macinthekitchen
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Product name: Bikefinder GPS tracker VS Knog Scout
Price paid: £35 for the Bikefinder (Ebay) £43 for the Kong Scout (Amazon)
Score (out of 10): 7 for the bikefinder, 8 for the Knog Scout (but.. horses for courses)
Review: I've seen a few threads on these two, but I thought I'd add my experience. I'm new to EMTBs but have been told by multiple locals that e-bike theft is rampant where I live, and although my bike is insured, I'd rather not have to claim as it just puts premiums up the following year. My two use cases are :
1) Coffe Shop Stop. Will the device alert me if someone is trying to rob the bike while I'm grabbing (one of the frequent) coffees I stop for. I use a Litelok Silverlock, which is reasonable against most things but not much good against an angle grinder, so the win here is if the device can alert me in enough time to get to the bike if someone is having a go a the lock with an angle grinder. I reckon that's about 2 minutes to be safe
2) It's been robbed; where is it? I only leave my bike fully unattended when it's locked in my garage and out of the house. I'm not intending on, for example, locking it at the train station and heading off for the day. The win here is if the device can give me a good location lock so I, and some big mates, can go and get it.
I also use Tractive GPS trackers on my dogs, and they're great. But I don't think they work well for use case 1 (they offer a geo alarm, so if it moves out of a defined area, it’ll let you know, but the area is quite extensive, so by the time you get that alarm the bike will have gone) and aren't easy to hide for use case 2.
Quick rundown of the tech. Bikefinder is installed in the handlebars, so it's pretty hidden. If you're sharp-eyed, you will notice that it pokes out a little (for the antennas), but it's pretty subtle. It uses GPS and phone network to locate the device, an eSIM to let the platform know where it is, and you view its location from their app. In the app, you can change the security mode from Passive (no location updates), Standard (location updates are sent on movement), Security (location updates and notifications are sent on movement), and Tracking (more frequent location updates). Understandably, the battery life is best on Passive and worst on Tracking. Battery-wise, it’s been in the bike for 10 days in Security Mode, ridden for perhaps 50 miles, and I'm at 70% battery, so I think I’ll get a month / 6 weeks out of it and that’s fine with me. It communicates via BT directly to your phone if you're in range; otherwise over the phone network to their servers.
The Scout Knog is attached to the bottle cage posts on the downtube. On mine, it sits on its own as I don't use a bottle cage, but if you do you can mount the Scout under the cage which hides it. It comes with a yellow sleeve to make it obvious and, therefore a slight deterrent (as in, make someone else's bike slightly more attractive to steal) but using this is optional. It uses BT to connect to the app on your phone for settings and alerts and Apple Air Tag tech for Tracking. Lots of discussion on the usefulness of Air Tags elsewhere, but it needs an Apple phone near it to be able to send its location and also warns the thief that they're being tracked by an AirTag. You can set the movement sensor to pretty high; touching the lock on the bike can set it off. It'll chirp a couple of times to let you know that it's detected movement, but after the second time, it'll set the built-in alarm off and alert the owner over BT to the app. You can turn this alarm off if you want. It’s been on the bike for the same length of time, and I reckon the battery is about 80% (no percentage, so hard to be exact) so again, will last 4 to 6 weeks.
Here's how I'm scoring for the 'Coffee Shop Test'.
Bikefinder = 2. Not useful at all. It has an alert function, but the sensitivity is too low. I went out the other day, unlocked (a D lock and a chain lock), chucked it in the back of the van and it was a good 200 metres down the road before I got an alert to tell me it was moving. It's helpful, I guess if you've left your bike somewhere and you want to know that it's been robbed before you go back at the end of the day, but that's not my use case, I want to know as it's happening so I can stop it.
Scout Knog = 8. I like it for the coffee shop test, but the BT range is a little limiting. As I'm sitting in my house typing this, the bike is in the garage about 30m away and I'm not able to connect to it. I have one stud wall, and two brick walls between me, so perhaps it's not surprising, but it means you need to choose your coffee shops. But, assuming you have a signal and the sensitivity set right, the alert on your phone is evident and loud. The alarm on the device itself is reasonably loud and might make someone go for an easier target, but it's not louder than an angle grinder, so probably isn't that much of a deterrent. I'll make sure I'm sitting in range in the coffee shops I visit and I think it’ll work for me.
Scores for the ‘Its been robbed, where is it’ test
Bikefinder = 8. It used GPs and the phone network to figures its location. You can turn off the GSM part and use GPS to preserve battery life. If you use GPS when it's out in the open it’s accurate enough, around 10 m, but when it's in my garage (behind a metal door), it's pretty useless and is accurate to around 700m / 1km. Turn GSM back on; it's back to approximately 10 m again. If it's been stolen and I get a location down to 10m, I reckon it'll be good enough if it's a house. It'd be more challenging if it's a tall block of flats, but that's not the Bikefinders issue; it would be the same for any tracker. So, for me, this is as good as it will get, given the tech.
Knog Scout = 6. It scores low just because it's a limitation of the Air Tag system. If the bike is near an iPhone, it'll be ok, and there are plenty of iPhones out there, but if it's not, you'll be out of luck. Also, if the thief is an iPhone user, they're going to get an alert, and it's not hard to find it (even less hard if you use the optional yellow cover)
There you go
Hope this helps anyone else looking at these two options. Happy to answer any questions.
