Reasonably priced "lojack"

[coldfeet]

There have been several threads around this subject, and a couple of companies that make something close to suitable.
Problems are: ( at least one, if not multiples. )
1.Purchase cost is unreasonable. >$300
2.Requires signing up to a service for monthly fee.
3.Is too big or has too high a current drain.

To be successful, it needs,
1. To cost less than $250
2.Small enough to be reasonably hidden on the bike.
3. Standby time in excess of a week.
4.Use a GSM phone component that will allow use of a pay-as-you-go with long expiry on minutes.

The idea is, when the bike gets stolen, you cal the number of the unit, it figures out its location and sends an SMS with the info.

From what little I know of the technology, I think this is possible, any others on the list who know more want to comment?

[ericy]

There have been several threads around this subject, and a couple of companies that make something close to suitable.
Problems are: ( at least one, if not multiples. )
1.Purchase cost is unreasonable. >$300
2.Requires signing up to a service for monthly fee.
3.Is too big or has too high a current drain.

To be successful, it needs,
1. To cost less than $250
2.Small enough to be reasonably hidden on the bike.
3. Standby time in excess of a week.
4.Use a GSM phone component that will allow use of a pay-as-you-go with long expiry on minutes.

The idea is, when the bike gets stolen, you cal the number of the unit, it figures out its location and sends an SMS with the info.

From what little I know of the technology, I think this is possible, any others on the list who know more want to comment?

Finding a good place to hide it would be harder than with a car. I guess I would make the thing cylindrical in shape, remove the seatpost , and drop it down into the frame. And probably glue it in place so it couldn't be removed easily. The problem is then that the metal frame of the bike would shield the antenna, unless of course the bike frame itself became the antenna.

Keeping the batteries charged is going to be a challenge - you don't have an electrical system that you can tie into.

You could I suppose build it into a dynohub which would provide the power, but only when the bike was being ridden.

[kf5nd]

the lojack would be worth more than most bikes!