Does Anyone Use An Anti-theft Gps Device?

[JoanMcWench]

I've had my bike stolen a few times, of course, never to be recovered. I live in a big city where it just seems to be a right of passage to steal my bike. I assume these thieves have meetings in a basement & discuss following me around the city. Anywho, I was looking into investing in an anti-theft gps device to drop into my frame. Does anyone have any experiences with these things? Maybe a suggestion for the best one?

 

[gavinfree]

I feel like I've seen handlebars that incorporate GPS somewhere, although it's not necessarily designed specifically as an anti-theft device. I don't use such devices myself, so I can't make any recommendations. I've only had a bike stolen once, though, and it was eventually recovered by good fortune. If I were you, then I'd look for a GPS anti-theft device that features long battery life and high accuracy or you're going to have issues with its effectiveness.

 

[dabac]

I've had an extensive discussion with a potential manufacturer of those items, which didn't really leave me hungry. Where I'm at, the legal room for what I'm allowed to do to retrieve a stolen bicycle is quite small. And even smaller is the probability of the police being available to assist in the retrieval.
And this is assuming the bike is left somewhere with the unit still operational.
If I were to call the police and say "The signal was lost at this position", well, unless that was minutes ago, they probably wouldn't do squat.
Pretty much my only option would be to catch the stolen bike in traffic. And hope to be able to scare the thief off.
So what about insurance? Maybe a trackable bike would be cheaper to insure? Give me better conditions for replacement in case of theft? Well, not as yet anyhow. At the moment, insurance companies don't care.

So to me, now, a tracker seems to be a cost and upkeep item that would bring me very marginal improvement of my situation.

 

[mikka254]

I do not need to add a gps device to my bike because it's just a basic mountain bike. However, if you invested on an expensive bike, I would suggesting searching online for gps tracking services near your area. Gps tracking for expensive items is always a good idea.

 

[Belovedad]

To me, it would seem that having something like that would make thieves more likely to want to steal your bike. I don't think bike stealing is common, at least not where I live. As long as you have a chain for your bike,you should be fine.

 

[OursIsTheFury]

My friend used them a bit, but it didn't really work to her favor. Thieves have a way of quickly removing them, and it didn't help that much when my friend's bike was stolen one day. They are tricky, and know how to get what they want. That's why prevention is better than an ounce of cure, as being vigilant and never leaving your bike in places where it can be stolen is the key, and not some fancy gadgets that could be easily disabled by people who steal bikes for a living.

 

[Corzhens]

I have heard of the GPS that can be detected and traced when something goes wrong (lost bike for any reason). But I still have to check on the details, I'm still ignorant on that. My point is the effectiveness of that anti-theft because thieves in our country are always one step ahead of security people. If they can steal cars with all the security gadgets from alarm and GPS, what more defense could a bike have? I hope there will be an anti-theft device that would explode with a colored paint so the thief would be covered with that paint. Only then will thievery here be curtailed.

 

[mido]

I suggest the gps tracker Trackimo but their are also many trackers you can find on the web.

 

[Froze]

none here, I've never had a bicycle stolen in over 40 years of being an adult riding a bike. but i do have insurance, if a bike gets stolen and it's worth quite a bit more than $500 i call my homeowners insurance agent. When you consider that the cost of these GPS systems start at $160 plus $5 a month, it won't take long (about 4 years) for the cost of the system and monthly payment to exceed your insurance deductible. In addition to that the GPS system for some reason that are in these bike things are only accurate to about 500 to 700 feet, which in a dense building city may still make it impossible to find your bike, or if the bike is taken inside a building all tracking stops. In addition with a healthy fully charged battery you only have 7 to 13 days to find the bike, that seems like a lot of time but if the bike is in a dense area may not be enough time, or what if you hadn't recharged it in a week, then you may only have 1 to 5 days to find the bike. And if that wasn't enough, the range from your mobile device to the bike being tracked is less than a mile and half.

Sure 20/20 did a report about these units and tried to bust bike thieves, but 20/20 news crew and a cop were in a van waiting for a thief to steal the bike they rigged and watching, and they had to hustle to keep the bike within range of the Iphone they were using or else they would lose contact and lose the bike. So now you're inside a restaurant, a thief cuts your lock and goes, you get notification of the event and go outside to chase the punk, but he's pedalling away at 20 or so mph and you're on foot, so you start running but soon the bike and the punk are outside of your 1 1/2 mile range and you lost your bike. The punk then puts the bike into a vehicle and takes off and is even further away with no idea which way the punk went the bike is now gone forever...unless you get very lucky and find it on Craigs list.

I just don't see the point in these things yet, maybe someday if they get to the point of having infinite distance from your phone then maybe there's a point to having one. Problem with that is that before that day even approaches thieves will know about this technology and start looking in the places where the technology is hidden, pull it out and toss it in the trash, so now you track it and find a dumpster instead of a bike...but hey, at least you get back your sending unit which you can now put it into a new bike without having to buy a new GPS unit.

 

[dorothyhill61]

I suggest the gps tracker Trackimo but their are also many trackers you can find on the web.

Is trackimo any good? I've seen a lot of reviews and the name comes up frequently. Looking for opinions.

 

[Bike2000]

What about Tile?

 

[steve]

What about Tile?

I wonder how this could be concealed on a bike?

Interesting product: https://www.thetileapp.com/

 

[natedecker585]

These are pretty interesting. The thing is are they thin enough or small enough to be discreetly placed?

 

[Bike2000]

You can hit it under the saddle for sure

 

[bryanfox177]

You can hit it under the saddle for sure

any custom kits to keep it on the bike?

 

[natedecker585]

any custom kits to keep it on the bike?

maybe for the tracker you have, the manufacturer might have one designed for it. tho for aftermarket ones, you gotta get a little bit creative.

 

[Bicycleman]

I've been gone awhile from this forum and late to this discussion, but here's a unique lock you could use to protect your bike.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba1OLoPIBfY