- Date of theft - 27/03/2013

- Time of theft  - 2AM

- General location from where the vehicle was stolen (e.g “Hallum area of Sheffield”).   Please DO NOT post exact details of the location, particularly if it was taken from your home. - WN2, Aspull, Wigan

- Model of Land Rover - Defender 90

- Body style (e.g “Station Wagon”, “Hard Top” etc.) - Station Wagon

- Engine (e.g “Tdi”, “Td5” etc.) - 2.5 Diesel

- Colour - Blue with White Roof - Red Snorkle

- Registration number - E79 JBF

- Chassis/VIN number (Optional, if you are happy to have this public for risk of 'ringing') - SALLDVAB7AA306500

- Engine number - 19J07781C

- Security features that were employed on the vehicle (e.g “Steering wheel lock”, "Pedal lock",  “Aftermarket alarm”, "Factory alarm".   Please include brand names where applicable) - Toad alarm, & Cut Off Switch

- Distinguishing features (damage, mods, anything that you think would help identify your vehicle)  - Big red snorkle, raised drivers seat, Bulkhead removal bar, new cloth seats, new exhaust, new UJ's, new propshaft, bump on left hand wing, bumper kinked on left hand side, rear seats, tinted rear windows, back door handle is rusty,

- Contact details of the relevant Police force handling the theft + crime number - Greater Manchester Police - Wigan - Crime Ref:42837N/13

- (OPTIONAL)  Your contact details if you are happy to have them public - Kev - 07943 395535

- Pictures of the vehicle - Attached

[Edit : Database updated]

While at my suppliers on Wednesday, I picked up some alarms that may be of interest to us.

A remote unit sits in the car, or garage and senses movement within the garage or within the vehicle.

A remote unit sits in the house and can either chime (similar to a doorbell) or can be set as a 90db siren. There is a switch selecting between loud, off amd siren.

When movement is detected, the siren or chime alerts you indoors, while being silent in the garage or vehicle.

I picked up 4 of them, to see if our members are interested. I will sell them at my cost price plus postage to cover my costs but looking at them they look very handy indeed.

What does everyone think?

On Wednesday, at about 5pm, I went out to look at something in my car, and there was a 90 parked across my driveway.

As I got out to where the driver of the 90 could see me, he took off up the road, so I took down his registration number.
The vehcile was pulling a trailer full of scrap.

I found this rather odd, what do you guys think? If it was someone looking at my car, because they have one the same, I would have expected him to speak to me when he saw me.

In hind sight, I should have followed him to find out where he was going and what he was up to, but do you think it is strange or is it just me?

Ive had the quad bikes outside, and now this so I am getting very worried.

It was a blue 90 with a white roof, on a C plate.

Please see all of Jon's hard work at creating the Stolen Vehicle Spreadsheet.

I hope you find it useful.

Here is the link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en_US&hl=en_US&key=0Am51lfZe0e-qdGZmN0s3SDJTcm5OcG9tQXJfZEVPeGc&output=html

Visionaire Tracker review

 

Recently have had a Visionaire Tracking system installed and wanted to share my
views with fellow Landywatchers.

 

Given that trackers are most effective when the thief is not aware of its existence,
Admin has kindly agreed to post this review on my behalf to help maintain
anonymity. There’s no photos/screenshots I’m afraid but the excellent Fun Rover
review will give you that http://funrover.com/reviews/visionaire-gps-review/

 

I’ve kept some of the review deliberately vague so as not to give the wrong sort too
much info.

 

Overview of the system

 

Basically, the system is a permanently live GPS tracker that continuously monitors
and reports on the position of your vehicle through a web based interface linked to
Google maps.

 

In addition to permanent tracking, the system can be ‘armed’ so that any movement or
a cut in main power supply to the unit triggers an alert, sent both by text message and
email to up to three telephone numbers and three email addresses. The movement
alert is sent whether or not the ignition is switched on. Only you know how to arm
and disarm the unit so you do not get any false alarms when you are driving. The
system will act only if somebody is moving/tampering with the truck who shouldn’t
be.

 

Cost

 

The unit itself costs £300 which includes the necessary instructions + wiring loom etc
to do a self install. In order for the system to send text alerts, you will also need a
mobile phone Data SIM card, which you can arrange yourself or alternatively, buy an
annual subscription Data SIM card from Visionaire for £36. I went for the Visionaire
SIM just for simplicity and £36 per year seemed pretty good value. I also didn’t like
the idea of putting my own pay as you go SIM in and forgetting to top it up !

 

The unit has it’s own internal GPS antenna but I opted to buy the additional external
GPS antenna at £25 to give best possible reception when the unit is ‘buried’ deep into
the truck.

 

Despite what the Fun Rover lads said about the simplicity of installation, I decided to
pay for the fitting service, which was another £72.

 

In addition to the permanent tracking and text alert capabilities of the unit, there are
some additional elements that you can bolt on to the system. Best bet is to chat
through with the Visionaire guys what you want to achieve and what these bits would
cost.

 


- Remote vehicle immobilisation….. Kills the starter circuit… (Not while vehicle is
moving, otherwise it could be rather dangerous to other road users !). This element
doesn’t appear to cost any extra !

 

- Panic button…… Useful in the event of an accident or car jacking.

 

- Door and/or bonnet micro switches…. Would trigger an alert if the bonnet / door is
opened.

