Gadgetory

owning a bicycle brings me a tremendous amount of joy I love the immediacy I feel riding a bike through a city and stopping off to explore shop or cafe the downside to such adventures is needing to lock my bike up and even that doesn't guarantee that it won't be stolen last year latus released the elipse smart bike lock packed with sensors batteries a solar panel and Bluetooth that connects to your phone there's no key instead I lock and unlock it using the ellipse app on my phone or touch the keypad built in to the side for basic locking and unlocking the app works simply enough I tap the big blue button on the screen and voila it's locked tap it again and bam it's unlocked the built-in keypad has four arrows button and it feels like touch technology from ten years ago I found a painfully slow deliberate touch work best to enter the passcode the ellipsis forged from hardened steel similar to other premium bike locks the shackle is flattened to make it more difficult to cut off I wish there was an option for a longer shackle because it was near impossible to get my frame wheel in a parking meter pull within the ellipse and close it though the smaller design is pocketable and use the lock was okay though I definitely had some struggles using it for example trying to hold two pieces of the lock together and my phone and tap the screen was tricky I felt it was only a matter of time until I dropped my phone which I did hence the cracked screen however the ellipse app does provide a hands-free alternative called auto lock and auto unlock when these settings are on I closed the ellipse around my bike in the rack and then as I walk away the app triggers it to lock the same thing happens in Reverse to unlock it this works pretty well but is not consistent sometimes it takes a while for the phone to detect the lock also I wish the ellipse could be integrated with Apple watch or wear OS to free up your hand for locking but since the ellipse is smart it has built-in batteries and there are two ways to charge through the micro USB port or via the cleverly designed solar panel during the months I used a lock it always had a charge thanks to that solar panel though I'm curious how long these batteries will last over years of use as far as protection my bike wasn't stolen when I was in Bluetooth range and had theft detection on it notified me when it thought somebody was tampering with the lock there's also crash detection which sends an SMS to a person you choose I have the ellipse on my handlebars while riding and the bumpy streets shook it enough to trigger a crash detection notification lattices approach to design is spot-on but the execution doesn't hold up well in real-world use it's inconsistent and frustrating the app needs some improvements too especially the sharing feature for 199 dollars in the US it's hard for me to recommend this lock