Stolen Car / Motorcycle Tracking - GPS v AirTag v Tile etc

[KTMsm]

A friend has just had his car, motorcycle and tools stolen

I'm concerned about mine and would like to be able to track them if they are stolen to recover them

I believe the issues are:

GPS - more expensive, requires more battery and sight of the sky, frequently needs a subscription

Air Tag - smaller, cheaper, own battery, doesn't need sight of the sky, large user base but will notify a thief (if they have an iPhone) that an airtag is "following" them

Tile - as Air Tag but has an anti theft option but only has very small network in the UK as only works via other users of Tile and 360 app

Am I correct ?

Are there any better options ?

I'd like something for multiple cars and motorcycles plus ideally a few tools

[charltjr]

GPS doesn’t need sight of the sky, I have one of these tucked away in one of my cars and it works just fine. There is a subscription but it’s not expensive.

https://www.trutrak.co.uk/product-page/trutrak-fmt...

[Shiv_P]

Samsung SmartTag / AirTag will notify phones, therefore IMO useless.

[James B]

charltjr said:

GPS doesn’t need sight of the sky, I have one of these tucked away in one of my cars and it works just fine. There is a subscription but it’s not expensive.

https://www.trutrak.co.uk/product-page/trutrak-fmt...

Another Trutrak user here.

[Scrump]

Shiv_P said:

Samsung SmartTag / AirTag will notify phones, therefore IMO useless.

I have Samsung smart tags and none of the passengers in my vehicle have been notified they are being followed by the tag.

[KTMsm]

charltjr said:

GPS doesn’t need sight of the sky, I have one of these tucked away in one of my cars and it works just fine. There is a subscription but it’s not expensive.

https://www.trutrak.co.uk/product-page/trutrak-fmt...

I thought it was blocked by metal hence they are usually placed under the front or rear screens - my Garmin can't pick up a signal in my kitchen which has a steel roof

[KTMsm]

Shiv_P said:

Samsung SmartTag / AirTag will notify phones, therefore IMO useless.

Google suggests it has to be following for an hour or two which may or may not be a problem

I know Tile has a theft setting to avoid this

[liner33]

Air tags don’t notify immediately one of mine took a week and usually they can take a couple of days

I have two hidden in my car one with the speaker disabled .

[NorthDave]

I use a Tile in the car and also on a mountain bike. I'm away at the moment and the car is parked at the airport. I just checked and it last updated 10 minutes ago. Seems pretty good given it's low price and no subscription!

[KTMsm]

Those with Tile would I be right in thinking that updates of it's position in the countryside would be rare / non existent ?

[Shiv_P]

KTMsm said:

Those with Tile would I be right in thinking that updates of it's position in the countryside would be rare / non existent ?

Tile is crap in low density areas, however even AirTags and Samsung Tags would struggle, unless there are people locally