vehicle tracker

[Oakmaster]

Can anyone advise / comment on vehicle tracker systems? What's good what’s not? and where is the best place to fit them on a late model Defender

[Snagger]

You want a location to be posted online to tell thieves where to look to disable them? Think it out...

[benji09]

Google there is loads of componys that can come out to fit them not sure what's good and bad tho

[Oakmaster]

You want a location to be posted online to tell thieves where to look to disable them? Think it out...

Yes I was being a bit dim there wasn't I

[Snagger]

I would love to fit one myself, but the prices are high for many f them and I suspect that most professional thieves have jammers. I'm fortunate in having a deterrent - my LR is too old and obsolete to be desirable for most thieves, and is too mucked about with to be desirable to the classic trade. It is also so modified that most of the arts are instantly and uniquely identifiable. It should keep the professionals from taking it.

[ianmayco68]

Paddocks sell one called Skytag was thinking of fitting one myself it's £114 don't know if its any good but I have heard and read a few posts were they were mentioned.

[V8Pete]

I've got a Skytag fitted and it works well. Sends a text if it moves away from my house or if the battery is disconnected.

[benji09]

If they want it enuf they will take it I was at a friends garage last month and a defender was took in broad daylight on the back of a truck mine is 1988 and if they took it they would bring it back lol

[Peaklander]

There's one called Syrus (Visionairegps) which is self monitored and communicates by email and text. You can login anytime to see the vehicle position, heading, speed etc.

My family used this feature to follow our progress last spring as we wandered about in Greece and the Balkans. It didn't work in all of them as the sim wouldn't always connect to a mobile network (Albania, Serbia).

The alerts are set by you and after an initial purchase the cost is £72 per year (for the sim data). This includes the roaming I mentioned above.

[Litch]

I have a Skytag on my 90 and a Tracker on the motorhome, costs are very different but it all depends on how much you are willing to spend. Of course they can all be defeated by people with the right means but you can only do so much.

Skytag is cheap and simple to fit and the people you run it are very nice and as helpful as can be.

Apart from the 30-day checks and the low battery & disconnect alerts (common if the vehicle has been stood up for a long time and the voltage dips when you crank the engine) if you ever want to check that all is ok (if you have been working on the vehicle or are away from home for a few days) all you have to do is give them a ring, quote the serial number and they will tell you the current location, even email you a Google image of the address if you like.

Fitting is simple enough, all you have to do is first decide on a suitable location. After I had decided on mine (I had a flash of brilliance one day and am really chuffed with the location I chose) I first fitted it on a temporary basis and then contacted Skytag to make sure the signal got through ok as there was no point completing the installation only to find it was too well shielded for the signal to be received. With the ok from them I then took it all apart again and installed it permanently.

Tracker is much more expensive and while it is meant to be a better system the customer service is not a patch on Skytag.

Professionally installed and with a 5-year contract in force (i.e. high initial £ outlay) it was a bit of a bummer to find out 12-months later that it had never been working correctly and if the vehicle had been stolen then the Tracker would have been no use whatsoever. They informed us of this and sent a mobile engineer out to sort it (along with a few hundred others!) but the lack of monitoring or regular report has shown up a major flaw with the system and put a major dent in their credibility.