The Ultimate Summer Gadget Guide

A watch that helps your golf swing

A robot that mops your floors

A DLP projector for showing movies outdoors at billboard-sized proportions

A waterproof camera for those crazy underwater snapshots

And a whole lot more. Let's get started!

Out And About

Whether you're on the road, mountain, or beach this summer, three considerations are paramount:1. Always knowing where you are -- as in, "We are at the swim-up bar at the Grand Wailea Resort on Maui."

2. Recording the moment for posterity -- as in, "Now that you're 18, I'm going to show you and your girlfriend the video footage of you pulling your swimsuit off at the pool when you were 5."

3. Being able to stay in touch at any time -- as in, "Sorry, boss, it looks like I'm going to be tied up at the client's office a little longer ... Seagulls? I don't hear any seagulls. Must be on your end."

The following five products meet these requirements and then some.

Smartphone: Motorola Q

Initially, we balked at the notion of including a smartphone in a roundup of summer gear. Isn't this supposed to be about fun in the sun? But then we reconsidered: After all, doesn't the convenience of a smartphone actually enable the pursuit of more leisurely activities? Anyone who has ever checked their e-mail at the beach or on a bike ride would agree.

This summer, all the mobile buzz has centered on Motorola's just-released "Q" smartphone, which could be a real BlackBerry and Treo killer. With a massive 2.4-inch 320 x 240 display, a full QWERTY keyboard, a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth support, and Windows Mobile 5.0 OS, it stands toe-to-toe with the Treo 700w. And at .45 inches thick -- close to Razr dimensions -- the Q is way thinner.The $300 Q is available exclusively from Verizon Wireless, which is currently offering a $100 rebate if you buy the smartphone online with a new two-year activation of its Voice & Data Choice Bundle plan.

Motorola Q
Motorola: www.motorola.com
Price: $200 with two-year activation of Voice & Data Choice Bundle plan
Technical Specs

In-Car GPS Device: TomTom GO 910

It navigates, it talks, it plays music, and it functions as a wireless headset. The GO 910 is a portable GPS-enabled navigational aid with features to spare, making it perfect for summer road trips.

The base unit sports a 4-inch 480 x 272 touch-screen display and a 20GB hard drive. This hard drive comes pre-loaded with maps for all of Europe, Canada, and the United States, and the unit's small size and light weight mean you can easily pack up the GO 910 and take it with you.

TomTom has an excellent reputation for easy-to-use products, and this is no exception. The touch screen allows you to easily navigate to street addresses and points of interest (such as cafes and parks). The unit also features text-to-voice functionality and translates directions into 36 different languages.

The GO 910 also sports two welcome additions: a built-in MP3 player and Bluetooth functionality that allows you to connect your cell phone to the TomTom for hands-free calling.TomTom GO 910
TomTom: www.tomtom.com

Price: $800 - $850
Technical Specs

Camcorder: JVC Everio GZ-MC500

When it comes to camcorders and summer vacations, size and weight are key considerations. In this category (and numerous others), JVC's brand-new hard-drive-based digital camcorder is a pure gem. The GZ-MC500 fits in the palm of your hand, measuring less than four inches long and weighing less than a pound.

We've been using this camera for the last few months and everyone who's tested it has been highly impressed. The camera shoots 720 x 480 video at extremely high quality levels using the MPEG-2 format. Storage is provided compliments of swappable 4GB micro drives. The GZ-MC500 also doubles as a 5-megapixel digicam, taking excellent-quality images at resolutions up to 2560 x 1920. Images and videos can be quickly and easily transferred to a PC via the camera's USB 2.0 port.

Everio GZ-MC500
JVC: www.jvc.com
Price: $940 - $1,500
Technical Specs

Ultracompact Digital Camera: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T30

When it's 90 degrees in the shade, it's too hot to lug around a heavy camera -- which means you miss out on snapshots of family and friends at play. That's why in the summertime, it's all about ultracompact cameras.

Our super-slim pick is the newest model in Sony's critically acclaimed Cyber-shot line of cameras. The DSC-T30 features a Carl Zeiss lens, a large 3-inch LCD screen, and sensitivity settings up to 1,000 ISO. New to the line of cameras is an upgrade to 7.2 megapixels. Despite its tiny stature (about the size of a credit card), the DSC-T30 takes crisp, clear shots -- and at this size, there's no excuse not to have it with you at all times.

