Comparison
A South African alternative to the Barsys Smart Coaster
Barsys makes the best-known smart cocktail coaster; PourPilot is the South African one. Both weigh your pour and guide it with light over Bluetooth, and both are USB-C powered. The practical differences for a buyer in South Africa are price landed, whether the app works with no connection, and whether a warranty claim means a courier across the country or across the world.
Disclosure: we make PourPilot. Everything below about Barsys is taken from their own published product pages and public retail listings, linked and dated, and the section on what Barsys does better is not padding.
The short answer
If you are in South Africa and you want a coaster that guides your pour, PourPilot is roughly R1 699 delivered free and its app works with no connection at all. The Barsys Coaster 2.0 is listed at about R2 722 on Amazon.co.za. If you are outside South Africa, or you specifically want Barsys's much larger cloud recipe library and its integration with their pouring machine, buy the Barsys.
Side by side
| PourPilot Coaster | Barsys Coaster 2.0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price in South Africa | R1 699, free delivery | ~R2 722 on Amazon.co.za; US$69.99 direct |
| Where it ships from | Built and shipped in South Africa | Imported |
| How it guides you | Load cell + LED ring, weighs live to the gram | Load cell + interactive LEDs |
| Connection | Bluetooth to your phone | Bluetooth 5.1 to your phone |
| Power | USB-C, mains powered, no battery to flatten | USB-C |
| Works offline | Yes — recipes, pouring and your bar all work in aeroplane mode | App is account-paired; recipe library is cloud-served |
| Recipe library | 124 built in, 16 of them South African, plus your own | 1 000+ advertised |
| Subscription | None. The app is free, forever | No subscription advertised |
| Warranty | 12 months, claimed locally | 1-year replacement warranty |
| Returns | 7-day cooling-off under section 44 of the SA ECTA | Per the retailer you buy from |
Barsys figures from barsys.com and Amazon.co.za, checked 9 September 2026. Prices and specifications change; check both before buying.
What Barsys does better
- A much bigger recipe library. They advertise over a thousand drinks. We ship 124. If breadth of catalogue is what you are buying, that is a real difference and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
- An ecosystem. Barsys also make the 360, an actual pouring machine. If you think you might want that later, staying in one app is worth something.
- Longer on the market. They have been shipping since well before us, with the reviews and the retail distribution that comes with it.
- Available outside South Africa. We only ship domestically at the moment.
What PourPilot does better
- It works with nothing. No Wi-Fi, no mobile data, no account. The whole recipe library and the pouring logic live on your phone. During load-shedding, in a garden, at a friend's place — it behaves identically.
- Landed price. R1 699 with free courier delivery anywhere in South Africa, quoted in rand, with no exchange rate, no import surprise at the door.
- South African drinks. The Dom Pedro, the Springbokkie, Rock Shandy, Amarula Espresso Martini, Melktertjie, rooibos G&T — with the densities for Amarula, Van der Hum, kola tonic and cane spirit measured rather than assumed. See all 16 South African recipes.
- A warranty you can actually claim. Twelve months, on top of the statutory 6-month CPA right, handled by a courier inside the country.
- Published measurements. Every gram figure the coaster targets is on this website, free, whether you buy anything or not. Start with the measurements chart.
Which should you buy?
Buy the Barsys if you are outside South Africa, if a thousand-plus recipe catalogue is the point, or if you want to add their pouring machine later.
Buy the PourPilot if you are in South Africa, if you want the drink to work when the connection does not, if you want the local classics done properly, and if you would rather spend the difference on gin.