Anti theft GPS

[bikeman242]

Say the GPS tracker pinpoints the stolen bike and you know exactly what house the stolen bike is now kept in. That would not be enough for any judge in the USA to issue a search warrant for the police to enter the house and search for your bike.

I could see how the GPS would be useful if the bike quickly makes its way to a pawn shop, or if the theft was captured on camera. Outside of these scenarios, I just don't see any practical use to a tracker.

 

[Altaman]

Say the GPS tracker pinpoints the stolen bike and you know exactly what house the stolen bike is now kept in. That would not be enough for any judge in the USA to issue a search warrant for the police to enter the house and search for your bike.

I could see how the GPS would be useful if the bike quickly makes its way to a pawn shop, or if the theft was captured on camera. Outside of these scenarios, I just don't see any practical use to a tracker.

Well I tell you if someone stole my expensive bike and I knew where it was, one way or another I would get it back.

 

[TomD]

bikeman242, what you say may be true. Here's one case where GPS tracker helped. Unclear if the vehicle was inside the house.

Stolen Austin moped tracked down in Llano Co., tied to ‘auto theft ring’

They also found numerous other stolen mobility devices, including Lime scooters.

www.kxan.com

In any case, I'm happy to invest ~$100 up front and a fraction of that for annual monitoring to have the pleasure of knowing where my bike is if stolen.

 

[TomD]

OK, here's some screen shots from today's ride comparing the Invoxia to the eelink TK419.

Invoxia support responded regarding my poor battery life. They said their techs researched and noticed I was frequently losing signal so the unit was using an inordinate amount of battery to compensate. They suggested I try a different location, so I tested "best case" taping it to the top of my rear rack. No surprise, it tracked much better on top of the rack, not missing any 5 minute intervals compared to hiding it in the chainstay. To be fair, it's not really intended to track your ride.

Next up is the eelink TK419. Here it is secured in the neck of downtube and hard wired directly to battery!

Here is a zoomed out view. I had to remove the battery lock to be able to insert the unit and wanted to test performance before putting it all back together, hence the taped batterty. I didn't plug the internal routing hole with the plastic cover as I wanted to give it a fighting chance.

How did it perform? Here is the TK419 tracking (every 30 seconds, automatically split into 3 segments)

Here's my data usage after 1 day. Multiplying by 30 (days), looks like I'd only use 10-15 MB of data a month.

 

[TomD]

Today I gave the TK419 more of a challenge covering the internal routing hole with the plastic plug and the vacant key hole with aluminum. The TK419 still tracked like a champ. Pretty sure I will be returning the Invoxia. The TK419 does almost everything better, for less money, and seems to track more reliably when hidden in challenging locations. I suppose one benefit of the Invoxia is you can easily swap it between bikes without having to buy multiple trackers, assuming you haven't secured it in a challenging location that makes it difficult to remove, and it probably needs to be accessible for charging. Once I secure the TK419 in my frame, hard-wire it directly to the battery with a fuse for safety, and reinstall the battery lock I won't want to go thru the effort to pull it out to use on another bike, perform maintenance like swapping SIM cards, etc.

Looks like the TK419 can be purchased directly from eelink for $50 plus $15 shipping by ordering a "sample". This is cheaper than amazon or aliexpress. I'd still order from Amazon if you want the tracker quickly. I plan to order another one for my other bike, and since I'm not in a hurry I'll roll the dice on the "SF express" shipping (guessing it will take a month). You can also pay with paypal which adds a layer of protection.

4G LTE vehicles GPS tracking device,best 4G tracker for fleet/truck tracking

TK419 is 4G LTE vehicle GPS tracking device,the best 4G devices for fleet tracking.Support cut off fuel/ignition remotely and check historical routes and other vehicle data.

