I’m curious If anyone here keeps any of these bluetooth item trackers hidden in their kayak or other gear in case of theft?
In the warm months, I keep my kayak in my detached garage and I do worry about theft.
And also if we wanted to travel with our kayaks, etc. I have cable locks for them, but it seemed like a potential backup plan?
I have a Tile so I can find my car keys. The range is less than a hundred yards. You want something besides blue tooth to track stolen items.
Look into pet trackers. Small, waterproof, and some have unlimited GPS tracking capability. Like this:
I’ve been thinking about this too for when we travel. FYI… it requires a monthly subscription.
It may make more financial sense to insure your kayak for full replacement value.
Tile promotes their products as being able to help in case of theft, but I’m dubious. If your kayak (or whatever you’ve “Tiled”) is out of Bluetooth range from your phone, and you report it missing, then if (and this is a really huge if) someone else with the tile app on their phone is near your kayak, it will report to you the location. That’d be great in a crowded area where almost everyone is using the Tile app (their dream come true!), but in reality I’d expect these things to be pretty unreliable in finding a stolen kayak.
Also, I bought a set of tiles (fob for keys, and card for wallet) for my wife who’s always misplacing things. It only works about 50% of the time, even when we later find the missing object was in the same room. So even if someone with the tile app on their phone walks by your stolen kayak, it might not pick up your Tile’s signal.
I also think Tiles are a waste. I bought some as Christmas gifts some years ago and none of the recipients found them useful. And the batteries seem to be impossible to replace so the cost is way too much for the limited utility they provide.
$5 to $7 per month subscription is probably less than insurance would be for a higher value boat. I had done some preliminary checking on kayak or canoe theft policies and they typically start at $100 per year.
And I would certainly prefer tracking and recovering any of my boats to filing an insurance claim. Most of my favorite boats are difficult to impossible to replace, being extinct, even one of a kind, models.
I just renewed my homeowners policy and marine riders. The $4,000 cash value coverage for my Prana is $15 for the year.
Eddyline Fathom replacement value is $2575 and that runs $10 annually. The Samba coverage is $8.
Good point. I hadn’t considered homeowners insurance. Probably also a premium option on renter’s insurance.
I’d still rather get my own boat back so it’s all relative to what one wants to risk. Not a single boat I own is still in production.
The dog trackers seem pretty good although I’d think I’d want something with a long battery life.
There are systems available like this:
Trak 4
Has 18 month battery life. You could hide it in a foam bulkhead or a block of foam added into the nose or tail. Pull it once a year to charge or replace battery.
Something to look into more…