Tile Pro announced (Bluetooth tracker) w/ waterproofing

[Kaido]

https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/08/tile-pro-helps-you-find-your-stuff-from-200-feet-away/

* $35 each ($60 combo)
* Colors: Satin white (Pro) or dark slate (Sport)
* 200-foot range (2x as long as the older models)
* Twice the ring volume
* Waterproof

Still no replaceable battery (built-in 1-year battery life). These are expensive (the regular is $25, the Slim is $30, and both of the new ones are $35 each individually), but absolutely worth it. You can use it as cheap Lojack for your car or bike, to track your luggage, your wallet, your backpack, etc. Mine have more than paid for themselves, especially when I'm running late & can't find my keys or whatever. One commentor made a good point...the newer keyfobs are like $400 each, so $25 - $35 on a Tile is good insurance. I do wish they were either cheaper or had a replaceable battery, but they are very good at what they do, so they are worth it if it's something you'd use! Nice to have the waterproof option now as well, for outdoor stuff.

 

[Red Storm]

Is there a comparable (as in not sucky) alternative that has replaceable batteries?

 

[Kaido]

Is there a comparable (as in not sucky) alternative that has replaceable batteries?

Trackr uses a CR1620 battery: (end-user replaceable)

https://thetrackr.com/

Nice comparison article here:

https://smarthomesolver.com/reviews/tile-vs-trackr/

There is one catch: Tile has double the marketshare of anyone else. Tile has shipped 10 million units & Trackr has only sold half that. Like, just within a few miles of my current location, I'm showing over 500 Tile users. However, Trackr has a crowd coverage map here, if you scroll down:

https://www.thetrackr.com/

So you can check your area to see how good the coverage is right now. Really the only thing I don't like about Tile is that the battery is integrated & when it's dead you have to buy a new one, which irks me because of the price of each unit (I think the cheapest I've bought them for is $17/ea in a 4-pack special sale), but they're so useful that I make sure that it's part of my budget anyway.

 

[Kaido]

Also for those not familiar with Tile, they are Bluetooth location trackers. 3 nice features:

1. Locates your Tile within Bluetooth range (plays a jingle & shows it on the map).

2. If out of range, shows you the last known location. Also, uses other people's Tile app (anonymously) to relay the location information to your phone if they are nearby your Tile.

3. If you double-click the Tile button, it will jingle your phone, so you can reverse-find your phone that way (I've had that happen, where my phone has slipped out of my pocket & I'm not near a computer to use Find my iPhone to track it down).

I have a ton of them. Off the top of my head:

1. Wallet (they sell a slim credit card-sized unit)
2. Keychain
3. Backpack
4. Equipment bag (ex. photography)
5. Luggage
6. Car (cheap Lojack, haha)

 

[gorcorps]

Has anyone noticed an impact to phone battery life being connected to so many BT devices at once?

 

[Kaido]

Has anyone noticed an impact to phone battery life being connected to so many BT devices at once?

Everything now uses Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth 4.0/BLE). I keep my BT on all day now without issue.

 

[Kaido]

Also, Tile does have a "reTile" program where you can trade in your old Tiles for a discount on the new ones:

https://support.thetileapp.com/hc/e...-I-renew-or-replace-my-Tile-after-it-expires-

 

[scuub22]

Actually they are pretty awesome. Especially for the price. Tile has a major advantage over the other brands. Mostly they are locating stuff you loose around the house. But they Tile will also show you on a street map where the tracker was when you were last within bluetooth range of it. And Tile's advantage over the other brands is that they have the most market share. Over 8 Million users. So you have a third method of location method where you report your tracker lost on the app. Then if anyone else within the Tile community walks or drives past your tile you are automatically alerted to you trackers position via the app on your phone. That doesn't sound useful until you learn that there can be 100s of tile uses in every 10-20 square miles or so. And those users move around etc. There are few people using them for bike and car trackers. Here's example: https://youtu.be/IkLo6ETvMcg

 

[Capt Caveman]

Is there a comparable (as in not sucky) alternative that has replaceable batteries?

I use Lapa - https://findlapa.com/

Replaceable battery, light and sound.

 

[cfenton]

These sound cool if you're in a big city with lots of potential Tile users. I don't often lose stuff in my house, so I'd primarily want this to track something that was stolen or lost. Without some kind of GPS (which I recognize is unfeasible), you're really dependent on living somewhere with a lot of other Tile users.