  A common property of popular models of quintessence dark energy is the
convergence to a common solution from a large range of the initial conditions.
We re-examine the popular inverse power-law model of quintessence (where the
common solution is dubbed as the 'tracker') with particular attention to the
initial conditions for the field and their influence on the evolution. We find
that previously derived limits on the parameters of the potential in this model
are valid only in a range of initial conditions. A reasonably sharp boundary
lies where the initial energy density of the scalar field is equal to that of
the background radiation component. An initial quintessence energy density
above this equipartition value lead to a solution that will not have joined the
tracker solution by the present epoch. These non-tracker solutions possess the
property that their present equation of state is very compatible with the
observed bounds and independent of the exponent of the potential.
