GPS tracking devices for bikes ?

Keep seeing an advert on Facebook for some little GPS tracking things that you hang on key rings or put in your wallet which you can then track with a smartphone app if you misplace them.
Range is only 100 metres or so, so not much use for finding stolen bikes really.
Is there anything out there that does the same thing but over an indefinite range and is small enough to hide in a frame, or stem, or bar ??
Is anybody using anything to do this ?

Yes. I have some at work.

They’re £1150 each +vat +£250 a year license.

Oh and they’re still not perfect.

Is this those little tag things? i thought that they worked by telling anyone else in the area that had the app where they were and that then gets back to your phone. So they would work well in areas with a good population of geeks

Would also be interested to know how well they work

Those little rf tags are something different to what the ap described. They are OK to an extent but as you point out they rely on others using the app being close by.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Mini-Realtime-Spy-GSM-GPRS-GPS-Tracker-KID-Car-Dog-System-Tracker-Device/301216393412?_trksid=p2054897.c100204.m3164&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140407115239%26meid%3D8706407743016651488%26pid%3D100204%26prg%3D20140407115239%26rk%3D18%26rkt%3D20%26sd%3D400569828635

Not GPS but £8: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Global-Real-Time-GPS-Tracker-GSM-GPRS-Tracking-Tool-For-Children-Pet-Car-AR/301260601202?_trksid=p2054897.c100204.m3164&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140407115239%26meid%3D8706407743016651488%26pid%3D100204%26prg%3D20140407115239%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D20%26sd%3D400569828635

Or for something from the UK you could try the cat version: http://www.pawtrax.co.uk/

Lots more out there.

This thing mounts in a steerer and sends you text messages if your bike starts moving:

http://www.integratedtrackers.com/GPSTrack/Spybike.jsp

Is this those little tag things? i thought that they worked by telling anyone else in the area that had the app where they were and that then gets back to your phone. So they would work well in areas with a good population of geeks

I think the tags I’m talking about do this, but they also show you on a map in the app where the tag currently is.

They’re £1150 each +vat +£250 a year license.

Oh and they’re still not perfect.

Oh. I seem to have gone off the idea !

I honestly can’t see the ones on eBay being any use tbh. I’ve used the “proper” ones from several of the main industry leaders and none of them are perfect. The main problem you have is battery life. Once they have gone missing you have a relatively limited time to recover them (less than 48 hrs). Even if you manage to narrow it down to a 50m sq area, that can cover a number of properties. And when you’ve done that, what are you going to do??

Stem one is pretty neat. They do a rear light one too.

I’m sure the cheap ebay ones can have extra batteries added to them. Just use a small USB battery pack. Tracking not as slick as the stem one.

£1000 – they saw you coming 😉

Thieves are aware of these things now. Just like the first thing a thief will do with a mobile phone is rip out the sim card and throw it away, they’ll go for the obvious GPS trackers, like take the top cap out and throw it away. In fact they’re often broken up for parts anyway so the cap is coming off to take the fork off.

The parts will be sold on and on again, or end up in a container (where GPS & mobile signal won’t work) and make their way to eastern Europe.

You might end up tracking down the component with the GPS, or a top cap in a bin somewhere. If the battery hasn’t run out. Otherwise if it hasn’t been nicked you’ve got the expense of running the thing.

I think the whole point is you act quick. The stem one texts you straight away as soon as the bike moves so you have a better chance of getting to it before it’s stripped or the battery dies.

I’d rather have an auto destruct device, small sliver of explosive around the headtube that activates above 20mph if it hasn’t been deactivated.

I’d rather have an auto destruct device, small sliver of explosive around the headtube that activates above 20mph if it hasn’t been deactivated.

Like the movie Speed, but on a bike, drop below 20MPH and the bomb detonates?

Triggers a taser hidden in the saddle