 

Installation

 

The unit and also the external GPS antenna are both well hidden in the heart of the
vehicle and there’s no clue for a thief that the unit is present. Exactly what you
want!

 

The unit requires a permanent live power feed but does have it’s own back up power
so that it would continue to report it’s position and issue alerts even if the battery was
disconnected. I’m not sure for how long the backup power lasts.

 

I also opted for the remote immobilisation option, which will allow you to remotely
kill the starter circuit. I know what you’re thinking…. No it won’t do it whilst the
vehicle is on the move….. that is illegal !

 

Operation

 

Basically, it’s pretty fool proof. The system is always on, tracking your position
and you can check this from a PC or smart-phone with web access.

 

In order to get the ‘move when ignition on’ alert (i.e if somebody hotwires or has
your keys to pinch the vehicle) , you must arm the system. If you were to forget and
the vehicle was pinched, then all the other alerts will cover you and you do still have
the permanent tracking to fall back on. If you forget to disarm the system before
you start up and drive off, you’ll get an alert text pretty quickly!

 

In my experience so far, I would say the accuracy of the tracking is to about five
metres, pretty darn good…. even when the Landy is parked up in the garage!

 

The web based interface gives you the ability to view your routes on Google maps.
Track points are generated by a combination of time triggers, movement and a
reasonable change in direction, allowing for an excellent track of the road. It took me
a while to realise that gentle twists in a winding road do not register as a change in
direction so that explained why it looked like I’d driven through a field ! You’ll see
the type of route tracking possible from the Fun Rover pictures.

 

You define your own reporting in terms of what comes through on text and email.
I’ve set mine up so that the key alerts of movement, main power feed loss and no GPS
signal come through by both text and email. Less important alerts, like confirming
the starter circuit has been immobilised, I’ve set just to come through on email.

 


I’ve put the unit in with security in mind but in addition to showing you the routes
you’ve taken, the online interface gives you a wealth of other info about your
journeys….. handy for example if you needed to record mileage travelled for business
purposes etc or track how long you are travelling for . The Visionaire servers hold up
to 12 months of journey history and the data can be shared with other people if you so
choose.

 

 

Summary

 

It’s cost me about £400 to have the system fitted (£330 if I’d have done it myself) and
going forward it will cost £36 per year for the SIM card. There are cheaper
systems to buy out there (Skytag for example) but their annual subscription cost is
double. Where Skytag and others fail in my eyes though is that the Visionaire
system is ALWAYS live…. You can check it’s working for peace of mind at any
time. It alerts you as soon as the vehicle moves or is being tampered with so you do
not waste valuable time in discovering your vehicle has gone and you don’t need a
crime number to activate the system.

 

I do accept that any GPS system is only as good as the satellite signal it receives and
the additional VHF element of the ‘Tracker’ system does go a stage further but
annual subscription on that system is something like £175 on top of a £400-500 outlay
for the unit itself. Not every police vehicle has a ‘Tracker’ detecting unit either
and with all the cuts backs I doubt they will send up a helicopter or even an equipped
car to find your vehicle.

 

If I was ever unlucky enough to have the Landy pinched, the big selling point of the
Visionaire system for me is that I’m the one that’s going to be in control of
coordinating the recovery with the police. I’m not relying on somebody else in a call
centre to do it for me. It’s down to me and I find that rather comforting.

 



Carl at ShireFabrications sent me a pedal lock, and has kindly agreed to donate £5 to LandyWatch for all orders which quote LandyWatch when ordering.

Upon receiving the item, its weight gave an indication of its hefty construction and a close inspection indicates how solidly it is built although it isn't to heavy to lift or maneuver around and fit.

The pictures should speak for themselves really, but as you can see the item fits snugly, with very little movement which would make it extremely difficult to remove without a lot of time on your hands and some hefty equipment.

I would say that it would most certainly make any attempt to drive the vehicle almost impossible without a lot of time and noise, and they would move on to a less secure vehicle and coupled with a Disclok, this would make a vehicle impossible to drive away easily.

Fitting takes less than 20 seconds, and is as easy as sliding the unit over the pedals, and pulling it towards the right, slide in the locking pin and turn the key.

Carl has also kindly offered to donate some prizes for our upcoming LandyWatch Autumn Adventure, which will include a Safe-T-Lock and a light bar. Thank you.

Items are available for secure purchase through Paypal here : http://shirefabrications.com/services or by calling

Visionaire have kindly offered to donate £25 from each order of their excellent GPS tracking system to LandyWatch for each order placed quoting LandyWatch when ordering.

There is an excellent review of the product at FunRover which can be seen here http://funrover.com/reviews/visionaire-gps-review/

The main advantages of the Visionaire system over other tracker systems is that you can track the vehicle yourself, and set up a lot of parameters, such as alerts if the vehicle is towed away or started with its own keys for example, which would immediately alert you, and allow you to take action quicker than may have previously been possible.

The tracker does not incur any monthly fees. Simply install a data SIM card into the device, which can be supplied from Visionaire for £36 year or supply your own SIM card, compared to other GPS tracker systems is less than half the price of the nearest competitor. Visionaire also offer a nationwide fitting service is available, and the unit is priced at £299 including VAT.

I would highly recommend taking a look at the device, and similar devices to see how the features of the Visionaire system outshine its competitors.