I did a brief immersion test and no water entered at all. It does float and came with a lanyard. I think it’s basically good, with these caveats:
(1) It’s small and tight. It fit the fob plus 2 house keys, 3 smaller keys, and a tiny light, but barely. It really should be at least 1" wider to fit the thickness of the keys. The small size would make me consider a cell phone pouch.
(2) It’s a bit thin and I can see sharp keys wearing it out over time. I might put a cloth lining in it. I also think that repeatedly sealing and unsealing it will wear it out over time as it takes a fair amount of force to open the ziplock seals.
(3) The top tab with a hole to attach to a lanyard or clip is weak. I would put it in a pocket rather than around my neck.
I may try the Nitize KBXL next. There aren’t enough reviews of it to judge the waterproofness but it’s a solid case for durability. Reviews for similar products mention that the clip unlatches too easily.
How many keys do you have on the water with you normally? Asking because all l carry is the car key. Everything else stays in the car for a day paddle. After losing track of my keys in the house more than once, l have ways to get into the house that don’t require the key l would normally have left with.
Double zip lock bag your key fob the put it in a small diddy bag and zip tie it to a place on the boat. I use that simple cheap set up for my keys a my cell phone and wallet. Never had a problem with losing them or getting wet
Mac55
This is the best of the cases I tried. Advantages:
Passed submersion test
Fits well in PFD pocket
Rugged, especially compared to the flimsy DriPac case
Clip closes solidly
Has a ring to attach it to a clip
Biggest drawback: It’s unnecessarily small. I was able to fit the fob with several keys, but with difficulty.
The only option I didn’t try is a cell phone case. That would be bigger than the NIte Ize and easier to put things in, but it wouldn’t be as rugged. I recommend the Nite Ize if you want to keep your keys in your PFD.
Before using any of the locks to “lock” the key to your car, I recommend you watch some of the lockpickinglawyer videos. It takes about 2 seconds and (if any) simple tools to open any of those locks.
I also imagine typical boat launch sites are a known place among thieves and they stake out the places knowing someone who just left boating won’t be back for a long time.
To prevent thieves, you need to think like a thief.
So you paddle away and leave your car. Which is immediately a risk.
But l have no other way to transport my boat to the launch. If someone has a private valet service to get them and their boat to the launch l suppose they don’t have to risk this.
We had this talk the other day. We took the boats to the drop location and as just one car can haul both boats we leave the empty boats and take both cars to the take out location, then return with the other car with the gear. She didn’t like the idea of leaving the boats at the put in for a half hour.
I told her well someone might need my $150 canoe more than I do but I’m not to worried about the boats for half an hour. What bothers me more is leaving your brand new $30,000 car for 7 hours. She thought a minute and said thanks I think.
I bought these for our phones and would work good for a fob also.
There’s something to this… If you look around the parking at the boat launch and yours is the only rusted out pick-up with a pile of stuff in the back that any fence would laugh at you’re probably pretty safe. Its worked for me over the years…
BTW, my own recent lock-out experience deep in rural America led me to discover that the local cops aren’t much help. When asked if they could use their jimmy bar on my vehicle they said they can’t help because the local locksmiths objected to them taking business away from them.
“OK,” I say, “Can you give me the number of a local locksmith?”
“There aren’t any.”
Can this make sense even to them?
And your parents didn’t have TV and complained that the new generation sat in front if the TV all day.
Those cell phones allow you to call 911 in an emergency, map your routes, and easily asks questions on a forum like this. That key fob allows you to turn on the alarm system in your car and even turn it on to cool off or heat the interior before you get into it. Before you had your single key, they just used a hand crank on the front.
Humans keeps inventing things to make life easier for themselves and there are always people that complain about those changes, but that’s how we moved from caves and walking every where to living in houses with ac and heat and driving cars.
I don’t dispute anything you say. My mother often warned me of the radiation that came from those new color TVs and that microwave ovens would surely kill us all.
