Invoxia GPS Review: Locking down my ebike!

We test the Invoxia GPS tracker on a Tern GSD S00 electric bike. We test the trackers' GPS accuracy across six locations in San Francisco, try out its bluetooth proximity feature and decide whether not this provides good security and is enough for most electric bikes.
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[@batterybikes]

Hiding it: The tracker is 1x4 inches. A little longer than I'd like, but doable. I'm not going to explicitly say where I hide it, for I think obvious reasons, but as soon as I committed to buying it I saw several places on my bike it could be concealed. If you order plastic, black gaffer tape, zip ties and velcro, your options will be limitless on a box bike or cargo bike. On a more svelte ebike you may have problems, but things like bags, panniers, fenders and lots of tape are still an option.

[@PINACI]

I put my money into better preventative security rather than a GPS system with extra subscription costs and then having to rely on finding it after its been stolen. Many thieves look for GPS and air/smart tags these days so if you don't find it quick then it's probably lost for good. My security system consists of an angle grinder resistant u-lock + 2x motion alarmed disc locks and an extra cable for my front wheel. ( two best u-locks atm are the Litelok X3 and Hiplok D1000 )

[@abdimudaliblia212]

facts

[@cneubauer2]

why not do both 🙃

[@allhailalona]

@@cneubauer2 this is what im doing too. i use two kryptonites. one chain and one u lock, about 250 bucks of security total, on top of that I use the 130 bucks invoxia. 380 bucks of security... worths it when your bike worths 2000 bucks

[@creed1741]

Shit I might do this

[@wheresBound]

This video is really freaking good, I don't even understand how you have only 141 subscribers. It's almost as if this is your second KZbin channel, which I'm not sure but keep up the amazing work!

[@batterybikes]

Hey Rob, that is so kind of you to say. Comments like this mean a bunch. I feel like I'm finally sorta hitting my stride with the past couple videos. Even though the subs aren't there, I'm getting really cool messages from bike/gps companies and also getting great feedback like this. Thanks again for the KZbin kindness.

[@electrifiedreviews]

yooo this is good. amazing review!

[@batterybikes]

Thanks - that means a bunch!

[@georgeredpath5394]

Great channel I wish you success 😎

[@batterybikes]

George thank you very much!

[@ericgee7381]

What kind of camera and editing equipment are you using? I love the lock of your videos.

[@RideWithAnthony]

Great video I got the Tracki install on my scooter it gives you 1 min tracking and motion alert. I’ll have a video up

[@batterybikes]

Nice! Ping me when it’s up. I think if you have active power a lot of options open up.

[@atomos1463]

Here is some tips I’ve seen a few comments on testing a live theft. How about before any of that you also add a alarm system. There is a $20 alarm system used for ebike and install it where it’s solid. This two will thwart as much as possible.

[@jicalzad]

Which alarm system is that?

[@luckyguero1972]

I agree I have a alarm on my bike it helps to sleep at night

[@LV.3223]

Is it possible to install it in the Saddle-Pipe of a Bike? Or is the function influenced?

[@GroundPunch2]

Great vid, cheers! Completely off topic, if I can ask, what is your front basket? Love the look of yours and I've been shopping around this week.

[@batterybikes]

Hey thank you. I’ve got this guy: www.ternbicycles.com/us/accessories/471/transporteur-rack but it’s a bit too big for me. Unless you really need the space I’d recommend this smaller one: www.ternbicycles.com/us/accessories/471/hauler-rack

[@GroundPunch2]

@@batterybikes Above and beyond sir, thanks!

[@ChineseJCVD]

BOISE STATE!!!! Represent 🙌🏽

[@consantinmihai6903]

I've recovered my stolen e bike thanks to this gps. I recommend it

[@batterybikes]

Really? I’d love to hear more details if you’ve got em. I’ve been surprised how few recovery stories are out there.

