Archive for Chipolo

My Every Day Carry (EDC) – The 2022 Edition

Posted in Products with tags , , , , , , , on May 20, 2022 by itnerd

My every day carry or EDC has evolved over the last year or so. I’ve tweaked some of the items that I carry not only for meeting my daily needs but to add some style as well. As we go through this, you’ll see a trend. Let’s see if you can spot what it is. Let’s start with the phone that I carry on a daily basis:

My current phone is the  iPhone 12 Pro. It covers my needs for a fast phone with great cameras, lots of storage, and an amazing screen. I always keep my phones in a case, and the case that I use on a daily basis is the Spigen Tough Armor which has a kickstand for watching media hands free. But more importantly promises twice the military standard for drop protection. Something that I’ve unintentionally tested on a few occasions. To add to that protection, I have added a FloLab NanoArmour Anti-Microbial Screen Protector screen protector on it so that scratches on the screen are a non-issue and it gives the screen some extra resilience. The anti-microbial features are really just a bonus. You’ll also note that on the back I have a carbon fibre skin done by dBrand which is most evident around the camera and Apple logo.

The Apple Watch Series 6 with cellular is my smart watch of choice as its a great way to stay in touch without carrying my phone if I choose to do that as I can stay in touch minus my phone as this is the cellular model. It also keeps track of all my health metrics as that’s important to me these days. While you see that I have a Nike sports band on it at the moment, I have a variety of bands to choose from.

My keys are the next things that I grab. My keys are in a KeyPort Pivot 2.0 key holder which on the outside includes a flashlight along with a Lightning to USB cable which can allow me to charge my phone if I need to in a pinch. On the inside I have a 64GB USB stick, a multi-tool that in a pinch can open an Amazon box, a SIM card ejector tool, and a pen. Oh yeah. It also has my keys as well. One thing that I appreciate about this setup is that keys don’t dig into my thighs and they don’t jingle. Besides having actual keys and a key fob for my condo along with a hook to allow me to hook onto things like door handles that look sketchy, I also have the Apple AirTag on them to find them when I misplace them. Since you can’t directly mount an AirTag to anything, I use the Belkin Secure Holder with the AirTag as it’s secure and cheap relative to the cost of what Apple wants you to pay for their products.

My car keys also live in my pocket and they have an Apple AirTag which is being held in a Belkin Secure Holder so that I can find them when I misplace them.

A new addition to my every day carry is this Ekster Carbon Fibre Cardholder which is made of 3K carbon fibre. All the cards and ID that I need are in this slim and light package that I barely notice in my pocket. It does have RFID blocking capabilities which is a good thing. It also is a statement piece when I whip it out to pay for something. Or as the kids would say, it’s a flex.

I have this Chipolo CARD Spot tracking card in my cardholder so that I can use Apple’s Find My app to find it should I misplace it. While it hasn’t got the same sort of precision finding functionality of an AirTag, it does allow you to play “Marco/Polo” to find it if you lose it. One bummer is that it has non-replaceable batteries. That means that I will have to spring for a new one in a couple of years time. Hopefully by then there will be other options in this form factor that have replacement batteries.

I’ve been carrying this Victorinox CyberTool M for years. And if you look at the picture, it shows as you can see that it does have some light scratches on it. Despite that it still looks great and works just fine. That’s a testament to the quality that Victorinox builds into I use it to do everything from open up computers and to open up Amazon boxes as it has 32 different tools on it that are useful for almost any situation that I have found myself in. I have a pouch for it that has a loop that allows me to put it on my belt. It is beaten up. But that’s not a surprise as the CyberTool M and the pouch are well over a decade old.

Let’s say that I can’t carry my Swiss Army knife because I’m getting on a plane. Or I choose not to carry it. I have two other options for multi-tools to choose from. The first is the Axiom FLAT PACK TO 8 multi-tool. Originally designed for cyclists who might need to fix something on the road, I’ve found that it is useful for opening up computers as it has Allen keys as part of the deal. It doesn’t take up a whole lot of space in my pocket and it’s durable.

