Air Tags - As a tracker on a motorcycle

[Morety]

…….thinking of securing an Apple Air Tag to each of my bikes in case of theft. Anyone tried this? Pros & Cons? They'd be well hidden away out of sight somewhere on the bikes. Seems as good on the face of it as a more expensive tracker subscription solution.

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Moved (and mildly edited) from the GPS section.

Richard

 

[Bigcats]

The problem is if the thief has a Apple phone it will alert them to a airtag being with them

Apple did this so you cannot stalk people by hiding airtags on them or their vehicle

So kind of pointless exercise as I know people think most thieves are idiots but they truly are not and would think of this in most cases.

Also it does require other iPhones to be close by

 

[Wapping]

Very little beats a properly installed and monitored tracker, not least as you get a notification as soon as the bike is moved. Yes, there are happenings of thieves finding the tracker and ripping it out but, overall, the recovery rate is probably pretty good. I doubt if an AirTag will get you an insurance discount. But hey, it’s cheap and, even if it does no good, it’ll do no real harm.

 

[er-minio]

As Bigcats pointed out: Airtags are not trackers by design.

A mid-cost solution is Monimoto. I have one on my GS and one on my car and they work very well.

 

[DJ123]

If you want a cheaper solution for tracking, a Monimoto 7 is only £129 (currently at motorworks), with a £36 per year subscription fee.

 

[sparkplug]

Just to provide another option, Teltonika do a waterproof one which would be ideal on a bike (they also do car ones for about £30)

 

[er-minio]

That's nice.

 

[G&T]

The problem is if the thief has a Apple phone it will alert them to a airtag being with them

I understand you can take the little speaker out therefore not alerting the thief.

Here’s how..

 

[er-minio]

herefore not alerting the thief

It will alert them on their phone.
This is definitely the case on iOS, there were plans to introduce the same thing on Android as Apple was heavily criticised for allowing people to use Airtags to stalk people, but I'm not sure if that was ever completed.

In general: if you are moving and and Airtag is moving with you and the owner of the airtag is not in range, you will be notified, as it is assumed that the airtag is being used maliciously to track you.

 

[Bigcats]

I understand you can take the little speaker out therefore not alerting the thief.

Here’s how..

Noooo

It also puts an alert on their phone not just makes a noise

Again the whole purpose was so people cannot stalk someone

 

[Redboots]

Just to provide another option, Teltonika do a waterproof one which would be ideal on a bike (they also do car ones for about £30)

From their specs, that's a big old lump.

Weight	100 g
Dimensions	20 × 15 × 4 cm

 

[Wicker]

From their specs, that's a big old lump.

Weight	100 g
Dimensions	20 × 15 × 4 cm

The website has smaller, more compact trackers for motorcycles

 

[Deleted account 240831001]

I use AirTags on my luggage when travelling by air but the thing you need to keep in mind is that for them to work there has to be a iPhone nearby. Given that if you’re stood in a baggage collection area at an airport there’s usually someone by every carousel with an iPhone you can soon find out if your bag is in that area of the airport yet or whether you’ve got time for a piss

You could view it that if a thief was notified they’d stolen something with an Air Tag they’d dump it straight away if you’ve hidden it well but I wouldn’t really rely on it.

 

[Bigcats]

I know we've been quite negative towards the Airtag because it does alert people close by

I remember reading on here someone actually recovered their bike because of an airtag!!

here it is

British Engineering - Cymarc

A quick note to comment on Cymarc’s parts. The two item’s I purchased were the main stand security modification and a TFT security brace. As per my comments below, the parts are really well made but that’s not really my main point. It’s brilliant to be able to talk to the people that make the...

www.ukgser.com

 

[The Other PaulG]

You could view it that if a thief was notified they’d stolen something with an Air Tag they’d dump it straight away if you’ve hidden it well but I wouldn’t really rely on it.

I agree with that - if the thief did receive an alert saying the bike had an airtag, and it was well concealed, it might just be enough deterrent to encourage them to move on. Yes it's not as good as a dedicated tracker, but if you have a tag kicking around the house (as I do) it's not a terrible idea.

 

[sparkplug]

The website has smaller, more compact trackers for motorcycles

Indeed - I was a bit quick in my posting last time, the one I meant to link to was this one which is somewhat smaller and lighter.

Costs marginally more at around £60 but still worthy of consideration.

 

[Fluffmeister]

If you want a cheaper solution for tracking, a Monimoto 7 is only £129 (currently at motorworks), with a £36 per year subscription fee.

I made my own from some eBay components for a couple of previous GS's, but I've switched to Monimoto 7's on my Mandello and V7 and am really happy, they work very well and are easy to hide out of the way somewhere.

Urban Rider had them with 15% off not long ago, so I took the plunge, and have to say I am happy thus far, it's not failed to work, even if I forget to take the key fob to the garage and move a few inches, the mobile starts ringing.

 

[sparkplug]

I must say that I've heard very good things about Monimoto and I'm undecided between that and the Teltonika.

I've got other Teltonika kit and it's excellent.

 

[er-minio]

Monimoto is fairly quick to set up.

I have both models. The 7 is hidden in the car, the older model (cylinder shaped) is in the bike.
The old one ran on the original batteries for more than 2 years.

The 7 sometimes fires false positives.
I've received calls while I was driving the car a handful of times now (the dongle is on the car keys' keychain).
This never happened with the old one.

It's a bit slow to react. But because it has to start up after being triggered.

Definitely a gizmo I would suggest.

 

[Morety]

I get the anyone can find out bit, but equally, if the opportunist nicks a bike and you have hidden the tag really well, causing them a lot of time and hassle finding it, it could be a decent back up. My son't school has a problem with school bags going missing and I was going to fit one of the air trackers (Elevation Tag Vault) to his which are designed to be stuck or sewn in.