Blue Charm Beacons - Bluetooth BLE Proximity Beacon w/iBeacon, Eddystone URL, or Eddystone UID Broadcasts (Black) - Free Configuration Apps - Nearby Notifications Compatible

First off, I should explain that I have purchased beacons from at least ten different manufacturers over the last 6 months. There seem to be two types in general:A. Too high tech and require you to write/create a custom app on your own (that's beyond my ability at this point, but I am currently learning). Also these high techy beacons sometimes require some sort of subscription service for monthly $$$ which I don't want to pay.B. Just a piece of useless hardware with no real explanation how to use it or configure it. Or even worse, confusing instructions how to use it. Even even worse, dead on arrival. This has happened to me twice.So based on this recent experience, I am really pleased with this Bleu Charm beacon. At least for me, it hits that perfect spot in the middle. It's high tech enough to broadcast three different modes and can be customized, but it also includes step by step instructions (on the website) for how to configure it AND for how to use it with Nearby Notifications or other free apps. It also does not require any monthly subscription service.Here's my list of pros and cons:Pros:1. Works with Nearby Notification on Android phones right out of the box. Just turn it on, and Android phones will receive notifications according to the Nearby Notification system (it's not instantaneous due to limits put on the system by Google and different phones react slightly differently). Of course, the URL that it is broadcasting at first is the website of the manufacturer. Haha, that's not useful for my business! The good news is that it's really easy to reconfigure to use your own URL/website. So far, this is the only beacon I have found that works so smoothly right away. (by the way, the default mode is Eddystone URL; you can switch to Eddystone UID or iBeacon easily if you want to.)2. The button is nice. Haha! I know you might think that is a trivial point, but I have dealt with many beacons that lack a button or have stupid buttons that either don't work easily or work too easily (they get shut off accidentally with a single click). I even own one beacon that needs to be hit firmly on a solid surface in order to turn it off and on; not a bug, this is the actual designed process for turning it on and off. It drives my wife crazy when I am rapping that beacon on the table over and over again while testing and setting up. A really crazy design if you ask me. This Blue beacon on the other hand requires a long 2 second click to turn it on and off, so that prevents accidents. Also it uses a fast double click to rotate between modes, so that also prevents accidental changes.3. The outer plastic part of this beacon is really high quality; some sort of very hard plastic with a nice quality finish that doesn't scratch easily. It's got a nice durable feeling and doesn't feel cheap. This is good for me because I am planning on reselling these beacons (as part of a system) to local retailers to use to advertise their businesses. So it's nice to be able to hand my customers something that feels high quality in their hand rather than something that feels cheap or junky. Eash beacon also comes in a little display box which is a nice marketing point for potential customers (the box has no identifying info on the manufacturer other than a paper insert which can be removed, so that will keep customers from trying to cut me out!).4. Easy to configure with their free app. I tested both the iPhone and Android version to make sure it would work easily with both.5. No monthly service fee required.Cons:1. I wish it would make a buzz or beep sound to confirm when it is turned on/off or when the configuration is successfully changed.2. The little instruction sheet that ships with the beacon is confusing, and the print is way too small to read. I suggest you just ignore this and instead follow the instructions on the website. Much easier to understand.3. I wish there was a price break for buying more than one of these. Like maybe a 5% discount for buying 5, and a 10% discount for buying 10. A 100% discount for buying 100 would be nice too. ;-)Overall I am very happy with this beacon and will definitely buy some more soon. It's strange that it is so hard to find a good quality beacon like this.

o))) 3️⃣☠️📣💣💥The New model is fantastic plus love the 3 features of this device easy to use if you Tech Savy if not ask me or leave a question ill bee🐝 sure to try to get back to answer them

It's very basic--difficult to configure--but it does work. It will not, however, allow itself to be registered with Google.

Item stopped working 2 days after set up. I have tried turning it off an on several times. It does not even register anymore

This beacon probably works best when using in Eddystone-URL/UID mode. I purchased it hoping to use it with the Beecon app (for iBeacon) and for whatever reason the Beecon app does not recognize this as a valid iBeacon. Same was true for the RadBeacon app.

Like the other reviewer, I have also recently purchased beacons from several different sources on Amazon (three). I had different frustrating problems with each: One would not work at all, one had nonsense instructions written in incorrect English that I could not understand (and would not respond to my emails), and one worked for a week and then suddenly died (also did not respond to emails!).So I am relieved to report that this Blue Charm beacon worked great. It was easy to set up following the directions on the website. I had it set up and broadcasting my URL within 40 minutes.Now that I have done the entire process once, I think I could config a new beacon in less that 3 minutes. I'm going to buy some more beacons from this company, so I will get to "test" myself soon. (By the way, I wish they were not always going out of stock on Amazon).One thing I should mention is that when I first received the beacon, I was rushing to set it up and not following the instructions carefully. I ended up wasting a lot of time going in circles. When I finally slowed down and read the website, the setup was easy. So I recommend reading the website instructions before messing around with the beacon.

I've purchased several of these beacons. And I have plans of purchasing more. The beacons operate as described. And customer support is very responsive, even follows up after rendering advice. Their website as a lot of useful information about this new beacon technology not just the products.

This beacon is working as promised. It took about 4 hours for the broadcast to get picked up by my phones (I have 2...one is Android 6.1 and the other is 7.1). Has been working ever since.