Active Vs Passive Vehicle Tracker: A Comprehensive Guide

In recent years, vehicle tracking technology has gained immense popularity. It is also known as GPS tracking technology, which helps to enhance operational efficiency and optimize cost. Whether you are using it for personal automobiles, businesses, or valuable assets, it helps to streamline your regular operations. The devices tailored with this technology help to monitor speed, location, and route and give instant alerts in case of mishaps. Over the past few years, automobile monitoring technology has improved significantly, making it more economical and advanced.

Nowadays, almost every company benefits from implementing reliable automobile monitoring technology. These monitoring systems help improve productivity and streamline business operations. However, the availability of different automobile monitoring systems in the market would make choosing the one that meets your needs difficult. This comprehensive difference between active vs passive vehicle tracker will help you choose the better one.

Active Vehicle Tracker

These are devices that use GPS technology to monitor an automobile’s location. The active devices work by collecting and transferring the data to a data center for analysis in real time by using a satellite or cellular network.

This tracker operates by connecting to the car’s computer system and gives a report about its location to the tracking server. Accessing this information is possible by a mobile app or web portal that allows you to monitor the exact location of your automobile. It is considered the real-time co-pilot that updates you by giving real-time data on your car and its whereabouts. It helps businesses generate more profit by accessing live location data.

Pros of Active Vehicle Tracker

• It protects your automobile from theft or losses by giving real-time information.
• It helps businesses to monitor whether the driver is adhering to their route.
• It allows parents to keep an eye on their children’s driving habits.
• It helps to generate detailed reports by giving updated information about the whereabouts of automobiles.
• Compared to other operating systems, it is compatible because of its ability to give accurate results.
• It ensures the safety & security of both drivers and passengers sitting in automobiles.
• These trackers are considered reliable & authentic because they are fast and convenient.
• It helps to improve driving efficiency by allowing you to monitor the speed and mileage traveled. 
• It helps you identify issues on time by sending alerts and monitoring fuel consumption, vehicle temperature, and mileage covered.

Who Should Use Active Tracking Devices?

This vehicle monitoring system is helpful whether you own a personal automobile, manage a fleet of vehicles, or have a construction company. It allows businesses to send live location updates to their clients about their delivery vehicles.

In addition, you can update the clients about the arrival time of their delivery vehicle. This helps to gain customer satisfaction. In today’s world, it has become necessary for even construction companies to manage and control their cars containing valuable equipment. By authentic active tracking devices, there will be minimum chances of loss and theft.

Passive Vehicle Tracker

Passive vehicle trackers or data loggers are devices that work by simply being placed in an automobile. These devices gather information or data about an automobile’s status and movement and record it using a memory card or hard drive. By joining the device to a computer you can access the information whenever needed.

The auto downloads in this system help to transfer data through wireless downloads. After extracting the data, the report displays information that allows fleet managers to analyze information about their automobiles. The passive tracking devices depend upon the power of the automobile’s electrical system, such as the battery, which helps them record movement. Besides this, it does not give real-time information but provides historical data analysis that helps investigate any unusual activity.

Pros Of Passive Vehicle Tracker

• It is a budget-friendly and affordable system to track the movement of your fleets.
• For these devices, you will have to pay the fee only one time which means there is no concept of subscription. 
• These devices don’t drain the power of your automobile’s battery because it uses little power to operate. 
• You can use these vehicle monitoring devices easily because they are not sensitive to signals.
• It helps to cover insurance because most insurance companies give discounts if an automobile has an authentic GPS monitoring system.
• The devices are user-friendly and have simple functionalities.
• These devices store the data directly, which you can extract anytime.

Who Should Use Passive Tracking Devices?

Fleet managers or businesses can use passive devices if their priority is to monitor their vehicles’ past movements but not their real-time data. These devices are the best option in terms of affordability and convenience. 

These devices give the same result as active ones except for real-time location monitoring. If your main concern is monitoring your automobile’s past locations and status, then go for these devices. They are user-friendly, affordable, and drain little power from your car. 

Active Vs Passive Vehicle Tracker: Which One Is Best?

Whether you choose active trackers or passive ones depends on your needs and priorities. Active tracking devices give real-time location updates by transferring signals through satellite, while passive ones use cell phone towers or GPS signals. 

The active devices have the ability to collect data quickly. Meanwhile, passive devices are affordable and do not require any subscription fees. Both the tracking systems are authentic and reliable. Still, it depends upon the needs and requirements of your business whether you prioritize real-time data monitoring or want to inspect your automobile’s past location and movement data.

Know Before You Go!

When selecting a vehicle monitoring system for your automobile or fleet of vehicles, you must know it before deciding. You will see active and passive tracking systems in the market, but you will need clarification after learning about them. This guide has complete information about active vs passive vehicle tracker that will help you choose the one that fits your needs.

The active trackers give real-time location updates, while its counterpart stores information on the hard drive that you can extract at any time. If your business demands real-time location monitoring, you should go with the active tracker, while if you want to monitor past data, you should go with the passive ones.