GPS / simcard tracking for stolen vehicles; anygood?

[Jonesy_sa]

Hi

Has anyone looked into a simple cheap way to track a vehicle such as in the case of it being stolen?
There's a few different types from sim card based through to dedicated GPS units.

[mudski]

A few years back I had a cheap eBay sim card jobbie in my Patrol. Worked well and was easy to us, I just kept forgetting to recharge the sim card. Lol.

[jff45]

I have a couple of the cheap Eelink TK319L units. 1 in the Patrol and the other in my wife's car. I use the $5 Aldi sims with the 365 days expiry.
I have geo-fences set for both. You can send it a message to activate something. It just connects a wire to earth so anything could be activated via a relay such as a fuel cutoff but it won't work above 20 km/h.
You can query where it is with a phone/tablet app or send a SMS and get GPS coordinates in reply. You can also use the app to query where it went on any given date and it replays the route that was taken.
It has a small built in battery that sends a message if main power to it is cut.

[Jonesy_sa]

I have a couple of the cheap Eelink TK319L units. 1 in the Patrol and the other in my wife's car. I use the $5 Aldi sims with the 365 days expiry.
I have geo-fences set for both. You can send it a message to activate something. It just connects a wire to earth so anything could be activated via a relay such as a fuel cutoff but it won't work above 20 km/h.
You can query where it is with a phone/tablet app or send a SMS and get GPS coordinates in reply. You can also use the app to query where it went on any given date and it replays the route that was taken.
It has a small built in battery that sends a message if main power to it is cut.How much are you paying for the SIM (data, SMS etc) apart from the $5 one off cost?

I like the idea of being able to query it's location.

[jff45]

How much are you paying for the SIM (data, SMS etc) apart from the $5 one off cost?

I like the idea of being able to query it's location.

SMS messages are 12c each but I don't use SMS at all. My original outlay for the sim was $20 i.e. $5 Aldi purchase + $15 top up for the 365 days expiry.
I've just checked one of the accounts on my phone and it shows 116 days left and still $18 credit balance from original $20 outlay. I did a few testing SMS initially so that used a couple of dollars.

IMO the cost is nothing compared to the advantage of being able to know if your vehicle moved and being able to see where it actually is and where it's going.

[Jonesy_sa]

Did you buy them locally? I'm seeing mainly AliExpress listings?

Maybe my search terms are poor but I assumed this would be a popular exercise and use of old mobile phones but I haven't found a suitable app as yet.

[jff45]

I bought both from eBay. They were around $90 at the time. I see they’re up around $115 now, still cheap..

[GQtdauto]

I have a couple of the cheap Eelink TK319L units. 1 in the Patrol and the other in my wife's car. I use the $5 Aldi sims with the 365 days expiry.
I have geo-fences set for both. You can send it a message to activate something. It just connects a wire to earth so anything could be activated via a relay such as a fuel cutoff but it won't work above 20 km/h.
You can query where it is with a phone/tablet app or send a SMS and get GPS coordinates in reply. You can also use the app to query where it went on any given date and it replays the route that was taken.
It has a small built in battery that sends a message if main power to it is cut.

Thanks I must look them up my spot trace now costs $300 a year which is getting exxy.

[Cremulator]

I've got one of these LiveTrek guardian GPS trackers. https://trackall.com.au/collections/our-products/products/livetrek-guardian
It uses an ALDI Sim with $5 credit that lasts 365 days. It has almost reached the 365 day mark and still has $4.30 credit on it.
It has a built in battery that lasts 2 weeks and I've got it connected to charge when the vehicle is running.
Tracking is done via an app called iCar.

It's ok. Location accuracy is reasonable, not amazing. It has geofence alarms and location history.

Certainly better than nothing and offers some piece of mind.