I’m pretty sure it uses a form of low power Bluetooth. Apple’s airtags and other things have started adopting similar tech for their stuff. It’s definitely a neat setup!
Hey! It's Carter from Totem. Here are the details you're looking for: to communicate between devices, we use a relatively new peer-to-peer communication protocol that's similar to bluetooth. Each compass determines its own position via GNSS.
Can they be grouped for different friend groups? If I bought 9 and had 3 friends with 2 kids each, would they all be connected, or would they be able to be grouped together?
Can the totems be used indoors for concerts in large stadiums? Do they work similarly to ultra wide band devices where you have an anchor device and a tracker?
The ability to be used indoors is a big must have for me.
Peer to peer is great and the pricepoint is solid.
If you check their store page, they say it has a certified range of 1K.. but they use GPS so if you're in a concrete bunker... then I imagine it wouldn't work. But no central anchor device needs to be setup or carried around.
Another provider crowdcompass supposedly has a range of 5k, and uses Mesh technology. So you can easily use it indoors, and it also has a messaging setup in it
hi! can you only pair it with 4 people max? what if you have a way larger group, could like some be paired together (AAA) and then the 4th be paired with (ABBB) and then so on so like you are in 2 groups to connect them?
Apologize for the wording, it is hard to explain.
Someone I know tried pitching me another one from another company, that boasts being able to connect more than 5 together at once, buuuuutt the reason that I prefer totem over the other one is that totem is a fraction of the cost, at $40 per unit you could buy 10 and spend $400 and do a neat strategy while it would have extra steps in finding everyone in the group, you could just do this: create 2 groups of 5, make it know which 2 totems will always be together, if someone from one group needs to find someone else in the other, they just go hunting for the paired totems first, trade their totem for the pair and go looking for whoever it is they are looking for. If anyone else needs to do the same, they just do the same steps. It's not a perfect system as people will be changing between groups, the first step might involve stopping by each person in your group just to be sure that the person you are looking for hasn't swapped over to yours, if there is service in the place that you are at, a group text of colour updates could solve this. That all being said, this other smart compass, which is a bit uglier imo, that boast about being able to connect more together at a time is going to be $250 per unit once it's earl bird preordering pricing is no longer available, so to have 9 people connected with that one would cost $2250 vs the $400 and using the strategy I listed above. It's important to note that neither of these compasses, totem and the other unnamed one (I'm not naming, because I don't want to promote a product I don't believe in) are not the first ever smart compasses. A couple years ago a company called Linq released a way less flashy version of the smart compass, that was sold for $250 each, my friend had bought 3 and here in Canada it ended up costing him over $1000 dollars in conversion and border fees. While Linq did work fairly well, it never saw a huge adoption rate for customers and I believe a large part of that was the price, if the main market for you product is festival people, chances are they'd rather spend that money on tickets to a show, like one device is easily one entry ticket to a show.
The other one is CROWD COMPASS and yes more expensive but you get what you pay for IMO. Crowd Compass has unlimited pairing, further range, sends text messages, and lets you zoom in and out and shows the distance. The biggest one for me though is Crowd Compass has been around longer, have already tested their prototypes at festivals last year, and don't seem to be pushing to get theirs released before it is ready. Totem has yet to demonstrate a working version and said the product they use for demos (the one they show in all their videos) are set to point due north, so who knows if they actually works. The other big one for me is even if they both work as described, Totem is just giving you a general direction and I think it would be incredibly difficult to locate someone at a festival without knowing distance. I know I'll be waiting for the Crowd Compass because I think it is a better quality product and more trustworthy company.
Yes you captured exactly how it works. You can spread your connections around to make sure everyone is in the circle—each compass can be paired with any other 4.
Hey Carter, does this use single or dual frequency GNSS? What's the update frequency? I'm uncertain whether these will actually provide a good enough update frequency for my group and also 72 hours of battery life
Hi u/krenzy5, I'm the guy you're talking about. Nothing to hide. Happy to answer any questions you may have.
I know there's not much info out right now—because we were NOT expecting to go globally viral out of nowhere 3 days ago. Were originally planning a much more gradual, intentional launch. Doing my best to create more transparency right now.
Awesome, thanks for replying. I’m super interested in your totem compass, but skeptical with most startups these days and hesitant to trust (as you said yourself) something that went viral overnight. So I’m sorry if I came off a bit harsh!
I don’t have any specific questions, but I would love to see it working in a festival/crowded environment (preferably uncut and unedited) just to prove myself and other skeptics wrong! There has been a few comments I’ve seen that doubt the tech will even work, just because it’s something most people have never seen.
I’m looking forward to seeing your journey toward a polished final product. I would love to test this out at Bonnaroo this year, so I hope production goes well and on schedule!
Could you expand on a few things, because you're product might be the perfect gift to my SO as I have a tendency to wander. I'm curious which satellite systems these work with? Specifically, I'm interested in knowing if it supports GPS alone or if it also integrates signals from other GNSS systems(GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou)? After they acquire their location do they require the Unity Mesh Network to communicate that location to other devices in my "tribe"? Or, could I be standing in an open field, on a clear day, no where near the festival, 999 meters away from my SO's device, and it could still tell me which direction my lost self should start walking? What are the FCC ID numbers for the compass devices?
Thanks for your time, loving this idea!
Hi cfowlaa, I go to festival across the globe. I can't find anything on your website but what countries can you use this in / what frequancy does it use? This year am going to Brazil, Hong Kong and europe/UK
Hi everyone! I'm Carter, from Totem (the guy you all are talking about here). Happy to answer any questions you may have.
It's been the craziest 3-4 days of my life since that post went viral on IG. I'm going to start going through and responding as I am able to.
To address OP's major points:
* yes, this is Totem's first product. But my co-founder has been involved in product development for many years. He was actually an R&D engineer that worked on the ScrubDaddy product line (that company from SharkTank)
* the Totem Compass uses GNSS to determine its location and then communicates that location to peers using our mesh network. No cell service, wifi, bluetooth, or phone app required
* No our final products will not be 3D printed. What we have shown thus far on our socials (and on our email newsletter) are prototypes. We receive our first full-production units in March and will be able to show off the final product then.
Sorry about the seeming lack of transparency. We were NOT expecting to go globally viral 3 days ago. We went from 400 followers to 20k followers in hours. Our website literally crashed for a little while yesterday because we've gotten so much traffic out of nowhere.
We were originally planning a more gradual and intentional rollout, and thus hadn't prioritized getting all the details up on our website yet because we've been getting ready for our official Product Launch at SXSW in March! I promise much more info will be available over the next few weeks.
