Hi,
I hope I'm putting this in the right place (as the bishop said to the actress) or that I'm not breaking any rules. It's just that I'm going to be fitting one of these to my car and wanted to share it with you.
To be completely honest, I've come across these through my work. I work in Sales for a company called Eseye Ltd selling machine to machine (M2M) communication packages and services. SkyTag were an existing account that I've been asked to manage and I have to say that I've been impressed by them. I'm saying all of this because I respect the Mini brotherhood and want to be completely open about all of this but as I said, I am going to fit one to my mini so I'm not just recommending something without using it myself. We sell the SIM cards and connectivity that these devices use so you buy the device and then pay a small monthly fee for the connectivity and monitoring (details below). By the way, I don't get paid by SkyTag for putting this on here. I'm doing it because I think it's good.
They used to do lots of 4x4's as Land Rovers weren't the hardest thing to steal off the drive and their record is detecting a missing vehicle in 12 minutes so they tell me but now they cover all sorts of vehicles and caravans.
When we discussed my Mini involvement as I was interested to hear about whether they got involved in Classic Cars they said they would offer the following : -
Skytag are pleased to offer a 50% discount, making the unit only £125.00.
In addition to the discount, members will also be upgraded to the Nightsafe or Leisuresafe service for free for the first 3 months.
Your members can take up the offer by giving our sales team a call or using the discount code “mini” in the check out area at www.skytag-gps.co.uk
08453 886062 (all major cards accepted)
I asked the questions about insurance approvals and they go beyond what Thatcham require of a device like this but haven't got the Thatcham approval/ certification simply because they wanted a good chunk of cash. Also, for it to be approved it has to be fitted by an approved installer. Most of them tend to fit things in the same places on similar cars and I think that's a negative. At least with this you can put it where you want but, again, that's just MY opinion.
Here's the product info: -
Skytag are now largest independent stolen vehicle recovery company in the UK, providing state of the art location equipment to recover your property quickly and efficiently. With an outstanding recovery record and an 11 minute fastest record, they are proud to offer a service second to none. With unique features like monthly operation checks and direct police access to live location information.
The Skytag device is a very small covert unit designed to be hidden in a vehicle, self instillation enhances the covert nature of the product as everyone will put it somewhere different, making it virtually impossible to find, this also reduces costs and makes the unit easily transferable from vehicle to vehicle with no charges.
Normal Retail Package:
Skytag “Bundle” pack, £249.99 includes device, 3 months subscription, activation and vat.
Monthly subscription £6.99/month or £10.99/month for Leisuresafe or Nightsafe.
The device is smaller than a computer mouse and contains a GPS chip that can pin-point its location on the planet to within 5 metres. The device also contains a module that communicates this position to us via the GPRS data network. So we know exactly where your vehicle is in the event of a theft.
Our new 2013 unit comes with full Worldwide cover.
The device has an inbuilt backup battery that lasts 3 days should the vehicle battery be disconnected.
It also alerts us when the battery has been disconnected; we can even tell when the vehicle battery is running low, ensuring continuous operation.
Intelligent Movement alerts:
NightSafe & LeisureSafe movement protection
LeisureSafe is an optional upgrade to your standard Skytag Locate cover providing protection for your
vehicle or asset during the most vulnerable times.
Designed for leisure vehicles that are used 2-3 times a week, "LeisureSafe" is fully automatic
with no requirement to remember to turn on and off.
A bespoke zone is created around your home address or where the vehicle is normally stored.
If the vehicle moves out of this zone during the protected hours an alert is sent to
your mobile phone, your landline, text and email.
NightSafe is designed for everyday use vehicles where you need protection during the vulnerable
dark hours. Using a zone similar to "LeisureSafe" the system only alerts for vehicles leaving
the "home Zone" between midnight and 5:00am.
Coming home late or leaving very early? No problem, Nightsafe only triggers an alert for vehicles
leaving the homezone, not entering. If you're coming home after midnight, Nightsafe will recognise
this and take no action. If you leave the protected zone before 5am in the morning, you will trigger
the alerts however as it’s you in the vehicle you can simply ignore these.
NEW from 2012/13 is our “LiveView” service where you can monitor the vehicle live yourself from any computer or smart phone.
“GeoZone” holiday cover is available for when you leave your vehicle unattended for long periods of time.
This puts a virtual electronic fence around your vehicle and will alert with any unauthorised movement.
MONITORING SYSTEM
We operate a 24 hour 365 day monitoring service, whatever time of day or night, our emergency number will be answered by a real live person in the UK. This person will have direct access to the main tracking system and will be able to liaise directly with the Police. This operator will respond when given a valid crime number and will give location information direct to the police to recover the vehicle in the quickest time possible.
This 24 hour monitoring also responds to Battery and GeoZone alerts.
This service is covered by the standard Monthly subscription £6.99
Cheers all,
Rod
