Anyone installed a Tracking Device lately?

spebgtsprint · 03-11-2011, 01:31 PM

As the thread mentions, I am after any feedback/issues/dramas/info regarding the fitment & ongoing maintenance of fitted Tracking Devices to your pride and joy.

I am looking at fitting a device to some of my cars and was just after some general advice and any info on who to obtain one from and at what price etc.

Cheers

Colin

Streets · 03-11-2011, 04:30 PM

I'm also looking to install one. Most of them on ebay appear to be shipped from China (not sure whether that matters or not), but seem to have plenty of features. I have also seen some of them specifying that only 2G SIM cards will work in them. Not sure if you can even get 2G SIMs anymore. There are also ones that have their own internal power supply in addition to the 12v from the car battery. It'd be good to hear from some people who have a tracker already, to get an idea of what to buy.

MAD · 03-11-2011, 04:45 PM

I want to do this too. Even if it's just for the opportunity to belt the daylights out of the thieving scum when I find them.
Would be good to have some input from anyone that has used one of these generic GSM/GPS tracking alarms.

Simple6 · 03-11-2011, 06:00 PM

At least for Telstra you can't get 2G SIM but a 3G SIM will default to 2G if the device only supports it.

matty88 · 03-11-2011, 07:42 PM

How about buying a damaged screen iphone, run a seperate power feed for it and hide it in the car, and use MobileMe?

spebgtsprint · 03-11-2011, 07:46 PM

I'm not very tech savvy guys n girls, so this is why I posted this topic up here, hoping to hear from anybody who can recommend a pretty easy install/monitoring system all within a reasonable cost.

There must be quite a few forum members out there who have already fitted one of these devices who can share any info...................

Cheers

atec77 · 03-11-2011, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spebgtsprint

As the thread mentions, I am after any feedback/issues/dramas/info regarding the fitment & ongoing maintenance of fitted Tracking Devices to your pride and joy.

I am looking at fitting a device to some of my cars and was just after some general advice and any info on who to obtain one from and at what price etc.

Cheers

Colin

basic stuff starts at an ebay quiktrac for under 80$ unfitted into some real money at clost to a grand for the better units and beyond , al depends how much you want to keep the car , they work and mine goes well (I installed my own full alarm and tracker )incidently I used rhino with cctv alarm and tracking which is top gear

Tonz · 03-11-2011, 08:23 PM

Yesterday in Adelaide one of the Bungles (bunnies) stores lost a ute & $20k of stock (Ha ha ha ha ) good ole efficient bunngles but luckily it had a GPS unit that activates with ignition and was found fully loaded tray, warm engine and 4 low life sitting around a kitchen table.

aussie muscle · 04-11-2011, 10:38 AM

i'd recommend you go with a rural network (eg Telstra Next G), because it has coverage in more remote areas, so if they drive to brissy, it'll at least be online in places between towns on their way there.

it costs $20 per month (cheapest mobile plan i could find on that network). i can contact it with my mobile phone (handy if i'm standing in the carpark). it sms it's location which opens up on google maps with it's location. it can also be set up to update it's position every 30 minutes. if it was missing.

krzysiek · 04-11-2011, 11:15 AM

With the 2G ones, I think you'll find most of them coming out of China on a budget to be 2G only.

I have not looked into it, but 2G shouldn't be too bad. Might not be as quick as 3G, but it's only sending coordinates which wouldn't use too much bandwidth from what I can imagine.

I believe all SIM's default to 2G when 3G is not available. I am on Vodafone and I can select on my phone if I want to use 3G network, 2G network or both - and it will bounce between them when the 3G isn't available.

Vodafone has a $45.00 unlimited plan per month. We signed up with them for 6 phones and ended up getting i believe 6 SIM's all with 1GB per month each on them. I think I may be looking into one of these trackers!

MAD · 04-11-2011, 11:20 AM

Vodafone used to have a 12 month prepaid sim available. I think it was $30. Zero features, but who needs them when you dont plan on having your car call you everyday of the week.

Even if they did 3g, a Telstra sim wouldn't help unless the alarm worked on the 850Mhz band (NextG).

I like the idea of using a busted iPhone or similar. But you would probably want to add a boosted antenna for it to increase GPS and GSM signal. Dont know if that's possible though.