Pat PilcherUS$59.95
5/5 Stars
PAT PILCHER goes places. A lot. And he’s stoked about his LockSmart Bluetooth padlock.
IT’S A ROOKIE TRAVELLER mistake I was keen to avoid. After much research, I bought what I thought was a unique-looking Swiss military branded suitcase. Not only would it be easy to spot on a luggage carousel but it was so uncommon in NZ and Australia that the odds of my losing it – or getting it mixed up with someone else’s luggage – should in theory be astronomically low.
Well, so much for that theory.
I don’t know what happened. While waiting for a flight at Changi airport, I seemed to have swapped my luggage for someone else’s identical luggage. This only came to light after an elderly Singaporean gentlemen angrily pointed out that I had his luggage (it didn’t seem to occur to him that he also had mine).
The Dog And Bone LockSmart Travel
The silly thing about this sort of mix up was that it was so avoidable thanks to the folks at Dog And Bone. They’ve taken their smart padlock, and given it a travel-friendly make-over.
Horror stories abound of items stolen out of luggage at airports and on planes. Just as worrying are tales of drugs planted in the luggage of unsuspecting travellers. Funnily enough, locking luggage isn’t rocket science. Doing it should help avoid embarrassing and annoying experiences when abroad, shouldn’t it?
We’ve all heard the horror stories of people who padlocked their luggage. Upon landing, they’ve discovered that the padlock key is on the hallway table back home. Others had landed and in their jetlagged state have forgotten the combination of their shiny new padlock. Bugger.
These travel show-stoppers are a non-issue with Dog And Bone’s LockSmart Travel padlock widget. By pairing it with a smartphone you can unlock the LockSmart Travel using an Android or Apple smartphone. There’s no keys to lose, nor are there any easy-to-forget combinations to remember.
Bells And Whistles
The Dog And Bone team go to great lengths to talk up how secure the LockSmart Travel padlock is. They say it uses 128-bit encryption. They say this makes it difficult to intercept and clone a Locksmart travel key. For added security, users can also choose to only allow unlocking using their phone’s fingerprint sensor. They can also just tap an icon on their phone’s screen, or choose to enter a passcode. There’s also a physical button that only works when the LockSmart Travel is within Bluetooth range.
Another big selling point for choosing a smart padlock is its flexibility. With the LockSmart Travel padlock you can share a key. Being phone based, you can share a key if the person is in the same room, another city – even another country. All lock access is logged so you also see who’s used a shared key to access the LockSmart travel.
Oh, and you can track the whereabouts of your luggage. This feature alone could have saved me significant amounts of embarrassment. With it, I’d have been able to identify my luggage, even if there were a gazllion identical bags at the airport. This only works when your LockSmart secured luggage is within Bluetooth range (the app will notify you when Bluetooth is available.) If your bag is out of range you can crowdsource its location via other LockSmart users.
Last but by no means least, the news is also good if your travels are taking you to the USA. The LockSmart Travel padlock already has the big tick from the TSA, which means they can check your luggage without damaging it by using a specialised key.
In Use
Getting set up was so idiot-proof that I got it right first time. After installing the LockSmart app (IOS or Android), my phone scanned for locks. Once the LockSmart Travel got registered with the app, it just worked. I could open it with an ‘unlock’ command. No manuals were harmed during the review process.
Where it comes into its own is sharing access. You no longer need meet up with someone to physically give them a key. The LockSmart app allows you to send keys electronically. They just receive an SMS message that links to their LockSmart app.
Verdict
As with the original Locksmart lock and app, the Travel is a well thought out piece of gear. It is dead easy to use, convenient and feels secure. Using it should take a pile of stress out of your travel plans. PAT PILCHER
