TrackR Pixel and Wallet Unveiled at CES ’17

TrackR is a brand that you’ll recognize if you’re a very specific type of person: you know, the kind who loses a lot of stuff. (If you are, then hello, it’s nice to meet you. You and I are two of a kind.)

To start the year off, TrackR unveiled two brand new products ahead of CES Las Vegas 2017, the massive consumer technology expo that showcases the newest and shiniest innovations in tech each year.

The TrackR Pixel

First, there’s the TrackR Pixel, which works similarly to the classic TrackR Bravo. It’s smaller and lighter than its predecessor, with a built-in LED light that can be turned on to help you find your item in the dark. (LED indicators make finding things in locations like drawers and purses easier, too.)

The new Pixel comes in nine colours and will run at a lower price point than the Bravo, making item tracking more affordable for the average consumer. It runs on a user-replaceable battery and is 26mm in diameter and 5mm thick, with functions to track and ring your Pixel when it’s nearby.

Like most item tracking technology, this one uses a crowd GPS network to help locate your lost item if it’s outside of your range.

The TrackR Wallet 2.0

Just like how the Bravo got an update to produce the Pixel, the TrackR Wallet saw an update this season, too. The new Wallet 2.0 is a mere 2mm thick, and has the approximate dimensions of two credit cards stacked on top of each other.

Like TrackR’s other products, the Wallet 2.0 can be used to trigger your phone to ring, and your phone can be used to make it ring, in turn. It uses crowd GPS when an item is far away, a distance indicator when it’s within your range, and can be viewed on a map from multiple devices. (The latter function is perfect for shared items being tracked, like the community mailbox keys or a pet collar.)

Both the new Pixel and Wallet 2.0 work using the TrackR Atlas, a Bluetooth- and Wi-Fi-equipped wall plug that keeps track of your tagged items at home. The consumer builds a floor plan of their home on the app, and based off of that combined information, TrackR-tagged products can be identified not only by proximity but also by specific room.

The Atlas now also integrates with Amazon Alexa.

Why go with TrackR?

There are a lot of item-finding companies out there, but I know that if I needed to track something important like my wallet, passport, or kitten, I’d go with TrackR.

My reasoning is simple: all GPS-tracking devices available right now, other than the ones that run with a full operating system inside of them (like your smartphone), rely on crowd-based GPS to function. If you walk away from a lost item, you’ll only find it when someone else with the same company’s tracking app walks by the item.

TrackR makes sense as a first pick because it’s been growing steadily since 2009 and was named as the #1 fastest growing company by Pacific Coast Business Times. In other words, the fact that it’s popular should, in theory, translate into a broader and more effective search network for your lost items.

Whether you’re looking to track items because you have a tendency to lose things, your kids keep misplacing their toys, or your parents are having some trouble remembering where they’ve been leaving things, there’s now a thinner, lighter TrackR out there for you.