For clarity we’re going to break the electronics down into two parts.

We have the BEACON which is the part of the system that moves around and relays its’ position to the RECEIVER which shows the user the positional data or whereabouts of the beacon.

There are two basic approaches to relaying the beacon positional data back to the receiver and each of them have their own unique drawbacks.

The first method is to use the cellular network to send messages to the receiver device. Using the cellular network allows the system to be used pretty much anywhere that you have a cellular network but it might not work in the back-country where people would normally go hiking, boating, fishing or camping. If you intend to use the tracking system outdoors in those back-country places to track your dog if he gets lost then you’d better hope your dog has some good survival instincts and tracking ability of his own.

The Zoombak “Advanced GPS Car and Family Locator” is one product that uses a cellular network to relay the data back to the receiver. The receiver in this case is a web site on the Internet so you’ll need internet access to be able to use it.

Although Zoombak doesn’t charge a setup fee for the device; you’re going to have to pay a minimum $9.99 a month for the service and about $175.00 for the electronic beacon that you attach to the object you’d like to track.

The real drawbacks to the Zoombak is that you need internet access because it doesn’t come with a handheld receiver and that you’ll have a monthly service fee for as long as you’re going to use the device.

The second method is to use publicly accessible, free radio signals to send messages to the receiver device. Since the device is using public radio signals you can expect that there will be no monthly service fees which is a real bonus since paying a service fee for every electronic device that you own starts to add up to some real coin very quickly.

RoamEO is one manufacturer that makes these types of GPS tracking system devices that is made specifically for dogs. They give you a handheld receiver that tracks the position of the beacon in real-time so you can even use it in the back-country where there’s no cellular systems.

Since this device works on radio waves there’s some pretty strict regulations that they have to adhere to and one of them is the power level that they’re allowed to transmit. The handheld receiver will handle up to 3 beacons and the beacon device transmits at 2 watts on 154.6Mhz so the beacon isn’t going to be in Juneau, Alaska and transmit to you California.

The biggest drawback is that the device is only going to transmit about 1 mile and you’re going to foot about $400.00 for 1 beacon and the handheld receiver.

I really like the Zoombak device and if I didn’t have so many projects on the go I’d like to get ahold of a Zoombak to see if it could be hacked to be used off of their system and used independently of their service fees.

This article is about changing the vehicle icons on your Garmin Nuvi device, so if you’re looking to change the voices on your GPS you can learn how to change your GPS voices with these tutorials on SourceGPS:
http://www.sourcegps.com/2008/04/21/change-your-garmin-gps-voice/
http://www.sourcegps.com/2008/03/08/changing-and-creating-tomtom-voices/

I’m going to have to say right off the bat that Garmin is the front-liner though when it comes to customization and total tweaking control. Not only do they allow you to have the ability to change your voice files, but you can have some real control over your vehicle icon too.

Garmin has a garage (actually a web site) set up just for storing cars to share with the planet. There’s over 50 vehicles in the garage to choose from like the blue RC Buggy pictured on the left.

Some of you knowledgeable people are going to say “TomTom lets you change theirs too!” – but the cheezy little vehicle bitmap icons that TomTom utilizes don’t even come close to comparing to the vehicle icons that are available for the Garmin GPS Navigators.

Garmin says their vehicle icons will work for the Nuvi series, the Zumo series and the StreetPilot c510, c530, c550 and the c580. You can download the vehicle icons from The Garmin Garage.

Check back at SourceGPS in a little while and we’ll have a tutorial on how to make your own custom icons for the Garmin series of GPS Navigators.

Here’s my favorite:

See larger image Rose Point Fixed-Mount Marine USB GPS Sensor with WAAS (Misc.) List Price: $149.00 USD New From: $149.00 In Stock

For those of us that have a nice white Macbook the white Rose Point is the sweetest little addition to an arsenal that’s already full of power. This one is for marine use but that just means it’s more sealed to the elements and can resist some really harsh environments – but you can be sure that it’ll work on land too.

The white Rose Point GPS sensor is WAAS enabled and it comes with a 5 meter cable so you can mount it remotely. It might need some cable shortening customization if you’re not going to use it really far away but just like in an airplane you can mount this one to the roof of your RV and let your passengers watch on-screen as you travel to your destination.

Is there anything better than a 17″ GPS Navigational System (your laptop with a GPS receiver hooked up to it) in your vehicle that has all the functionality of a computer too?