[Wa-Aw]

With all the expensive stuff being stolen these days I feel like compelled to ask about something that's been wandering around my head for awhile...

Where can I get a small durable waterproof GPS tracker that I could stick somewhere in my frame, say inside the Steerertube/seatpost/BB area, somewhere really hard to find, where it can still get signal. I don't think it would even have to be very accurate.

I'm sure they are out there, don't they have them for pets? Would GPS still be able to get signal inside the frame? Would battery life be an issue?

 

[big-ted]

Not going to happen without a pretty large power source. The power required to emit a signal over a circular area large enough to be found is pretty large. Compare it to cell phones. A typical cell battery lasts, what, a few days if you don't have one of these fancy touch screens? And that only transmits to the nearest cell tower which is typically only ever a few miles away. Wouldn't be hard to get a bike outside of that range pretty quick once you've stolen it...

 

[EVRAC]

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

Rear light on a big bike might be a giveaway though.

 

[tacubaya]

These are sold in Mexico for around 100 dls.

You put a cellphone SIM card and when your bike/whatever gets stolen you send a SMS to the SIM card number and it responds with the latitude and longitude. Battery lasts for 80 hours.

 

[LMC]

try googling for pet tracking or something along those lines, i found a few when i shared the same curiosity.. seemingly it will usually involve an upfront payment as well as a monthly payment for the service though. Im suprised they are not more common for bikes.

 

[big-ted]

These are sold in Mexico for around 100 dls.

You put a cellphone SIM card and when your bike/whatever gets stolen you send a SMS to the SIM card number and it responds with the latitude and longitude. Battery lasts for 80 hours.

That's pretty friggin' clever actually...

 

[- seb]

But with a battery that only lasts 80 hours it's not a fit-and-forget thing is it. Seems a bit crap since a cheap nokia will outlast that by a few times while sat there doing nothing.

What you really want though is something that sits in a super-low-power state, and checks for SMS just (say) once a day to conserve energy. With something specifically built you'd think you could get a year out of a battery maybe, given that cheap nokias that are "always on" manage a week or two easily. Maybe?

 

[cecil]

These are sold in Mexico for around 100 dls.

You put a cellphone SIM card and when your bike/whatever gets stolen you send a SMS to the SIM card number and it responds with the latitude and longitude. Battery lasts for 80 hours.

is it rechargeable? if so it would not be that big of a deal to charge it the day before you go to the resorts dh'ing

 

[- seb]

is it rechargeable? if so it would not be that big of a deal to charge it the day before you go to the resorts dh'ing

It wouldn't, but I know for sure I wouldn't keep doing it. I'd forget, or get lazy.

 

[Wa-Aw]

A bet a clever dude could easily build something on the above principle, a small GPS that waits for a phone signal to actually have the GPS kick in, and have it built with small charger that would get a charge from the bikes shaking or vibration. That would be the ticket I think.

 

[Capricorn]

tacubaya: what's the brand name of that unit?

 

[spocomptonrider]

Garmin GTU 10

Still a bit bulky to hide in a frame but I'm sure the shrink-ray will hit it soon.

edit- just realized it too requires cell coverage and a clear unobstructed view to work properly...