Father's Day gadget gift ideas

< Prev | 1 | 2

Then, there are some gifts that I think should go to the dads who belong in the “For the Man Who Has Everything” category. How about the ultimate Swiss Army knife?

The swissmemory 1GB knife contains the usual knife blade, screwdriver, nail file and scissors – but also has a mini LED flashlight, a retractable ball-point pen and a 1GB USB memory device. There’s even Swiss Army’s Secure-LOCK software to keep your portable data safe. Once again, you pay for your thrills — swissmemory 1GB retails for $197.

The Wine Watch French Wines
Champagneswines.com
What time is it? It's Burgundy time!
Or how about a dual purpose watch? The Wine Watch French Wines is exactly what you might expect of a gadget with that name. The sporty-looking watch tells time – and also classifies Bordeaux, Rhône, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Alsace and Loire wines according to vintage year as: mediocre, average, good, superior or excellent.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

The watch itself has a quartz movement inside a stainless steel case. You can find it for $69.95 at champagneswines.com. A corresponding bottle of a nice French wine would make a good gift even better.

Sirius Sportster
Sirius Radio
The new Sirius Sportster allows you to record 44 minutes of Dad's favorite music/talk.
Satellite radios are all the rage this year. I’ve told you about XM’s portable MyFi radio – the $299 iPod of satellite radios. It’s great. And for Sirius fans there’s a new radio to fulfill your listening needs. The Sportster Replay is capable of recording up to 44 minutes of programming while a subscriber is listening to Sirius. It’s made for use in your car and will sell for $169.99. A separate home kit will retail for $49.99.

PlusDeck 2
ThinkGeek
How about a cassette deck for his computer?
The PlusDeck 2 is a full-logic cassette deck that fits inside a PC tower drive slot. Dad can use it to archive his old cassette tapes of 80s metal-hair bands into digital media files for playback on modern-day portable devices. Or, he can archive his favorite audio files and streams onto cassettes for use in his trusty Sony Walkman. The PlusDeck 2 sells for $149.99 on ThinkGeek.com.

For the record, any portable DVD machine, MP3 player, or iPod — or iPod accessory would make a great Father's Day gift.

Barska Travel Scope and Tripod
Restoration Hardware
...Or a lightweight, portable telescope?
For the dad whose head is always in the stars I’ve found the Barska Travel Scope and Tripod. It’s a compact, lightweight telescope with a 70mm objective lens mated to a short tube, wide-angle refractor to view objects 20 to 87 times closer than the naked eye. It comes with two eyepieces and carrying cases for everything. It’s available at Restoration Hardware for $68.99.

Cold Heat soldering iron
Coldheat.com
The Cold Heat soldering iron cools down to room temperature in a few seconds.
And for the industrious dad there’s a soldering iron that promises not to burn. I’ve told you about the Cold Heat Soldering Tool in the past. Its battery powered (4 AAs) and cordless – plus it heats and cools down quickly. The tip reaches 500ºF in less than 1 second and cools to the touch in a few seconds so you can put it away without any waiting. The price is right too: it sells for $9.99 to $19.99 depending on which soldering tip you prefer.