Cheap GPS trackers?

Hey all. Came across the idea on the internet a while ago but never bothered looking it up. You can buy cheap (£40ish) gps receivers which take sim cards so you can contact them remotely from your pc. There basic and just really tell you where you bike is but some of them even let you cut the power and all sorts of other things. Would be useful information for if your bike was stolen etc. Here's one on ebay

Has anyone got one or know of anyone?

Phil

[pookie]

yep i have one of these. . had it out last summer for a ride using a tmobile sim card. I also bought a motrax battery guard with the intention of wiring it inline so the gps didnt kill the battery. The texts are ok and you can use them with google maps to find the location and street. Suffice to say its still work in progress as the battery guard was so big I havent found anywhere to stick it on the ninja.

To set up you need to send it text messages.

[timwilky]

I looked at them and thought what a good idea.

You need to get a sim on the right tariff, ie doesn't require monthly top ups and hard wire it in. Battery drain is what worried me.

[andrewsmith]

Originally Posted by timwilky

I looked at them and thought what a good idea.

You need to get a sim on the right tariff, ie doesn't require monthly top ups and hard wire it in. Battery drain is what worried me.

agreed.
Is that the one that sends a 25p message every 2 minutes

[timwilky]

I guess it depends how you set it up.

GPRS or similar would be a heavy cost for real time tracking. But I suppose if you use it in the manual mode it is one text every time you send it a "Where are you"

[andrewsmith]

True
where are you is what I'd do.

Good idea for the london area, but if you were going to track the bike; biketrac is the best but dear god its expensive

The whole tracketr scene is v strange - so the technology is there to set it up for under £50 , yet no-one in the industry seems particularly fussed .... youd think the insurance industry would drive the market, cos the manufacturers are happy to see bikes go awol - it seems anyway...But v few insureres give much discount to people bothering to fit them ...and do you really want the bike back after the theiving scum have had a jolly on it...?

Im amazed these things are so cheap - I thought you were looking at £300 + fitting + monthly fee for a tracker...

I have one of those. They can be set up different ways. You can text it to listen in on people talking or text it again and it becomes a tracker by giving it a different command. it can be set up to relay the position every few seconds or just once depending again on what command you sent it. it is very accurate and if hidden correctly would almost certainly tell you where your stolen bike is.
It sends a coordinate that you put into google maps or google earth and pinpoints the location. It also has software with it that can track it real time. All the info depends on a sim card though so it would need to be topped up to work.

I have one of those. They can be set up different ways. You can text it to listen in on people talking or text it again and it becomes a tracker by giving it a different command. it can be set up to relay the position every few seconds or just once depending again on what command you sent it. it is very accurate and if hidden correctly would almost certainly tell you where your stolen bike is.
It sends a coordinate that you put into google maps or google earth and pinpoints the location. It also has software with it that can track it real time. All the info depends on a sim card though so it would need to be topped up to work.