Invoxia GPS Review: The Things We Still Need

I've been reviewing the Invoxia GPS for more than nine months. I think it's probably the best universal GPS tracker out there, but there are some major features that I think are missing.
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Five Missing Features:
Intro: 00:00
1. Settings over LTE: 00:18
2. Active Recovery Mode: 01:47
3. Park Mode: 02:37
4. Connection (GPS + LTE) Clarity 04:07
Bonus Bait Bike Info: 04:42
5. User-disable GPS 05:06

[@mattinvoxia3515]

Invoxia HAS seen this video! Thank you for the constructive feedback, Andrew. A few things come to mind straight away. We launched a new feature, Smart Alarm, on the 8th of September which does partially respond to your second point. Should you lose your Invoxia Cellular GPS Tracker with Smart Alarm enabled, you’ll now have a new way of increasing your chances of recovery. Lost Mode is great for when you urgently need to locate a lost or stolen item. When activated, Lost Mode increases the update frequency of your tracker, giving you a more precise journey history and improving the tracking accuracy. Note that these enhancements do come at the cost of battery life. If your tracker is set to Low the update frequency will increase to every 10 minutes, on Standard every 5-6 minutes, and on High, every 2-3 minutes.

[@JohnHerbst]

Amazing, Matt!! Thanks for replying to this - super happy that you can make firmware/software updates to make it more effective. Andrew’s videos are covering something that no one else seems to be doing anywhere near as well. I probably should sign up for a list to see when new updates happen… still not buying the Invoxia but will definitely consider it after seeing you all are committed to improving it. LOL jeez I seem like a shill for either you or Andrew, but really I’m a random dude in Chicago who doesn’t want to get his bike stolen!

[@batterybikes]

Yep, of course I got the email with the firmware updates and my heart sunk - I had already shot and edited the video. I'm excited to try out the new stuff. I'd love to talk to an Invoxia hardware engineer someday to see what kinda tradeoffs have to be made for polling, battery life, etc

[@adamrittweger164]

I don’t see smart alarm feature on my Invoxia gps tracker. Went to the App Store and don’t see any updates I missed. Will look into it! Also I email Invoxia about my tracker because on multiple occasions it didn’t update its final position. They said it could be up to 190ft off on location due to gps. The proximity radar only works up 65ft away. So you find yourself almost 3 times the distance away from the tracker and not be able to find the tracker. In my email to them I also covered the concern about if something was stolen, I would like to be able to get quicker tracking and they didn’t mention the Smart Alarm. They told me about the panic button on the back of the actual tracker. Wish the app had a panic button to force an immediate update to the location.

[@kierentaylor]

Hey! Have any of the other missing features been addressed since your update? I’m ready to buy and would be great to know. Thanks

[@mattinvoxia3515]

@@kierentaylor Hi KT, in addition to Smart Alarm that was mentioned in some previous comments, we brought a major update to the tracker a few months back that added on-demand real-time tracking that can be activated over the air. I'm not sure we've hit EVERY one of Andrew's points, but nearly all of them have been addressed since this video. We also released a fit for purpose waterproof pouch which can give a bit more protection to the tracker in a bike use case.

[@allhailalona]

the last suggestion was the best one, and might actually be the most battery saving feature.

[@dustyroads834]

Those are some very good points made there. Thanks

[@SportFlow]

Absolutely great points.

[@eric270755]

👍Most correct and accurate review i found until yet. It would by fine if Invoxia tried to fix this shortcomings. Belgian Invoxia user since begin 2023 and i see that there is not much changed since this review😪 .Stil happy with this invoxia but could be happier😅

[@techgeek2994]

andrew is there anything better than invoxia do you recommend something or this is only thing availible ? i work deliveries with ebike i would like to protect it

[@Neemzz]

Great video! Hopefully Invoxia listens!

[@batterybikes]

I hope so too! The lost mode was a great improvement but I'd still love to be able to do tracking frequency over app.

[@garyjacobs7342]

Very nice video. Hopefully they’ll heed your advice!

