Unclear of stock numbers but I could add multiple to cart. Price elsewhere is $299 to $399
Officeworks: https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/opel-mobil…
Pair it with either a 365 day PAYG sim, or a cheap monthly plan. Opel will sell you one for $10 per 30days with unlimited calls/text and 1GB data which seems suitable.
Isn't a monitored service and relies on adequate coverage with WiFi or 4G.
Good deal, was able to purchase one. Thanks OP
Glad it was useful for you. The monitored ones definitely offer something but for the cost this is hard to pass.
Looks great until you read about the battery life. There's no way the average elderly user is going to charge this up a couple of times a day.
It is a battle with these devices. Ones with better battery life often require being close to a base station and are suitable only for home or require a monitored service. Fully appreciate that 8-16 hour battery may not be ideal but it is another tool. Hopefully is a help to some.
could try connecting it to a power bank.
The old person carrying this and a battery bank, nah.
Yeah the old people need a power bank when they're having a sleepover party in friend's house… ;)
The size is another big negative, its just too big.
Much better to get a samsung watch with LTE i think. Although instead of $50 you are looking $200 off marketplace.
That's not typical battery life as far as I can tell. It is meant to run for a few days. But says best to charge it each night.
Shorter battery life is likely from it operating in an area with poor signal, so it has to up the transmit power. Or some other setting that's causing it to chew through the battery.
I've used a similar device with similar battery capacity and it needs charging every third night.
We had a family member with alzhimers and had a watch. Was good to get him to wear it but only needed charging once a day - multiple times would have been a problem.
Been looking at something like this for my mum. Can it work on just wifi around the home or does it need the SIM card?
The box said 4G VoLTE
Ahh good catch…the Officeworks website says Opel Mobile Safety Pendant 4G WiFi but looking at the product numbers the JB Hifi one looks like it might be different. Maybe that's why this one is so cheap because it doesn't have wifi.
OMSP21W vs OMSP21WHT
Not really, pretty sure it’s the same product just different product code across OW and JB.
Description from JB’s website
4G Unlocked
Insert your own Nano SIM
OS: Android
Battery: 1050mAh
Belt Clip & Lanyard included
Magnetic Charging cradle included
3-Way location – GPS/LBS/Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi enabled
The JB HiFi one says Wi-Fi enabled.
But doesn't define what Wi-Fi can be used for. On a similar device I've used, Wi-Fi was only for location alerts. It didn't actually connect to the WiFi or transfer any data. It just sent an alert if it couldn't detect the WiFi anymore.
Even the manual does not explain Wi-Fi. So probably best to assume it can't be used on Wi-Fi alone.
Needs a sim
No detailed stock levels for JB but you can see which stores have stock, limited or none. https://nrby.in/jbhifi/517804
Very limited stock in OW if you want to try and get it for $47.03. https://nrby.in/officeworks/omsp21wht
Battery life is too short to make this a useful item. These types of devices should have a battery that last weeks to make it practical given the intended use and people they are targeting.
Quite impossible due to the 4G network, Android OS, and physical size of the device. You also need to charge your iPhone everyday.
What's better than iPhones is that this comes with a charging cradle.
It comes down to a redesign of this device and setup. The Nokia 110 4G has 12 days of standby. The AirTag has 12 months. They can design it with “find my” bluetooth to assist with location and only intermittently sending the location via GPS if required. It can optimised the battery life and will make it far more useful. The iPhone drains battery faster because it is constantly syncing information, such as emails, which isn’t required for a safety device.
Nokia 110 has no GPS and WiFi.
AirTag has Bluetooth and NFC only.
You're comparing oranges to apples…
Besides, for a GPS tracker, it's practically useless if it doesn't upload its GPS location constantly.
@andylch: Your argument is based on what you know already exist and that these technology can only exist independently. This is about thinking outside the square and integrating various technologies that are available to create a solution to provide a much better outcome. There is no need to waste battery using a GPS signal constantly if the position can be provided by a Bluetooth signal which will save significant battery. The GPS function can be activated only if there hasn’t been an update on the Bluetooth data.
@haz: Bluetooth positioning requires beacons (infrastructure) or sensors of a particular ecosystem. Simply turning on the Bluetooth won't get you any location data.
Looks like you want a ground breaking skyrocket technology for $50, not a GPS location tracker.
@andylch: Don’t limit your ideas and imagination to what is available, but to what is possible. There are generic AirTags that already leverages off “Find My”. It is always evolving. A few years ago, many argued that an iPhone with USB-C will never exists, look at where we are today.
