So my latest gadget was delivered today, and it’s got me plenty excited. It’s a Garmin nuvi 255W GPS. As you know if you follow this blog, I’m taking my daughter to college this week, and I wanted a GPS more full-featured than the one that comes with my iPhone (that’s not a knock against the iPhone — just that the Garmin is a dedicated unit with a lot more functionality).

I got the Garmin today, and have only had a chance to play with it for a little. I’ll give a fuller review after I’ve experienced it on the 12-hour trip (each way) to Indiana. What I like so far are the big screen, intuitive navigation, easy-to-read icons and voice capability.

One little quirk is that I had to reboot the unit three times before it would acquire any satellites. The first two attempts, it did nothing but display no progress on the progress bar. Strange. But the third time was the charm, and everything seems to work properly. Can’t wait to try it out.

One of my pet peeves is people talking on their cellphones while driving. It’s becoming more and more commonplace to see folks gabbing away while driving, completely distracted from the road. That’s why I use a Bluetooth headset, which lets me answer calls and talk while both my hands are firmly on the wheel.

That’s not the only way to answer calls and talk, though. Motorola makes the  MOTOROKR T505 Bluetooth In-Car Speakerphone, which attaches to your visor via a clip. The T505 gives you a couple of options for listening to your phone: either through the built-in speaker or through your car speakers using the FM transmitter.

It’s easy to use: when a call comes in, simply touch the front button on the left, and start yapping. You can do more than make calls with the T505, too; it works to route your cellphone’s music through car speakers (if your phone is also a media player.)  Note that you need to have a Bluetooth-enabled phone to make this work, but that shouldn’t be a problem for most, since just about every cellphone released for the last several years has Bluetooth connectivity built in.

Consider the T505 or another Bluetooth headset to stay safe while driving; remember, the life you save may be mine!

My 2000 Subaru Outback is a dinosaur of a car. Now, don’t get me wrong — I love it, and it’s been reliable transportation for almost a decade. But it lacks something any gadgeteer needs: a stereo with the ability to play MP3s. It only has a radio and cassette player. You younger readers are probably wondering what this “cassette” thingy is.

So it’s time to go shopping for a new stereo for my car, something that will allow me to plug in various players and hear them through my speakers. Looking for something with a good brand name, a strong mix of features and a reasonable price. I found all those needs met with this Pioneer player.

It can play pretty much any audio disc you can burn on either a Windows PC or Mac. It also has an auxiliary input for plugging in your MP3 player, iPod or even a satellite radio or CD changer. It also includes a special amplifier that provides less distortion at higher power. That means you can blast your Miles Davis or Dave Brubeck with little distortion.

The Pioneer is one of the less expensive models in this category, which means you won’t find as many high-end features as the $200-plus units. But in these recessionary times, getting a strong brand like Pioneer for a little more than a hundred bucks qualifies as a very good deal.

I have a large family, with many young children. One of the things they have clamored for is a DVD player in the car (I guess they’re not satisfied with their Game Boys, Playstation Portables, iPods, etc., etc.)

While I don’t buy the types of vehicles that come with built-in DVD players, it is possible to add a DVD player to your car — to your sun visor, of all places.

This sun visor DVD player has a 7-inch widescreen display, a built-in speaker, CD/MP3 player and remote, among other goodies.

Note that this is a right-side sun visor replacement; they do make these gadgets for left-side sun visors, but I wouldn’t recommend those under any circumstances. Installation looks simple; just remove your sun visor on that side and plug in the new one.

It looks great for a passenger (but not the driver), though I wonder how well back-seat passengers will be able to see the display. In any event, it’s an alternative to portable devices.

Or, you could try an ancient method of communication in the car — talking!

Happy New Year, everyone! As it’s 10:47 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2009 as I write this — I hope you haven’t broken any New Year’s resolutions yet!

As you may have read previously, I have a serious thing for my iPhone. One of its best qualities is its GPS functionality. In fact, I used it just a couple of days ago to help me and the family find the National Christmas Tree display near the White House in Washington, D.C. (a worthwhile trip, by the way, if you’re anywhere near D.C., or visiting near here, during the holidays. In addition to the National Tree, there are trees for each state and U.S.-goverened territory, with a group from each state or territory making decorations that go inside transparent globe ornaments.)

