 Poster: A snowHead
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What is the best gadget or item you ever bought to take skiing?
Anything recent? Post them here. Reviews welcome!!
What’s the best walk-in talkie set for the mountain? Any random item that’s not a must-take? Etc
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Best gadget? A key holder padlock - vital for large shared chalets & you only get 2x keys between a dozen or so people.
A small Bosch tooling set that fits in my pocket.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Apple AirTag for my ski bag so I know it has made it on the plane.
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| GlasgowCyclops wrote: |
| Apple AirTag for my ski bag so I know it has made it on the plane. |
This is a great gadget!!!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| GlasgowCyclops wrote: |
| Apple AirTag for my ski bag so I know it has made it on the plane. |
On our return flight at half term this year, a couple got the attention of the cabin crew, while we were waiting to taxi out for take off, as they were tracking their bags and they were showing as still being in the airport. They weren't satisfied with what they were (very politely) being told by the first member of the crew, so the team leader came to speak to them. They equally weren't happy with what they were being told by the team leader (again, very politely), so they made enough noise such that the captain came down to speak to them. He listened to them, but explained that his checks showed that all baggage was indeed on the plane and he wasn't prepared to look through the bags manually to see if their bags were on board (said in such a manner that they understood this wasn't going to happen, despite it looking like they wanted him to do this).
Other people around them were looking a bit frustrated (me included), as we didn't want the flight to be held up. They were explaining to some of the other passengers near them that they used AirTags for the bags and could see that they were still in the airport and that they also used them for tracking their kids when they went on play dates etc. The cabin crew made a point of saying that they would come through baggage reclaim and look for them to check that their bags had got there safely, but if there was an issue, they'd help take them to the right place to sort it out. At all times the crew were incredibly polite, despite looking pretty frustrated as soon as they turned away from the couple.
Upshot - the bags were clearly on the plane all along, despite technology telling this couple differently. I have absolutely no doubt, from the way they were talking, that they'd have had the staff check the plane manually, to see if the bags were there, as they clearly felt that the technology couldn't not work. They weren't so vocal in baggage reclaim when the bags showing up proved otherwise.
I think they're really good, but jeez the owners of them can be frustrating at times.
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@porkpiefox, think they sometimes take a while to update while on the move. I mainly use mine to find my keys and wallet. Priceless!
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Re the Airtags, Tiles etc you really shouldn't have them in checked baggage, 1. most have lithium batteries so shouldn't be in checked baggage in an 'on' state, and 2, everything should be in airplane mode anyway as they emit a signal when operating. Under UK regulations, bags with location devices inside are only allowed in the hold if steps have been taken to make sure they don't turn on accidentally and that they are protected enough so they won't be accidentally damaged, but check with your carriers Ts & Cs.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@BobinCH, Yes I get that totally. Unfortunately, the couple in this case didn't seem to understand that it was anything other than a completely live location report, so didn't believe the staff when they were being told their bags were showing as being on board on the plane's systems.
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<laughs> Well I was going to ask precisely in what way these things are useful for "travel".
In that story the guys bought a lot of worry, which even if their technology worked the way they thought it did (it doesn't), was unnecessary. Perhaps the advertising is the problem.
With Samsung tags, they work something like... the tags radios "bleat" a pseudonymized ID over Bluetooth Low Energy, a short range radio protocol. The tag doesn't know where it is, the only information it bleats is its ID. Any newer Samsung phones where the user accepted the defaults which is close enough hears those bleats, and if the phone's got a data connexion it'll report it's location (not the tag's location) and the ID to a Samsung server in internet land.
Your "find" software interrogates that server to see where the tag with your ID was last spotted. Note that's different from finding your phone, because the phone has both a network connexion and a GPS.
Hence you can only "locate" your tag when the obvious criteria are met. Which mostly won't be in a plane.
--
I have a couple of the fancier Samsung tags for playing with, but I've not really found a sensible use for them.
It's interesting how trusting people are of magic technology.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Even if the bags weren't on the plane, did they seriously think the pilot would delay the flight to make sure they were ?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| BobinCH wrote: |
| @porkpiefox, think they sometimes take a while to update while on the move. I mainly use mine to find my keys and wallet. Priceless! |
They are reliant on picking up another iPhone in the vicinity - so no iphone it can ping to, then no location refresh. This can happen quite easily with Bluetooth range if the person driving the baggage train & the baggage handlers do not have an iphone on them. I would guess with the various cabling, etc. between the hold & pax seats above, that it could also interfere with Bluetooth reporting - assuming someone had also left their device out of airplane mode.