[@mattinvoxia3515]

Hey Consantin! I work for Invoxia and would love to hear your story. Send me an email or send a message to our facebook/instagram pages. Here's my email: [e-mail]

[@mattinvoxia3515]

@@batterybikes I would say there is a really small percentage of GPS users who even think of sharing their recovery stories. Some will share within their social circles, a few will share on social media, and fewer still will contact the company to share with them. It's really tricky.

[@batterybikes]

Yeah I realize it's rapidly closing funnel, but it just seems like such a "Hooray!" story that it would rise to the top if anyone wrote about it. My fear is that very few get recovered. With all the vanmoofs on the road certainly some have come back home. Do you have GPS?

[@consantinmihai6903]

@@batterybikes Yea, as I said I managed to recover my stolen Ebike. It took a week, I had the patience to see where the guy was living and I went with a couple of friends there. As you know if you are close enough you can connect via Bluetooth and managed to make it sing. Immediately I called the police and within 30 minutes I had my bike back. Is not the perfect GPS but it did the job

[@MISJPEREZ]

That is my fav Trader Joe’s. I need to consider a tracker

[@batterybikes]

Nice! Yeah if you can find a place to hide it on your bike they’re a no brainer. I think even if they only give you a chance of recovery they’re worth it.

[@kmart014]

I have a SE BMX cruiser will this work in that bike?

[@199724]

Can you use it while charging? This way I can connect it to the accessory output of my ebike motor. Slightly bigger battery. 😉

[@Strickalator]

I bought this for my EBike too! With 2 year subscription. It's really good, but I'm having issues with the smart feature working... Even if my phone's nearby it's still giving me alerts for movement, tilt and significant journey.

[@batterybikes]

Yeah I've found it a little bit antsy too. It always goes off when my wife takes her bike. I think I'd rather have it over-sensitive than under sensitive

[@sammo6950]

Great video can you do a review on the swiss gps tracker for ebike. I really don't see any independent reviewers on that GPS would be appreciated thanks.

[@batterybikes]

That's a great idea. I was reluctant to look at the Swiss GPS tracker because it seemed a little amateur-is, but would be fun to just do a straight top GPS tracker video where I test 5 of them all on the same bike.

[@sammo6950]

@@batterybikes they have one that can go in the bicycle frame or seat post with 6 months extended battery life also comes with a one year subscription of service. I think you and we the views would appreciate it thanks.

[@batterybikes]

Gripes: Sometimes the GPS would take more than 5-7 minutes to update, even when it's most frequent setting was set. This could be cell reception or it could be a bug, but it doesn't bother me too much. Once the bike is parked, (ie, grocery shopping, errands, home) it always eventually shows the right place. I doubt a bike thief is going to ride this thing very long with a dead battery, so you should be able to find the bike once the thief settles down for dinner. Also, you can't change the GPS polling frequency unless you're connected via bluetooth. So if you use the "every 30 minute" battery saver mode, you're also stuck with that slower polling mode if the bike gets stolen. Again, I suspect that would be ok, but it sure would be nice to be able to update that in the event the bike is roaming around your city. All this stuff doesn't really matter though when for ~$130 you can have two years of GPS protection and not have to worry about buying or swapping a SIM. Major props to the Invoxia Engineering team.

[@TheRanguna]

The GPS updates every 5-7 mins? In another comment, you said it would updated every 24 hours. Can you clarify that?

[@batterybikes]

@@TheRanguna Ah sorry, messy. When the GPS tracker is moving (it has a movement sensor) the GPS can track at different intervals that you decide in the app. I think it's ~5, ~10, and ~30 minutes. Lower frequency = better battery life. When the GPS tracker isn't moving, it will only update its location every 24 hours. (This may be called "data saver".) One other note about all this stuff: You can only update these settings when your within bluetooth range of the device. I'm not home right now, so I can't see/change these settings.

[@TheRanguna]

@@batterybikes ah gotcha, perfect info. Thanks!

[@ericgee7381]

Will this fit in seatpost of bike?