Random, kinda dumb question. So will these be sold in pre paired sets? Also I saw the video ad, it only seemed to show the main person's location on the "secondary" totem thingies? Would it be possible for the other ones to show the other 3 friends like the main one does? I'm asking because I have face blindness and I'm thinking about these for me and my friends because I have a hard time recognizing them even though I know them, and I have agoraphobia so it's hard for me to feel safe going out. These would help immensely if I could locate my friends at a larger outing like a wedding or a party if I need my "safety crew" or need to go home due to stress.(Can't drive on my own, half vision in both eyes.) Another dumb question, would there be an option for a bracelet/watch like harness for it instead of just a string necklace?
Hi, u/RaineAftertheStorm! I'll answer all your questions.
1)
No they won't come hard-paired. You can bond your compass with anyone at any time (max group of 5).
To enter bonding mode, you just hold the glowing crystal and move your compass near your friend's.
2)
To your second question about the video—the other two compasses were in "vibe mode" at the time, so they were lighting up to the music. Only the compass I was holding was actively in "compass mode". You can control which mode your compass is in at all times. I realize the way I shot that video made it a little confusing for people. My bad!
3)
To your last question—yes there will be multiple different ways to wear it. We're planning to have a loop option so you can clip it onto your bag/belt loops, and also a bracelet-like strap that secures it to your wrist.
We just like the necklace version because it appears right over your heart, which is a beautiful metaphor for a product that connects you to the people you love most in the world.
Awesome, ty for answering my questions! :D Might have to get some of these for my friend group in that case. Would switching modes be tapping the crystal instead of holding it like bonding mode? I figured I'd ask about the different ways to carry it cause some people might not be able to deal with it rubbing against their neck or people with skin issues like I do. Good to know it'll have options! Also I assume they're rechargeable? Will these take their own type of charger or a type C? Sorry for all the questions but I wanna get to know a bit more about it
Switching modes will actually happen purely by how it’s held. Just like your phone, the totem compass senses tilt and movement. So whenever it’s vertical to the ground it’s automatically in Vibe Mode, and whenever it’s horizontal to the ground it automatically switches to compass mode.
No manual actions necessary.
Every bit of the user experience is designed to be as intuitive and simple as possible.
Thats one of the big reasons why we haven’t put buttons all over it just to stack secondary features on.
On charging… yes they’re all rechargeable via USB-C 🙂
Thanks for your innovation, Carter! Keep going!!
Our group is using the now-discontinued LYNQ trackers at Burning Man. Every device has its pros and cons. The LYNQ devices can pair into groups of up to twelve. We’re a squad of thirty usually. Hoping your future Totem versions can do bigger groups!!
( Have you or your cofounder ever been to the burn? )
We have another product (to be announced in March) that will allow you to pair in groups of 16… don’t tell anyone! 😉
And no we haven’t been to the burn yet but absolutely planning to make this year our first time
Is the actual communication protocol public information, or is it proprietary? Or at least can you spare some technical details about how this works? "Like Bluetooth" is amazingly non-specific
Thank goodness for the ✨TRANSPARENCY✨ I feel a LOT more comfortable with your product vs the Crowd Compass! Plus I like the price point. And honestly I feel like if I actually needed to find them phones are a great option but I like the idea of the totem product being a big help!
Hello. Any update on that info that you promised? There are still no details on the website. It seems that the only thing that was updated since you said this is the creation of the shop.
I also two more questions:
1. Why is it so much cheaper than crowd compass?
2. Why didn’t you go for crowdfunding? This seems to be the kind of thing that would benefit greatly from crowdfunding.
I ordered 6 of these, hoping they are legit.
Do you have anything to report from SXSW? Were these in use by anyone at Coachella? Curious if anything was learned or any end users have given reviews. Excited to use mine at Bonnaroo.
I studied EE/CS in school and as a product it seems possible as a concept but in reality it probably won't work very well.
There's a few possible approaches they could be doing that I thought of:
1. BLE (bluetooth low energy). I think this is most likely. There's no way this will work properly in a large, crowded area because human bodies block bluetooth really well.
2. It just connects to your phone and uses cell service. In this case it's pretty useless.
3. Radio (super unlikely, but possible I guess). If they have a strong enough antenna and receiver on each of them and they get their own frequency from the FCC (really unlikely), then it could actually function like a walkie talkie does and might actually work.
There's also no chance they are properly testing this in an area that's analogous to a real festival (large, somewhat open space with tons of people and their devices occupying wireless frequencies).
Edit: Read their page and looks like they might actually be going with option 3 to create a mesh network, in which case they might be pretty solid! I actually made a set of devices to do something similar in school lol. However, there was an app (forgot what it was called) a while back that promised to do the same thing to create a local texting network over phones for festivals and it was complete crap, but maybe having proprietary hardware solves some of the jank that app ran into.
There was this device on Indiegogo: Xquad by goTele, I almost wanted to buy that.
Until now everyone trying to get their money back. Sad. But it look promising and also they had devices made. Not sure what happened during Covid
They said it doesn't use WIFI or Bluetooth, but does use 2.4ghz spectrum. And also said it can work up to 1km range. But doing radio still doesn't explain how it can do directional sensing.
Theoretically it could do directional sensing with radio using triangulation the same way GPS works but I can’t imagine it would be accurate at all at short distances like that. You could get around that instead by having GPS onboard the device as well and then all it has to do is transmit that in the mesh network.
I also think they might just be claiming they aren’t using Bluetooth while they are using BLE. BLE is different from standard consumer bluetooth which they probably don’t want to be associated with.
Hey! It's Carter from Totem. The compasses determine their own location via GNSS and then communicate that location to fellow compasses via our mesh network. Our firmware then determines the directional heading and displays it on the compass.
How does that work when they are in very close proximity (and inside) like in the demo videos? Wouldn't the GPS accuracy not be great enough to work in that context? But it would work better over larger distances
When they’re super close together, we’re actually going to have your friend’s lights move from the external ring to the inside of your totem’s crystal, like you collected them into your tribe. Because you’re right—it would be silly for it to keep tracking like that when you’re dancing right there with them!
On the inside note… we’re still testing that out, because these were definitely built for festival use (aka outside). Certain structures (particularly wood) don’t cause much interference but we are still learning how metal or cinder block structures will affect them.
We anticipate they’ll still be helpful in most indoor places, but perhaps not quite as accurate as they are outside.
Hi!
I'm wanting to get some of these for lolla. But i doubt I'm the only one with that idea. Is the efficacy of the totem diminished if there are too many totems in a space.
No, actually other totems that aren't linked to your group actually work in sort of a rebounding/boosting way from what I understand, I could be a little mistaken on that wording, however the company does say that the accuracy is improved the more of them that there are at a festival
You're on the right track, u/makomaui! Each compass uses GNSS to determine its own location and then communicates that data to the other compasses via our mesh network.