This wasn’t meant to be a $50 device, it retails elsewhere for $300 to $400 as stated in this post.
@haz: You can't do geofencing (or proper tracking) for a safety pendant with AirTag level tech - you need GPS. Things like frequency of syncing data depends on what functionality is useful when looking at a tracking log, or a last known location before being out of cellular coverage.
For people who need fewer features, there are other options - including just using a Nokia 110. There are also alert pendants with battery life measured in years. If you want more features, then it comes at the expense of something else - usually battery life or size. Like phones, charging every night or two ends up being the sweet spot in the trade offs.
Also keep in mind that the before discount price is not just for the hardware. A huge part of the functionality is the app, and covering the development cost and other fixed costs for a relatively low volume item. The hardware will cost much less than $50 to actually build. You can buy plenty of different safety pendants (with lower, the same or better functionality) for $50 - $100 not on sale. You get passable hardware, mostly workable apps, basic manuals, limited support, no real warranty and unknown data handling.
Thanks OP, bought one for my mum.
For the money it's great I got two one that sits next to my dad in bed and he can take it when he takes the dog out
And the other one?
For the dog, when it takes the dad out.
I guess this could also be used as a car GPS tracker. Could be plugged into the car for charging when on the move.
EDIT: Not very conspicuous as an in car GPS.
Charging the SafetyPendant
1. Charge the SafetyPendant for at least 3hrs prior to its first use.
2. Place the SafetyPendant onto the charging cradle making
sure the gold plates on the SafetyPendant align to the gold
pins on the charging cradle.
3. The SafetyPendant will sound “SafetyPendant is charging”
when connected to the charger.
It also comes with a standard USB-A cable with waterproof pogo pins.
Depends on eligibility but many older Australians can qualify for a free MePACS personal safety alarm and system, including intercom and nursing / welfare checks, by applying through the federal My Aged Care program
I have one of this from my mother, I got them when they were $200. They are okay-great, the only problem is that the battery does not last long. Maybe 10+ hours. The device does get hot after a few hours of use and works on Telstra 4G simcard in a regional area. There are voice reminders (to take you medications) and Geo tracking alerts do you can get notifications when the device leaves an area. As it works with a simcard, you will need a monthly mobile plan, can be prepaid or post paid.
I don't have this model, so can't speak to the configuration options possible.
But when testing out similar pendants, I found high power use could often be reduced. In my experience, the main culprit was poor network signal resulting in high transmit power needed. And always on GPS tracking.
If the options allow it, reducing the amount of data synced remotely helps. So things like turning off, or reducing how frequently it syncs things like location. And if an available option, using Wi-Fi to trigger geofencing. EG, it does not turn on GPS when it can see specific WiFi networks - only if they go out of range.
It seems that this pendant is meant to give up to 3 days battery life, so getting it to the point it can make it through a day should be doable. I see a few reviews have similar low battery life complaints, but it's worth checking.
I think you can tap the "gear" icon to change settings?
I purchased one to try as a vehicle tracker. My wife calls me multiple times a day to ask me where I am. So got this pendent for her to see my location. I used the Aldi mobile sim card with the Pay As You Go Plan that has a 365 day expiry between credit recharges.
The pendant works really well. It updates the location as least every 10 minutes. Sometimes every minute. After 6 days, my Aldi mobile has used less than $1 in credit.
I drive to remote locations for work. So to me its does function as a safety thing. If I do get into an unfortunate accident, she will know my last known location. Or if my vehicle gets stolen, I can track its location. The caveat is the device is dependant on network coverage in the area.
You can check the app for location updates and the history too. For the price and functions, it well worth the price for what I use it for. Quality feels premium. I just sit it in the charging cradle and the pendant still works in charge mode. Only thing is the pendant sound out "Safety Pendant is Charging" everytime you turn the engine on. So the next thing I might do is just connect it to a piggyback fuse plug on the vehicle battery (always charging) rather than a ACC fuse (only charges when engine is running). Im not too concerned about the always charging draining the battery as the power draw seems low and I drive my vehicle daily.
Initial problem I did face was the pendant was not updating its location for hours at a time. Then I realised it could be the location where I had placed it. It was in a metal tool box. So as soon I took it out of the tool box and place it near the dashboard, it worked flawlessly. So somehow inside the metal toolbox is not ideal.
I had been looking around for a while for a vehicle tracking device. So far this one seems to do an amazing job. And for the purchase price with no ongoing subscription other than the cheap data for the sim card, I can't complain.
Good deal