the price points.
Oh for sure! From my understanding the In Reach is a phenomenal option, I was more just trying to highlight the options cus I didn’t see it elsewhere. Glad to hear yours has held up over time!
If you want to go really old school, get a ham radio license, then buy a handheld with APRS.
You can send out 5W packets with your GPS coordinates, that can be received and relayed by any radio in range. This can work completely off-grid, so no cell service required.
Getting your Technician license is super easy.
This comment sent me down a fun rabbit hole learning about ARPS and packet radio, and I’m finally gonna get my license now. Thanks!
How about she just use your umbillical cord.
Ba-dum TSSS!
*I’ll just see myself out.
For that I would just use a Cell phone and any of the apps that do that.
Meshcore device with GPS, cheap and your data doesn’t leave your control
Or
Phone app if appropriate
If you dont want to bring/use your phone for its gps-functionality, there are gps-trackers for pets that only require a sim-card. Battery lasts for at least several hours to several days depending on how often you query it for position.
The one I bought recently doesn’t have great precision (at least not near and around my building which may be blocking the signal), and only the position at the moment of asking, it doesn’t have like a live-feed of movement. So it’s not close to as good as the phones gps, but it will show at least the general area and whether you’re traveling or not. I went with the smallest I could find because my cat is small, but for a hosre you can get a bigger and probably much better version.
It does require network signal so you need a sim-card that works for the area you’ll be riding in.
If you use Google Maps (I know, I know), but if you have it on your phone already, there’s a sharing function that I use. It’s pretty easy, just select your photo, location sharing, then send it to them. I like it because you can timebox it to so long. So if I’m going out to drinks I can say for the rest of the night, then if my wife doesn’t hear from me she doesn’t have to worry or anything. Then it expires the next morning.
If you’re both on iPhone, you can just share your location in the Find my app.
if your mom is an apple user, an airtag? I am not familiar with the alternatives but the year old article could help you find a similar item (it compares tile, smart tag and a few others): https://www.androidauthority.com/bluetooth-trackers-android-samsung-galaxy-smarttag2-3539097/
I’m not an expert in Apple products, but I am fairly certain those only work if an iPhone is in range so it would also depend on OPs phone or the phones of anyone around.
Yeah I don’t know that much about it either, but I thought they were just little gps devices. either way, OP didn’t say they wouldn’t have a phone, just that they were not trying to text or answer calls.
The tags don’t have GPS. They are basically a Bluetooth beacon. If a compatible phone is within range, it notes it’s existence and reports back to a central server.
Basically, if you took one out into the middle of nowhere, without a phone nearby it would be completely useless. They are only useful when in a crowded place.
I wouldn’t use an air tag because after about an hour or two of it being near you, it’s gonna start beeping/chiming as an anti-stalk type alarm, and that in horseback is a bad combo.
edit: Actually, apparently this chime delay is anywhere from 8 to 24 hours, so you might not come across it.
Spot?
Nextcloud has location sharing features, which I’ve heard, are on par with Google’s location sharing.
The easiest option is phone tracking apps, something my friends back at middle school tended to have, but i think you can get fitbits that will share your location, which would be a nice thing for your mom to get you if she insists on tracking you - it will be useful in the fiture and might be helpful for tracking progress in horseriding. They support a surprising range of activities now.
In saying “fitbit” i might be doing the thing where i name one brand in trying to use a name for the general product, but you know what I mean. A smartwatch for exercise.
Horseback riding is already a nice way to follow someone :)