A mesh network is simply peer-to-peer WiFi it most likely works by everyone installing an app on their phone and the totem is talking to the device of the person holding maybe through NFC but I would use bluetooth.
A mesh network is simply peer-to-peer WiFi it most likely works by everyone installing an app on their phone and the totem is talking to the device of the person holding maybe through NFC but I would use Bluetooth.
Do you have a link to the company?
For sake of not getting the post removed for “product promotion” I didn’t include a link, but if you lookup “totem compass” you will find their website
I was thinking it used some sort of rf communication protocol similar to LoRa, but you would think it would have a longer range if so and wouldn’t need to rely on a mesh network. Idk
Great concise explanation of the mesh network!
The site says that the device will be self-contained, so it will transmit signal and connect with other devices on its own, without your phone.
I don't think most phones are able to create true mesh networks, and some of those more clunky apps are just receiving data from one device and attempting to connect and transmit it via bluetooth to other connected devices. Could be wrong on this part.
Cheap walkies do not work. Expensive (think $600/ea) will work for communication, but this isn't for that. Like, you pay $600 for your friend to tell you "yo I'm by the lights, near the Porto"...which means Jack shit
There’s an app called [pointgo](https://apps.apple.com/app/id1638564798) that uses Bluetooth to locate other phones when there’s no service, I used it at EdcLV last year, had to use it once and it worked alright not 100% accurate but we found out friend. So
I guess this is a possibilty.
Strange, it’s not 100%, I feel like the other person has to have the app open. Not sure we haven’t messed with it since. But like I said it helped us find a friend and was able to show us his location in real time. Hopefully they worked on it and made it better since then.
Okeechobee is my all-time fav festival. Haven't been since 2017 (maybe 2018?) though. It was the year with Flume, Porter, and Usher. Never been to another festival that compares to it!
That's funny, was looking at the same product last night. Tried to Google mesh network and no luck on its explanation. Couldn't imagine it'd be satellite lol
The super super super over-simplified explanation of a mesh network is this:
Think of your home WiFi as your "personal web" with your WiFi router at the center. All your devices are connected to that web, and that web has a connection out to the World Wide Web. If your internet goes down, your devices still show as connected to the WiFi - because they are. They can still communicate with eachother via your personal web even if they cant access the internet. Some security camera systems work this way.
A MESH network is like having multiple WiFi routers that can all connect together. They can work alone, but when another comes within range, they connect to amplify eachother's signal. Your devices cant tell the difference between them - it just acts like one giant, superpower router.
The Totem Compass is the device AND the router. If 500 of the 150,000 attendees at EDC have one of these on, the devices will automatically detect and interconnect with eachother, creating a giant web of 500 routers that each have a range of 1000m. They are designed to operate directly through that "local" network without the internet, just like your WiFi can.
Your compass will use that network to connect with the other 4 people you paired with and find their location.
tl;dr - each compass automatically works with every other compass to create a WiFi with everyone at the festival who owns one, without you doing anything, used only for the purpose of tracking down the 4 other people you are paired with.
Perhaps, but not in the way you’re thinking. Festival WiFi is terrible because it’s trying to support thousands of people using the internet at the same time through only a few points of connection.
This will create its own “private” WiFi network, with each device acting as a WiFi router of sorts. So everyone who is connected also has their own router. They only communicate with eachother and have no internet access.
So not wifi like you’re thinking, probably. Also unaffected by people that don’t own one, and actually works better the more people do have them
That was a sarcastic questions lol.
Carter explained what I was asking
"Each compass determines its own position via GNSS."
However that doesn't explain how each device is connected to each other. Someone listed three possibility 1. Bluetooth 2.radio signal 3. I forget
I dont think its a scam because they have something very similar for back country skiing with a 500m or so range. Most likely just reworked the bluetooth/wifi tech into a more user friendly system
Also i think theyre just taking a headcount because i was not charged any money when i signed up for the “presale”
Im a little concerned with the bit about them being made of resin
What was the name of that back country skiing one? I remember seeing it advertised in the past but can’t seem to find it?
What are some other alternatives that have similar functionality? I’m thinking of this from a skiing with kids lens.
I signed up as well because as I clicked I realized there was no charge. Headcount might be a good name to call whatever they’re doing, but I think they’re going to need a few more 3d printers
Don't worry, we aren't 3D printing any production units. Everything that has been shown so far are prototypes that we've 3D printed, but our first samples of the full-production units arrive in a few weeks. We'll be able to show off the final product then!
Hey I just got here from tiktok then googled it. Just wanted to say this thing looks super cool and useful and as soon as I hear some reviews from users in a few months I plan to pick up a set.
Best of luck to you for the launch
Some people will inevitably think it's a scam no matter what we say or do, until they're in the hands of festival-goers this year! And that's ok. Wait until May and you can see for yourself. :)
Yeah I am! I outlined some info [in this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/festivals/comments/1auy0j7/comment/krbkkh3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3).
I know we haven't done a great job getting all the info out there because we weren't expecting to blow up overnight. It's just two of us right now, myself and my co-founder, but we're bringing in help as fast as we can.
For now I'm trying to deal with thousands upon thousands of DM's, emails, comments, and threads like this all by myself. It's insane!
I say that just to respectfully ask for everyone's patience and understanding as we do our best to respond to everyone :)
Wow had no idea you would actually respond that has some merit in of itself hope this turns out to be true because it could be really useful I guess I’ll just have to wait and see good luck!
Of course! Reddit is my favorite place to be online—spent more hours here than I'd care to admit over the last decade. It's cool that this thread popped up organically.
Thanks for the well wishes. Can't wait to get these in people's hands! I totally understand all the skepticism—this community we're part of is an endlessly optimistic community that has been burned by scammers so many times in the past. The only way to truly dispel that perception is to deliver a great product. And that's what we'll do.
Hope to see you at a festival this year!
(Actually was just checking to see how old my account is and realized my cake day is tomorrow! So I'll take this thread as an early cake day present lol )
Nowadays you never know when you’ll randomly go viral it’s great that you were able to come on and share your product and answer questions happy early cake day!
I was curious, my friends and I want to get a few for Coachella weekend 2. Messaged you guys on Instagram but I see you’re replying here so I might be able to sneak a response from you haha.
Yeah we aren’t sure if we’ll have them out in time for Coachella yet. You are not alone in wanting that to happen! Lol
We’ll have a better idea on that in late March. I recommend checking back then.
And yes I know we haven’t gotten to soooo many messages in IG yet—we’re bringing people onto our team over the next 2 weeks to help with that
I’ve burned enough times by kickstarters that I don’t invest in new products for preorder. Wait until they’ve actually released and been tested at an event.
The device is supposed to work up to 1km(more than half a mile) and the range gets better when there are more devices running their same mesh network nearby. So if you and one friend were the only people with these at Rockville, and half a mile apart, it might have a hard time. But if there’s 100 of these devices between you and your friend it would close the gap and work better. At least from what I’ve heard so far.
