I need to know what the benefits AND drawbacks of both the LoJack tracking system and the Scorpio alarm system are. I know about them in general, and I'm deciding between the two. If you're familiar with either one, please be as specific as possible. I'm a much bigger fan of prevention than cure, so your input will help me decide what's best for me. Thanks guys and gals.

 

Get lowjack. they now have a pager as well as the tracking, you can't beat that. not to mention the 99% 24 hour recovery rate

 

Well, I do like that the police are set up with the Lojack system already. So does the pager tell me when someone's near the bike so that I can prevent theft, or does it just tell me it's already been stolen? I'd also be more interested if it has some kind of deterrent like an alarm. Thanks

 

I like my alarm - perimeter sensor, ignition disabled. Depends on where you are - where I live, LoJack is not operational...so if my bike gets stolen, LoJack won't help anybody find it.

There's a VERY good article in July 2009 issue of Road Racing World covering bike theft.

 

+1 on the Lojack

Alarms don't help you get your bike back.

 

The pager tells you if the kickstand goes up if the bike gets moved started or a number of other things. so you can prevent the theft yourself.

 

I just did a little research and found some more info on the LoJack website:

- 90-percent recovery rate
- it is not designed to prevent theft
- $50 rebate from insurance company

So it's very clear that it's not designed to prevent bike theft - only to recover it once it's stolen. Statistics state that the recovery rate is usually less than 40% for stolen bikes, so their estimated 90% is much better. They claim my insurance will give me a rebate if I have it installed, but I don't think they'll care either way though because I only carry liability. They'll also refund the cost of the unit if the bike isn't recovered within 24 hours, so that's nice. So depending on if the police in my county are on-the-ball on the day in question, this may work slightly in my favor. I'd always prefer to get it back asap though, and in one piece.

I'd still like to have something that alerts me of ANY movement whatsoever so that I might prevent theft in the first place. That's what draws me to the Early Warning system with the pager. Still, the Scorpio is designed to prevent theft though, plus it looks and sounds wicked. In the meantime, I'm doing everything else I can to keep people from even seeing it from the street.

 

yeah... after thinking a while, I decided not to go with the lo jack. Its about $700 and it does not work in all areas. On top of that the police offers would have to be equipped with receiver.

I would say, research into a small GPS that you can track VIA web and hard wire that into the bike. Kind of like the new Iphone =P

 

If this thing can be hardwired to have power at all times, I'd suggest this

http://www.zoombak.com/

Battery on the unit drains in about a day though so it would be garbage if you can't hardwire the power source

 

Great find, guys! Now that's what I'm talking about. Nice.

I just read up on the Zoombak and it looks like you can install it directly onto the bike's battery, so that's a plus. This sounds like a much better deal - $150 for the unit plus $14.99/mo for service. Plus you can install it yourself so you know where it is, and you can just as easily uninstall it. The Lojack would cost me nearly $1000 for the unit and installation, plus it's permanent. This is much cheaper to replace if it's ever removed. I also like how I can find out where the bike is myself with it, where with the Lojack I have to trust that the police are doing their job. I'm not knocking Lojack itself. I bet it's very useful for recovery - hell, it can track the device through concrete! But the police around here have their heads up their rear-ends and I'd rather be in charge of knowing where it is. That's all. Maybe if the Lojack were cheaper and I had access to its location if it were stolen, then I'd consider it. I feel more at ease when I'm in charge of things.

Thanks so much! I'll let you know if/when I get it and how it works out. Btw I'm getting the Cycle Shell on Friday. I'll review that in a new thread.