@primrosewater try picking out 3 to 4 places in your home that you can only place your phone down at. If you loose it, then its at one of those places.
@primrosewater FYI both android and iphone have apps where you can log into a computer and make it ring/beep till found. Iphone, log into icloud and hit the find my phone, Google has “device manager” or “Find my device” that will make it ring for 5 minutes even if its on silent. Both will show a map where the last GPS location was as well.
@cengland0 I have this already. You do push the corner of the tag and it will ring your phone. My phone likes to hide in sofa cushions so I’m embarrassed to say I’ve used this more than I should.
@susanb93 Strange because one of the reviewers claimed the instructions said to press the button to connect but there wasn’t a button. So it was a 1-star review.
@cengland0 Maybe the reviewer was too literal on what a “button” was. You press the corner where the XY is. That corner is the only corner that works as a button, but it seemed pretty obvious to me.
But so close. Curse my attention to detail.
Hey, why did our keyboard’s “” buon sop working? Shoo, we can’ ype i … the keyboard buon o he righ of he “R” buon. How are we supposed to alk abou hese Blueooh rackers wihou hat leer?
@craigcush fakespot hates the reviews, reviewmeta is not impressed. initially when i looked at reviewmeta it was from april and they determined they were being brigaded with negative reviews… so I refreshed it and now it just warns that the reviews are likely unnatural.
I got a Tile tracker (competing product) and it serves no purpose. I’m not that kind of person that misplaces things around the house and it doesn’t seem to have much range for anything else.
Though I did see a video once where someone lost a drone in a field and they got a group of people to install the app (since every install of the app looks for any tag) and they canvased the field and… I don’t remember if they actually found it with the app, now that I think about it… if you can quickly get a bunch of people to help you look for something then you don’t really need the app anyway.
@awk this is the trick. The most desirable use case for these types of trackers (I have lost something in the world/my thing was stolen and I need it located or tracked) relies on a critical mass of people using the app to locate the tag beyond a single user’s radius. The more competitors in the market, the less likely that will happen.
They should all conform to an open standard and report to each other for maximum effectiveness. That’s not happening, either, though, because then no brand has a differentiator. So you’re stuck trying to hear your keys beeping between the sofa cushions, which is a mundane use compared to the idea behind them.
@awk The crowdsourced bit is nice, but my use case is generally that i can’t find my keys in the house. Tile works well for that, but costs $18 and the battery is not replaceable.
Their app works well enough for my purpose. Other than the ongoing replacement cost, I like the product a lot.
The really sad part here is I watched these when they were on Morningsave. Yes, I’m a fucking Morningsave person. What of it?
And I was tempted. I am notorious for losing my keys or phone around the house with no idea where I left them. I always find them under some paper, or behind something. I actually need these.
That being said, I am kinda pissed off at you meh. Because this would be the third product in about a week that I have purchased, and I don’t have all that extra money to spend. So a kindly, Fuck You, To You.
Was this an oversight? How the hell is this a deal with a total savings of $2 for a mediocre rated product? This isn’t so much “meh” as it is more of a “fuck no.”
@Mburde yeah some of the negative comments are detailed and point to incredibly poor quality control with respect to whether or not they work and, even link, and if they finally do link whether or not they will indicate a location that is useful (one review the keys were in their kitchen and the device said it was in a neighbor’s house.
@Kidsandliz It makes sense if you think about how these devices function. They don’t have a GPS receiver, so they rely on the phone’s GPS for position information. It could be that the neighbor’s phone was closer or had a better signal to the tag, thus the location was synched to the neighbor’s phone. This would probably apply to any of the crowd sourced GPS location devices.
@Pufferfishy I don’t remember where I put my keys ever, it is just something that I do without thinking about it. That being said I have 3 locations I keep my keys.
I have lost my keys with kids in the house, what would happen if I got this: 6 months go by keys lost, I will try the app, oh battery dead. Spent 3 minutes trying to find using the app when I could have just found my keys without it.
@Pufferfishy What if it’s not a problem with our memory? I remember the last place I left my water bottle but when I go there to find it, it’s not there. Then I begin my search of all the places I recently went and it’s not anywhere to be found. So then I finally break down and ask Mrs cengland0 if she saw my water and she tells me she put it in the fridge. She moves my stuff without ever telling me so I’m frequently losing it.