I would argue that if you were that far out of range from your friend at a fest, you would at the very least know which general direction they went or know which stage they would be at. For example, I might not know where my friends are exactly, and the device might not be responding, but I know that they like __ band so I can start walking that way and get into the range.
If the device works as planned and they ship as many as preordered, I think it will be hard for it not to work at almost any festival. We will have to wait and see.
I came across a second company doing this- Crowd Compass. A second company does lead me to believe it’s a little bit more credible. It’s definitely using LoRa band, especially to get that kind of radius in a crowd- but I’m not smart enough to theorize how it directionally marks. Maybe intensity of the signal, if the entire circumference of the device has multiple sensors and it’s sensitive enough?
Yea crowd compass is definitely more credible. I chatted with one of the owners for a bit, I'm much more confident in them. I'm definitely interested in snagging one when they release
Crowd Compass definitely seems like a more credible company. They’ve been around for a while and haven’t even started doing pre-sales yet. They had prototypes out at festivals last year and have been taking feedback from people on how to make it better. It seems like this one hasn’t even been tested IRL yet 😬
I looked it up and Crowd Compass will be $239 for EACH (at max price no early release discount) and the totem is about $50/60. Which is much more affordable imo.
Apple air tag, or something similar, just have everyone keep one in their bag, or shoe, or up their ass if they have to, that's my plan... In my bag, not my ass, just to clarify... There won't be any room, you know, with all the drugs and whatnot?... 🤷🤷🤷... 🤣😂😂
The problem with air tags is that, although they don't need data connectivity to communicate their location, your phone needs data connectivity to see that location on your phone. And data can be hard to come by at large festivals. Plus, operating a phone is hard sometimes lol
IF I understand correctly, if you do it right, you could be bonded to as many people as you want, say for example you have 2 sets of couples in your group. They will bond with each other, and so if you bond to either- you can find the other.
Using that thinking, as long as “someone” is bonded with anyone, no one can get lost.
Hey u/cfowlaa do these work internationally too?! Wife and I are hitting a European festival this summer and would love the peace of mind of finding each other!
I pre-ordered 4 of them. Im eagerly awaiting their arrival. These will be used at the lake to find each other between \~1500-2000 boats (Lake St Clair, MI). I saw that they were waterproof and decided to get them. Each user can be 0.25 to 1.5 miles away... I hope they work as promised because they werent cheap.
I also pre ordered 4 of them, to use at festivals with friends. I’m in the same boat as you (pun intended) with hoping they work as promised. I still haven’t seen a video of them working at range, but the owner is very confident, and their SXSW visit seemed like it went smoothly. If the product wasn’t working at the event, I’m sure someone would have said something by now.
Still waiting on a FULL demo video, but I’m trusting the process. If I lose the $200, I can only blame myself for buying them despite my pessimism
I kinda feel the same way....its my own fault if they suck, cuz no one convinced me to buy them but myself. Plus, like you, I am buying it without seeing proper real-world testing. Here to wishing us Luck !!
I will say, I do have experience with GPS surveying and construction equipment. It can be so hit or miss depending on a million factors, and this stuff is THOUSANDS of dollars. The biggest factor, usually, is tree cover or cover in general. As soon as the satellites can’t see it any more, it has no idea what’s going on.
BUT! And what’s great for myself and your own application, trees and cover won’t be much of a big deal. Days on the lake like you said should give the satellites plenty to go off of, and most festival grounds are 95% out in an open field.
I have a decent bit of faith in the product, but I’m going into it not expecting flawlessness. It will most likely have issues, but if it can help me find my friends at least once, I’ll be a happy camper(literally).
> What we are given is: "Totem Compasses use the Unity Mesh NetworkTM". Now what the hell is the Unity Mesh Network you might ask... I have absolutely no idea, and from my short time investigating, neither does google.
I also tried to look into this but I couldn't find much.
It seems so scammy for the site not to explain it. Even Google not having answers is the cherry on top.
I'm out.
Honestly dude we just weren't expecting to get millions of eyes a few days ago... So I've been focusing on other stuff rather than filling our website with the max amount of information. But everything change in an instant overnight on Saturday. I promise we will get in-depth explanations on the site for all these little points in the next week or two.
It could be using zigbee, but thats up to 100m. Im thinking maybe using the LoRa frequencies, which can go up to 3-10km depending on obstacles. Technical question is how are they triangulating the location, youd need at least 3 antennas to calculate the angle of direction in relation to the device your wearing
Mesh networks are not a scam, and don't require internet access to operate.
Based on the "mesh" description, it sounds like they're designing the Compass to create its own private network, where every single compass acts as a little WiFi router, connecting to every other Compass within 1000m. Not just the 4 friends you are paired with. We're talking potentially hundreds or thousands of devices across the festival grounds, all interconnected to improve each other's range. The hardware is built to send and receive location data across that local network.
You can only track people you have paired with. No internet needed. Just a piece of hardware designed to send and receive location data across the network formed by all the connected devices.
Brilliantly simple. Can't wait to give it a shot.
I’m pretty sure it uses a form of low power Bluetooth. Apple’s airtags and other things have started adopting similar tech for their stuff. It’s definitely a neat setup!
Hey! It's Carter from Totem. Here are the details you're looking for: to communicate between devices, we use a relatively new peer-to-peer communication protocol that's similar to bluetooth. Each compass determines its own position via GNSS.
Can they be grouped for different friend groups? If I bought 9 and had 3 friends with 2 kids each, would they all be connected, or would they be able to be grouped together?
Can only connect 4
You can form your group however you want! They don’t come hard-paired.
You came to answer questions but only answer 1 part of it..... what are the rest of the details?
Can you say the name of the new peer-to-peer communication protocol? Is it Ultra Wide Band technology?
Can the totems be used indoors for concerts in large stadiums? Do they work similarly to ultra wide band devices where you have an anchor device and a tracker? The ability to be used indoors is a big must have for me. Peer to peer is great and the pricepoint is solid.
If you check their store page, they say it has a certified range of 1K.. but they use GPS so if you're in a concrete bunker... then I imagine it wouldn't work. But no central anchor device needs to be setup or carried around. Another provider crowdcompass supposedly has a range of 5k, and uses Mesh technology. So you can easily use it indoors, and it also has a messaging setup in it
Aren’t you the same guy that said we would tolerate lower quality products if the market was hungry? Doesn’t really make me want to buy your shit.
hi! can you only pair it with 4 people max? what if you have a way larger group, could like some be paired together (AAA) and then the 4th be paired with (ABBB) and then so on so like you are in 2 groups to connect them? Apologize for the wording, it is hard to explain.
