Been a long time user of other forums, but felt I needed to join after reading your thread on the stolen Camaro. Don't intend to peddle my wares or advertise, but I feel inclined to post some truths about using GPS tracking for theft recovery that people should be aware of.
So, you're saying you stole the Camero, but won't sell it to us, and GPS is a tracking device you found a way around so we can't find you and beat you down into catfood ?
Well... Didn't expect reponses that quickly, typically on other boards nobody reads the intros.
"And ???" "Yea what he said " ".....I've got my popcorn ....munch munch ....and I'm waitin' for the news ." "Welcome from St. Catharines. Curious minds want to know so have at it! "
In the Copo thread people had stated GPS tracking systems would be a good idea but were unsure of how they worked or the cost; They work great and are affordable, I've been in the business of selling them for 4 years. Have sold plenty to commercial fleets and racers alike. My intention is not to hijack a stolen car thread (of which there are far too many), but to shed some light on the tech. GPS is considered the last line of defending an investment for many, but guys tend to shy away from the technology because it's new and/or they are unsure about it.
I honestly don't care where you purchase one, but everybody with money into a car should at least look into a quality GPS system. We should all be armed with them and I hope to steer you guys in the right direction.
Cost: Typically a good tracking setup can be had for $2 - 300, is small enough to be hidden, runs off the vehicles 12v, and is end user friendly with any internet connection. Look for modern units, as they should have a good degree of anti jamming built into the chipset, as well as various backup methods to get a signal out. I only recommend LIVE tracking for anti theft. That means the ability to monitor locations remotely through the internet at any time. The downside is a monthly fee, typically around 40 (we charge 30). The upside is it's really the only way to use remote live GPS tracking for anti theft, as the unit will constantly send locations every 2 minutes for as long as it has power, and then for as long as it's backup battery has power. This provides a saved history of where it was as well as where it is on a server.
Use: End user only, no third party company to deal with like Lo-Jacks, Boomerangs, etc. This means if the vehicle goes missing, you log into the server through any internet capable device, locate the car and go from there. Call the cops obviously, tell them it's stolen and where it is. Also, the stuff we sell has geofencing. Think digital fence you set up on a map around your garage. Tracker moves through it, software sends you texts and emails.
Avoid Lo-jack's and their various rebrands. They are a dead technology and way overpriced. Actually, anything that relies solely on cellular triangulation was outmoded at least 5 years ago. No where near the accuracy of GPS and they force you to deal with a third party company to find anything.
Avoid Passive trackers like Tracksticks. These are the ones from BreakingBad where you have to hide the thing on a vehicle, retrieve it later and download into a PC to see where it was. Without the ability to log into a server in realtime they are beyond useless for anti-theft.
Avoid cheap trackers (under a 150). They often have inferior battery life. You want Lithium backups, they can run for a week if somone rips your battery out.
Avoid 'no monthly fee' live units. It's a scam, they are throttling the output of the tracking pings to their servers severely. Perhaps 1 track a day, which is useless if someone stole your car 5 hours ago. You want to know where it is every minute of every day.
Avoid pay per track units. A gigantic rip off.
And finally, don't advertise you have one. Sucks for me as a business owner, but the things only work when a thief doesn't know you have one.
Welcome to the site It would be interesting to hear about GPS apparently you don't need a GPS if you have insurance on your 100g plus old car
Have heard that many many times. You'd be gobsmacked at how many people I've encountered that will dump 100 grand into something and refuse to pay a couple hundred more for security. It's akin to the guy who builds an 8 second car and insists on using a snowmobile helmet from the '70s when he makes a pass.
The insurance is a joke as well. The thing about them is you aren't often covered for the real value of the car, and when you go to claim, watch how fast they try to and get out of paying.
Thanks Paul , we think alike in terms of protecting your expensive investment , but what if the bad guy suspects the car might have a GPS but , rather than try to find it , disconnects the car battery ( you said the system runs off the car battery ) ? Does it still work ?
Secondly , what else could the thief do to negate the effectiveness of the system he suspects is there ? .....NO , I'm not planning to steal a car !
Paul ( I take it that is your name, but you didn't put it in your profile or intro)
If you have a good product to sell, you should list it in the vendors section with contact info. Low-jacks is already here, but nothing wrong with optional choices. From your description, are you the manufacturer?
Thanks Paul , we think alike in terms of protecting your expensive investment , but what if the bad guy suspects the car might have a GPS but , rather than try to find it , disconnects the car battery ( you said the system runs off the car battery ) ? Does it still work ?
Secondly , what else could the thief do to negate the effectiveness of the system he suspects is there ? .....NO , I'm not planning to steal a car !
T
Any good tracker worth it's salt has a backup battery internally installed. The moment power is cut to the constant 12+, it will take over and keep transmitting. Battery life varies on response time, but typically they can go for days if lithium ion. Some are rating for 2 weeks.
In that hypothetical, the thief would have to have knowledge it was installed. That's usually a very big if, as not a lot of cars run them still. There are jamming devices you can buy, but it's doubtful you'd find a thief walking around with a backpack full of running jamming equipment. Even so, newer GPS chipsets have this in mind and will actively seek out known jamming frequencies and ignore them. If they did manage to jam the GPS receiver somehow, we sell units that will fall back to cell tower triangulation in that event and send locations that way if it can't get a GPS fix. Doubt they also have a cellular jammer with them as well, but if they hypothetically did, with the response time set at every 2 minutes, the unit will eventually get a location out at some point. It would keep sending every 2 mins for days until one got out, and that's all you need to find it.
Really about all they could do is know it is in the car because you told them, find it and rip it out. In that case, it would still be transmitting, so at least you'd have a record of where they did this.
Have heard that many many times. You'd be gobsmacked at how many people I've encountered that will dump 100 grand into something and refuse to pay a couple hundred more for security. It's akin to the guy who builds an 8 second car and insists on using a snowmobile helmet from the '70s when he makes a pass.
It's not the 2 or $300 to buy the system it's the 20-$30 a month that is the problem In my opiion
It's not the 2 or $300 to buy the system it's the 20-$30 a month that is the problem In my opinion.
I agree with this view too .... it's the constant monthly charge that's hard to swallow. A person pays enough for insurance each year, adding another $500 (or close to $500) a year on top on top of something that is already insured for replacement value (or should be insured for replacement value) is too much or just doesn't make sense for some.
In the case of the COPO Camaro, a discreet security camera system installed in and outside the shop (not monitored so just a one-time cost) that no one knows is there (hence the discreet part) might have done wonders as far as identifying the thief or thieves as I doubt they would have been (or stayed) masked while inside the shop, lowering the car off the lift.
My thoughts on security camera's also goes for inside the house too, in hopes of nailing the typical highschooler-on-lunch B&E.
To each his own on the montly fee's, certainly not for everyone. For me, 30 bucks a month on 10's of thousands of car is inconsequential. Hopefully, the technology will advance to the point that monitoring is not needed, but we aren't there yet.
Insurance is another conversation completely. Despite the level of coverage purchased, they typically aren't in the business of paying out easily.
