I Forgot To Mention One Important Piece Of Kit I Took On My Summer Road Trip To The Rockies

App Air Tags; Press Photo

As many of you know, I took a 23-day road trip earlier this year from southeastern Virginia to Montana, down to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, then north and east up along the top of the country traveling along U.S. Route 2.  The main reason for the road trip was to photograph wildlife in those two national parks.  I won't say any more, but if you have not read my posts about the trip, the gear I took and how everything went, you can find them all by clicking on this link here.

There was one thing (or things) I took that I failed to mention.  Before the trip, I bought several Apple Air Tags.  If you are not familiar with Apple Air Tags, you can read about them here.  Briefly, an Air Tag is a small, round battery powered device that can be slipped into almost anywhere and be used to track that item.  Tile is another, non-Apple brand and I believe Samsung makes a similar device.  Air Tags batteries can be changed by the user.  You don’t have to send it off to have the battery replaced.

I have three camera systems that stay in their respective backpacks/bags.  I also have a large Nikon 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 lens that is stored in a separate bag.  I bought the Air Tags (they were on sale at the time.  Four for $80.00 US but I have seen them a bit less expensive since then.) to slip into each bag and into the the big Nikon lens bag.  I bought one additional Air Tag for my wife to place into her purse.

Recently, I've seen devices that allow you to secretly place an Air Tag inside of a secured section of a camera grip and/or L-Bracket.  Additionally, I've now seen lens and body caps into which an Air Tag will fit.  I love the innovation!

Using Air Tags is not foolproof.  In most circumstances you can track where your items are.  This works if someone steals your item but a thief can steal the item containing the Air Tag, remove it and discard it.  But it can help.  I mainly purchased them so if I accidentally left my bag behind, it would notify me through my phone.  Before I would have gotten too far away, I could return to retrieve my item.

There is one feature that I like about the Air Tags.  You can designate places that when you leave your item/s there, it will not notify you.  Home is such a place.

There is one feature that I do not like about the Air Tags.  To prevent n'er-do-well's from using Air Tags to track and potentially stalk unwitting persons, Apple has built in a feature that if the Air Tag is on the move and the owner is not with it, the Air Tag will let out a beep, alerting the person that there is an Air Tag (that is not theirs) in close proximity.  I understand why Apple enabled that feature and for that purpose it is a very good feature, but it also can alert a thief that there is an Air Tag tracking the object they just stole.  That said, I have seen where some Air Tag owners have opened up the device and removed the little speaker.  I'm not going to do that but, evidently, it can be done.

Air Tags and the other like devices can be a help when it comes to keeping track of your photo gear as well as potentially tracking it if stolen.  They are something you might want to consider.  Mine are now a permanent part of each of my kits.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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