With over 2.5 million units sold worldwide, this is the most affordable solution to find your lost items

Have you ever lost your car in a parking lot? You come out from shopping, and sure enough, you’ve totally spaced out where you parked your car. Or you come back from a trip and after a long, exhausting day of travel you can’t remember if you left your car on level 2… or was it level 5 of the parking garage? You start wandering aimlessly, frantically hitting the panic button on your car keys hoping to hear your car alarm go off.

It’s definitely frustrating, not to mention the smug looks you get from people who act like they “always” know where they parked. (Yeah, right…) We’ve all been there.

You could get an expensive satellite GPS tracker like this for $89.00 (plus an additional $240.00/year for GPS/GSM service): http://amzn.to/2bikpPF. (That’s the cheapest I could find.) It’s pricey, but it’s a great solution if money’s no object and you’re looking to keep track of your Lamborghini or your shipment of cocaine [kidding — sort of].

But what about an inexpensive solution for the rest of us?

Ladies and Gentlemen, TrackR bravo.

When I first saw TrackR shared on Facebook, my inner skeptic figured it had to be too good to be true — like something straight out of a James Bond or Jason Bourne movie — but I wanted to get my hands on one to test it out for myself. So I bought three of ’em (they were buy-2-get-1-free).

So what is it?

TrackR bravo is a coin-sized tracking device that you can attach to just about anything so you can locate it in seconds with your phone. Of all the tech gadgets I’ve reviewed, it has quickly become one of my favorites.

TrackR bravo locates lost items in seconds

When my TrackR bravos arrived at our office, I paired them with my phone and then the first thing our team did was take turns hiding them in different places to see if we could find them. We’ve goofed around with similar devices (like the Tile) with less than impressive results, but TrackR was different. Without fail, we were able to find the hidden TrackR’s all around our office building.

One feature I really like is that TrackR works two ways — you can push a button on the TrackR device and it will ring your phone so you can find it (even if the phone is on silent mode). Tile can’t do that. Another thing that’s cool is that you can replace TrackR’s battery when it runs out. You can’t do that with Tile, you have to chuck the device in the trash and buy a new one. Big, fat bummer. TrackR definitely wins in that regard.

TrackR bravo is designed primarily for finding lost items around your house or in fairly close proximity (keys, wallet, purse, phone, TV remote, pets etc.), but one thing that take the device functionality to the next level is that it leverages the power of TrackR’s huge (now the world’s largest) “Crowd Locate” network. Basically how that works is when other TrackR users come within 100ft of your lost item, you receive an update with a “last seen” marker pinpointed on a map. It’s pretty cool when you see it in action:

Tracking down a missing car

My friend Lindze got one to test out with her car. Here’s what happened…

How does it work?

It’s pretty easy to set up. Basically, you install the TrackR app on your smartphone, connect the app to your devices, and you’re ready to go. I had all three of my TrackR’s paired with my phone in under 5 minutes.

Once your TrackR tags are set up, you can attach them to your keys, wallet, backpack, laptop, remotes, bike, pets, car — pretty much anything. (No, not people.) Then use the TrackR app to find your missing items. Seeing everything’s “last seen” location pinpointed on a map is pretty cool.

“TrackR has already helped me find my lost car keys (twice) and my wallet at the airport. Love it!”

How much does it cost?

$29. Cheap! I’ve recently started buying them as gifts for my friends and family, and they’re always a hit.

So what’s not to like?

Well… TrackR is pretty awesome, but it can’t do everything. It relies primarily on Bluetooth 4.0 technology, so the immediate range is up to 100 feet (30 meters) for direct proximity tracking. It does not have satellite GPS tracking capabilities. Once a TrackR tag goes out of range from your phone, it relies on other TrackR user devices coming within proximity to anonymously ping and locate items. Because of that, the Crowd Locate functionality works better in more densely-populated areas. But for only $29 and no monthly service fees (and seeing how it’s only about the size of a coin), it doesn’t make sense to expect a miracle tracking solution.

Like I said, we see a lot of different tech gadgets hit our desks for review. Some of them are pretty useless, some are pretty cool. TrackR bravo is one of our recent favorites. I highly recommend you check it out.