Tracking device?

Recently acquired myself a nice td5 disco and want to fit a tracker. Just asking for opinions or advice as to the best one for my money. Compared to what I spent on the disco, a couple of hundred quid doesn't seem to bad to give me a good chance of getting her back and nicking the scumbags who dare to take her!
Sorry if this is in the wrong place by the way and thanks for all your thoughts and advice in advance!

awillows said:

Recently acquired myself a nice td5 disco and want to fit a tracker. Just asking for opinions or advice as to the best one for my money. Compared to what I spent on the disco, a couple of hundred quid doesn't seem to bad to give me a good chance of getting her back and nicking the scumbags who dare to take her!
Sorry if this is in the wrong place by the way and thanks for all your thoughts and advice in advance!

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Pm Ryder.

Where are you based? If cornwall, then I may be able to help - if not I can pass you onto another dealer.( I am doing free fitting at the moment for forum members.)

Prices are the cheapest tracking systems to buy/maintain (that are any good) on the market....i know, I own a hire company as well - the difference is quite astonishing, which is why another company of mine now fit them! 5 year warranty, yearly tracking uk/eu or one off lifetime. You track as well as a call centre, and police are able to find it too (unlike the cheapo sim ones)

Hi Guys... missed the fred! We certainly have units available and I am, as always happy to help. Our system does have a few little extras if they are required too. What's your system auto? Maybe we should talk about fitting... could do with a fitter in your neck of the woods!

General advice regarding tracking systems:

Decide what you want the system to do: Do you want to be able to locate the vehicle regularly and replay trips... or do you simply want to get the vehicle back if someone steals it? Do you need or want to have a monitoring station looking after it on a day to day basis or would you be happy administrating it using a simple web interface and your mobile phone for commands?

Do you want the system to do other things? Activating an ignition isolator and turning off the engine is a pretty good action when the tea leaf is driving away with your pride and joy.

The degree of complexity that you want will be reflected in the price. The basic equipment is not going to be too expensive... in fact your estimate of a coupleof hundred quid is about on the money... extra functions do come at a price though even these extras are not hideously expensive.

Are you going to be using your vehicle abroad? Particularly in the Algerian Sahara? Coverage in these areas os possible but different technology would need to be used to keep an eye on the vehicle (satellite phones predominantly) though our tests with rusty Rhinos kast year showed that in the build up areas the transmission was fine... also, of course the unit would need to be well hidden with an Off switch since GPS is illegal in Algeria...

Do not be tempted by cheap Japanese/Chinese imported trackers. The build quality reflects the price. It not a saving to have a cheap tracker when it fails to work on the one occasion you need it.

When evaluating a tracking unit: You want to be looking into the number of channels that the receiver is utilising... a few years ago you would be lucky to get 12 channel receivers... many are now using up to 64. The more channels the better the positional fix and the more likely a fix is to be achieved in poor reception areas.

If exact location is important then look for a system that uses DGPS (Differential GPS). The GPS signal is slightly distorted by the atmosphere... different weather conditions can throw the location out by some meters which is whymany devices quote an accuracy of up to 12 meters... not much in the great scheme of things but a bitch when the police raid the wrong address to get your motor back! DGPS compensates for the variations due to atmosphere and providespositions accurate to about 1 meter.

I could ramble on a bit but I will leave it there... if you would like any further questions answered simply let me know.

I have delibertaely not quoted prices or anything like that on this post because I did not want it to turn into spam; but I am quite happy to quote for any system that you would like to incoporate into the vehicle.

Cheers

Ryder

my company have navman ones fitted to our work vans and they now ,mph , exact location , time we turn van on / off ,

and we get a letter each month showing us when we have gone over the speed limit for a van the record is just over 400 times per month...

on the newer vans they now wot time guys open there elec windows for tea brake..

we hate them but id love one in mine ..

gas said:

my company have navman ones fitted to our work vans and they now ,mph , exact location , time we turn van on / off ,

and we get a letter each month showing us when we have gone over the speed limit for a van the record is just over 400 times per month...

on the newer vans they now wot time guys open there elec windows for tea brake..

we hate them but id love one in mine ..

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We have em fitted to my works trucks. They don't show what speed we do above 75mph and if you exceed 75mph for more than 5 mins they jam cos the actual position doesn't tally with the speed.

If the boss counted how many times a speed limit is broken I'm pretty sure some of our trucks will easily beat 400 times in a month.

Hi im an auto electrcian and basicaly all tracking systems are useless as they can be jamed by gps jammers wich are very easy to get hold of and any who knows what the are doing knows about them, im not plugin this company but tracker TRACKER - Stolen Vehicle Recovery, Fleet Management and Traffic and Travel Services are the only tracker what cannot be jamed as they use radio signals and not gps and is the only system thats the police use so as soon as it gets reported stolen any near by police cars will start tracking it, the only down side to it if you was wanting to go and give them a good pasting you cant because when you report it stolen tracker shut of your contact with it. there not the cheapest but its the only id use,

mickdj said:

Hi im an auto electrcian and basicaly all tracking systems are useless as they can be jamed by gps jammers wich are very easy to get hold of and any who knows what the are doing knows about them, im not plugin this company but tracker TRACKER - Stolen Vehicle Recovery, Fleet Management and Traffic and Travel Services are the only tracker what cannot be jamed as they use radio signals and not gps and is the only system thats the police use so as soon as it gets reported stolen any near by police cars will start tracking it, the only down side to it if you was wanting to go and give them a good pasting you cant because when you report it stolen tracker shut of your contact with it. there not the cheapest but its the only id use,

