Stolen Van

Something to recommend to your neighbor: tell him to buy a Tile Pro and attach it to his next trailer or tractor in a place where it won't be easily found. If it's stolen, he'll at least have the possibility of tracking the location. It's a small expense, and it requires no maintenance beyond changing the battery once a year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: looney2ns, area651, Oceanslider and 1 other person
wtimothyholman said:
Something to recommend to your neighbor: tell him to buy a Tile Pro and attach it to his next trailer or tractor in a place where it won't be easily found. If it's stolen, he'll at least have the possibility of tracking the location. It's a small expense, and it requires no maintenance beyond changing the battery once a year.
Click to expand...
No doubt, a small price to pay in comparison to the money/lost wages that backhoe could make in a day.
 
wtimothyholman said:
Something to recommend to your neighbor: tell him to buy a Tile Pro and attach it to his next trailer or tractor in a place where it won't be easily found. If it's stolen, he'll at least have the possibility of tracking the location. It's a small expense, and it requires no maintenance beyond changing the battery once a year.
Click to expand...

Tile Pro is a bluetooth tracker right? Not gps. So you only know the last location known when it was connected to your phone.
 
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: CCTVCam and Oceanslider
Kameraad said:
Tile Pro is a bluetooth tracker right? Not gps. So you only know the last location known when it was connected to your phone.
Click to expand...
Correct, it is Bluetooth only (hence the long battery life), but it uses cloud-based tracking. Everyone with a smartphone who is running the Tile app provides the geolocation. If you need to locate your Tile, the Tile network will try to ping it. If anyone comes within 50 yards or so, their smartphone will forward the location to your phone.

It works best in an urban or suburban environment, where lots of smartphone users running the Tile app are scattered around the area. And once you are nearby, you can make the Tile Pro “chirp” to zero in on it.

It is not as foolproof as a dedicated GPS tracker, but it is cheap, and only requires a new battery about once a year. I have one hidden in each of my cars. It is a cheap theft recovery device that is certainly better than nothing at all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kameraad
wtimothyholman said:
Correct, it is Bluetooth only (hence the long battery life), but it uses cloud-based tracking. Everyone with a smartphone who is running the Tile app provides the geolocation. If you need to locate your Tile, the Tile network will try to ping it. If anyone comes within 50 yards or so, their smartphone will forward the location to your phone.

It works best in an urban or suburban environment, where lots of smartphone users running the Tile app are scattered around the area. And once you are nearby, you can make the Tile Pro “chirp” to zero in on it.

It is not as foolproof as a dedicated GPS tracker, but it is cheap, and only requires a new battery about once a year. I have one hidden in each of my cars. It is a cheap theft recovery device that is certainly better than nothing at all.
Click to expand...
Great idea, i will mention it to him. He should place one in his van as well, because they took the van too.
 
Looks like the Dog was in on it too, 5:40 mark, it went up to the truck to give a report, or maybe looking for something to eat :)
 
  • Haha
Reactions: djernie
area651 said:
Apparently, to register a trailer in TX, you just get a new piece of steel, stamp in a serial number that you make up and then weld it OVER the old serial number on the trailer. Then you go to the DPS (aka DMV in some states) and get a form for registering a "new, homebuilt trailer". You put your info on it along with the new serial number that you just put on it, get it "inspected" anywhere and then register it as a new trailer. DONE! It's very common to see a trailer with a welded on plate so when an inspection place does it, it's not a red flag or anything. And really, there are places that are known to not be exactly too judgemental for inspections if you know what I mean.
Click to expand...

Even easier in FL, homemade trailers have no serial number or title if they are under 2,000 LB.
 
  • Like
Reactions: djernie
wtimothyholman said:
Something else you can do is install the Tile app on your own phone. Even if you never purchase a Tile for your own use, you can become part of the recovery network for those who do.
Click to expand...

I just did that! It says there are 1,350 people around me who are using the app. I think that is very cool and will run the app even if I don't have a Tile (yet). Putting one of these in your car/truck seems like a no brainer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: djernie
Robert G. said:
I just did that! It says there are 1,350 people around me who are using the app. I think that is very cool and will run the app even if I don't have a Tile (yet).
Click to expand...
Amazon has talked about doing something very similar, using the Ring system as the network backbone. They have proposed selling Bluetooth trackers that will ping Ring doorbells to provide location updates via the Amazon Sidewalk protocol. In this case, everyone who has installed a Ring camera will become part of the recovery network, and there are a whole lot of Ring cameras out there.

I'm not a particular fan of the Ring system, but I would buy some of those Bluetooth trackers in a heartbeat if they became available.
 
  • Like
Reactions: djernie
Robert G. said:
Putting one of these in your car/truck seems like a no brainer.
Click to expand...
Or for that matter, sticking one under the seat of your motorcycle, bicycle, or electric scooter. Face it, the police will never recover those items on their own unless the criminals are incredibly stupid or careless. Putting a little bit of money into a Bluetooth tracker at least gives you a fighting chance of locating your stolen property.
 
  • Like
Reactions: djernie
wtimothyholman said:
Correct, it is Bluetooth only (hence the long battery life), but it uses cloud-based tracking. Everyone with a smartphone who is running the Tile app provides the geolocation. If you need to locate your Tile, the Tile network will try to ping it. If anyone comes within 50 yards or so, their smartphone will forward the location to your phone.

It works best in an urban or suburban environment, where lots of smartphone users running the Tile app are scattered around the area. And once you are nearby, you can make the Tile Pro “chirp” to zero in on it.

It is not as foolproof as a dedicated GPS tracker, but it is cheap, and only requires a new battery about once a year. I have one hidden in each of my cars. It is a cheap theft recovery device that is certainly better than nothing at all.
Click to expand...

O wow, didn't know that. That sounds pretty great for that price. Thanks for the info! How do you check how many people in the area are using the app? Thought i'd check before buying..
 
Kameraad said:
O wow, didn't know that. That sounds pretty great for that price. Thanks for the info! How do you check how many people in the area are using the app? Thought i'd check before buying..
Click to expand...
You can download the Tile app to check on the number of users in your area. The app is free, although of course you need to buy a Tile to use the network yourself. But in any case, running the app on your smartphone will make you part of the recovery network for those who are using Tiles.
 
  • Like
Reactions: djernie
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom