There are times when you misplace your keys and you turn your house inside out trying to find them. We all hate losing stuff, and we often think about how great it would be if the things we lose or misplace have ringers so we could just call them from our phones. Well, not anymore. Because there’s the TrackR Bravo and the TrackR Pixel, both of which aim to help you find your lost things quickly, without having to search just about everywhere.
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TrackR Bravo
The TrackR Bravo is a coin-shaped device that you attach to your keychain or other stuff you want to keep track of. Download the companion mobile app and use your phone to find the TrackR. If you lose your things, you can make the TrackR ring so that you can locate it.
Even if you lose it in a noisy place, such as a dance club or a bar, you can still find your TrackR because it also lights up.
Features of the TrackR Bravo
The TrackR Bravo is shaped and sized like a coin. It measures a little over an inch in diameter and is 0.14 inches thick. TrackR claims that it has a range of up to 100 feet, within which you can make the device ring or light up.
The TrackR Bravo has a loud ring that registers at 82 decibels. It is compatible with iOS and Android devices and uses a replaceable CR1620 battery. What’s more, it comes in four colors: blue, black, rose gold, and silver.
Geofencing
The TrackR Bravo has Geofencing features, which would alert you if you get too far from your keys.
Other features
TrackR Bravo is continually being improved on by the manufacturer. It now has a family sharing feature that allows you to give other people have access to your TrackR Bravo. This is helpful for shared devices such as the TV remote. No need to bother your wife if you cannot find the TV remote because you can find it yourself using your own smartphone.
You can also choose to use voice commands to look for your lost item with Amazon Alexa. Even if you do not have a TrackR Bravo, you can still find your phone with Alexa just by having the TrackR app installed.
What you will like about the TrackR Bravo
The TrackR Bravo is meant to be forgotten until you need it. With its small size, it can be inconspicuous enough that you would not even notice it is there. You can attach it to anything, allowing you to track all the items you usually misplace yet do not want to spend an hour trying to find.
And when you do lose stuff, TrackR Bravo works as it should, helping you find it in a matter of seconds. What’s more, the alarm is quite loud with an increasing pitch. Even if you have bad hearing, or even if the TrackR Bravo is buried under a pile of pillows, you would still be able to hear it.
What could be better about the TrackR Bravo
The TrackR Bravo claims that its Bluetooth range reaches up to 100 feet. However, in real life, the smart key finder’s range is more limited than that. We are talking around 60 to 70 feet. Further, the TrackR Bravo can be inconsistent.
There are times when you do not get notifications when you should. There are also identified problems when it comes to the TrackR Bravo staying connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth. To make things worse, once the Bravo travels out of Bluetooth range, it would have a hard time reconnecting to your Phone. Even the Geofencing feature is plagued by a long delay from the time you leave the Geofenced area to the time the app alerts you. So let’s say the TrackR Bravo is trying to keep you from walking out the door without your keys, because of the delay, you would have had locked the door behind you before TrackR Bravo can inform you that you have left it behind.
Ratings and reviews
The TrackR Bravo has low ratings averaging of 2.6 stars out of 5.0 on Amazon. With reviews from more than 500 customers, the device gets a low score because of its weak performance. Verified buyers also agree that the range is not as advertised and the Bravo keeps on getting disconnected without being able to automatically reconnect to your smartphone.
However, there are positive reviews that talk about how you can save with the TrackR Bravo when compared to Tile, which you would have to replace every year. The TrackR Bravo allows you to change the battery and it will keep on working. They also like the Bravo’s relatively smaller size when placed alongside the Tile.
Pricing for the TrackR Bravo
TrackR Bravo sells on Amazon.
TrackR Pixel
Like the Bravo, the TrackR Pixel can help you find your lost keys and just about anything you affix this tracker to. It also has a very audible alarm and flashing LED lights that make it easier for you to locate missing items.
If you like the Bravo for being smaller than the Tile, then you will love the TrackR Pixel because it is more compact but offers the same functionalities. Like the Bravo, the Pixel can also find your phone if it goes missing.
What are the similarities and differences between the TrackR Pixel and the TrackR Bravo?
What do the TrackR Bravo and Pixel have in common? Both of these trackers have a rated range of up to 100 feet and connects to your iOS or Android devices via Bluetooth.
At 1.0 inch in diameter, the TrackR Pixel is smaller than the 1.2-inch Bravo. However, the Pixel is thicker at 0.22 inches, compared to the Bravo’s 0.14 inches. The Pixel also has louder speakers at 90 decibels, a lot louder than Bravo’s 82 decibels. Moreover, the Pixel has a circular array of LED lights that light up when you tell the mobile app to make the TrackR device ring. That feature makes it easier to find the TrackR Pixel when you lose your keys in a dark room, at least when compared to the Bravo.
These devices also use different batteries. The Bravo is powered by a CR1620 cell battery, while the Pixel needs a CR 2016 battery to work. Lastly, the Pixel has more color options with eight choices vs. the four from Bravo.
Side-by-side comparison: TrackR Bravo vs. TrackR Pixel
To make it easier for you to decide between the Bravo and the Pixel, you can check out these specs and features.
What you would like about the TrackR Pixel
The [easyazon_link identifier="B073HSNZDJ" locale="US" tag="ahrobo-20" link_id="10525"]TrackR Pixel comes with a free battery replacement warranty that gives you free replacements. All you need to do to get new batteries is to order via the app. The Pixel also uses the crowd-to-locate feature that will allow you to use other TrackR users as some sort of range extender.
What might be better
The Pixel comes with a replaceable battery. But unlike the Bravo, it is quite difficult to replace the CR1620 battery used by Pixel. The smaller TrackR does not have the swinging arm mechanism the Bravo has; instead, you have to do a series of moves just to get the used battery out.
The rated range on the Pixel is also lower than the Bravo. This means that between these two, the Pixel is more likely to go out of range from your smartphone. The Pixel also has problems keeping itself connected to your smartphone. Moreover, it also has issues reconnecting to your smartphone once it does lose the connection.
Ratings and reviews
On Amazon, the TrackR Pixel gets an average rating of 2.8 stars out of 5.0, with close to 1,100 reviewers. Positive reviews talk about how simple and straightforward it is to use the TrackR Pixel. Some users also like the Amazon Alexa feature, and some like how small it is.
However, there are those who complain about how their Pixel breaks apart after only a few months of use. Apart from durability issues, there were also reliability issues wherein users were not able to immediately ring their TrackR Pixel. Some even say that the only good thing about this tracker is the replacement batteries, but even that is useless because you would have thrown the Pixel in the garbage bin long before the battery runs out.
Recommendations
The TrackR Bravo has a lower rating on Amazon. This is older than the Pixel. It is slightly more expensive and bigger than the Pixel, too. Performance-wise, however, it would seem that the Bravo wins with more reviewers mentioning that the Bravo was somewhat better than the Pixel. The Pixel is better-looking than the Bravo, though.
It is difficult to recommend both devices because of the reliability issues it exhibits. You cannot trust it to be connected to your Bluetooth without dropping, or walking around because the TrackR has disconnected from your phone yet again.
Both of these devices were created as a response to Tile. However, it does not have enough punch to knock Tile’s assortment of key finders. You should consider buying the Tile instead.
Further read,
Patrick Sinclair is a geek; make no mistake about that. He runs All Home Robotics in his spare time so he doesn’t have to think about his depressing cubicle and it gives him an excuse to buy expensive gadgets to review!
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