GPS Tracker

[SYLOCO]

Evening all, just to wanted to chime in with my two pennies worth.


I personally recommend AMCREST it's a bit more expensive than the devices shown here, however it's 2 week standalone battery and it's small size and functionality is worth the price in my honest opinion. Having had my previous S1K stolen and having had close friends have their bikes targeted it became clear that the thieves are tracing the wiring from the battery to the tracker, if like me you've seriously hunted for your bike and gone down various avenues into this 'murky' underworld there's videos of the frequently looked for tracker locations. On s1000rr it's air box and battery compartment but they usually chase the wires to find trackers, hence a stand alone unit is going to be superior. In my honest opinion 8 hours stand alone is not enough, I have a guy who has a gps blocker in his van when he decides to do removals in his work van for extra cash, and they're cheap and easy to buy so anything being transported this way for that duration will go undetected.


https://youtu.be/32OvLCd_Pq4 the review is pretty accurate and I charge mine every time I wash the bike and replace it in its secret location. Again, just my few pennies worth.

 

[bananaman]

A thought, in portimao couple of weeks ago, we had timing and instead of the usual block in the holder, we had a foam strip (about 5cms x2cms x5mm thick. Presumably it had a chip for recording times. Now, if that could be utilised for tracking it could be stuck inside on the wheel rim, hey presto! ( And yes, i'm a tech no-no lol )

 

[DoubleRDurham]

Evening all, just to wanted to chime in with my two pennies worth.


I personally recommend AMCREST it's a bit more expensive than the devices shown here, however it's 2 week standalone battery and it's small size and functionality is worth the price in my honest opinion. Having had my previous S1K stolen and having had close friends have their bikes targeted it became clear that the thieves are tracing the wiring from the battery to the tracker, if like me you've seriously hunted for your bike and gone down various avenues into this 'murky' underworld there's videos of the frequently looked for tracker locations. On s1000rr it's air box and battery compartment but they usually chase the wires to find trackers, hence a stand alone unit is going to be superior. In my honest opinion 8 hours stand alone is not enough, I have a guy who has a gps blocker in his van when he decides to do removals in his work van for extra cash, and they're cheap and easy to buy so anything being transported this way for that duration will go undetected.


https://youtu.be/32OvLCd_Pq4 the review is pretty accurate and I charge mine every time I wash the bike and replace it in its secret location. Again, just my few pennies worth.

No one will be tracing the wires to mine, that I can be sure of. They don't even go to the battery. Anyone, professional or amateur, who wires a tracker to the battery, must be an idiot. There are plenty of other places to pick up a 12v feed on a vehicle and plenty of places and ways to hide wiring. In the time it takes a thief to find and disconnect the unit, I'll at least be alerted to its theft and able to pick up its current location.

As far as I'm concerned, the bike will tell me if it moves, if it's knocked, if it leaves the geofence I've set, if it exceeds a set speed, if the power to the device is cut, or if the ignition is turned on. Eight hours is plenty for me to report the theft, and pass on location details to the police. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter whether I've fitted a ?20 or ?200 unit, if it's stuck in an underground car park or in a van with a 'GPS blocker', no device using GPS location will work.

 

[SYLOCO]

Think you missed what I'm trying to say, perhaps it's my fault for not being short and concise. After the period it's been held/blocked/stored or what have you, it will be brought out at that point you would still rather your tracker be working than not.

 

[Marzy]

For me it's important to have more than one line of defence, that's why I have a cctv camera which sends a photo to my phone if triggered. A text alarm when triggered to a 2nd company phone and one other secret device.....oh and the tracker.

 

[DoubleRDurham]

I think you missed my point though - until the bike is PUT somewhere to block the signal, I have time to locate it and find its last known position. And unless the thief can block basic GSM, which is actually pretty hard, I can still get notifications if the ignition is tampered with or the power is cut, which will also tell me it's location based on GSM triangulation even if there's no GPS signal being received.

If you're suggesting the thieves are bright enough to a) dismantle my bike to find the tracker, b) cut the power cables to the tracker having dismantled enough of the bike to identify the loom, and/or c) know how long the battery will last so they can keep the bike out of signal area for long enough for it to discharge, what makes you think they're not bright enough to dismantle your bike, find the tracker, and/or do the same?

