FOBO Tire running one of the hottest Indiegogo campaigns right now. A new car tech tool that alerts you before your car or bike runs a flat tire. Yes you can…avoid flat tires forever!
The Digital Deal:
Sure, car tech isn’t sexy. But it is the stuff of nightmares – you blow a tire, you’re stuck on the side of the road and have no idea how to fix it. Your run-flat tires won’t get you the distance in my bad dream. You’re stuck, your phone’s dead and you forgot to renew your AAA membership. Yikes! It’s the trifecta of tire blow out nightmares. Is it real or it is a dream? There’s no waking up from this one.
But thanks a new product raking in money (over $100k and counting) on Indiegogoright now, FOBO nightmares (fear of a blow out, is what I deem it) may be over. You’ll know way ahead of time when your tires need a little attention. Coincidentally, it is called FOBO Tire.
The Elevator Pitch:
FOBO Tire is a bluetooth enabled tire gauge that replaces your tire’s black valve cap and constantly monitors tire pressure for up to 2 years. It installs in 5 minutes and when it senses a low or flat tire, it send you an alerts to your Android or iOS device, so you know something’s up immediately. Then you send your car in to your “people” (dads, dudes, etc.) and let them take it from there. Proper tire pressure isn’t just about blow outs but also getting better mileage from your car, preventing tread wear on your tires and overall decreased performance.
For parents of teen drivers, anyone worried about their mom or grandparents driving on the road or even if you want to just hook your boo up and make sure she’s safe, this is a simple to use, affordable and highly useful car tech tool that is a no brainer.
The company is selling gauges for car tires available in November, but gauges for bicycles and motorcycles are also on sale and should be available for Spring 2015.
Fine print:
The obvious point that needs to be made: if you drive around in a Mercedes, this is useless to you because your car already has technology in it to provide you the same data. So this is geared to those with cars that don’t have this type of thing already built into their cars.
Also what’s the prevent someone from stealing these tiny little data dials? The company recently announced it will provide lock nuts as a higher theft deterrent feature, though the company says that if they are stolen, they cannot be re-used anyway.
Finally, with all Indiegogo campaigns, the technology is in beta testing and delays can be common. The product may never come to fruition either, so there’s a risk of losing your money.
Get It Now:
You can contribute to the Indiegogo campaign for car product delivery in November 2014 (think: holiday present). A starter set with 4 car tire gauges starts at $90 + $20 shipping, cheaper than the $149 retail price. Bike or motorcycle gauges will release in Spring 2015 and will start at $65 for two + shipping.