[@susanx2957]

are you able to set up the same invoxia device on two separate phones through the app? great videos on this topic, thank you

[@batterybikes]

I'm not sure, and I'm not sure I have a way to test this out. I only have a single phone active at the moment. My guess is it would work fine. I think most of the logic lives on invoxia's server so I think two phones connecting to the same GPS would work fine as long as you use the same invoxia account. I'm sure you could reach out to them through customer support etc and they could let you know.

[@batterybikes]

Battery Life Notes: After a month I had 30% left. This is something like 3-4 rides a week (pandemic and all). The tracker only updates it's GPS location every 24 hours, so I think the more riding you do the worse it will be. Still, the battery is only 300mah, so I think the dream setup may be to carry a portable battery with you and charge it when you ride. Even a tiny power pack should get you lots of charges on this.

[@vnolton]

i used the samsung smartthings gps for 3 years.. the battery lasts 3 days with 10 minute updates. sadly they discontinued service a few weeks ago. can't wait to get mine. thanks!

[@batterybikes]

@@vnolton I had that one too - but I just didn't have the mental energy to remember to charge it so frequently. Additionally, I found it pretty buggy. Some firmware may have fixed that but I think I gave up on it after a few months. I think you'll be 100x happier with the Invoxia. Reliable and excellent standby battery life. Just a little bit more tricky to hide because of the shape.

[@DG-ig4wj]

If the bike is moving do you still get the updates every 5mins if you’ve set it to 5mins, also did you test it in an underground car park?

[@batterybikes]

Hey DG, you actually only get the updates when the bike is detected as moving. If the bike/tracker is idle, to save battery life it only updates GPS every 24 hours. Luckily the movement detection is very sensitive so in practice this means you just get better battery life.

[@meekmillie5225]

Is this best fit for ebikes? Do you have recommendations/options for regular commuter bike?

[@batterybikes]

Yeah Sheryze, I think this is probably best for cargo bikes/chunkier electric bikes. The Invoxia dimension are 4.1 x 1.1 x 0.4 so it's not tiny but not impossible to hide. If you've got a non electric bike I think your best bet is hiding an Airtag inside the wheels or buying an attachment to try and hide it. There are lots of Airtag reflectors that can hide an airtag. There are a few GPS options that hide in the bike seat or the fork of the bike, but I don't think they have great reviews.

[@CountdeRojan]

Interested if you looked at the Boomerang V2. The biggest difference is the alarm, which I would hope would help prevent a theft.

[@batterybikes]

I looked at it, but I just think that hiding the tracker is a better bet than putting it front and center. It seems like if even a handful of thieves are aware of it they could just break it off with a hammer? :-/ I kinda feel like we're so accustomed to car alarms/door alarms that I just don't know if it would do much. Thieves are using super loud angle grinders in broad daylight, so I'm not sold that any loud noise is going to do much. All of this stuff is a stop gap until the bike companies just integrate it themselves, but I'm not sure how long we'll be waiting for that.

[@robert71457]

Yea I have a BOOMERANG v2 and I used the tamper proof screws, butt if a thief wants your bike it's gone and no alarm or tracker is going to help. Oh, I own 2 Sonders and a Bolton and we here of the thefts in SF and NYC all the time. GPS trackers are evolving as are ebikes and so are the THIEFS!

[@theparalyzedarmy3836]

what do you think about buying an airtag and a samsung smart tag and hiding them both on bike?

[@batterybikes]

I think the more backups the better. And backups are cheap compared to buying a new bike

[@dennisbegner1826]

Battery issue: You only need the device "ON" when you park somewhere vulnerable. Can't you keep it OFF until you park it and then turn it on???