Basically, if these people do not understand how the tech works, someone should take away the tech from them.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Richard_Sideways, the battery capacity of an AirTag is very low - it uses a standard CR2032 coin cell battery which lasts for about 12-18 months in an AirTag. According to https://www.fire.tc.faa.gov/pdf/TC-16-17.pdf they classify the risk of coin cell batteries as minimal.
Similarly, the Bluetooth Low Energy emissions from an AirTag are significantly lower than from a mobile phone connected to wireless earbuds.
Basically, there's nothing to worry about.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@Richard_Sideways, the capacity of the air tag is below the limit for hold cargo. I need to know this because I import electrical equipment.
Some people don’t know how air tags work and the location is dependent on the last Apple kit in its vacinity.
I use them because if you are asked where you bag was last seen I could say Glasgow but if I know it made it to LHR then I can say Heathrow.
Leaving Glasgow
Arriving Heathrow
Then on plane to the birthday bash 
Last edited by Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: on Thu 27-07-23 14:29; edited 1 time in total
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Poster: A snowHead
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Jetboil stash. Can knock up lunch or a cuppa anywhere. Weighs about 300g and easily goes into a day pack.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| musher wrote: |
| Even if the bags weren't on the plane, did they seriously think the pilot would delay the flight to make sure they were ? |
I know this isn't the purpose of the thread, so I don't want to derail it too much, but honestly it was surreal. I was sat directly behind them, so could hear their conversations with the staff and also with each other, once the staff had moved away. They clearly did not believe the bags were on the plane and were wanting to get it sorted there and then. Fortunately, the staff weren't going to be pushed over.
As I say, the issue in this case wasn't the tags, it was the owners of the tags.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Yes I did think it didn't sound very trusting of whoever was looking after their kids.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| porkpiefox wrote: |
Yes I did think it didn't sound very trusting of whoever was looking after their kids. |
Yes a bit strange at that age, as you'd like to think someone is paying close attention to them. Not so unusual for older children though - we have an air tag on our 11 year old's school bag as he went through a phase of losing it plus we have a family tracker app (Life360) so we can all see where we all are. It's useful when they are walking/biking home from school.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I put air tags in our cases and to be honest it’s more for a last location if they were lost (or someone picked them up at the airport). They are brilliant but as someone’s mentioned you need an iPhone nearby, so you can’t rely on real-time tracking.
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| Handy Turnip wrote: |
| porkpiefox wrote: |
Yes I did think it didn't sound very trusting of whoever was looking after their kids. |
Yes a bit strange at that age, as you'd like to think someone is paying close attention to them. Not so unusual for older children though - we have an air tag on our 11 year old's school bag as he went through a phase of losing it plus we have a family tracker app (Life360) so we can all see where we all are. It's useful when they are walking/biking home from school. |
Do you find that Life360 drains phone battery very quickly? I have a newish iPhone and it’s noticeable but much worse for our kids have older hand-me-down iPhones. Might put itag’s in they ski jackets next season as we are now starting to give them some limited “freedom” to ski without adults.
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@Ozboy, I think it can do if you use it regularly. On a daily basis, I'll only look it at it once or twice at most - so it has no noticeable effect on battery life as far as I can tell. But when I've had to keep looking at it, I have noticed that it does start to drain the battery.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Ozboy, if you all have iPhones, why use an add-on app and iTags when the phone already does this using the FindMy app?
The tags need a nearby phone to report their position anyway - no good if they've gone off piste and got lost
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| ousekjarr wrote: |
@Ozboy, if you all have iPhones, why use an add-on app and iTags when the phone already does this using the FindMy app?
