DroneMobile: First-hand Experience from Electronics Industry Veteran

As the owner of a technology store, I’m the stereotypical gadget geek. I love toys, get excited about new tech and am an early adopter. I start to panic if my iPhone is at 10% battery life. All of this makes it surprising that I have spent the past three years without an incredibly cool device that marries my digital world with the products I sell: DroneMobile from Compustar.

I have no explanation why I didn’t have this in my own car. It’s not expensive. We have sold many to clients. On the surface, it looks extremely cool and geek chic. Perhaps we just never took the time to install it in my previous vehicle. But that all changed a few weeks ago.

Recently, we leased two vehicles to use for demonstration purposes at Mobile Edge – a 2013 Infiniti G37X and a 2013 Scion IQ. Since I’m the owner, I got to pick which one I wanted, and I picked the Infiniti. Since the weather was starting to get cold, the first thing we did was outfit both vehicles with complete remote car starter systems from Compustar.

New Vehicle Outfitted with New Toys

In the Infiniti, we installed the brand new two-way, one-button “Slice” remote package. This offers a small remote and ease of use plus two-way notification, so I can quickly tell that my vehicle has started. We added EZ-Go, which is awesome and very useful. EZ-Go senses when you are approaching your vehicle and unlocks your doors, and it knows when you walk away and locks them. The entire process is completely hands-free (we will do a future post on EZ-Go).

DroneMobile Steals the Show

The absolute star of the system is DroneMobile. How did I not have this before?!

DroneMobile is essentially a gateway device that allows my smart phone to control my remote starter – and much more. I use an iPhone, but DroneMobile works equally well on Android.  When it’s installed with my Compustar remote starter, I can start, stop, lock, unlock and pop the trunk of my vehicle right from my smartphone. We also incorporated the ability to roll the windows up and roll down. (Other optional features are available and are vehicle-dependent.)

More than Just Control

DroneMobile doesn’t stop there. It incorporates complete GPS tracking so I can know exactly where my vehicle is at any time. In the event the vehicle is stolen, I can open the app and direct the authorities to its precise location. In addition, it offers a complete suite of services:

• Speed limit alert – Sends a text if the vehicle exceeds a pre-set speed (great for new drivers!)
• Curfew Violations – Notifies user if the vehicle is in use after a pre-set time
• Geofence – Notifies user if vehicle leaves a pre-set geographic area
• Low-battery Alert – Sends notification if vehicle battery drops below 12V
• Maintenance Reminder – Provides notifications for routine vehicle maintenance
• Multiple Vehicle Control – Controls all of your vehicles from one app
• And more

DroneMobile requires an annual subscription starting at $49.99/year (first year free).

Real World Use of DroneMobile

How have I put this to use so far? I recently spent a few days in San Diego at a JVC dealer conference. When I fly out of Philadelphia, I park in an airport lot with a shuttle service. When my OCD kicked in at the airport and I was convinced that I had forgotten to lock the doors, I simply opened the app and tapped the “Lock” button. A few seconds later, I got a confirmation that my vehicle was indeed locked. Whew … time to relax …

While in San Diego, I started thinking that I just might have left a dome light on. It would suck to return to a dead battery. Wait – I have Drone! I opened the app, pressed the Status button and behold: 12.5 volts on my battery. Another OCD disaster averted.

Returning from the airport was fun. I picked up my bags and got in the parking shuttle. As soon as I got in, I opened the DroneMobile App and tapped Start. As we approached the lot, the driver asked me where I was parked. I told him to look for the only car that was running! Sure enough, my vehicle was not only running, but toasty-warm inside.

The day after I returned, my fiancée and I went to dinner and shopping at the Lehigh Valley Mall. We parked near the second-best store in the world: the Apple Store (Mobile Edge being the best, of course!) After dinner, we walked around the mall.  While we were at the very opposite end of the mall, I started the vehicle with DroneMobile, and 10 minutes later, we got into a warm car, ready to roll.

In Conclusion

I’ve only had DroneMobile for about two weeks and I’m already hooked. I can’t believe that I didn’t install this in my last vehicle! What was I thinking? Apparently I wasn’t thinking at all.

DroneMobile is much more than just a gadget. It is an excellent add-on to any Compustar remote starter. It is a solid piece of technology that is useful and functional, and works when it should. And it is now more affordable than ever.

We have several vehicles equipped with remote starters and two of them have fully functional DroneMobile units. We can give you a complete demonstration here at our facility any time during normal business hours. Please stop in and let us show you what DroneMobile and Mobile Edge are all about.