What’s a Nomad Safe? And why do I want one?

One of many reasons that I don’t go outside is the fear of having my personal belongings stolen. Namely, when spending time at a café, beach or park – places that entice petty criminals with easy takings from distracted punters. As a regularly distracted punter, naturally this is a concern.

Well here at CES 2023 we’ve been introduced the concept of the ‘nomad safe’, as the team at French startup UpFiner are calling it. They’ve designed a smart lock box to store belongings while you’re out and about:

This is the UpLock Evolution. Once the box has been locked with a pin code, it can be enabled in one of two modes;

• Static mode: If the UpLock is picked up or moved from it’s current position in any way, an 85db alarm will begin, alerting you and/or anyone in the area of the theft. The alarm can’t be turned off until the safe is placed back and let me tell you… it’s bloody loud.
• Dynamic mode: The more exciting of the two, dynamic mode connects to your phone or smart watch via bluetooth. This way, if the safe is taken a few metres away from your phone or watch (such as a snatch and grab), the alarm will sound until it’s back within the radius.

An interesting feature of the dynamic mode is that you can move the phone away from the device without triggering the alarm. Which is incredibly handy for leaving your precious items on the table at a cafe or restaurant while using the bathroom.

The volume of the alarm and the delay before it sounds can be customised at will, allowing you to accommodate for different environments, such as airports and hospitals where the alarm may be inappropriate.

It ships with a steel anti-theft cable that can physically secure the box as an added security measure, a wrist strap and shoulder strap for convenience – oh and the chassis is waterproof which makes it great for the beach!

The UpFiner team have demonstrated a fantastic prototype here at CES and are currently crowdfunding the latest addition to their product range. They suggest it will ship early this year and personally I can’t wait to get my hands on one.

EFTM’s Coverage of CES 2023 is made possible by the ongoing support of our regular advertisers and supporters such as Arlo, Belkin, Oppo, Netgear, JBL and Trend Micro, and by additional support from Samsung, LG, Hisense, TCL, BMW and Boost Mobile.