I spent 43 in design development and had a part in many of the life changing inventions we all now take for granted. When I started designing was done on a drawing board and computations were done with paper and pencil with the aid of log tables and slide rules. When I apprenticed they had a Friden Electro-Mechanical Calculator it was a marvelous invention as it would add, subtract, multiply, and divide things we spent hours each day doing but it would also do square roots. Because it was mechanical you would put in say an 8 digit number set it up to do square roots start it and walk away much to the distress of the people that sat near it as it chugged away for several minutes and then rang a bell when it had your answer for you to go back and write down because the next guy was waiting to do his. I often wonder if anyone under the age of 65 knows how to extract a square root with paper and pencil anymore. Within a short time electronic calculators came out and I bought a TI-10 that would also do square roots and it only cost me about a weeks pay. Lucky for me the company had a payroll deduction plan and I had it paid off in 4 months. By the time I retired I was manipulating 3D solid models floating in space and could virtually watch machines function and test strengths etc all on my several flat panel screens. Innovation is a good thing 99% of the time. But then again we did land a man on the moon doing things the old way.
My parents made coffee in a perk pot and the only thing they threw out was the grounds and they went into the garden. I made coffee in a Mr. Coffee and throw out a filter and put the grounds in my compost. My kid makes coffee for 10X the cost of mine with K-cups and he throws out thousands of plastic and aluminum contraptions that can’t be recycled. It’s a great idea and they are selling like there is no tomorrow so they must be progress.
I place the importance of key fobs someplace between K-cups and all season tires in Erie PA on my list of how badly I need them.
God help us if anything ever happens like a solar flare that will disrupt or destroy micro processor electronics . Not really a question of if rather when. At least I will be able to perk coffee and do square roots.
There is lots to read on the subject on line as long as we still have on line.
[quote=“brianmurfy, post:94, topic:108345”]
That key fob allows you to turn on the alarm system in your car and even turn it on to cool off or heat the interior before you get into it. [/quote]
Sure, progress is necessary, but I don’t think any driver in the old days would have said, “Gee, I sure wish they would come up with a better car key.” Or “I sure wish I didn’t need a key to open and start my car.” There was absolutely nothing wrong with a simple key that opened all the doors and started the car and could be duplicated at WalMart for a buck in one minute. This is a case of creating an unneeded product that makes life less convenient and less safe and costs a fortune and forcing it on people who don’t want it so some can make a profit. This is typical of large corporations that own a quasi monopoly on something essential (your car key, your computer software, etc.). Meanwhile, things we really do need are constantly going down in quality.
I have been using an AquaPac for my key fob for at least 10 years. I periodically test it for leaks and so far so good. I think they made them better back then. The key always stays in there, and I affix it to my pfd pocket when I paddle. If I lose everything else, I can still get home. My RAV4 doesn’t allow me to leave a key inside. The doors all unlock if I try. It’s annoying, but I’ve never locked keys in the car. Anyway, I’m going to pick up one of these Nite Ize cases to have on hand as a backup. I know this little pouch will fail one day. Thanks for all the feedback on what you’ve tried.
We also seem to grow immune to change. I remember buying a 36” tube TV one of the ones it took 4 guys to get it in the house. People came over and went crazy over the picture size. now a 55” is kind of little.
One thing on a car that I kind of at one time could take it or leave it option and now I have grown to feel I couldn’t live without it is intermittent wipers. That was a truly great invention IMO and they even made a movie about it that is pretty good and worth a watch if you have prime or netflix
People are spoiled but it’s nice to have a key fob to cool your 180°F + car and heat it from sub freezing temps before entry. Car is all ice you can melt it before getting in. Pouch it place it in your kayak or PFD it’s not rocket science. Mine works 6-7 city blocks away with clear line of sight.
At $5 a gallon gas soon and being told you can’t charge your EV because of grid demand you wont want to waste power on creature comfort. I wouldn’t be surprised if those features become outlawed in the future as energy wasters, just like rapid on TVs did. They have already targeted the wall wart transformers no one unplugs.
