Totem Compass Review: Find Your Friends, No Reception Required

The compasses work better outside with some obstructions. An ideal place to use them is a large open field; Inside in a city, they will not be as precise and they will not have as much range. Each compass has a peer-to-peer range of about 1,000 meters, or two thirds of a mile. But if more totem compasses are around, this beach is extended. And these are not limited to the Festival environments – parents use them to find their children during events, and hikers like them during group excursions.

There is even a SOS button that you can press discreetly. A red flashing light on your back shows you that SOS is activated. And on the side of your friends, they will see your corresponding color flash, which means that they will know that it is time to find you. This can be useful if you are ready to be picked up, if you are in a modified state of mind and you need a boyfriend, or if the jaw participant in front of you gives you the Ick.

Can you see me?

With everything I like about Totem, there are some drawbacks. The accommodation feels a little cheap, light and plasticky. I have not experienced scratches or scratches, but I bet I will finally do it. It is water resistant, but not waterproof – when it rains strongly, I put it in my backpack to prevent it from being too wet. It is labeled as dust resistant, but the product guide called not to expose it to excessive dust, so I would not take him to man on fire without a waterproof bag or something similar. It is also becoming hot when it works hard, such as setting up a satellite connection, and it warms up if the weather is hot. And I want the battery to have lasted longer. The days of most festivals, I am standing and I am in the festival’s field before 1 p.m., and I stay away from at least 1 hour, otherwise 5 or 6 a.m. If I want to use the ambiance mode and have small dance fires accompanying me, the battery will not last in my schedule.

I like them to be rechargeable, but this also means that you will have to sacrifice part of the life of the battery of your food bank to keep them stable (if you are in a campsite festival without electricity). Totem claims that the battery life will be improved with future software updates. And finally, the device does not seem super intuitive to configure. Sometimes it is difficult to understand what is happening, partly due to the fact that there is no screen – just a series of lights and flashes.

With the kind permission of Louryn Stramp