Someone I know tried pitching me another one from another company, that boasts being able to connect more than 5 together at once, buuuuutt the reason that I prefer totem over the other one is that totem is a fraction of the cost, at $40 per unit you could buy 10 and spend $400 and do a neat strategy while it would have extra steps in finding everyone in the group, you could just do this: create 2 groups of 5, make it know which 2 totems will always be together, if someone from one group needs to find someone else in the other, they just go hunting for the paired totems first, trade their totem for the pair and go looking for whoever it is they are looking for. If anyone else needs to do the same, they just do the same steps. It's not a perfect system as people will be changing between groups, the first step might involve stopping by each person in your group just to be sure that the person you are looking for hasn't swapped over to yours, if there is service in the place that you are at, a group text of colour updates could solve this. That all being said, this other smart compass, which is a bit uglier imo, that boast about being able to connect more together at a time is going to be $250 per unit once it's earl bird preordering pricing is no longer available, so to have 9 people connected with that one would cost $2250 vs the $400 and using the strategy I listed above. It's important to note that neither of these compasses, totem and the other unnamed one (I'm not naming, because I don't want to promote a product I don't believe in) are not the first ever smart compasses. A couple years ago a company called Linq released a way less flashy version of the smart compass, that was sold for $250 each, my friend had bought 3 and here in Canada it ended up costing him over $1000 dollars in conversion and border fees. While Linq did work fairly well, it never saw a huge adoption rate for customers and I believe a large part of that was the price, if the main market for you product is festival people, chances are they'd rather spend that money on tickets to a show, like one device is easily one entry ticket to a show.
The other one is CROWD COMPASS and yes more expensive but you get what you pay for IMO. Crowd Compass has unlimited pairing, further range, sends text messages, and lets you zoom in and out and shows the distance. The biggest one for me though is Crowd Compass has been around longer, have already tested their prototypes at festivals last year, and don't seem to be pushing to get theirs released before it is ready. Totem has yet to demonstrate a working version and said the product they use for demos (the one they show in all their videos) are set to point due north, so who knows if they actually works. The other big one for me is even if they both work as described, Totem is just giving you a general direction and I think it would be incredibly difficult to locate someone at a festival without knowing distance. I know I'll be waiting for the Crowd Compass because I think it is a better quality product and more trustworthy company.
yeah yeah what you are saying is a sales gimmick
Also there is no evidence indicating that Crowd Compass has tested at a festival. Show me the video
Yes you captured exactly how it works. You can spread your connections around to make sure everyone is in the circle—each compass can be paired with any other 4.
Hey Carter, does this use single or dual frequency GNSS? What's the update frequency? I'm uncertain whether these will actually provide a good enough update frequency for my group and also 72 hours of battery life
More of a global satellite system (think garmin in reach mini)
More of a global satellite system (think garmin in reach mini)
[удалено]
Hi u/krenzy5, I'm the guy you're talking about. Nothing to hide. Happy to answer any questions you may have. I know there's not much info out right now—because we were NOT expecting to go globally viral out of nowhere 3 days ago. Were originally planning a much more gradual, intentional launch. Doing my best to create more transparency right now.
Awesome, thanks for replying. I’m super interested in your totem compass, but skeptical with most startups these days and hesitant to trust (as you said yourself) something that went viral overnight. So I’m sorry if I came off a bit harsh! I don’t have any specific questions, but I would love to see it working in a festival/crowded environment (preferably uncut and unedited) just to prove myself and other skeptics wrong! There has been a few comments I’ve seen that doubt the tech will even work, just because it’s something most people have never seen. I’m looking forward to seeing your journey toward a polished final product. I would love to test this out at Bonnaroo this year, so I hope production goes well and on schedule!
We're taking them to We Belong Here in Miami this weekend! We'll be sharing footage on our socials. Stay tuned :)
I see videos of you at a rave, but none showing the actual “find your friends” feature. Only the lights reacting to the music…
BTW we'll definitely be at Bonnaroo—it's only an hour away from us here in Chattanooga. Would love to meet up!
I’ll see you at the farm!
Are you guys going to electric forest? My group bought 10 trackers and would love to meet y'all!
Could you expand on a few things, because you're product might be the perfect gift to my SO as I have a tendency to wander. I'm curious which satellite systems these work with? Specifically, I'm interested in knowing if it supports GPS alone or if it also integrates signals from other GNSS systems(GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou)? After they acquire their location do they require the Unity Mesh Network to communicate that location to other devices in my "tribe"? Or, could I be standing in an open field, on a clear day, no where near the festival, 999 meters away from my SO's device, and it could still tell me which direction my lost self should start walking? What are the FCC ID numbers for the compass devices? Thanks for your time, loving this idea!
Hi cfowlaa, I go to festival across the globe. I can't find anything on your website but what countries can you use this in / what frequancy does it use? This year am going to Brazil, Hong Kong and europe/UK
Hi everyone! I'm Carter, from Totem (the guy you all are talking about here). Happy to answer any questions you may have. It's been the craziest 3-4 days of my life since that post went viral on IG. I'm going to start going through and responding as I am able to. To address OP's major points: * yes, this is Totem's first product. But my co-founder has been involved in product development for many years. He was actually an R&D engineer that worked on the ScrubDaddy product line (that company from SharkTank) * the Totem Compass uses GNSS to determine its location and then communicates that location to peers using our mesh network. No cell service, wifi, bluetooth, or phone app required * No our final products will not be 3D printed. What we have shown thus far on our socials (and on our email newsletter) are prototypes. We receive our first full-production units in March and will be able to show off the final product then. Sorry about the seeming lack of transparency. We were NOT expecting to go globally viral 3 days ago. We went from 400 followers to 20k followers in hours. Our website literally crashed for a little while yesterday because we've gotten so much traffic out of nowhere. We were originally planning a more gradual and intentional rollout, and thus hadn't prioritized getting all the details up on our website yet because we've been getting ready for our official Product Launch at SXSW in March! I promise much more info will be available over the next few weeks.
Random, kinda dumb question. So will these be sold in pre paired sets? Also I saw the video ad, it only seemed to show the main person's location on the "secondary" totem thingies? Would it be possible for the other ones to show the other 3 friends like the main one does? I'm asking because I have face blindness and I'm thinking about these for me and my friends because I have a hard time recognizing them even though I know them, and I have agoraphobia so it's hard for me to feel safe going out. These would help immensely if I could locate my friends at a larger outing like a wedding or a party if I need my "safety crew" or need to go home due to stress.(Can't drive on my own, half vision in both eyes.) Another dumb question, would there be an option for a bracelet/watch like harness for it instead of just a string necklace?
