Tracking devices
 

Any one using tracking devices on their bike?
I've been told that the GPS devices are useless once your bike's in a garage/van (Phantom Tracker aprox £500+subscription).
MST bike gaurd looks more promising using GSM via mobile phones but the accuracy leaves a lot to be desired (a 'few hundred' metres to 1000 metres depending on location) but is better value £300 approx.
Do you have any experiences or recommendations?

Don't know about tracking devices on bikes, but my hand held GPS packs up when I take it in the house

Asset tracking uses GSM:
http://www.goandtrack.com/hardware/a...containers.htm

Whilst MST is better value but poor accuracy:

http://www.mstinternational.com/

Cheeky they've got a Duke on their webpage as well:lol:

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with these?

I work in the security industry and there is 2 things about tracking devices you should know. 1. 80 % dont get recovered in spite of what they tell you (Call the police when you are being robbed and see if they come out in less than 4 hours. The police do not even look for them.). 2. Would you want your pride and joy back after its been trashed by a thief).

:burn:

[Edited on 11-5-2005 by n16elc]

I was thinking about getting one of those that send a message to your mobile phone as soon as the bike is moved...I can park 30 seconds away from my office, but would be ****t1ng myself all day that the bike would not be there when I got out (a mate had a GSXR600 with 130 odd miles on it nicked from where I work, it was on a main shopping street and had an alarm and chain on - passers-by must have just ignored it being loaded onto a van with the alarm squarking)

i-mob
 

I have this system on my BMW not sure if it can be installed on a bike, problem is it is quite expensive
http://www.i-mob.co.uk

[Edited on 2-6-2005 by itexuk]

Try this http://www.mobi-click.com/ it works & its cheap, combined with one of the providers tracking systems that only cost you text mesages.

Chass.

& here http://www.abacuscaralarms.co.uk/

Chass

Trackers sound good. In the near future could they be used for speeding offences as GPS is 99.9% accurate?

4 hours? you should be so lucky. i had my 748 stolen on 12th april. have a guess when the police came round to take witness statements.....go on guess.....

ok, then, i'll tell you. no word of a lie they came round last week on the 6th of bloody september.

Could you please tell me what the police actually do nowadays.Has someone changed the job description in the last 10 years and forgot to tell the general public.

I have TRACKER fitted to my 749 \'05
 

I had TRACKER fitted to my 2005 749 and it cost the princely sum of around £500 - but it did reduce my insurance premium by the same amount so all good!

'She' (Red '05 749) was stolen three weeks ago at around 9pm on a lovely Sunday evening. TRACKER called me at 9.15pm to ask me if everything was okay because they had a "movement alarm" triggered on the bike. I looked out the window, found she wasn't there, gasped, and said no!. I called the police and recorded the crime and gave TRACKER my crime ref no. They immediately turned on the transmitter. 2 1/2 hours later the police caught the guy driving a stolen white van with my bike in the back of it - somewhere in SE23 London. I live in SW1.

The good news is that I got my bike back, albeit with about £250 worth of damage.

The bad news is that the guy they arrested was released without charge - CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW I FEEL ABOUT THE POLICE NOW! It almost pushes me into taking the law into my own hands!!!

TRACKER good, police bad!

Welcome to the DSC forum....
And the reason for his release was???
The Police, as you say, arrested him.
Newsflash - only in fairly limited circumstances can the Police now make the decision to charge.
Most of the time the decision is made by the CPS, either by them looking at the evidence in the daytime, or by them having it faxed to a CPS "call centre" for want of a better term out of hours for a duty lawyer to review it when it gets to the top of the list.
But let's not let reality get in the way of a good story, eh?
I wonder what the cops who lifted the guy and recovered your bike would think about you and your gratitude.........

Damian

Which Tracker did you get (was it GPS).

Also doesn't it require battery to be working? i.e. what happens if they disconnect the battery???

Glad to hear it worked and sorry to hear the police weren't bothered (seems like it is no longer a crime to steal -official).

When I had my 996 stolen in the Holland in September at least the police took statements straight away and seemed keen to do what they could. However, still didn't get me my bike back. I am increasingly drwan to the idea of sting operations with absolute justice being administered...

Rushjob,

I will start by saying i take my hat off to you guys, i could not do your job and the above story is the reason why.

Your colleagues catch the scum bag red handed with the bike in the back of the van and the CPS bottle it and release him????

How the feck do you keep motivated every day when you know that decisions like this are happening round about you???