@Pufferfishy Or how about this rather frustrating story about how I spent 45 minutes looking for the car keys one morning on the way to work. I put my keys in the exact same place every time, but my husband? Well, I struck out for the train after the possibility window of my being on time for work had long since passed and I am just about as pissed as I could be. Halfway to work, he texts me a picture of where he found the keys: under the stove. Yeah, right? How they got there I will never know. But, this Type A person experienced a nervous breakdown that I am only just now recovering from.
@lasdeauna Do you have pets? Do you have kids? Either would explain keys under the stove. I have a cat (this is goat cat) who, when it comes to stuff, thinks she is a racoon or a magpie and collects shinny things and then hides them under stuff or in stuff…
@lasdeauna You don’t remember putting the keys under the stove? If I put my keys there, I would definitely remember that because it’s an unusual place.
Do you know why, when you’re looking for something, it’s always in the last place you look? Because you stop looking for it once you find it and you found it in the last place you looked.
@pskemp2 it was a very nice phone in its time. And I never had the antenna-gate issues with or without the free bumper case from Apple to assuage the faux-furior.
I also liked the double glass design. Something Apple brought back for the 8 and X.
Cool you’re extracting every last bit of life out of it. Have you had to replace the battery after so many years?
@RedOak yeah, it’s been good, went through 2 OtterBox cases. same battery, which takes more frequent charging. I now plug in most of the time to the computer or to a spare power pack
@susanb93 For pets, the idea is not that your phone is always in range, but rather the tag is in range or passes by other users’ phones which are in range and reports a ping. That would give you an idea of which neighborhood to go looking in. However for this to work well, it depends on many people running the app, which may not be likely, especially in rural areas.
@narfcake Bluetooth range strongely depends on the hardware and the protocol version. We tried to range test a pair of Laird BT900’s with external antennas. Laird claims a range of 1 mile under ideal conditions. It is certainly at least three quarters of a mile. We ran out space to walk. We can’t say it is confirmed, but it is definitely plausible.
We did get far enough to verify that the signal bouncing off the ground and the signal traveling straight will alternately constructively and destructively interfere with each other. So the signal is not particularly stable at that range if one of the systems is in motion.
That kind of range requires antennas that could not fit in those tags, a lot more power, and a level of attention to detail.
I’ve had some of these since Christmas. The tags themselves are probably fine, but the Android app is hot garbage. Crashes every other time I try to run it, and crashes in the background all the time. I’ve heard the iOS app is significantly better.
@kyouteki The apps seem like the real sticking point for so many of these otherwise cool devices. Maybe there’s a cottage industry just waiting for redoing apps the right way.
Congratulations, Meh. You got me to buy a product that I didn’t want. You didn’t specify on the main page, or on the purchase page, that these were XY2’s, rather than XY3’s. The 2’s have a crappy speaker, and no button. I thought I was getting the better version. But I didn’t find out what kind of product it was until after I purchased it. So thanks for the false advertising. Glad to know I wasted $23 on this.
@RiotDemon now I know: check the spec page before purchasing. Just kind of miffed that it wasn’t on the front page. Seems like something that would influence a purchase decision. It’s almost like “hey here’s a product, oh by the way it’s the older model”. This is especially troubling considering they’ve been more explicit about product versions in the past.
@Shallie This is meh.com. Land of b-stock, seconds, older models and unrequited could-have-been-so-great-but-didn’t-quite-make-it products. Cancel your order, then adjust your expectations. I say this is the kindest, gentlest way possible.
For the people that lose their keys all the time, have you tried a key hook? It worked wonders for my ex. He was constantly losing shit.
Side note, last thing I lost was my wallet, it fell between my mattress and footboard. I knew it was in my house somewhere, but that was a random place for me to put it. I had it sitting on the mattress so I could put it in my pocket when I got dressed.
Years ago was the last time I lost it and it really worried me. It was in the back of my partner’s car. It fell out of my pocket… No idea how that happened.
I have a feeling these things are fully annoying if left in default mode, otherwise you need to enable things in app every time you leave the house.
say you leave your keys somewhere on the counter with this thing on and while walking around the house/yard/garage BT thing will just constantly connect/disconnect.
