Anti-theft tracking device: how to configure it to deal with the battery?

Question

I'm planning to buy this GPS Tracking device, to place it on my boat. I don't need to track my boat coordinates while sailing. I need to be alerted when my boat is stolen. Therefore, I need this device to inform me when the boat is moving and I'm not on board.

Battery life is extremely important for me, since I don't want to change battery every month or 2 months. On the website, they write that battery life is 4 months in "Stand By" mode, and "2 months" on average use. There is also a 6 months "deep sleep" mode which I'm not sure what it means. I tried to contact customer support but they didn't answer yet, therefore I try to give it a go here.

Scrolling through the functionalities on the website, I believe this device doesn't have a "motion detection" sensor, so the only way to detect movement is either with a "Geofencing Perimeter" or "Speed Restrictions". But I believe both functionality requires active gps tracking, right? Are they expensive functionalities in terms of battery? or not?

Answer 1

I can't help you with exact configurations.
But as usual this kind of thing has a basic rule.

The less it's activated, the less it will use its battery. Standby mode (time it spends counting the seconds to next use) will use almost no power at all. As soon as it comes to life it will acquire a GPS signal, triangulate its position and send it to a server from where you'll get the data.

The sleep, deep sleep, advanced standby modes are all just marketing terms.

What you need to consider is how often you want to be updated.
You should also take into account the maximum distance anyone would be able to travel with the boat inside that time period, and if authorities can still help you when they've reached that distance.
So if they're able to get your boat into international waters (or at a range where authorities won't help you recovering your boat) in 20 hours then you should obviously set it to update at least every 10.

The above is assuming the device has world wide coverage - you should probably look that up as well. And make sure it can still phone home.

Next there might be an option to have the device activate when a door is opened or when the engine is turned on (making it more of an effective alarm and enabling you to take action immediately).

How long the battery would last under any of these conditions is just a matter of trying it out. I'd guess it will message you before running out of juice.