Coban (now operating under the Jimi IoT brand umbrella) ships approximately 4 million GPS tracking units annually and has accumulated an installed base of over 400,000 active users globally. The hardware wins on price — TK303, TK103, JT701, and their successors are among the most affordable GPS trackers on the market. The software that comes with them is almost uniformly described by users as "basic at best" and "unusable at scale." This guide covers the upgrade path.
Coban and Jimi IoT occupy an important market segment: the budget-conscious buyer who needs GPS tracking but can't justify the Teltonika or Queclink price point for every device. Small fleets, personal asset tracking, motorcycle theft prevention, basic vehicle monitoring — these are legitimate use cases where a £15–25 GPS tracker makes complete economic sense. The problem is that the software options available for these devices have historically been equally budget in quality.
GoAndTrack changes this. The same BYOD architecture that connects a £80 Teltonika FMB920 also connects a £20 Coban TK303 — and delivers the same AI-powered intelligence, the same Mission Control risk engine, and the same multi-vendor visibility. Budget hardware doesn't have to mean budget intelligence.
The Coban / Jimi IoT Hardware Range
TK103 / TK303
Classic compact GPS/GSM tracker. 2G or 4G variants. Vehicle tracking, personal safety, motorcycle. The most widely deployed Coban model globally.
JT701 (Jimi IoT)
4G LTE asset tracker with BLE. Extended battery model available. IP65 rated. More feature-rich than TK series, competing with lower-end Queclink models.
JT706 (Jimi IoT)
Hardwired vehicle tracker, 4G LTE, OBD-II port. Driver behaviour monitoring, ignition detection. Positioned against Teltonika FMB920 at lower price point.
VG809 (4G OBD Tracker)
Plug-and-play OBD-II GPS tracker. No installation required. Draws power from OBD port. Limited to vehicles with accessible OBD-II port.
The Software Problem with Coban Devices
Coban's default platform — iStartek or their proprietary web portal — provides basic map visualisation, geofence alerts, and speed warnings. For a single-vehicle owner who needs to know where their motorcycle is, this is adequate. For a small business managing even 10–20 vehicles across a working day, the limitations become apparent quickly.
There's no AI. There's no multi-vendor support — if you mix Coban devices with any other manufacturer's hardware, you need another platform. The interface hasn't been updated meaningfully in years. There's no predictive intelligence. And the API access required to connect Coban devices to a better platform is either undocumented, inconsistently available, or behind an additional enterprise agreement.
Connection Path: Coban/Jimi IoT → GoAndTrack
Check Your Device Protocol
Most Coban TK-series devices use the GT06 protocol. Jimi IoT JT701/JT706 devices may use GT06 or Jimi's proprietary variant. Check your device documentation — the protocol determines the best connection method.
Option A: Traccar Bridge (Recommended for Most Users)
Set up a free Traccar instance (cloud or demo.traccar.org for testing) and point your Coban devices to it. Then connect GoAndTrack to your Traccar account via the Traccar provider integration. Your Coban devices appear in GoAndTrack within minutes.
Option B: Direct GT06 Protocol Connection
If your device supports direct server address configuration, point it to GoAndTrack's GT06 endpoint directly. Configure the server address and port via SMS command (device-specific command — check your model's documentation). No Traccar intermediary needed.
Verify and Start Querying
Once devices appear in GoAndTrack, test with: "Show me all my devices." Then explore Mission Control for any stale data alerts or battery warnings. Your Coban fleet now has the same AI intelligence layer as any premium GPS deployment.
What Coban/Jimi IoT Users Gain with GoAndTrack
| Capability | Coban Default Platform | GoAndTrack |
|---|---|---|
| Basic GPS map view | ✓ | ✓ |
| Geofence alerts | ✓ Basic | ✓ Advanced |
| AI natural language queries | ✗ | ✓ |
| Multi-vendor device support | ✗ | ✓ |
| Predictive battery alerts | ✗ | ✓ |
| Mission Control risk engine | ✗ | ✓ |
| Cold chain integration (Tive) | ✗ | ✓ |
| BLE beacon integration | ✗ | ✓ |
| WebSocket real-time updates | Limited | ✓ |
| Historical telemetry | 30 days typical | ✓ Extended |
| Driver behaviour scoring | ✗ | Via compatible devices |
The Budget Operations Economics
Budget hardware users are understandably cost-sensitive. GoAndTrack's credit-based pricing is designed to work at all scales — including small fleets where per-device costs matter.
Example: Small fleet — 10 Coban TK303 devices
The value proposition for a small Coban fleet isn't "we have premium Teltonika features" — it's "your existing hardware, which you've already paid for, now has AI intelligence and multi-vendor support at a starting-tier price. And if you ever add a Tive sensor or a Blecon BLE beacon, they appear in the same interface automatically."
Key Takeaways
- Coban TK-series and Jimi IoT devices use the GT06 protocol — they connect to GoAndTrack either directly via GT06 endpoint or via Traccar as an intermediary bridge (the easier path for most users)
- The Traccar bridge method requires zero device reconfiguration if devices already report to Traccar — connect GoAndTrack to your Traccar account and all Coban/Jimi devices appear immediately
- GoAndTrack's credit-based pricing works for small fleets — budget hardware gets access to the same AI Command Center, Mission Control risk engine, and multi-vendor integration architecture as enterprise deployments
- The growth path is additive: start with Coban devices on GoAndTrack, add Tive sensors when needed, add BLE infrastructure later — all in the same platform without migration or rebuilding alert configurations
- The core value proposition for budget hardware users is hardware-level cost control with platform-level intelligence — not forcing a choice between affordable hardware and capable software