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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Real time GPS vehicle trackers?


Chris Wilson

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I have had an enquiry from a car owner who wants his new toy fitted with a none contract GPS real time tracker. I believe what he is after is the ability to see where his car is by dialling from his mobile, or from home on his PC, without entering into a fixed term contract. I know his sons drive like nutters, maybe he wants to see where they are, and what they are doing to it. I have NO experience of these things. Ebay is full of stuff, from a few quid to £400 plus. Has anyone personal experience of one that is still available, and works OK? Any gotchas? Thanks.

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Hi Chris

 

Either way your customer will require a contract, either for the SIM that goes in the device or for the company that offers the tracking service... It's just a case of if you pay Vodafone, orange, O2 etc or the company who is offering tracking.

 

Cheers

Rob

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By contract I mean he doesn't need some all singing and dancing commercial set up, with a monthly hire fee, but he does (I hope...) appreciate the SIM card won't give free calls :) I am thinking he just wants to be able to "call" the thing and view where the car is and what speed it's doing ;) Thanks.

 

 

Al : That sounds more like it, I guess his budget will run to a hundred quid or so, but it's not in case of theft, just to be able to keep an eye on where it is and what they might be doing in it.

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If you don't want the performance data just get an old iPhone with find my iPhone and get a giff gaff data only contract at £7.50 a month and then tap in to find my iPhone whenever. Would need a bit of plumbing to keep charged, but a cheap enough option!

 

This.

 

I tracked down a stolen car using this, a chap had his old iphone wired up using power from the cigarette lighter, stuck it under the dash in a plastic case to keep it safe and no buttons hit. Using the find my phone ap we traced his Merc CLS to a garage and got it back, caught the thieving pikeys too.

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Hmm, this may be of interest to me, myself. How much is a ratty i phone, and do you need any special sort? Will one stay powered up 24 hours on a vehicle battery, assuming the car is used each day? What is the most basic type of phone needed to call the vehicle mounted phone? Cheers (Yes, I know zilch about modern phones, but was talking to a guy in Tasmania last week on a bit of wire in the front garden :)) Cheers.

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Mr Massey, Al (if that is ok) I would be interested to know what item your mate has. They are all basically gps transmitters and depend on where they are placed within the vehicle. I think in the trade it is known as a deep fit. Will all depend on a decent signal, but with time and practice the location of where it receives and transmits the best signal can be worked out. I am all for the best/cheapest option! Would be very interested as looking for an efficient fit for my twin axle caravan!

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Hmm, this may be of interest to me, myself. How much is a ratty i phone, and do you need any special sort? Will one stay powered up 24 hours on a vehicle battery, assuming the car is used each day? What is the most basic type of phone needed to call the vehicle mounted phone? Cheers (Yes, I know zilch about modern phones, but was talking to a guy in Tasmania last week on a bit of wire in the front garden :)) Cheers.

 

I think the cost of the phone depends on your luck when bidding, but if you don't care what it looks like a tatty one should come in nice and cheap, about £70 I have seen them go for.

A cheap pay as you go sim is all you need, it doesn't need a contract.

I am under the impression that if the phone is wired into a constant power source (cigarette lighter for instance) then it will run only charge when necessary, it wouldn't be an issue if it didn't charge unless the car was turned on, the batteries in iPhones last quite well.

I found the GPS very accurate, to around 5 metres in some circumstances.

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Mr Massey, Al (if that is ok) I would be interested to know what item your mate has. They are all basically gps transmitters and depend on where they are placed within the vehicle. I think in the trade it is known as a deep fit. Will all depend on a decent signal, but with time and practice the location of where it receives and transmits the best signal can be worked out. I am all for the best/cheapest option! Would be very interested as looking for an efficient fit for my twin axle caravan!

 

Al is fine.

 

I will find out as soon as I see him.

 

It is a cheap device he got and it works perfectly we tested it a few times, even has an android/iPhone app too.

 

Really small too, and only 2 wires I think and has an internal battery.

 

So cheap and simple but it worked great.

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All well and nice, but car thieves can buy a simple GPS jammer for 40 quid, and it will jam any potential gps signal when they steal the car, hence some tracking companies offering both gps tracking and i think radio signal tracking off cell phone towers.

 

As long as the hanset has a network connection it can triangulate its approximate position from the cell towers, even if GPS is blocked...better than nothing I guess. Of course if the thieves bring a full spectrum jammer then you're still stuffed. HOWEVER, if you use an android handset with Google latitude it will periodically report its location anyway...the theives will have to switch off their jammer eventually...

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You could simply pull a fuse for say the fuel pump or similar and they would never find why it wouldn't start. Cheaper than a tracker.

 

Problem is a lot of thieves nowadays don't bother breaking into the car and hot wire it, they just tow it away.

 

Or if it is a BMW, they just use any old key! :D

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Need an iPhone 4 at least around £100 on the bay of flees. Then cheap sim. Doesn't give exact location, but will be within 50 metres. Must be able to use find my iPhone. Not sure of the operating system it requires though! Might beos 6 or above, but you will need o check.

 

Runs on iOS6 which I believe you can run on an iPhone 3GS

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Problem is a lot of thieves nowadays don't bother breaking into the car and hot wire it, they just tow it away.

 

Or if it is a BMW, they just use any old key! :D

 

If I live in an area like that I wouldn't leave my car outside, it would be pad locked in the garage with me sleeping on the floor next to it with a spade :D

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  • 1 month later...
Mod Edit

 

Just seen this mod edit. I was not meaning to tout our wares, but offer a professional alternative to some of the cheaper options given and would have done it at cost price. It was intended in the spirit of the club but can understand why it has been moderated.

 

Please accept my apologies for this lapse in concentration.

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