PROTAG Duet Bluetooth Tracker - Retail Packaging - Black/White

I'm a professional technology writer for various Mac magazines (MacUser, MacFormat, etc.) and I am use to writing reviews of products that receive 3, 4, and 5-start ratings. Writing about anything less is frankly a waste of time as consumers want to know the best-of-the-best or at least on the upper end of the scale.But I was so disappointed with this product, that I had to write something on Amazon simply because this product is flawed in so many ways.How can I say this nicely...this product sucks (and I have NEVER written that in a review). I try to write reviews that at least have positive things to say about a product or service, but there is actually NO REDEEMING VALUE WHATSOEVER IN THIS PRODUCT. PERIOD.The support is awful in the box and online, there is no FAQ or general technical or problem-solving Q&A online, and the company responded to my questions with vague pre-written statements not even addressing the Bluetooth connection issues and ways to resolve it.The issues of reliable (and that is a key word here) Bluetooth connectivity are so rampant that this product is virtually un-usable. Sometimes it connects and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes (lots more often than not) it finds a device and then it doesn’t. You can blame that on Blueooth technology issues in general or you can blame this on the Protag people for not exploring ways to improve that reliability before coming to market.But the real issue of this product that goes to its heart is the manufacturing - the sole responsibility of the Protag people. The device's shabby and shoddy construction is core to its demise. Instead of making the backdoor of this device one-piece with a plastic hinge to ensure a snug, reliable connection of the battery, it relies on two, separate plastic pieces to simply ‘snap’ together. The result (at least on the two Protags I received) was a poor fit that wouldn't ensure a reliable battery connection. With the battery installed correctly and the back on, I had to physically press down on the back for it to come on! This is simply poor, poor manufacturing with little thought to functionality. Poor planning, poor testing, and no thought of reliability. It was as if the Protag people thought, “We got our Kickstarter crowdfunding money now. Let’s just get it out there.”With the issues of Bluetooth reliability already in question, not being able to reliably tell if the device is on throws a whole other issue into the mix. Is it the battery not being on that’s the problem, or Bluetooth issues? I can’t tell. What a mess!This product simply doesn’t deliver on its promise in a reliable fashion. When (and if) you lose your keys and you’re frustrated in finding them, the last thing you want is the product you bought and relied on to find them fail you at every corner. This product at least delivers on THAT promise.Portage Duet is no tracker. It’s not even close. What anyone wants is a product to deliver on its promise RELIABLY and CONSISTENTLY. You expect your car to deliver on that every day, don’t you, otherwise you’d fix it or get rid of it, right?! This is no different! Fact is, you can’t fix this because the technology, support and manufacturing all let each other down.If you buy this product then the chances are more than 80 percent that you’ll be sending it back for a refund. Is that worth buying for less than a 20 percent chance you’ll be happy?! That answer is a NO brainer.(Tested on an iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge)

 Wish I never purchased this item. Would not recommend. When I first ordered the duet I used the app for android. It was constantly in the notification drawer. It was more of a nuisance than help so most of the time I had the app turned off. Probably used it for half a day before just not even opening the app. Used it as a keychain for a couple months until the first battery died then put the new battery in and installed the app on iPhone. Now the duet makes a constant, annoying ticking sound. Additionally, it alerted me that my phone and keys were separated from 2 feet away. App seems buggy and unfinished. Certain menus disappear while you're reading them. Really seems like a beta product, not something that should have been released. Oh yea and this thing will fall apart on you multiple times. Drop your keys once, expect to be chasing down the rolling battery and trying to find that tiny button that's supposed to ring your phone. Mine doesn't even have that button anymore because it's broken apart so many times I ended up losing it. What happened to screwing things together?

I read mixed reviews on the protag, Pally smartfinder and whereismytag - so i bought all 3.They are all pretty much useless. Its a neat trick when you know where your keys are but you are going to have a tough time using it if first you have to play around and connect. The Protag often has a loose battery and or turns itself off. The whereismytag is very quite also its one button is constantly going off in my pocket. the Pally is ok sometimes. It has a solar panel so that might help keep it working. It reconnects on bluetooth fairly quickly and the range is decent. There is little point in mentioning the range because it can vary with so many factors - I hate them all. I will however be buying more pally smart finders... a one-eyed man is king amongst the blind. One really anointing thing about Pally is that it almost forces you to place your phones "location" on high accuracy. you can decline but you will always be answering that question. This seems like some kind of agreement with google for advertizing oportunities. I ONLY want GPS location non "anonymous" location info sent back to.... FIX the APP!!

I bought two of these things after losing a set of keys and having to spend $400 for a new electronic Toyota key. I thought I had them programmed but I was mistaken. Even though the keys were in my pocket at work they showed that they were at my house. I never could get these things to work correctly. Then one just disappeared from my key ring. I have no idea what happened to it, all that was left was the dinky little cord. Within a week the back fell off the other one. Perhaps if they were made of aluminum instead of cheap plastic they would travel better.

Terribile, poorly constructed item. Lid, continues to fall off. I've been lucky to find snap on cover in the street and driveway servral times.... Also if you have an energy savings device built-in to your phone, it must be turned off. Device kicks in shuts off Bluetooth and alarm goes off in the middle of the night.Wishing this was a better built unit, where maybe a screw of better snap was built to prevent the cover from coming off and than loosing the battery.