Tracking Devices

Well I think I'm going to go for an Oxford jobbie and squirrel it away somewhere inaccessible.
Anyone fitted one and have any comments on usability?
 
Short term there is little immediate (financial) benefit in fitting a tracker. HOWEVER, if trackers reduce insurers costs (through recovery of vehicles rather than total loss) then this will feed through to their customers and should result in reduced premiums.


Your points for avoiding theft are well made and widely accepted. Trackers address the issue of the cost of theft.

To believe that there is no relationship between the costs incurred by insurers and the premiums charged to customers, now that is naivety!
 
do they all need a sim to run? can you buy a simm that does not require a monthly top up? cheapest sim deal ive found is giffgaf £5 a month
 
That's a data allowance from Gigggaff, you don't need a monthly allowance. Get a free Giffgaff SIM, put £10 on it (not a Goodybag just cash ballance) and it will lat months.
 
That's a data allowance from Gigggaff, you don't need a monthly allowance. Get a free Giffgaff SIM, put £10 on it (not a Goodybag just cash ballance) and it will lat months.

just been on giffgaff and the cheapest sim only is £5 monthly could you put up a link to it ? :thumby:
 
Just order a free SIM. Set up an account and add £10 funds.

On that page it asks you to chose a plan, but at the bottom it says "No thanks, I just want a free SIM".
Click on this and you'll get a free SIM card.
When you get it activate the card and just add funds to the SIM, the minimum is £10.
When you have topped up the card you are charged at
5p per text
until the £10 runs out.

Note - I am only talking about this sort of tracker where it communicates via text messages. You text it to arm it ( I have a movement alarm set) and you text it to ask where it is. It replies by texting you back.
 
cheers for that..thats the trackers i have
 
Resurrecting this thread: I'm considering installing BikeTrac on one of my bikes that spends a lot of time parked outside at night.

Anyone has first hand experience, idea of the installation costs, issues with the bike's battery?
It's a 2007 GSA.

Can I set up some sort of geofence at night and be notified (phone call) if the bike is moved?
Bike is fully insured, I keep it well chained, etc... fact is, I am really attached to that particular bike. ;) So I hope the tracker might help recover it if it ever gets stolen for a joyride, etc.

thanks in advance for any feedback
 
SIM's get cancelled

Just be aware that most of the phone network operators cancel a SIM card if it is not used for three months. I am pretty sure that Giff Gaff is one of the exceptions - but I haven't checked for a few years.

My problem with Giff Gaff is it doesn't work where I live so it couldn't notify me if anyone tampered with or moved the bike!:blast
 
If you watched the "Biketrac" type Tracking Devices recovery video that was aired on BBC I think,you will note it still needs a man on the ground with a radio antenna to actually track the vehicle down when within a few hundered yards.Note also some devices work by GPS some by Telecom tower ranging,some FR signal and some all three and if hidden in a steel container all tracking is lost.
As to expense Id say a good lock,chain and anchor point are more adept and cost effective at keeping a bike safe than a tracker which is after all for after the event not to prevent it.

There are similar devices that fit to bicycles in the upright tube under the seat or handlebars availalbe on the crowd funding site

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgVEyBmIRgs

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sherlock-the-gps-anti-theft-device-for-bicycles-bike-smart#/
 
Resurrecting this thread: I'm considering installing BikeTrac on one of my bikes that spends a lot of time parked outside at night.

Anyone has first hand experience, idea of the installation costs, issues with the bike's battery?
It's a 2007 GSA.

Can I set up some sort of geofence at night and be notified (phone call) if the bike is moved?
Bike is fully insured, I keep it well chained, etc... fact is, I am really attached to that particular bike. ;) So I hope the tracker might help recover it if it ever gets stolen for a joyride, etc.

thanks in advance for any feedback

Can't remember what I paid for the BikeTrac unit itself but fitting was about £100 at my local BMW dealer. No problems with battery, in fact the iPhone or web app display the bikes battery voltage. If the bike battery goes flat the unit has a built in supply. You can set up a geofence, but mine is set to notify me if the bike is moved with ignition switched off. Not long after having it fitted I wheeled the bike out of the garage to test it, I was expecting to get a text message but had only gone 20ft or so when I was actually called from the operations centre.

It's very reassuring to have an actual person monitoring the other end.
 
Andy_archer said:
you will note it still needs a man on the ground with a radio antenna to actually track the vehicle down when within a few hundered yards.

