People may want to hold off on buying some consumer electronics next year
Smart luggage is one of the most popular gadgets on the market today — but soon consumers may find themselves in a bind if they try to travel with it.
American Airlines AAL, +0.84% became the first carrier to institute a policy regarding these high-tech products. Now, passengers will be required to remove the batteries from smart luggage before checking it. If that’s not possible, the bag must be brought on the plane as a carry-on, and the batteries must remain off. Since then, Delta Air Lines DAL, -0.05% and Alaska Airlines ALK, +3.85% have instituted similar requirements, while United Continental UAL, +1.25% and Southwest Airlines LUV, +1.55% plan to follow suit, CNN Money reported.
Why this ban on smart check-in luggage? Smart luggage typically has features such as USB ports to recharge mobile devices, GPS tracking to assist in finding lost bags and electronic locks. Thousands of these bags have been sold. The issue? Their lithium ion batteries are prone to catching fire.
These are far from the first products to be restricted from flights because of their batteries. “That’s what we saw with hoverboards,” said Courtney Jespersen, consumer savings expert at personal finance website NerdWallet, referring to the self-balancing scooters that were banned because of fire-related concerns.
“If you’re not one of those people who has to have something right away, it’s good to hold off,” Jespersen said. “See how it’s received; see what some of the flaws are with it. Let other people test it out first.”
The airlines’ restrictions on smart luggage pose a quandary for consumers who were interested in buying the popular product — either for a holiday gift or in the coming year. Consumer electronics and other gadgets can have flaws when they are first released, or may otherwise be extremely expensive to purchase at the start. And as new technologies come on the market, old ones can quickly become archaic.
Here are 5 more gadgets that experts suggest approaching with caution in the year ahead:
Virtual reality gaming systems
A wide range of companies — including Google GOOGL, +1.22% Samsung 005930, +0.70% HTC and Sony SNE, +1.98% — have put out virtual reality devices. But despite the explosion of this technology in recent years and expectations that it will become even more popular in the not-so-distant future, consumers may want to wait before diving into VR, according to Kristin Cook, managing editor for savings website BensBargains.com. “There’s not very many games you can put on them yet,” she said. “So you’d buy this expensive VR system, and there’s not a lot you can do with it.”
While Samsung and Google both offer models for less than $100, the higher-end VR devices will set a consumer back well over $300. As more come on the market in 2018, Cook expects that prices will drop and developers will create more VR-specific content.