List E-bike anti-theft alarms and GPS trackers

spinningmagnets

spinningmagnets

100 TW
Joined
Dec 21, 2007
Messages
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Location
Ft Riley, NE Kansas
There's an increasing number of devices available for alerting you (by text?) that your bike/car/motorcycle/laptop/child/teen...has been jostled and/or moved outside a designated area. I will have some time at work the next few days to deep-search ES for the many "spead out" links for recommended devices. I will then try to find the prices, size, and how each is powered.

Please add links to any clever devices that can be used for an E-bike anti-theft device (no locks, please...that should be a separate thread)

TrackR bravo ($30 each? no monthly fee?)
http://bravo.thetrackr.com/?utm_sou...edium=conversions&utm_campaign=neverlosebikes

http://smartfinancialtips.com/track...=trackr_tier1&demo=45&image=video2&copy=copy1

2-minute You Tube of the "Buddy Tracker"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyjKbMlaMbM

Spybike
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=60564&p=905375#p905375
 
Thanks for the effort. This is something i have been seriously neglecting.
 
That trackR is interesting as it doesn't cost you any monthly fee, you're basically using millions of people's cell phones to locate the device. Actually it is an ingenious idea. Of course until all the thieves have devices to scan for the blue tooth frequency or what ever it uses to transmit it's location to cell phones.

It seems for $30 bucks it should be put on all our bikes even if we don't leave them locked out in public, because you never know. If your bike ever went missing at least you still have a shot at finding it.

Even though I would never lock and leave my bike anywhere, I still leave it in the yard and go into my house for a while or possibly someone may break into my garage.
 
you're basically using millions of people's cell phones to locate the device. Actually it is an ingenious idea.
Click to expand...

That's not how blue tooth works. You can only track the tag with the blue tooth device that it is paired with and only if it's within 100'.
this product is useless for bikes, unless you accidently dropped your bike in the cushions of you couch or something. lol
 
vptech said:
[quote you're basically using millions of people's cell phones to locate the device. Actually it is an ingenious idea.]

That's not how blue tooth works. You can only track the tag with the blue tooth device that it is paired with and only if it's within 100'.
this product is useless for bikes, unless you accidently dropped your bike in the cushions of you couch or something. lol
Click to expand...

You got it wrong, supposedly they are connected into a user base of over 5 million peoples cell phones. When any of these over 5 million cell phones Bluetooth pick up your tag they record it.

So say your bike gets stolen and somebody of these 5 million people out there happen to be within 100 feet of your bike/tag, it will alert you on your cell phone. Then you go to that location with your cell phone and try and track it down within 100 feet.
 
re: TrackR bravo

If that was possible then you could use a device like this to track anyone or anything in range of a cell tower.

Their advertising makes it look like anyone with a cell phone will help track your item , but the catch there
is they must also have the trackr app installed on their cell phone. So the chances of that are slim to none
unless they give their product away for free and everyone installs it.

If you don't pay a montly fee for an activated sim car to 'ping' a location then you are not going to track anyting.

Anyway +1 for marketting on their part.
 
ohzee said:
re: TrackR bravo

If that was possible then you could use a device like this to track anyone or anything in range of a cell tower.

Their advertising makes it look like anyone with a cell phone will help track your item , but the catch there
is they must also have the trackr app installed on their cell phone. So the chances of that are slim to none
unless they give their product away for free and everyone installs it.

If you don't pay a montly fee for an activated sim car to 'ping' a location then you are not going to track anyting.

Anyway +1 for marketting on their part.
Click to expand...

I think you may have it wrong here. They are going to be using a service, not sure exactly what service because I didn't research it, but this service already has 5 million cell phone users.
At first I thought what you thought, yeah only the people who use their tracking software and have the Trackr bravo will be able to trace. This may not be the case.

They specifically said in advertising that they are joining a network of over 5 million people who belong to some other app.