My second option is the Swiss+Tech Transformer 11-In-1 multi-tool. While it is on the heavy side, it does have a full array of screwdrivers and a flashlight among other things in a package that fits in my pocket. I’ve only ever had to replace the batteries for the flashlight. Beyond that, it’s survived the test of time as I have had this since the late 2000’s.

If I want to listen to music while I am on the go, my Apple AirPods Pro is my go to as they allow you use active noise cancelling to shut out the outside world, or use transparency mode to stay aware of what’s going on around you. I put them in a Spigen Rugged Armour AirPods Pro case which protects them from scratches and provides some drop protection. The case came with a carabiner that recently broke. Thus I replaced it with a more heavy duty carabiner that has a screw lock along with a matte black ring. One other thing that I have done is replace the silicone ear tips with the Comply Foam Tips which not only make the AirPods Pro feel more comfortable in my ears, but they allow the AirPods stay in my ears better.

If I am going to be out for while and I need to ensure that I have enough power to keep my phone online, I drop this Jackery Mini power bank in my pocket. It’s a 3200 mAh power bank that allows me to get about a 70% charge on my iPhone 12 Pro should I need it. It will also give my AirPods Pro a full charge as well. It doesn’t take up a lot of real estate in my pocket which is a good thing. In terms of a cable, that’s when the Lightning cable that’s on my key holder comes in handy as both my AirPods Pro and iPhone 12 Pro can use that to get a charge.

In a rare photo of yours truly, you can see the Rudy Project Deewhy sunglasses with Polar3FX HDR Grey lenses. Rudy Project doesn’t make these anymore, but that doesn’t matter to me as they work extremely well for me. The lenses are polarized lenses that filter harmful UV rays and eliminates glare by selectively filtering non harmful wavelengths through the lens. It’s designed to filter glare from car headlights, sun rays and the refracted light on wet or shiny surfaces like water and snow. All of which means that my eyes don’t take a beating when I drive. I also use them when I am walking around town. You can also see the Devon+Lange 3 layer face mask that is made from silver infused premium modal, and it has a filter pocket to hold the included PM2.5 filters. There’s also a removable and replaceable nose piece to ensure that they fit properly. These masks are comfortable to wear, I can breathe in them and I can wear them for long periods of time without an issue.

When I can’t be bothered to take a trip down to the car to get my Rudy Project Deewhy sunglasses as that’s where those sunglasses normally live, I often grab these Rudy Project Agon sunglasses which live at my desk. They have the “Laser Black” lenses which allows for about 12% light transmission. But I also notice that they enhance contrast and I can wear them while driving, or taking a walk in the woods or just walking around. The fact that they enhance contrast means that you can pick up small details that would have gone unnoticed even by the naked eye. Such has cracks in the road while driving or uneven terrain while hiking. That makes them a great general purpose pair of sunglasses for me.

From the mundane item department comes this tube of Blistex. I often have dry chapped lips. So to mitigate that I always have some lip balm on me. In this case it’s Blistex, but I have also been known to carry ChapStick as well.

That’s my EDC or every day carry. What do you think? What do you think I should add to it or change? And were you able to spot the theme? Drop a comment below and share your thoughts.

2 Comments »

Review: Chipolo CARD Spot

Posted in Products with tags on March 16, 2022 by itnerd

One of the smartest things that Apple did when they created the Find My network is that they opened it up to third parties so that you weren’t forced to only buy AirTags. Now the cynic in me says that this was only done to allow them to make a few extra bucks via licensing deals, and to blunt any suggestions of anti-trust, but it is still a great move by Apple. Because the problem with AirTags is that they don’t fit every use case. For example, you can’t put an AirTag in a wallet. Nor can you put it in a location where space is a premium and an AirTag would never fit into. That’s where the Chipolo CARD Spot comes in. It’s a card sized tracker that works on the Find My network. In fact, it only works on the Find My network. Let’s have a look at it.

