I’ve just arrived in the UK to a shedload of samples and stuff I’ve ordered from Amazon etc… first off – a lady over here called Marianne Wilson (her UK-based company is called PRotocol) sent me a “Defender door handle alarm” from another UK-based company called Solon Security and is available from Defender Security Products. I can’t vouch for the latter either way but this tiny device looks like it might have a use or two.
The idea is to leave it on a metal door handle, in, say, a hotel. – armed. If someone touches the door handle on the other side, a 125dBs alarm sounds for a short time. There are three sensitivity settings… You get 6 seconds to exit the door without the alarm sounding.
This palm-sized unit takes 3 AAA batteries (supplied) and a small screwdriver is needed to replace the batteries.
Useful or not? Well, it is Christmas so I couldn’t really refuse to say something. I can confirm it works, it is loud – and that’s about it. You never know, it could stop someone stealing your stuff.
Next – I received some smartwatch strap samples from another UK-based company called FITSTRAPSUK.
I have the Samsung galaxy 4 Classic and it’s a wonderful Smartwatch but the black plastic strap that coms with it is hardly in keeping – so I grabbed the silver and black stainless straps from the above company. I should say that when they arrived a couple of days ago, I was torn between which to use – the silver or the black. Then I hit a snag – these multi-segment metal straps have more segments than my wrist needs – i.e. they were both slack.
I tackled Andy at FitStrapsUK who informed me that either a jeweller can adjust them or you can buy a tool to do it yourself – sure enough, Amazon have a dirt cheap toolkit for segmented strap adjustment – essentially a punch and a tiny mallet. Took me a few minutes and the result is on my wrist. Next day delivery from Amazon.co.uk or equivalent in other countries – check the Amazon link if interested in the adjustment kit – which has other uses:
I’ve been using it to press reset holes in various IOT kit – very handy)- the FitStrapsUK link if you’re interested in a decent metal watch strap – indeed they have a range of straps for different SmartWatches and SmartBands with more coming in the nwe year, look for an update to this blog entry in February.