Just wondering if anyone uses an old Iphone for tracking their caravan. Used with Google Latitude you get a pretty accurate location and it only costs about £140 for a second hand 3G. Hidden in the van and connected to the 12v system it would stay charged and if he battery was disconnected would atay on for about 5 days.
Its really only large modern caravans suitable for permanent living that are targets for thieves. If you have one & want a tracker it would make sense to get the real thing & I think some insurance companies are now requiring this fitment.
For older caravans theres no real point in fitting a tracker, they are unlikely to be stolen, why should thieves bother with an old one when they can easily find a new one?
Discounted Insurance Quotes for UKCampsite.co.uk visitors! Up to 12.5% off!
Ordinarily I would agree with your comments Tentz, but the one exception to this is a 'van fitted with bunks.
We know, our daughter and Son in Laws 'van was stolen two years ago and that was a 2005 single axle non prestige model.
------------- How come when some people visit the fountain of knowledge, they only gargle!!!
..But would they have wanted the 'van back afterwards, anyway, would anybody want their caravan back after it had been stolen, would the police be even willing to allocate manpower to go into a residential site & recover a single caravan? I'm guessing most owners would want an insurance payout.
If its an insurance requirement that one is fitted to a new 'van then you have no choice & of course it has to be a proper one. Mobile phone tracking devices sound like a good idea but if you think it through there appears little point.
An iPhone on for 5 days?! You'll be lucky - battery life is the biggest complaint of iPhones, espeially the older ones.
If you leave it connected to the leisure battery, you'll flatten that eventually. We have at least a month between trips, so unless the van was stolen in the first few days, this wouldn't work.
Good lateral thinking but I dont think it would work.
------------- 'In later life, you will be more disappointed with the things you didn't do than with the things you did.' - Mark Twain
got to agree with tentz ,i certainly would not want it back ,i can remember when our local cassoa site was done over the one van they couldn't steal because it had a forward facing ground spike built into the floor ,they completely trashed in revenge for being thwarted ..