Description
The Defender combines a pepper spray device with a digital camera for the most epic selfies ever. Just kidding. But once this 3-in-1 personal protection armory comes out, $50 says some jackass is going to earn themselves a Maced Myself Selfie Darwin Award within a week.
Let’s start again. The Defender indeed combines a vial of anti-attacker juice with the technology of digital photography. But it also has a flashing light and alarm to draw attention to the incident, plus the built-in intelligence to pair with a smart device and send the attacker’s just-captured photo to law enforcement officers. Through a subscription service similar to those that handle home security, the Defender provides 24/7 monitoring and response options for safety and medical alerts.
The Defender pairs with iOS or Android platforms via Bluetooth. When initiated during a panic situation or self defense effort, it first takes a photo of attacker (try not to be one of those people who cuts the heads off), and then sounds its alarm and releases the pepper spray as it connects to the paired device app. The app sends the photo, GPS location, and other user-authorized information to Defender’s monitoring service. For medical rather than safety alerts users can slide a separate Defender button to submit their help request.
The Defender seeks Indiegogo crowdfunding through September 5, 2014. Its first 200 backers will receive theirs at the Early Bird price of $159. This will include a 12-month subscription to the Everywhere Security monitoring service.
At printing, the Defender had more than doubled its $100,000 funding goal. However, relatively few of those dollars have come from individual backers. Rather, a large corporate contribution from Mitco Global put the self defense trifecta over its mark on Day 1. This could be good news for those wary of supporting crowdfunding campaigns, as creator Pangaea Services will certainly feel an increased obligation to that type of backer to get the Defender perfected, produced, and shipped as promised.
