Pros
- Very affordable price
- Easy to operate
- Quick installation. Can be done in just five minutes
- Basic electronic logging and reporting features
Cons
- Advanced features are virtually nonexistent
- Larger fleets may find the solution primitive
- Device sync issues are becoming more widespread
What Is Blue Ink BIT?
If you’re starting a trucking company, it can be quite limiting to the growth of operations and profitability if you have to pay a significant amount of subscription fees every month to keep electronic logs.
Enter Blue Ink Technologies’ (otherwise known as BIT) ELD device, which offers a cost-effective way to get up and running without the added burden of having to pay fees every month. Because of this, even though the ELD solution can be considered one of the newer products to market, they are building a rapid driver network since barriers to entry are fewer than other competing brands.
Benefits
While the price is one important consideration, the ELD solution must also deliver clear benefits to the driver/fleet manager. Blue Ink BIT ELD offers the following benefits:
- Enables vehicle maintenance monitoring – this can save you maintenance time by preventing breakdowns or other mechanical failures.
- Built-in HOS alert system – this alert system warns you when you are approaching your HOS limits, or if you are already over
- Easy IFTA reporting – Blue Ink BIT ELD makes it easy to track the total number of miles covered in state to generate fuel tax reports.
- Saves money – only a single one-off upfront fee is required, helping you focus on profitability and not having to pay subscriptions every month
- Saves your business time – having to manually prepare and certify paper logs actually takes up a significant amount of time, which could otherwise be used driving, or if you are fleet manager, not having to manually double-check every entry. In a business where time is money, this benefit alone can justify having an ELD product.
Features
- Accurate tracking of total driving hours
- Allows fleet managers the ability to view the driving log of any driver
- Notification of possible driver violations
- Ability to view route data of vehicles in the fleet
- Displays fault codes on mobile app accompaniment to the ELD
- Ability to generate DVIRs and other maintenance schedules
- Can make logs shareable via email
- Easy to change active duty status to on/off
- Daily vehicle inspection report
How To Install
Blue Ink BIT ELD’s major selling point is its ease of use. This does not exclude installation since, in a matter of minutes, you can connect the hardware to your vehicle’s diagnostic port (either six or nine pin) using a connecting cable.
Once this is done, you install the companion mobile app from either the Google play store or Apple App Store and then connect to the ELD device to the app via Bluetooth. That’s all it takes, and you’re good to go.
How Much Does It Cost?
Blue Ink BIT ELD device just costs a single upfront payment of $295 per truck. This is significantly cheaper over the life of the device since many competing products cost more than that for one year of service.
It is important to note, however, that you will still be required to purchase your data plan to relay real-time location to your fleet manager for about $15-$25 a month.
My Recommendation
As a small startup, financial constraints can hinder the ability of your business to come out of the red. Solutions such as Blue Ink BIT ELD can help reduce the burden you feel by just having to pay a single fee upfront, and nothing else – virtually a set it and forget it type of option.
It offers basic logging with a limited array of other features, but as a business now starting out, it should suffice. As your business grows, however, you may begin to feel stifled by its lack of innovation and may decide to switch to a more comprehensive option.
The device is generally well accepted, but there appears to be a growing number of users that complain of sync issues, which cause logging of hours when the vehicle is not moving. This is very bad for drivers, as it causes them to meet weekly quotas without actually doing anything.
Subsequently, penalties can be issued if drivers choose to ignore the logs generated by the app.
Once you are generating money, we think you will upgrade from this option; otherwise, it will remain an excellent startup choice for small bootstrap businesses.