Tracker: a philosophical question.

[thidwick]

So I ordered a tracker a while ago for a diy installation. (How hard can it be?)
The box of kit arrived..... lots of wires and stuff. Wiring diagrams, instruction manual of many pages, lots of sophistication and several options.
I pondered how, and where.....
Also in the box of kit is a window sticker saying something like “Beware! Tracker installed. Always-on GPS location”.
So whilst I pondered, and looked at the wires, I stuck the sticker in the Moho window, and wondered how much extra theft protection the sticker gives us.
But that’s not the question.

Anyway, time passed.... much pondering.... and I’ve now installed the tracker to my satisfaction in a hidden location in the MoHo. It works!
I can now see where our Bertha is, anytime, on a map on my phone or iPad.
So now the tracker is live and working, should I leave the “Beware” sticker in the window? Or should I take it out?
If I leave the sticker there, it tells any determined thief to look for a tracker to remove or disable. If I take the sticker out, then is a more opportunistic theft more likely?

Opinions?

 

[Zigisla]

I have a sticker on mine. Just another deterrent for the opportunist, or something else for the scumbag to consider if he wants to take your MH. Is there one less trouble to nick without having to search for or take time trying to jam the tracker.

 

[The Dotties]

I’ve got vanbitz stickers on my windows. Whether the scrotes are clever to a. read and b. realise they won’t find it in time I don’t know. But I do hope.

 

[hilldweller]

If I leave the sticker there, it tells any determined thief to look for a tracker to remove or disable. If I take the sticker out, then is a more opportunistic theft more likely?

Opinions?

42 - there is no answer.

 

[JJ]

I have a sticker stating...

This Vehicle Is Protected
By NOVICHOK​

JJ

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[Podney]

I would leave it on as a deterrent.

 

[GJH]

I have a sticker stating...

This Vehicle Is Protected
By NOVICHOK​

JJ

Ah, yes. I remember The Beast well

 

[PaulyP]

I have a sticker stating...

This Vehicle Is Protected
By NOVICHOK​

JJ

Isn't he city's new signing !!

 

[Geo]

Well truth is it was going to be But the Guy from NOVICHOK said he only has an A grade suite
and wouldn't enter JJs van to install it

 

[Hymer 1961]

Sticker = headache for thief = more time = more risk = less probability of getting away with it = “hello, hello, hello, what have we got going on here then” = “your nicked”.

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[TheBig1]

a slow flashing blue LED visible from outside the van usually makes would be thieves walk past to an apparently unprotected van

then fit a sound bomb in the headlining above the drivers seat with a remote switch controlled by your tracker unit. a thief might try stealing your van but wont be able to drive far with bleeding eardrums

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

I have a sticker stating...

This Vehicle Is Protected
By NOVICHOK​

JJ

If you have seen JJ's vehicle you will understand.

 

[born2bslow]

Just buy the stickers...

 

[thidwick]

Just buy the stickers...

......I thought of that too.
Anyway I bought the tracker. It wasn’t that expensive. It’s surprisingly sophisticated, and it works!

 

[John Mee]

Hi thidwick, can you name the unit?

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[thidwick]

Hi thidwick, can you name the unit?

Tracker is made by Rewire Security. Have a look at their website.

 

[Reallyretired]

Best alternative is to display stickers but not install the tracker in the hope they will spend ages looking for it.

 

[berni109]

Even better buy 2 cheap ones and some stickers. 1 that's easy to find so they don't go looking for the second one.

 

[pappajohn]

Tracker is made by Rewire Security. Have a look at their website.

I second that.
I had the 102 version on my caravan.
I now have the 103 with engine cutout sat in a drawer waiting to be fitted to my car.
Unfortunately I bought the standard version rather than the remote fob option so costs a text each and every time its turned on and off.
It needs to be turned off when driving or it sends text alerts.

Only criticism, they are supplied with the most expensive PAYG 2G Sim card they could find (the name escapes me)
19p per text and cost the best part of a fiver to set up the tracker.
Soon ditched and replaced with a GiffGaff 2G PAYG sim.

