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This invaluable device has saved me from mislaying my phone on a a number of occasions. It's great!

Es hat mir nicht gefallen, weil keine deutsche Anleitung

JMFor the fact I previously owned a retail communications business some years back, I was asked at times to give technical reviews on certain products that were new to the marketplace. A previous commercial client asked me to give him my personal opinion as to the reliability of this newly marketed device that came out late last year and is produced by the company, Prox Devices, Inc. The device is called the Prox PRD™ and is a “Notify When Left Behind” or “Never Leave Behind” type device that can be identified by the newly given acronyms, “NLB” or “NWLB.”After ordering this product for myself back in December of ‘21, I have to say it may be the only electronic device I’ve ever purchased that has performed as well as its developer claimed it would.Having used it consistently since my purchase, I felt compelled to post a review to include much of what I shared with the previous client. After evaluating the Prox PRD™ over these last couple of months, I give the product a 5-Star rating.Prox Devices Inc. that markets the Prox PRD™, is based in San Jose, CA. The product has just one simple function, which is to help keep a person from losing their cellphone, and it can also prevent the loss of other Bluetooth enabled devices, such as tablets and laptops. Although its main purpose is to prevent these types of losses through one’s own carelessness, it still works well as an antitheft deterrent when placed in “travel mode,” as this will alert one to a potential theft or loss, regardless of whether the cellphone is moving away from the Prox PRD, or the PRD is moving away from the cellphone. So, the travel setting can easily prevent someone from skillfully picking up your cellphone and just casually walking away without your noticing, as you’ll immediately be alerted as soon as the PRD selected distance is met. This is particularly useful when you have set your PRD to its lowest setting of 10-15 feet. Distances will still vary depending on your surrounding structures, but the individual distance settings are remarkably accurate within what the company claims are the measured thresholds for each of the 5-alert settings.One of the PRD’s unique and most popular features is its ability to a function as a shutter button for your cellphone camera. This is convenient in making a selfie for yourself or when with a group, so you are not attempting to hold the cellphone and press the shutter button at the same time, which often ends up with one dropping their cellphone onto the ground, potentially severely damaging it if it lands on hard surfaces such as concrete and or sometimes deep water! None of these are an optimal choice.In looking at the other side of this for concerns in preventing annoying and unnecessary separation alerts, there’s also a “home mode” which helps prevent this from happening, since once you are in a safe location, such as your home, hotel room, or other familiar place, you do not want to be concerned with having your phone continually paired and connected to your PRD device. As a real-world setting, suppose you set your PRD down on a bedroom nightstand before going to bed, but then you get up in the middle of the night with your phone in hand to retrieve a charger in the kitchen. You may be well beyond the set separation alert distance but as long as your PRD remains “stationary” on the nightstand there will be no alert, which could certainly annoy or awaken your sleeping spouse.In my 2-month period of testing, I experienced only (3) false alerts. This is impressive in comparison to the scourge of bad reviews that go along with many of the electronic devices that fail to function properly and routinely sound false alerts due to their signals momentarily disconnecting from the devices. Some of the testing I did was within a few heavy RF use areas, and the PRD passed without incident while using it inside an international airport, several shopping malls and concert venues. So having no false alerts in those crowded RF areas show that the filter arrangement being implemented in the PRD, is clearly well engineered.First glance at the comprehensive user manual may appear extensive at first and this may put off a general type of consumer that may think the device is overly complex. However, it is truly not complicated, and the explanations and instructions are not to be feared, and one will appreciate and understand all the features after reading it all the way through. The level of thoroughness that is observed in the operations manual, aligns with its feature testing, and this led me to be much less concerned in the risk of bringing a PRD device into a quiet room format, such as a board meeting or church function, where the incidence of a signal disruption that creates a false alert, would be as embarrassing as having your cellphone ring aloud under those same circumstances.One of the best features of the Prox PRD is actually what it doesn’t have, which is the need for an App. This is a nice plus since there’s no concern of a company tracking you or your devices, and you can appreciate the fact your cellphone is not connecting or sharing any data with others, as it only connects to the PRD like any other Bluetooth device, such as a wireless speaker or headphones. Therefore, this is currently the best option in the present market to keep one from losing their phones or other Bluetooth devices, whether travelling locally in daily routines, or in faraway travels where the threat of leaving your laptop on a plane or cellphone at a foreign airport lounge, could certainly be disastrous.The PRD, as it comes right out of the box, is easy to set up and you can choose to use all the features it offers or just leave it on the average default setting as it is received. This is great to know, so that if one of your friends or family, who may be non-tech savvy individuals, but still needs one of these to help them from forgetting their phone, then as soon as the PRD is connected to their smartphone’s Bluetooth, it will still perform its task in keeping their phone, laptop, or tablet safe and so they will stay protected from the time they leave their home, stores, restaurants, or any other places they may visit along the way.I think it’s good to know that from a U.S. resident perspective, Prox Devices Inc. who’s developed the Prox PRD™, and sells it through Amazon, is a U.S. company and its components and programming are all done at its facilities in Silicon Valley. Therefore, any customer service needed in replacing a device or dealing with any problems that is outside of Amazon’s fulfillment capabilities, it can certainly be remedied more easily than having to solve the problems through an overseas customer service 1-800 line. There is a Q-code printed on the device that will take you back to the company’s operations manual in case you ever need help again with some of the features that are not already printed on the device itself. Overall, I think it is a great device for its simple function, and if used correctly, can and will prevent the tremendous angst and frustration that losing your cellphone causes, as well as the total monetary loss one suffers, whether by accident or theft!

