Maplock chains GPS unit to steering wheel, dares thieves to interfere
By Darren Murph 
posted December 8th 2009 2:44AM
posted December 8th 2009 2:44AM
posted December 8th 2009 2:44AM
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It should work backwards to also allow you to track your car through GPS ;)
@Kmobs That's what I thought it was supposed to be for, at first.
yeah...who needs the GPS when they can just steal your car!
@niakpliak No, no, no. This is for directionally challenged thieves who need help finding the nearest chop-shop.
$50 to protect something that cost $100. Wow the best investment I seen yet.
@JClay What about the cost of having someone smash the windows of your car? What about the cost of replacing everything else in your car?
@JClay
Or the cost of replacing the steering wheel they cut with the $1.49 hacksaw in 7 seconds flat.
Maybe it will serve as a minor deterrent, but if your car is chosen, I'm guessing the thieves will have the tools necessary to cut the extremely easy-to-slice-through steering wheel. If this product was hard-wired into your car, and automatically sent some sort of alert if it was tampered with, then it might be worth considering. Now that I think of that, that sort of device makes all kinds of sense. A partnership with On-Star, maybe?
@(Unverified)
Its called Lo-Jack.
my ignition is busted so my car starts without a key. someone steeling my Garmin is the least of my worries.
@kojo87
I can come out to your place to fix that... where do you live again? XD
Or you could just do what I do: unclip it from the mount and stash it under your car seat. Crooks normally don't break into cars unless something worth stealing is in plain sight, so couple that with a flashing car alarm LED, statistically my shit is safe.
@(Unverified)
That's why the video points out the visible cradle or suctioncap residue is enough to tell the thief that there likely is a unit hidden in there, and under the seat is as obvious as it can get.
What you should do is put an iphone cradle in there, then the thief will assume the unit is in your pocket and not hidden in the car, if he recognises it as such that is.
@Wwhat
First thing I do when cracked out and looking for easy to steal pawn-fodder is check to make sure that the car I'm breaking into doesn't have any iPhone related accessories.
google navigation...I'm just saying...
Shame steering wheels are so easy to saw through...
@Malcolm
I don't know, a thief would want to be quick, and they don't like hard work else they'd be buying the thing not stealing stuff, and carrying around a saw.. it's not that convenient, and he'd first have to steal a saw too.
@Wwhat A hacksaw will cut a steering wheel in about 30 seconds.
just tuck your GPS under the seat... don't advertise it criminals
babam! problem solved
I saw a car in NYC with an iphone, ipod classic, and Garmin in the dash and passengers seat area. they're practically begging for someone to steal $1100 dollars of electronics
Bolt Cutters?
@Kurian
most car steering wheels are made from thin metal tubes coated in rubber and maybe leather on top. They can be sawn through in less than 10 seconds with a small hacksaw. Thieves carry small saws for this purpose - removing steering-lock devices attached to the wheel. So this device is only going to stop the complete muppet of thieves!
nothing a pair of bolt cutters cant jimmy through!
Well, if you have a Honda, the thieves now have readers to detect any type of transmitters. It amazes me the lengths people will go through to get a built B18C5 and some Volks.
Thieves are like animals, they look for shape and colors, not the word "MapLock", and this funky-shape-bright-colored "anti thieve" lock will sure get their attention thinking is a gadget they can sell and break into your car.
So you saved your GPS but have to replace your car window, that is if you are lucky; if the thief is pissed because he broke into your car for nothing he might do other things like cut up your leather seats.
Advice: DO NOT leave anything with value visible in your car, they might even break into your car just to take some crappy cd or a couple of dimes, happened to two of my friends.
Oh but thats baltimore though, had to take extra precaution...
Is it just me, or would having a cable attached to your steering wheel and dangle in front of you distract you while driving? Better still you make a turn and your hand gets caught in the cable and you're stuck doing donuts in the road.
If its a cable you put on when you LEAVE the car, would it honestly not be easier to just place it into a glove compartment (and pretty much every car has a lock on it). That way the thieves cant even see you have a GPS.
This seems like a solution to a problem that was already solved.
It would be nice if that was a snare trap and not an easily defeated cable lock.
Who cares, the crack head will probably steal the candy bar on the seat and leave the GPS even if it was not even locked down!
F-in crack addictions cost me windows!
Chuck it in the glove box, lock the glove box
and if you really want to go the extra mile, ride with skynet and leave him in the car while you're at the mall
Meh... another useless product that doesn't do much for REAL thieves.
When are these companies gonna start researching how thieves ACTUALLY work and then work to beat them like that?
Any one of these dumb devices that lock into your steering wheel are useless for someone who breaks into your car, locks one end of a heavy duty chain to your steering wheel, the other end to their car and then drives their car a few feet away ripping your steering wheel right out of its place, replacing it with a brand new one on the spot and driving away with your car like nothing happened...
Ever seen one of those? Of course you didn't... but that's how some hardcore pros work. They don't waste time circumventing your protection mechanisms - they just rip it right out of the car.
No thanks, I'll just continue to not park in the ghetto.
Either that or nobody wants my ancient Nuvi 350.
almost as dumb as The Club
For paying 50 bucks to protect a $100 GPS, I would hope my car would be broken into at least once a week
am I the only person who has a weighted dash-mounted GPS stand/charger? The entire thing sits by gravity on the dash, and can be stowed almost entirely under the front of the driver seat when parked...
I wonder who will be the first to steal the GPS unit from that mall kiosk?
It will surely fail even if the cable is amazing -- the device cases will just give. Plastic always fails to the "yank really hard" vulnerability
A hack saw will be though that steering wheel in under 30 seconds, and it's gone. Just as worthless or more so as The Club. GPS's are getting so cheap these days, your not going to sell that stolen GPS for much.