[@batterybikes]

I hope so too! They've included a new 'lost mode' that doubles your ping frequency which is sort of what I was looking for, but still no full over the air updating during theft.

[@user-qr4zu1hb4o]

While it would be great if Invoxia implemented all of your suggestions, the feature that particularly troubles me is the 5 min wait for the motion detection to set. I have little doubt that many bikes have been stolen within that time. Have you been able to ferret out why the wait cannot be shortened or eliminated by your 'Park" mode? It would seem like a firmware/software adjustment could do it. Thanks.

[@vironpayne3405]

The 5 minute wait is fine. Being able to set it to 2 or 3 might be nice. The primary way invoxia maximizes battery life is minimizing data transmitting data. Most thieves will wait a couple minutes before trying to steal something that is securely locked. They want to be comfortable that the owner is not coming back to check and see if they locked their bike. The 2-3 minute option may require different software or hardware with slighly higher power requirements for logic.

[@xxxXXXCH04XXXxxx]

Yayy, test theft video is finally coming!

[@corgimaepl6638]

Fantastic Video. I hadn't even thought of a couple of those ever. It would be nice to have the ability to have it wired into an ebike, and the antenna in the grips, outside the metal of the bar or bike. [Internal components, but hidden external antenna for GPS and LTE.

[@batterybikes]

Yep - agree on all points Corgi. We need bike companies to hide these in multiple parts of the bike. Maybe one GPS in the rear wheel hub and another in the bike frame. Run off the big bike battery but have little backups that can 'trickle' gps updates for a long time if the big battery is taken.

[@kierentaylor]

Hi Andrew, have any of your missing features been addressed with an update since this video was released? Thanks

[@batterybikes]

The only one I'm aware of is a recovery mode. They didn't build it how I would, but they added a button called "Real Time Boost" that gives you GPS updates every 30 seconds for 30 minutes. With the idea being that you'd use this while trying to get your bike/etc back. I haven't tested it to see how much it affects battery life, but I'm sure it takes out a chunk. Now that they have this, I think basically everybody should go to the slowest update mode (every 30 minutes when moving, every 24 hours when idle), and then just turn this on when the bike has been stolen. I should probably review it and make a video!

[@williamvanlaere531]

Hi, would it be possible to put a power bank inside the bike with it? And have the powerbank use all it's power. So the tracker can last way more than 1 month? I thought it would last 6 months?

[@batterybikes]

Hey William good question. I've tried this out with a super small battery pack and the battery pack seemed to stop giving power after the tracker was fully charged. I'm not sure if this was because of my battery pack or the Invoxia tracker. The battery is so small (I think 300 mah, so 1/7 to 1/10 of an iphone) that I could see them wanting to prevent a constant trickle charge. I'll try to test that out next week and get back to you. In the meantime you may be able to email Invoxia and see what they say.

[@batterybikes]

Hey William. I’m not sure if it’s an Invoxia issue or a battery pack issue, but it doesn’t look like it will work. The Invoxia seems to fully charge, but then stop charging. I’m using an Anker powercore fwiw

[@mattinvoxia3515]

@@batterybikes Hi, this behaviour is related to the battery pack and not the tracker itself. The battery pack is designed to switch off as soon as it detects a drop in power usage by the device its charging. Some battery banks may function differently, but most of the more 'intelligent' ones will share this 'feature'.

[@slopetechno]

@@mattinvoxia3515 would it be possible to make an even more frequent mode than 5-7 minute tracking? I can easily wire this into power in my car (or eBike frankly)

[@magick335]

i just got mine. I do agree the update settings over gps would be a plus.. my old tracker did.. I wish the battery level included a rough percentage.. Also, had mine a week. fully charged , middle settings.. was working fine. then today , i guess it ran out of juice.. the app said I was still half full.. but the tracker was doa...plugged it in, it charged in an hour.. not sure if this is normal. my other tracker would send a message/notification the battery is low.