I was looking at those little doohikkies that help one find their lost stuff and thought I had enough time since it was only 10:57PM but I’m on CST or Memphis Rock Time. Sinc I was gonna buy 2 sets, I will give any guy Twice what they cost , or would have until I realized they said Amo had them for $25 or $28and that’s cheaper than , what, $36, so forget it,. No one here needs the money anyway. At least, not my money. I asked about another product a while back, $25 at cist which meant $50 for some food Samaritan, but no takers. U got what U needed anyway. Somebody out there likes money, they didn’t have to like me. Money Talks, Bullshit don’t like Money!!
@markshimo Got mine today and I’m having the same problem using the iOS app. I can get the app to make the device beep but any time I try to register the tag to my account it just spins and spins. This seems to be a problem with the app or with their server.
These are XY2’s that do not pair with the phone due to an IOS app issue. They are useless adornments to my key chain. They serve no purpose. I want my money back.
Specs
What’s in the Box?
3x XY Find It (XY2) devices
Pictures
Options
Purse
Bold
Spring
App
Apptions
You Are Here
Gonna lose 'em
Keys
Dang we lost another one
Price Comparison
$25.60 at Amazon
Warranty
90 Day Mediocre
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Thursday, July 16th
Track this!
How would I use it to find my phone?
@cengland0 You press a button on the tag and it makes your phone ring.
@cengland0 I tend to lose my phone in my house.
When my husband is away I send myself emails in the hope I’ll be able to hear the single beep and locate my phone.
When that fails I email my husband, mom, and sister and tell them: “Lost phone. Please CALL ME.”
Pathetic? Yes. Effective? Mostly.
@kyouteki I don’t believe there are any buttons on the tag.
@primrosewater try picking out 3 to 4 places in your home that you can only place your phone down at. If you loose it, then its at one of those places.
@primrosewater FYI both android and iphone have apps where you can log into a computer and make it ring/beep till found. Iphone, log into icloud and hit the find my phone, Google has “device manager” or “Find my device” that will make it ring for 5 minutes even if its on silent. Both will show a map where the last GPS location was as well.
@cengland0 I have this already. You do push the corner of the tag and it will ring your phone. My phone likes to hide in sofa cushions so I’m embarrassed to say I’ve used this more than I should.
@susanb93 Strange because one of the reviewers claimed the instructions said to press the button to connect but there wasn’t a button. So it was a 1-star review.
@cengland0 Maybe the reviewer was too literal on what a “button” was. You press the corner where the XY is.
That corner is the only corner that works as a button, but it seemed pretty obvious to me.
@primrosewater wheresmycellphone.com
@primrosewater if you have a computer handy there are webaites that will call your phone
@kyouteki they are actually selling the V2 version, which doesn’t have the button.
@Drunkenalien This is a good idea. Thanks!
@bignick73 That’s good to know. I’ll look into it. Thank you!
@lucindalynne Awesome.
“It’s not perfect, but it’s way better than nothing.” No. Nothing is better.
@radi0j0hn Yep, Nothing doesn’t cost me $18
So if I lost my keys in my house it will confirm that my keys are lost in my house?
@norman8 Even better, it will show your house on a map. So you know which house it’s in. We are truly living in the future.
Shouldn’t the color choices be “some purple” and “no purple”?
I want to be the guy that’s Photoshopping that last photo every day. Let’s get an ama
Can they be attached to my mind?
@mfladd
You’d have to find it first.
On a related note, this tracker would be useless for @f00l.
@mfladd …and now I’m listening to The Pixies. #WhereIsMyMind
@corrado Way out in the water #SeeItSwimmin
@mfladd I believe they make a poster for the problem you are having:
/image of all the things I lost I miss my mind the most
@Kidsandliz
-Michael Scott
@mflassy
Hard to attach something to “something else” that’s non-existent.
Sad.
But so close. Curse my attention to detail.
Hey, why did our keyboard’s “” buon sop working? Shoo, we can’ ype i … the keyboard buon o he righ of he “R” buon. How are we supposed to alk abou hese Blueooh rackers wihou hat leer?
Forge i — you win, Cruel Fae.
