AirTag Hardware Options: Pick the Right Form Factor

Compact Tag

The Compact TagLogger tag: $15 one-time hardware. Small coin-sized disk, about 1.02 inches across and 0.28 inches thick, around 5.4 grams. Runs a user-replaceable CR2032 coin cell for up to a year. Not IP rated, so keep it dry — it belongs inside cases, toolboxes, bags, and indoor gear rather than out in the weather. Uses the Find My network for location reporting — no cellular SIM, no per-device connectivity fees.

Best for: indoor or protected placements where the small footprint matters more than weather-hardening. Tool cases. Gangboxes. IT hardware. Shared shop equipment. Flight cases with an internal mount. Basically anything where the tag lives inside another container that's already doing the protecting.

Not ideal for: direct outdoor mounting in sustained weather, anything with constant heavy vibration, or fleets large enough that annual battery swaps across every tag would eat real time.

Standard Tag

The Standard Tag: $20 one-time hardware. The same core TagLogger tracker in an IP68 sealed white housing, about 1.89 inches across and 0.67 inches thick, around 26 grams, running a user-replaceable CR2477 coin cell for up to 3 years, so it skips the annual battery swap the Compact Tag needs. Mounts with the included adhesive pad or with screws, so it bonds to steel, aluminum, plastic, fiberglass, and painted surfaces alike.

Best for: set-and-forget mounting on vehicles, trailers, containers, and outdoor equipment where you want multi-year battery life plus the sealing the Compact Tag does not have. The adhesive pad bonds to almost any clean surface, and the screw mount is there for anything that vibrates, so it is not limited to ferrous steel.

Not ideal for: assets where the smallest possible footprint matters (the sealed housing is larger than the Compact Tag), or the longest unattended deployments where even a 3-year battery means a swap mid-life — the Extended Tag stretches to up to 6 years for those.

Extended Tag

The Extended Tag: $30 one-time hardware. Tag circuitry in an IP68 sealed housing, about 2.13 inches across and 0.98 inches thick, around 47 grams, powered by two user-replaceable ER14250 lithium cells instead of a coin cell. Rated for up to 6 years of battery life.

Best for: fleet assets where battery maintenance is the limiting factor — trailers, containers, rental fleets, outdoor equipment, remote monitoring. Also the right choice for cold-climate deployments where coin-cell chemistry struggles but the Extended Tag's lithium cells handle cold storage better.

Not ideal for: assets where a compact form factor matters (the housing is larger than the Compact or Standard Tag) or where the asset's value doesn't justify the higher per-unit hardware cost versus the Compact or Standard options.

Picking the right hardware per asset category

Cost comparison across form factors

Compact Tag: $15 one-time hardware. Annual CR2032 replacement: ~$1–$5 per tag per year. Service is $120 per tag per year.

Standard Tag: $20 one-time hardware. One CR2477 coin cell included, rated for up to 3 years, so no annual battery swap. Same $120 per-tag annual service as every other tag.

Extended Tag: $30 one-time hardware. No cell replacement for up to 6 years (only periodic checks on the two ER14250 cells). Same $120 per-tag annual service as every other tag.

At fleet scale, the Extended Tag often works out cheaper over 5 years than the Compact Tag due to eliminated battery-swap labor cost — for 200 outdoor tags, eliminating 200 annual battery swaps saves significant maintenance time. The hardware mix does not change the flat $120/tag annual service rate. See /#pricing.

Battery chemistry differences

CR2032 (Compact Tag): Lithium coin-cell. Widely available, inexpensive, short installation cycle. Capacity drops in extreme cold. Best for temperate indoor use.

CR2477 (Standard Tag): A larger lithium coin-cell with several times the capacity of a CR2032, which is what stretches the swap interval to about three years inside the sealed housing.

ER14250 lithium (Extended Tag): Higher capacity again, better cold-weather performance, longer shelf life. More expensive per cell but replaced roughly 6x less often than a CR2032.

For cold-climate fleets (construction in winter, outdoor storage in cold regions, refrigeration tracking), the Extended Tag is often a significantly more reliable choice even before counting the fleet-scale labor savings.

Mixed-hardware deployments are normal

Most TagLogger deployments use a mix of hardware options — not a single form factor across the whole fleet. A common pattern:

• Compact Tags for the indoor/protected tools and equipment (the majority of asset count).
• Standard Tags for vehicles, trailers, and outdoor equipment that need multi-year, sealed mounts.
• Extended Tags for the 20–30% of outdoor or long-cycle assets where up to 6 years of battery life saves maintenance overhead.

TagLogger's platform handles mixed hardware seamlessly — every tagged asset shows up the same way in the map and history, regardless of which physical form factor the tag is.