Verdict
Though a carte du jour tracker is always a sensible leverage , the form factor ends up limiting its utility somewhat . Not so for the Chipolo Card , which combines a in full featured app , powerful tracking and a diminished , refined design that means it can be used closely anywhere . It has some drawback , like a non - user - replaceable battery , but for the Leontyne Price , it is a no - brainer .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Between the horde of Bluetooth trackers on the market , it can be unmanageable to tell which is good and for what job . Take the AirTag , which is n’t designed to be attached to anything in particular without rely on a first - party or aftermarket accessory . It does n’t have a strictly defined use eccentric , and so versatility becomes its strength .
This is traditionally a minuscule more difficult for the likes of the Chipolo Card , which on the control surface is intended to be inserted into a wallet or passport holder and then live there evermore . Most of these tracker have a unmarried use instance in nous , which can be a bit restrictive – but the Card has a trick up its sleeve .
Though it is orthogonal and thin enough to easily fit in a wallet or similar , it is also svelte , maybe half the height of any other card and tenuous too . This opens up a lot of other hypothesis and changes the secret plan all .
There is the question though , does this dissimilar form broker touch on its usefulness ? Moreover , would a ‘ standard ’ round tracker like anAirTagdo a good line ?
Design
From a tracker that has ‘ Card ’ in the title , it ’s good to expect one thing : it will be the form of a circuit card . This would certainly be the case for the likes of similar options from Tile , where not much imagination has been applied .
Chipolo has done something a little different however .
Its visiting card will certainly be able-bodied to do that traditional affair , but as it is smaller than even a traditional credit entry carte du jour , it can be used for trail different objects too . It ’d sit just as inconspicuously in the side pouch of a back pack as it would in a billfold . Indeed its svelte attribute is an advantage over other option – even those verbatim from Chipolo , like theChipolo One .
It ’s so tenuous , in fact , that it is a picayune unmanageable to believe that it ’s nothing more than an empty bit of charge plate . There is a trailing chip at heart , along with a small battery , but it is confuse nonetheless . These are qualities one should desire in a tracker , of course , the level being that they should be able to vanish onto your person and still be utile .
One fragile critique that could be levelled is the lack of color options useable . The Card comes in any colour you care so long as it is white . If that is your favourite color and you could conceive of like no other , then you will be well serve .
For those who have go steady the rainbow of options available with the Chipolo One might be a piddling disappointed however . Not only does color add a hint of merriment , but it also makes the tracker easier to pick out – an important constituent when it comes to anti - stalking measures .
Beyond colours , the Card is rated for IPX5 water resistance . This means that while it wo n’t pull round full - blown immersion in water , it will be able-bodied to hold out getting wet on a showery twenty-four hour period , which is as much as can be expected .
There is an inauspicious tradeoff of the strange design however ; the assault and battery is n’t user - replaceable . As it only lasts a class , that mean it wo n’t be too long before it theoretically ends up as vitamin E - waste .
Chipolo has anticipate this , however , and offers a useful recycling program where you’re able to send your old tracker in for free and get another in reappearance at half the toll of its RRP .
Features and performance
No matter how pretty or convenient the shape of a tracker might be , it is nothing without the power to track well – so how does the Chipolo Card transportation ?
determine up is a commendably simple unconscious process . With the Chipolo app download and set to ‘ tally ’ way , it is an sluttish process of pressing the ‘ twain ’ button on the Card . All in all , pair then take around twenty seconds .
Once the connection is build via Bluetooth , it is rock solid . The speaker on the tracker is loud and clean and has a range of up to 60 m , though that is pipeline - of - sight . Elements like threshold , wall and even signalise over-crowding can cut this range further – something worth keeping in intellect .
The bigger element to regard is Chipolo ’s substance abuser internet , as that ’ll be central for locating any particular out of your smartphone ’s grasp . Chipolo exact that its connection is 5 million users strong , which will no doubt offer all-inclusive coverage , but it ’s not as Brobdingnagian as option from Apple and Samsung . As such , your tracker could still end up somewhere without a user in orbit , leave it basically inconspicuous to you .
It offer as much functionality as the standard Google ‘ Find My machine ’ app , if not quite as much kitchen stove and reliability as Apple ’s ‘ Find My ’ connection does . That as a consequence may mean the AirTag could be a better pick for iOS users , though only by a hair .
There ’s also no UWB reinforcement as there is in AirTags , but again , that is carry .
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Should you buy it?
With little dimensions than a steady citation card , the Chipolo Card is contrive to be slip into a notecase or handbag .
60 m Bluetooth chain is o.k. , but Chipolo ’s wider web of users is n’t as vast as alternatives from Apple and Samsung .
Final Thoughts
There are a good deal of options available in the tracker securities industry , even if all of them have the same essential routine . What is useful for you will come down to the kind of twist you utilize , the damage you are willing to make up and the shape that would be most utilitarian to you .
If you are look to keep track of a wallet or similar , have £ 26/$30 to spare and own an Android equipment , the Chipolo Card is among the best option on the market today . Io user will get a routine more use out of anAirTag , but it also costs nearly a third more .
The Chipolo Card does everything it sets out to do and does it well . But for a battery that was user - replaceable and a few more colour options , it would be a slam stuff shot .
Trusted Score
How we test
We verify to spend at least a week with each tracker , test all of the advertised features . We ’ll also try the kitchen range of the product , and how easy it is to set up .
FAQs
It operates with a 60 m range , though this will variegate bet on walls , wireless interference and other factors .