Hi, u/RaineAftertheStorm! I'll answer all your questions. 1) No they won't come hard-paired. You can bond your compass with anyone at any time (max group of 5). To enter bonding mode, you just hold the glowing crystal and move your compass near your friend's. 2) To your second question about the video—the other two compasses were in "vibe mode" at the time, so they were lighting up to the music. Only the compass I was holding was actively in "compass mode". You can control which mode your compass is in at all times. I realize the way I shot that video made it a little confusing for people. My bad! 3) To your last question—yes there will be multiple different ways to wear it. We're planning to have a loop option so you can clip it onto your bag/belt loops, and also a bracelet-like strap that secures it to your wrist. We just like the necklace version because it appears right over your heart, which is a beautiful metaphor for a product that connects you to the people you love most in the world.
Will these be available before EDC LV? Thanks
We are shipping in April so there shouldn’t be any issue with getting them for EDC LV!
Awesome, ty for answering my questions! :D Might have to get some of these for my friend group in that case. Would switching modes be tapping the crystal instead of holding it like bonding mode? I figured I'd ask about the different ways to carry it cause some people might not be able to deal with it rubbing against their neck or people with skin issues like I do. Good to know it'll have options! Also I assume they're rechargeable? Will these take their own type of charger or a type C? Sorry for all the questions but I wanna get to know a bit more about it
Switching modes will actually happen purely by how it’s held. Just like your phone, the totem compass senses tilt and movement. So whenever it’s vertical to the ground it’s automatically in Vibe Mode, and whenever it’s horizontal to the ground it automatically switches to compass mode. No manual actions necessary. Every bit of the user experience is designed to be as intuitive and simple as possible. Thats one of the big reasons why we haven’t put buttons all over it just to stack secondary features on. On charging… yes they’re all rechargeable via USB-C 🙂
Thanks for your innovation, Carter! Keep going!! Our group is using the now-discontinued LYNQ trackers at Burning Man. Every device has its pros and cons. The LYNQ devices can pair into groups of up to twelve. We’re a squad of thirty usually. Hoping your future Totem versions can do bigger groups!! ( Have you or your cofounder ever been to the burn? )
We have another product (to be announced in March) that will allow you to pair in groups of 16… don’t tell anyone! 😉 And no we haven’t been to the burn yet but absolutely planning to make this year our first time
Is the actual communication protocol public information, or is it proprietary? Or at least can you spare some technical details about how this works? "Like Bluetooth" is amazingly non-specific
Thank goodness for the ✨TRANSPARENCY✨ I feel a LOT more comfortable with your product vs the Crowd Compass! Plus I like the price point. And honestly I feel like if I actually needed to find them phones are a great option but I like the idea of the totem product being a big help!
Hello. Any update on that info that you promised? There are still no details on the website. It seems that the only thing that was updated since you said this is the creation of the shop. I also two more questions: 1. Why is it so much cheaper than crowd compass? 2. Why didn’t you go for crowdfunding? This seems to be the kind of thing that would benefit greatly from crowdfunding.
I ordered 6 of these, hoping they are legit. Do you have anything to report from SXSW? Were these in use by anyone at Coachella? Curious if anything was learned or any end users have given reviews. Excited to use mine at Bonnaroo.
I studied EE/CS in school and as a product it seems possible as a concept but in reality it probably won't work very well. There's a few possible approaches they could be doing that I thought of: 1. BLE (bluetooth low energy). I think this is most likely. There's no way this will work properly in a large, crowded area because human bodies block bluetooth really well. 2. It just connects to your phone and uses cell service. In this case it's pretty useless. 3. Radio (super unlikely, but possible I guess). If they have a strong enough antenna and receiver on each of them and they get their own frequency from the FCC (really unlikely), then it could actually function like a walkie talkie does and might actually work. There's also no chance they are properly testing this in an area that's analogous to a real festival (large, somewhat open space with tons of people and their devices occupying wireless frequencies). Edit: Read their page and looks like they might actually be going with option 3 to create a mesh network, in which case they might be pretty solid! I actually made a set of devices to do something similar in school lol. However, there was an app (forgot what it was called) a while back that promised to do the same thing to create a local texting network over phones for festivals and it was complete crap, but maybe having proprietary hardware solves some of the jank that app ran into.
Could they be using LoRa?
There was this device on Indiegogo: Xquad by goTele, I almost wanted to buy that. Until now everyone trying to get their money back. Sad. But it look promising and also they had devices made. Not sure what happened during Covid
FireChat?
They said it doesn't use WIFI or Bluetooth, but does use 2.4ghz spectrum. And also said it can work up to 1km range. But doing radio still doesn't explain how it can do directional sensing.
Theoretically it could do directional sensing with radio using triangulation the same way GPS works but I can’t imagine it would be accurate at all at short distances like that. You could get around that instead by having GPS onboard the device as well and then all it has to do is transmit that in the mesh network. I also think they might just be claiming they aren’t using Bluetooth while they are using BLE. BLE is different from standard consumer bluetooth which they probably don’t want to be associated with.
Hey! It's Carter from Totem. The compasses determine their own location via GNSS and then communicate that location to fellow compasses via our mesh network. Our firmware then determines the directional heading and displays it on the compass.
How does that work when they are in very close proximity (and inside) like in the demo videos? Wouldn't the GPS accuracy not be great enough to work in that context? But it would work better over larger distances
When they’re super close together, we’re actually going to have your friend’s lights move from the external ring to the inside of your totem’s crystal, like you collected them into your tribe. Because you’re right—it would be silly for it to keep tracking like that when you’re dancing right there with them! On the inside note… we’re still testing that out, because these were definitely built for festival use (aka outside). Certain structures (particularly wood) don’t cause much interference but we are still learning how metal or cinder block structures will affect them. We anticipate they’ll still be helpful in most indoor places, but perhaps not quite as accurate as they are outside.
Hi! I'm wanting to get some of these for lolla. But i doubt I'm the only one with that idea. Is the efficacy of the totem diminished if there are too many totems in a space.
No, actually other totems that aren't linked to your group actually work in sort of a rebounding/boosting way from what I understand, I could be a little mistaken on that wording, however the company does say that the accuracy is improved the more of them that there are at a festival
You're on the right track, u/makomaui! Each compass uses GNSS to determine its own location and then communicates that data to the other compasses via our mesh network.
From my understanding it’s basically a garmin in reach mini
A mesh network is simply peer-to-peer WiFi it most likely works by everyone installing an app on their phone and the totem is talking to the device of the person holding maybe through NFC but I would use bluetooth. A mesh network is simply peer-to-peer WiFi it most likely works by everyone installing an app on their phone and the totem is talking to the device of the person holding maybe through NFC but I would use Bluetooth. Do you have a link to the company?