Again, I didn't research it a lot but worth looking into because it is so cheap and the idea is ingenious.
 
ohzee said:
Guess that makes sense , but wonder what that could be. If so yea that's interesting.
Click to expand...

I think the whole point of this is that for only like $30 bucks one time fee, you may be able to track your bike if it is stolen.

Most of us will simply just not pay a monthly subscription for it to be tracked live with GPS, this includes myself.

But for $30 bucks, why not install it on the bike. You really never know what may happen and for the small chance something does at least you have a chance at finding it.

I never leave my 7K Ebike unattended, but right now my garage door is open and I am in the house. Would someone go in there and steal it, probably not but the chance is always there.
 
http://online.wsj.com/articles/finding-the-best-lost-item-trackers-tile-trackr-and-duet-reviewed-1403046981

Here's a quote from that article below.

I am still apprehensive that it is only good for things in your house otherwise it would remake the whole track anyone industry.

"Tile and TrackR can leverage a community of users to find what's lost, but they're only as good as the number of people using the app."
 
I got one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-GSM-GPRS-GPS-Tracker-GPS-Motor-Bike-Car-Tracking-system-Device-GT02A-2-/291258440534?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item43d05b1b56 permanently wired into the battery. Works a treat!
 
pdarnett said:
I got one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-GSM-GPRS-GPS-Tracker-GPS-Motor-Bike-Car-Tracking-system-Device-GT02A-2-/291258440534?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item43d05b1b56 permanently wired into the battery. Works a treat!
Click to expand...

What do you pay monthly for this?
 
I use this:

http://dsscircuits.com/geogram-one

Paired with a Telna mobile SIM ($19 per year; 1000 outgoing texts per month, unlimited inbound). To me, that is the cheapest annual rates for trackers. Most of them want a monthly fee and Telna is perfect for the Geogram since it runs off SMS.
 
I responded asking some technical questions but so far have not had a response and doubt I will get one.
It's a great idea and for dense populated places I bet it may be useful , but where I live not so much so
unless you happen to be lucky.

yea cellular is where it's at for something like this that's dependable and you still need to be in reach of a cell tower.

Oct 15 14:53

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for reaching out to TrackR support. When an item goes missing with a TrackR device attached, all TrackR enabled phones will begin to search for that item. When another user comes nearby the lost item, that user's phone will anonymously ping our server to update the items owner with new GPS coordinates of when & where it was last seen. We currently have the largest active Crowd GPS network and constantly building this network so the updates become more real time, ensuring any item will be found. In addition, we have just partnered with OpenGarden and have added 5,000,000 new users to our network.

Also as of today, our server is receiving 40 Crowd GPS updates per minute of where items are located.

I hope this puts things into perspective for you and feel free to let me know if you have any other questions!

Cheers,

Anais
Customer Support
TrackR
www.TheTrackR.com
 
There are a few on ebay that are just generic ones that you put a sim card in, you call or message it and it sends you a google maps link back in a text.
 
ohzee said:
I responded asking some technical questions but so far have not had a response and doubt I will get one.
It's a great idea and for dense populated places I bet it may be useful , but where I live not so much so
unless you happen to be lucky.

yea cellular is where it's at for something like this that's dependable and you still need to be in reach of a cell tower.

Oct 15 14:53

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for reaching out to TrackR support. When an item goes missing with a TrackR device attached, all TrackR enabled phones will begin to search for that item. When another user comes nearby the lost item, that user's phone will anonymously ping our server to update the items owner with new GPS coordinates of when & where it was last seen. We currently have the largest active Crowd GPS network and constantly building this network so the updates become more real time, ensuring any item will be found. In addition, we have just partnered with OpenGarden and have added 5,000,000 new users to our network.

Also as of today, our server is receiving 40 Crowd GPS updates per minute of where items are located.

I hope this puts things into perspective for you and feel free to let me know if you have any other questions!

Cheers,

Anais
Customer Support
TrackR
http://www.TheTrackR.com
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing that.