Product name: Bikefinder GPS tracker VS Knog Scout
Price paid: £35 for the Bikefinder (Ebay) £43 for the Kong Scout (Amazon)
Score (out of 10): 7 for the bikefinder, 8 for the Knog Scout (but.. horses for courses)
Review: I've seen a few threads on these two, but I thought I'd add my experience. I'm new to EMTBs but have been told by multiple locals that e-bike theft is rampant where I live, and although my bike is insured, I'd rather not have to claim as it just puts premiums up the following year. My two use cases are :
1) Coffe Shop Stop. Will the device alert me if someone is trying to rob the bike while I'm grabbing (one of the frequent) coffees I stop for. I use a Litelok Silverlock, which is reasonable against most things but not much good against an angle grinder, so the win here is if the device can alert me in enough time to get to the bike if someone is having a go a the lock with an angle grinder. I reckon that's about 2 minutes to be safe
2) It's been robbed; where is it? I only leave my bike fully unattended when it's locked in my garage and out of the house. I'm not intending on, for example, locking it at the train station and heading off for the day. The win here is if the device can give me a good location lock so I, and some big mates, can go and get it.
I also use Tractive GPS trackers on my dogs, and they're great. But I don't think they work well for use case 1 (they offer a geo alarm, so if it moves out of a defined area, it’ll let you know, but the area is quite extensive, so by the time you get that alarm the bike will have gone) and aren't easy to hide for use case 2.
Quick rundown of the tech. Bikefinder is installed in the handlebars, so it's pretty hidden. If you're sharp-eyed, you will notice that it pokes out a little (for the antennas), but it's pretty subtle. It uses GPS and phone network to locate the device, an eSIM to let the platform know where it is, and you view its location from their app. In the app, you can change the security mode from Passive (no location updates), Standard (location updates are sent on movement), Security (location updates and notifications are sent on movement), and Tracking (more frequent location updates). Understandably, the battery life is best on Passive and worst on Tracking. Battery-wise, it’s been in the bike for 10 days in Security Mode, ridden for perhaps 50 miles, and I'm at 70% battery, so I think I’ll get a month / 6 weeks out of it and that’s fine with me. It communicates via BT directly to your phone if you're in range; otherwise over the phone network to their servers.
The Scout Knog is attached to the bottle cage posts on the downtube. On mine, it sits on its own as I don't use a bottle cage, but if you do you can mount the Scout under the cage which hides it. It comes with a yellow sleeve to make it obvious and, therefore a slight deterrent (as in, make someone else's bike slightly more attractive to steal) but using this is optional. It uses BT to connect to the app on your phone for settings and alerts and Apple Air Tag tech for Tracking. Lots of discussion on the usefulness of Air Tags elsewhere, but it needs an Apple phone near it to be able to send its location and also warns the thief that they're being tracked by an AirTag. You can set the movement sensor to pretty high; touching the lock on the bike can set it off. It'll chirp a couple of times to let you know that it's detected movement, but after the second time, it'll set the built-in alarm off and alert the owner over BT to the app. You can turn this alarm off if you want. It’s been on the bike for the same length of time, and I reckon the battery is about 80% (no percentage, so hard to be exact) so again, will last 4 to 6 weeks.
Here's how I'm scoring for the 'Coffee Shop Test'.
Bikefinder = 2. Not useful at all. It has an alert function, but the sensitivity is too low. I went out the other day, unlocked (a D lock and a chain lock), chucked it in the back of the van and it was a good 200 metres down the road before I got an alert to tell me it was moving. It's helpful, I guess if you've left your bike somewhere and you want to know that it's been robbed before you go back at the end of the day, but that's not my use case, I want to know as it's happening so I can stop it.
Scout Knog = 8. I like it for the coffee shop test, but the BT range is a little limiting. As I'm sitting in my house typing this, the bike is in the garage about 30m away and I'm not able to connect to it. I have one stud wall, and two brick walls between me, so perhaps it's not surprising, but it means you need to choose your coffee shops. But, assuming you have a signal and the sensitivity set right, the alert on your phone is evident and loud. The alarm on the device itself is reasonably loud and might make someone go for an easier target, but it's not louder than an angle grinder, so probably isn't that much of a deterrent. I'll make sure I'm sitting in range in the coffee shops I visit and I think it’ll work for me.
Scores for the ‘Its been robbed, where is it’ test
Bikefinder = 8. It used GPs and the phone network to figures its location. You can turn off the GSM part and use GPS to preserve battery life. If you use GPS when it's out in the open it’s accurate enough, around 10 m, but when it's in my garage (behind a metal door), it's pretty useless and is accurate to around 700m / 1km. Turn GSM back on; it's back to approximately 10 m again. If it's been stolen and I get a location down to 10m, I reckon it'll be good enough if it's a house. It'd be more challenging if it's a tall block of flats, but that's not the Bikefinders issue; it would be the same for any tracker. So, for me, this is as good as it will get, given the tech.
Knog Scout = 6. It scores low just because it's a limitation of the Air Tag system. If the bike is near an iPhone, it'll be ok, and there are plenty of iPhones out there, but if it's not, you'll be out of luck. Also, if the thief is an iPhone user, they're going to get an alert, and it's not hard to find it (even less hard if you use the optional yellow cover)
There you go
Hope this helps anyone else looking at these two options. Happy to answer any questions.