I have been the victim first hand of being stitched up by the Police and i will not go into it on here, let's just say their case was not water tight and i walked after getting a good brief to rip their ficticious evidence to shreds!!

I have also been given several "Squeezes" by an old school copper who still does the job locally, someone i do respect because he is not a young cowboy but actually has been there seen it and done it.

You and i both know there are those that will turn a blind eye and those that will "Invent" evidence in order to make a charge stick.

What do you expect people to think of the Police force?

On the forum alone in the last few months we have posts of alleged Corruption up in Fife with the young lad stitched up.

12th of April a bike is stolen, coppers turn up in September.

Above story of the guy feeling let down by the force and the associated services who have failed to nail the scum who nicked his bike.

Your everyone hates the Police feel sorry for me attitude is like an old broken record.........

The honest truth is this, the majority of citizens have lost ALL faith in the Police for numerous reasons, we could spend from now till Christmas arguing over why.

The simple fact is they as a collective Force are underperforming in several areas which are being noticed by the public.

This is for a number of reasons, internal politics, lack of funding/staff paper shuffling the list goes on and on.

We know you have to defend the Force you work for but come on even you must feel like you are fighting a losing battle.

The days of the Police commanding respect and getting it from the public are long gone.

They make mistakes like the rest of us and are not doing the job to our satisfaction! Like any government department, you underperfom it gets noticed!

Regards

ScottyB

Since my bike was in the back of the stolen white van (incl fake plates), the police can not legally link him to my bike unless his fingerprints are found on it - still awaiting those results!

The detective that that took my statement was very helpful but could not confirm, nor deny, that it was TRACKER that led them to the van.

I collected my bike a week later from the recovery specialist, whom said I could have collected it the following day (Monday)! Despite calling the police everyday they neither confirmed where my bike was, nor when I could pick it up. It wasn't until I received the 'recovery agents' invoice in the mail that I knew what was going on - the pollice forensics team had completed taking fingerprints the night of the crime.

Some police departments, albeit forensics or crime units, obviously need to communicate more effectively with their colleagues.


Stealth2,
TRACKER(tm) is the name of the unit which works off radio frequency - not GPS. GPS requires linkage to at least three satellites to triangulate your position - kind of difficult to get when it thrown into the back of a window-less white van. Sorry to hear about your stolen 996 :(
Also, it doesn't matter if they disconnect the battery as it has it's own back-up battery supply. Finally, they ask that you dont advertise the fact that you have it fitted, otherwise they will look for it and rip it out during the crime.

The problem with self justice is that there would definatly be a prosicution and you can guess who that would be.The real problem is public perception ,if we feel that nothing is happening,then increasingly normal lawabiding citizens will be tempted to go down that route.
I dont really think that we should blame the police,they like all of us have to prioritize and clearly,dispite what we have all been told they are overburdened with p c ,litigation avoiding paperwork and not real world targets.

Been there and done that one Stu,

My house got broken into about 5 years ago. The Police were very poor in dealing with it so i did it my way!

Result a serious assault charge and 1 for wounding with intent thrown in for good measure................

I "Allegedly" broke the scum bags fingers 1 at a time who broke into my house.....

I say "Allegedly" because in Scotland there is a fantastic clause in the law called "Disertion" where a case is binned after the junky scumbags failed to appear at court on 3 seperate occasions to give evidence.

Only trouble is it remains on your record and if new evidence comes to light or you are found to have admitted the crime the case can be reopened....:P

I recovered the majority of my belongings with most of them being brought back to me rather than me going to collect them.

Civil policing the Scottish way.........:saint:

Here Scotty, surely they wouldn't have been able to sell that betamax video????

Those things are collectors pieces mate!

Regards

Scott

;)

For those still interested in getting a Tracker system here's a funny (not so) story...

My Ducati was stolen again two nights ago. I actually watched the white-van guy drive off with it. Called the police and Tracker in turn. 2hours later I get a call with the good news that they arrested the guy in E15 London. Let's see if the police charge the perpetrator this time eh?!!!!

Needless to say I swear by Tracker(tm) and will have the unit installed on all my bikes!

anyone know how much bike battery a system like bike tracker monitor would use? and they must use less bike battery than alarms in general, right?

[Edited on 27-3-2006 by megalite]

I assume you are referring to the drain on the battery whilst not in use??

Over the 05/06 xmas period I was overseas for 2.5 months. I left my Ducati 749 nice and secure at a friends place and upon my return it started first pop. However, the battery was indicating 'LOW' ....

I took the long way home to charge the battery (2hours) - no problems since!