Off work feeling poorly so doing a little spodding(!)
Saw this and thought you guys might be interested...
http://www.magicshineuk.co.uk/GPS-ANTI-THEFT-Tracker-device---FOR-BIKES!/4719-v
Not cheap... but then neither were my bikes.. :-/
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Stuff
Anti theft GPS tracker
(18 posts)-
Posted 13 years ago #
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The link returns "Oops, we have a small issue..."
I'm familiar with anti-theft GPS tracking devices through work but will with-hold my assessment until I can actually see what it is!
Posted 13 years ago # -
Hmm. Disguised as a light? As easy to remove as a light?
Posted 13 years ago # -
The link returns "Oops, we have a small issue..."
If you go to 'shop by category' and scroll down, you'll find it easily.
Posted 13 years ago # -
This would have been handy when my bike was stolen from outside the pub last year.
Also you could pop one in your car?
They are a lot of money though, as suppose its a basic mobile phone with built in GPS and some fancy software to detect its movement.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Obv I'm not sparking this morning(!) if you cut and paste the link including the 4791-V bit it should take you straight to the page, dunno why it didn't work as a normal linky :-/
Posted 13 years ago # -
It's a neat piece of kit. The mash-a-GPS-and-mobile-phone-together concept was originally developed a few years back by St Andrews University Sea Mammal Research Unit as they used to seal them in plastic blocks and glue them onto grey seals! They were very proud of their achievements and gave us endless lectures on it, complete with lots of pictures of seals with plastic blocks glue to their heads! They bought off-the-shelf Garmin type GPS and off-the-shelf PAYG phone and took the casings apart and wired them all together with long life batteries. The GPS would log the track and phone would then use the SMS technology to transmit the animal's position every time it surfaced and any previously untransmitted data. The glue had a life approximately that of the battery so the device would eventually drop off and float away, with the potential to be recovered. And if it's lost the cost is low to replace when compared to traditional data loggers (that need to be recovered) or higher bandwith radio or satellite transmitters. Using SMS was cheap and simple and perfect for UK coastal waters studies.
Back on track, I think the real merit of this device is within the first 10minutes to an hour of your bike being knicked. It tells you your bike is moving and where it's going. Beyond that time frame I'm not sure how useful it will be. I've seen this sort of thing trialled and it can be pretty good performance in built up areas - until they take it up stairs, at which point you've no idea what floor the thing is on!
The other problem is having to leave it on the bike "disguised" as a light - I suppose when someone knicks your tracker thinking they're swiping your lights at least you can track them down!
Also you could pop one in your car?
There are devices on the market - often offered through insurance companies. The police will also work off a system called "Tracker" that uses radio direction finding that is installed and funded by insurance companies.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Hmmm, you probably know a friend of mine then who works there and was/is heavily involved in glueing gps to seals lol. Lars?
Posted 13 years ago # -
I'm not sure Lars was there when I was, if he was I don't think he was on the teaching staff. But yes there's quite a few people up there that like glueing things to seals for a living. Or raking through seal poo. Or there was the crazy american man who used suckers and a big flexible pole to attach things to Sperm Whales.
Posted 13 years ago # -
I'm a bit sceptical.
"Alternatively if you know your bike has been stolen, just text the Track it! device with the word STOLEN and the position of the bike will be uploaded to the mapping website at regular intervals. "
....then what? Do you set an angry seal on them until they give in and give you your bike back?
Posted 13 years ago # -
Well instead of clubbing the seal you could club the.... no that would be inciting violence.
Posted 13 years ago # -
@Min, well depending how large and aggressive you (or your friends) are you would then be in a position to nip round and have a friendly chat with the
scu.. erm, perpetrators of your injustice..(I have a friend (no bigger than me physically) down south who had a motorcycle stolen and on happening to see it in the garden of a well known local ne'erdowell he was so angry he challenged the (rather large and scary looking) bloke and demanded to know how it got there, how it was getting back what the bloke thought he was doing with it etc... result was profuse apologies from the bloke, denial (lies) that he knew it was stolen and instant return :-) )
Alternatively you could visit the local Police station and tell the nice chaps in blue that 1, your bike has been stolen. 2, It has a tracker and you know where it is. 3, They can get an easy arrest if they have a spare half hour...
It has to be more effective than sticking postcode/transponder/stickers/whatever on it and hoping you might get the remains back after some lowlife has stripped/trashed/dumped it surely? :-/
Posted 13 years ago # -
I guess you could ring the police and say you've followed your stolen bike to the scene, and you're going in to get it back, but would like it if they came along to keep everyone calm... (sort of like the 999 call to say "that burglar I phoned about two hours ago? There's no need to rush any more, I've shot him", although I guess this an urban myth)
Posted 13 years ago # -
You might get a better response from the police if you ring and tell them your car got scratched..
Posted 13 years ago # -
Update on this one - I bought one and fitted it to the Pino.
Kept reasonably quiet about it for the reason above that a thief "in-the-know" would simply destroy the tracker, or separate it from the bike.
Having said that, it wasn't likely to succumb to the casual light (fingered?) thief in that it had a small steel cable wrapped round the seat post and only appeared to be on a conventional quick release mount. [How many have lost quick release lights to theft anyway? Mine have usually got lost due to cobbles!]
Apart from the "useless if you know about it" vulnerability, I thought it well worth while, as it worked well as a tracker - once armed, vibration activated it and caused it to start reporting its position based on GPS or phone towers, if no lock was available. Very accurate, particularly if in a location for long enough (i.e. the thief's gaff).
Major disadvantage - not weatherproof! It flooded in the recent heavy rain, so the light switched itself on (couldn't be switched off) and drained the battery. Naturally I wouldn't trust it for security after a flood, even if it appeared to be dried out, and one couldn't trust the thief not to cycle in the rain! So returned as not being of merchantable quality...
Great idea, flawed execution (this time). My understanding is that the manufacturer is developing an improved product for release in 2012.
Robert
Posted 13 years ago # -
Interesting report, thanks for that. Don't think I'll get one quite yet, but def worth keeping an eye on the market I reckon :-)
Posted 13 years ago # -
Roibeard - a smidge disappointing ?
For £125 I would hope to get more than 6 months.
Could get a very decent lock for that money......
Posted 13 years ago # -
@Nelly - Absolutely, and it was probably only 6 weeks! Decent locks available for half the price via a web search - mine have been coming from Amazon!
Robert
Posted 13 years ago #
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