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I know nothing about TrackR, but Tile works flawlessly in my experience *as what it is*. If you are expecting these devices to be GPS trackers, you are going to be disappointed. But what Tile is designed to do, it does very well.

I would have little faith in a Bluetooth based device. Seems to me just a GPS enabled tracker would work and could be small / cheap enough to be viable without all the expense and complexity of a cell phone based unit. But, you still need law enforcement willing to step up and retrieve your stolen item. I know several folks who were able to track their stolen iPhones, but the cops wouldn't do anything. So that leaves you to confront a thief, who may be armed and willing to use deadly force. And you probably have to do this on their turf.

Isn’t the police reluctance a result of GPS not being able to indicate the vertical location of said iPhone, so that several apartments in a multistory building could hold the stolen phone. That excludes probable cause for a specific search.

In DK we had a test period for an attempted widening of more or less public wifi.

All routers have a residual capacity beyond what the subscribers pay for. Point was that if a subscriber allowed for others to access that capacity, they would themselves be allowed to the freed capacity of other subscribers. The provider in question promised that giving that access would not expose the given LAN’s to hacking.

I and most other subscribers didn’t trust that guaranty, so the supposed widening of the wifi access did not happen. And suddenly the test was cancelled, because hackers had exploited the access to their routers given by a few subscribers.

For these small Bluetooth devices to work, the general standards for phones, pads, and computers should have an algorithm transforming a Bluetooth signal to a web message automatically sent to you the owner. I doubt that could be done safely.

Rather I would fear the funny guys to use Bluetooth scanners to search for items that somebody found worthwhile making trackable.

As for active GPS transmitters for cars and machinery from farms and from the building industry then the thieves know how to unmount them. A couple of prospective car thieves were arrested due to their behavior. One assisting factor getting them convicted was that they carried tools specifically directed towards removing GPS transponders.

There are GSM/GPS trackers available for reasonable prices, but as imperialbari points out, they're not foolproof.

I have a Trackimo that I can attach to a drone in order to locate it if necessary. Fortunately I've never had to test it in the field. The 'Spy Tek' unit in the comparison at the bottom of the page is larger and cheaper but heavier and therefore not suitable for most hobbyist drones.

The other drawback to either GPS/cell or Bluetooth devices is battery life. In particular, the GPS devices will only work 1 - 3 days without being recharged.

Mark wrote:The other drawback to either GPS/cell or Bluetooth devices is battery life. In particular, the GPS devices will only work 1 - 3 days without being recharged.

There is a GPS tracker on amazon (with lots of creepy application descriptions about keeping track of your wife) that claims a 2 week battery life, which would work for most Greyhound shipments.

kmorgancraw wrote:

Mark wrote:The other drawback to either GPS/cell or Bluetooth devices is battery life. In particular, the GPS devices will only work 1 - 3 days without being recharged.

There is a GPS tracker on amazon (with lots of creepy application descriptions about keeping track of your wife) that claims a 2 week battery life, which would work for most Greyhound shipments.

It may do this by having a very large update interval. If it only updates every 4 hours, that would prolong the batter life; but unless the item was not moving, it would make it very difficult to determine an exact location.

Perhaps something like this?

http://www.spytecinc.com/dewalt-mobilel ... alarm.html" target="_blank