LoJack, Now For Motorcycles - Does It Work ? from Bikes in the Fast Lane

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LoJack, Now For Motorcycles - Does It Work ?

October
2005

  File under New Products Gadgets
  Author: Mike Werner
  Location: Normandy, France

Lojack is an American system that acts as "informer" for the police in case that your precious vehicle is stolen. Previously, this system only worked for cars, but now it works for motorcycles as well.

How does it work ???

A small transmitting unit is placed in your motorcycle (the location is not communicated, but I guess any owner can tell in nanoseconds were it is). It is connected to your main power source, but the LoJack unit has its own back-up battery.

Normally, the LoJack unit sits passively inside your motorcycles, waiting to be activated. It gets activated, when you discover that your motorcycle has been stolen !! You call the Police, and they activate the LoJack unit.

The LoJack unit then starts transmitting a signal for Police to track down. After the massive manhunt (motorcycle hunt) involving the Police, FBI, DEA, ATF, CIA and Boy-scouts, your motorcycle is finally returned to you, and the thieves get lynched {link}

!

Sounds pretty good. But, and there's always a but.... the Police must be equipped with a LoJack tracking device !! And since most Police forces are part of a city, and that city has its own budgets, they may not buy the tracking devices. So that renders the LoJack tracking device useless in that city.

This I see as the big downside. You depend on the local Police force to cooperate by buying these tracking devices. Secondly, the unit transmits on a special frequency. The Police need to be passing by to capture the frequency. In other words, if the thieves take your motorcycle to some remote location, the Police might never pass by that location, and therefore never find your motorcycle.

However, Lojack do guarantee that your motorcycle will be found within 24 hours (they reimburse the LoJack unit, not your motorcycle). According to the LoJack documentation, some 150,000 vehicles have been returned so far to their owners worldwide. Yes, they operate in several countries, not just the USA (check their website for a list of countries).

Personally, I'd prefer something like the Phantom or Cycletrack GPS system, since you're independent of the local Police force.

Click here to access the LoJack website. No prices are published..