Review Portronics World Tag (Alternate to Apple AirTags) Review

I am just back from a vacation in Vietnam and before going, I decided to buy trackers for check in luggage. For this, I bought 4 Portronics World Tags. The primary reason to buy this brand was the price per tag. Compared to Apple Airtags which are more than 2500 rupees or Jio Tag Air which is more than Rs. 1000, this was least expensive at Rs. 489 per tag (from blink it, usually 599/699).
Here are the 4 tags in my hand, gives you an idea of size which is obviously similar to a Rs. 10 coin or so. Comes with a loop / lanyard.

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I put the tags in my 4 check in bags and as expected, the kept showing me location fine. At airport too, once the bags were gone, I would keep getting updates (as in when I saw "Find My" app) like the bag was seen "3 minutes ago" and I would see it on tarmac somewhere or some other terminal building etc.

Here is phone telling me that the bag is left behind..

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It has even happened wherein "Last seen" was when I saw still in flight and location was some country between my start and end countries. This just meant that somehow tag connected to some random iPhone inside the plane. Below screenshot is when I was already well within India. You can see the top 2 bags most probably connected to my phone itself about 3 hours ago (from bag storage) while I was in flight. The last 2 bags' location is still at my departure airport (HCMC).

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You can see below that even though all tags are usually together, not all may connect to some iPhone together so their "last seens" may vary even though they may all be together.

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As I mentioned above, the top 2 bags seem to be just under me inside the flight so they were getting connected to my iPhone. As you see below, after landing in Mumbai, the first 2 bags are showing "With You" and last 2 show location in HCMC airport.

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But there was one weird behavior that I noticed only once. A location updated for a device saying it is "near me" was showing again "3700 kms away" just after 3 minutes. Notice time on top.

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Overall, I am thoroughly impressed with these and I am ordering 4 more for cabin / backpack etc. I totally understand this isn't something one absolutely needs it but at the cost, it is ok for me to keep some. I have decided that from my next travels, there will be one in my carry ons and backpack too. I felt the need after my elder son lost a bag at one location during the trip. Fortunately, the bag just had 4 pieces of winter jacket / sweaters and nothing else (it was a simple string bag). But I realized that a tag inside this would have meant difference between hope of finding it and never being able to trace it.

Their sound is very nimble which can be good or bad depending on what you think. Also, they lack the wideband chip so no precision finding. Most people should not miss this feature.
Overall, for iOS users, I feel it can be a great value add but not an absolute need.
 
Too bad it works only with iPhones and not Android.
How is the battery life on it? I know its powered with coin cell battery. Is there any way of knowing when to change it. Because if in between the trip it gets exhausted, then it is gone.

Congrats on the trip. Do post your trip summary too separately.
 
Too bad it works only with iPhones and not Android.
How is the battery life on it? I know its powered with coin cell battery. Is there any way of knowing when to change it. Because if in between the trip it gets exhausted, then it is gone.

Congrats on the trip. Do post your trip summary too separately.

Claimed battery life (for apple airtags) is 1 year. Even if this works 70% (8 months or so), it is ok. The "Find My" app is supposed to tell you when battery is low so we can change it.
There was a point during trip when one of the tags was sort of not updating even when it was in my hand. The other 3 were working fine. I did think the battery died but I just had to remove the tag from my apple account and reset the tag to factory settings and re-pair (add the same to my apple account under Find My app).
Btw, seems android does have this too as far as what I read few days back. There are separate tags sold which only work with android devices and possibly samsung might have something too. But, pretty sure there is something that works with android. Do check on this.
 
Are you saying these tags can use full iOS network just like real airtags?


What's the coverage though? Is it like Tile where only people who have installed Tile app can track it.
Any tag can use the Apple Find My API. You have to add it as an Other device in Find My. I have a Chinese one from over a year ago which costs about the same with the same functionality.
 
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Any tag can use the Apple Find My API. You have to add it as an Other device in Find My. I have a Chinese one from over a year ago which costs about the same with the same functionality.
Crap.

Why can't Android implement it this well!

Google's own implementation is very new and they have already forgotten about it. Samsung's is mature but they can't be bothered to sell any tags in India.