I know LoJack is one of these. Anyone have experience with this sort of anti-theft (well, really recovery assistance) devices?
I know LoJack is one of these. Anyone have experience with this sort of anti-theft (well, really recovery assistance) devices?
I have an old phone that runs an app called PhoneTrack that connects to a self-hosted Nextcloud instance, this sort of phone + app approach is the cheapest way to do it.
I run the Samsung Galaxy SmartTags in the trailer, a couple of vehicles, and some other equipment. No issues, but not something that transmits the location 100% of the time or on demand. But they work well for me
Apple Air tag if you have someone with an iPhone ,
the battery lasts around 1 year ,
It's not GPS , it tracks thru nearby Apple phones that ping the Apple server when it sees one.
I have one on my trailer in the tail light !
Airtags are about $30 each
californiamilleghia said:Apple Air tag if you have someone with an iPhone ,
the battery lasts around 1 year ,
It's not GPS , it tracks thru nearby Apple phones that ping the Apple server when it sees one.
I have one on my trailer in the tail light !
Airtags are about $30 each
There are similar vendor-agnostic systems, the biggest downside of these is that they depend on a network of nearby cell phones to report the tag location back to the vendor from short range (and the AirTag network is much larger than the others), but they have the upside of zero running costs vs. a used phone which requires a cell data plan, or one of the commercial systems with relatively huge service costs.
The plus of an air tag is long battery life , mine are near a year and a replacement battery is $1 ,
not so good is the tracking is when it sees another Apple devise , and you cannot see the bread crumbs of the last contacts , so you know where it is now but not the direction it's headed.
a real GPS would be better and that's what a cell phone with data will give you , but that eats up a lot of battery so it needs to be recharged often or left on the charger all the time.
I don't know what the service entails, but I have been considering a rearview mirror with GPS tracking built in like this:
Of course, the GPS tracking is not the feature(s) I am after, its just a possible nice bonus. I have a classic car so I am more interested in functionality like outside temp/compass/rearview/dashcam/GPS directions all without doing some horrible looking dash install. A mirror like this can either be strapped onto an existing one(for those who want to keep the stock mirror) or you can find a permanent-install version(which is what you would want for GPS tracking)
californiamilleghia said:Apple Air tag if you have someone with an iPhone ,
the battery lasts around 1 year ,
It's not GPS , it tracks thru nearby Apple phones that ping the Apple server when it sees one.
I have one on my trailer in the tail light !
Airtags are about $30 each
This sounds interesting so I went and read about it a little. It sounds to me like the Air Tag will warn the thief that he's being tracked if he happens to have an iPhone. Maybe it's still good to have but I'm not as sure now.
AirTag is designed to discourage unwanted tracking. If someone else’s AirTag finds its way into your stuff, your iPhone will notice it’s traveling with you and send you an alert. After a while, if you still haven’t found it, the AirTag will start playing a sound to let you know it’s there.
I had to return some hot bags to a local Chic-fil-a and they had the air tags in them. It was very unnerving that my phone was literally having a E36 M3 fit when the tags moved locations. I can see how this would deter theft as it really feels like you are being watched 
My Airtags do not make a loud sound , it's just a small beep , and you can disconnect the buzzer.
I also have 2 in my van , one easy to find and the other well hidden.
I think the best would be a GPS that notifies you when it is moved out of an area you pick and show you in real time when your car is moving and location. Pretty much how LoJack is designed.
That is not what Airtags are designed to do....
californiamilleghia said:My Airtags do not make a loud sound , it's just a small beep , and you can disconnect the buzzer.
I also have 2 in my van , one easy to find and the other well hidden.
I think the best would be a GPS that notifies you when it is moved out of an area you pick and show you in real time when your car is moving and location. Pretty much how LoJack is designed.
That is not what Airtags are designed to do....
The PhoneTrack app I use has geofencing capability like this, it can also save path history.
I rented a Turo last month that had an AirTag in it. My iPhone told me a couple of times a day that an AirTag was basically following me. This could be actually be great though- a thief might abandon the vehicle or trailer knowing they were being tracked.
In reply to Kubotai :
The Samsung SmartTags have a feature where you can see where it's been for the past week, and to my knowledge, they don't alert other phones in the vicinity that they're pinging off the phone. At least that's been my experience. I know Samsung supposedly updated the App to try and mimic Apple's approach regarding unwanted tracking, but I spent hours trying to trick it into working with another phone and never got any alerts on the other phone
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