[@batterybikes]

Hey Magick. Very strange. Maybe see if you can update your firmware. My Invoxia is usually pretty solid as far as freezes and random shutdowns. I dealt with them a ton with the Samsung GPS tracker, but have had almost none with the Invoxia. Also, I've been getting emails lately (past couple months?) when the power on the tracker is low, so that does sound like a bug and not the battery dying. Hopefully a firmware update can fix those. Otherwise might be worth trying to swap it with Invoxia.

[@magick335]

@@batterybikes Thank you. its up to date. I'll give it time. I love it so far.. just shocked it went dead without saying. I also used the samsung gps for 3 years :) this is well loved upgrade.

[@Derkenblosh2]

Updating over LTE would require it to wake up right? Can lorawan push to wake? If not, then you would lose all that battery life.

[@batterybikes]

Hey James. Good point. It would have to be awake to change its settings, but it wouldn't have to be an instant change, as in, my 'request' to update the tracking frequency could just sit on Invoxia's server until the bike pushes an update to Invoxia. I can't remember what it's called, but I have the battery saver option where it only pings its GPS location every 24 hours as long as the tracker doesn't detect movement. Meanwhile... If I wanted to update it after the fact, say when the bike is stolen, it could still wait every 5/15/30 minutes to update its frequency. I think that would be a nice compromise that would preserve battery life and not increase polling. Lemme know if that makes no sense.

[@HD.Beamer]

Sorry i dont get it. Its on my motorbike. I cant locate it and it doesnt show me my travelled route. How can i set this up? Bluetooth always on?

[@truthbetold4350]

Do you happen to know if the invoxia GPS tracker can be blocked by a signal jammer?

[@batterybikes]

Yeah for sure. You’ll need to be careful where you put it on your bike because any solid steel or aluminum will almost certainly prevent a signal from getting through.

[@Oppenheimer183]

Thats a cool scooter you got there, probably weighs about 30kg. One problem I had with this new pro product is the price compared to the old one. The price is 5 dollars a month.

[@batterybikes]

I can't figure it out - is there anything new with the pro product? The bullet points seem the same. They haven't sent one to me fwiw. Yeah $5 is a little bit much. I always think of trackers in terms of their annual costs. Previously it was $20-30 per year. I'd really have to think on it if it raises to $60.

[@michaelb4512]

Do you have a go to gps for directions for a ebike?Thankyou!

[@batterybikes]

I just use my phone. I'm bought into the Peak design cell phone case and bike mounts. They're not cheap but they're rock solid.

[@JohnHerbst]

Awesome video Andrew - and nice tease about the Airtag/Invoxia real-world, real-theft (EEEK!!) showdown. It's odd to say, but I've never been so excited for someone's bike to get stolen! I remain convinced that one will most benefit from having both a GPS and a bluetooth tracker, located on separate areas of the bike - for redundancy, and in case one fails or is discovered by the savvy thief. As for this video - your five points are SPOT ON, and hopefully Invoxia is reading them, because they're exactly what are keeping me from buying one. The only other thing I'd want is some more mounting options - maybe a silicone case w/ 3M VHB on it, so you can stick it to your bike frame. There are 3rd party AirTag cases that are this exact solution, and they're great for bikes (my new e-bike has one on it, and it's been amazing so far). Thanks again! I've been anxiously awaiting another video from you, and looking forward to the next one hinted in this video!

[@batterybikes]

Hey thanks John. Yeah the mounting options is really interesting - it seems like a million companies have started 3d printing stuff for the Airtag. I initially thought most of the places would be too visible, but I've already seen a few stories of people recovering bikes with Airtags on Reddit. I think it really comes down to how good of a thief takes your bike. If it's a casual thief or someone super high, an Airtag may be all that it takes to get it back. Obviously, if it's a committed thief they'll have no trouble finding/removing it. Hopefully finally get the bike stolen this week. Am just going to leave it outside my house this week (though Ulocked) until it goes. Beers on me next time I'm in Chicago! Granted. I've only made it out there once.

[@JohnHerbst]

@@batterybikes I hope you have a camera pointed at the bike outside your house! Would be harrowing to see it get stolen, even though that's exactly what you want to happen. Will be interested to see what Matt (& Invoxia) are recommending for mounting options - or, for that matter, what you're doing for mounting the Invoxia and the AirTag.

