?? About GPS tracking for equipment

[AlbertC]

does anyone know about GPS tracing for equipment where you hide the transmitter somewhere on your tractor and then if it is stolen, you can locate it on your computer?

About a year ago a plumbing company had one of their trenching tractors stolen and they were able to tell the sheriff exactly where it was located. Turns out that two of our cities finest had stolen the trencher.they are now serving time in the slammer.

But back to the gps, is there a monthly fee that you have to pay? Initial cost? Anyone have any experience with these units?

Thanks

 

[Greenland South]

Consult the Google. There are hundreds if not thousands of options. From hiring it out to doing it yourself.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

linxupgps looks interesting, but $15 month fee

 

[GManBart]

I have a fair amount of experience with GPS trackers, and even the cheap ones are pretty impressive these days. Typical purchase price for commercial units is generally going to start at around $100, and most require a monthly fee, but a few will work off pre-paid SIM cards. I've seen mixed reviews on the pre-paid SIM models, but have no experience with them.

A couple of things to consider is that some units are designed to be installed inside the vehicle, and some are weatherproof, so that will dictate how you install them. Most of the newer units don't require a clear view of the sky but the antenna can't be covered by metal, i.e. they can actually receive a GPS signal that has bounced off the pavement below the car/tractor. Still, if you can put the antenna where it has a view of the sky (even through plastic or glass) they will work better.

Some of the limitations to be aware of...if the tracker is inside a building, with no view of the sky, and there is no local cell network, you won't be able to find it. Typically the trackers use GPS as primary (accuracy within a few feet) and have a backup using cell tower triangulation (accuracy within hundreds of feet at best). So, if a bad guy steals your tractor and parks it in a barn in the boonies with no cell coverage, the tracker isn't likely to help until they take the machine outside...just FYI.

The cheapest I've seen for monthly service is $9, but I think that's for a reduced set of features....still should help you locate a stolen machine.

This one looks pretty reasonable:

Amazon.com : Lowest monthly fee, real time, hard-wired, vehicle/equipment, DASH model GPS tracker with user friendly features. Operates in 47 listed countries with supplied SIM card. Worldwide service available with local SIM card. : Personal Gps Trac

 

[AlbertC]

Thanks Gman and buckeye.

 

[chim]

Plygph had a post (#3) that interested me in this thread:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/customization/347554-gps-tracker.html?highlight=findmespot

Here's the site:

SPOT Trace

 

[buckeyefarmer]

at $100/yr the spot trace looks pretty nice.

 

[TerryR]

The user manual says it can't be mounted under metal - where would you hide it if your tractor has a metal hood and other body parts? Maybe under the dash? Don't know if that's metal on mine.

 

[mgraham112]

I use finditnowusa.com for my polaris ranger and I really like it. $400 up front equip fee and about 75 per year I think. It sends me a txt and email everytime the ranger is touched, even if you just bump into it and I have my phone set up to sound an alarm when I get that message. If a savvy theif knew I had gps on it, they wouldn't be able to disable it before it sent an alert and you can't even see it. The only bad thing is when I do get that message in the middle of the night I'm scared of what I might do to the thief. It will happen one day, all it takes is for the right person to know it's sitting in the barn at the farm.

 

[GonGonzalez]

For theft, you should look for hidden GPS tracking devices. I have a Vyncs that uses a 12V power adapter instead of a battery. Some GPSs have batteries, you need to change them regularly, you need to consider this when choosing.