Basically, if they're clever enough to know to put my bike in a Faraday cage for eight hours, why wouldn't they be clever enough to know they have to put yours in the same cage for two weeks?

All a GPS tracker does is provide another line of defence. With bikes they're easily defeated anyway, and that's why I wouldn't spend more than 20quid on one. To nick my bike a thief has to know where I keep it, break in to that location, bypass the alarm, stay out of the reach of CCTV with their vehicles and their faces, break the physical security on the bike, get it into their van, and then disable the GPS tracker. If they've done the first few things, they're going to have the bike no matter how much I spend on a fancy tracking device and no matter how long it's battery lasts.

 

[stuartb]

For me it's important to have more than one line of defence, that's why I have a cctv camera which sends a photo to my phone if triggered. A text alarm when triggered to a 2nd company phone and one other secret device.....oh and the tracker.

That sounds good Marzy... what does all that cost like ?

Sent from Galaxy S7

 

[Marzy]

That sounds good Marzy... what does all that cost like ?

Sent from Galaxy S7

To be honest mate not a lot. Gps tracker ?50. CCTV ?90. Text alarm ?50-?100.

 

[soofsayer]

Stu - I've used the Manything app on an old iPhone as a cheap CCTV solution for random places before installing something permanent. Funnily enough I set it up over the weekend at my new home as a quick fix. I've just caught my new neighbors having a nosey around my house whilst I'm on holiday. Cheeky *******s. Works a treat.

 

[stuartb]

Really haha thats weird.. watch out for them Soof ones for the watching them

Sent from Galaxy S7

 

[soofsayer]

Really haha thats weird.. watch out for them Soof ones for the watching them

Sent from Galaxy S7

They didn't know or notice I had a camera/phone set up. My wife sent one of them a text asking what was wrong after they'd spent an hour noseying around looking through the windows and checking out the garden. PMSL.

 

[TheFlymo]

I'd say if you simply want to know where your bike is, there no need to splash out on a BikeTrac. What you're really paying for there is the proactive monitoring, alerting, and coordination between the BikeTrac and the Police- the latter is something I've seen in action, and is worth its weight in my opinion. The tracking centre staff are extremely helpful and effective, and really seem driven to help you get your property back.

Having said that, the BikeTrac is pretty clever and uses GPS and cell-triangulation as appropriate. Mine is currently entirely enclosed in a 2mm steel shed and it's still reporting in.

 

[Loupe]

They didn't know or notice I had a camera/phone set up. My wife sent one of them a text asking what was wrong after they'd spent an hour noseying around looking through the windows and checking out the garden. PMSL.

That's Bizarre! Welcome to the neighbourhood...

 

[Jordan c]

For me i would rather deal with the police myself or better yet know where the bike is myself rather than waiting on biketrack doing their thing. Im sure biketracks are brillant things but the cost of them is a fair chunk for not much more protection than this.

 

[JimmyMac]

For me i would rather deal with the police myself or better yet know where the bike is myself rather than waiting on biketrack doing their thing. Im sure biketracks are brillant things but the cost of them is a fair chunk for not much more protection than this.

You can watch your bike live on your phone Jordan without it being stolen, ask Ryan about the time he personally delivered mine back to my house from Clarks, I watch him live on my TV coming down from Dundee and walked out to open my gates as he turned up my drive.

His face was a beauty when I told him I had been watching him travelling, I'm not going to type the speed he got up to after he came off the Tay Bridge but we were both pissing ourselves.
He finished his work at 5PM and was at mine at half past 4, lol.

JimmyMac

 

[TheFlymo]

For me i would rather deal with the police myself or better yet know where the bike is myself rather than waiting on biketrack doing their thing. Im sure biketracks are brillant things but the cost of them is a fair chunk for not much more protection than this.

You can track it yourself if you want to- it's all there on the portal, you can set up geofencing, recall routes, check the bike's battery etc etc.

The real benefit (and why it costs) is when you're bike goes astray, you get a crime number from the cops immediately, give it to BikeTrac and they switch the tracked into a high-accuracy "pursuit" mode, and from then on you can stand back and watch while they work together to recover.

But yes, you're right, much cheaper systems give you the GPS function and portal for a lot less.