Anyone know about GPS Tracking Units?

[dimondav2000]

Hi Forum,

Anyone know about or interested in GPS tracking units used as anti-theft and theft recovery devices?

[MattB]

I'd go for Lo-Jack first.

[Nathan]

I've researched it and found the prices to be too high for an individual, some RF trackers were cheaper, but not nearly as effective as GPS it seems. I wish there was something like lo-jack that could be used by an individual (if someone steals my car, I want to deal with it...personally).

[SmithSR]

dimondav2000, how's the weather in Edmonds?

Welcome to NICO, and I see your sig line is in reference to GPS...

There's a tire company called TDS, who has a location in Auburn WA, that uses a similar GPS device to keep track of the service trucks that are on the road. The individual servicemen drive the trucks home at night, so the system ends up being used as a recovery tool in the event of a theft....

Fairly expensive, but very cool. The service manager(old friend) was kind enough to show me how he logs on from his home computer and can monitor the whereabouts of the trucks in his fleet. Hell, one day he caught a guy at a casino, around noon. It seems to have it's advantages and disadvantages, but I guess that depends on a few things.

[whiterps13]

it would be cool, be prepared to pay. imo its way unpractical. id suggest a good alarm and good insurance if you are that paranoid.

[Phax]

I'd go for Lo-Jack first.

:Werd

There is something nice about not having to go after your vehicle yourself.

[dimondav2000]

Hi all,

I've done some checking around on this GPS stuff in the last couple days. Lojack is pretty cool, not really that cheap though ($700-$1000 in the Seattle area). But the real problem with it is it takes about 10 minutes to get out of range. In other words, steal a car, get on the freeway heading out of town and it's worthless in a couple minutes.

I've found a GPS product that's less then $600, works in 50 states, Canada, Mexico and even Puerto Rico. From what I understand it's basically half GPS and half cell phone. It allows you to do searches from your desktop top PC or cell phone. You can even remotely dis-able the ignition, unlock the doors etc. VERY COOL!

Also told my insurance agent about it. He dropped my rates $8 bucks a month. Not much I know but I don't remember the last time my rates went down...

I had to have one. Anyone want any more details let me know.

:ylsuper

[Nathan]

It's the one with the built in Kyocera cell phone isn't it? Sucks to pay for service on that thing every month...

[dimondav2000]

Hey Nathan,

That's a good question. I don't know who makes the internals. I can find out.

The monthly fee can be a bit of a pain but it's not that bad, it starts at $8.50. But I guess that's the trade off for all that newcapability in a new toy.