From walkie-talkies to flags and PVC totems, ravers are always looking for new ways to find their friends at festivals without cell phone service. Now, a new solution to this age-old problem is entering the fold: the Totem Compass.
These individual hardware devices can be synced with up to four other Totem units and light up in correspondence with how far away, and in which direction, another paired Compass device is located.
On top of the roughly Oreo-sized, puck-shaped device, a colorful compass needle points in the direction of other synced units, growing wider as they come closer together and smaller as they move away from each other. Users can also send “alerts” to friends to get their attention.
Once two or more users have found each other in the crowd, the Totem Compass can be placed in Vibe Mode, celebrating their festival reunion with lights that flash in time with the music on stage.
At the core of this technology is a network of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), used by the Totem Compass to pinpoint its own exact location before connecting to Totem’s Unity Mesh Network to communicate with other devices without any cell service, WiFi or Bluetooth.
The device has a max range of 1,000 meters between any two paired compasses, according to Totem’s website. The company adds that its Unity Mesh Network can extend that range “indefinitely” for all compasses in the network, regardless of whether they are synced.
Each Totem Compass comes with a neck strap, USB-C charging cable and a battery life of over 72 hours on a single charge. Built specifically for music festivals, the device is also 100 percent waterproof, 100 percent dust-proof and even floats when dropped in water.
Though the Totem Compass has yet to hit the market officially, the company is now accepting pre-orders before the first batch of units ships out in April–just in time for festival season. A single Totem Compass currently costs $49, with prices dropping incrementally based on the number of devices purchased.
Learn more on Totem’s official website.
Featured image from Totem Inc.
