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Review on Spot SPOT TRACE 01 Trace Orange Small by Charlie Wilson

Revainrating 1 out of 5

They rented a meth lab - but the greedy company raised the prices

We were robbed several times at a construction site. I ordered a few of these but they didn't make it in time for the last theft. or so I thought. It's been quiet for a month and last night they attacked us again. First, they stole my $15,000 tractor and $2,100 attachments, a cement mixer, and some other tools. I wish I had a tracker with me all the time, but I didn't think people steal tractors (we think they towed it to a trailer). So I recently bought a replacement router, just an 18" pitch for a stand alone drive. One who is still waiting for insurance for big things. And of course I put Spot Trace on it. He lay there less than a week and we came back. My builder calls me at 7:30 am and says they broke into his office trailer, he's a total bum, stole a bunch of tools, our security cameras and DVR, office stuff, even personal belongings that have no value. And they stole my tiller. so I'm not upset, I'm excited. I check the app on my phone and can't find what I want, the screen is too small so I go to my computer, go to the website and see they first moved my tiller at 9:16pm then fiddled around 3 hours and drove home just after midnight. They probably broke into the trailer at the time. They drove 5-7 kilometers down a dead end road to their house. Spot Trace didn't give me an address, so I used a network tax district map that I use frequently and called the police to let them know. It only took 5 minutes from the time the theft was reported to finding out the address of the thieves. The police came, and then a detective was needed. So it took some time. I think the detective's plan at the time was to leave and he said to ask for a search and if they refused permission to wait for a search warrant. It was a bit controversial, the pickup truck was parked outside, still loaded with belongings, dumped by an armed convicted felon, another thief drove away on a motorcycle and unfortunately escaped. Whoever was with the truck was arrested, the truck itself was also stolen from a third party, and there was a methamphetamine lab on-site. And while the cops were still there, some guy came in delivering the ingredients for the meth and got arrested too. I think they might actually watch this tonight in hopes of catching some more junkies. So we got my tiller back and everything else that was stolen but not the stuff that was stolen in June. I think it must have been the same criminals, but they've probably gotten rid of them since then, sold them or something. $100 plus $100 a year for surveillance isn't cheap, but hopefully Moore's Law will make it cheaper, although it's really great insurance. I wish they had combo deals, I have 3 now so it was a $600 investment, the tiller I rebuilt was $800. Not good math, but if it was on my $15,000 tractor, well, that was it. And $200 for putting a bunch of scumbags in jail (and if we add in theft, guns, and meth, he's not getting out anytime soon), it's worth it. It works way better than TrackR or Tile or those other much cheaper options. They only work if someone walks past your lost item with an active app on their phone. This is a real GPS tracker, it works anywhere the device can get a cell signal and the battery life is great. Write down the serial numbers, make and model numbers of your devices so that you can provide this information to the police in case of theft, and in important cases buy these GPS trackers. It can also be suitable for tracking teenagers. They come with a bracket, some glue and a couple of screws to mount them. I don't like such options, I wouldn't put it in a place accessible to a drill or screwdriver, you have to put it under something, hide it (I do all the work with metal between them and the sky) and The glue doesn't look that reliable. I like to put it somewhere if possible, for example on a car it could be under the bottom of the seat, on a bike it could be thrown in an empty water bottle. I used industrial strength velcro which I know has a really good adhesive because I've used it a lot and it doesn't take much effort, I was able to take it off once. Then, for permanent attachment, I used some epoxy (my favorite is JB Weld Steel Reinforced) to permanently attach the mount to something, and then I can slide the tracker in and out of the mount as needed. UPDATE So much for Moore's Law. Spot, without much notification to people (probably there was an email), almost doubled subscription fees and automatically charged for subscription renewals. I paid $109 for the service the first year, now they want $180. It's crazy. Technology should become cheaper. It works, yes, but I can't recommend any company that behaves like this, minus 4 stars for poor speculative customer service. Should I expect to pay $300 for a device within a year?

Pros
  • Great for me
Cons
  • No instructions