who fitted one of these..?

Why would anyone use one (you actually mean a GPS blocker) if they didn't know it was there ?...

These things have their purpose in life, it's just (as above) they don't actually stop your van being nicked.

 

for the casual car thief i'd agree, but i'd guess the majority of bays stolen are taken by proffesional thieves, if that is the case a gps blocker is a tool of the trade, these vans are ******* easy to nick unless they are locked away or padlocked to death, electrical cut outs etc are a wast eof time in my opinion, you really need to make it non towable/trailer able as most get taken on a truck i bet.

 

You can get special low contract SIM cards £3/mnth for this sort of application http://www.controlfreqgsm.com//page/simcards also I read that virgin do not cancel inactive PAYG sims either at all or much longer time limit than the other networks.
I thought is was common for thieves to park up a car somewhere after theft to find out if it has any form of location system, this could be the point where you recover your vehicle if a blocker has not been used.

 

I got one of these as the insurance required it as part of the agreed value cover if I didn't garage it. The benefit as Rick has said is that if your van gets nicked its Plod that goes looking for it rather than you having to chase down potentially dodgy and dangerous characters. Apparently all patrol cars are equipped to locate Tracker stuff so once they have it reported stolen they are pretty quick to locate the vehicle. Once installed its about £120 per year for the service.

 

Just want to dispel a couple of myths:

Not all Police cars have Tracker, in fact very few have these days (you can tell the ones that have as they have 4 aerials on the roof) as Tracker lost a major share in the market due to being over priced.

Paid for services geo fence the car - they also 'poll' the car every few minutes - if they don't receive a signal, the service operator rings you, they also ring you if your battery gets disconnected or runs low, if you want you can link them to alarms and various other things. What this means is theoretically, the worse situation you are in is that the van has been gone a couple of minutes....appreciate that it can go a certain distance in a couple of minutes...but you can ask for the system to be activated immediately.

As for gsm and gps blockers and their effect on units - there is a huge difference in signals strength between the cheapo ones (based on a mobile phone) and the more expensive ones - ask if the unit has serf technology as that hunts for signal far more than most.

No system in infallible - which is why the military can loose drones etc.

Whilst I believe Tracker have the best security against gsm blockers, they also have next to no coverage in rural or hilly areas and can be compromised in their own right. Some of the latest non Tracker units also use WiFi, so it can make a burst transmission to any BTOpenreach hub for example as it passes by - and we have a lot of open hubs in this country - that burst transmission can contain its historical direction of travel and speed - all of which can help the control centre help the police with forecasting next phase of journey.

My view is layer your security to a point where it doesn't become a hindrance to you - the best defence I've found is Neighbourhood Watch. I also think that people need to get a grip on the 'professional gangs' there is NO MONEY in these vans compared to what 'professional gangs' earn flipping Range Rovers and Audi's etc. I've been in two of the Met's serious car crime squads garages and some old van that you have to be careful how you ring it, and then find a buyer is way too much effort.

Are these vans nicked so that people can earn money off them - yes - but its not the organised gangs that people think it is.

 

ok, so clearly a hot topic but thank you so much for all your input. i realise it's a subject we cover a lot but the differing views on products and types are really useful.

 

Being pedantic: there's likely no difference in the performance of units that combine GPS and GSM/GPRS as a bearer. They're all based on chipsets that go into mobiles. SIRF were good, but the built-in GPS receivers in mobiles these days are their equal. Tracker, I believe, uses VHF rather than GPS technology, which should make it more robust.

Agree that it's unlikely to be pros who'll nick your van. Casual thieves and the travelling community are the greatest risk, I'd think. Rather than ringing, they'll just strip the van for parts and scrap.

 

those with or contemplating getting the Tracker ones, which package did/would you go for; the thatcham cat 5?
if i can sell the house without the help of a shiny suit then i may be able to afford it :/

 

another question, or two...

i am looking at getting a fuel cut off thingy fitted this weekend (about £50 for the unit before fitting, i think) not just security but fire safety. am also looking into alarms... would this amazon tracking unit (as posted on first post) do the same thing for less?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tracker-Veh...NYCK&coliid=I2MPI51R0HRX1M#productDescription

 

thanks scott, will prob be in touch

 

I have one or two, or is it three they work well.

 

It would operate the fuel cut off valve or turn off the electric fuel pump if you set it to, but could not cut the fuel supply itself without a valve or electric pump. It will text you if the doors are opened or if the vehicle moves outside an area you have set it to, the only niggle I found was its a bit long winded asking it to do something. If you have a smart phone you can get an app to program, I don't so I had to text it. below is a copy of the instructions to set up the movement alert.

11.5. Movement alert
Set up:when the unit stays immobile in a place for 3-10 minutes,the user can send SMS “move+password” to the
tracker device.It will reply “move OK”.In case of such a movement(the default distance is 200m),it will send
SMS “Move” along with a Geo-info to the authorized numbers,It will alarm in 3m interval.
Canclel: Send SMS “nomove+password to deactivate the movement alert

It sound worse than it is, here is the full instructions for the model I had, they are all very similar. as I said before much easier with the app.

 

If you were being a true pedant you'd state that mobile phone gps technology came after tracking devices, Sirf chips still are excellent and yes, the latest smartphones have technology somewhere in the ballpark, but then these cheapie Chinese units aren't using smart phone technology are they.

We are furiously agreeing.

I fitted a ton of Trackers over the years, and we migrated away as people weren't buying them...I suspect it's because they are expensive, non transferable and certainly a few years ago Tracker themselves were in disarray.

Cat 5 was the devacto standard, just hasn't been widely rolled out, the secondary 'check' device causes too many issues. When I was on the steering board for it, the idea was to stop car key thefts where they got the car keys and nicked the car...you need a second device, usually a bluetooth phone which caused its own issues.

 

ahh, so i'd still need a fuel cut off valve anyway?

 

Yes, it sends or cuts power to the valve but has no actual way of doing so itself. (unless you have an electric fuel pump)?

 

pretty sure i don't have an electric fuel pump. i'm going to have a valve fitted (i think it's a valve) so that fuel is cut off with ignition - mostly for fire safety. thought this may be a cheaper way but i guess not.
as for security i wonder if i'm better off sleeping in the bus - 'hell hath no fury than me being woken up before i'm ready'

 

The cut off valve will stop an opportunist if you have a hidden switch to turn the fuel supply off. It wont stop someone with a recovery truck winching it on though !

 

there's pitfalls with everything but i guess the key is belt and braces security.
in the event of a winching i just need something to remotely deploy these


it'll draw attention to it!

 

I have fitted one and it seems pretty good.
I think that the Bus wiring etc is so exposed that any alarm system or imobiliser would be easily bypassed by any self respecting twocker.
So i plumped for this :- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tracker-Veh...with gprs and vehicle theft protection system

You can wire it to cut out the ignition etc.
It has 2 antenae and at present mine works pretty well in my garage.
you can set it to alert when the bus is moved, or stopped for more than a set period, or just send you the coordinates when you ring the sim number.
If someone is going to use a sim blocker then they are pretty much determined to take the vehicle I suppose.