Just in case you haven’t heard of it yet:
Gear Eye is a complete equipment management and tracking solution that was developed for professionals that are always on the go.
This product keeps you from constantly losing gear with RFID technology, a handheld Gear Eye Dongle, and an app that you can download on your smartphone!
You can learn more about this product and how it works below as we break down the manufacturing process and its technical details:
Gear Eye | So… What is it?
GearEye, with its tagline “Never Lose a Piece of Gear Again!” made quite an uproar several years ago when it was released as a crowdfunding campaign for on-the-go professionals who are searching for a gear management solution that would allow them to keep track of all of their important equipment.
GearEye’s Kickstarter Campaign
GearEye’s Kickstarter campaign was comparable to many of the great campaigns of its time — drawing in an impressive number of backers (around 3.3K) and earning almost 600 thousand dollars!
The Production of The Complete Gear Management Solution
With crowdfunding taken care of, GearEye was soon sent over for production.
CEO of GearEye Inc., Julia Lerner, was recently interviewed by ValiantCEO regarding the manufacturing process of this gear tracking device.
In this interview, she had much to say about how she and her team went about realizing her mission of creating this product. Apparently, GearEye went through “several stages and revisions” as they had wanted to stay true to their vision, which was to “…make RFID affordable and accessible to professionals all over the world!”
We’ll talk more about just how that worked out later, however, when we break down just how GearEye goes about tracking equipment.
Never Lose a Piece of Gear Ever Again!
We initially cultivated an interest in GearEye because of its promise to be a solution that will allow us to “Never Lose a Piece of Gear Ever Again!”
This is quite a powerful promise! After all, having to constantly replace equipment that has been lost or stolen is a very real problem for many people. Whether they be a serial entrepreneur that’s constantly lugging around lots of equipment or something like a small-time but experienced photographer that is constantly carrying valuable equipment.
As such, we decided to have a closer look at this product that promises to be the solution to those problems!
How does it work? Is it good at doing what it does? Or, is it just a safety net that works every now and then or for specific situations? Let’s find out as we break things down below:
GearEye | The Smart Gear Management System
To have been given the name ‘Gear Eye’, this product’s purpose is pretty straightforward. It’s a gear tracking solution that will keep you from constantly replacing equipment that has been lost or stolen! This is particularly useful for those whose professional career demands constant traveling. This, however, is not all that GearEye is capable of doing:
Find Missing Gear Easily!
The first thing that one would expect GearEye to do is to, of course, help you find lost gear. GearEye makes this possible with RFID tags that act as tracking devices and a GearEye dongle that works with the GearEye app that you can download on your smartphone to keep track of all your equipment.
This, in itself, is incredibly useful for those who want to keep their work equipment safe. However, that’s just the beginning!
Manage Your Gear with the GearEye App!
Another thing that GearEye does to keep your essential gear safe is that GearEye tracks your gear automatically. This is possible with the GearEye App. This app comes with gear management functions that will allow you to manage your gear — making it truly a complete smart gear management solution!
An example of one of these features is the fact that the app allows you to create gig-specific groups or customized lists–which makes keeping track of the required gear for the day extremely easy.
GearEye | How Does it Work?
Now, let’s talk about how one can actually make use of this product! There are plenty of detailed video tutorials for this (especially on the GearEye website), so we’ll be keeping things pretty technical, but this section should still teach you all that you need to know:
The GearEye Dongle!
Of course, the first thing that you’re probably going to want to learn more about is the main handheld device that they call the ‘GearEye Dongle.’ This is a portable device that can fit in both your pocket and your smallest messenger bag—making it an easy thing to carry around.
It works hand-in-hand with your smartphone and the GearEye app by using RFID technology to find the location of your tagged items.
How Does the GearEye Dongle Work?
To give you an example of how it works: Say that you’re a photographer! You’ve just finished today’s studio session and are probably already thinking of next week’s beach shoot! You’ve packed the largest camera suitcase you have, and because of that, it’s perhaps a bit complicated to figure out whether anything is missing.
Well, with the GearEye app, you can determine whether all of your items are in range with the dongle. Of course, the dongle serves as a ‘tracker’ as well. So, if you find that one of your gear is missing, all you have to do is search the area with the dongle in hand to discover the item that you missed!
The GearEye App!
Alright, let’s talk about how the GearEye App works next! This is a pretty important facet, as it acts as the ‘brain’ of the device.
How Does it Work?
GearEye uses your phone’s smart sensors to enhance GearEye’s scanning accuracy. With the dongle as the focal point, you can use this app to find lost items with a simple tap. It’ll also automatically save the last-known location of your items and notify you if one of your items has gone missing with permission!
Making it, indeed, a very simple but smart gear tracking solution.
Does the GearEye App Work with both iOS and Android?
If you’re worried about this, know that it isn’t an issue! This app does in fact work for both iOS and Android devices.
The GearEye RFID Tags!
For the final section of this article, we talk about the RFID tags that GearEye has decided to use for their product:
Why is RFID Important?
If you’re familiar with other types of gear management systems, then you might be wondering why GearEye chose to use RFID over BLE (Bluetooth Tags).
So, let’s get that out of the way first: why RFID over BLE tags?
According to CEO Julia Lerner, they wanted an affordable solution that would be low-cost per item. As such, RFID stickers were the obvious choice after some consideration. Julia Lerner also stated that they considered the relative bulkiness of BLE tags (which would make it awkward to stick on smaller gear) and the fact that BLE tags required batteries (making it not truly feasible as a long-term simple solution.)
Because of these things, we ended up with the affordable RFID GearTags of today!
What Kind of RFID Tags Does GearEye Offer?
GearEye offers RFID stickers in different sizes and styles. They offer metal tags for tagging metal items (in at least two sizes currently) and regular tags for tagging items of most other material. These tags are easily attached and use the highest quality adhesive available for a long-lasting bond.
How to Use GearEye Tags?
This is pretty simple! all you have to do is stick the RFID tags on the equipment that you want to keep track of. As mentioned, each tag comes with powerful adhesive (metal tags for metal items and regular tags for most other materials.)
Final Thoughts: Not Just a Safety Net?
All in all, our thoughts on this product are fairly simple!
Our final advice is: If you’re constantly on the go and lugging expensive equipment around, then this tool is definitely something that you’ll want to consider!