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If you lose your keys or wallet often, you should definitely invest in a Bluetooth tracking device. The problem is, there are so many on the market! You’ll lose your head (pun intended) trying to research them all. I’ve already taken a look at the Tile, and today I’ll be taking a look at the XY3 tracker by XYFindIt.

Basic Performance

The XY3 is available in 8 different colors for $25 at the XY Find It Store. Every key tracker has the same basic functions: all of them allow you to activate the ringing sound of the tracker from your phone via Bluetooth, and they most of them also allow you to press a button on the tracker to locate your phone (again, via Bluetooth). The tracker is solid on both of these. The connection range is decent, but there were a few times my keys were literally in my pocket and my phone didn’t even detect it. It’s about average for basic performance. I do want to take the time to point out the outstanding performance with the ability to locate your phone. This feature works flawlessly, and my phone rings loudly, even when it’s on silent. This is something I always had trouble with on the Tile, it never worked quite right. The XY3 gets an A+ in finding your lost phone.

XY3-phones-TropicalBuild Quality

The XY3 has a unique shape, which I really like, and it’s available in 8 colors. It features a removable battery, which is great considering other competitors, such as the Tile, have a non-removable battery. The one downside is that the XY3 sports an all plastic build, so the plastic will most likely crack and break before the rest of the unit breaks. I would prefer for the build to be metal, as I think it would last longer. The button is clicky and tactile and functions as expected. Overall the build is nice and solid.

Extra Trick

The XY3 features a extra trick up it’s sleeve. It has IFTTT integration. With a single press, long press, or double press of the button, it can activate an IFTTT recipe. The integration also goes the other way, with the ability to sound the tracker when a recipe runs. The feature isn’t released yet, but the XY Find It team let me have beta access. It’s still in beta, and not everything is fully functional yet, but it’s certainly solid and once the bugs are worked out, it will be perfect.

KeepNear™

The tracker has a feature called KeepNear™, which alerts you when your tracker is out of range of your phone. This will help prevent leaving your keys places.. if it worked. The problem is that the connection is unstable on the tracker. While the connection is solid enough to locate the tracker when you need to, it’s not reliable enough to constantly tell you if your tracker is in range or not. I tested this feature out for a few hours, and got constant notifications that my keys were out of range, when they were just in my pocket. In addition, I wish there were safe zones, so you could mark where your house is, and the feature would be disabled when you’re in your house, and enabled when you exit your house. While this is a cool concept, the functionality isn’t there yet.

Community Find

The Community Find feature is where the XY3 falls short. Due to the fact of the XY3 not being very popular, there just aren’t many community members. When I tested the Tile, I constantly got notified of other community members finding my Tile. This made me feel secure that if I left my keys in a public place, it would get found wtihin days, or even hours. I never got a single community notification when using the XY3, and this doesn’t give me much confidence that my XY3 would be found if I lost it in a public place.

Is This Better Than The Tile?

The XY3 has been marketed as a “Tile killer,” but is it really a better alternative? Yes. Featuring a replaceable battery, IFTTT integration, a functioning button to locate your phone, and 8 different color options, the XY3 is the best tracker I’ve tried to date.

Kevin Nether