Product: Inventory System
That's mine?   (+8)  [vote for, against]
Personalised tracking golf/sports balls

After recently loosing (to some theiving scum bag) my new football (which cost £7.99) I would really like a tagging device which would claim that the ball is mine. It no good saying it's round and looks like a football, cos everyone else claims it. If there was a special tracking system, which I know would cost more money, but if you add up the cost of all the balls I've lost (been nicked) it would be worth it. I also thought this idea would be good for golfers who loose their ball all the time. Could save loads of money and stop people pinching them.

I want my new football back!!

I would like a tracking screen which shows where my ball has gone then I can go and claim it back - James Bond style.

Balls are forever.
-- gizmo, May 11 2002

RFID http://www.aimgloba...id/what_is_rfid.htm
[half, May 11 2002, last modified Oct 17 2004]

gizmo, if I had a pound for every time I have told a child to write his name on all his belongings, I would be a very rich po indeed. just write your name in big letters on your ball in an indelible ink. THIS BALL WAS NICKED FROM GIZMO. and don't think that I missed the innuendo either, you naughty gizmo.
-- po, May 11 2002


Before you say it: I have written my name (in permanent marker) on my ball but people can easily scuff it off, the tracking device would locate it and I could claim it back without any hassle. Golfers must have the same problem because I read about a bloke gathering balls to re-sell them. If they had a tracking device, you wouldn't loose them to start with.?
-- gizmo, May 11 2002


I knew yuou would say that and still you beat me to it!
-- gizmo, May 11 2002


OK then microchip them like you do with your dog. wee bit cheaper perhaps.
-- po, May 11 2002


ohh ??
-- gizmo, May 11 2002


What is RFID?
-- gizmo, May 11 2002


Its a sequence of four letters.
-- [ sctld ], May 11 2002


//What is RFID?//
Is that an answer in form of a question like on Jeopardy?
-- thumbwax, May 11 2002


I really want to know for sure if the guy next to me kicked it into my garden (I don't think he did) because I can't find it. If I had a tracker it would show exactly where it was then I can go and pinch it back.
-- gizmo, May 11 2002


I knew that . Yes, like RFID .. I think
-- gizmo, May 11 2002


po: it's gone?
-- gizmo, May 11 2002


Sorry po: Men are like that!
-- gizmo, May 11 2002


[giz] I don't know if this can be done, but it is a wonderful idea, especially for golfers. I read in a daily paper recently about a chap being sent to prison for collecting lost golf balls, and then selling them on. If golfers could track their lost balls (sorry) somehow, they wouldn't loose them - saving hundreds of pounds in lost balls! Great idea!
-- arora, May 11 2002


Sorry, I pulled my RFID comment because I wanted to explain what it is but didn't have the time at that exact moment to do it.

Looks like the link [half] added covers it, though.
-- bristolz, May 11 2002


Anyone playing with loose balls will surely get their come-uppance :|
-- lubbit, May 12 2002


I've seen a device, in those addictive yet pointless Innovations catalogues that always fall out of my newspaper, that lets you stamp your initials indelibly onto a golf ball. Looks kind of like a nutcracker, so it'd be a scary-looking contraption if they made one for footballs.
-- -alx, May 18 2002


It would also puncture the ball. What I found worked when I were a lad was to follow a little supported football team and buy a branded ball from their club shop. It makes it easy to see which ball is yours, and people are less likely to steal them since, by implication, they would be admitting an affinity with such an underachieving team. (my personal suggestion would be to buy one from Greenock Morton - not my team - they need the money and are rubbish)
-- mcscotland, May 18 2002



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