GPS Car Tracker Recommendation?
 

Anyone use a GPS Car Tracker? From my understanding, you buy a SIM card, pop into gadget and you can track it through an app like Find My Phone. Looking for reliable, not too expensive gadget.

Something like this - https://www.itraq.com/ but hopefully, not $150 US with annual fee.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-m2JYbEBUkA/mqdefault.jpg

I think robellus will charge you 10 to 15 bux a month for data.


Imagine if every car had a tracker. Car thefts would be pretty much a thing of the past.

Interested in something a little more compact for my motorcycles.

There are many options out there, generally a Sim card comes with the device and there's usually a monthly fee associated with it. Deciding factor is, do you need a device strictly for theft recovery or do you want other features?

DroneMobile | Smartphone Remote Start, Security, & Tracking System is great because it will integrate with door locks and Compustar alarms to offer alerts if the alarm sounds. If you'd like a simple small reliable device with no monthly fees that works all over the world send me a pm.

i was thinking of this after someone posted their GTR got stolen...

Why can't you...
-get a old iphone/android device
-get an unlimited data plan from wind/etc. --$40/mo
-hardwire the charging cable to an 12v outlet --i'm sure guys at Soundsgood have a way, say 2hrs of labour - $180
-hide said device somewhere in the car and enable fine my phone

is this not possible?

It is possible and I've come across phones like that in the past.

Drone is still cheaper even installed with the yearly cost.. but I can suggest something for just under $200 with a back-up battery and no monthly or renewal fees.

...the suspense is killing me...go on...

Can you not get a 7 Eleven Speakout SIM card, pay as you go, lasts for 365 days, put $25 in it and activate it. Put it in a phone/gps tracker and then use Find my Phone? You don't need a monthly cellular plan. This is the kind of simple device that I was thinking of.

Eg.
https://www.amazon.com/Tracking-Devi.../dp/B008980K78

Or This for $45 US
Spy Tec STI_GL300 Mini Portable Real Time Personal and Vehicle GPS Tracker | eBay

https://images10.newegg.com/BizIntel.../a1_092916.jpg

On a separate note, whoever designs an affordable simple device like this will be a millionaire. Seeing as how our demographics show that there will be a tsunami of aging seniors. Not only can you track vehicles, when my father was losing memory and we were worried about him wandering and getting lost, something like this would have come in real handy.

It's a device aimed to sub-prime and leasing opportunities and I "know" a local source.. PM me.

Unfortunately once the car is in a shipping container, or a number of concrete warehouses, the trackers are useless.

With a "find my phone" type tracker, by the time you realize your car is missing, it's long gone and you won't be able to find it. With the paid tracking services, you can often set out a boundary that the moment the car crosses the boundary it's being tracked. It still disappears, but you can see where it went before it disappeared.

We had a tracker-equipped car stolen in Montreal about 15yrs ago. Tracking line went a couple of streets over at 3am, paused for 5-10min and then disappeared. Police figured it was hauled a couple of streets over, loaded into a container, and thats when it disappeared.

-Dave

if they really want it, they'll get it

i think theoretically dronemobile would work best, because you can be alerted by proximity sensors before it's driven away...which should give you plenty of notice *if* you are nearby.

Most of these consumer grade tracking devices that I've run into, (commercial fleet tracking is a whole other story) tend to be GSM only, No 4G or LTE access.

Even that one time I was helping some Mom with a GPS kid tracking bracelet that theoretically was compatible, there was no way to access APN settings to configure the thing.

Doesn't stop people from ordering them from China though.

The issue with these trackers is that they are cell phone signal dependent. Once the vehicle is out of cell phone range, it's useless. Underground parking lots, out in the bush, dead zones, etc. The geofence settings will give you a heads up once the vehicle leaves a preset safe zone but by then it's likely too late to act. A back-up battery would be nice as a thief or default client can just kill the battery and the unit has no power so no signal. Ignition kill will definitely help but in business it can be a liability and spark a law suit. More so in the U.S. where everyone is sue-happy but still, it can pose an issue.

PM me with more info. That's the business I'm in and I'm thinking I've seen it all over the last 15 years but curious what you have to offer.

Something like this is tempting, satellite based and ~$270/yr to have it update every 2.5 mins. I'd like something that updated more often but the price for a satellite connected service seems solid.

https://www.findmespot.ca/en/index.php?cid=131

2hrs? That's a 10-15min job that takes $10 in supplies.

If anyone can come up with a device and plan where it can draw from the 12v power source, has a backup battery, and is relatively cheap and reliable, I am all ears.

DroneMobile | Smartphone Remote Start, Security, & Tracking System

Can wire it with an alarm then add the backup battery


Basic Compustar + drone with battery installed probably around the $650-700 range is my guess for the basic cars. Cheap? No. But not unaffordable either. $700 for peace of mind isn't so bad.