Never lose your car keys (or dog) again!
ARE you sick of having to scour the house for your car keys or play hide and seek for the remote control?
Then sit back and relax, because there has never been a better time to be forgetful.
whole range of exciting gadgets have hit the market — all promising we will never, ever lose track of our possessions again. But how easy are they to use and do they really work? I tested them to find out . . .
BRING RUNAWAY FIDO TO HEEL
Chipolo, £27, amazon.co.uk
IF YOUR dog heads for the hills the second you let him off the lead, this tag — which comes in a range of bright colours and is barely bigger than a 50p — could be just what you need.
My soppy cockapoo Milo sticks to me like glue, but my friend Nicky’s springer spaniel Molly is another matter.
At the first whiff of freedom, she skedaddles, often to reappear hours later dripping with mud.
I show Nicky how to download the free app to her iPhone (Chipolo works with iOS, Android and Windows Phones). The Chipolo is a 3cm disc, which can easily be attached to anything with a keyring or, in this case, a dog’s collar.
Once it is attached to Molly’s collar, we’re ready to go.
As Molly races off, we follow — guided by the app on Nicky’s mobile, which shows roughly where she is in relation to us, and by the noise of the Chipolo, which beeps when Nicky taps the phone screen.
But as we scamper after Molly, we rapidly realise the downside of this gizmo.
The Chipolo — which you can also use to tag your possessions — has a range of only 200ft (60m). Unless you’re Usain Bolt, forget trying to find a runaway dog. VERDICT: Good-looking, but needs greater range. 3/5
HELP YOUR HUBBIE FIND HIS WALLET
StickNfind, £49.99, firebox.com
THIS is the world’s first and smallest Bluetooth finder, and it could save your relationship if your partner is anywhere near as forgetful as mine.
You download the free app, then marry up the stickers (you get two in the pack so you can track two things at any one time) with the items you want to keep track of.
I put one of the tiny stickers on my partner’s wallet. The following evening, when we were ready to go out and he couldn’t find his wallet, I opened the app and handed him the phone.
An on-screen radar map guided him to exactly where he’d left it . . . in the pocket of a pair of trousers at the bottom of the laundry basket.
You can also use the app to page the sticker and get it to bleep or glow in the dark.
If you want to be really crafty, you can create a virtual leash for each sticker, so you will be alerted if it moves further than a specific distance.
Perfect if, like me, you have a daughter who likes borrowing your designer handbag.
VERDICT: Yes, it’s expensive, but it’s versatile. 4/5
MULTI-STOREY MADNESS
Iristag, £14.95, red5.co.uk
THE last time I picked up my daughter from Gatwick Airport, I forgot where I’d parked the car and spent the best part of an hour hunting for it. So if you dread losing your car in a multistorey car park, this clever device — which uses GPS to give you mapped directions on your phone — could be perfect.
After downloading the free app to my phone, I left the device, which looks like a big silver lozenge, on the dashboard.
But when I came back to the car park three hours later, I discovered the hitch.
Iristag operates within a radius of only 25m (80ft) and wasn’t returning any results.
It started working only when I finally realised I was on the wrong floor. VERDICT: No use if you are so forgetful you can’t remember what floor you’re on. 2/5
HUNT THE TV REMOTE Smartfinder, £29.99, nauticalia.com
I CAN’T remember the last time I managed to switch on the TV without having to hunt for the remote control first. So I hoped this device would be a lifesaver.
You get a control pad and four batteryoperated fobs, each in a different colour, which come with rubber stickers and a ring.
It took seconds to stick the red fob to my TV remote, the blue to the house phone (which is mysteriously always disappearing,) the green to my sunglasses case and the yellow to my car keys.
Three hours later, when my partner couldn’t find the remote, I handed him the pad and suggested he press the green button.
He looked perplexed when he reappeared from the bedroom with my sunglasses. Oops!
Now all I’ve got to do is remember is which colour sticker I put on the TV remote control. . .
VERDICT: This gadget is easy to use — if you can simply remember what you’ve tagged. 4/5
LOST YOUR KEYS? JUST WHISTLE Fetch My Keys keyfinder, £6.99, gettingpersonal.co.uk
THIS fun, battery- operated device is great, provided you know how to whistle. You attach the finder — shaped like a dog’s face — to your keyring. When you want to find your keys, you whistle and the ‘dog’ starts beeping while his nose flashes red.
As I mislay my keys regularly, I couldn’t wait to try this out. It worked brilliantly until I stuck my keys in my pocket and took the dog for a walk.
Every time I whistled at the dog, my pocket beeped alarmingly. Annoyingly, it also beeps when you cough or laugh. VERDICT: Great fun and a doddle to operate. 3/5