Back2You Tracker and App

Al2O3 said:

I'm about an hour and a half further south than you. It's just stopped raining! I think the weather front is moving North East, so it might stop at yours soon.

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hope so got lots of jobs needing done and most are outside. Just tried to find the app on play store (android phone) cant seem to find it unless its the one that cost £2.49 to download?

Check this video out YOUTUBE
That is the identical box of tricks I got. The fella doing the video, Chris Truelove, is the fella that replied to my contact form via the official Back2You website!

This Video YOUTUBE shows the android app. I can't find an iPhone video, which is a shame cos the app looks very different on the iphone

John03 said:

hope so got lots of jobs needing done and most are outside. Just tried to find the app on play store (android phone) cant seem to find it unless its the one that cost £2.49 to download?

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Yeah, that's the one. Costs £2.49

Al2O3 said:

Yeah, that's the one. Costs £2.49

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cool I'll download and if I can remember were I put my sim card I'll slot it into the tracker and have a go with it, only got power and the GPS/GSM antenna attached at the moment that should be enough to get a location off it.

John03 said:

cool I'll download and if I can remember were I put my sim card I'll slot it into the tracker and have a go with it, only got power and the GPS/GSM antenna attached at the moment that should be enough to get a location off it.

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That's all I did on the drive at first. Had it connected up to a live and earth in the Landy with the antennae wires lying across the chairs and floor. Worked straight away.

Al2O3 said:

Yeah, found it John. Cheers.
I think I might write to the seller and or Amazon and see if someone is prepared to shed some light.
For £30 I'm not that bothered if I have been conned. Slightly peeved

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Sorry I missed this post earlier on, I dont think you have been conned, anybody buying equipment off the back2you website might be as a big jump from say £29 to £125 but then if you buy from their website do you use the same app or is it a slightly better version? perhaps they have someone watching the GPS 24/7 for you?
I did notice when I was searching for the app in the google play store that there were a few different kinds of mobile tracking apps but after watching the youtube video you posted a link too I kinda like all the security protocols that should stop others from hacking the gps and either disabling it or using it to track you. I would like to try the other apps esp as they are free but really dont have the time and unsure if they will work side by side with the back2you app.

bad news I've lost my sim card and I no longer have an unlocked phone to hand to set up another one, got a few friends searching their cupboards n drawers to see if they have one.
Got a new sim card from the local supermarket but still need an unlocked phone

How the hell did you lose that! Are you sure it's not in the tracker?

I've been out and tested mine in a better signal area. Village green, as apposed to our street which is terrible.
On the android phone app with a tap of the button I could apply the Geo Fence, Movement (which is set to 200m) etc. within a few seconds I get a little momentary message saying that the setting has been applied. This uses up a text. So every time you set something it uses a text to confirm the setting has been applied. It must use another when you switch off that setting. This is interesting, cos if you set it when you get home (5p) switch it off before you go to work (5p) switch it on at work (5p) back on when you get home (5p) that's a min of 4 operations per day ie 20p times 30 days is £6 per month. I wonder if the monthly subscription trackers include all texts?

From the village green I left it on the Movement setting. It flashes up that this sets a 200m ring (I suspect 100m radius) around the vehicle. I drove off and about 130m away got a text. I kept driving about 3/4 mile up the road and stopped in a field gate to turn around. I got another text while there. Drove back to the house and looked at the texts, clicked the hyperlink to google maps. UNBELIEVABLE! the link took me to a street view of the field gate I had just turned around in. Absolutely bob on.

The Mrs is out at the moment, so the next test will be to take both phones and experiment to see if both will control it.

As I said before the weak signal on my drive is not providing good test conditions. It's a case of getting confident that it's actually doing what you think it's doing.

Al2O3 said:

How the hell did you lose that! Are you sure it's not in the tracker?

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no I was using it in my caravan alarm to test the delay text time, as the caravan alarm flashes once to say its sent a text, I took it out and put its own one back in, I'm sure I left the sim card on my work bench next to my soldering iron but it aint there now, and I cant blame her indoors as she does not have keys to get in my workshop.

Ah but remember! Women can move things with their minds. That's how when we've had a look for something and it's not there, they say "I'll have a look". At that point they move the object with their minds so when they look it's there. !0:1 she finds it

My tracker from which I draw maps of my travels is a Back2you one. I went with them in the end because I wanted something that would draw maps of my trips. They seem reasonably good at answering my messages. I'm not that interested in getting phone texts as you get from the cheaper systems, because I'm not a big mobile phone person, but I like the maps I can view on the computer. Yes, by the time you've paid 5p for all the texts individually you might as well get a contract!

That's interesting, Brown. What system have you got and, if you don't mind, what features does it have and how does it work? ie notify you it's on the move when it shouldn't be!

I've got one of their real time fleet trackers.Yes, you can set alarms and geofence features too, but I mostly use it to see where the car is (i.e. where I left it) and to draw maps. It locates itself via the mobile phone network and satellites. If I have a criticism it is that sometimes it seems to cut corners off my journeys, almost as if it hasn't been able to log in and locate itself for a period of time. Occasionally, it has not allowed me to view a journey which I know I have made, such as that time I went to Stirling last December and a bit of the journey got missed out. However, you get that kind of problem with a lot of mobile devices sometimes, so I don't think the reliability is any worse than, say, my mobile phone provider or ISP.

Do you get by on the £5 per month data or do you spend more than that? Do you not set the movement alert at night or do you plan to get it's location if it ever disappears? Does yours charge you for a text each time you arm it and disarm it?

I've had a reply from Chris, the fella at Back2You, so top marks for customer service!
He reckons all you need to do really is set the movement alert and this can easily be done by sending a text. All the app does is send a text when you press one of the app buttons anyway. To find out where it is you just call it from your phone. It rings, answers, then the tracker hangs up and send you a text with it's location.
I think I'll forget the apps and the Mrs and I will just text it.

I manage mine through the web interface (where you can see where you've been, set the geofence, alarm etc.) and it just costs me whatever the monthly cost is - in fact I've just paid a 12 month subscription upfront which works out at about £6 per month. The only mobile phone I have is a cheap PAYG that mostly lives in the car for calling the AA out! So I've not really tried managing it with the mobile. I just use the laptop for everything.

Of course, like with any tracker, someone could make off with the car and take it away somewhere quiet where they could 'deep clean' it for trackers and bugs at their leisure. But it's an extra way of expediting the return process if anyone comes round with a flatbed truck with a crane on it.

Yep, they're pretty brisk with customer service and actually seem to monitor the messages customers send in. When I paid my sub the other day, apparently their automated invoicing software was not succeeding in sending me an invoice so they identified the problem and sorted it out.

Yes, it's just another means by which you might get your Landy back or even stop it getting too far away.
Do you use your laptop to set it when you go to work for example? Do you set it when you are out and about?

I've almost always got a laptop/tablet with me (it's actually one of those Hewlett Packard convertible things that can be used as a tablet or clamshell laptop) and it's got an integral sim card so I can access email and internet via the mobile phone network. Assuming there is any, of course. Mobile coverage is still very poor in rural areas. But I just do everything via the website. Once you get the fleet tracker they give you login details to access a secure website where you can make all the adjustments you need. When I was away at a conference in Korea a few months ago there was something reassuring about being able to have a look at my little red dot safely in the car park at Heathrow. The Land Rover stays at home when I go to work because I live quite close to work and by the time I'd got the car un-secured, driven through 18 sets of traffic lights and found a parking space at the other end it's quicker to walk. So if I set the alarms (AS10 and tracker) they just stay that way 'til the next time I want to use the car.

Sounds like a great set up.