Hey guys/gals,


I'm looking into GPS tracking of vehicles - I'm trying to see what the cheapest solution would be to tracking a vehicle either on demand (by sending a command for example) or at a time interval (say every 30 minutes).


After having a look around, I could see that devices that have GPS, as well as GSM or GPRS are likely to cost around $400.


I thought, why not just buy a mobile phone for this price?


I found that vodafone has a phone at $400 ( http://www.vodafone.co.nz/shop/mobileDetails.jsp?skuId=sku2370129&hardwareSkuId=&menuKey=&selectedPlanSkuId=sku80020&selectedView=&selectedTab=overview)


There's some Java software that looks like it'll run on it too - http://www.trakkcor.ch/ 


Of course there'll be fees for the mobile service, and I'll have to set up a server for the phone to send its locations to, but that's all part of the fun :)


A problem with this though, is that the phone needs to be powered somehow.  I was thinking that I might be able to hook the cellphone up to the car battery somehow, and duct tape it under the dashboard.  I don't know if this would work - it could just make my car battery flat?  


Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?