The Calypso Crystal Calypso Tag Review: Travel in Sync

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You have a luggage tag on your carry-on or your checked luggage, right? But can your luggage tag attract attention because it’s so brightly colored, tell you when your bag is nearby, alert you when it has been moved away, tell you where it last was, or tell you the temperature? Because of the Calypso Crystal Calypso Tag, mine can.

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Available in Barajas Gate (bright lipstick red), Lyon Exupery (metallic silver), Denver International (an understated beige/taupe), and Kansai Free (a minty green), the Calypso is first and foremost a huge and eye-catching leather luggage tag.

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Made with “Artisan European craftsmanship [and] selected premium Italian leather”, the tag itself measures approximately 7″ long x 3″ at its widest spot. Add in another 8″ for the part that wraps around the luggage handle, and you’ve got one big, bold, substantial luggage tag.

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Of course, a luggage tag without a place to put your name and address is just about worthless, so the Calypso Tag has a slot on its backside where a piece of leaf-shaped paper slides into the clear window for display. But behind that slot, there is another pocket that holds a Chipolo tracking chip.

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The slot isn’t made to hold a regular business card, so you might as well put your own personal touch on the paper.

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The loop that tethers the Calypso Tag to your bag is substantial.

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There is no missing this luggage tag, even if you have the most boring black suitcase!

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The Chipolo tracking chip uses low-power Bluetooth 4.0 to send a signal to the device it is paired with, so the first requirement is that the Android or iOS device you pair the tag/chip with have Bluetooth 4.0. Devices that do include the iPhone 4 and up, 3rd generation and up iPads, 5th generation iPod touch devices, iPad minis, and BT 4.0 capable Android devices running version 4.3 or newer, such as the Samsung Galaxy S3, S4, S5, and the Sony Xperia Z2

Once you’ve paired the Chipolo to your phone, you can do all sorts of things with it, like …

See what the temperature is where your Calypso Tag is located. While this may seem silly at first, it might come in handy when you don’t have an Android device that displays the temp in the menu bar.

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The Chipolo app can tell you how far away your bag is and if you are getting closer or further away from it.

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You can set the Chipolo to let you know when your bag is within range (about 200 feet) of your phone or out of range, and you can also set it to buzz your phone when your tag is shaken. All of these are pretty handy traits in a luggage tag, since all will keep you appraised of what’s going on with your bag when it is in range.

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The little Chipolo tag icon on my menu bar lets me know that my tag is being monitored. There is a little CR2025 battery inside the Chipolo that should last for about 6 months; the battery is easy to change when the time comes, too.

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The cool thing is that if you and your Chipolo become separated, the last place your Chipolo registered on your phone will show up inside the app. My bag looks like it is in the middle of Lake Nasworthy, because that’s the path my American Eagle flight took out of San Angelo on my way to San Francisco last week.

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Usually I have to gate check my carryon when I travel on our regional jets, and it was cool to get a buzz on my phone when it was about to appear on the baggage elevator. Usually I have no clue until they open the lift gate. The Chipolo inside the Calypso Tag means that I will get a buzz when my checked bag appears, too — which is what happened when I checked my carryon for the return flight.

Here’s why I especially like getting a heads up that my bag is within the 200 foot range: Mathis Field, my local airport, has been undergoing renovations for years. At some point in the last year or so, they decided that while they were redoing the baggage claim area — no matter what the weather is — we have to collect our checked luggage out in front of the airport. People will mill about in the heat, the cold, or the rain (even though that’s all too rare), and it can be as long as 20 – 30 minutes waiting for the little trolly to show up with all of our bags.

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Yesterday, I got to wait inside the air-conditioned main lobby waiting for my bag instead of in the 90º heat; when it showed up outside, my Xperia Z2 buzzed happily. I like the idea of the Chipolo tag so much that I ordered four more to use on other items (they run about $30 each); I like the Calypso tag so much that I am going to order another one for my checked-luggage suitcase.

If you have a family member or a loved one who enjoys traveling and is impossible to buy for because they already have all the newest tech, the Calypso Crystal Calypso Tag may be the best gift they’ve ever received. Everything about it is fantastic from the highly visible leather luggage tag to the Chipolo inside it; they’ll always know what’s going on with their luggage, and they’ll have you to thank for that.

The Calypso Tag is available directly from Calypso Crystal.

MSRP: $119.00

What I Like: Great looking luggage tag that is extremely well made and bold-looking; notifications when your luggage is in range and out of range; your phone will get dinged when your bag shows up on the luggage trolly, elevator, or carousel — as long as you are within about 200 feet of the bag

What Needs Improvement: It’s not inexpensive, but it would be a unique gift

Source: The Calypso Crystal Calypso Tag was a manufacturer supplied review item

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About the Author

Judie Lipsett Stanford
Judie is the co-owner and Editor-in-Chief of Gear Diary, which she founded in September 2006. She started in 1999 writing software reviews at the now-defunct smaller.com; from mid-2000 through 2006, she wrote hardware reviews for and co-edited at The Gadgeteer. A recipient of the Sigma Kappa Colby Award for Technology, Judie is best known for her device-agnostic approach, deep-dive reviews, and enjoyment of exploring the latest tech, gadgets, and gear.