Tong Family

Ok, there have been an amazing set of new products coming out of Apple and we got the first AirTag just as they were coming out. They are $99 for four of them and we’ve had them now for a few weeks and most importantly took a trip with them.

Here are the thoughts:

• The things are very small and lightweight. They are bright silver so like all things Apple, getting a protective film is pretty important. These are cheap on Amazon and hopefully that will keep them shiny. These things are incredibly overpriced in $9, but what the heck we thought we’d try these covers.
• Most of time you are going to want a keychain or something to attach them to luggage or whatever. We got a no-name one that actually works pretty well. For luggage, you can just secure them in a pocket, but the natural use with a key ring actually requires some sort of case.
• The things works amazingly well, just remove the little plastic that keeps the battery from draining, then put it near your phone, fill out what it is attached to and it just works.
• You go to “Find My” and look in items and there it is.
• The anti-stalking stuff is a great idea but a little annoying. I know this is hard to get right, but if a tag is in your family but owned by another person, you get a daily notification that it is traveling with you. It says delay the notification for a day, but that seems to short if you are really sure you do not need the stalking stuff. For instance, if you are already sharing a location with someone in your family, it seems like the stalking alerts should be disabled.
• Adorama has a nice deal on these now offering 10% off for a pack of 4. You kind of want a bunch of these things, one for your key ring, one for your laptop bag, one for your suitcase I would say at least. While 10% off doesn’t seem like much for an Apple device, it’s pretty good. No telling when they will deliver thought. For our HomePod mini, we ordered in November and didn’t get them until April, so I think it’s a bit of a loss leader for them.

The good news is that are some really great discounts happening right now for both Apple TV (2021) and the AirTag. If you look at Appleinside price guide you will find Adorama offering some great deals:

1. Apple TV 4K. The new $179 Apple TV has a nice new remote and for those of us still using the old Apple 3rd generation, it seems like it is finally time to switch. The great features besides a new processor are being able to handle 4K HDR, the ability to color correct a screen or projector with you phone and if you have HomeKit, these things can act as Home controllers (At $99 so can a HomePod Mini, but if you need the Apple TV a anyway this is a great deal).
2. Who needs this device? Well most modern TVs from LG or Samsung have Apple TV built in and they support Airplay 2 as well, so the need for these isn’t great unless you want to play their games (a really niche need). But if you have an older TV or a projector that doesn’t have this, then it makes sense to add this. It’s a premium device to be sure, but if it acts as your HomeKit controller that is something.
3. The pricing is actually not bad, there is a $14 off for the lower end $179 device at Adorama that makes sense for most people. The only reason you need the $199 one and it’s 64GB is if you playing lots of big Apple Arcade games.