How often do you lose your remote or cell phone, only to find it a week later, lodged between cushions or under the bed? If you're like me, this happens more times than you would like to admit.

The Loc8tor is the perfect solution for people like us. It uses RF technology to communicate between a receiver and tags attached to the devices you're likely to lose. Once your device goes missing, choose "locate" on the monochrome display and pick which tagged gadget you're looking for. The Loc8tor will use visual (radar) and audio cues to lead you to within one inch of your runaway item. You can tag and assign names to 24 devices at a time, but this can be upgraded to 6000 tags--useful for tracking your business inventory. In addition to being directional (telling you to look up, down, left, or right), the Loc8tor can track any missing gadget within 600 feet of you, even if it's jumbled in with your clothes or behind a wall.

But what if, ironically, you lose the Loc8tor itself. Now what? Simply press the panic tag on a device that has a panic tag attached to it. The Loc8tor will start to vibrate and set off an audio alarm. Follow the noise, and voila! You have found your Loc8tor.

The 2.5-ounce Loc8tor uses two AAA batteries. The "plus" edition ($169) comes with three mini homing tags and one panic tag, while the base configuration ($99) has only two mini tags. Both models are available only on the Loc8tor website.

Post by Don Reisinger