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Having had a £10,000 Nissan Skyline stolen and never recovered (me or the car!) I was not going to take the chance again! I came across a system called SAMTRAC (Sensor Application Management Tracking & Communications) yes…quite a mouthful but what it had to offer was everything I wanted from an alarm system. I want to KNOW when my truck is being tampered with and it will CALL/TEXT me IMMEDIATELY with its EXACT location and which of its multitude of sensors has been triggered, along with the siren being activated which all too commonly gets ignored these days because of false alarms.
The system comprises of the SAMTRAC unit itself, back up battery, siren, microwave sensor, GPS antenna and its own SIM card. There are several add-ons to meet other user’s needs and as it is a GPS unit it can be linked to a suitable screen / palm pilot and you have Satellite Navigation too. Everything can be remotely programmed by a lap top but on installation the system will only recognise pre-programmed telephone numbers to receive and transmit calls to.
Fitting of the system was done by Steve Ford, owner of Avoid-it(uk)ltd. And took around three to four hours as the unit has to be as inaccessible as possible which necessitated removing most of the dash, and the fitting of the usual pin switches etc.
Once the unit was secured in place and relevant wiring was soldered into the loom the dash and trims were reassembled making it inaccessible without triggering the microwave sensor, vibration sensor, door opening sensor and more!
There are a number of ways to arm/disarm the alarm and I chose to call or text it from my mobile. At any time you can text the system and it texts back a reply, for instance asking it for a ‘Status’ report will return whether it is armed, if all sensors are functioning, and times of any events that may have been taken place. Texting ‘Locate’ will return the trucks exact location to within a few metres, its current ‘status’ even if its on the move and what speed its doing!
There is so much more to this Alarm and various add-ons so if its of interest to you click on the links to SAMTRAC at the top of the page,or AVOID-IT above for more detailed descriptions, all I can say is I can highly recommend it for peace of mind, It will inform me instantly of any tampering, but at £600 its not cheap. However I would gladly pay four times that to get my Skyline back!!
The Versatile Demountable Camper
The tailgate of the pickup has to be removed first and wiring for the rear lights has to be prepared unless you have a tow bar/socket in which case it plugs straight in. Wind legs of the camper down raising the unit; it does get quite wobbly at that height! Mines a 1996 model, newer ones have hydraulic legs, reverse the pickup under carefully and lower the unit by winding up the legs…that’s it!!
Four chrome studs have to be fitted on the truck body permanently, onto which the adjustable chains attach to hold down the camper unit.
The beauty of this is that the Camper is totally independent of the truck and can be demounted and used on site so you can use the truck separately if you needed to. It has a built in water tank, leisure battery, gas bottles, central heating, two double beds, cassette loo, cooker, in-fact everything including the kitchen sink! It has a good amount of storage space and is kept ready to go at a moments notice and takes less than an hour all told to load up and go.
There is no separate MOT / TAX / INSURANCE or maintenance / servicing of a second vehicle either!
Mounted on the L200 you wouldn’t know its there really, it pulls easily and sits level, it is a long way up though to get in the back, 4x4 capabilities mean you could go off road too for the perfect pitch with a view!
