GPS tracker ideas

[Jay Kay]

Good points @webcurl . Probably the main chink in the armour is whether Apple lets you disable/or not disable people getting a message that your lost item is close. At least you would have the satisfaction of knowing you might have raised the thief's heart rate dangerously high.

With the number of iPhones around, the 10m range is less an issue I feel.

 

[yyf926]

Average range for Bluetooth in phones is 10m, industrial devices - 100 meters. Apples Ultra Wide Band range is supposed to be less than Bluetooth.
So if it's "far" from your iphone or anyone else's then i guess you'll be out of luck.
And the thief's iphone will be the closest to the the item so does this mean they will be able to tell if you have a tracker?
Cell coverage is much larger.
GPS is global but of course one-way, it can't transmit.

Yep, all good questions and concerns.

 

[yyf926]

Good points @webcurl . Probably the main chink in the armour is whether Apple lets you disable/or not disable people getting a message that your lost item is close. At least you would have the satisfaction of knowing you might have raised the thief's heart rate dangerously high.

With the number of iPhones around, the 10m range is less an issue I feel.

True, @Jay Kay, but if you turn off finding other iPhones you will severely restrict the range and utility of the device. If the tag is hidden, if you leave notifications on and the thief cannot find it quickly, they may abandon it. Or not.

 

[webcurl]

I don't know if my neighbours have Apple phones but my shed is at least 10m away from the road and i doubt the Apple tag device would work quick enough if someone with an Apple device drove by or even walked by for it to register. A small device to transmit a signal every half a second or so would no longer be small as it would have to have a larger battery!
A smart thief would multiple these distances for their storage location.

 

[yyf926]

I don't know if my neighbours have Apple phones but my shed is at least 10m away from the road and i doubt the Apple tag device would work quick enough if someone with an Apple device drove by or even walked by for it to register. A small device to transmit a signal every half a second or so would no longer be small as it would have to have a larger battery!
A smart thief would multiple these distances for their storage location.

Smart thief is the rub

 

[tompat]

The AirTag seems quite worthless for tracking of anything if it relies on other users phones to work.
And if the thieves have iPhones they'll get a popup saying "Hey there's a stolen bike nearby you that another user is looking for", I have no doubt the AirTag is located and removed within 2 minutes after that message...

Sorry to say the only thing that works is GPS trackers that are connected to the cellular network. They are not very cheap and require data plans for the transmission. But if you really need tracking they are the way to go.

There are even trackers that can be connected to the bikes electrical system so that you don't have to keep it charged separately.

 

[yyf926]

The AirTag seems quite worthless for tracking of anything if it relies on other users phones to work.
And if the thieves have iPhones they'll get a popup saying "Hey there's a stolen bike nearby you that another user is looking for", I have no doubt the AirTag is located and removed within 2 minutes after that message...

Sorry to say the only thing that works is GPS trackers that are connected to the cellular network. They are not very cheap and require data plans for the transmission. But if you really need tracking they are the way to go.

There are even trackers that can be connected to the bikes electrical system so that you don't have to keep it charged separately.

thanks @Tomcat. I haven’t seen any that can be attached to the electrical system. Do you have any brands to suggest?

 

[tompat]

thanks @Tomcat. I haven’t seen any that can be attached to the electrical system. Do you have any brands to suggest?

Austrian manufacturer PowUnity has one. Although it comes with a data plan that's valid for whole of European union, so I don't know if it fits you (where are you located?).

GPS Tracker Bosch Generation 4 ▷ Fahrrad GPS für Bosch ▷ E-Bike GPS

GPS Tracker Bosch Generation 4 ▷ GPS Set inkl. Anschlusskabel ✚ gratis Smartphone App ➥ GPS Diebstahlschutz für E-Bikes mit Bosch Motor ➥ BikeTrax GPS

powunity.com

 

[yyf926]

Austrian manufacturer PowUnity has one. Although it comes with a data plan that's valid for whole of European union, so I don't know if it fits you (where are you located?).

GPS Tracker Bosch Generation 4 ▷ Fahrrad GPS für Bosch ▷ E-Bike GPS

GPS Tracker Bosch Generation 4 ▷ GPS Set inkl. Anschlusskabel ✚ gratis Smartphone App ➥ GPS Diebstahlschutz für E-Bikes mit Bosch Motor ➥ BikeTrax GPS

powunity.com

USA Wisconsin. Thanks.

Tracking might be a selling tool. A bike with a charge from a gps sends gps stolen signal. Cost is absorbed in purchase. Thief never knows. Thief gets caught. Bike gets recovered.

 

[webcurl]

Ideas can be global, practicality across the globe a different thing
Buy a mobile phone from Taiwan and it may not work in your part of the world at all.
It's impractical to design a device that works throughout the world, 90% of battery consumption for the device may go towards communicating with frequencies that don't apply to your area/country.
Here's a breakdown of frequency bands across multiple countries, never mind the wireless standards they use (GSM/2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, CDMA, etc.):

Global Mobile Frequencies Database by Spectrummonitoring.com

The essential mobile frequencies database for telecom professionals

spectrummonitoring.com

GSM World Coverage Map- GSM Country List by frequency bands

4G LTE or WiMAX mobile GSM-900 and GSM-1800 used in most parts of the world - in Europe Asia Middle East Africa. GSM-850 and GSM-1900 used in the United States Canada Mexico and South America

www.worldtimezone.com

 

[goldconch]

Court did a review of the original Boomerang CycloTrac V1 a year and a bit ago. It was a bit of a brick then, ran on 2G, but was way too long (10") for fitment on my folder. The successor, the Boomerang CycloTrac V2 Global is half the size (5"), and runs on LTE, and after what sounds like its been a long wait, is expected to ship in next few months. Alarm with blinking red armed LED, accelerometer, LTE messaging of anything that happens, crash detection and messaging to loved ones, carbon offset calculator, trip map, etc. It's about $49 (less a 10% coupon at checkout), plus a $4 monthly fee via the app store. It checks a lot of my wishlist boxes, so I just ordered one. Alas, their website is a bit dated and the pictures are all of the original V1 brick, but below is what the V2 form factor should look like...

* Update * March 2020: Got an email that Boomerang's VC are doing further QC testing with deliveries pushed back to May 2020. Hopefully it's worth the wait.

 

[ruffruff]

LoRa- GPS is problematic for a lot of reasons

 

[Stealph]

My v2 should be arriving tomorrow. I will update the forum when I set it up and give it a spin.

 

[l3n]

Please post pics as well.