[@batterybikes]

@@JohnHerbst I do man. Always having the bike in view is what has made it so tricky. We started at Gordons house, burned through a couple Saturdays without anything happening, so now I'm just leaving it outside my house (a bit safer neighborhood though?) until it gets taken. The shot is great during the day, but at night may be a bit of a blurry mess. :shrug: I looked into getting a security camera and mounting that somewhere around my neighborhood, but I didn't want the city to take it down or have to worry about wifi. So we've got the grandpa camcorder with big zoom just pointed at it. I've been pretty creative with hiding the GPS, and may show that in the video. I sorta think we're giving thieves a list of places to check by posting that... But I also think if it's a determined and technical thief they'll be able to overcome anything. Which is probably why everyone sane with an ebike just bites the bullet and gets insurance. eh.

[@JohnHerbst]

@@batterybikes ha! We sometimes put a Nest cam inside our window, pointed toward the street if we need to keep an eye on our front yard for some reason, and it does a decent job. It'd be awesome to have some footage of the thief/thieves, just so you can have it on file. Wish I was in SF, as I'd be all up for helping! Good luck again.

[@batterybikes]

Stolen and recovered last night man. It’s going to take a while to edit, but I think I’m going to have something good. Thieves attempted with a blow torch, hammer and bike fork before using an angle grinder. 👍 Really glad to have it back

[@jacklewis100]

How would you expect it to update over LTE seeing as it only connects to the cell network every 5, 15 or 30 minutes and then stay online awaiting your commands? The whole reason it has a good battery life is that it's online for very brief periodic moments, just long enough to ping its location and not at all if tilt/move mode is enabled. Exactly the same for 'active tracking' - the product isn't meant for stalking people, it's meant for tracking items. You say it will only send its signal if it has GPS and LTE.... it will also use WiFi geolocation.

[@batterybikes]

Hey Jack. I'd expect it to work pretty much how you've laid it out. It wouldn't need to always stay online, it would just use the existing periodic cell network connections. Each time the GPS wakes up and connects to the cell network (X minutes) to send its location/status, it also receives a response from the Invoxia server. Right now this probably roughly just says {update_received: true}, but instead it could could also include the new update frequency. ({update_received: true, update_frequency: "5 minutes"}). So the trackers frequency wouldn't change until the next time it sends an update. Then you'd get the best of both worlds. Keep the great battery life, but be able to update it after the fact over LTE.

[@jacklewis100]

@@batterybikes Okay, but the update would have to say "hey, when you get this update, stay online coz your master wants you to get some more commands and telemetry..." - and so the extension of online time from 1-2 seconds to 1-2 minutes would be a huge drain. Sure, there's some compromise they could come up with that does some of what you want. I'd prefer a feature where update time is increased according to speed and very infrequent when stationary.

[@AntonRu]

So here’s my thought: 1 Invoxia should automatically detect when you approach the bike so movements won’t trigger any alarm. 1.1 Detect the presence of other Bluetooth enabled devices approaching but don’t establish automatically a connection…meaning it’s not you so you get a passive notification. 2 Active notification in case someone moves the bike and then start quick location update until you reach it or eventually change the settings via air.

[@allhailalona]

wiat did they just opened your kryptonite?

[@choppergirl]

I sniped a brand new one with 3 year plan included for $35. It says that on the box... 3 year plan. It doesn't seem to be terribly useful for at all for real time theft recovery... the GPS location is sporatic and off by.... blocks. And it's always where your bike has been, but now is gone, not where it currently is. At best if it gets parked for a while and stays in the same location maybe you'll get a useful fix.

[@batterybikes]

Oh wow. Care to say where you got it? I let my subscription lapse because they increased the annual subscription cost. I will probably renew it soon, assuming my battery is still alive after sitting dead for a couple months.