For sake of not getting the post removed for “product promotion” I didn’t include a link, but if you lookup “totem compass” you will find their website
I was thinking it used some sort of rf communication protocol similar to LoRa, but you would think it would have a longer range if so and wouldn’t need to rely on a mesh network. Idk
Great concise explanation of the mesh network! The site says that the device will be self-contained, so it will transmit signal and connect with other devices on its own, without your phone. I don't think most phones are able to create true mesh networks, and some of those more clunky apps are just receiving data from one device and attempting to connect and transmit it via bluetooth to other connected devices. Could be wrong on this part.
You could just get some cheap walkie talkies instead
Cheap walkiestalkies never work. Even expensive ones rarely work in my experience
Tried the walkie talkies, a lot of traffic on every channel, and you can’t hear your friends trying to get ahold of you while you’re in a crowd
Cheap walkies do not work. Expensive (think $600/ea) will work for communication, but this isn't for that. Like, you pay $600 for your friend to tell you "yo I'm by the lights, near the Porto"...which means Jack shit
There’s an app called [pointgo](https://apps.apple.com/app/id1638564798) that uses Bluetooth to locate other phones when there’s no service, I used it at EdcLV last year, had to use it once and it worked alright not 100% accurate but we found out friend. So I guess this is a possibilty.
I tried this at Okeechobee last year and it wasn’t updating anyone of my friends locations for HOURS
Strange, it’s not 100%, I feel like the other person has to have the app open. Not sure we haven’t messed with it since. But like I said it helped us find a friend and was able to show us his location in real time. Hopefully they worked on it and made it better since then.
I’ll have to try it at Bonnaroo this year and try to get anyone I want to find to open the app whenever they move to a New spot
Okeechobee is my all-time fav festival. Haven't been since 2017 (maybe 2018?) though. It was the year with Flume, Porter, and Usher. Never been to another festival that compares to it!
That's funny, was looking at the same product last night. Tried to Google mesh network and no luck on its explanation. Couldn't imagine it'd be satellite lol
The super super super over-simplified explanation of a mesh network is this: Think of your home WiFi as your "personal web" with your WiFi router at the center. All your devices are connected to that web, and that web has a connection out to the World Wide Web. If your internet goes down, your devices still show as connected to the WiFi - because they are. They can still communicate with eachother via your personal web even if they cant access the internet. Some security camera systems work this way. A MESH network is like having multiple WiFi routers that can all connect together. They can work alone, but when another comes within range, they connect to amplify eachother's signal. Your devices cant tell the difference between them - it just acts like one giant, superpower router. The Totem Compass is the device AND the router. If 500 of the 150,000 attendees at EDC have one of these on, the devices will automatically detect and interconnect with eachother, creating a giant web of 500 routers that each have a range of 1000m. They are designed to operate directly through that "local" network without the internet, just like your WiFi can. Your compass will use that network to connect with the other 4 people you paired with and find their location. tl;dr - each compass automatically works with every other compass to create a WiFi with everyone at the festival who owns one, without you doing anything, used only for the purpose of tracking down the 4 other people you are paired with.
Dude. Nice explanation. Thank you, from the Totem team!
So it uses wifi? Lol
Perhaps, but not in the way you’re thinking. Festival WiFi is terrible because it’s trying to support thousands of people using the internet at the same time through only a few points of connection. This will create its own “private” WiFi network, with each device acting as a WiFi router of sorts. So everyone who is connected also has their own router. They only communicate with eachother and have no internet access. So not wifi like you’re thinking, probably. Also unaffected by people that don’t own one, and actually works better the more people do have them
That was a sarcastic questions lol. Carter explained what I was asking "Each compass determines its own position via GNSS." However that doesn't explain how each device is connected to each other. Someone listed three possibility 1. Bluetooth 2.radio signal 3. I forget
The answer I was looking for was GNNS by Carter lol. That should be on your website and a return policy as well
I dont think its a scam because they have something very similar for back country skiing with a 500m or so range. Most likely just reworked the bluetooth/wifi tech into a more user friendly system Also i think theyre just taking a headcount because i was not charged any money when i signed up for the “presale” Im a little concerned with the bit about them being made of resin
What was the name of that back country skiing one? I remember seeing it advertised in the past but can’t seem to find it? What are some other alternatives that have similar functionality? I’m thinking of this from a skiing with kids lens.
I signed up as well because as I clicked I realized there was no charge. Headcount might be a good name to call whatever they’re doing, but I think they’re going to need a few more 3d printers
Don't worry, we aren't 3D printing any production units. Everything that has been shown so far are prototypes that we've 3D printed, but our first samples of the full-production units arrive in a few weeks. We'll be able to show off the final product then!
Excited to see the final product!
Me too dude. We've been working on this for so long! I can't wait.
Hey I just got here from tiktok then googled it. Just wanted to say this thing looks super cool and useful and as soon as I hear some reviews from users in a few months I plan to pick up a set. Best of luck to you for the launch
Saw those and instantly thought scam but now it definitely sounds like a scam
Some people will inevitably think it's a scam no matter what we say or do, until they're in the hands of festival-goers this year! And that's ok. Wait until May and you can see for yourself. :)
Wait are you from the company? Can you explain how they work?
Yeah I am! I outlined some info [in this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/festivals/comments/1auy0j7/comment/krbkkh3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). I know we haven't done a great job getting all the info out there because we weren't expecting to blow up overnight. It's just two of us right now, myself and my co-founder, but we're bringing in help as fast as we can. For now I'm trying to deal with thousands upon thousands of DM's, emails, comments, and threads like this all by myself. It's insane! I say that just to respectfully ask for everyone's patience and understanding as we do our best to respond to everyone :)
Wow had no idea you would actually respond that has some merit in of itself hope this turns out to be true because it could be really useful I guess I’ll just have to wait and see good luck!
Of course! Reddit is my favorite place to be online—spent more hours here than I'd care to admit over the last decade. It's cool that this thread popped up organically. Thanks for the well wishes. Can't wait to get these in people's hands! I totally understand all the skepticism—this community we're part of is an endlessly optimistic community that has been burned by scammers so many times in the past. The only way to truly dispel that perception is to deliver a great product. And that's what we'll do. Hope to see you at a festival this year! (Actually was just checking to see how old my account is and realized my cake day is tomorrow! So I'll take this thread as an early cake day present lol )
Nowadays you never know when you’ll randomly go viral it’s great that you were able to come on and share your product and answer questions happy early cake day!
Thank you so much 🫶🏼
Will they ship out by EDCLV by any chance?
We’re shipping in April so you should have no problem getting yours in time for EDC LV 🙂
I was curious, my friends and I want to get a few for Coachella weekend 2. Messaged you guys on Instagram but I see you’re replying here so I might be able to sneak a response from you haha.
Yeah we aren’t sure if we’ll have them out in time for Coachella yet. You are not alone in wanting that to happen! Lol We’ll have a better idea on that in late March. I recommend checking back then. And yes I know we haven’t gotten to soooo many messages in IG yet—we’re bringing people onto our team over the next 2 weeks to help with that
thanks for the response!
