We know solutions from Nextel, Verizon, and others are a great cost-effective way to start tracking drivers/vehicles. However, we have heard some instancs in which this solution is less-than-ideal. Let's face it, any time you try to track a person, or put the person being tracked in charge of the tracking device, it's going to be hit-and-miss.

With the employees that don't need to be tracked, it will work flawlessly. The employees that make up the weak link of your organization will find ways around being tracked, rendering your solution useless, or halfway-effective at best.

With a Handheld solution, it's only time before you hear of reception issues, battery issues, blank spots in terms of accuracy, the unit was out-of-range, the battery died, the phone was lost or missing. Besdies, employees can disable or manipulate these Handheld units. Our solution is always "on" and is far more accurate.

As more businesses begin to look into GPS-based vehicle tracking systems to improve the management of their mobile operations, the question of whether a Handheld solution (Nextel® phone equipped with GPS, cell phone or PDA) or an on-board solution (a dedicated GPS unit permanently installed within the vehicle) is the most efficient and cost-effective option is becoming a hot topic. Many business owners decide to provide their drivers with GPS-enabled cell phones as a quick and easy way to begin tracking their mobile assets, following the logic that “something is better than nothing” when it comes to fleet management. Here are some important factors to consider when comparing a Handheld vs. an on-board GPS tracking solution:

1. Operational issues
Driver Cooperation: The most obvious difference between these two approaches to GPS-based fleet management is that Handheld solutions require full driver cooperation for tracking to work (i.e., the cell phone must be turned on and left on by the user). On-board systems are always on and always tracking. If a driver is carrying the phone while he/she works, you will always know where he/she is, but you may not know where the vehicle is. Always, that is, unless the driver decides to turn the phone off, blocks or tampers with its signal, forgets to take the phone with them, allows the phone’s battery to die, etc.
Who -- or what -- are you tracking?: Handheld solutions ensure that a driver’s phone or PDA itself is being tracked, but not necessarily his/her vehicle. In other words, the control of the tracking is in the hands of the mobile worker. With on-board solutions, the control of the tracking is in the hands of management -- making it a true management tool. Even if you consider your drivers to be “the best in the business,” permanently-installed, dedicated GPS receivers ensure that your assets are always being tracked. They provide peace of mind that simply isn’t possible with Handheld solutions.

2. Technical considerations
For any tracking system to work effectively, the GPS receiver needs to have a clear “line of sight” to
the sky so that an accurate position can be determined. With Handheld GPS solutions, this means
that any time the cell phone is out of position -- taken inside of a building, left underneath a car seat
or inside of a tool box, inside the glove compartment, or even on the user’s belt -- the signal will be
lost and tracking will be disabled or inaccurate, until that line of sight is re-established. But with
an on-board solution, your vehicle is always being tracked thanks to a permanent antenna on the
roof, so you always know where it is. The signal is not lost as long as the vehicle is out in the open.
Whether a cell phone is blocked by accident or on purpose, the chances for a loss of signal remain
extremely high. An on-board system virtually eliminates this uncertainty.

3. Price
GPS-enabled cell phones are certainly less expensive initially than an investment in an on-board
GPS tracking system, but when you consider each solution’s impact on your business’ productivity
and efficiency, some startling contrasts emerge. For one thing, cell phones are by definition mobile,
so wear and tear is a huge factor -- the average lifespan of a GPS-enabled phone is only 1-1.5 years.
On-board GPS boxes never need to move again after being installed and last for an average of 3-7
years; in fact, they often outlive the original vehicle they are installed in. Since they are permanently
installed, they can’t be lost without the entire vehicle being lost. "With the handheld GPS system, we were not able to track vehicles... We had some instances where employees would just simply turn the phones off. If the phone is turned off, you can’t track the trucks. Navtrak immediately gave us a lot more control over our workforce."

John Boucher
Founder and Owner
Boucher Real Estate Co.

Even more important are the accumulated costs due to the notorious unreliability of Handheld solutions. In theory, if your drivers are carrying GPS-enabled cell phones, you’ll know where they are. Right?

In practice, phone batteries die or remained uncharged for hours (even days). Signals get lost due to changes in position and location. A phone’s GPS application is interrupted because of an incoming call or text message. What does all this add up to? Large chunks of time in which you don’t know where your mobile assets are. Time spent trying to find them again. Jobs missed. Customers angered. Money lost. Credibility lost.

4. Accuracy
Accuracy in reporting A GPS-based fleet management tool of any kind is only as good as its information and its ability to report that information accurately and consistently. Although GPS-enabled cell phones can usually report on 3-15 minute intervals just as on-board boxes can, the fact that their signals can be lost so easily dramatically affects the quality of the Start-Stop reports it can produce. Business owners have to be able to rely on accurate reports when comparing employee time cards against the GPS software data, and using a system that is unreliable introduces doubt. When an employee insists he was at a location but the report isn’t there to back him up, the fleet manager is left to decide whether to trust the customer or the employee.

5. Reliability
Hend-held GPS devices are not known for their security, nor for their durability. Over time they can become less reliable due to normal wear and tear, and vibrations caused by many hard miles on the road. They are also susceptible to all kinds of additonal hazards and circumstances -- they can be stolen, dropped, forgotten, temporarily lost, damaged by water or dirt, etc. In short, cell phones were not
designed specifically for a vehicle location application. The opposite is true when it comes to on-board, permanently mounted GPS units. These boxes are rated for dust, shock and vibration and are very resistant to damage. In addition, because they are mounted in an out of the way area of the cab of the vehicle, they are very hard to break or tamper with. They typically last for years without being touched or damaged.

6. Value-added functionality
Finally, because these GPS-phones were not designed specifically with vehicle tracking in mind, a fleet management solution built around them cannot provide many of the value-added functions that make on-board solutions so powerful and effective.

Report provided by Navtrak.