mlcrycc

I'll track the asshats myself......

http://www.mymobileguardian.com/

samuraidad

Hey guys the cops do not wait to activate for 48 hours. As soon as the vehicle is reported stolen the activation is triggered. We have guys who ride around all the time looking for signals in marked and unmarked patrol cars. It is a very good system as well as a lot of the others. Check with you local P.D. (auto theft unit) and they can tell you what the hot items are on the street are. Like anything else if they want it the system can be defeated. Most units have a back up battery to power the unit if the main battery is disabled. But that won't help if the guys takes the car and trashes it in a chase or for the joy.

I do recommend some type of alarm and or tracking device because something is better than nothing.

And yes I am taking from experience as I spent 4 years in auto theft in a major south Florida PD.




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Sprzout

+1 on this...My dad just got his Lojack reactivated todayin the BMW that he bought recently (he bought it used, Lojack was already installed by the previous owner, with that keyfob). Well, he took it to the local Costco today, and was pulled over because they thought the car was stolen (it turns out that the Lojack keyfob's battery was low/dead) and the Lojack system had been activated. He said the cop was really cool about it after they discovered that the problem was just with a low battery, and that he was the registered owner of the car, and was actually jazzed that the cop stopped him! He said the system works, which, while it's not exactly how he'd wanted to find out how it works, is glad that it DOES function the way it's supposed to.

wthalliii

After reviewing LoJack and several others, I bought a KarrTrack system from the Mobile Guardian folks. http://www.mymobileguardian.com/vehicle_tracking.html

The KarrTrack system is new, so they don't have any information about it on their web site. You'll have to call them to find out about it.

It does some amazing things. You log into their website (it's www.karrtrack.com, but there is no public area - you have to have a password), and you can send a command to your car to ask it where it is. It locates the car within a few feet on a map. You can also look at the location on satellite pictures. Also, if the alarm on your car goes off, it will send you an email and/or text message your cell phone. You can also set a "geo fence". That's an imaginary circle around the car, and if it crosses the line, you get an email and/or text message. You can also set a maximum speed. I guess that's for making sure your kids don't speed, LOL. And, you can send a command to disable the ignition. It doesn't turn off the car, but it makes it so that it can't be started again.

It works with GPS, of course. And if your car's somewhere that it can't see GPS, that's okay, it remembers the last valid location it had. It sends commands and responses through the digital phone system, so it works anywhere a cellphone works. That's most anywhere.

What does it cost? About $750 to have the unit installed. Mobile Guardian will refer you to a dealer, and you'll buy it from them, so the price will vary a bit. And then, you have to pay for each alarm message and command. You prepay for them in quantity. I bought 100 for about $25, so each command costs 25 cents. You can also subscribe to Angel service, which allows you to call them and have them issue commands. That's handy if you're not where you can access the internet. I forget what I paid for that.

I did have trouble with the system at one point. It stopped working. But they came out to my workplace and fixed it. It turned out that they needed to reseat the sim card. I have had the system since May 10, and that has been the only glitch.

It works amazingly well. I went on a business trip recently and parked my Mustang at the airport. When I got to the terminal, I got on the internet and set a 1/8 mile diameter geo fence. When I got back from my trip, I didn't reset the geo fence, and when I got about 1/4 mile from the original location, I got an email on my Blackberry.

Diabolical!

I have it. It's good insurance.

Sprzout

Oh, one thing I learned today about Lojack; some insurance companies will give discounts for having it. However, MY insurance company, State Farm, does not. Not exactly a problem, because I'm still getting cheaper insurance on my GT than anywhere else, even if I were to get a discount for having Lojack...

Karrmer

Preface: I work in LE in San Diego.

Lojack works by having four antennas on the roof of the patrol vehicles, each one receives a signal from the lojack hit and triangulates the direction it is coming from. The box in the vehicle tells us how strong the signal is and a general idea of what direction its coming from. Generally you need quite a few cops working together to pinpoint it, or even easier of ASTREA (the helicopter) gets involved because they have it too.

It's a good system and is worth it if you live just about anywhere that isn't on a border to Mexico. If someone asked me around HERE if lojack is worth it for a *NEW* car I would tell them no. Almost all new cars are stolen to bring to mexico and sell and there is nothing we can do (we keep a log of all the Lojack hits that go off that are actually for cars down in Mexico)

If you have an old *** car grab Lojack because they're usually stolen to use in crimes and stuff around town, and if you're no where near a border go ahead and buy it for your new car too.

If you're in San Diego though, save your money They rarely ever steal a new car unless you leave the keys in it anyway.