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Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on October 1, 2012 at 12:31pm

Headset GPS Tracker.

Blinky GPS Tracker.

I knew I wrote something about this before:

Permalink Reply by Kevin C on February 18, 2012 at 3:09pmDelete

Not quite the Holy Grail for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to: miniaturization, battery life, and line of sight. Bloke is correct that to date, the preferred method of concealment has been inside blinky lights. There're batteries there anyway, and the location offers an unobstructed sight line to the sky above. As Bloke also pointed out, sometimes loose stuff on bikes gets pilfered, and if you think it's frustrating losing a $30, blinky, wait until you lose one or two $130 blinkies. One of the reasons these almost always employ motion-activation is because it preserves battery life. This unit is essentially a transmitter, which broadcasts a GPS location, and in this case, also sends a text message to your phone, computer, etc. This particular model may also use triangulation between cell towers to determine location, but my understanding is that is a much less precise method than GPS. The lingering problem with GPS is line of sight, and frankly, I don't know how that can ever be overcome. When your stolen bike goes into the back of a van, a warehouse, a garage or a basement, its GPS transmission is no longer detectable by satellite. Line of sight is also the reason the GPS transmitter has to be somewhere on the exterior of your bike; i.e. can't be inside a tube, bag, or under the seat. Proponents suggest that given its intermittent, motion-triggered transmissions, the location of the stolen bike is most probably very near the last place from which it transmitted. I say, "maybe."

There is a police department affiliated with the Illinois State Police which operates a periodic sting operation with GPS-tracked bikes. Due to the requirements for proving criminal charges, this operation is labor-intensive and expensive. (A couple officers on bikes, a couple in a van, and at least one in a patrol car). Once the bike is stolen, the perpetrator must be followed to ensure that they can be charged with the theft and not merely possession of stolen property.

I too have a fascination with technological solutions to mundane problems, but you should watch the third SpyBike video "retrieving a stolen bike." Doesn't look very convenient to me. And at the risk of sounding like a Luddite, I don't think a GPS tracking unit is a preferable or cost-effective alternative to buying a $70 lock or two, and locking your bike properly, every time.

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