www.eelinktracker.com

There are a few things I don't like about the TK419, mostly related to eelink's (Keelin) app. I haven't found a way to change tracking frequency. Not that big a deal as battery is hardwired. Supposedly you can set up an alert when power is cut and the system is running on the small internal battery. I haven't found the alert to work, but the device does continue to track, then shuts down in an hour. I haven't tested the other alerts like fencing, motion, etc. The app is decent, but it has crashed a few times on my phone. When it tracks a new point on the map there's always an annoying pop up and no option to permanently dismiss. I haven't found a way to have it display the map oriented in the direction you are heading. It's always oriented north. You can manually rotate the map but not something I want to do while riding. Of course, most will use a different app for tracking and navigation like strava so again, no big deal. There is also no easy way to see your entire track for the day. It splits things up into segments (after you stop for an extended period), and you have to view each segment separately. It's also a 2 step process to query the tracking points for the day, not sure why it isn't automatic. Seems like it is geared more towards tracking commercial vehicles.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Today I gave the TK419 more of a challenge covering the internal routing hole with the plastic plug and the vacant key hole with aluminum. The TK419 still tracked like a champ. Pretty sure I will be returning the Invoxia. The TK419 does almost everything better, for less money, and seems to track more reliably when hidden in challenging locations. I suppose one benefit of the Invoxia is you can easily swap it between bikes without having to buy multiple trackers, assuming you haven't secured it in a challenging location that makes it difficult to remove, and it probably needs to be accessible for charging. Once I secure the TK419 in my frame, hard-wire it directly to the battery with a fuse for safety, and reinstall the battery lock I won't want to go thru the effort to pull it out to use on another bike, perform maintenance like swapping SIM cards, etc.

Looks like the TK419 can be purchased directly from eelink for $50 plus $15 shipping by ordering a "sample". This is cheaper than amazon or aliexpress. I'd still order from Amazon if you want the tracker quickly. I plan to order another one for my other bike, and since I'm not in a hurry I'll roll the dice on the "SF express" shipping (guessing it will take a month). You can also pay with paypal which adds a layer of protection.

4G LTE vehicles GPS tracking device,best 4G tracker for fleet/truck tracking

TK419 is 4G LTE vehicle GPS tracking device,the best 4G devices for fleet tracking.Support cut off fuel/ignition remotely and check historical routes and other vehicle data.

www.eelinktracker.com

There are a few things I don't like about the TK419, mostly related to eelink's (Keelin) app. I haven't found a way to change tracking frequency. Not that big a deal as battery is hardwired. Supposedly you can set up an alert when power is cut and the system is running on the small internal battery. I haven't found the alert to work, but the device does continue to track, then shuts down in an hour. I haven't tested the other alerts like fencing, motion, etc. The app is decent, but it has crashed a few times on my phone. When it tracks a new point on the map there's always an annoying pop up and no option to permanently dismiss. I haven't found a way to have it display the map oriented in the direction you are heading. It's always oriented north. You can manually rotate the map but not something I want to do while riding. Of course, most will use a different app for tracking and navigation like strava so again, no big deal. There is also no easy way to see your entire track for the day. It splits things up into segments (after you stop for an extended period), and you have to view each segment separately. It's also a 2 step process to query the tracking points for the day, not sure why it isn't automatic. Seems like it is geared more towards tracking commercial vehicles.

Thanks for this. I think we will try to implement this in our bikes.
I am only concerned about eelink tech owning all the tracking data. This can be sold to other companies and it can be problematic. Data management is a huge problem in any IOT device.

Having said that, it will be worthwhile to try.

 

[TomD]

I believe there are other tracking platforms you can use, but not sure whether the data still goes to eelink's servers and then is fed to them. Here is eelink's description of the service. I don't see anything regarding privacy but only gave it a quick glance and didn't poke around too hard. I don't generally worry about this stuff but I realize it's a concern to some and a valid point you raise.

Eelink GPS Tracking platform and software APP

The Eelink tracking platform is developed by Eelink great team of professional hardware and software engineers. Currently, many devices we sell to customers are working well on this platform.

www.eelinktracker.com

I found it somewhat comical to see most trackers sold on Amazon want to charge $20-30 a month for tracking! That bothers me more than what a company like eelink might do with the data.

Edit: I was curious so did a little research. Seems there are quite a few free (or close to free) GPS tracking services out there. Basically you just configure your device to send data to their servers instead of eelink's servers, so if your users are concerned about eelink's tracking service, they can just go with one they trust. Here is one alternative:

GPS-Trace quick start tutorial

Read step-by-step GPS-Trace quickstart guide and learn how to connect your tracker and start tracking in 5 minutes

gps-trace.com

 

[bikeman242]

I still don't understand how you would recover a stolen bike if it is in the thief's house.

If it ends up at a pawn shop, the tracker would help.

No judge anywhere in the USA is going to issue a search warrant for a cop to go knock on the thief's door based on an unproven GPS technology. It just isn't going to happen.

Do you plan to barge into the thief's house, who is likely armed and dangerous, and just take back your bike?

Sorry to be a party pooper, but I just don't see how in practice you will recover a stolen bike with these things.

 

[TomD]

That's OK, seems it's not for you. I'd rather have more tools than not to assist in recovery, plus I'm a sucker for gadgets, so worst case I get entertainment value out of it..

