From time to time I get some gadgets sent to me to review, and these are some of the cream of the crop that would be great to ask for for Father’s Day if you’re one of those Dads who hates ties.
Helo TC Assault Copter
One of the things I look for in a gift is the ‘I would never have bought this for myself’ factor. The Helo TC Assault Copter fits this to a T. Never would I have thought there existed a mini-remote controlled helicopter that can be controlled with a smartphone or iPad, let alone specifically ask for the one that shoots itty bitty missles. What you need to know about this ‘lil whirlybird is that it is for you and not for the kids. Children won’t be able to handle the touch controls, which take a little while to master. The copter itself is also fairly fragile, so you’ll want to be careful to avoid major crashes, as you only get one backup rotor in the box. While the learning curve is a bit steep, it is very easy to use, you just charge the copter via the included USB cable, pop 4 AAA batteries in the flichg controller, plug that into your phone or iPad and after about a 30 minute charge, you’re ready to fly. That being said, you will only get about 5 minutes or so of flight time per charge, which makes it a perfect gadget to have in your cubicle, ready to fire at the guy next to you who always has those stank oniony subs every day for lunch.
Supertooth Crystal
With municipalities everywhere cracking down on phone calls and texting while driving, time is up on procrastinating to get some kind of bluetooth hands free kit for the car. Instead of going for an earpiece or headphones you have to constantly worry about losing/breaking/untangling every time you need them, the Supertooth Crystal is a super easy to use speakerphone gadget that slides right onto your car’s visor and requires zero installation. Pairing the Supertooth with your phone is as simple as a press of a couple of buttons and you’re off making calls, streaming music or listening to turn-by-turn GPS directions. I reviewed the original Supertooth about a year ago, and this new version is a marked improvement, not to mention cheaper and smaller and is well worth the asking price of about $40. Another perfect item you probably need but don’t want to buy for yourself.
StudioConnect
The Griffin StudioConnect is an iPad audio interface device which is awesome for anyone who likes to tool around with making music, from a no-talent hack like myself to serious musicians. For me, I found it awesome to simply plug in my bass and record myself in Garageband tooling around and be able to listen in real time on my headphones as well. Not waking up the whole house while I played was also a nice bonus. The StudioConnect not only has analog 1/4″ and 1/8″ inputs to plug in instruments, but it also has a MIDI input and output, a stereo line level RCA output, input gain control and a separate headphone jack. A final added bonus is that it also charges your iPad while you’re using it. Although the MIDI inputs didn’t apply to me, I would definitely dig getting this as a Father’s Day gift, especially since it retails for about $150 right now. My noodling isn’t enough to justify my own purchase of it, but as a gift, it would be great.