HomeGames & TechChipolo Card review

Chipolo Card review

If like me you add about twenty minutes to your morning ritual trying to find your wallet, car keys, house keys and any other number of items before you leave the house I feel your pain. Before I even begin my commute I’m already stressed because I’m a disorganised idiot who doesn’t remember where he puts things.

Thankfully the guys at Chipolo are here to rescue us from this morning madness with some incredibly easy to use devices which will help us locate our lost items.

So what is Chipolo? Well, Chipolo is a small, simple device that you can attach to your keys, put in your wallet or any other item that you are prone to misplacing. There are three different product in the range, the Classic, Card and Plus all with slightly different designs to meet different needs.

You can check out a Chipolo video which explains how they work below:

They all essentially work in the same way. They all use bluetooth to connect to the Chipolo app that sits on your smartphone. You can then use the app to make the Chipolo to make a ringing sound thus helping you locate your item.  You can also use the Chipolo to make your phone ring, even if the phone is set to silent, if it’s the phone you’ve lost rather than your keys shall we say.

Another nifty feature is that you can use the button on the Chipolo to trigger your phone to take selfies. Given that the devices have a range of up to 200 feet (provided you keep line of site) you can get much wider fields of view for your selfies.

chipolo
Credit: Chipolo

You can also use the app to track down your lost item even if you’ve gone out of range. For example you might go out for dinner and leave your wallet there by mistake. With the app you can view the Chipolo’s last know location (ie when it was last connected via bluetooth to your phone) on a map and the accuracy is pretty darn good. Sadly you can’t track the Chipolo if it moves on e.g. if the item is stolen, but it’s still an excellent feature.

All is not lost however as you can mark your Chipolo as being lost. This will send an annonymous notification to all other Chipolo users, marking the last know location on their maps and potentially giving you an army of people keeping a lookout for what ever it is you may have lost.

We were given a Chipolo Card to test and let me tell you it has already saved me many stressful mornings trying to track down my wallet. The Card as its name suggests is a small credit card shaped Chipolo that easily sits in your wallet without taking up much space. You won’t even notice that it’s there (it’s only 2.15mm thick) until you need to make it ring when you’ve lost it.

chipolo
Credit: Chipolo

Set up is incredibly easy. Once you’ve registered on the app all you need to do is turn on your bluetooth, press the button on the Chipolo and wait for the beep. That’s it, you’re all set up and ready to go.

The home screen of the app shows all of your connected Chipolos, if you want to make one ring simply select it and hit the big ring to find button. It really is that simple.

Each Chipolo comes with an internal battery that lasts from between 9 months to a year. Only the battery in the Classis is replaceable but Chipolo offer a recycling scheme whereby you can send your old device back and get a new one at a heavily discounted rate.

Specs of each Chipolo:

Chipolo Classic

battery: Replaceable 9-month battery

sound: 92 dB loud

range: 200 ft (60m) – line of sight

 

Chipolo Plus

battery: 1-year battery life with Renewal program

sound: 100 dB loud

range: 200 ft (60m) – line of sight

durable: water-resistant

chipolo
Credit: Chipolo

Chipolo Card

thin: 2.15mm (0.08in)

battery: 1-year battery life with Renewal program

sound: 95 dB loud

range: 200 ft (60m) – line of sight

durable: water-resistant

To sum up, these devices are fantastic. They are simple to use and completely unobtrusive and do exactly what they claim. For me, the stress reduction in the morning is more than worth the price of buying them.

If you’d like more info or want to buy a Chipolo head over to the offical Chipolo website

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