 

[thidwick]

Only criticism, they are supplied with the most expensive PAYG 2G Sim card they could find (the name escapes me)

Well mine came complete with a PAYG GiffGaff SIM.

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[Phantomphixer]

Rewire Security use a version of the TK103 tracker. There are many versions of this and whether Rewires is just one of the generic versions who knows. Just type in "TK103" and there everywhere and on Ebay very cheap especially if your happy to buy from HK. I have installed a few of these and never had a duff one.

As for the OP question, it was always a similar question for the trade when installing Domestic / Commercial Alarm systems. Do you advertise the presents of and alarm or not? Individual preference, I'm afraid. We used to install some completely covertly with no outward sign of a system, not even a sounder, just an instant connection to a central station (Or back in the day, to the local Nick).

Some people say advertising you have a system means you have something worth nicking. That's just one view, but we all have something worth nicking!!

Similar with the thought Tracker maybe, I'm sure the toerags know exactly where trackers are fitted in new vans, so there straight there ripping them out. My view is to have a sacrificial Tracker maybe a cheapo TK so the toerags rip one out not even considering there maybe 2! I have this before here but at with TK at £20 a pop you dont need a SIM in the sacrificial one

 

[pappajohn]

Well mine came complete with a PAYG GiffGaff SIM.

Probably unindated with complaints so changed to GiffGaff.

 

[Badknee]

My works van was stolen by Itinerants after burgling our house. They dump the vehicles for 24 hrs to see if they are recovered. Said Itinerant was caught when he came back as the vehicle was left in place and watched.
An old iPhone plugged into a charger and hidden somewhere in your vehicle is a good tracker when you use the “find my phone” option.

Edit. Ah yes, for itinerant read thieving gyp o

 

[pappajohn]

Rewire Security use a version of the TK103 tracker. There are many versions of this and whether Rewires is just one of the generic versions who knows.

Rewire have their own Web mapping software and call center which, after the first free year, costs just £10pa to use (the cost may now be out of date)
One or two false geofence alarms due to satellite drift and too tight a geofence but other than that not a problem.

 

[oppy]

Just buy the stickers...

That's what I've done, on a 21 year old van that's been parked on my drive for a couple of weeks with the blasted key in the ignition......................shows that the stickers work

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[MarZar]

The theives, so I am told don't need to look for your tracker, they have a blocking device which plugs into your cigarette lighter and blocks all signals in a 5 or 10 meter radius !!!
On sale on eBay I am told!!!
Along with the OBD reader theft kits for transit and fiat!!!

 

[DerryW]

We have a Titanium alarm and tracker fitted, it came with the vehicle when we purchased it last year. All we had to do was take out an annual subscription. The monitoring station will confirm it works, bless em, there's been no end of occasions, especially in the early days when we unlocked the vehicle without disarming the alarm/tracker, the monitoring station are on the phone within less than 10seconds, both in the UK and abroad. Maybe I'm paranoid about it getting stolen, I had 2 retractable security post fitted in the drive as well.

 

[Phantomphixer]

The theives, so I am told don't need to look for your tracker, they have a blocking device which plugs into your cigarette lighter and blocks all signals in a 5 or 10 meter radius !!!
On sale on eBay I am told!!!
Along with the OBD reader theft kits for transit and fiat!!!

Yes that is true to a degree, BUT, these jammers block the gps signal and they can activate the jammer but no one can be 100% sure that, that signal has been jammed and the tracker compromised. As an electronics / radio engineer I could make a jammer very simply with a handful of components or a sophisticated one, however neither me, you or anyone else can be certain that the signal is jammed. The likelyhood is if the van was in transit the jammer would have to maintain its jamming signal which could be interrupted during the process of transit. Furthermore dependant on the tracker if the GPS signal was lost or the vehicle was ringfenced interruption of the signal to the monitoring service should flag up an alarm. System dependant of course.

 

[Popeye]

I have a sticker stating...

This Vehicle Is Protected
By NOVICHOK​

JJ

That'd go down well in my home town >........Salisbury

 

[mpdcymru]

I have a couple of classic cars which are fitted with stickers warning of the alarm etc but they do not have said alarm fitted,

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