Peace

Hello Everyone,

I was wondering what things you do to help stop theft of your GPS.
I have heard that GPS theft is on the rise. Does anyone know if we have any recourse should our unit be stolen, or what we should do?

From a little that I have been reading up. I found some helpful hints.

First never leave your GPS in sight when you leave your car.
Also take off the glass mount, as it is a tell tale sign that you have a GPS.
Also clean your window of any tell tale signs that your GPS mount was there.
Make sure you put a password on your GPS
Make sure you have registered your GPS with Navigon. I don't know if they can do anything, but they will have the serial numbers and things like that on file.
Finnally, and this one blew my mind. DON"T put in your home address on the GPS. If you were ever away on vacation or away from your home, clicking on the take me home button, will take the thief straight to your house where he knows you won't be home. Thats Scary! So I just put in the street name only, and I am looking to see if I can put in the intersection of my street and another street as my address.

Finally I have a question. I recieved a little sticker that say my GPS is password protected. I thought about putting on my window, but then thought maybe it wasn't a good way to deter someone from braking in. It seems to me that the sticker SCREAMS...TAKE ME!!! I don't know. Do any of you think it is helpful or does it just draw attention?
Epsecially with the Navigon using a SD Card I have heard that it would be easy to crack and get around. I don't know about that, it's just what I heard.

Would love your feedback and anything else you could add.

Mike

Sparky

Great questions. I take the unit off the holder when I'm somewhere I don't want to leave it in plain view.

Good suggestion, I will be deleting my take me home address in favor of picking somewhere a few blocks away.

I think putting the sticker on is useless as well as a PIN. If someone steals it, they are not going to be concerned that it has a PIN. They are probably not planning to use it for their personal use, they will just sell it.

Andy

Garmin also includes a window sticker. I agree with you Mike, it's just asking for someone to break in. I don't know if Navigon does it, but with a Garmin they have a lock feature that requires a pin number every time you turn it on. If you don't know the pin, the unit is useless. Of course like Sparky said that doesn't mean they can't sell it to an unsuspecting person. One of the main reasons I don't use eBay.

Keeping the device out of sight when parked and the mount removed are great tips. I leave the mount for my 660 in my truck all the time. It's mounted low on the dash below the radio. Since it's black, it blends in to the interior very well. I don't keep the 660 in it all the time, but I do leave the mount there all the time. So far I still have it.

Having a built in Nav to the car is nice since this type of issue is not a problem.

gkamer

Don't forget.... The thief is not going to know you have it pin protected until AFTER they steal it. By than, you're already out a window and a GPS unit.

I put the mine, along with the cord and stand in the glove box. No sense letting the theives know there might be something worth stealing.

Andy

Theft was one of the reasons I went with an OEM Nav system in my car. Just one less thing to worry about.

Pathfinder

Interesting thing about registering your unit on the Navigone site...

They don't ask for a serial number, so it's beyond me how they know you actually are the owner of any particular unit. I actually registered my 7100 a couple of days before I even had it, and had already downloaded the 1.1 update in anticipation of it's delivery!

By all means PIN protect it, but know this: If yo forget your PIN, Navigon directs you to call their support number and enter a code into the unit that is displayed on the unit. Beats me how they know if it's you or a thief calling to have it unlocked!!!

The support staff are pretty good at getting back via email, so I'm going to pose these questions to them and see what they say...

Going the OEM built in route is the best for in car nav, but on balance, the $350 for the 7100 is a whole lot cheaper than $40,000 for that new SUV!

Viajero

Registration with Navigon is tricky especially for Model 2120Max. Pathfinder is right. They don't ask for the serial number. They only thing they asked me about its unique product id is when I activated the unit with my traffic card.

Pathfinder

What I said about that $350 being cheaper than $40,000 for the new SUV... Forget it, I picked up an 09 Murano LE with OEM Nav in April... I have to say the POI's in the 7100 are a bit better and the traffic updates are a whole lot cheaper than XM

But the Murano is a great ride!

sidvic999

Presonally I went to the friction, dash mount(beanbag.) Say, if I am pulling into a shopping center like Wallyworld, or ANYWHERE I feel less confortable, I even slide the whole assembly off the dash out of sight from passers-byers. Sounds a little paranoid maybe, but I once had a radar detector stolen, and the experience of all that broken glass learnt me a lesson that one time.

I like the friction mount, good peace of mind and no windshield fumbling to do, plus no marks to clean. sidV