Update: After a couple of years, the coin battery had to be replaced. No problem, I have lots of those, just find the slot and pry the device open, swap battery, reset pairing. This might be a hassle for those who customize the distance or sound.Please be aware, this is a "hey you, heads up" rather than a "hey, over here" device; the Airtag is an example of the latter. You don't want to attach this to something you want to locate later, because it will only play the alarm once when it's moved outside of Bluetooth range. If you need an actual Find My device, you will need a device that supports those features.After leaving my phone in a company car and watching it (via Find My Device) roam the area as a colleague drove the car, I decided to get serious about using technology to prevent me from losing an $800+ device. So I bought a ~$45 device to do it. I suppose I could have cobbled something really bulky together from existing small Bluetooth 5 PCBs, a piezo, and a coin battery, but I needed something nao and I still don't feel confident developing with BLE or low power modes on microcontrollers. And if its bulk is comparable to a small phone or iPod, I'm probably going to misplace it.So I consider this tag a $45-for-perpetuity insurance against misplacement of my $800 device. It's stupid simple, just pair it up with your phone's Bluetooth and you're good to go. Obviously Bluetooth has to be on which is a bit of a privacy concern, but I'm already using wireless Bluetooth earbuds, so this is not a big deal for me. There are a few options accessible from the single button like different chimes, but this is almost as no-frills as a Bluetooth/Thread tracker like an AirTag. Unlike the AirTag, this device is not something that's recycled after the battery runs out; you can pop the device open and swap out the CR2032 battery inside. This makes the device rather bulky, but again, it's a small price to pay for peace of mind.The range of the device is about 15 to 25 meters, depending on how much radio-absorbent/reflecting material there is between the tracker and its Bluetooth mate. This is great because I always have my keys in my pocket outside of my home, and the loud piezo alarm will jolt my brain into grabbing my phone. There's a great tip in the instructions as well, if you don't want a large bulky tag on your keys, you can slip this in your car door and the movement as you open or close the door will activate it. I do have concerns for those living in very hot or very cold climates, as electronics don't always work well at temperature extremes.

This gadget still works even if not connected to Bluetooth; however, it has to be paired.