[@choppergirl]

@@batterybikesI found it on ebay a few days ago, and when I saw the 3 year subscription included, I was like... for real? You could get it with 3 years instead of 1. So I lunged at it, because even if it was a misprint on the box, it still seemed a good deal. I don't run my motorbike with insurance or tags or even a title on the bike, so it seemed like my alternative to insurance... if anyone stole my bike, I was recovering it myself, as I don't go to the police for anything. Now that I own it, I'm like meh... I don't know if it's really worth $40 a year after my 3 year subscription runs out, even though I bought it all for $35. The reason is maybe I drive my bike ever 2 weeks to fetch groceries, so that works out to $40 for 25 trips a year, or about 1.50 per trip. I spend about that much on gas per trip, so I'm spending as much eventually on this gps tracker as I would on gas. Is it really worth it then? Not for me as a very infrequently motorcycle rider, even if I ride year round to fetch groceries. Anyway, to answer you question, I guess I just lucked out on ebay. But apparently, yeah, 3 year versions are out there in the wild. Mine was probably I'm guessing an Amazon return? Unregistered an unopened? It says 3 years on the back of the box and registered just fine... Get yourself a heavy 100 or 120 strength chain, some Abloy 340B locks, and hide some $7 raaapealarms on your bike with pull pins and fishline tied to the chain so if anyone messes with your chain, it pulls the pin out and sets off the alarm. That's what I plan to do. Multiple hidden levels of security to snag an unware theif in a hurry and wanting to make this an uneventful smash and grab. Slow them down, freak them out, maybe they run away to a softer target. If they steal you bike, track them down and just steal it back lol.

[@choppergirl]

@@batterybikesOh, now I see why this is so cheap. They don't use cell towers, they use the Helium Network, which uses Lorah, which is nowhere near as much coverage as cellphone coverage... which is everywhere. Helium coverage seems to be only in big cities... but out in the sticks... looking at their map... nothing.

[@choppergirl]

@@batterybikesI got it off ebay. But before you buy one, look at the Helium network coverage map. Basically, your bike ends around a big city like New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnaiti, Dallas, etc... you're likely to get a fix. But if it's taken out in the stix countryside anywhere to a chop shot or someone's back yard, forget it. It appears only to do bluetooth or Helium... not cell phone coverage... if you take your smart phone in your pocket with you on your bike, with bluetooth turned, so it will give you the false illusion it's getting cell phone coverage everywhere, but really it's working off your phone when it's out of range of Helium which is like I said... everywhere that is not near a first, second, or third tier city in a state. Better than nothing, but not what I was thinking it was... using the massive cellphone network.

[@Syncopator]

A critical feature for me would be the ability to set notifications to be strictly SMS. This is because I have a cell phone but it's not a smart phone, and I've no intention of spending $$$ for one and carrying it around with me. I've an iPad where I could run the app but it's not cel connected, just WiFi/BlueTooth. And I don't carry it around with me. So I could adjust the settings at home but not be able to get instant notifications in the field unless they were SMS. Without that feature, motion detection notification is not a feature I can use.

[@batterybikes]

I admire your aversion to smart phones, but I think you're a bit of an edge case. With that said, adding SMS notifications wouldn't be too bad engineering wise so I wouldn't be surprised if they were open to the suggestion

[@RussellHogan]

By far the best review. Thanks!!!! Please review the Monimoto 7.

[@batterybikes]

Thanks for watching man. I’ve never seen the Monimoto before but looks very compelling. The one downside is it looks like it’s about 4x the size of the Invoxia. On a motorcycle it might not matter but on a bike it would make it a bit trickier

[@RussellHogan]

@@batterybikes True, it’s a little bit bigger. I have that initial concern too. I think on your cargo bike it will work.

[@stephenwaters5134]

I will buy one regardless of price if they fixed these specific issues.

