jrickards

I have my phones location shared with my wife so she can know where I am when I'm out on a ride but the phone location can pause for minutes so i might have moved on. I've noticed that sometimes when she is picking my up from work, she could be outside my office but her phones location appears 2km away. I don't know if this is a phone issue that could be "solved" with a Spot or similar device, or if they have the same issue.

Do they update more frequently? Can they be tracked more accurately?

Iride01 

I have used google maps to share location between me and my wife for years on our smart phones. Sometimes... actually more often in the last handful of years googles shared location has been way off at times just like you describe.

With my Garmin Edge I also share location when I'm riding my bike through what Garmin calls Live Tracking. It's been much more accurate and seems to be updated more often and gives more info. Though it sometimes screws up too. But way less often. Though you do have to remain in cell tower range to be able to provide info to whomever is tracking you.

Spot trackers will probably be very accurate. Unless they've changed up and offered some new stuff that works differently. I use to sail a lot and be out of cell phone reception quite often. The Spot trackers were made with tracking as their main and virtually only purpose. They communicate directly with satellites and even when a 100 miles or more off the coast well away from cell towers their location can be seen. Never seen any that seemed to be inaccurate in location. A friend still uses one and I can see where he is when he is out sailing way off shore.

On land in mountainous terrain, it might be that terrain might shield the Spot Tracker at time from communicating. But likely it's still way better than any cell phone based tracker.

cuevélo

If there is decent cell service in the areas that you bike, Garmin LiveTrack or Strava Beacon are going to be a much better deal than a Spot tracker.

Steve B.

Spot Tracker is a satellite connection that you pay a monthly service for. Not sure the OP wants that.

It sounds like for what you doing, both of you tracking the others phone, I would just research better phone tracking apps and use those.

Seattle Forrest

SPOT is a satellite enabled messaging device made to get you rescued when you're in trouble and beyond cellular reception. These are not the drones you want.

njkayaker

The phone should be using GPS. And outside (with a good signal), that won't be 2 km off. So, there's something else going on.

The phone may not be using GPS continuously. Often, it's turned on "as needed" for a quick location check. You might need to change the permissions of whatever tracking app you are using to use GPS continuously.

SPOT requires a subscription, which seems overkill for what you are looking for.