SabrToothSqrl
Well-known member
On another forum, we are discussing using AirTags as a 'cheap' boat tracker.
So, I picked one up for $30 from Walmart since they have a 90 day return.
Put it in my wife's car (she's fully aware).
(We also use find friends so we know where the other is all times anyway).
The air tag is associated with my account, and aptly named "boat".
They are NOT REAL TIME trackers. They talk to any iphone within about 20' and update their location opportunistically. They also have replaceable batteries that are cheap and last a year.
So, the plan is to stick it on my boat, which lives at a marina. Anytime anyone with an iPhone walks by, I'm assured the boat is still at the marina. If it pings off another location (thief has iphone) or fuels it up somewhere, where someone has an iPhone, the location will update, and I will be livid, but have a location to provide law enforcement.
Sadly, (and I assume to prevent the unlawful tracking of people) there doesn't seem to be an "alert me when moved" option I could enable. I have to manually open find friends and see where boat is. But, if this thing gives me a time, date, and even a city as a location, for my missing boat, I'd be ecstatic.
For now, I'm testing it on her car, and it updated 2-3x on a 45 min drive.
After parking it had a blue circle of about 3 city blocks. Within about 2-3 hours someone with an iPhone must have walked by, as the location of the tag shown on the map to me, was within 10-20' of it's real world location.
Now that I see it seems to work, I'm tempted to stick one on the boat, one on trailer, one on my mower, etc.
Will it stop/prevent the theft of my boat? Unlikely.
Will it help recover the boat in case of theft? Unknown, but it certainly won't hurt.
Do I like the idea and have $30 to protect an expensive asset? Yes.
More updates as summer comes and I play with it.
https://www.apple.com/airtag/
So, I picked one up for $30 from Walmart since they have a 90 day return.
Put it in my wife's car (she's fully aware).
(We also use find friends so we know where the other is all times anyway).
The air tag is associated with my account, and aptly named "boat".
They are NOT REAL TIME trackers. They talk to any iphone within about 20' and update their location opportunistically. They also have replaceable batteries that are cheap and last a year.
So, the plan is to stick it on my boat, which lives at a marina. Anytime anyone with an iPhone walks by, I'm assured the boat is still at the marina. If it pings off another location (thief has iphone) or fuels it up somewhere, where someone has an iPhone, the location will update, and I will be livid, but have a location to provide law enforcement.
Sadly, (and I assume to prevent the unlawful tracking of people) there doesn't seem to be an "alert me when moved" option I could enable. I have to manually open find friends and see where boat is. But, if this thing gives me a time, date, and even a city as a location, for my missing boat, I'd be ecstatic.
For now, I'm testing it on her car, and it updated 2-3x on a 45 min drive.
After parking it had a blue circle of about 3 city blocks. Within about 2-3 hours someone with an iPhone must have walked by, as the location of the tag shown on the map to me, was within 10-20' of it's real world location.
Now that I see it seems to work, I'm tempted to stick one on the boat, one on trailer, one on my mower, etc.
Will it stop/prevent the theft of my boat? Unlikely.
Will it help recover the boat in case of theft? Unknown, but it certainly won't hurt.
Do I like the idea and have $30 to protect an expensive asset? Yes.
More updates as summer comes and I play with it.
https://www.apple.com/airtag/
and it updated!
