The Engadget Father's Day Gift Guide
We tend to be a bunch of ungrateful bastards here at Engadget, but once a year we try our best to walk in lockstep with the patriarchy and give a little something back with our annual Engadget Father's Day Gift Guide. There are only four days left, but you've still got enough time to make up for not getting your pops a decent Christmas present. And if you're already in the clear, feel free to chime in with some gift suggestions of your own in the comments.
Yamaha's Sound Proof Entertainment Room
Face it, the last thing Dad wants is a bunch of freakin' screaming kids (toddler, full grown, or otherwise) scampering about the house, wreckin' up his Sunday paper and spilling his Tom Collins (or his Arnold Palmer, as it were). So for God's sake, won't you please let him lock himself in Yamaha's soundproof entertainment room for a little while while he regains his paternal composure? Sheesh.
We can personally vouch for the accuracy of the old saw about men not asking for directions. But that doesn't mean that guys get lost any less than the fairer sex. One way to help your dad find his way home is a GPS unit, and if you've been holding off on getting one because of high prices, now may be the time to take the plunge. At a street price of around $600, the TomTom Go 300 includes most of the features of devices costing hundreds of dollars more, including a large color display, preloaded U.S. maps, and voice prompts.
Look, Dad's tired of asking you damned lazy kids to mow the freaking lawn, ok? So give both yourselves a break from your jobs of yelling about the mowing, and the mowing of the lawn, respectively—just get the household an Automower, already? One day all familial conflicts will be mitigated by robots, and not a moment too soon if we may say so ourselves.
Actiontec Internet Phone Wizard
If Dad keeps complaining that you don't call often enough, and you keep bugging him to get on Skype to keep your costs down, here's a way to compromise. Hook one of these $60 boxes up to dad's computer, and he can use his home phone to make and receive Skype calls. Of course, if Dad doesn't already have a PC and a broadband link, you're out of luck, but hopefully you took care of that on previous Father's Days.
Forget about seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. If Dad spends much time on the links, you may want to give him a pair of these shades, which filter out long-wavelength light (colors such as greens and browns) but let in shorter wavelength whites and yellows. The results: the green may look blue, but those elusive golfballs practically glow.
Consistently rated as one of the best digital SLRs around, Canon's eight megapixel Digital Rebel XT should be enough to impress just about any amateur or not-so-amateur photographer. It sure ain't the cheapest gift but we're sure you can think of plenty of excuses to "borrow it" while you jet off for a few weeks on your next vacation.
Whether Dad's a cube dweller or has the corner office, you can find something to make that prison cage workspace more dynamic at Office Playground. In addition to the usual stress balls and magnetic gear, they've got one of our faves: the Office Voodoo Doll, which can be customized to target the boss, the annoying guy in the next cube, or the schemer who beat you out of the promotion you've been expecting for the past ten years.
Looking for a subtle way to let your dad know that he needs to stop getting his drinky on quite so often? Then hook a father up with the BottleSpy, a bottle opener that keeps an electronic running tally of how many beers your pops has been popping. Should get him to lay off the sauce a bit, but he may sober up long enough to switch to bottles with screw-off caps.
Chances are, your dad missed his chance at making that exciting espionage career happen — but he can relive that life that never was via the Bushnell Night Hawk night vision viewing system. It's a digital compact hand-held system with a 1.8-inch LCD screen, 2x zoom and a swivel viewer for all of his swivelling, night vision needs. He'll be forever grateful for the enhanced ability to peep in on the neighbors catch those elusive nocturnal birds in their native habitat.
Discovery WeatherTech FX5000 Weather Forecaster
If Dad's the type who's constantly stealing borrowing the remote to check in on the up-to-the-minute weather forecast, he and the whole family will dig the Discovery WeatherTech FX5000 Weather Forecaster, which not only gives numerical readings but actually delivers temperature in "how it feels outside" terms. It forecasts 12 to 20 hours in advance, so he can always feel confident that he'll be able to predict the best golf course days the night before. A remote wireless sensor handles all manner of weather indexing and transmits the results to the indoor display panel, which will also please the neighbors who've long endured Dad's morning weather auguries on the front porch in his boxers.
You know Daddy-O is never more proud than when standing at his own personal grill. So why not let him strut his prowess in public with the Thane Q portable BBQ. Using cheap, easy-to- find one-pound propane canisters, this 13-pound folding grill can lay flame-to-flesh on about six meaty burgers per non-stick side. Oh, and it features a night-grillin' dome light and dishwasher safe grilling surface all for less than $100. And you know he's weak for that space-aged stylin'.