The iPhone’s GPS still isn’t up to the standards — yet — of most of the standalone GPS units made by Garmin, TomTom and others, however. Those companies are really pushing the envelope of the technology.

One of the latest and greatest GPS upgrades is available in the TomTom XL 330S.  It’s called Map Share, and allows you to make changes to your own maps. Say you’re taking your usual route to the office, and discover that construction has blocked a road. Simply input that change to your TomTom unit, and in the future, it will show up in your map as unavailable. Awesome, huh?

You can help out others with this information, too. Using the TomTom HOME software, you can link your GPS with your computer and upload the new data for others to download. Of course, you can get the same data from other TomTom users.

The 330S has a number of cool features, including a wide display, automatic rerouting around traffic congestion and quick pickup of GPS signals. If you’re looking for a GPS-only gadget, make sure the TomTom is on your list.

Now, get out there and go on that first run of the new year!

Hi everyone,

Let me take a moment to introduce myself: my name’s Keith Ward, and I’m your new host for the PriceGrabber GottaHave blog. We’ll be looking at all kinds of gadgets, both expensive and inexpensive, useful and not-so-useful; some may be just plain weird or goofy.

First, let me say that I owe a debt to the former author of this blog, Dian Schaffhauser. She did a great job with GottaHave; I’ll do my best to try and live up to her high standards, while infusing this blog with my own style and wit (or lack thereof, you may find.)

To start off with, I thought I’d highlight a few of my favorite gadgets. These are items I’ve used for some time and enjoy a lot. They’re available now, and have the added advantage of being relatively cheap.

First, you should know that my favorite all-time gadget is my 3G iPhone. That means that some of my other favorite gadgets are those that work with my iPhone. And the one indispensable gadget for my phone is my Griffin windshield mount. It allows me to easily view the phone when I’m using it as a GPS; more importantly, it increases my safety on the road, since I don’t have to fumble around with my phone up to my ear — I just hit the speaker button, and my hands never leave the wheel.

The mount was easy to put together, even for someone as mechanically inept as yours truly. It swivels nicely, and has a long reach (with an included extension.) The key factor for something cradling my precious iPhone, however, is how securely it holds the phone. The Griffin excels at that. It’s never fallen off the windshield, and holds the iPhone in place with nary a tremor. Get one, and make your driving safer.

Another key iPhone gadget is a Bluetooth (i.e., wireless) headset; they let you make and get calls hands-free. I’ve used a number of them over the years, and the best one I’ve found is the Motorola H710. Its best feature is the tiny form factor. It’s small and light enough that you barely notice it’s there. The answer and volume buttons are easy to use, and the call quality is terrific. It lasts for many days on a single charge, speaking to its excellent battery life. I’m no Siskel and Ebert, but I give it two thumbs up.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m looking forward to getting to know you, and feeding your gadget appetite.

Went to one of the final ballgames of the summer the other night. Thanks to my spouse’s generous boss, we were treated to free parking, great seats and all the tri-tip, potato salad and peanuts we could consume. Life was good. But as we were entering the stadium, I noticed a few tailgating parties going on. With football season upon us, the parties will only expand.

That’s why I love this idea: trailer hitch hanging chairs.

What better way to take advantage of the amazing strength of your trailer hitch than to run a sturdy metal pipe up from it to suspend a couple of hammock chairs?

The stand itself weighs about 45 pounds and can hold up to 350 pounds. So even your beefy brother-in-law can try it out, as long as he leaves the beer keg on the camp table and doesn’t insist on his goofy best friend trying it out at the same time.

The chair itself includes a footrest, armrests and a carrying case. When tailgating time is over, you can haul this along for camping. Or, you can just hang the chair itself by the pool, from your office ceiling, or in your dorm room — any place you have a brawny beam and a sturdy chain.

Apparently, there’s been a wave of buying activity for hands-free headsets in California to ensure that we can continue talking while driving but without facing the wrath of the California Highway Patrol.

Recently, I wrote about the Aliph Jawbone, but I realized that not everybody has a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. An article in the Sacramento Bee listed a favorite, inexpensive headset for people who need it to be wired, as recommended by Elliot Darvick, the editor of MyRide.com. He likes the Jabra C250.