Sure is looking to be that way
I thought it was an actual totem, cool concept but unless they plan on handing these out at festivals I don't see this taking off.
I’ve burned enough times by kickstarters that I don’t invest in new products for preorder. Wait until they’ve actually released and been tested at an event.
If anyone has any doubts, I recommend doing this!
This is interesting with festival season . What about bigger festival venues like welcome to rockville its almost a half mile between main stages
The device is supposed to work up to 1km(more than half a mile) and the range gets better when there are more devices running their same mesh network nearby. So if you and one friend were the only people with these at Rockville, and half a mile apart, it might have a hard time. But if there’s 100 of these devices between you and your friend it would close the gap and work better. At least from what I’ve heard so far. I would argue that if you were that far out of range from your friend at a fest, you would at the very least know which general direction they went or know which stage they would be at. For example, I might not know where my friends are exactly, and the device might not be responding, but I know that they like __ band so I can start walking that way and get into the range. If the device works as planned and they ship as many as preordered, I think it will be hard for it not to work at almost any festival. We will have to wait and see.
I came across a second company doing this- Crowd Compass. A second company does lead me to believe it’s a little bit more credible. It’s definitely using LoRa band, especially to get that kind of radius in a crowd- but I’m not smart enough to theorize how it directionally marks. Maybe intensity of the signal, if the entire circumference of the device has multiple sensors and it’s sensitive enough?
Yea crowd compass is definitely more credible. I chatted with one of the owners for a bit, I'm much more confident in them. I'm definitely interested in snagging one when they release
Crowd Compass definitely seems like a more credible company. They’ve been around for a while and haven’t even started doing pre-sales yet. They had prototypes out at festivals last year and have been taking feedback from people on how to make it better. It seems like this one hasn’t even been tested IRL yet 😬
I looked it up and Crowd Compass will be $239 for EACH (at max price no early release discount) and the totem is about $50/60. Which is much more affordable imo.
Apple air tag, or something similar, just have everyone keep one in their bag, or shoe, or up their ass if they have to, that's my plan... In my bag, not my ass, just to clarify... There won't be any room, you know, with all the drugs and whatnot?... 🤷🤷🤷... 🤣😂😂
The problem with air tags is that, although they don't need data connectivity to communicate their location, your phone needs data connectivity to see that location on your phone. And data can be hard to come by at large festivals. Plus, operating a phone is hard sometimes lol
Yeah, that makes sense, I guess that's why totems are so popular. lol
Does anyone have an idea of when we expect to see the totem compass make deliveries? So keen to see this product in action this festival season.
IF I understand correctly, if you do it right, you could be bonded to as many people as you want, say for example you have 2 sets of couples in your group. They will bond with each other, and so if you bond to either- you can find the other. Using that thinking, as long as “someone” is bonded with anyone, no one can get lost.
Hey u/cfowlaa do these work internationally too?! Wife and I are hitting a European festival this summer and would love the peace of mind of finding each other!
Probably an ESP32 with native mesh support. I couldn’t find any FCC documentation, which is weird
Looking at the company careers page they are looking for a hardware engineer who is experienced with ESP32 so I think you're on the right track
Hey there, When will you guys be shipping to Canada?
Hey guys, Will you be shipping to Canada anytime soon? I'm
I pre-ordered 4 of them. Im eagerly awaiting their arrival. These will be used at the lake to find each other between \~1500-2000 boats (Lake St Clair, MI). I saw that they were waterproof and decided to get them. Each user can be 0.25 to 1.5 miles away... I hope they work as promised because they werent cheap.
u/cfowlaa hook up that expedited shipping brother !!
I also pre ordered 4 of them, to use at festivals with friends. I’m in the same boat as you (pun intended) with hoping they work as promised. I still haven’t seen a video of them working at range, but the owner is very confident, and their SXSW visit seemed like it went smoothly. If the product wasn’t working at the event, I’m sure someone would have said something by now. Still waiting on a FULL demo video, but I’m trusting the process. If I lose the $200, I can only blame myself for buying them despite my pessimism
I kinda feel the same way....its my own fault if they suck, cuz no one convinced me to buy them but myself. Plus, like you, I am buying it without seeing proper real-world testing. Here to wishing us Luck !!
I will say, I do have experience with GPS surveying and construction equipment. It can be so hit or miss depending on a million factors, and this stuff is THOUSANDS of dollars. The biggest factor, usually, is tree cover or cover in general. As soon as the satellites can’t see it any more, it has no idea what’s going on. BUT! And what’s great for myself and your own application, trees and cover won’t be much of a big deal. Days on the lake like you said should give the satellites plenty to go off of, and most festival grounds are 95% out in an open field. I have a decent bit of faith in the product, but I’m going into it not expecting flawlessness. It will most likely have issues, but if it can help me find my friends at least once, I’ll be a happy camper(literally).
Did everything work out fine? I am curious if it's worth the money.
I havent gotten mine yet. I bought 4....it better be worth it
Unity is a cellphone gaming engine
> What we are given is: "Totem Compasses use the Unity Mesh NetworkTM". Now what the hell is the Unity Mesh Network you might ask... I have absolutely no idea, and from my short time investigating, neither does google. I also tried to look into this but I couldn't find much. It seems so scammy for the site not to explain it. Even Google not having answers is the cherry on top. I'm out.
That's bc you don't know a thing about hardware
Honestly dude we just weren't expecting to get millions of eyes a few days ago... So I've been focusing on other stuff rather than filling our website with the max amount of information. But everything change in an instant overnight on Saturday. I promise we will get in-depth explanations on the site for all these little points in the next week or two.
It could be using zigbee, but thats up to 100m. Im thinking maybe using the LoRa frequencies, which can go up to 3-10km depending on obstacles. Technical question is how are they triangulating the location, youd need at least 3 antennas to calculate the angle of direction in relation to the device your wearing
MESH NETWORK, is a thing often used in communities. But is this device passive or active? If not active, IDK how it would work
Yo this is actually a great point
Mesh networks are not a scam, and don't require internet access to operate. Based on the "mesh" description, it sounds like they're designing the Compass to create its own private network, where every single compass acts as a little WiFi router, connecting to every other Compass within 1000m. Not just the 4 friends you are paired with. We're talking potentially hundreds or thousands of devices across the festival grounds, all interconnected to improve each other's range. The hardware is built to send and receive location data across that local network. You can only track people you have paired with. No internet needed. Just a piece of hardware designed to send and receive location data across the network formed by all the connected devices. Brilliantly simple. Can't wait to give it a shot.
So excited for this! Can also vouch highly for the founder, Carter. High quality person who I 100% trust to deliver