@magiteck Also the “t” in hat…
@phendrick and in “the”…
hat
@magiteck I had an old Pentium 133 or 200 laptop that had a faulty key. I used to cut and paste the missing letter until I fixed the key.
@magiteck You’ve never had an intermittent failure?
260 reviews, 36% are 1star, 11% 2star. So nearly half are unhappy? If you can’t hear it and the app sucks…
Big meh
@craigcush fakespot hates the reviews, reviewmeta is not impressed. initially when i looked at reviewmeta it was from april and they determined they were being brigaded with negative reviews… so I refreshed it and now it just warns that the reviews are likely unnatural.
@thismyusername Because unnaturally the product sucks?
No. Just no.
I got a Tile tracker (competing product) and it serves no purpose. I’m not that kind of person that misplaces things around the house and it doesn’t seem to have much range for anything else.
Though I did see a video once where someone lost a drone in a field and they got a group of people to install the app (since every install of the app looks for any tag) and they canvased the field and… I don’t remember if they actually found it with the app, now that I think about it… if you can quickly get a bunch of people to help you look for something then you don’t really need the app anyway.
@awk this is the trick. The most desirable use case for these types of trackers (I have lost something in the world/my thing was stolen and I need it located or tracked) relies on a critical mass of people using the app to locate the tag beyond a single user’s radius. The more competitors in the market, the less likely that will happen.
They should all conform to an open standard and report to each other for maximum effectiveness. That’s not happening, either, though, because then no brand has a differentiator. So you’re stuck trying to hear your keys beeping between the sofa cushions, which is a mundane use compared to the idea behind them.
@awk I gave a tile to my daughter 4 her b-day. With a 15 yo w/learner license and 9 yo, it may just save the day.
@davido What did you give daughters 1 through 3?
@awk The crowdsourced bit is nice, but my use case is generally that i can’t find my keys in the house. Tile works well for that, but costs $18 and the battery is not replaceable.
Their app works well enough for my purpose. Other than the ongoing replacement cost, I like the product a lot.
I used to have a keyboard with no L. I called it my Christmas keyboard.
@mehcuda67 Could also be called your Noe Keyboard.
@mehcuda67
I’m thinking that if you think you need these, you may have the kind of problem that these simply cannot solve.
The really sad part here is I watched these when they were on Morningsave. Yes, I’m a fucking Morningsave person. What of it?
And I was tempted. I am notorious for losing my keys or phone around the house with no idea where I left them. I always find them under some paper, or behind something. I actually need these.
That being said, I am kinda pissed off at you meh. Because this would be the third product in about a week that I have purchased, and I don’t have all that extra money to spend. So a kindly, Fuck You, To You.
Know where the fuck are my keys?!
ok meh, it was close, but the price point and those amazon reviews helped me think rationally - it’s a no.
@mfladd
What price point would you be willing to pay?
Because if you want, take the price point, divide it in 2 equal portions, buy me something with one of those halves, and put the rest in a jar.
This way you not only save money, but you have a decent deed for the decade.
@mflassy When did “prices” become “price points” exactly? I must have been off that day.
@mfladd
maybe 2 3-packs for $18
@thismyusername yep, for $2 more I can have them in 2 Days.
No NFC pairing support? Android, Windows, and now even iPhone support NFC tag reading. No outdated model for me.
@hchavers
What the hell are you doing here on Meh?
The bright colors will last longer than the CR2032 batteries and that is how you will find them.
Don’t have a use for these, but it might be fun to slip in a friends purse or in a co-workers desk.
This would be perfect for my Keysmart key organizer, but I’ve already lost it.
Was this an oversight? How the hell is this a deal with a total savings of $2 for a mediocre rated product? This isn’t so much “meh” as it is more of a “fuck no.”
@goldnectar it was a test. And you failed the Meh test. (Didn’t buy)
Surprised to see a massive high-volume global worldwide e-commerce powerhouse like meh.com use Hover’s DNS. Their shit’s been broken for hours.
Amazon feedback on product it very poor. I encourage you to read before you purchase. " Great concept, poor quality. "
@Mburde yeah some of the negative comments are detailed and point to incredibly poor quality control with respect to whether or not they work and, even link, and if they finally do link whether or not they will indicate a location that is useful (one review the keys were in their kitchen and the device said it was in a neighbor’s house.
