There is an order to the things that go missing in my home. Keys are at the top, followed by phones. Both of those are relatively easy to find thanks to Bluetooth tags; as long as you have one you can find the other. But when it comes to glasses – offender number three on the list – things get a bit more difficult.
While there are plenty of tags you can attach to your keys or wallet, there are few suitable for glasses. It is the main reason why I have several pairs stashed around the place to make sure I can lay my hands on at least one pair in a hurry.
But when it came to the slightly disorganised child and his eye-wateringly expensive glasses, a better solution was needed.
It had to be something with adequate coverage. There are some trackers out there that use Bluetooth, which is fine if your glasses are within its range, less so if you need to call on the power of the network. That is when you need to have a critical mass of people using the same system, so if your item is nearby, its location will eventually be discovered and pinged back to you.
READ MORE
The likely candidate, Tile, discontinued its glasses tracker, but one solution popped up: Orbit x Glasses, a tracker that works with Apple’s Find My. That means it has access to the power and reach of Apple’s network, a strong selling point for the device.
Orbit x Glasses claims to be the world’s smallest tracker, and is designed to sit discreetly on the frame. It comes with three sticky strips to help out here – two spares just in case it comes off – but in general it takes a lot to shift it.
It won’t suit all frames, so pay attention to the minimum sizes and clearance needed for it to fit comfortably. At €49, it’s not a cheap tracker, but I managed to get it to fit child-sized frames, so it should suit the majority of adult frames.
As an added bonus, the tracker is rechargeable, so you don’t need to keep buying new ones every year or two. The charging cable is proprietary, though, so keep it safe.
Setting it up was simple. It came partially charged but popping it on to the charger kick-started the pairing process. You don’t need a separate app for it; everything takes place within the Find My app that is part of the Apple ecosystem. Within two minutes it was up and running, and shared with a family member just to be sure.
Within a few days, the tracker got its first test. Imagine an eight-year-old, the picture of innocence because his glasses had just vanished from the case. Firing up Find My, we were able to hear the tracker’s alert. The glasses were eventually located under a pile of Hot Wheels cars.
The ringing is loud enough to hear but not so loud that it could damage hearing if the tracker is activated while the glasses are being worn. It is a good balance.
I can also see where the child who is (supposed to be) wearing the glasses is, as long as he is in range of an Apple device also using Find My. That may be seen by some parents as an added benefit, but it verges on invasion of privacy. It is less of a concern if you are tracking your own items, obviously.
Be warned: you need to keep an eye on the battery. It lasts for about a month, but that will depend on how often you call on the tracker to find your device. On average we got about three weeks out of it, but I would recommend topping up the battery every two weeks. The last thing you want it to discover the battery has quietly died right at the very moment you need to find the device.
That is eventually what happened here. The tag was knocked off during PE, so the glasses remained in situ while the tag is probably languishing under a radiator in the PE hall, never to be seen again.
Would I recommend it? At the time of writing, there was already another Orbit on the way. On balance, it was cheaper to buy a new tag than a new pair of glasses. This one, however, will be more diligently charged.
Good
Easy to set up, discreet enough for most glasses and the ringing is loud enough to track the item easily. The Apple network is vast enough to make sure that someone somewhere will be able to ping the location of the tracker back to your phone, just by walking past.
Bad
Unfortunately, Android users are left out of this one. This is Apple only for now.
Everything else
The Find My network communication is anonymous and encrypted, and the tracker doesn’t store location data and history.
Verdict
A sanity saver, at least in this house.
