GPS Tracker for a tractor

Fixastuff · Apr 8, 2023

I had a GPS tracker and remote telematics included for 2 years on an excavator purchase. It worked in some areas but in many areas with poor cell service it didn't work and would just show the last location in "connected" to even though it was somewhere totally different.

ponytug · Apr 9, 2023

TimberFarm said:
Yeah, their website is kind of hard to decipher. I actually found better info from an article about them in Edmunds?? I think it was. They sell for new vehicles through dealerships and they have program to sell for used vehicles too. I like the idea that the cops have the receiver to track the thieves.

In the past, when I lived in a high(er) car theft area, friends had LoJack, and a few had their vehicles stolen. I remember that every one of them complained about the cops not getting after the vehicles, and only recovering them when the vehicles were abandoned (at which point many were trashed to the point of being write offs...) YMMV... For cars, around many peace officer vehicles include automatic license scanners, so I don't know how much of an added value LoJack is locally for cars.

All the best,

Peter

Complete Turf Care · Apr 15, 2023

Wondering if you ever decided on a tracker?

EddieWalker · Apr 15, 2023

Not yet. I'm suffering from too many choices, and too many things going on that are distracting me from focusing on making a decision. What I really need to do is talk to me insurance agent and see what she says, but it never crossed my mind all last week to give her a call.

newbury · Apr 15, 2023

Well Eddie the first thing you might want to do is buy some dead or fake outdoor security cams.
Most criminals are smart enough to figure if they see one cam there may be others they can't see.
Just don't get one from Walmart that is sold as a dummy cam.
Just mount them relatively inaccessible.

buckeyefarmer · Apr 15, 2023

EddieWalker said:
I have a tractor at my brothers farm that's an hour away from me. I go there once a week to check on things, do some work on the place and stuff like that. The tractor is kind of hidden behind a building, but anybody trespassing will find it easily enough. The neighbors are pretty good, but they can't watch the place 24/7 It's an older John Deere that I'm afraid might be stolen if somebody decides they want it.

I read a story about the Apple Air Tag and it got me to thinking that I should do something like that to the tractor. The Air Tag seems to have a very short range, but if somebody has an Apple phone that's close to it, then it will send a signal where it's located. Hopefully the police will do something if that happens.

Does anybody have an Apple Air Tag, and how well does it work?

Is there another product that might work better? I'm willing to pay a reasonable monthly fee if that increases my odds of being able to find the tractor if it's stolen.

Thanks,
Eddie

I have air tags in all my stuff. I'm sure there are better products, but airtags are cheap.

buckeyefarmer · Apr 15, 2023

At the farm I also have a cell camera aimed at the driveway that gets all vehicles. Plus cameras in buildings and non cell game cameras.
Image from cell camera. I pay $10 month for 2000 pics.

. This is the low resolution pic, I can selectively download high resolution. It runs 2-3 months on battery, but I also have it on ac. It also supports solar panel.

On my barn I just installed an alert that emails and texts me anytime the door opens. Need WiFi for it to work.

EddieWalker · Jul 22, 2023

Updating this thread. I bought a 4 pack of Apple Air Tags on Amazon and put one of them on the tractor. My wife put one in her van, and then we got real crazy, and we put one in my dads wallet, and the other in my moms purse. After watching some more youtube videos about them, I got worried that a thief might do a search for the Airtag and find it before steeling the tractor. I also worried that the police wouldn't do anything, or if they did find it, somebody would of trashed it. So this morning I went and brought it home. It stressed me out towing a 65 hp tractor with my half ton truck, but now that it's all done, I'm glad that I did it.

2012 Deere 5065E 2wd with 550 hours and no exhaust fluid.

WinterDeere · Jul 23, 2023

Glad to see Deere wasn’t just ignoring the 3R series, when looking at tow strap tie points. Why they can’t weld or cast a pair of hook eyes into each end of each axle housing, I will never understand. Strapping my tractor to a trailer is somewhere between frustrating and pointless.