Quote Originally Posted by JMartin View Post
I don't think the concern here is for a failed battery in the remote, but for a failed battery on the bike... in which case you could push the remote as many times as you want, but there is no juice in the bike battery to power the actuators and open the bags. The tools then become necessary to open the saddlebags... but you still have a dead battery on the bike.

But you are correct in that carrying a small screwdriver and an extra remote battery would be a much easier solution than the removal of the seat... because the real problem, as I have heard from others, is the nightmare of trying to re-align those factory seat bolts for the re-installation of said seat. Which, if it happened only once, would eliminate any collective time savings for each time you didn't have to simply move the key from the ignition to the saddlebag lock and its return.

Having said that, it often amazes me how dependent people become on things like remote fobs. You would be surprised at the number of AAA calls we receive from people who "can't get into their vehicle" because their remote fobs don't work... and they have become so numb to this technology that it's actually entertaining to see the look on their face when my drivers ask them for their fob... flip out the key... and STICK IT IN THE DOOR and turn it to open their car. Which of course starts right up once they are inside it. (I run a towing company here on the West Coast - if you hadn't guessed).

This is probably worth mentioning as well (unrelated but related)... my wife's battery died in her Mustang's Key Fob. Upon taking the Key Fob apart. I discovered that there was a hidden key installed inside of the Key Fob. We had NO IDEA it was there....