Ever since they hit the market I’ve been all about the Apple AirTags. That tiny little device that helps you find your missing things.
Perfect for your car keys or handbag, they also became popular post-COVID as a luggage tracker as people hit the skies again and wanted to avoid that painful process of wondering “Will my bag be here?” as they land.
While airlines have upped their game, so has the tech world, and I have to introduce you to what I think is the ultimate luggage tag – the Scout Travel from Knog.
Knog is an Aussie company, so we celebrate that, but what they’ve created is something packed with genius.
This little tag attaches to the outside of your bag, just like a luggage tag from the pre-tech era but instead of writing your name on the tag and a contact number, the Knog Scout Travel has a QR code on the side that when it’s scanned shows your contact information. That itself isn’t remarkable, but it’s highly convenient and also allows you to customise the message even after you’ve lost your bags!
Imagine you left it on a train from the airport. Log into the Scout Travel app and change the message to your international travel number, or personalise it to the circumstances.
That’s the luggage ‘tag’ component of this value proposition.
Next is the luggage ‘alarm’ – something not many might think about but just imagine you’re at the airport in a lounge. Lots of people leave their bags for a moment as they duck off to the bathroom or for some food. Or perhaps you’ve stored your bag in a locker in a foreign country, and don’t quite trust the people looking after things.
Log into the Scout Travel app, and ‘Arm’ your bag. This sets your bag in Alarm mode, and if someone grabs your bag, even just to move it a high-pitched alarm will sound that only you can cancel via the app – brilliant. Any thief will simply drop and run at this point.
But how – I hear you ask – could this Aussie luggage tag be better than an Apple AirTag?
Well, it’s an electronic tag, an electronic alarm and an Apple AirTag. Yes, this has Apple ‘Find My’ technology on board, so you add the Scout Travel to your ‘Find My’ devices and it will appear in your iPhone just like your keys with an AirTag or any other Apple AirTag you’ve got.
This means that every Apple product in the world is the search party for your bag, and it certainly means you’ll know the bag is in your city before any bags start appearing at the luggage carousel.
But an AirTag is most certainly cheaper, you say! However, I’ll counter that by telling you you’ll still need to buy an AirTag holder (The Scout Travel has its own luggage attachment cables), you’ll have to replace the AirTag every year or so (the Knog Scout Travel is USB-C chargeable), and with an AirTag you don’t have an ID or contact number tag, nor do you have an alarm.
That makes the Knog Scout Travel tag a winner, and very much worthy of your consideration ahead of your next trip!
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