Earlier this week, I wrote about how I’m rethinking my recommendation of the Tile trackers because of the finite battery life and how the battery cannot be replaced. Tile has sent a response to that article. What do you think? Are their responses reasonable?
Tile’s decisions basically come down to a decision to design their products. And while the company does offer a “reTile” program, where you can trade your old Tile in for a new one, at least one reader mentioned the freight costs made that prohibitive for Australians.
Here are Tile’s responses:
Why don’t you just design a version with a changeable battery?
A product’s design is a reflection of priorities and values. We made this choice because we feel it gives the most benefits to users. Tile only works when the batteries work, so we guarantee that Tile will work uninterrupted for one full year. During that year, we don’t want Tilers to worry about replacing or recharging coin-cell batteries. Simply, set it up and go. When the one year is approaching, we’ll proactively tell you and give you member pricing to reTile.
By not having a replaceable battery, we’re also making Tiles safer and more durable. When you minimize the number of moving parts, there’s much less chance it will break, which also means kids and pets can’t get to the battery.
Why didn’t you make any improvements to the battery with the Pro Series? That must be the number one request from customers.
We designed Tiles to last for one year, guaranteed. During that year, you don’t have to worry at all about recharging or replacing the battery of your Tile – just use your Tile with peace of mind. Once your Tile approaches the one year mark, our reTile program allows you to easily replace your Tile and even upgrade to the latest version at a discount.
The battery is a tradeoff. While we were able to make significant battery improvements with the Tile Pro Series, those improvements were applied to battery-dependent functions including range and loudness. From our consumer research, we know that range and loudness are the top requested features so it was important to us to make those improvements without compromising our guaranteed battery life of one-year.
What do you think? Are these reasonable compromises?
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