
This article was produced in partnership with SABRE.
We’re living in an era of smart-product overkill. The smartphone may have revolutionized modern society, but the cascade of technological devices that followed—a smart wallet that pulls out your credit card for you, a smart garden that waters your lettuce when you forget, or a smart mug that keeps your coffee the exact temperature you like —might be creating a generation of humans rendered utterly helpless without a computer chip integrated into everything they touch.
It might be time to reconsider what daily items really need to be “smart,” but not when it comes to safety products. When it comes to keeping our families secure, not only do we want devices that are smart, we want them to be downright genius. So, we were pretty excited to discover the SMART Pepper Spray from SABRE, an innovative tool for keeping family members safer, and keeping you connected to them should they encounter danger.
The SABRE SMART Pepper Spray connects via Bluetooth to the SABRE Personal Safety App. Within the app, a user can enter the contacts that he/she wants notified in an emergency. If the SMART Pepper Spray is deployed, the free app will send a push notification to all designated contacts, informing them of the user’s location at the time the pepper spray was deployed, and providing real-time geotracking in the app after the initial alert.
SABRE also offers a paid subscription option through Noonlight, a connected safety platform that powers emergency alerts through apps like Tinder, Uber, and Apple Health. This paid subscription sends an alert and location information to local police. And if the user isn’t able to (or chooses not to) deploy the spray, he/she can still send an emergency alert manually through the app. A subsequent “False Alarm” or “I Am Safe” message can be sent to connected contacts, but only if the user enters their four-digit pin.
Arm your whole family with SMART Pepper Spray devices, add all of each other’s contacts on the Personal Safety App, and you’ve created a close-knit safety network should one of you encounter a threat. Of course, a pepper spray’s first job is to stop a physical threat, and SABRE’s SMART Pepper Spray comes equipped with a maximum-strength spray formula for enhanced stopping power, a 10-foot spray range, and UV marking dye to aid in suspect identification. One canister provides enough spray for 25 bursts, and the canisters are replaceable.

For those who haven’t used pepper spray, it can be intimidating to own a device that can incapacitate someone—plus it can take a while to make carrying it into a daily habit. That’s why the SMART Pepper Spray comes with an inert canister for practicing, and a flip-top for added safety. SABRE provides free training videos online to build familiarity with using the spray. And if you, your teenager, or your partner is hesitant to be seen with pepper spray, the SMART Pepper Spray comes in a sleek, minimalist design that is easy to conceal and doesn’t call attention.
Pepper spray has long been a personal safety tool that can help keep loved ones safe. But with the added technology of the SMART Pepper Spray, anyone caught in a dangerous situation no longer has to face that alone, or worry about calling for help at the same time as deterring a threat. We might be rolling our eyes at Bluetooth-enabled toaster ovens and Alexa-connected salt shakers (yes, that’s a thing), but SABRE’s SMART Pepper Spray is one new technology we’re definitely taking seriously.
[$69; sabrered.com]
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