It seems they convinced a judge in this case:

GPS in stolen automatic lawnmower leads owner, police to Loveland storage unit and possibly more ill-gotten goods

An automatic lawnmower was stolen from Loveland’s Lakeside Cemetery in early September but was found with GPS ⁠— and may have helped police locate other stolen goods as well.

www.denverpost.com

Granted, you may need something else for the police to convince the judge, such as adding something to make your bike chirp or sound an alarm when in proximity to prove your item is inside, I don't know. But the reality is the GPS tracker was instrumental in the recovery of goods in this case.

 

[TomD]

OK, one more comparison of the Invoxia to the TK419. Tonight I made a grocery run to a location that the Invoxia tends to have trouble with. Not sure if if's the steep hill on the south side of the ride or the time of day I tend to visit. It still shows me a few minutes after leaving the store. It's done this before, sometimes not tracking inside the store and/or dropping the route home, but I chalked that up to being hidden in the chainstay, but tonight it was taped to the top of my rack. This would be unacceptable in a theft scenario. The Invoxia is also showing roughly 50% battery after 3 days (high frequency of tracking). Tomorrow I expect it to give low battery warning. I was thinking of keeping the Invoxia to use in my Carbon Fiber bike but I just don't trust it to be reliable when push comes to shove. Edit: as I write this post it finally tracked me at home 2 hours after the fact. You can also see the battery dipping below 50%.

Meanwhile the TK419 tracked my entire route from inside the frame, even the direction I rode around the block!

 

[TomD]

One benefit of the Invoxia is it does have a bluetooth locator feature that also lets you ring the device. I could see this being useful to pinpoint the bike if the GPS location isn't precise enough. This could also potentially be useful to law enforcement to demonstrate it is your property.

Since I'm returning the Invoxia, I decided to pick up a Tile Pro (2020 version) on ebay to complement the TK419. Battery lasts a year (replaceable) and I believe it will have a better bluetooth range and a louder ring than the Invoxia. Will report back how well it works secured inside the frame. You can find them on ebay for just over $25. I picked mine up for $1 + tax thanks to a $25 off $25 ebay coupon (check to see if you are targeted).

Select eBay Accounts: Coupon for Additional Savings $25 Off $25.01

Update: The coupon code for this popular deal will expire on 9/10/2020. eBay.com is offering a $25 Off $25.01+ Purchases w/ coupon code HAPPY25 (apply at checkout) valid for select eBay ...

slickdeals.net

 

[TomD]

Just wanted to provide an update on inexpensive monitoring options and how I chose to wire my TK419.

I ended up ordering a SIM from FreedomPop for $0.01 to test becasuse they offer a free plan with 200MB data per month. Note: you have to add $10 of top up credit before they will let you downgrade to the free plan, so it technically costs you $10, but after that you won't pay anything for tracking, well, at least as long as FreedomPop stays in business and offers a free plan. My FreedomPop SIM arrived a few days ago but didn't work initially because the APN on the tracker needs to be set to work with FreedomPop's service. It is fairly simple to change the APN on the tracker by sending a text message. The problem is FreedomPop's SIM doesn't support native texting so you need to put a SIM in the tracker that can send / receive text messages. I used the $5 SpeedTalk SIM I had been testing in the tracker, but you can use the SIM from your cell phone, then text the tracker from another cell phone. Here is a transcript of the texts I sent and the responses. Note that the APN was originally set to tmobile which is the APN SpeedTalk uses. The tracker was smart enough to set the APN for SpeedTalk, but not smart enough to set the APN for FreedomPop, which is why I had to do it manually:

After changing the APN on the tracker the FreedomPop SIM has been working flawlessly!

I also needed to come up with a better solution to wire the tracker. For initial testing I had wired the tracker directly to the battery which is a fire hazard without a fuse. I noticed the charging port on my Frey CC had a fuse so decided to tap into that. Here is a picture of the fuse and the connector to the charging port.

To tap into that port I purchased this inexpensive Y harness on amazon:

Amazon.com

Here is an image after adding the Y harness and the male connector cut off to wire directly to the TK419:

 

[MartsEbike]

I still don't understand how you would recover a stolen bike if it is in the thief's house.

If it ends up at a pawn shop, the tracker would help.

No judge anywhere in the USA is going to issue a search warrant for a cop to go knock on the thief's door based on an unproven GPS technology. It just isn't going to happen.

Do you plan to barge into the thief's house, who is likely armed and dangerous, and just take back your bike?

Sorry to be a party pooper, but I just don't see how in practice you will recover a stolen bike with these things.