[@batterybikes]

Hey Dennis agreed. I'm actually uploading a video right now about some missing features with the Invoxia tracker, and I think that is one of them. You can disable the tracker, but you can't re-enable it remotely over LTE, you have to be within bluetooth range to be able to turn tracking on/off. The video will probably be up in 12-24 hours. Appreciate the comment man

[@Strickalator]

They have a new real time boost feature that updates every 30 seconds for 30 minutes, which will only activate if you select it... But it won't start the real time till the next scheduled reporting.

[@batterybikes]

Yeah it's very helpful. I imagine if shit goes down again outside of youtube - I'll reach for that

[@RideTheFuture]

"Within 10 minutes, I'm gonna steal the bike at random" - uhmm.. yeap that's extremely random ;) Great and useful video though, thanks !!

[@batterybikes]

Haha. We're trying our best! Thanks for watching Stephan. Similar Airtag test in a few days

[@steviewonder580]

Is this a new channel? Audio/Video plus production quality is pretty darn great. You should probably consider different content to reach a wider audience.

[@batterybikes]

Hey thanks. What would you like to see?

[@steviewonder580]

@@batterybikes Not sure. Didn't really have anything in mind. I just thought would be a waste to make such niche content.

[@truthbetold4350]

Does anyone know if this tracker can be blocked by a signal jammer?

[@batterybikes]

Yep definitely. No magic on this one. Though I suspect typical thieves are more likely to part the bike than use a signal jammer

[@Helatimo]

Will this product work in Canada?

[@batterybikes]

It doesn't look like it. I think you have to buy one that is country specific and it doesn't look like they have one for Canada yet. I found this on their official site: www.invoxia.com/ca/en/gps-tracker

[@Helatimo]

@@batterybikes Thanks for the link Andrew, yes, even on the Canada link, they're saying it's not available. Most of them aren't so I'll keep hunting for one. Thanks for the reply.

[@batterybikes]

@@Helatimo Yeah that's lousy. I wish they could use Tmobile/DT and make it global. Might have to stick with one the bring-your-own sim trackers. I have no recs though unfortunately

[@ozenakkoyun3539]

Oh men I thought this video is a Casey Neistat video . The way edited this is amazing

[@batterybikes]

Hah thank you. We all owe a bit to Casey

[@ianofliverpool7701]

I wonder even if you track your bike back to a house whether the police can do anything about it. you knock on the door, say to the person answering the door "my bike was stolen and my GPS says the bike is here" he would most likely say "I don`t know what you`re talking about and I don`t have your bike, Good bye", What further could you or the police do about it?

[@batterybikes]

I don’t know exactly how it went down, but that almost exact use case comes up in my next video. The cops went inside an apartment, apparently showed the thief a picture of my bike and they gave it back as far as I know without any issue. I didn’t press charges and the guy wasn’t arrested but we got the bike back.

[@ianofliverpool7701]

@@batterybikes I`m glad you got your bike back, but my point is what if the guy who answers the door denies any knowledge? Would the police take it further or just say i`m sorry there`s nothing more we can do?

[@batterybikes]

Yep yep. I imagine legally to guarantee the right outcome you’d need a warrant and it would be a mess.

[@ianofliverpool7701]

@@batterybikes I`m from the UK and I`m not even sure our police would attend they would most likely say it`s a civil matter.

[@PapaleguasNY]

Does it need a Cellphone plan?

[@batterybikes]

It needs a way to communicate back to you where GPS says it is. Without cell towers the GPS tracker would know where it is, but it wouldn't be able to tell *you* where it is.

[@batterybikes]

I slightly read your comment wrong! I thought you said "Why does it need"... The plan is handled through Invoxia. And you can buy it with either one or two years of included service. After that it's $30 a year.

[@kingsleymok4008]

much more cheaper to use both Apple Airtag and Samsung Smartag together.

