Air Tags--- but not APPLE.

sdkid said:

My daughter bought a pair of EV dirt-bikes for her kids. I told her to put a tracking device on those damn things. Dual purpose there--- if the bikes get stolen, AND if the kids wander off....

WHAT should she use to do this?? I have never dealt with any of that tech ever...

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You can choose either apple airtag or Samsung smart tag.
Your choice should depend on what devices are more common in your area (since the tag uses the surrounding devices to as relays), Android or iPhones and what device you have.

The tags have anti stalking feature, which means a theif may be aware of the tag.

The tags also makes a sound (in certain scenarios), which again assist a theif.

Placment is critical, you don't want to place it in an accecible/visible part of the bike, but you cannot place it wherever you want, since the reception maybe eliminated in some cases (Faraday cage effect).

I never had one, I've considered it for placing in my car, but didn't buy eventually.

Things to consider:

1. Are you willing to pay a subscription or cellular fees?
2. Do you need real time GPS location?
3. Will the dirt bikes be ridden off road and subjected to elements and vibration?

There are bluetooth trackers (the Airtag approach) and there are GPS trackers. GPS will be instantaneous and available at all times (no waiting for a tracker to connect to another bluetooth enabled device before it can report it's position), but they are also a lot more expensive, and tend to be bigger and use more power. Since you were asking about Airtag alternatives, the rest of this post will talk about the bluetooth options - specifically what is available for Android phones.

With bluetooth trackers, there are primarily two types - those with UWB and those without. UWB is used to help track the devices when they are really in close range. It has an accuracy of a few inches. It's the part that makes it easier to know the tracker is stuck between the cushions on the couch and not just "somewhere in the Den".

If UWB is important to you, there are only two UWB tags that work with Android devices - the Moto Tag and the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2. This is because Apple has a stupid restriction that in order to be allowed on the Apple network, devices cannot use UWB on Google's network. This means any device that is trying to work with both Apple and Android's networks cannot use UWB on the Google network. Moto and Samsung are the only tags that are "Android only" and therefore they aren't trying to meet Apple's stupid anti-competitive restrictions. Any tag designed to work on both networks will not support UWB on the Google network. At least not until someone sues Apple for anti-competitive practices (and wins).

The Moto tags work out of the box with Google's Find Me network. Out of the box, the Samsung tags only work with Samsung's "Find Me" network and therefore can only be tracked with a Samsung mobile device. But they can be use with a third party app called uTag that allows these devices to be tracked with non-Samsung phones.

Initially I used the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2 with uTag so that the system was compatible with my Google Pixel phones, but as soon as the Moto tag received a firmware update to turn on UWB, I moved to those tags. I like the fact that the Moto tags work seamlessly with the Google "Find Me" network. Even when using the uTag app with the Samsung tags, they still only use the Samsung network and those devices won't show up in the Google Find Me network. Plus, the Moto tags have the same dimensions as Airtags which means they are compatible with all of the Apple Airtag accessories which is nice. The form factor of the Galaxy Smarttag 2 isn't appropriate for every use case.