Hands-On with Go-Tcha, the Pokemon Go Plus Subsititue

With Raid battles and improved Gyms at the forefront of Niantic’s plan for the summer, I have been on the lookout for ways to improve my game. I had been using the Pokemon Go Plus with varying levels of success and I was content with knowing that this was as good as it was going to get. Enter in Go-Tcha, a weird little wearable that acts just like your Plus assessor with a few more bells and whistles. The major improvement is that Go-Tcha is automatic. That’s right! When you enter that range of a Pokemon or PokeStop the device will automatically attempt to add the item or Pokemon to your collection. The interesting part is that it manages to do so even when I am driving around town.

Go-Tcha and charger

The device itself is tinier than I thought it was going to be, with one touch screen button for all of the features. You cycle through them with the red button and hold the button when you want to change the setting. With the Go-Tcha you can…

• Automatically catch every Pokemon you come across
• Only catch Pokemon you have never come across
• Automatically collect from PokeStops (except the ones attached to Gyms)

In order to put the Go-Tcha to the ultimate test, I decided to do a head to head battle with my friends PokeGo Plus. After several hours of play, I noticed that the Go-Tcha seemed to have a better catch rate, with me catching three out of four of the Pokemon I encountered. PokeStops were read quicker than on the PokeGo Plus and the device would show the number of items I received on its screen.  Also, the form factor of the Go-Tcha made it a little less obvious that I was playing Pokemon Go which may or may not appeal to certain people who like to play on the DL.

Go-Tcha on the right, PokeGo Plus on the left

After owning the Go-Tcha for a week I have discovered the devices biggest weakness, it is way too tiny. That coupled with the terrible rubber that the device sits in makes it very easy to lose. In fact, I lost mine. One second it was on my wrist, the next the Go-Tcha was nowhere to be found. The device could benefit from a higher quality wrist strap, something that will make your $40 dollar investment safe.

However, I will buy the Go-Tcha again. Why, because it is just that good. Being able to hit PokeStops automatically while driving from place to place is a Pokemon Go players wet dream. It puts the game on autopilot and allows you to focus on the meat of the game. Catching Pokemon. I wouldn’t recommend the auto-catch feature unless you just need to fill your box with every useless Pokemon you can find, but for the price, the Go-Tcha is a worthwhile purchase.