Thinking about it, you might as well use both devices. Cellular and this Tracking device. For $30 bucks one time fee, why not have both? Maybe your bike goes out of reach of cellular but eventually you will get someone with a cellphone who will walk past your bike. The other issue is if your bike is placed in a building you won't get any signal.

If a thief looks for tracking devices and finds one, chances are he is not going to look for a second, assuming he doesn't have devices that scan for these signals. Doubtful that bike thieves have devices that scan for these signals. Most likely bike thieves are going to take a close look around for tracking devices with these tracking devices getting popular now.
 
Props for them responding.


Anais (TrackR)
Oct 17 13:18

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for reaching back out and I apologize for any confusion. Trackrs are bluetooth enabled devices that use location services to communicate with other users who are signed up for Crowd GPS nearby. However,even if you are in an area with no crowds or users that are signed up for Crowd GPS it should not be an issue because as long as your TrackRs and app are paired then you can actively track your device on your own, receive a separation alert when you have been separated and ring the phone or Trackr using the 2 way ringing feature.

If you have any other question please do not hesitate to reach back out.

Best,

Anais
Customer Support
TrackR
 
I got two of these, they are disk locks combined with motion alarms, and they are pretty damn loud, so if you try to move the bike at all they go off.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181549398263
 
http://findmespot.com/en/

Seen this in my outside magazine. Looks like 100$ a year , but it uses satellites not bluetooth / cellular.
Thought it was interesting and somewhat affordable.

From their web page below:



SPOT works around the world, including virtually all of the continental United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Australia, portions of South America, portions of North and South Africa, North-East Asia and hundreds of miles offshore of these areas. In Russia, the GPS accuracy of your SPOT is limited (degraded) in accordance with Russian regulations restricting the accuracy of GPS performance for devices utilized in Russia.

96% OR BETTER PROBABILITY OF SUCCESSFULLY SENDING A SINGLE MESSAGE WITHIN 20 MINUTES.
REDUCED COVERAGE AVAILABLE WITHIN A 20 MINUTE PERIOD.


Last Updated 2015-02-09. Estimated coverage area. Actual coverage may vary. Success rates are forecasts for a SPOT messenger to successfully deliver a single message during a 20-minute period, based on network availability. Additionally, in everyday conditions it is normal for some messages to be blocked by your environment, such as hills or buildings. That 's why the SPOT Messenger is scheduled to automatically send multiple messages in every mode – giving you excellent overall reliability.

GPS satellites provide signals
SPOT messenger's onboard GPS chip determines your GPS location and sends your location and preselected message to communication satellites
Communication satellites relay your message to specific satellite antennas around the world
Satellite antennas and a global network route your location and message to the appropriate network
Your location and messages are delivered according to your instructions via email, text message, or emergency notification to the GEOS Rescue Coordination Center
 
Wonder if some of these BT devices offers a motion detection alarm....that would make them more attractive for bikes...
After the theft of my last bike, I'm putting my efforts to persuade the Local Administration, some of the local bike shop as well as some top frame producer here in the Florentine Area (Formigli - Ancillotti - Onion - Conti) to build up a small fleet of gost-tracked medium to expensive bikes to be left with poor locks around the town and to be directly managed by the local Police Department.

Having a BT device coupled with the GPS tracker will allow to better locate the stolen bike the last 100 fts or so.
In Holland and Germany these already applied strategies, had a great success eradicating most of the thefts (up to 80% decrease).
A great example of what should be made in synergy by categories that too frequently are not linked if not opposed (customers, producers, shops, administrators, Police,).

I love the Idea of a local ground network....like to place a net of static ground communicating devices (BT or the safer technology about emissions) with an ID each and within some access points (to an Intranet) and a datacenter server. So any enabled device signed as stolen or lost should be located by a solid composite network made by static BT devices, enabled smartphones, moving BT devices and managed by a network server to which peoples could get infos and contribute with their own. There is a problem of possible privacy bugs and unsafe emissions though....
 
Good thread!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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