Here in the UK it tends to be a bit easier than it sounds for you...

What you do is this. You ring the Police telling them about your stolen bike.

You tell them, you've tracked down your bike to the thief's house, and an altercation has started when you tried to retrieve it (the more menacing and aggressive you sound the better).... You say the thief then pulled out what appeared to be a gun and started threatening you; so you ran away.

You stand back and give it 5mins.

10 Police cars will quickly arrive and gain entry to the house.

Bike recovered.

 

[Resipsa]

I still don't understand how you would recover a stolen bike if it is in the thief's house.

If it ends up at a pawn shop, the tracker would help.

No judge anywhere in the USA is going to issue a search warrant for a cop to go knock on the thief's door based on an unproven GPS technology. It just isn't going to happen.

Do you plan to barge into the thief's house, who is likely armed and dangerous, and just take back your bike?

Sorry to be a party pooper, but I just don't see how in practice you will recover a stolen bike with these things.

Please stop telling people this, you're wrong. And I'm an attorney, so I'm pretty comfortable telling you that. You don't need a judge to issue a search warrant. You need to contact the police, tell them you located your stolen bike, and ask them to meet you at the location, which they will. They knock on the door, ask about the stolen bike, explain they have reason to believe that it's there, and ask to enter. If they're denied believe me they'll be able to get a search warrant based on the fact that a gps tracker locates stolen property inside of a particular address.

 

[TomD]

Just an update on my hardwired tracker. Still loving it and highly recommended, but after not having ridden in almost a month I've noticed it will drain the battery so don't forget to disconnect the battery when storing the bike for long periods!

 

[ki11a]

Awesome, my tracker is still doing very well too living inside my taillight...I just bought another 6 month tracking sim card for 30 bucks since my service was about due.

 

[6zfshdb]

Please stop telling people this, you're wrong. And I'm an attorney, so I'm pretty comfortable telling you that. You don't need a judge to issue a search warrant. You need to contact the police, tell them you located your stolen bike, and ask them to meet you at the location, which they will. They knock on the door, ask about the stolen bike, explain they have reason to believe that it's there, and ask to enter. If they're denied believe me they'll be able to get a search warrant based on the fact that a gps tracker locates stolen property inside of a particular address.

I think this depends on where you are located. In rural areas where the State Police are the only law enforcement available, police protection is spread very thin. A caller is often told no officers are available to respond to such a complaint and to take the matter up with small claims court. I speak from experience with a stolen tractor. I knew who took it and it was plainly visible in his yard. I had to take him to court to recover my property. It took four months.

In addition, smart bike thieves know about these tracking devices. They simply throw a Faraday blanket over the pile of stolen bikes to block GPS and cellular signals.

I'm not saying these tracking devices are useless, they do offer a bike owner some peace of mind and some bikes are indeed recovered. However, users can easily get a false sense of security . Sometimes, the money is better spent on a good insurance policy.

 

[Resipsa]

I think this depends on where you are located. In rural areas where the State Police are the only law enforcement available, police protection is spread very thin. A caller is often told no officers are available to respond to such a complaint and to take the matter up with small claims court. I speak from experience with a stolen tractor. I knew who took it and it was plainly visible in his yard. I had to take him to court to recover my property. It took four months.

In addition, smart bike thieves know about these tracking devices. They simply throw a Faraday blanket over the pile of stolen bikes to block GPS and cellular signals.

I'm not saying these tracking devices are useless, they do offer a bike owner some peace of mind and some bikes are indeed recovered. However, users can easily get a false sense of security . Sometimes, the money is better spent on a good insurance policy.

Frankly, without knowing more about your personal story I can't comment on it, other than to say it's incredible to me that any police force wouldn't look into the theft of property. That's either incompetence or corruption at work.

 

[MartsEbike]

Frankly, without knowing more about your personal story I can't comment on it, other than to say it's incredible to me that any police force wouldn't look into the theft of property. That's either incompetence or corruption at work.

Happens in the UK all the time. Sometimes they'll just give you a Crime Reference Number and expect you to claim on insurance.

 

[scrambler]

Anyone knows about this tracker?

TOP 3 best GPS Tracker for car review 2024 (no monthly fee) - GPS Tracker Mini - smallest GPS Tracking Device 2024

The 3 best car GPS trackers in review What was our approach? We took the effort and tested over 10 GPS trackers, which are suitable for theft protection and useable on cars, trucks, motorcycles, KFT, etc. We found that less than a handful met our requirements in terms of battery life, GPS signal...

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