Anyone using a Trailer Tracker?

[WALSHMOTORSPORTS]

Ive seen a fair amount of trailers, quads, racecars inside trailers, dirt bikes, etc.....stolen over the last few years. It has to be a horrible situation to deal with. Even if you have insurance you never get back all the custom fab stuff. Im wondering does anyone have any input or use a tracking device? The link I posted is just one i found called Trailerandtracking searching the internet. Seems to be used on semi tractor trailers but it’s also an international tracker as well. I do race south of the border but seems they will steal your stuff here in the U.S. as well?
Thanks for any input.

Trailer GPS tracking in real time with 5-year battery. No fees.

Trailer GPS Tracking unit with 5 year battery life and includes 3-years of service. This tracking unit is ideal for heavy equipment, trailers, and haulers.

gpsandtrack.com

 

[MTPyle]

That looks like a great solution. We have Iridium go's in our trucks hard mounted but it would be nice to have something in our trailers. This seems like a great value for 3 years included. Thats $100 a year to make sure you can find your trailer if it gets stolen.

After reading more it seems to use 3g and 4g and works on Mexico. They have other versions for cars that are cheaper but need a power source. I think I will order one for our race enclosed trailer.

Thanks for the link

Mike

 

[Zambo]

Looks like a good piece of gear. I have some good friend who had a trailer stolen this past year with a sxs and some other stuff inside. It they had a tracker, not this one, and they followed it to the border of San Luis and it was recovered in Mexico. Thankfully I think it was close enough to the border for the tracker to send a signal because I don't thin theirs had international service. Royal PITA getting all the necessary documents together to claim everything, get them translated and stamped by the consulate, and all kinds of other runaround, but at least they go the trailer and sxs back.

One good thing about technology....its getting harder and harder to be a criminal. Good luck getting anywhere near my house without being on camera.

 

[cynicwanderer]

I use Spot Trace on some of my assets including as a race tracker on my bike.. the service fee is more than the one above. it works via satelite in US and MX. has wake on movement and battery status, and there is phone app to alert you. also, has a anti wake function for boats.

 

[JDDurfey]

We use a device to track our trailers in the oil field. I don't know that we have ever had any stolen, but we did misplace one for a couple of months once.

The ones we use is a small black device we zip tie in view of the sky. They are a great tool when we need them.

 

[MTPyle]

I ordered two of them. The suppler said they come standard with only one ping per 24 hours to save battery. But I bet that's because they pay per ping. He said you can increase the amount of pings per day but it uses more battery, so I assume the 5 year battery is based on once per 24 hour ping.

They set up an account on web site and its pretty cool. I think I can increase the ping rate when I want so maybe when we go racing I will make it ping every 3-4 hours. But once a day is fine for 90% of the time.

Mike

 

[Zambo]

I ordered two of them. The suppler said they come standard with only one ping per 24 hours to save battery. But I bet that's because they pay per ping. He said you can increase the amount of pings per day but it uses more battery, so I assume the 5 year battery is based on once per 24 hour ping.

They set up an account on web site and its pretty cool. I think I can increase the ping rate when I want so maybe when we go racing I will make it ping every 3-4 hours. But once a day is fine for 90% of the time.

Mike

Let us know how it works. It would be super helpful if you could do the one ping a day but if something got stolen you could track it every 10 minutes or so

 

[EL ROMAN]

Thanks for posting this. I have also been looking into quality asset tracking device considering insurance doesn't always make sense (more referring to a fully custom built race vehicle). I called to ask a few questions that I figured would help others. The 2 products I was looking at was their Trailer GPS Tracker and the GPS Asset Tracking Device. Both run off of AT&T 3G/4G networks and includes Canada and Mexico with the standard purchase. They default to ping twice a day on a scheduled time (e.g. 10am and 10pm). It comes with a tracker app that works with both Android and iOS. Battery life is 2.5 years for the asset tracker and 5 years for the trailer tracker. Subscription is included for 3 years and after that you can purchase a new battery for $40 and $20 per year subscription after the first 3 years. You can turn on the aggressive mode to track real time, either triggered via geofence perimeter or manually turning on. Manually turning on will only trigger on the scheduled time however (10am and 10pm). Company is local for me, so that is a bit of a plus. Because I was am looking for 2 (truck and trailer), they recommended sticking to the GPS Asset Tracking Device on both. Smaller and in the same platform (trailer one is a different app), priced a bit lower at $225 vs the trailer one at $275. Looks like I'm gonna try it out.

 

[fishd00d]

The best one you can get for your $$ is the Spot Trace. I use these for all my Fishgistics trackers. They cost $99, you can usually find sales for buy one get one free a couple times a year also. Then for the year service its like $99-$120/year. They will update you every 2.5-60min whatever you have the ping set to. For a theft use I would have it set to 10-30min. The longer period the longer the battery will last. They work off GPS so you don't have to worry about cell service (they work in the middle of nowhere in Baja).

The batteries will last for MONTHS (4 AAA Lithium) if not being used much. They can send you alerts when your device starts moving as well which I would totally have set to on for something like this. It also sends you an alert when the battery is low.

