View Full Version : Tracker, alarm or neither?
Gazza77
23-01-11, 05:41 PM
I'm in the process of changing bikes, and have been asked by the dealer if I'd like any additional security devices fitting. The options I have been given are a Datatool Tracker system or a Datatool S4 alarm/immobiliser. I can see disadvantages and advantages to both, as with having neither fitted.
The bike is kept in a bikesafe, and is chained up and bolted to it, so I'd like to hope is relatively secure at home. My concern is more for security when out and about, when carrying a big chain about isn't so practical.
Thoughts people?
I would go for the alarm but you never get the spend back. I wouldn't be fussed it it was not offered as an option.
Mr Speirs
23-01-11, 07:05 PM
I wouldn't have either. Spend money and make your bike hard to steal. If someone wants it enough they will get it and an alarm or tracker aren't going to stop them.
GagginForraPint
23-01-11, 07:39 PM
Can't see the point of an alarm, everybody ignores it anyway. I asked a couple of years ago at insurance renewal for a quote with and without an alarm and I think the difference was about 20 quid if that. Could always get one of the disk locks with an alarm.
I commute to work and have locks at home and where I work, just need to find something to leave them attached to.
brennan
23-01-11, 09:14 PM
Can't see the point of an alarm, everybody ignores it anyway. I asked a couple of years ago at insurance renewal for a quote with and without an alarm and I think the difference was about 20 quid if that. Could always get one of the disk locks with an alarm.
I commute to work and have locks at home and where I work, just need to find something to leave them attached to.
Hint hint :p Hefty alarmed disc lock. Can leave the chain at home
http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=160731
Depends where you leave it when your out I guess.
I wouldn't bother with any of it... I've only ever seen them cause problems.
The Idle Biker
23-01-11, 09:59 PM
Agree with the concensus here. Did a fair bit of research before I bought my bike and came to the conclusion a top security related disc lock was as good an option as any. Unlikely to screw up electrically, keep a spare set of keys and don't forget the twisty reminder cable.
Easy, portable and tough just like ex girlfriend I had once.
Specialone
23-01-11, 10:00 PM
They do seem to cause a lot of electrical gremlins, if you really want one, just get an immobiliser.
I dont really leave my bike out of my reach so hopefully ill always be close should someone try and steal it.
**Touching wood** bikes like mine arent as desirable for thieves as sports type bikes, so hopefully they will choose someone elses, well you know what i mean.
Gazza77
24-01-11, 08:50 PM
Interestingly, I've just done some insurance comparisons for the new steed. Using Go Compare, I found the following quotes to be the cheapest.
No security - £365
Thatcham Cat 1 alarm fitted - £365
Almax Series 3 chain & Squire Lock - £365
Xena XN15 alarmed disc lock - £351
Interesting... :rolleyes:
Drumming_Animal
24-01-11, 10:43 PM
I had a datatool alarm on my last bike, it came with it and it was just a pain in the neck if anything.
If you want to move/wash/ride/fill up with petrol/sit on/take off battery/do anything apart from leave the bike in one spot youve got to change the alarm so it doesnt go off.
I was always forgetting it and setting it off myself, no one ever questioned whether it was mine. Lets face it, a car alarm goes off in a car park, who really runs up to the bloke next to it and questions them whether its their vehicle or whether they are trying to steal it? Not even traffic wardens or coppers.
In the end i was always setting the alarm to a setting where you can move it around and do anything as per normal and the alarm wont go off but as soon as you turn the ignition it goes off, but that was through a series of buttons on the alarm. I certainly wont be getting another, theyre more hassle than anything.
Mr Speirs
24-01-11, 11:09 PM
I don't list any of my security features on my insurance. It doesn't bring the price down and if one day I don't use every single one listed they can wriggle out of paying out.
Yeah I considered a tracker once but when you work it all out, it sounds like a great thing but its not really. I looked at the Road Angel BikeTrac one.
In regards to an alarm, its pointless! No-one cares anymore really and if someone is nicking your bike they have semi planned it already. Pick it up and in the back of a freezer van and no one can hear it anyhow...
Can't see the point of an alarm, everybody ignores it anyway...
As a biker would you seriously ignore a bike alarm going off if you saw someone tampering with it?
