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Chipolo ONE Spot Now Available to Pre-Order as Cheaper AirTag Alternative With Find My Integration

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Last month, Apple opened up its Find My app to third-party device manufacturers, allowing for third-party products to be tracked in the Find My app right alongside Apple devices.

chipolo-one-spot-iphone.jpg

Chipolo is one of the first brands to offer this functionality with its new ONE Spot item tracker, which is now available to pre-order in the United States and many other countries, with pricing set at $28 individually or $90 for a four pack. This slightly undercuts the price of an AirTag, which costs $29 individually or $99 for a four pack.

As with the AirTag, users can attach a Chipolo ONE Spot to their keys, wallet, backpack, or other items and track the location of those items in the Items tab of the Find My app. Like the AirTag, the Chipolo ONE Spot has a built-in speaker that can play a sound when misplaced, and it has a replaceable CR2032 battery for up to a year of battery life.

Both the AirTag and Chipolo ONE Spot can leverage the Find My network, meaning that if one of nearly a billion customers with an iPhone or other Apple device comes within close proximity of a lost AirTag or Chipolo ONE Spot, the location of the tracker can be relayed back to its owner, all in the background, anonymously and privately.

Unlike the AirTag, however, the Chipolo ONE Spot lacks Ultra Wideband support, and thus lacks the Precision Finding feature that shows iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 users the exact distance and direction to their AirTag. The Chipolo ONE Spot also has IPX5-rated water resistance, while the AirTag has higher IP67-rated water and dust resistance.

One advantage of the Chipolo ONE Spot is that it has a built-in hole for attaching it to a keychain. When you factor in the price of both an AirTag and an AirTag accessory to attach it to items, the Chipolo tracker has greater value.

Chipolo ONE Spot pre-orders will begin shipping in June.

(Thanks, Leonard!)

Article Link: Chipolo ONE Spot Now Available to Pre-Order as Cheaper AirTag Alternative With Find My Integration
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/05/12/chipolo-one-spot-available-to-preorder/
so undercut airbags in price by $1 and $2.25 per in a pack of 4 but without ultrawideband? Tile and Samsung think ultrawideband is a $10 feature, so --- not much of a deal. s/b $19 for one
 
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Caliber26 said:
Interesting that they're going for that $28 price. I feel most people -- even the average consumer who doesn't even realize what the U1 chip does -- will say no thank you and opt for the "official" tracker from Apple that costs a dollar more.
Click to expand...
true, Samsung and Tile think the ultra wide band is a $10 feature, not a $1 feature
 
Precision Finding is one of the key features of the AirTag. Often I misplace my stuff within my room, whether it's in my jacket or my nightstand or my backpack. Having that available on AirTags has saved me a lot of time and hassle with quickly locating things like my wallet, AirPods Pro, and vape pen.

Spend the extra dollar and get the superior product.
 
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Caliber26 said:
Interesting that they're going for that $28 price. I feel most people -- even the average consumer who doesn't even realize what the U1 chip does -- will say no thank you and opt for the "official" tracker from Apple that costs a dollar more.
Click to expand...

MauiPa said:
so undercut airbags in price by $1 and $2.25 per in a pack of 4 but without ultrawideband? Tile and Samsung think ultrawideband is a $10 feature, so --- not much of a deal. s/b $19 for one
Click to expand...

Ion-X said:
Spend the extra dollar and get the superior product.
Click to expand...

I think the real savings is that this device, unlike the AirTag, because it has the keychain hole, would not require one to purchase an additional keychain accessory. Using the "Belkin Secure Holder with Key Ring" which Apple sells for $12.95, the full price savings would be more like $13.95.

The question then becomes is the U1/PrecisionTracking/IP67 feature worth an additional $14?

EDIT: looks like Chipolo is also only rated IPX5 where AirTags are IP67; therefore I added it to the difference list ^
 
Yep .. it's funny when they try to "undercut" Apple pricing by selling it for $1 cheaper. Either Apple sells it at its true value, or the competitors being too lazy to do some market research and decide to follow whatever Apple charges for it.

Without the U1 chip, it's not actually cheaper. It costs a bit less while doing a lot less.
 
An issue? People are already familiar with AirTags due to media coverage. Not so with alternatives. Thus it's likely that people who find an alternative will not recognize that they can actively aid in recovery.

Solution? AirTag stickers....
 
iSayuSay said:
Yep .. it's funny when they try to "undercut" Apple pricing by selling it for $1 cheaper. Either Apple sells it at its true value, or the competitors being too lazy to do some market research and decide to follow whatever Apple charges for it.

Without the U1 chip, it's not actually cheaper. It costs a bit less while doing a lot less.
Click to expand...
I think you have miscalculated, see my previous post: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ith-find-my-integration.2295850/post-29879234
 
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I had high hopes for these, and have still ordered 2, but I think that they are priced too high. Especially as there now cheap AirTags cases available. For my usage, tracking keys, they need some sort of some sort of hole/adapter.

I do expect that they will wear better than the AirTags though - mine (in the Belkin case) are already scuffed up from launch day.
 
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