Cyber-shot DSC-T30
Sony: www.sony.com

Price: $400 - $500
Technical Specs

Waterproof Digital Camera: Pentax OptioWPi

Summertime often means pool and beach time, which makes Pentax' new waterproof camera an appealing summer gadget and an excellent way to take some creative photographs of your family and friends.The 6-megapixel Optio WPi is rated to operate only at depths of up to five feet for up to thirty minutes at a time, but this isn't a significant detraction because it's difficult to capture high-quality images at lower depths anyway. The image quality is excellent, with 3x zoom and 20 different shooting modes. A fast boot-up time and acceptable shutter lag mean you won't have to wait excruciating seconds to start popping shots. SD media is supported.

Optio WPi
Pentax: www.pentax.com
Price: $270 - $350
Technical Specs

Entertainment To Go

We hate to admit it, but sometimes being out in the Great Outdoors gets a little, well, boring. But being out in nature doesn't mean you're limited to watching the birds and listening to the cicadas buzz.

Bring one of these portable audio, video, or gaming devices along for the ride, and you'll stay entertained wherever you roam this summer. They're small, light, and easily stowable in a backpack. And they might make you appreciate the outdoor experience just a wee bit more.

Personal Audio Player: Apple iPod nano 4GB

Apple's iPod devices have generated their fair share of Apple backlash, but for people who seek a basic audio-only player, the iPod nano's excellence cannot be disputed.

The nano is lightweight, has a highly legible, super-bright screen, and features Apple's awesome iPod interface, which allows for easy integration with iTunes and your own personal music library. The unit's 4GB drive means you can store up to 1,000 songs or 25,000 photographs. What's more, the nano's music quality is excellent, and the flash-based drive means you can take it jogging without enduring countless skips and pauses in playback.

This elegant, superslim device may not be the newest music player in town, but it's still the one to beat.iPod Nano

Apple Computer: www.apple.com
Price: $230 - $290
Technical Specs

Portable Audio/Video Player: Archos AV500

Archos' latest media monster offers unprecedented power and features for audio and video, making it a perfect take-along for summer road trips.

Aside from the striking brushed-aluminum look, the AV500's most noticeable attribute is the humongous 4-inch wide-screen LCD display. As with the AV400, operating this media player is fairly straightforward, thanks to the icon-oriented interface. It's not as intuitive as the iPod video, but this device offers much more flexibility, such as the ability to play numerous audio/video formats.

Even more importantly, however, the AV500's Macrovision compliance means you can directly transfer copy-protected DVDs to the device. The AV500 also functions as a full-fledged digital video recorder. This means that when you're on the road, you can set the recorder to function just like a TiVo. The standard AV500 has a 30GB hard drive, which holds up to 130 hours of video, 15,000 songs, or 300,000 photos. If you're a real digital media hog, you can get a whopping 100GB version of the AV500 for an additional $200.

Archos AV500
Archos: www.archos.com
Price: $485 - $550

Technical Specs

Sound-Isolating Earbuds: Shure E4c

How big a difference can high-quality earbuds make? A gigantic one. High-quality earbuds allow you to enjoy music for longer, with significantly reduced health effects. Shure's E4c buds are state of the art in this regard. Critics and audiophiles have consistently deemed Shure's headphones the best around.

Two new features make the E4c earbuds even more appealing than Shure's previous E3c model: outstanding bass response and a noise-blocking feature that manages to cancel out a great deal of ambient outside noise.Above and beyond the audio quality, these buds are extremely comfortable -- much more so than other sets, including the ones that come with Apple's iPod. And because ears come in all shapes and sizes, Shure provides several flexible foam sleeves that allow you to customize the way they fit.

At $200 to $300, they're pricey, but the comfort level and audio quality make them entirely worthwhile.

Shure E4c
Shure: www.shure.com
Price: $180 - $300
Technical Specs

Portable Game System: Nintendo DS Lite

It's easy to consider Nintendo's recently released portable gaming system as a summertime gift more suitable for kids than adults, but think again. With two screens, a stylus, a calendar, and Wi-Fi access, the Nintendo DS Lite sometimes feels more like a fun-oriented PDA than a gaming system.

