Good afternoon all.

Hoping for some advice - what is the latest opinions on Tracker vs. the other brands os sat/nav tracking etc. I am in the market for one and wanted some advice.

How have people got on with some of the newer ones? Also, you techy chaps, what do you think is the best?!

Thanks in advance,

Jon.

They usually put the antenna/transmitter for the tracker in the boot or under your back seat. They are not allowed to put it behind the dash.
A smart fella would talk nicely to the installer and ask him to put it somewhere ... else.

Please , pretty please can I have some opinions?!

:-)

Sorry, this won't help you very much, but Subaru UK will be offering the RAC Trackstar system as an option on all new Subaru's soon, and will be standard fit on the P1.

They must have a good reason for doing this, so I'd probably go down the same route.

I've got RAC Trackstar on mine. Comes with a "find your way there if you're lost service" by mobile. I used it trying to find the Peterborough VRO 2 days after having it installed!

So far no problems - they could locate me fine when I needed it.

Richard

I've had the Skynet/Skamp fitted from new and it's very good - got a call in Italy to tell me that my alarm was going off (Thunder set the alarm off in Manchester Airport - they contacted the Airport security to see if it was ok)
Also - I always ask them to monitor the car when I put it in for a service - just to see where they take it.
They faxed me the map of the car's whereabouts for the day - it had been monitered doing 90mph on the motorway - when I confronted the staff - you should have seen their faces.
It's well worth the peace of mind (15 pounds per month)

Regards

Dario

Mossman.

Tracker is sold as 2 options:
Standard Tracker where you report when the car is missing and Tracker Monitor where an alarm signal is sent to Tracker to say that the car has moved.
Tracker then activate the locating signal. With Tracker Monitor however, Tracker will not alert the Police until you have responded and reported the car stolen.
Your car is then located by Traffic cars or helicopters fitted with recievers who hunt it down 'a la' James Bond.
Tracker uses radio signals which apparently will penetrate a container or lorry (they also have recievers at many ports and docks apparently).

Other products that use GPS will actually locate your car to within a meter. The only problem with them is that the car must be in line of sight.
If it is hidden therefore in a trailer or container the signal is lost.

Problems with all of them are that apparently there are standard installations for different cars so a theif can potentially know where to look.
Thieves will often steal the car and leave it in a field or remote car park. If it is recovered quickly they will assume that a tracker is fitted.
That isn't necessarily the end though. With the previous comment in mind they my return and remove the Tracker before driving off.

At the end of the day I think all Trackers are excellent security and you can only do as much as you can do to deter the filth that for some reason think it's OK to take peoples property.

I hope this has been of some use.

Firstly, I hate Browsers, I just spent the last 10 minutes writing a load of stuff on this, started pasting in URLs and then accidently closed the window. Doh!
Anyway, Neil has said much of what I originally wrote but here are some URLs:

Mossman
Asked a copper friend of mine for his advice and he says a sat system like Trackstar is better as tracker relies on the cops having the tracker system switched on in their car.
Also depends if copper is pro-car anti-car,going off shift etc wheras sat system is always ready to hunt down your motor.

Chip.

My Old Man, is a Bizzie/Rozzer/Babylon/Fuzz/Police Constable...He swears by Tracker, as it's the only one used by all forces and his force has recovered every car fitted with a tracker.

Can't be bad. So I got one !!!

Thinking about tracker too, does it work ? is it easy for the crims to detect or should I not put one on and get some stickers ? that would confuse the *******s

Tal

Not had need to test my Tracker Monitor yet, but one thing I can say for certain is that the antenna is neither under the passenger seat nor in the boot!

Tal, u northern monkey http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/wink.gif

Tracking devices do not have stickers...you not want a prospective theif knowing you have one installed so that they look for it, meaning the plods cant catch em!...assuming of course that they arent too busy giving out parking tickets or pulling you over for dodgy number plates.

Regards

mossman,please check your email

the thing with tracker is that it does require the police to have equipment in the car. Trackstar only requires that the police have a radio or indeed any way of keeping in touch with the outside world, hence my choice.

I've spoken to a couple of police patrol guys on separate occasions. They only switch on their tracker unti when they're bored or when they specifically are looking for a stolen car. In which case the stolen car could get picked up if it's in a city or a motorway - but take it into the countryside & it's lost.

I can confirm after taking to an approved Tracker installer who has installed in Impreza's that there is only one place to put the Tracker unit. If he has told me - then you can bet the crims know about it.

I suppose that it's just an extra weapon in the armoury, although I think that the insurance companies could do more to encourage fitting.

As I have stated before - RAC Trackstar is the one.

You don't need to have efficiently equipped plod. Despite the fact they only have street maps for UK, they can pinpoint it anywhere in the World! With the guardian option, there is additional immobilising. Immediately accurate. In fact, no contest.

10% discount for SIDC members - ask for Ian Woodward.

I've gone for NavTrak, as my local trusted dealer recommends it.

It offers a breakdown location service, route finding and stolen tracking service just as RAC Trackstar does. However, it is only "passive" at the moment. This is due to change "soon" (ha) with an optional box.

Cost is 350 quid plus fitting, plus 10.99 a month for service. Includes 20 calls a year for the route finding service.

My experience has been less than ideal. A month after fitting, I phoned to find out if the system was working. Phoned back two hours later and told that the unit "timed out" a response. Turns out it was a duff unit.

Just tried again today and got a response in two minutes, and pinpointed my parking spot which I thought was impossible with standard GPS. Oh well, not complaining. Also asked about the update for "active" tracking. No date as yet.

Is there a Navtrack website - I cannot find it ! Thanks for all the advice. Trackstar looks good but a lot of spons!

If anyone has Tracker (or similar) fitted by their dealer before picking up their new car, be careful.

I had mine (24hr Monitor) fitted by Vale in Wincanton, and paid up front to the dealer. A month or so later Tracker got in touch with me to ask for payment!

To be fair to Tracker, they were excellent and handled the problem themselves, once I'd faxed them the sales invoice of the car to prove I'd already paid - seems the dealer had decided to pocket it! Plus, when Tracker asked the dealer to fax certain details of installation/payment, they wouldn't!

I think its all sorted now, although I'm no longer sure if got the 24hr Monitor system I wanted, or just the standard one.

Anyway, just a warning... particularly to anyone dealing with a certain S/W dealer

Paul L

Navtrack's website can be found at <A HREF=http://www.navtrack.com>http://www.navtrack.com</A>.

Apparently, the stuff is currently undergoing thatcham approval for this category (not yet released to public, I thought?)