[@darrellsmith569]

not for canada maybe if it was for canadians too i would buy it

[@batterybikes]

Ah shoot. Let me know if you find a good alternative

[@darrellsmith569]

@@batterybikes i have a stromer bike witch has gps and wheel lock and a samsung tag hidden in the bike mine been stolen buy a crackhead and was found like 40 min later when cops came but i wish i had a real time tracking gps

[@Jaydamany1]

Please let someone steal it lol I wanna see what happens

[@batterybikes]

I feel like I have maybe a 50% of getting it back so I’m going to do a handful of videos on it before I set it off to sea. I really hope recovery is a possibility and it vindicates getting gps trackers🤞

[@nimblemotorsports]

@@batterybikes So add another $150 to your loss by buying the device if it doesn't work.. I think better to booby trap the bike so it stops working (for an ebike) and thief will just abandon it, and set off alarm. I watched video because I'm looking to track stolen car catalytic converters after 4 times stolen.

[@siriosstar4789]

@@batterybikes statistics show that you have almost zero chance of recovering your bike , especially if it's stolen by professional bike thief's . An expensive bike will be taken out of the area almost immediately and stripped for parts or sold intact . You are really wasting your time and money by chasing down your bike that could end in a violent confrontation .yes i am speaking from experience .

[@batterybikes]

@@siriosstar4789 There are statistics out there for recovering GPS-tracked ebikes? Would love a link. I haven't seen anything. I appreciate the concern man. However, I've talked to the police about how to handle something like this and won't be trying to recover it through any violent confrontation with myself.

[@batterybikes]

@@nimblemotorsports Yeah very true. I've debated seeing if Invoxia wants to sponsor the video, but I imagine they'd be reluctant when he rubber actually hits the road. That is terrible. Are you in the Bay Area? I've heard that is a mess here. I assume catalytic converters (via exhaust) are too hot for any electronics, but would love to hear if it's something you can make work. I just hate theft so I want to try and do anything to edge the curve down.

[@dysnomia-anarchia]

Boy, this thing swcks. I've taken some test drives of this set into hyper update mode and it's abysmal. This does not use the cellular network, but rather, a homebrew crypto network called Lowrah or Lofi The coverage of the Lowrah is non-existent. At best if your lucky and your motorcycle doesn't end up in a chop shop or someones back yard anywhere in the vastness of the countryside, it will narrow down which big city your motorcycle is in, but that's about it. Forget narrowing it down to actual GPS coordinates on a map. Maybe you pick up one when whoever is driving it passes some random network point, but by then your motorcycle is long gone down the road.

[@batterybikes]

Oh no. That sounds terrible. I saw the Crypto one - is that something they only sell in europe? Bleh. Too late to return and just get a normal cellular one?

[@chromeaddict]

Ive got 3 of these. One still works, two are only 6 months old and failing. Ive gone back and forth with "customer service" going on 5 weeks now via email. Clearly the battery is failing/defective and they STILL have me jumping thru hoops with troubleshooting this POS. Dont but this junk. Customer service is a joke.

[@cosimakazak2309]

Too big , to easy to find. Thiefs laugh so loud

[@batterybikes]

You may be overestimating thieves. It was the primary tracker I used to get my bike back in the bike theft video.

[@siriosstar4789]

Trackers are almost a complete waste of money . Even if you do track your bike and find it , most people do not want to confront a thief and the police won't escort you to the scene because bike theft is not a priority with them . So unless you are a hot head like me with lots of fighting in your past , i do not recommend risking an altercation . Buy a good Hardened chain , at least 12 mm thick and a D lock preferably kryptonite or Abus as they are known for their strength and quality . Then purchase separate bicycle insurance that will cover the replacement cost of your expensive baby.

[@batterybikes]

Hey Sirios. I’ve talked to the police in SF as well as others that have recovered bikes successfully in San Francisco using GPS trackers. Everyone’s police department mileage may vary, but at least here they’re receptive to recovering stolen bikes.

[@siriosstar4789]

@@batterybikes well, ok , this i have not heard of . that's encouraging . I suspect that these bikes were stolen by NON professionals , meaning there was no intent to sell or strip for parts . I will have to tone down my displeasure with the police if they are actually recovering some bikes .