This is the “mostly black” colour which sounds kind of like something that Google would do. It’s also the only colour available at present. The CARD Spot and one piece of paper is all that you get in the box. Which by the way is taped up so well that ripping the box apart to get the CARD Spot out is faster than cutting the various pieces of tape that keep the box sealed. But that would be a bad idea as the instructions to add the card to Find My are on the inner part of the box. And adding it is trivially easy. Here’s what I did on my iPhone running iOS 15.4:

  1. Open the Find My app on your iPhone
  2. Go to Items and click on the plus sign
  3. Click on Add Other Item
  4. Press the button that’s located on the bottom left corner CARD Spot until it makes a sound
  5. Follow the onscreen prompts.

Speaking of prompts, if you’re running iOS 15.4 and presumably later as at the time of writing this review iOS 15.4 was the latest version of iOS, you’ll see this:

I’ve removed my personal information from this screen shot, but the message is clear. Don’t be a scumbag by using this to track people without their knowledge. And if you decide to be a scumbag, law enforcement will hunt you down like U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard tried to hunt down Dr. Richard Kimble. If that reference is alien to you, this will help.

After you click on that, you have to name it and you’re done. In short, the setup process is almost no different than an AirTag. Which is good.

Now let’s talk about the CARD Spot. It’s 2.4mm thick. Which makes it the size 2 credit cards stacked on top of each other. Thus making it perfect for your wallet or any other tight spot. It is IPX5 water resistant, which means that it is protected from water jets projected by a nozzle from any direction. It has a non-replaceable battery which lasts two years. More on that in a bit. And it has a 105dB speaker. Though when I tested it, the Noise app on my Apple Watch never got any higher than 88dB when the card was right next to my Apple Watch. Though 88dB is still plenty loud. And it’s 8dB louder than the AirTag that I tested. My wife and I put this to use immediately by adding these to our Ekster Aluminum Cardholder.

Now to be fair, the Ekster does have the option of adding this tracking card which also happens to be made by Chipolo to it which requires Chipolo’s own app to use. My issue with that was that you had to one more app to your phone to use their card. Now we have an option that lives within the iOS ecosystem.

Now over to that battery. Or more accurately, the non-replaceable battery. It’s slated to last two years. And when it dies, Chipolo will give you a 50% discount on a new one and remind you about the discount two years from now. On top of that they will make easy for you to send it back to them to recycle. But only if you register the CARD Spot using this card:

The big white spot is a QR code that goes to a website and fills in the serial number of the CARD Spot for you when you scan it with your phone. All you have to do is enter your email address and you’re done. While not having replaceable batteries isn’t ideal, this reduces the environmental impact that one of these cards will create in two years. Though the next version of the CARD Spot that Chipolo ships needs to have replaceable batteries as Tile figured out years ago that not having replaceable batteries in their products was a liability due to the environmental impact of creating eWaste. Another reason why Chipolo may want to get a move on having replacement batteries is that competition is inbound in the form of the AirCard by Rolling Square which promises replaceable batteries in a package that’s only marginally thicker than the Chipolo CARD Spot. As an aside, I’ll get one in to review once they do start shipping.

One thing that I should point out is that the Chipolo CARD Spot is Bluetooth only. Why should you care? Well, AirTags use Bluetooth and Ultra WideBand. That give you the advantage of not only finding your items over a longer range as well as leveraging the Precision Finding feature of the Find My app. Assuming that you have an iPhone with an Ultra WideBand chip. So in the case of the CARD Spot, you don’t have the ability to use those features. Which means that if you lose an item that has the CARD Spot on it, you can only get the general location of the Item, and then use the Play Sound feature to play a game of Marco/Polo to find it. This makes the CARD Spot more along the lines of a Tile tracker. Which to be clear isn’t a bad thing. But I would love to see the next version have Ultra WideBand functionality to increase the ability of the CARD Spot to help you find your lost items.

The Chipolo CARD Spot goes for $35 USD for one or $60 USD for two. The latter has free shipping on top of that. If you’re in the iOS ecosystem and you need a tracking device that is thinner than an AirTag for use in the Find My network, this is the one to get. At least for now.

4 Comments »