One of the coolest finds at CES this past week is a new company with a genius idea to make sure you never lose your luggage when you travel. Seriously. Frequent travelers or control freaks? This one is for you.
TrakDot is a simple, small, FAA approved device that you register with the website, then simply pop into your bag with 2 AA batteries before you check it. When you arrive at your destination, you get an automatic text message telling you your luggage is right there with you. Or download the mobile app (iOS or Android) to check yourself and follow its journey.
I love that if you’re in Shanghai and your luggage is in Sydney, the GPS tracker will know even before the help desk from the airline. Although that’s not saying a lot, if you’ve ever waited a few days to find exactly where the heck your bag went.
I also like the fact that it can ping you if it’s more than 30 feet from you, so if it suddenly makes its way off the luggage carousel by someone else’s hand, you’ll know it.
As you can see from my photo, it’s super compact–just about the length of the batteries. So it really doesn’t take up precious room in your bag. Let alone getting you closer to that weight limit that makes your bag check not-so-free. The one thing is: you not only have to buy the device, you have to pay $8.99 to activate it, then an annual fe for the tracking service (the rep suggested around $12.99 a year). That’s not a fortune, but it does probably limi the customer base to those of us who fly a whole lot.
I know at least for me, it would make me that much more confident in checking luggage, particularly when I’ switching planes.
The Trakdot will be out by April, and judging from the response at CES, I bet it will be widely available in the US.
I’m also hoping they come out with multi-packs because those of us with families do tend to travel with more than a single suitcase at a time. –Liz
Find out more about the TrakDot luggage locator at their website.
