Tile

[tapiot]

Wondered if anyone was looking at "the tile"? The little device you can attach to nearly anything so if you lose it, you can track it down with your iPhone. Seems like it would be ideal for "flyaways" or if the battery dies and you're not sure where it ditched at.

 

[lilwheat]

Wondered if anyone was looking at "the tile"? The little device you can attach to nearly anything so if you lose it, you can track it down with your iPhone. Seems like it would be ideal for "flyaways" or if the battery dies and you're not sure where it ditched at.

I looked into a similar product made by 'StickNFind'. They have the small disc-type trackers, but the range was quite limited (100ft line of sight). They were supposed to have another product called the BluTracker with a half-mile range, but it seems to be stalled in production because I've had one on pre-order for over a year now.

The 100ft range guys are in-stock though if that works for you: https://www.sticknfind.com/default.aspx

 

[Miika]

Wondered if anyone was looking at "the tile"? The little device you can attach to nearly anything so if you lose it, you can track it down with your iPhone. Seems like it would be ideal for "flyaways" or if the battery dies and you're not sure where it ditched at.

The Tile is one of the worst products when it comes to finding stuff. Why? Because it's one of the only products that you cant recharge and the battery is non-replaceable. So you have to keep buying Tiles once a year! The second issue when we start speaking about finding Phantom with TheTile is that the Tile works with bluetooth. The range is POOR! You can find your keys or your wallet from the home, but thats about it. The so called "network" of the Tile users... How many people with TheTile actually would keep the app running on their iPhone/android if they havent lost anything of their own.

 

[Miika]

Wondered if anyone was looking at "the tile"? The little device you can attach to nearly anything so if you lose it, you can track it down with your iPhone. Seems like it would be ideal for "flyaways" or if the battery dies and you're not sure where it ditched at.

I looked into a similar product made by 'StickNFind'. They have the small disc-type trackers, but the range was quite limited (100ft line of sight). They were supposed to have another product called the BluTracker with a half-mile range, but it seems to be stalled in production because I've had one on pre-order for over a year now.

The 100ft range guys are in-stock though if that works for you: https://www.sticknfind.com/default.aspx

The Stick'N'Find actually looks way better than TheTile and it has a replaceable battery! I'm gonna order this for my keys and wallet Thanks for the tip! I actually preordered TheTile, but found out that you cant change the batteries... I'm not paying 50bux a year to keep my Tiles alive.

 

[DeweyAXD]

Great in principal, iffy in practice IMO

1) Relys on either the owner or someone hooked into the Tile network passing 50m's of the device with their bluetooth on. In a town/city that is possible to prove succesful but most RC flight is done in areas where there aren't exactly dense populations.
2) Cost. As pointed out there is an annual investment due to the battery issue. Across 5 years it is no cheaper than a GTU10. Granted it is lighter though.
3) The network itself... 49,000 pre orders globally to date. For fun lets say it was only on sale in the USA (it is on sale globally). 314 million people = 1 Tile per 6408 people if it went live today. Your device needs to come within 50 metres of a person with the tile app (and bluetooth active) to have much hope in finding it. Need I say more.

I have no doubt that it will catch on but how many owners of the first tiles will lose an item to theft and never see it again due to the small initial network.

A negative look at it maybe. As a designer I really hope it does catch and proves me wrong as the design is very neat. IMO I'd stick to GPS/Cell triangulation for RC. I'd buy one for lost keys though! :lol:

 

[tapiot]

If I have lost my Phantom, you can be darn sure ill spend hours looking for it. And I would hate to walk 20' away and not see it. Getting within 50m and replacing it each year seem to be very minor issues to me. Hard to explain to my wife that I just flew $700 away with no idea where it is.

Tim T.

 

[Miika]

If I have lost my Phantom, you can be darn sure ill spend hours looking for it. And I would hate to walk 20' away and not see it. Getting within 50m and replacing it each year seem to be very minor issues to me. Hard to explain to my wife that I just flew $700 away with no idea where it is.

Tim T.

Why would you be willing to a replace a product once a year if theres a product available that has replaceable battery instead. Stick'n'find.

 

[DeweyAXD]

If I have lost my Phantom, you can be darn sure ill spend hours looking for it. And I would hate to walk 20' away and not see it. Getting within 50m and replacing it each year seem to be very minor issues to me. Hard to explain to my wife that I just flew $700 away with no idea where it is.

Tim T.

I for one certainly don't disagree with you on that point.... I'd spend weeks if I lost it. I think we all would do the same.
Knowing that information is why I think the additional outlay and a higher yearly cost on something like a GTU10 is a much better investment than a Tile. Knowing if that day ever occurred (god forbid) you'd be able whip your phone or laptop out and see your Phantom on a map rather than hoping to get with 50m of it.
All comes down to a gamble really.... lets face it no device is guarenteed to find your Phantom if it does a proper flyaway on a full battery