Set for release on June 11 at a cost of $130, the DS Lite is an excellent upgrade from the DS, offering a form factor that is 33 percent smaller and 20 percent lighter than the already-tiny original DS. Better yet, it's backward-compatible with all GameBoy Advance and previous DS games.

Interestingly, Nintendo has actively marketed this gaming system to a broad audience. For example, the smash hit Brain Age offers up a series of extremely short mini-games, each of which is supposed to make you smarter.Summertime fun that exercises your brain? Sounds like a good deal for kids and parents alike. A word of warning: Due to high demand, DS Lites are going to be tough to find for the first few months of the summer, and if that's the case, don't be afraid to go for the original DS -- it's a little bigger, but exactly the same gameplay-wise.

Nintendo DS Lite

Nintendo: www.nintendo.com
Price: $130 (available June 11)
More Info

Batteries: Panasonic Oxyride Extreme

Panasonic is dubbing its Oxyride Extreme batteries as a leap forward to the "next generation" of batteries. After using Panasonic's new Oxyride Extreme AA and AAA batteries in digital cameras, handheld game devices, radios, and small flashlights, we have to agree. These batteries provide more power for longer periods than other batteries.

The key innovation is twofold. Nickel Oxyhydroxide technology allows for increased voltage -- this means more power supplied to your electronic devices -- while a new vacuum technology allows for a higher amount of electrolytes to be stored in each individual battery. Knowing your batteries will last counts for a lot -- particularly when you want to travel light this summer.

Oxyride Extreme Batteries
Panasonic: www.panasonic.com
Price: $4 - $6 for a four-pack of AA or AAA; $2 off coupon available (click "$2.00 Off Coupon" in the menu on the left)

More Info (click "Facts & FAQ" in the menu on the left)

Vacations At Home

Not all vacations need to happen hundreds or thousands of miles away from home. In fact, at-home vacations can be the most relaxing of all.

Sometimes "getting away" simply means transforming your backyard into a neighborhood movie theater -- or perhaps just lightening your housework load. These products can help.

Outdoor Movie Night Notebook: Alienware Aurora mALX (with Windows XP Media Center Edition)

One of our groovy summer dreams is to stage Friday night outdoor big-screen movie parties using a laptop and a DLP projector. With Alienware's Aurora mALX notebook and Dell's 5100MP projector, we've found the ultimate answer.On its own, the mALX is a beast of a laptop, boasting AMD's high-end Turion 64 processor, up to 2GB of RAM, a 100GB NCQ-compatible SATA drive, and not one, but two 256MB GeForce GO 7900 GTX mobile 3D chips, making it capable of handling just about anything that you can think of -- fast-action games, movies, audio encoding -- with panache. Built-in MIMO support means that it can achieve close to two times conventional wireless data throughput. The exterior sports an over-the-top paint job featuring alien imagery and what the company calls "color-shifting chameleon paint."

The key component is Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition. The 2005 version of this living-room-oriented operating system is easy to use and allows you access to a robust suite of home media options, including DVD playback.

If the mALX's $4,500 price tag is too rich for your blood, Alienware also makes top-notch portables with prices as low as $879 and $1,279.

Aurora mALX
Alienware: www.alienware.com
Price: $4,500

Technical Specs

Outdoor Movie Night Projector: Dell 5100MP

In order to project your movies onto the side of your house or another appropriately large white screen, you're going to need a projector that offers a combination of high visual clarity and superb brightness. Dell's 5100MP is the answer here. This DLP projector offers extraordinarily rich colors and a sharp, crisp high-quality image.

The projector is rated at 3,300 lumens, making it plenty bright in nighttime, dusk, and even indirect daylight conditions. The 5100MP can project a screen size over 24 diagonal feet. The unit features a slew of inputs, including HDMI, component, composite, and S-Video. The projector's weight of just over 8 pounds means you won't strain to move it between your living room and your backyard. At a little over $2,300, this is a bargain of a home DLP projector.5100MP
Dell: www.dell.com
Price: $2,340

Technical Specs

Floor-Washing Robot: iRobot Scooba

One thing you can count on during the summer months is an endless series of muddy floors as your troops track in dirt from the backyard or sand from the beach. This is why iRobot's Scooba is a must-have for the summer months.