@Kidsandliz It makes sense if you think about how these devices function. They don’t have a GPS receiver, so they rely on the phone’s GPS for position information. It could be that the neighbor’s phone was closer or had a better signal to the tag, thus the location was synched to the neighbor’s phone. This would probably apply to any of the crowd sourced GPS location devices.
KuoH
The saying goes “A sucker is born every minute”. Meh is way behind on sales. Go us!
If your memory sucks so bad that you need this you should probably seek medical attention.
Alternately - if the issue is that you are in the habit of simply tossing your keys in completely random locations - WTF is wrong with you?
@Pufferfishy I don’t remember where I put my keys ever, it is just something that I do without thinking about it. That being said I have 3 locations I keep my keys.
I have lost my keys with kids in the house, what would happen if I got this: 6 months go by keys lost, I will try the app, oh battery dead. Spent 3 minutes trying to find using the app when I could have just found my keys without it.
@Pufferfishy What if it’s not a problem with our memory? I remember the last place I left my water bottle but when I go there to find it, it’s not there. Then I begin my search of all the places I recently went and it’s not anywhere to be found. So then I finally break down and ask Mrs cengland0 if she saw my water and she tells me she put it in the fridge. She moves my stuff without ever telling me so I’m frequently losing it.
@cengland0 Perhaps Mrs cengland0 and Mrs mehcuda67 are related?
@Pufferfishy Or how about this rather frustrating story about how I spent 45 minutes looking for the car keys one morning on the way to work. I put my keys in the exact same place every time, but my husband? Well, I struck out for the train after the possibility window of my being on time for work had long since passed and I am just about as pissed as I could be. Halfway to work, he texts me a picture of where he found the keys: under the stove. Yeah, right? How they got there I will never know. But, this Type A person experienced a nervous breakdown that I am only just now recovering from.
@lasdeauna Do you have pets? Do you have kids? Either would explain keys under the stove. I have a cat (this is goat cat) who, when it comes to stuff, thinks she is a racoon or a magpie and collects shinny things and then hides them under stuff or in stuff…
@lasdeauna You don’t remember putting the keys under the stove? If I put my keys there, I would definitely remember that because it’s an unusual place.
Do you know why, when you’re looking for something, it’s always in the last place you look? Because you stop looking for it once you find it and you found it in the last place you looked.
@Pufferfishy
Sure.
Everything.
should I buy them? i haven’t lost my iphone4 or keys in 5 years. I guess having said that, Murphy’s Law will take effect.
@pskemp2 what a coincidence - I haven’t lost my iPhone 4 in 5 years… it’s been sitting in my retired gadget drawer for almost that long. I think.
@RedOak haha, yeah it’s an iphone but not a “smartphone”; it has dumb user issues, I know!
@pskemp2 it was a very nice phone in its time. And I never had the antenna-gate issues with or without the free bumper case from Apple to assuage the faux-furior.
I also liked the double glass design. Something Apple brought back for the 8 and X.
Cool you’re extracting every last bit of life out of it. Have you had to replace the battery after so many years?
@RedOak yeah, it’s been good, went through 2 OtterBox cases. same battery, which takes more frequent charging. I now plug in most of the time to the computer or to a spare power pack
I’m thinking of putting this on my dog. Or husband.
@susanb93 seriously, on pets is a good idea, yes? Especially for those let their cats outside (stop doing that)!
@susanb93 that was my first thought, but it’s bluetooth so I doubt the range is very effective for bad dogs (or husbands).
@moonhat Almost useless for pets. Bluetooth only offers about 30’ in maximum range; that’s not even two car lengths.
@susanb93 For pets, the idea is not that your phone is always in range, but rather the tag is in range or passes by other users’ phones which are in range and reports a ping. That would give you an idea of which neighborhood to go looking in. However for this to work well, it depends on many people running the app, which may not be likely, especially in rural areas.
KuoH
@narfcake Bluetooth range strongely depends on the hardware and the protocol version. We tried to range test a pair of Laird BT900’s with external antennas. Laird claims a range of 1 mile under ideal conditions. It is certainly at least three quarters of a mile. We ran out space to walk. We can’t say it is confirmed, but it is definitely plausible.
