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Anybody has experience with GPS trackers?

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  • 14-10-2019 4:52pm
    #1
    spupazza
    Registered Users Posts: 306 ✭✭


    I just bought an electric bicycle (a Cube Touring 500) to commute to work.
    For peace of mind along with a good lock I'd like to buy some gps trackers or anyway a gadget that would let me locate my bicycle should be stolen.

    Has anyone experience with those? Can you suggest some that offer good value for the money spent? Anything I should be aware of when choosing one?

    What happens if your bicycle is stolen, and you locate it? Should you call the garda to retrieve it? Will the garda help you with it?

    I have seen that some of those gps devices disguise themselves as 'lights' or hide under the seat. I'd like though to have one that is much harder to remove (like one that you could put inside the frame). But I didn't find one like that. Do they exist?


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    #2
    ED E
    Registered Users Posts: 36,164 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    Inside frame: No signal
    Inside a shed: No signal
    In a canal: No signal


    Trackers work excellently in the likes of JCBs or trailers as you can hide them and shove in a larger power source to give you oodles of active time. In a bicycle, IMO, they're not really feasible.


    Your bike is worth €2500. Nobody would lock their Canyon Ultimate CF on street, you shouldn't either. Home <-> work with no intermediate stops. Kinda crap but 10 mins in Tesco and it'll be gone.


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    #3
    07Lapierre
    Registered Users Posts: 8,213 ✭✭✭07Lapierre


    Better to spend your money on descent locks?

    FRAME REAR AND FRONT WHEEL TWO U-LOCK METHOD:

    https://www.kryptonitelock.com/en/proper-lockup-landing/bicycle-lock-up-bike.html


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    #4
    spupazza
    Registered Users Posts: 306 ✭✭spupazza


    ED E wrote: »
    Inside frame: No signal
    Inside a shed: No signal
    In a canal: No signal


    Trackers work excellently in the likes of JCBs or trailers as you can hide them and shove in a larger power source to give you oodles of active time. In a bicycle, IMO, they're not really feasible.


    Your bike is worth €2500. Nobody would lock their Canyon Ultimate CF on street, you shouldn't either. Home <-> work with no intermediate stops. Kinda crap but 10 mins in Tesco and it'll be gone.

    That's unfortunate. While searching for the new bike to buy last week, I've found that some bicycle is incorporating gps anti-theft features (cowboys ebike which unfortunately doesn't ship to ireland and another one which I don't remember now).
    So I thought there must be some solution to add to my bike which unfortunately doesn't have this feature.


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    #5
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,326 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    ED E wrote: »
    shove in a larger power source to give you oodles of active time.
    to be fair, e-bikes generally have batteries many, many times larger than would be used on normal bikes.


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    #6
    cdaly_
    Registered Users Posts: 6,440 ✭✭✭cdaly_


    ^^^
    Yeah but you take them off the bike for parking/getting stolen so no use for the GPS tracker.


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    #7
    _Brian
    Registered Users Posts: 18,475 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    Tracker technology is essentially obsolete since you can buy a gps blocker for the same or less money and it renders the tracker useless.


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    #8
    07Lapierre
    Registered Users Posts: 8,213 ✭✭✭07Lapierre


    Another option...See Sense lights with Movement detection?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyCbxnUubK0


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