This one sells for under $15 from a number of vendors and sits behind the ear. It includes a microphone boom to optimize voice pick-up.

Reviewer bluepigs26 from CA reports that the headset is designed in such a way that it “doesn’t fall out easily at all, which is a problem I had with some other hands-free headsets.” That said, after a couple of hours, bluepigs’ ear begin to feel a bit uncomfortable.

A slew of reviewers love the sound quality, both for listening and speaking. kkelli2u does report having a bit of a problem with the cord hanging up on doorknobs and drawer pulls, but that’s because kk is using it primarily in an office environment. (That said, watch that stick shift when you get out of your car!) Also, kihiu says that there’s no mute or volume control on the unit, but considers this  a “great headset for a reasonable price.” Several people report buying replacements for it when it wore out and was lost, because they loved it so much.

So there you have it. A great, cheap headset that won’t put you on the side of the road when your kid calls from the nurse’s office or your spouse needs you to pick up a carton of something on the way home from work. 

Summer has officially arrived, and so has the big debate: Should we or shouldn’t we get a portable DVD player for those extended car trips we’ll be making this summer? Our son, the five-year-old, knows nothing of these discussions; if he did, the decision would already be made. Instead of choosing books and trucks from his ample collection for the trip, he’d be selecting from among his DVD compilation.

And here’s the model we’d probably get: The Sony DVP-FX820. This eight-inch portable player comes in black, blue, white, red and pink. (Our son would opt for the blue; my spouse would choose pink; and I rather tend toward red.)

But it’s not the color choices that would drive the decision; it’s the fact that it’ll play for six hours non-stop, and he can use headphones to hear the sound. That’s six hours of relatively blissful quiet from the backseat, leaving his mother and me up front to discuss such compelling topics as whether to stop at the Dairy Queen in Fernley or try to make it all the way to Fallon.

When he gets sick of hearing the theme song from GeoKids, we can play our audio CDs on the Sony player.

The screen rotates to make for comfortable viewing from a booster seat and includes two jacks for headphones so a cousin can sidle up next to him and tune in when we arrive at our destination.

Plus, the player offers some video features my son doesn’t get on our player at home: motion zoom, repeat mode, slow-motion and title/chapter search. That makes this an educational device! Once he and I have convinced our other household member that a big screen is really a necessity, he’ll be able to show me how to work the controls.

Summer’s here, and the living is easy. In fact, it’s downright besotted, what with baseball games, neighborhood potlucks, riverside picnics and work-time happy hours come a Friday evening. But how do you know if you’ve quaffed too much alcohol to get behind the steering wheel? Face it, somebody who’s had a few isn’t the best judge of whether or not he or she is sober enough to drive.

That’s why a little gadget like the AlcoHawk Elite Digital Alcohol Detector might be a smart gift for the designated non-drinker in your life. This is a device that person can make you breath into to find out your blood alcohol concentration, thereby preventing arguments.

There’s one button on the unit, which presumably makes it easy to use. And it comes with a carrying pouch and five mouthpieces. So, here’s a clue: If the person to be tested can’t see the single button, it’s probably best not to waste a mouthpiece. Just hide the car keys before you begin.

According to the vendor, Q3 Innovations, the Elite has an electronic airflow sensor to ensure the user continues to blow through the unit. This is a “vital new function,” says the company, “because only samples of air from the deep lung are proportionate to blood alcohol content. This new innovative sensor ensures the user exhales through the mouthpiece over the 4-5 second exhale.” No quick breathing to get a favorable reading.

The detector also includes a temperature sensor that displays the temperature at the time of testing. If it’s too hot or cold, apparently, the readings may not be accurate.

How does it work? You put in a new mouthpiece, prime the sensor by having the subject blow into it for a few seconds, then turn the unit on. A beep will sound and the temperature will display. Then a countdown occurs and another beep sounds. RDY will show up in the little display. From there, the user takes a deep breath and blows steadily into the unit until another beep sounds to signal that the test is over.

If the number showing is greater than .02, the vendor advises against driving. This is, of course, way below the .08 that most states consider you intoxicated. But as the saying goes, never drink and drive.