There are dozens, if not hundreds, of options on the market, but today I’m taking a look at the Vyncs GPS Tracker to see how it stacks up against other trackers out there. Over the course of a month, I used the Vyncs unit to track more than 1,000 miles of driving, totaling more than 20 hours of driving. Below I’ve shared my thoughts on the overall experience, from the second I opened the box until my trip odometer tripped over its three-digit limit, marking the 1,000-mile mark.
Design: Basic and bulky
The design of the Vyncs GPS Tracker is similar to nearly every other OBD-based tracker I’ve come across. It features a rectangular design with a OBD port on one end that plugs into your vehicle’s OBD input. The difference between this and a few other devices I’ve reviewed is that with the Vyncs, you can actually remove a little cover and access the SIM tray. This should, in theory, make it easier to swap out SIMs if for some reason things are updated down the road, but I didn’t have a need to remove the included SIM during this particular review.
Setup Process: Confusing to start
Setting up the Vyncs GPS tracker starts by creating a Vyncs account online or within the Vyncs mobile app. After you’ve created an account, you need to pair the Vyncs tracker with your account and select the subscription you want to use the Vyncs tracker. This is where things get convoluted. Vyncs offers four different subscription plans: three for consumers and one for commercial vehicle fleets. The three consumer subscription plans are as follows: Basic, Premium, and Pro. These three plans differ only slightly and retail $80, $90, and $100, respectively.
Performance and Connectivity: The basics are covered
The Vyncs GPS tracker uses a 3G cellular connection to keep tabs on your vehicle, thanks to the onboard SIM card. Vyncs doesn’t specify what network in particular they’re connecting to, but in my extended time testing the unit, the tracker never struggled to keep up, even in more remote areas. That said, the quality of tracking is directly related to the specific subscription tier you opt for, as well as the upgrades Vyncs offers. I opted for the Vyncs Basic plan, which tracks the vehicle’s location in real-time and updates that information to Vyncs’ servers once every three minutes. I found this to be more than adequate for basic tracking needs and general surveillance of where a particular vehicle might be, but I certainly wouldn’t rely on it if you need to see the exact street your vehicle is on while it’s being driven, as by the time the location information is updated, you (or whoever is in your vehicle) is likely a few miles down the road.
Software: Full of info
The Vyncs mobile app, available for both Android and iOS, is an impressively dense companion app that allows you to not only track nearly every facet of your vehicle’s diagnostic reports, but also change the settings for your Vyncs unit on-the-go. Pairing the unit with the application did take a bit of time, even after my Vyncs account was created and subscription plan was paid for, but once paired, it was good to go. The Summary section of the app is where you’ll find a rundown of all the basics your Vyncs unit keeps track of, including the mileage of your vehicle, the quality of your driving (effectively how safe you drive, based on average speed, the number of hard stops you make, and other data), any potential engine error codes, and your fuel economy. It’s worth noting that not all cars support all of these features; newer cars with more advanced OBD-II ports will obviously transmit more data points for the Vyncs device to keep tabs on. The tracking section of the app overlays a constantly-updated line of the locations your vehicle has been, with a color range that indicates your speed (cooler colors means slower driving, warmer colors means faster driving). On the Basic Plan, which we were using for this review, the location was updated every three minutes, which provided more than enough information for basic tracking of mileage and other information at a steady rate. However, I did notice it could take some time for the data to propagate from the device to the application, sometimes taking up to an hour after a drive to sync properly. Over roughly one hundred trips to various locations around town, this only happened four or five times, and each time it did eventually update with the correct data. But it is worth noting if your use-case can’t afford this sort of downtime or delay. One nice feature about the app is the built-in error code lookup, which will direct you to a page that details what the problem is that’s associated with an engine error code your vehicle is giving when the dreaded Check Engine light comes on. Thankfully, I didn’t have to use this feature during this review, but it’s reassuring to know the information will be on-hand when something does go wrong.
Price: Not cheap and hard to parse
At $80, the Vyncs GPS Tracker is right on par with similar GPS trackers, however, it’s the subscriptions for the Vyncs device that ends up costing quite a bit in the long run. Further complicating it all are the various tiers and add-ons Vyncs offers, but I’ll do my best to break down the pricing as it stands at the time of writing this review (the pricing has changed from when I received my device to when this article will be going live, so keep that in mind). All Vyncs GPS units require a $40 activation fee upon registering your device. Even after that initial fee, Vyncs offers three different subscription tiers: Basic ($79/year), Premium ($85/year) and Pro ($100/year). Vyncs Basic is your standard package, which will get you 3G tracking with automatic map updates every three minutes. Vyncs premium offers the same 3G tracking, but also includes roadside assistance support in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Vyncs Pro has all the benefits of Premium, but increases the map refresh time to every 60 seconds. Vyncs also offers additional upgrades that speed up the rate at which the Vyncs GPS tracker updates its location to the Vyncs servers. For an additional $80 per device, per year, you can get 30-second GPS updates, while $129 per device, per year, will get you 15-second updates. There are other upgrades, but most are for commercial purposes or are redundant features found for a better price when included in the annual subscriptions. Overall, the pricing of the Vyncs GPS tracking is a disaster that is far more convoluted than it ever needs to be. For this reason alone, I can’t recommend this tracker unless you have a very specific use-case that Vyncs and Vyncs alone can offer, because there are far better units out there that are less expensive and much less confusing.
Vyncs GPS Tracker vs. Bouncie Driving Connected
Not only is the subscription plan cheaper, but the device also alerts you to error codes your vehicle might give off and has an accompanying app that’s a joy to use. Save yourself the trouble and go with the Bouncie. The Vyncs GPS Tracker is a decent device that works as intended, but the unclear pricing and unnecessary confusion surrounding the entire onboarding and subscription platform takes away from nearly any positives the tracker itself has to offer. Save yourself the time, money, and look elsewhere for your vehicle-tracking needs.
