Tile Mate (2022) review: A lower-cost key finder sees big improvements
Our Verdict
Get the Tile Mate (2022) if you want a key finder with 200 feet or so of range and a good set of features merely you don't desire to pay $35 for the Tile Pro. iPhone users may appreciate the Ultra Wideband connectivity offered by Apple'southward AirTag, but the Tile Mate offers a lower cost without likewise many compromises.
For
- Costs less than many comparable cardinal finders
- Meliorate range than previous edition
- Two-way finding feature for locating your phone
- Piece of cake-to-employ app
Against
- Battery isn't replaceable
- No Ultra Wideband connectivity
Tom's Guide Verdict
Get the Tile Mate (2022) if you lot desire a key finder with 200 feet or so of range and a good set of features only yous don't want to pay $35 for the Tile Pro. iPhone users may appreciate the Ultra Wideband connectivity offered by Apple'due south AirTag, but the Tile Mate offers a lower toll without too many compromises.
Pros
- +
Costs less than many comparable key finders
- +
Better range than previous edition
- +
Ii-mode finding characteristic for locating your phone
- +
Easy-to-use app
Cons
- -
Battery isn't replaceable
- -
No Ultra Wideband connectivity
Tile Mate 2022 specs
Size: ane.5 10 1.5 10 0.3 inches
Listed range: Up to 250 feet
Tested range: 200 anxiety
H2o resistance? IP67
Battery: Non-replaceable/iii years
Colors: Black, white
The previous version of the Tile Mate felt similar a big footstep back for the company'due south lower-priced key finder. Simply the new Tile Mate (2022) rights all the wrongs, while taking things a stride farther past increasing range and adding meliorate water resistance.
The Tile Pro (2022) remains the all-time key finder around, but if you don't want to pay $35 for that device, the $25 Tile Mate is a great alternative, given all the improvements made in this 2022 edition.
Tile Mate review: Price and availability
At $25, the Tile Mate costs $ten less than the Tile Pro, with the principal trade-offs being range — the Tile Pro tin stay continued to your phone up to 400 feet, while the Mate tops out at 250 feet — and the loudness of the alarm. For many users, those merchandise-offs will be worth saving the $ten, though some may cramp at the not-replaceable bombardment that powers the Mate. (More than on that in a moment.)
The Tile Mate's $25 price besides compares favorably to other top primal finders. Samsung's Galaxy SmartTag starts at $30, which is the same toll as Apple tree's AirTag. Apple tree'due south cardinal finder includes Ultra Wideband connectivity for more than precise finding — a feature lacking from Tile's trackers until the Tile Ultra arrives in 2022.
Tile Mate review: Blueprint and features
Unlike the Tile Pro, which gets a pattern revamp for its 2022 edition, the Tile Mate (2022) looks a lot like its predecessor. You become the same square blueprint equally earlier, though the newer Mate is a little bigger all effectually. Tile has tried to unify the look of its key finders, which means a Tile logo in the middle of the Tile Mate that you can press if you ever need to notice your phone. (Which will happen often if you're like me.)
Easily the biggest alter to the Tile Mate (2022) is Tile'due south decision to exercise away with the replaceable bombardment on this model. Instead, like the latest versions of the Tile Slim and Tile Sticker, the Mate runs on a non-replaceable bombardment that should concluding for iii years. (Our Tile Pro vs. Tile Mate vs. Tile Slim vs. Tile Sticker face up-off has a total wait at the differences in these various trackers.) That's going to heighten the hackles of environmentally minded users who won't care for the idea of replacing their tracker in three year'southward fourth dimension, though the Tile app can point y'all to e-waste locations where yous tin dispose of quondam Tiles.
If information technology'southward whatever comfort, the Tile Mate now offers IP67 water resistance, after the previous edition could merely withstand splashes. That makes the new Mate more durable and puts information technology on par with the remainder of the Tile lineup.
Using the new Tile Mate is the aforementioned as before. Y'all attach the tracker to whatever you want to monitor and pair the device with your Android phone or iPhone over Bluetooth. The Tile app lets you manage your Tile Mate, with a button for sounding an alarm when you lot tin can't find your keys (or whatever information technology is you lot've attached to your Tile). Equally noted, Tile's trackers have a 2-fashion find feature that let you buzz your phone — a capability missing from Apple'southward AirTag, we should add together.
Tile Mate review: Performance
The Tile Pro (2022) is the tracker to go for if you want Tile's loudest alarm. Only the alarm on the Mate is notwithstanding loud plenty in about cases. I could hear the key finder's alarm when information technology was stashed in a glaze pocket inside a closet from a room away in my house. In a public park with a lot of ambient racket, the Tile Mate's warning was still every aural up until I was more than 100 feet away. For context, I could notwithstanding hear the Tile Pro at around 150 feet.
Equally for range, Tile has increased the distance y'all tin stay connected to the new Tile Mate, boosting its listed range from 200 feet to 250 feet. When testing the Tile Mate (2022), I was able to go 200 feet away with no trouble, which is a definite improvement over the previous Tile Mate, where I struggled to reach 100 feet. It's worth noting that functioning tin vary based on physical obstructions and bespeak interference. I too tested the Tile Mate (2022) at a nearby ferry depot, where range was significantly shorter for the key finder. Of form, that was the case for all the primal finders I tested there, which says more than nearly the vagaries of Bluetooth connectivity than it does the Tile Mate.
Like the other new editions of Tile'due south trackers, the Mate has a QR code embedded on its back that's supposed to brand it easier for other people to relay your Tile Mate'southward location should y'all lose it. (They browse the lawmaking and can send a bulletin to you via the contact info you shop in Tile'southward app.) A Browse and Secure feature aimed at detecting unfamiliar Tiles trying to track your location is coming in 2022.
Tile continues to offer a $2.99/month subscription service that tacks on extra features similar alerts when you leave your home without your Tile Mate and the ability to share the tracker with an unlimited number of people. Only the Tile Mate's core features don't require a subscription, and I retrieve you can get the most out of the device without paying up for Tile Premium.
Tile Mate review: Verdict
While there's no matching the Tile Pro's range, y'all could brand the statement that a 400-foot range is a nice-to-accept, non a must-take. The 250 feet the Tile Mate (2022) promises will be enough range for nearly people and the warning is loud enough to be heard at a distance. Those are some pretty acceptable merchandise-offs for a $10 discount, particularly if you're non troubled by the lack of a replaceable battery.
Apple'southward AirTag offers more features for just $5 more than the Tile Mate, and the Chipolo Ane sports a more colorful look and a disposable battery at the same toll as the Mate. But it'southward hard to tiptop the value the Tile Mate delivers given the improvements to this latest version.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/tile-mate-2022
Posted by: cephaswhersely1982.blogspot.com
0 Response to "Tile Mate (2022) review: A lower-cost key finder sees big improvements"
Post a Comment