Tech Toy #8 - Finding Your Lost Sled, or Car, or Van...
It's easy for Santa to find his sled, he just picks an open spot on the rooftop. But dazed shoppers after a long day of shopping, come out to a lot and just see row-after-row of cars. Now unless you remember that your parked in the Green aisle, in section ZX493 - you're lost. Or rather your car is lost, you know where you are.
So if you have a remote lock you wander around beeping trying to find the car. If you get close - your lucky.
Now there is a little device that can pinpoint where you park (and upto 3 other locations), and later when you need to find directions back to your sled - or car - the device can guide you with arrows pointing to the location and a distance estimate. No more wandering around trying to find that long lost car.
This GPS homing device is $79.95 at Hammacher Schlemmer. This is not a GPS Navigation devices. If you do buy a GPS device for your car - TomTom, Garmin or Nextar - look for the devices that offer a bluetooth speaker phone. With this feature you can pair most cell phones with the device and have the unit act as a speaker phone. In some states like New Jersey - talking or texting on a cell phone while driving can tag you with a heavy fine.
If you want to track a car live - that is watch where it is, watch where it goes (a nice feature when those teenagers get at the wheel this time of year - or really anytime) - then consider Zoomback. This is available at: Target, BestBuy, RadioShack and even PepBoys. You need to get a subscription service with this device, but it can provide real peace of mind. There is also a version for Fido.