Every now and then you’ll find a product that solves a common problem in a way that is so horrifically ridiculous that it wraps back around to awesome. The Modobag is one of those things. Sick of walking through the airport like a peasant? Just hop in your tiny motorized piece of luggage and ride through it like a magnificent boob on a comically undersized electric steed.

The premise behind the Modobag is equal parts simple and absurd. It is a carry-on sized piece of luggage with an internal motor and battery that gives it a top speed of 8mph and a range of about 6 miles with an average-sized rider. With the 150-watt electric motor, battery, and other driving-related innards, the bag comes to a weight of almost 20 pounds on its own, which won’t matter while you are riding it, but could make stairs a real pain. The bag is, apparently, approved by the TSA however, so flying with it should not be an issue. In theory. I’ll bet you anything that security is still going to raise an eyebrow.

In addition to being a vehicle (one that will make you the envy and and definitely not the scourge of the airport and all of its employees) the bag’s battery also doubles as a hub for charging phones, tablets, and what have you. And when it comes to charging the bag itself, Modobag says it can hit 80 percent in fifteen minutes. It better be able to, because what could be worse than realizing you still need to move at 8mph to get to the gate on time, but under your own power?

All this comes at a price and with a caveat. The Modobag will cost a considerable $1,000 if you sign up to crowdfund one on IndieGogo, but that’s just the early bird special. And, of course, there’s the standard crowdfunding warning: Remember that you’re not actually buying something when you plunk money down on a crowdfunding site. It’s just a donation and no one technically owes you anything. In this case, the campaign is also a “flexible funding” campaign, which means that the people who are running it get to keep all the money even if they don’t hit their goal.

That said, the numerous videos of the Modobag make it seem like it’s a very real product, and while there may be delays on the way to the expected January 2017 date, I’d guess its likely to show up eventually. Still, I might not want to be one of the first people to be zooming around the airport sitting on top of a small electric vehicle that I have to bring through security and then put on a plane, explaining it countless times along the way.

But do I want to be one eventually? You bet I do. No matter how unfathomably stupid it looks.

Source:    http://tinyurl.com/j64ouow