Best simple tracking device for a Level 1 rocket.

[Sterk03]

Looking for what Level 1 rockets use for a tracking device from cheap to $$ what is the go to tracker?
Sterk03

 

[dr wogz]

Eggtimer Mini

Featherweight trackers

a GPS dog collar tracker

 

[thzero]

Missileworks GPS tracker can be used to.

 

[Sparkyflyer14]

The eggfinder stuff is the best for the price if you can stand to do a little soldering. I used a eggfinder mini on my level 1 flight. I bought a bunch of their products and was able to complete all of them without ever having soldered before.

 

[Buckeye]

a GPS dog collar tracker

2005 called. They want their GPS dog collar back. Nobody is using those for rocketry anymore.

Looking for what Level 1 rockets use for a tracking device from cheap to $$ what is the go to tracker?
Sterk03

The most popular are probably:

Eggfinder $
Missileworks $$
Featherweight $$$

Get a proper GPS designed for rocketry, like these three. Don't be tempted by those cheap Tiles or monthly service plan things used to find your cat or your car keys.

 

[dr wogz]

2005 called. They want their GPS dog collar back. Nobody is using those for rocketry anymore.

while many may not use one, they are still a "cheap" & readily available option.. (our club still has one!!)

 

[WillMarchant]

2005 called. They want their GPS dog collar back. Nobody is using those for rocketry anymore.



The most popular are probably:

Eggfinder $
Missileworks $$
Featherweight $$$

Get a proper GPS designed for rocketry, like these three. Don't be tempted by those cheap Tiles or monthly service plan things used to find your cat or your car keys.

I'd add the https://altusmetrum.org/ product line to that group. And I like the https://shop.bigredbee.com/ line up.

 

[mtnmanak]

For Level 1 tracking, this is the priority I recommend:

1) Your eyeballs
2) Someone else's eyeballs
3) Loud annoying personal alarm (also helps you make friends at the club when it gets caught in the tree right behind the LCO and screeches at everyone for hours):
4) RF Tracking - either comm spec or, yes, dog collar tracking. If it is so windy that my Level 1 rockets would go out of my Marco Polo range, I can't imagine I would fly that day. Marco Polo requires almost zero setup, just turn it on, chuck it in the nosecone or attach it to a shock cord and go. The transmitter will transmit for days or weeks (I forgot to turn a tracker off one time and finally cleaned up the rocket two weeks later and the Marco Polo transmitter was still on and transmitting).
5) GPS tracking - Eggtimer, Featherweight and Missile Works all make trackers that work great, although they are far more complicated compared to any of the above options and, other than minimum diameter flights in places I only go to once a year, I rarely fly Level 1 rockets in a situation where they land far away. Having said that, getting experience with GPS trackers is super valuable. I put my Eggfinder Mini's & Featherweight transmitters in a 38mm cardboard tube, attach it to the drogue shock cord and let them hang. Works in most of my MPRs and above with no real upper limit on the size of the rocket.

 

[Buckeye]

while many may not use one, they are still a "cheap" & readily available option.. (our club still has one!!)

They were not cheap in 2005, and they still seem relatively pricey today, IMO. A cursory look at Bass Pro Shops shows collars range from $150 to over $1000. Plus, they are big and bulky. I think one can do better with rocketry systems.

 

[mtnmanak]

They were not cheap in 2005, and they still seem relatively pricey today, IMO. A cursory look at Bass Pro Shops shows collars range from $150 to over $1000. Plus, they are big and bulky. I think one can do better with rocketry systems.

I would agree they aren't cheap, but the Marco Polo transmitters are just about the same size as my Featherweight and Eggfinder mini transmitters and the Marco Polo transmitters are extremely rugged in comparison. They have very little range compared to a GPS tracker, but if I am flying on a field with a relatively low waiver, they are just so much easier and quicker to use than hauling out my GPS setups. If all I need is to make sure I can find the rocket in a corn or soy bean field, a Marco Polo is enough.

I think the real answer is simply that you need to fly your field. If you are never going to fly high and always go to a field with a relatively constrained recovery area (which is the vast majority of the fields East of the Mississippi), maybe you never really need GPS tracking. If you always fly somewhere with open skies and miles of recovery, GPS is pretty much the only option. I go to both kinds of fields, so I have many different kinds of tracking systems.

 

[Buckeye]

For Level 1 tracking, this is the priority I recommend:

Tracking has nothing to do with Level, so I am not sure what the OP is driving at. Is it to find his Level 1 certification attempt, or general HPR use? High impulse H and I motors in small diameter rockets definitely need more than eyeballs to find.

Edit: Even at lower altitudes, rockets easily drift further than expected or land in gnarly ground cover. A tracker is a good move for any flight, really. How many times have you seen a guy at a launch wandering around for hours hoping to stumble upon the rocket he thought did not "need" a tracker?

 

[mtnmanak]

Tracking has nothing to do with Level, so I am not sure what the OP is driving at. Is it to find his Level 1 certification attempt, or general HPR use? High impulse H and I motors in small diameter rockets definitely need more than eyeballs to find.

Absolutely true.

 

[David Schwantz]

Comm spec is closed for good

 

[thzero]

2005 called. They want their GPS dog collar back. Nobody is using those for rocketry anymore.

I know plenty of people using Macro Polo system https://eurekaproducts.com/

 

[Jmhepworth]

A lot depends on your field. If you were launching with us in Utah, I would suggest keeping the altitude under 2,000 feet and use your eyes. Our field has no trees and little to hide a rocket if you get a bearing on it when it comes down. On the other hand, in Argonia, you only put a tracker in rockets you want to find. Even with a really good bearing, when something comes down in the crops it can take a lot of time to find it without a tracker. Com Spec has been my most reliable (too bad they are out of business), and EggFinder products are what I use next. I‘ve tried others, but I’m so technology inept that I have trouble with Big Red Bee and Altus Metrum.

 

[bjphoenix]

They were not cheap in 2005, and they still seem relatively pricey today, IMO. A cursory look at Bass Pro Shops shows collars range from $150 to over $1000. Plus, they are big and bulky. I think one can do better with rocketry systems.

I don't know what types are available but the cheaper ones were using 3G cellular technology so they don't work anymore. My daughter had those for her dogs. The ones that use current cell towers are more expensive.

 

[Newguy]

At the February launch, we tested Tracki, Invoxia and Cubi at The Rocket Ranch in Seymour, Texas. All of these just work fine at our launch site and available on Amazon. Tracki provides updates every minute so you get a few flight points. Invoxia fits in a 29mm tube but only updates every 2 -4 minutes. I put all these in the "rocket finding" category.

 

[Dave S.]

I have tried to use a Marco Polo system. It worked at home and at the car both before and after the launch. However when I needed it to work after launching the rocket, it just didn't. The rocket landed 3/4 of a mile away at least, so I was not surprised at first it was out of range.

I saw about where it landed and got closer - no luck at all w/ the Marco Polo. The hand held unit never found the unit in the nose cone of the rocket. I eventually got the rocket back by just searching visually, and as it turned out I was not all that far away when from where it landed.

Not sure why it didn't work. (Yes it was turned on)

It was almost as though it knew I was counting on it, and chose that time to not work.