theft alert tracking device

[oceane]

ia Orana,

I'm looking to buy two theft alert tracking device...for a 20hp outboard and a jetski

anyone using such device??
does anyone have feedbacks on brand, feature and technology to acquire...
gps vs 2-3G tracking!?etc
will be used in French Polynesia, so I was assuming at first that gps tracking would be better...like a Spot...any other one, cheaper maybe, to recommend??
only info I found here, and wouldn't have taught of, is dog gps tracker!!! but they seems on the low end tech/reliability side, and not really cheaper!?

thanks in advance

Nana,
PanchoNui

[Allied39]

Ah, more dreams shattered!!!

Theft in French Polynesia.....say it ain't so!

Sorry, cant help on the GPS tracker. I did set up two blink camera's on a "straight talk" wifi hotspot on my boat so i see any movement and can real time video.

That cost $15 a month to maintain.....might be doable if you have wifi where the thieving scumbags frequent......which I now know (thanks to you) is everywhere.

I think that's the one thing the arabs got right.....can't steal stuff with no hands!

Good luck.

[NPCampbell]

I used a GPS tracker on my motorcycle called rLink. In addition to real time tracking it would detect movement when the ignition was off and send alerts. They also provided a web page link that you could provide to law enforcement that allowed them to track your motorcycle in case of theft. The biggest drawback that I had with it was that the battery draw was high enough to run my small motorcycle battery down in several days.

[oceane]

thanks for the rlink referal, i'll look into it and those bike tracker...preferably without monthly subscription

[ArmyDaveNY]

The Spot Trace is a good product. It is around $100 U.S. for the device although it is often on sale. The service is $100 per year but be sure to check their website to make sure service is available in your area.

It can be wired into your battery but it also has two or three AAA batteries in case your primary battery dies. They AAA batteries will provide some three or four weeks of service before they need replacing.

Good luck.

[Captndave1]

Ditto on the Spot Trace, have one on my boat 40 miles from my home and it emails me every day to tell me all is good, and when the boat leaves the dock it tracks every 10 minutes, Love it.

[hellosailor]

oceane-
GPS is only the smaller half of any tracking product. That will work anywhere with anything and it is called GPS logging. Tracking implies the device will either call you or allow you to call into it, so now you need to know whether your area supports the same communications service that the tracker does.
SPOT uses the Iridium satellite network, so it is nearly global. Most dedicated trackers use cellular service--in which case, you need to know if they support your local carrier. Most have been GMS, some are CDMA2000, new ones will be LTE. (And what the US calls 4G is not the LTE that the rest of the world uses, more confusion if you are dealing internationally.)
Even if the cellular service is the same type, there are different "bands" and frequencies, not just the 2G/3G/4G/LTE difference. 2G and 3G equipment is going off the US market, as 2G service is largely discontinued here and 3G will soon be, and I suspect that will apply to much of the world as 5G deploys to replace them in a couple of years.

So, the question is WHAT CARRIERS do you have in Polynesia? What equipment will they support? Very likely, 3G, but do you have any choice of data plans to allow for "just a tracker" that will have limited data use and no voice use? Or possibly SMS use?

Some companies that sell trackers are on top of all this, but the cheap import stuff often has no clue. Caveat emptor, but your first questions need to be to the local cellular carriers.

Unless you go with SPOT or another satellite system.

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by Captndave1

Ditto on the Spot Trace, have one on my boat 40 miles from my home and it emails me every day to tell me all is good, and when the boat leaves the dock it tracks every 10 minutes, Love it.

Good point about the tracking. I forgot to mention that portion of it. You can adjust the reporting from every hour to roughly every five minutes. More frequent tracking may reduce the battery life but I don't think it is that much of a reduction.

[Pete17C]

Can you simply use an old(er) cell phone with a tracking app like 'find my phone'?

keep it plugged in to charger on the boat and hidden from view

may save the $ to buy a dedicated device, if you have one floating around

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by Pete17C

Can you simply use an old(er) cell phone with a tracking app like 'find my phone'?

keep it plugged in to charger on the boat and hidden from view

may save the $ to buy a dedicated device, if you have one floating around

That may work. The advantage of things like the Spot Trace is that you can receive notifications via e-mail. Both the Spot (or other similar device) and the phone will need to be hidden to prevent removal of the tracker. The Spot will likely work better in the outboard and the jetski.

[oceane]

great feedbacks, thanks.... the spot is intetesting., but i, m deterred by the subscription,since i don, t need the reporting feature....

i greatly like the cel phone idea... i don, t have too many floating around, since they tend to get to the bottom pretty fast!!!!! but will try with one...
actually my reaction/thinking when looking at spot monthly , was wow i can track the whole family celphone with a free app!?!

so could i get a basic gps waterproof puck, and track it with a phone app????????

[Lancerbye]

They gps trackers only work where cell service is available. I tried one 2 summers ago to have my family track me. However I have a tendency go travel off the grid. There were times that I was out of cell service for more than a week. Had them worried a bit.

[svmobert]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

oceane-
…..
SPOT uses the Iridium satellite network, so it is nearly global.
…

Overall good advice, but slight inaccuracy here.. SPOT actually uses Globalstar satellites, not Iridium. IF they were using Iridium they would have 100% global coverage, but they don't. Globalstar uses Low Earth Orbit satellites like Iridium does, but Globalstar also uses Bent-Pipe technology so they need a ground station within a certain distance of you in order to provide service. This means that their coverage is not 100% global, and in the Pacific specifically there is a large gap.

SPOT Trace is a great product, and definitely works in a larger area than any cellular based product would, but there are gaps. You can see the full coverage map here.. https://www.sea-tech.com/product/spot-trace/

[Captain Puget]

How about an InReach, with periodic tracking/ reporting?

You’d also have it available for normal cruising use... I think the monthly is - $12