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You sure???? I find that although harder to jam, I can still jam radio signal jammers using exactly the same way that I can jam a gsm jammer.

mickdj said:

Hi im an auto electrcian and basicaly all tracking systems are useless as they can be jamed by gps jammers wich are very easy to get hold of and any who knows what the are doing knows about them, im not plugin this company but tracker TRACKER - Stolen Vehicle Recovery, Fleet Management and Traffic and Travel Services are the only tracker that use's radio signals and not gps and is NOT the only system that alerts the police as soon as it gets reported stolen,

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Editted for accuracy

Mickdj

Your comments are a little flawed. Firstly not all trackers can be jammed using GPS jammers. And I am not sure you mean GPS jammers rather than GSM jammers. I can categorically tell you that TRACKER are NOT the only company using radio systems for relaying the information back to a server.

Tracker themselves admit that using radio technology for relaying data carries tremendous problems with reliability. We live in a time when even coppers acn't get reliable radios to talk to eachother... believe me when the terrain gets rough the tracker has issues just like any other system.

The TRACKER system is different to the units that we have been discussing previously. It is a "Use Once" device... meant to be activated by the owner when they discover the theft and it sposition relayed to a SOC that will then talk to the police on your behalf. It is not a system that is free to interrogate... nor does it provide for a range of security related measures in the same way that many other systems may.

To be honest the very best method of relaying the data would be satellite phone... but there you are talking mega bucks!

(Just for clarity's sake I am talking about their anti theft device... though they do profess to have a fleet management solution in place as well)

Oh you have a for sale section. Fancy that. I would have thought you could just flog your tat anywhere.

TwelvestringTrev said:

Oh you have a for sale section. Fancy that. I would have thought you could just flog your tat anywhere.

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trying to find some context in which this comment makes sense.... nope guess not!

Ryder said:

trying to find some context in which this comment makes sense.... nope guess not!

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People just don't understand what works and what dosen't and who to call. they read a article in a mag or there friend said and they are experts:doh::doh:

tis true... 'tis also a fact that some people post only to see their post counter go up... I suppose its like politicians who speak only to hear the sound of their own voice!

I have a Skytag fitted, which came through the post and I installed myself in a place only I know rather than the position specific places some factories use

Hi skynet, it's still a use once system though is it not? something that you would use if the vehicle got stolen as a recovery device. A such it does a reasonable job... may we ask whether you are paying a monthly subscription or annual payment of some kind?

Hi Ryder, it was purchased at £80 for unit and £7 monthly sub. Not sure if that is the usual price as I got something of a discount at C4H.

I'm not sure what you mean by use-once? Once the vehicle is found, hopefully quickly, it would still be operational. If you mean its location would be known then its a small matter to move it. It has a built in chargeable battery that needs 12V to top it up.

I get a monthly e-mail to report its condition as it is regularly tested. I can also call the centre's number and ask them to confirm my current location, just to make sure they are getting a good signal around the country.

Okay so I'm less likely to have a Hippo stolen, but its peace of mind and I can move it to another vehicle if I wish.

Skynet said:

Hi Ryder, it was purchased at £80 for unit and £7 monthly sub. Not sure if that is the usual price as I got something of a discount at C4H.

I'm not sure what you mean by use-once? Once the vehicle is found, hopefully quickly, it would still be operational. If you mean its location would be known then its a small matter to move it. It has a built in chargeable battery that needs 12V to top it up.

I get a monthly e-mail to report its condition as it is regularly tested. I can also call the centre's number and ask them to confirm my current location, just to make sure they are getting a good signal around the country.

Okay so I'm less likely to have a Hippo stolen, but its peace of mind and I can move it to another vehicle if I wish.

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Hi there,

The use once description really refers to the fact that you would use it only in case of theft. The alternative, of course, would be a system that will track your vehicle 24/7 and allow you or someone else to view its position in real time. Of course I was not implying that the device would be useless after the first time it was used.

£80 for the unit is quite inexpensive, although this may be reflected in its complexity. However the cost of the unit is undoubtedly being subsidised by the £84 per year subscription.

interestingly, many of the comments I have had from people who decline the use of a tracking system is that they do not want to be committing themselves to a monthly fee, no matter how small that fee might be. Consequently not a business model that would work for me unfortunately

Is it expensive overall? Looking at the unit being good for about five years before needing renewing... you are looking at £500. Overall £250 more than my own system with only a fraction of the capabilities.

However, as you say, whatever system you run with it is peace of mind, however it might be worth fitting a smoke alarm too (you know how these guys feel about hippos!)

Hi again,
Well the original reason for installing the Skytag (initially issued free) was so that myself and a few others with one fitted could be watched online in realtime as we drove the Convoy 4 Heroes route at Gaydon. The function was enabled and disabled by the Skytag team who obviously later disabled that function to the general public. I purchased the unit rather than give it back LOL
Indeed C4H are doing the same to a vehicle and trailer that will be travelling the UK promoting the charity.

Until that time I had originally thought of tagging systems as quite expensive and hadn't really looked into it.