[@UndercastEsmeganitrospeed]

But, these dont use LTE, they use LoRA and SigFox, thats why the update rate is so low

[@vironpayne3405]

The idea of turning off GPS would basically turn the tracker into an Air Tag. It usually takes most GPS units a minute or so to acquire 3 or more satellite signals which is generally required for accurate positioning. I suspect that the acquiring signal may actually require more power than monitoring the signal after it is acquired. The reason I say this is signal requires detection and amplification. Amplification consumes more power for more amplification. I suspect that Invoxia has already done a good job on minimizing power used to receive GPS signals, perhaps by reducing the duty cycle that the GPS receiver actually listens. GPS are high frequency radio signals that require some form of accurate oscillator to keep frequency drift to a minimum. The packet of data the satellite sends has a minimum time to send. I doubt that GPS satellites are synchronized on when the start sending their packet. The satellites themselves probably do not transmit continuously. Perhaps the transmit 2-3 seconds and are idle for 5-10 seconds receiving signals from other GPS satellites. The question becomes "Are GPS satellites synchonous or asynchronous communication devices?" I believe they are asynchronous. How they operate will determine the schemes used to minimize power. GPS tracking every few minutes is probably fine. I need to do research.

[@batterybikes]

good to know viron :thumbsup:

[@theMekanik]

How does it charge!? USBC??

[@batterybikes]

Ugh. unfortunately micro usb

[@manoz6194]

My ebike was stolen in less than 5 minutes. Angle grinder through my kryptonite lock

[@dysnomia-anarchia]

Boy, this thing swcks. I've taken some test drives of this set into hyper update mode and it's abysmal. This does not use the cellular network, but rather, a homebrew crypto network called Lowrah or Lofi The coverage of the Lowrah is non-existent. At best if your lucky and your motorcycle doesn't end up in a chop shop or someones back yard anywhere in the vastness of the countryside, it will narrow down which big city your motorcycle is in, but that's about it. Forget narrowing it down to actual GPS coordinates on a map. Maybe you pick up one when whoever is driving it passes some random network point, but by then your motorcycle is long gone down the road.

[@ianofliverpool7701]

It would be great to know the law and rights when you track down your stolen bike to a property and the person who lives at the property denies all knowledge and won`t let the police into his property.

[@batterybikes]

Yeah good idea Ian. I need a 101 on this too

[@MeMe-cd1wy]

I love country music. Our TraderJoe’s horrible rap.

[@tandago7281]

These guys really need to hire a psychologist when they design these systems. Mind boggling

[@batterybikes]

I just think they should interview thieves and also use it themselves. It seems like a lot of products just never get used much by their own employees.

[@tandago7281]

@@batterybikes Indeed. I guess these are things a good psychologist that has experience with human factors, HCI and UX as well as experimental methods would know. They'd be able to set up reliable studies to answer questions and improve the product so it is actually useful. It's curious how they'd invest so much in engineering but not in the human use of the product - and if it fails, they'd probably blame it on marketing, sales or the economy - not on the shortsightedness of simply not hiring the appropriate expertise on the product.

[@choppergirl]

I've been testing this, and I don't think it works at all. It doesn't use cellular, it uses the Helium IOT network, which just does not exist anywhere. If you have your smart phone on and carrying it with you while you drive, you will be fooled and you will think it's working... because it's connecting to your phone in your pocketvia bluetooth, and uploading the data points to the app and up to the cloud. But if your vehicle is stolen, your smart phone is going to be nowhere near around and totally out of bluetooth range. To test and confirm I'm not talking shlt, switch off your phone and drive around for a day, and you will find, it sends no GPS location data points up to the network and to the app at all.... because the the Helium IOT network cratered and does not exist anywhere, despite their coverage map.

[@choppergirl]

After a month or two mine has stopped working. It's stuck in Standby mode and nothing I do in the app can connect to it via Bluetooth, even though I have it paired and connected, and even if I push the button on the tracker.... and it's fully charged. This thing pretty much is a POS. SInce the GPS Helium function as a GPS tracker was useless since the Helium Network cratered, I thought I could at least use the Bluetooth proximity location function of it to work like an air tag, so I put it on my keychain. Nope, it didn't last.

[@chromeaddict]

Ive got 3 of these. One still works, two are only 6 months old and failing. Ive gone back and forth with "customer service" going on 5 weeks now via email. Clearly the battery is failing/defective and they STILL have me jumping thru hoops with troubleshooting this POS. Dont but this junk. Customer service is a joke.