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Five Father's Day Gifts Dad Will Actually Use On His Next Trip

June 9, 2009 at 4:08 PM | by | Comments (0)

We were going to skip doing a Father's Day list this year, half because they're kind of tired and half because we already do regular travel tech posts. But then we saw some of the other lists floating around, and we began to get scared that people will consider inflatable pillows and foam shoes to be appropriate gifts. So, if only as a public service, here are some gadgets that a traveling Dad will be genuinely thrilled to use:

1. Belkin Mini Surge Wall Mount with USB Charger - Airports and coffee shops are not exactly generous with power outlets, so there's always stiff competition for the ones that are available. These Belkin ministrips, which transform one plug into three outlets plus two USB outlets, allow you to share precious resources. More importantly, they allow you to painlessly cajole the people who are already occupying outlets to share. $13.76 on Amazon right now, discounted almost 60%.

2. Amazon Kindle - Yes, it's insanely hyped. Yes, it's arguably redundant with an e-book enabled cell phone or laptop. And yes, it still requires Dad to go out an purchase the books that he wants. Still: hottest travel gadget of the season. The widescreen Kindle DX ships June 10 and in the meantime the Kindle 2 is going for $359.

3. Canon PowerShot SD890 - Digital cameras are a fixture on Father's Day lists, and Canon has a bevy of different point-and-shoots all with slightly different features. Some are more expensive than the SD890, some less. Right now our recommendation is the SD890. Any Canon camera will take good pictures, so the real quuestion is what you can capture. This model has a 5x optical zoom, which tops all of Canon's other offerings. Since digital zoom isn't really zoom, done and done.

4. Aquapac Small Underwater Camera Case - Between swine flu hysteria and the recession, cruises have become ridiculously affordable. Add to that opportunity the standard destinations like Florida and Hawaii, and there's a good chance Dad will be scuba diving this summer. Since he won't want to buy an underwater camera now that you've bought him an SD890, this bag will be a handy way to take pictures at least in shallow water. It's submersible up to 15ft for 30min at a time, floats if dropped, and is currently discounted one cent from it's $40.00 MSRP on Amazon.

5. Tekkeon Mobile Batteries - We've covered Tekkeon's line of emergency power before, but we really can't emphasize this enough: traveling with gadgets means being limited by battery life. Provided that Dad's taken our advice and purchased USB-chargeable gadgets, Tekkeon's line of mobile batteries can be invaluable.

[Photo: Amazon.com]

Related Stories:
· Travel Tech Coverage [Jaunted]
· Cruises Coverage [Jaunted]

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