The Premise. The environment is something that should always be appreciated and enjoyed, but sometimes conditions are too dangerous. Whether it’s ultraviolet rays damaging skin or indoor humidity posing a risk to valuable collectibles, a reliable way of knowing the conditions at any time and location is a powerful tool to have.
The Product. CliMate is a tiny environmental sensor that can be set anywhere or clipped to clothing or belongings that provides constant monitoring of humidity, temperature, and ultraviolet index. From there, CliMate sends this data to any iOS or Android device and provide reminders based on certain thresholds to avoid severe weather or even reapply sunscreen based on skin tone data and SPF rating. CliMate also has a button on its face that can serve as a remote for a phone’s camera or a locator that will cause the phone to sound an alarm. CliMate users can provide their data through the app to WeatherBook, which will show other the readings from other CliMates nearby to get a feel for local weather patterns.
The Pitch. Rooti, the company behind CliMate, passionately describes how its device provides more necessary information than other environment trackers on the market. Their video shows the device in action in a variety of settings, from the indoor display case to the camping tent in the wild. That kind of flexibility is exactly what CliMate offers to become the go-to environment tracker on the market. Rooti is looking for $50,000 for mass production.
The Perks. CliMate is available for $39, complete with color choice, stand, and lanyard. Higher reward tiers include Kickstarter-exclusive color schemes and multiple CliMate devices. The product expects to launch in September.
The Potential. Looking at CliMate itself, it’s not obvious what it does. Watching the campaign video, it becomes clearer before getting somewhat confusing again. Rooti will want to narrow down its communication a bit and make sure people know exactly what CliMate is capable of. The feature set is fairly limited but certainly seems good at what it does, but some of the other abilities seem tacked on. It’s always nice to have a phone-finding device but it seems out of place here, and the crowdsourced weather map seems unhelpful when there’s a device designed to give the precise data of a current location. CliMate will likely need to function above its promises in order to prove successful.