We did get far enough to verify that the signal bouncing off the ground and the signal traveling straight will alternately constructively and destructively interfere with each other. So the signal is not particularly stable at that range if one of the systems is in motion.
That kind of range requires antennas that could not fit in those tags, a lot more power, and a level of attention to detail.
I’ve had some of these since Christmas. The tags themselves are probably fine, but the Android app is hot garbage. Crashes every other time I try to run it, and crashes in the background all the time. I’ve heard the iOS app is significantly better.
@kyouteki The apps seem like the real sticking point for so many of these otherwise cool devices. Maybe there’s a cottage industry just waiting for redoing apps the right way.
Wow, one of the writers might remember Splinter! Honestly a lose lost rat was horrible. I could have used this. The house cat getting out was bad too.
Pro tip for the kids: attach one of these to your hopes & dreams before cynicism inevitably sets in.
Congratulations, Meh. You got me to buy a product that I didn’t want. You didn’t specify on the main page, or on the purchase page, that these were XY2’s, rather than XY3’s. The 2’s have a crappy speaker, and no button. I thought I was getting the better version. But I didn’t find out what kind of product it was until after I purchased it. So thanks for the false advertising. Glad to know I wasted $23 on this.
@Shallie from the product page:
And the Amazon comparison page shows that they are XY2s
@RiotDemon now I know: check the spec page before purchasing. Just kind of miffed that it wasn’t on the front page. Seems like something that would influence a purchase decision. It’s almost like “hey here’s a product, oh by the way it’s the older model”. This is especially troubling considering they’ve been more explicit about product versions in the past.
@Shallie just cancel your order.
@Shallie This is meh.com. Land of b-stock, seconds, older models and unrequited could-have-been-so-great-but-didn’t-quite-make-it products. Cancel your order, then adjust your expectations. I say this is the kindest, gentlest way possible.
p.s. and the land of candy corn
For the people that lose their keys all the time, have you tried a key hook? It worked wonders for my ex. He was constantly losing shit.
Side note, last thing I lost was my wallet, it fell between my mattress and footboard. I knew it was in my house somewhere, but that was a random place for me to put it. I had it sitting on the mattress so I could put it in my pocket when I got dressed.
Years ago was the last time I lost it and it really worried me. It was in the back of my partner’s car. It fell out of my pocket… No idea how that happened.
I have a feeling these things are fully annoying if left in default mode, otherwise you need to enable things in app every time you leave the house.
say you leave your keys somewhere on the counter with this thing on and while walking around the house/yard/garage BT thing will just constantly connect/disconnect.
For $5, sure, yes! For $23, no freakin’ way!!
I find it mildly amusing that one of the ads my device is returning on this page is for a competing product.
This will end up in a fuko…
I was looking at those little doohikkies that help one find their lost stuff and thought I had enough time since it was only 10:57PM but I’m on CST or Memphis Rock Time. Sinc I was gonna buy 2 sets, I will give any guy Twice what they cost , or would have until I realized they said Amo had them for $25 or $28and that’s cheaper than , what, $36, so forget it,. No one here needs the money anyway. At least, not my money. I asked about another product a while back, $25 at cist which meant $50 for some food Samaritan, but no takers. U got what U needed anyway. Somebody out there likes money, they didn’t have to like me. Money Talks, Bullshit don’t like Money!!
These things don’t seem to be working , the app can see the tags, but I can’t add any tags to the app, it just hangs.
@markshimo Got mine today and I’m having the same problem using the iOS app. I can get the app to make the device beep but any time I try to register the tag to my account it just spins and spins. This seems to be a problem with the app or with their server.
@markshimo Aha. It appears there’s a known bug with the latest release of the iOS app. See the one review here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xy-find-it/id797274875?mt=8
@markshimo The iOS app was just updated to v3.55 and I am now able to register my tags with the service.
works with the android app, but can’t hear it chirp for shit…meh
These are XY2’s that do not pair with the phone due to an IOS app issue. They are useless adornments to my key chain. They serve no purpose. I want my money back.
@mhutchins11 Try downloading again. The iOS app was just updated to v3.55 and I am now able to register my tags with the service.
Man I just finally opened mine up and they all seem to be partially “open” on one side? They look broken to me. Anybody else?