Watch/key ring GPS tracker for friend's husband with dementia

[LizB62A]

Hi

A friend's husband went missing for a couple of hours yesterday.
He was found safe but obviously a worrying time.
He has dementia and it's worsened in the last few months.

She's looking for advice on a GPS tracker for him - either to wear as a watch or to attach to his keys as he nearly always takes them with him when they go out, it's a habit.
He doesn't use a phone, he doesn't carry a wallet.

Has anyone used anything like this that they would recommend?

It needs to be GPS as he ended up well over a mile away.

Thanks

There's information on this sort of device on the altziemers website, I haven't got any personal experience I'm afraid of using a tracker, but their forum is normally very helpful.

You can get one like a little disc, which can be attached to a key ring or hidden in a shoe.

Have a look at the Huddersfield Station Cats facebook page - after an escapade during lockdown, Bolt is now wearing a disc tracker on his collar (Felix hasn't required that indignity).

@MereDintofPandiculation Thanks but that's a bluetooth tracker which means you'd need to be within 200ft of it for it to work and connect to your phone. Once it's connected, it can use GPS (passively, i.e. only when already connected via bluetooth)

We need something which actively uses GPS as bluetooth range isn't far enough.

We've since found out that although my friend's husband was found just over a mile away, he'd actually walked for nearly 5 miles in total so could have ended up much further away if he had taken a different route.

@Lightuptheroom
Thanks - I'll take a look at their forum

The Tile whilst if uses Bluetooth there is a method to use every phone running the tile app to locate the tile you are looking for so it does work when tile is beyond the range of your phones bluetooth.

You can get one like a little disc, which can be attached to a key ring or hidden in a shoe. This was being used to keep track of wandering elders, so unlikely that it was only active up to 200ft.

Hi OP,

I’ve been looking into these products for my mother. She’s taken to wandering around and is locking herself out more and more often. Due to the school holidays (I’m a teacher) I’ve been able to move back home for a while so the research has taken a backseat for a bit. Last time I looked something called AngelSense was the front runner. It is expensive (you can pay month to month or a year up front) but it had every feature I wanted (the ability to set up a GPS “fence” was the most attractive one as it will automatically alert you if the wearer goes outside a range you can set as well as being able to name known locations so it will then alert you if the wearer goes to an unknown location) and had different ways to wear it.

We got a Yepzon tracker off Amazon for my Mum, which is attached to her keys. It's set up so me, my husband and my Dad can all track from mobiles & tablets. Its great as Mum feels she's independent and my Dad is no longer sat a t home worrying about where she has gone.

We have a Yepzon tracker attached to keys which are on a lanyard.

Problem is when he goes out without the keys!

My mum has one with a SIM card in it that sits on her necklace but can also be on a key ring or lanyard
Her carers put it on her in the morning when she gets dressed and take it off to charge at night
The only issue is that mobile coverage can be a bit patchy near mums so sometimes it can go offline but gives us a rough location
Mums is with TechSilver
You pay monthly for the sim like on a phone. It's ok but I wish it was a bit more accurate.

The ubeequee GPS dementia tracker is very good and much more affordable than others I have seen. You can create virtual fences so that you are alerted when they leave a certain area and you can also make calls if needed.