The tags need a nearby phone to report their position anyway - no good if they've gone off piste and got lost |
Life360 is good as it provides alerts for various locations such as kids arriving / leaving school etc without having to go into the FindMy app. As for yeh tags - just a backup as their phones are not always on, due to forgetting to charge, or sometimes left at home.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Handy Turnip wrote: |
| porkpiefox wrote: |
Yes I did think it didn't sound very trusting of whoever was looking after their kids. |
Yes a bit strange at that age, as you'd like to think someone is paying close attention to them. Not so unusual for older children though - we have an air tag on our 11 year old's school bag as he went through a phase of losing it plus we have a family tracker app (Life360) so we can all see where we all are. It's useful when they are walking/biking home from school. |
Yep same here, we use Life360, as it’s handy when they’re being dropped off from school trips and you can see when to go and pick them up etc.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I can vouch for these especially in wet snow - normally placed on thumb to give a quick wipe while off the move. They were a regular part of ski kit when I lived / skiied in Australia. Wiping goggles with a ball of snow works well for dryer snow.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I do have some Samsung tags and they do what they're supposed to, but I've not found them terribly useful. I just don't lose stuff like that. My house key only lives in one place, so it can't go astray.
One thing which is really useful at ski resorts is the Google maps thing where you let other people you're with track your location & vice versa. Not really a "gadget", just a use case for some free technology. Most ski resorts have plenty of wifi, so even if you don't have roaming mobile data it works great.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
<laughs> Well I was going to ask precisely in what way these things are useful for "travel".
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I suspect they are useful, but only very very occasionally.
I've took skis, bikes, mountaineering equipment etc. on a number of flights, including transfers, and some very dodgy airports. Never had an issue. There's a bit of a bias where if someone loses a bag they tell everyone they know, whereas you don't hear about the 99.9% of time everything works.
Most of the time the luggage doesn't arrive it's because it didn't make the transfer. In which case a tag is of little use anyway and the bag will generally arrive on the next flight. Better just taking precautions - all the important stuff plus spare clothes in hand luggage and not booking connecting flights with minimal layover times.
The extremely rare case of a bag being completely lost the tag probably becomes very useful. But still not much help if you are at your destination without the necessary equipment. And I suspect bags getting lost on direct flights is so rare it's barely worth worrying about.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ok,
So, that's the worst ski gadget 23/24 sorted out 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Am I alone in thinking that all this tracking where everyone and everythig is all the time a bit creepy?
Having said that we did use that Whatsapp thing that broadasts your position to the whole group once when we ere driving to Les Arcs and my nepthew was flying to Geneva. It was fun watching as he suddenly overtook us by arriving at Geneva when we were still near Rheims then as we steadily caught him up as he waited for trains etc. For those interested the flight was about 2 hours quicker door to door.
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Most of the time the luggage doesn't arrive it's because it didn't make the transfer. In which case a tag is of little use anyway and the bag will generally arrive on the next flight. Better just taking precautions - all the important stuff plus spare clothes in hand luggage and not booking connecting flights with minimal layover times.
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I always make sure I have some spare clothes, drugs, and a laptop charger in my carryon bag. Though the bag may be on the next flight that doesn't mean the airline will deliver it to you quickly. It took 3 days for Lufthansa to deliver our stuff to our Dolomite hotel. I doubt if having a tracker in the bag would have speeded this up at all.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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We had a bag lost by BA at LHR terminal 5 at the end of June after the automated bag drop. Thanks to an Apple Airtag I could see it was still in T5 and didn't make it on the plane to Geneva. Despite contacting BA countless times they failed to find it, and after 10 days I could see it moved to Terminal 3. This helped us track it down that it was now in Heathrow Lost Property, and eventually - after almost 30 days from BA losing it, we were finally reunited with the bag.
So without the Airtag we would have had no idea where it was and BA were worse than useless in finding it.
Needless to say I've invested in a few more Airtags so all our bags, wallets, keys, etc are covered.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Air Tags aside.
Best gadget/item I bought last year was new Lenz heated socks to add to my Thermic mittens.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Love my Gore windstopper lower face mask. Extremely thin, fold up to nothing, thus light but very effective. Grabbed 2 from a clearance bin somewhere, wish I’d got more. Much more adjustable than a full balaclava.
Ski carry sling. Like a long thin belt with clips/Velcro at each end. Useful with children, useful on the 200m walk to first lift, useful to stop people accidentally walking off with your skis at lunchtime.
My 90s Couloir jacket, still in faithful service, pockets aplenty to carry the above and more.
Re walk-in talkies; we have a pair of Motorola yellow T800s I think, they have done well for several years, but they don’t work through mountains so no good for emergencies.
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FAQ