They are super small like half a dollar bill size and self contained. Can easily be hidden. It will send a signal through fiberglass or even the roof of a car, I have had them have an issue inside an enclosed trailer but I would just mount it on the roof and hide it.

 

[MTPyle]

Fish, the Spot is great for sure. But for trailer use its more money and higher maintenance than the link above.

I just got my two units from the link provided here. I will install them today and you guys can come try to steal my trailer. Lets see how it works. LOL just kidding, don't do that.

Mike

 

[johndjmix]

Spot Trace for the win...

 

[paranoid56]

Fish, the Spot is great for sure. But for trailer use its more money and higher maintenance than the link above.

I just got my two units from the link provided here. I will install them today and you guys can come try to steal my trailer. Lets see how it works. LOL just kidding, don't do that.

Mike

two different things, onces a sat based and the other is cell based. you might be good with cell for 90% of places

 

[MTPyle]

Yeah I get that. I have a Garmin Inreach and a Iridium Go. So I get the tech.

the issue with the spot or any sat device is power. What I like about this device that started this thread is it’s a mount and forget, for years. If I put a spot I would need a external power source or charge the device each time I use the trailer.

I have not even mounted them on my trailers yet. I need to soon.

I think cell will cover more than 90% of where my trailer would be taken if stolen.

Mike

 

[Wendell #527]

I think they need devices that explode when stolen. Blow the thieves to hell with the touch of a button.

Then again I think anybody breaking into your house should waive have any rights. Whatever happens to them should be at the homeowners discretion.

I guess I should lighten up and chill out.

 

[cynicwanderer]

yes, the Spot tracker is sat based and has a motion detector, so it sleeps when the asset is not moving. once it is disturbed (i.e. moves), it will update at whatever rate you programmed it to. it also wakes up when the battery gets low and sends alerts. one other feature it has, is an on/off switch. so if you know you will be moving your asset, but don't want to waste battery you can turn it off. just have to remember to turn it back on when you park it ;-). it will ping you if someone turns it on/off. you can plug it into vehicle power with a weather proof cable kit, if you're trailer has a battery. the internal battery will act as backup. it's small, so it's easy to hide. if your trailer has a fiberglass roof/sides, you can stick it inside. you can track it on their website or on your phone with their app. I have been using mine for over 3 years. the battery will last over a year, if you move it occasionally (like a season of BITD races and practices). it's on my bike, and is very rugged. I.e. I have broken several race/scoring trackers on my bike, but not the Spot, yet. they go on sale every so often. the only thing I don't like about it, is that I think the yearly subscription fee is high for my "hobby" usage, I.e. I wish they had a low usage option. I also wish I could get the raw tracking data from them, rather than only their visual interface. I think you have to sign up as a developer to get that.

 

[Class10DAN]

tape an Iphone with a power bank under the trailer and call it a day?

 

[lllux]

The best one you can get for your $$ is the Spot Trace. I use these for all my Fishgistics trackers. They cost $99, you can usually find sales for buy one get one free a couple times a year also. Then for the year service its like $99-$120/year. They will update you every 2.5-60min whatever you have the ping set to. For a theft use I would have it set to 10-30min. The longer period the longer the battery will last. They work off GPS so you don't have to worry about cell service (they work in the middle of nowhere in Baja).

The batteries will last for MONTHS (4 AAA Lithium) if not being used much. They can send you alerts when your device starts moving as well which I would totally have set to on for something like this. It also sends you an alert when the battery is low.

They are super small like half a dollar bill size and self contained. Can easily be hidden. It will send a signal through fiberglass or even the roof of a car, I have had them have an issue inside an enclosed trailer but I would just mount it on the roof and hide it.

If they only use GPS how does it send information out?

Do you mean it uses a satellite data connection?

 

[cynicwanderer]

If they only use GPS how does it send information out?

Do you mean it uses a satellite data connection?

uses Irridium, for communication, if I'm not mistaken. short data is pretty efficient WRT power.

 

[fishd00d]

If they only use GPS how does it send information out?

Do you mean it uses a satellite data connection?

Yes sorry I meant sat, unlike the others that need a cell signal. Good luck with those. For what we do one of those cell signal ones is useless much of the time.

You will not find a better tracker than the Spot Trace for the $$ and use. The batteries will last months easily or more if it just gets used here and there so no need to worry about power unless youre using it everyday.

 

[TwistyItch]

I think they need devices that explode when stolen. Blow the thieves to hell with the touch of a button.

Then again I think anybody breaking into your house should waive have any rights. Whatever happens to them should be at the homeowners discretion.

I guess I should lighten up and chill out.

I know a guy in Taiwan that manufactures and sells a front-wheel locking device for scooters. In Taiwan scooters are everywhere, it's insane how many there are. The great thing about this device is that it alerts you that your scooter is moving, where and at what speed. When the thief gets up to speed, you can push a button and it locks the front wheel instantly! Good times ensue.

I suppose if you made something like that for your trailer, maybe locking up only one side for maximum fun, you'd get sued or go to jail for harming the thief. Remote actuated explosive bolts for the trailer axles could be a lot of fun also.