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      11-27-2018, 04:10 PM   #1
LondonM2
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First impression of Trackstar app - rubbish

I got the dealer to fit a Trackstar to my new M2C. I have a BMW motorbike fitted with BikeTrac and I thought the iPhone app would have similar functionality. Wrong. The bike tracker is excellent and the Trackstar app is verging on useless.

Bike: can always see where the bike is and what the battery voltage is. It works in garages, underground car parks, basically everywhere.

Car: is currently sitting in its garage but location function on app shows it parked on a slip road on the A3. The location function serves no purpose as it shows at random somewhere the car had been at some stage in the last few days. Apparently it sends a signal showing where it is when the engine is turned off....unless you park it a garage and then turn it off, which confuses the GPS.

Bike: can ring Biketrac, speak without waiting to someone knowledgeable who can confirm where the bike is and remotely diagnose faults.

Car: you have to queue to speak to a friendly but useless person who can't tell you where the car is or even if the tracker is working. To do that you have to be in the car, engine on, 0900-1700 Mon-Fri and wait for your call to be answered. She kindly added that the location function is deliberately useless to stop me from collecting my car from wherever it has been abandoned.

Bike: they call you if it's been moved and then contact the police for you, 90%+ recovery rate. From experience they call even when it's moved less than a metre while being washed.

Car: you have to get a crime reference number from he police before calling Trackstar, if the badly written instructions are correct.

Car: the journey tracker function works about 48 hours in arrears, maybe. So today the tracker app shows the car parked on the A3 and the last journey finishing somewhere else.

It may well be that the Trackstar will actually work if the car is stolen but for functionality and peace of mind the bike tracker is vastly superior.
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      11-28-2018, 03:35 PM   #2
doughboy
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I just use the free connected drive app on your phone. Is Trackstar an anti theft tracker?

Connected drive app connects to the car easy, tells location well, fuel, miles left etc. If the car is locked, can lock / unlock, flash lights, ventilate etc, send nav destinations.

Needs GPS at location, so underground car parks will be tricky for any GPS device.
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      11-29-2018, 09:45 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by doughboy View Post
I just use the free connected drive app on your phone. Is Trackstar an anti theft tracker?

Connected drive app connects to the car easy, tells location well, fuel, miles left etc. If the car is locked, can lock / unlock, flash lights, ventilate etc, send nav destinations.

Needs GPS at location, so underground car parks will be tricky for any GPS device.
Aye, Drove to Belgium and then had a heart attck when i checked up on the car in the evening, said it was in france!! Knew i'd parked under ground and had to assume it wasn't working and was giving me a postion from the drive down, luckily car was were i left it at the end of the weekend.
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      11-29-2018, 02:07 PM   #4
LondonM2
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Sorry, I should have explained. Trackstar is a BMW approved, dealer fitted anti-theft tracker. It is Thatcham Cat 6 approved and comes with iPhone app. The Biketrac I have on my GS is also a Thatcham approved anti-theft tracker with an iPhone app. Both have the same basic function - to recover stolen vehicles - but the Biketrac app is really useful whereas the Trackstar is laughably cr*p.

For example, when I ride my bike into an underground multi-storey car park, I can see 1 minute after I have parked it where the bike is. The concrete distorts the signal so the location may be 50m out but I know it's there and not moving.

When I drive my M2 into an above ground lock up garage with a wooden roof and then turn the engine off, the iPhone app can't find it because the GPS is confused. The journey tracker function also does not work even after the 48 hour waiting period as I didn't turn the engine off without a wooden roof getting in the way. I can't check the location and customer service can't help find it because I'm not sitting in the vehicle with the engine on, outside the garage during normal working hours. The Trackstar therefore totally fails to provide the level of confidence that the Biketrac system provides.

It may be that the Trackstar system would work brilliantly if my car were stolen but you buy these systems at least partly for peace of mind. Trackstar is not cheap - £300 to fit and £399 for a 3-year contract - and I should have done some more research before choosing it. I wanted to share my experience so anyone looking for an anti-theft tracker can make a more informed decision.
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