Tile Starter Pack Review

Reviewed by Colin Hewitt 

I’m an unashamed lover of new gadgets, so when I was offered the opportunity to test and review the Tile Starter Pack, I jumped at the chance.

The Tile Starter Pack arrived in a cardboard box, a little smaller than a standard CD box. Inside were two devices. There’s the ‘Slim’, a credit card-size device that could sit in a wallet or purse. I intend to place it in a large travel wallet that I use when travelling abroad – it contains my passport, tickets, boarding passes etc. The second device is the ‘Mate’, which is key fob sized, this one I’ll attach to the day-pack/rucksack I regularly use for work.

Setting up the devices was simplicity itself. I use an Android phone, so I downloaded the Tile App from the Google Play Store. I also set the Apple app up on my iPad with similar ease.

The App instructions for pairing the devices to my phone were extremely clear. Within a few minutes, I had two operational devices.

The Tiles work via Bluetooth, so within the home, the range is approximately 76m (for either device).

If I lost any items within the home with a Tile attached (keys, wallet etc.) I could select the item on the App and press ‘Find’. The Tile device will then play a surprisingly loud tune to help you find it. If you have some smart devices in your home, you can ask Alexa or Google Assistant to locate the Tile device.

Usefully the reverse action is also possible. For example, if you’ve misplaced your phone, you can press the button on one of the Tile devices, and your phone will warble.

If you lose your item while away from home, the Tile App will display the last known locations on a map. If you upgrade to a Premium Subscription, location information for the previous 30 days will be displayed. There are other benefits of subscribing to the Premium functionality; the Tile website lists them all.

If that information isn’t enough to help you find your belongings, you can press the “Notify When Found” button on the App. This utilises the Tile Network, meaning that every phone using the Tile App can join to help you find your lost item. Each device can help locate your Tile tracker and send a location update to the Tile App on your phone. This is obviously dependent on the number of people running the devices in your area (in my case, according to the App, it’s an impressive 863 (This area included the outskirts of Bath and Bristol).

The best way to test the device was to give it a trial run. My wife walked to our nearest town, taking my rucksack with her (please note that she was fully aware that a tracking device was in the bag). The rucksack was detected three times on her journey, and notifications were sent to me. This really impressed me as we live in quite a rural area. I’ll be intrigued to test this further when we visit a city where many more Tile devices will act together.

A minor criticism is that it’s impossible to change the batteries; therefore, the devices will need to be disposed of when their batteries expire (approximately 3 years). However, it should be noted there are other Tile devices available which can have their batteries changed. Refer to their very informative website for the full range of Tiles.

These items are a great Christmas gift idea for any tech lover or anyone who constantly ‘loses’ things around the house. Finally, they’ll no longer have excuses for why they can’t find their car keys.

Rating: 5/5
(my criticism of battery replacement was more than compensated by the overall performance)

RRP: £44.99

This product can be purchased here.