A step beyond the company's Roomba vacuum-cleaning robot, the Scooba automatically preps, washes, and dries hard-surface floors, including hardwood, linoleum, tile, and marble. Sensors on the device prevent it from getting stuck in corners or under furniture, and you can use virtual walls to cordon off hallways and other areas of your living space in order to keep the unit confined to particular areas. You can even set it to run automatically at certain times.

If you hate mopping as much as we do, the Scooba will save you more time and energy than you can imagine. Finally -- robotics put to practical household use!

Scooba
iRobot: www.irobot.com
Price: $300 - $400
Scooba FAQ

The Sporting Life

Enough lounging by the pool! If you want a bit of action in your summer, this section is for you.

Whether it's improving your golf swing, keeping track of your pedaling, or letting you surf to your favorite tunes, these gadgets will help you live the active life to the fullest. We've even included the ne plus ultra of high-tech water toys.

Cycling Computer With GPS: Garmin Edge 305

Recreational and serious cyclists alike will find lots of interesting and useful features in Garmin's newest GPS-capable cycle computer.The core feature of the Edge 305 is a waterproof GPS receiver that is sensitive enough to pinpoint your position even in canyons and among trees. The computer also has numerous features found on other state-of-the-art cycling computers, including a heart rate monitor, pedaling and cadence measurements, speedometer, odometer, and even an altimeter.

Installation is a breeze; you simply snap the bike mount on your handlebars, snap the computer into the mount, and you're off and running. Setting up the computer to wirelessly monitor your pedaling and cadence is similarly easy; the system comes with a number of the most common wheel sizes preinstalled.

Garmin Edge 305

Garmin: www.garmin.com
Price: $281 - $400
Technical Specs

Golf Watch: Suunto G6

Suunto is known for constructing innovative watches tailored to all manner of outdoor activity, but its G6 golfing watch just might take the cake. It can actually help golfers make their swing more consistent, via the delivery of instantaneous real-time swing analysis.

Highly accurate acceleration sensors on the G6 measure the movement of your wrist during a swing. After you hit the ball, the watch uses the data collected by these sensors to provide information regarding three critical elements of your swing: tempo, rhythm, and the length and speed of your backswing.

As if that weren't enough, you can also use the G6 to keep score. When the round is over, you can dump the data to your PC, where the Suunto Golf Manager software allows you to analyze your game in more meticulous detail.Bonus Tip: If you're looking for a course to play on or new friends to chat about the game with, check out the online community GolfBuzz.com.

Suunto G6
Suunto: www.suunto.com
Price: $400

Technical Specs

Waterproof iPod Protector: Drypod

We could talk for countless minutes about why the Drypod is so useful, how the handy neoprene armband allows you to be Joe Active in the water, how it fits most current-gen iPods (the nano model is coming any day now), and how it comes with a lifetime warranty. But why do that when a simple image will tell you everything you need to know -- namely that this cool little gadget will keep your precious iPod dry in the wettest of conditions?

A word of caution: If you're going to be in really wet conditions, think about investing in some waterproof earphones, like these from CS Ideas.

Drypod
SKB Cases: www.skbcases.com
Price: $35 - $45
More Info

Outrageously Expensive High-Tech Water Toy: Bionic Dolphin Submersible Hydrofoil

Okay, this product hasn't been released yet. And even if it were, you couldn't afford it. But we just couldn't resist including what has got to be the ultimate high-tech summer fun toy.

Granted, the notion of traveling at top speeds in an underwater vessel shaped like a dolphin is aimed at a pretty vertical market, but that's probably because many people have yet to think of it as a possibility. This pipe dream is rapidly becoming a reality thanks to the intrepid researchers at NoLand Corporation and TARCO Research.The company's engineers are dead set on using space-age composites and a lightweight aluminum engine. Early designs indicate that the Bionic Dolphin, recently featured in Discover magazine, will be approximately 10 feet long and weigh about 400 pounds. The small single-person cockpit will allow you to dive to depths of 20 feet and reach speeds of up to 45 mph on the surface.

It won't be cheap, however. The company has indicated that, when released, the Bionic Dolphin will cost more than $120,000. Get on the waiting list today.

Bionic Dolphin

NoLand Corporation: www.bionicdolphin.com
Price: If you have to ask...
More Info