Security

[jhg1958]

A friend recommended the TKSTAR Mini Waterproof Tracking Device for my motorbike.  It does seem to work well for him and not a bad price at £50 from Amazon.

He did originally reply on the magnet but quickly learnt that it was not strong enough.

Does anyone have any experience with GPS trackers/alarms systems for their BSA in the UK?

John

[Rocket Racer]

that looks like a nice compact unit, would need to be wired in unobtrusively so it doesnt go flat and is out of sight from thieves. Presumably you need to pay for a sim card account so you can send data. so some sort of data agreement depending on the provider.
probably silicone and rubber mount.
I have pondered this sort of thing but havent figured out an obvious product I'd choose,

[Rocket Racer]

I was reading today about thieves in the UK tagging vehicles to steal later using ap ple air tags. Looking at them; the batteries last a year and they could be hidden fairly easily, no wiring. I'm planning to give them a try on a couple of my bikes as I do have an Iphone, so its an existing app -find my phone. Dont have them yet, so could be total sh#t.

[Rex]

That sounds like the sort of story the Sunday Sport would think up. 

[BSA_54A10]

I had an early pocket pager called "Page Alert" which worked really well but of course was only good for about a mile and naturally did not give you real time tracking.
Short story is nothing will stop a real thief
They will just pop your bike in a shielded truck while they find where the unit is hidden
If they know BSA's that would take all of 5 minutes unless it was inside the seat

[Rocket Racer]

The a ir tags have turned up, very compact about. about 7mm thick x 32mm wide, button shaped powered by a CR2032 battery under a removeable cover, supposedly good for a year, so no wiring. I'll trial them on a few bikes as they are certainly comparatively cost effective. I think a bit of duct tape should hold them on under or behind most clean surfaces and hopefully I'll never need them. Certainly easy to secrete one on a bike with negligible effort. Apparently I should keep them away from small children who might choke on them...I guess they are a bit like a wide peppermint.

[Greybeard]

Presumably each of those gizmo's must have a cell phone account?

[Angus]

I know they don’t tell you were you bike is if you have mislaid it  but I like the smart water/micro dot/fluorescent ink type products. All my bikes are so marked and it does mean that even if they strip them for parts each part that is marked can be identified.

[muskrat]

G'day Angus.
Their called Data Dots down here. Years ago I had my A65L with them.
The PO of my HD had all the major parts etched with his drivers license number.
Cheers

[Rocket Racer]

Presumably each of those gizmo's must have a cell phone account?

No, when you remove the battery isolator strip of plastic, you simply put it by your phone which then asks you to open the "find my p hone" app and registers it. For a test I stuck one in the family pool car which immediately got borrowed and I could see exactly where it had been taken. It also alerted me that the car had left home.

Appreciate I certainly never want my bike nicked, likewise that a committed crim is still going to nick it whatever you do. However on first impression this appears to be a useful option, doesnt need wiring in, claims a decent battery life and was able to put it somewhere I thought was obsure on the bike and would not immediately be found. I bought a pack of 4 and will put them with various vehicles attached with a bit of Duct tape which I could tear off each year.

Strikes me as useful , they sell them with key fobs so you can find your keys. Could even be in your own bag in case you left it somewhere.
Sadly bikes are often stolen and broken up and this isnt going to identify any parts on your bike like microdots do and by the time its stripped down one of these buttons is going to have been found no doubt. But hopefully gives a fighting chance of beating that happening.

If you're familiar with the find my p hone app the discoverability is the same

[Greybeard]

Any idea how they work? Presumably they are using the cell phone network. Do you have an ongoing subscription?

My car has some inbuilt data access. I may have paid in the purchase price for a certain number of years to have it. Maybe the tiny amount of data these devices use means the networks are willing to sell it as a one off. I think the data would also have to be carried by any available network;  it would be no good if it only worked within range of one providers mast.

[Greybeard]

I bet the police love those gizmo's. Stick one underneath a crim's car and they can easily track it.

[Rocket Racer]

Any idea how they work? Presumably they are using the cell phone network. Do you have an ongoing subscription?

no subscription. just relies on the a p ple user network...
according to google: 

"When youʼve left something far behind, like at the beach or the gym, the Find My network — hundreds of millions of i P hone, i P ad and M ac devices around the world — helps track down your A i rTag. And it is designed to protect your privacy every step of the way.



How does it work?
Your A i rTag sends out a secure Bluetooth signal that can be detected by nearby devices in the F ind My network. These devices send the location of your A  i rTag to i C loud — then you can go to the F ind My app and see it on a map. The whole process is anonymous and encrypted to protect your privacy. And itʼs efficient, so thereʼs no need to worry about battery life or data usage."

so in remote places where no a p ple users are within radius it has limitations but thats a reasonable network if you have an i p hone

[Rocket Racer]

I think this is a reasonable compromise, as next step is a sim card device with subs that can still be blocked and will have a shorter battery life or need wiring in. It certainly finds our spare car when it gets borrowed around the local suburbs by one of the household

[Greybeard]

Ah, I understand now.