In October 2013, I supported a project from Indiegogo which promises Bluetooth tag that could also work as remote using gesture control. That project’s name is Gecko. They promised to deliver the product by January 2014. After a very long delay, I finally received my Gecko Bluetooth tags by end of August 2014. By the time I received it, I already forgot what the product was all about, so I had to re-open Indiegogo and read their project page again.

gecko-bluetooth-tag-01I supported 2 Gecko tags, and they appeared in a nice small box with Gecko logo. The physical look of the Bluetooth tags are thicker than what I imagined, but I guess that’s a logical consequence because these tags are powered by replaceable CR2032 batteries. Replaceable batteries and the promise of gesture control were my main reasons of supporting this project.

To start using the product, we need to create an account in their server. An iOS app called My Gecko is available for free, downloadable from AppStore. The process to activate the device and pair it to my iPhone was reasonably easy. By the time I write this article, I am using My Gecko app version 1.12.0. I downloaded the latest firmware (GTAG2_P_02.04.01) for my Gecko tags before starting my experiment.

For each tag, we need to decide how we are going to use it. Gecko provides 5 different “profiles” for different type of usage. Camera mode is used to control some DLSR cameras (Canon DSLR camera models that support 2.5 mm jack based remote control port and Nikon DSLR Camera models that have the remote control port). Key mode is used when we attach the tag to our keychain. This will allow us to find our keys faster, or using our keychain to find our phones. Pet mode is used to monitor when our pet goes too far from our house. Pill Box mode is used to remind us when we haven’t took our medicine. Door mode is used when we want to detect when our door is opened using motion detection. Sounds cool? I thought so, too.

gecko-bluetooth-tag-ios

My first experiment was to use one tag in Key mode. So I set it up and discovered that the “gesture” control that I can use are basically 2 kinds of gestures. One is set to find the iPhone. The other one is disabled, but we can change it to play music (play/pause), music previous or music next. All seemed good until I realize that both my phone and my tag kept making alert noise every-time I stepped away from the tag while still inside my house. I adjusted the range to “far” and set my house as a “Safe Zone”. Yet I still got the annoying alerts frequently.

The “gesture” feature is very underwheming. With only two gestures possible, not much I can do to use it as “remote”. Plus, it took a bit of effort to actually trigger the gesture. Subtle gesture following the required movement is not detected and does not trigger any action. It only detects rapid gesture with “sufficient power”.

Next I set the Bluetooth tag into Door mode and attached it to my door. Surprise surprise, it does NOT detect door opening correctly, unless I slam my door or making other movement with speed and force. Interestingly, when I took off the tag and carried it back to my desk, it triggered the alert on my phone, multiple times.

gecko-bluetooth-tag-02Pill Box mode is basically designed to remind us (or someone else we know) to take our medicine. So this feature is linked with “reminder” schedules in the app. Sometimes it does gave me the alert, sometimes it didn’t. Since the entire idea here is to REMIND us, it doesn’t really useful when we can’t 100% rely on it. Subconsciously, I ended up trying to “remember” it manually.

Pet mode is similar to Key mode, without the gesture remote. It inherits the same problems and the same behaviors as Key mode. I couldn’t try Camera mode as I don’t have any of the supported cameras. So I put it back to Key mode.

As I’m writing this article, once in every few minutes my Phone displays notification that the Gecko is just connected. Plus few occasional alert that What the heck, it WAS already connected since hours ago, and the tag is located around 30 cm from my Phone. Why does it need to “get connected” again and again? I assume that the previous connection got disconnected so it needs to reconnect? Just how unstable this thing is?

In the end, I consider this as a failed purchase. If I bought this from a store, I would have returned it by now and asking for a full refund. But this is Indiegogo project. Technically I don’t “buy” product, I support a project. Plus sending the crappy product back to their address would probably cost me almost the cost of the product itself.