Cheers.
Yeah, that is the radio localisation feature I guess. Makes sense.

Note also some devices work by GPS some by Telecom tower ranging,some FR signal and some all three and if hidden in a steel container all tracking is lost.

Of course it is not infallible.
We're talking about a 10 year old bike here anyway... not a 150k Porsche.

As to expense Id say a good lock,chain and anchor point are more adept and cost effective at keeping a bike safe than a tracker which is after all for after the event not to prevent it.

Did you miss the bit where I said that the bike is normally properly chained and locked when parked and the tracker will be an additional thing? :D



Neavey said:
No problems with battery, in fact the iPhone or web app display the bikes battery voltage. If the bike battery goes flat the unit has a built in supply.

Cool.
I'm mostly concerned about the alarm draining the bike's battery though. :)
Also, I have BMW's alarm on the bike as well. I guess they both can exist at the same time, right?

You can set up a geofence, but mine is set to notify me if the bike is moved with ignition switched off.

That is even better.
Thanks!
 
Cheers.
I'm mostly concerned about the alarm draining the bike's battery though. :)
Also, I have BMW's alarm on the bike as well. I guess they both can exist at the same time, right?

I haven't noticed any appreciable drain on the battery and I am not aware of any problems with having both tracker and alarm.
 
Perfect, thanks a lot!

I found another thread where someone said the installation was 350. But I guess by 350 they meant buying the device + installation cost.
 
Dangers of securing your bike.

Friend of mine works as a recovery driver. Recently he has been out to recover various bikes cars etc for insurance companies. The new trend he is coming across is scumbags setting fire to things they are not managing to steal!!!!!
Bastards are now erasing evidence by fire. The other day he was called to pick up a two year old Triumph with locks still attached and secured inside a garage, poor bloke lost his garage and rest of the contents! :mad::mad:
 
I had a Datatool TrakKING fitted to my Blackbird about two years ago (August 2016) as the previously installed alarm drained my battery badly.
My initial experience wasn't great. I rode down to Spain and my bike was allegedly in Folkestone the whole time. I spoke to the call centre and it appeared that there was some problem with their SIM card contract with the French network!
My bike developed a charging problem while away and I'd been bump starting it for 3 or 4 days when suddenly riding back over the Pyrenees I got a text telling me my battery was low... Helpful! At least there fixed the French problem and the location on their website was correct.
It appears that all these issues were resolved and for the next 18 months it worked faultlessly until about Nov 2017 when it stopped reporting it's location. The call centre were helpful, if a little slow at reacting, and eventually in January 2018 they sent an auto-electrician to check it out. He quickly decided that the unit fitted was
a. An extremely early model that had an ancient SIM card fitted (this probably explains the French problem too) and
b. it had been installed by a poorly trained ape so that any thief would have disconnected it in seconds.
He replaced the whole unit and fitted it properly, somewhere that takes a while to get to and even then, to the untrained eye, it looks very much like an OEM component. And this was all free of charge.
In terms of Datatool service I can't fault them, whenever I forget and move the bike without the ignition on, I get a phone call to check it's all OK. I often brush passed my bike and trigger the motion sensor which costs me a few pence for a text message, and I can disable the text message service on the mobile app for a timed schedule if I'm working in my garage for a while to avoid this.
The peace of mind the tracker gives me is well worth the £9 per month subscription, but it's a shame that the insurance discount doesn't come close to this.
My main advice would be to ensure you use a decent installer. The local bike shop I used was an accredited installer, but clearly this doesn't mean squat. If you're in the South East I can't recommend www.EliteMotorcycleServices.co.uk highly enough. Dave, who Datatool sent to diagnose the problem, is a great guy, highly skilled and always willing to help.
I have asked Dave to fit another TrakKING unit to my recently acquired 2016 GSA as it seems crazy protecting just the £1,500 Blackbird albeit that they're chained together in my garage so I will at least know if someone tries to interfere with the GS. Annoyingly Datatool don't offer a 2nd bike discount ðŸ˜*
When I started this message I was going to ask for recommendations on where you would recommend a TrakKING should be fitted on my GSA, but now I'm nervous about discussing Dave's recommendation on a public forum. Any thoughts on how to get around that?
 
Honda now offer to supply and fit the Datatool TrakKing free on all new bikes (since July). Just had mine fitted but I have to pay about £9 per month subs. I'm not sure that it's the best system available (I hear that Biketrac is good) but I went ahead anyway and can always cancel.
 


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