Unfortunately my cargo bike was stolen this week out of apartment building's garage. While I look for new bike and discuss ways to harden our building's security, I'd also like a good bike tracker.

Don't recommend Airtags

I actually had an Apple Airtag stashed in one of the cargo bags, however unfortunately this is a case study in why Airtags aren't theft recovery devices. The last known location of the Airtag is a street across town where it gave its last update about 20 minutes after the theft occurred, but nothing was there when I went looking (neither bike nor tag).

Most likely, either one of the following happened:

A) The Airtag made noise to alert the thieves, as they're designed to do to prevent being used for stalking. The thieves then likely pulled out the battery.

B) The last known location was the last time the Airtag made contact with an Apple iPhone. The last location was a gentrified block next to a large encampment of unhoused neighbors. The Airtag may have been detected by an iPhone on the way from the wealthy side of the line to the poor side, after which there were no iPhones nearby to pick it up. And once the thieves searched the bike (I saw two on video) they found the Airtag and removed the battery.

Either way: don't try to use Airtags to find stolen stuff. Also: know that the location on the app doesn't show you where the device is, it actually shows you the location where the phone which detected it is. Funny story: I once snuck into an apartment complex trying to find a stolen package before I finally found the Airtag across the street discarded among trash.

I've watched a bunch of recommendation videos, but I'm having a very hard time actually assessing which ones appear good. Any advice?