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A free BASU eAlarm for college students

Normally $15.99, this little clip-on personal-safety gizmo makes a huge racket. It's free for full- and part-time students. Plus: a waterproof-speaker price mistake?

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
3 min read

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basu-ealarm-clipped-on

This little alarm comes with a metal carabiner clip, so it can ride shotgun on your purse, backpack, etc.

BASU

A little over a year from now, my daughter will be headed off to college. (Excuse me, there's something in my eye. What? Shut up. You're crying.) Suffice it to say, kickboxing training has already begun. But I'm also going to make sure she's outfitted with a personal-safety alarm, because you just never know.

The generous folks at BASU want all college kids to have that extra measure of protection, which is why they're offering a free BASU eAlarm to all full- and part-time students. Regular price: $15.99. (Shipping runs about $8.)

Available in your choice of five colors, the eAlarm is roughly the size of a flash drive. An included metal carabiner lets you clip it just about anywhere: backpack, purse, zipper pull, etc.

The device consists of two pieces: the main housing that holds the batteries (two CR1632 button cells) and very loud alarm and a plug in the top.

Should trouble arise, all you do is yank the alarm free of the plug. It'll make more than enough noise to attract attention and, hopefully, thwart any thieves, attackers, bears, etc. (Yes, bears: College students sometimes hike in the wilderness, you know.) To silence it, just put the plug back in.

The aforementioned batteries, which are not user-replaceable, should be good for up to five years according to BASU. That's or 30 minutes of continuous alarm use, not that that's likely to be needed.

To get one, just add the color of your choice to your shopping cart and check out. BASU doesn't require any tangible proof of student status, but this giveaway is expressly for those enrolled in school. So please do the right thing and don't order one unless it's for a college kid.

If you like the idea of the eAlarm and want one for yourself or a loved one, here's the regular store page.

I don't know how long the company plans to offer these free for college students, but I do know this: It's a simple and effective product every one of them should have. On behalf of hand-wringing parents everywhere, thank you, BASU.

j-and-l-sounddrum
J&L

Bonus deal: Believe it or not, just the other day a reader asked me for a speaker deal. A waterproof speaker, that is. Ask and ye shall receive! For a limited time, and while supplies last, you can get the J&L Real SoundDrum waterproof Bluetooth speaker for $20.69. That's after applying coupon code KHKMYL7F at checkout.

A quick note about this: The speaker is normally priced at $29.99, and the discount code is supposed to subtract $9.30 from the price. When I plugged it in, however, it subtracted $20.69, leaving a total of $9.30. So either the J&L rep got her numbers crossed or Amazon did. Either way, my cart shows a final price of $9.30. Your mileage may vary, and if this is indeed mistake-pricing, there's a chance orders could get cancelled before being fulfilled. Or you could get very lucky.

Update (6:15 a.m. PT): This now appears to be sold out, which seems unlikely. My guess is that the vendor caught the mistake and is now correcting. So keep checking to see if it becomes available again (from J&L, not another vendor). If it does, it'll almost certainly be at the $20.69 price.

The army-green SoundDrum is IPX7-rated, meaning it can handle getting dunked in up to a meter of water for up to 30 minutes. It floats, too, so go ahead and toss it into the pool, lake, etc. According to the manufacturer, it's good for up to 8 hours of play on a charge. It can even pitch in as a power bank if your phone needs some juice.

One key thing, though: Both FakeSpot and ReviewMeta say the speaker's handful of users reviews are questionable. It may very well be a decent product, but you'll have to find that out for yourself.