Also remember that for every one person who hasn't been happy with an alarm there will be plenty more who are happy with them.
Mine gets chained to a ground anchor and disc locked whilst in the garage. I only note the disc lock on the insurance though as it is the only security I carry with me, plus it discounted my premium by a bit more than the cost of it.
My dad bought a bike that was fitted with a datatool alarm and finds it annoying most of the time, to the point he's thinking of taking it off.
My alarm is a PITA all it does is go off by accident, I have set it off dozens of times and no-one even raises an eye. If they do it's just to laugh and take the mick.
Also it once caused me to get stranded when I filled up in a petrol station in France where there was a mobile phone mast on the roof.
Also you cant take the battery out for charging over the winter. As said before get a disc lock.
Also you cant take the battery out for charging over the winter. As said before get a disc lock.
Que?! I've had three different alarms and with all of them I could/can take the battery out.
Sorry, you can take the battery out but only when you disable the alarm and it beeps every 5 seconds telling the world there is a bike with a disabled alarm sat there.
Interestingly, I've just done some insurance comparisons for the new steed. Using Go Compare, I found the following quotes to be the cheapest.
No security - £365
Thatcham Cat 1 alarm fitted - £365
Almax Series 3 chain & Squire Lock - £365
Xena XN15 alarmed disc lock - £351
Interesting... :rolleyes:
Which is why I don't bother with an alarm. At least I don't bother with one to bring my insurance premium down. Cause it doesn't.
Just ask them to install a little flashing red LED light. That should be enough to deter the opportunist thief. Anyone more serious that wants your bike, well they are going to have it no matter what security is on it.
Sorry, you can take the battery out but only when you disable the alarm and it beeps every 5 seconds telling the world there is a bike with a disabled alarm sat there.
He he. Very true, of the datatools at least.
I never thought about it that way.
Jimmy2Feet
25-01-11, 05:20 PM
well, my bike is unfortunately left out on the road under cover, i wasn't planning on getting an alarm, was just going to chain up etc. but the bike i found happened to have a datatool alarm fitted, so an added bonus IMO.
I have had no issues at all that would turn me away from having one. yes it takes some getting used to, not being used to an alarm that resets itself is strange. but on the whole no issues at all!
and having the motion sensor i think is a positive. i think the majority of opportune thief's would stop if the bike they were tampering with started beeping!
plus the only time i am really worried about the bike being taken is at home at night......funnily enough i am normally there, and if the alarm went off i would go out to it.....therefore not a bad thing.
yes every determined thief would take it no matter what you did, but using that as a reason for not having one, is like saying what the point in locking the door at home, any determined thief would still get into the house....its not the point, it makes it harder and therefore less chance of filing an insurance claim for a stolen bike!!!
but....i wouldn't;t spend the money getting one fitted to a bike that didn't have one already!!! :)
wyrdness
25-01-11, 05:27 PM
As other people have mentioned, Datatool alarms are a right pain in the backside. I'd never fit one to a bike again. I've now got a Xena alarmed disc lock instead.
Jimmy2Feet
25-01-11, 05:48 PM
http://www.hein-gericke.co.uk/shop/product_info.php/products_id/8776
good price for what looks to be a good disc lock alarm
As a biker would you seriously ignore a bike alarm going off if you saw someone tampering with it?
I'd ignore it, aint getting stabbed to save someones (insured) bike!
Would, and have done, investigate a neighbours house alarm, but a bike? Nah.
I've got a Datatool 4 fitted to my GSXR and really wish I hadn't. Have just had to replace the battery after 12 months from new because the alarm drained the old one in no time and its just generally a pain to have to disarm whenever I move the thing.
Given it doesn't really reduce my insurance premium by any noticeable amount and if someone wants to nick it, they'll just nick it anyway I wont fit one next time.
If the tracker is going to be fitted for free I don't see why not.
Gazza77
25-01-11, 08:28 PM
If the tracker is going to be fitted for free I don't see why not.
If it was going to be free, I wouldn't be asking if I should get one or not. :p
A Xena disc lock is about to be ordered...
I agree FREE is FREE!! :-) Otherwise they are profiting.... Can't be having that, lol.
But it is down to personal preference.
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