[ufitsy]

Originally Posted by dazzler9000

One of my favourites has got to be the Squeezebox 3.

Squeezebox here.. Boom, great sound

[thfccambs]

Dreambox 800hd, it's given me hours of fun and headache's.

[Synchro]

Originally Posted by BISHI

I love the pico z indoor helicopters. Just bought the new twin rotor /3 channel version fro £12 from play, much more control and great fun. I'll never forget the first time I saw one amazed with something that you could control that small indoors.

Do you have link for that pls?

[BISHI]

Here you go. Gone up slightly in price but still a steal !!

Play.com (UK) : Silverlit: Picoo Z Tandem Z Chinook R/C Helicopter : Gadgets - Free Delivery

[calibos]

Originally Posted by Sweetwater

Blackberry Storm and my PS3. I'm just ordering a telescope to view planets/stars/galaxies etc that I'm looking forward to so that may turn out to be my best gadget....who knows.

LOL. Its funny someone should mention Telescopes. I have a 16" Meade Lightbridge Dobsonian Telescope. I've modded it and attached quite a few useful gadgets already. But the coolest of them all is the Servocat Motor drive system I just bought for it. Picture this 6 and half foot tall monster moving by itself. The thing is a gadget in itself, I've covered it in gadgets, the latest gadget motorises it. I just saved 325 euros on the drive systems because it got through customs without incurring duty and VAT (someone was asleep at the wheel ) The 325 euros saving just got spent on the one gadget to rule them all. The iPhone of course.

Now I don't need to use the two line LCD readout and controls on the servocat controller itself, I don't need to bring my laptop with planetarium software to tell me whats in the sky or control the scope. I just boot up SkyVOyager planetarium app on the iphone, pan around the sky with my finger, see something I like, pull up info on it and if I want to look at it through the scope I just tap the object on the iPhone screen and it sends the commands to the scope motor via the wifi and the huge scope slews around to the object all by itself like a surface to air missile battery!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ca1ibos...7621900605125/

[stephen_]

Ipod touch. I cant put it down, its loaded with music, videos & games.

[Ultima]

Just ordered a Celestron Skyscout CLICKY.

Don't know if it will turn out to be my best gadget but it does look rather cool.

[Ultima]

Originally Posted by calibos

LOL. Its funny someone should mention Telescopes. I have a 16" Meade Lightbridge Dobsonian Telescope. I've modded it and attached quite a few useful gadgets already. But the coolest of them all is the Servocat Motor drive system I just bought for it. Picture this 6 and half foot tall monster moving by itself. The thing is a gadget in itself, I've covered it in gadgets, the latest gadget motorises it. I just saved 325 euros on the drive systems because it got through customs without incurring duty and VAT (someone was asleep at the wheel ) The 325 euros saving just got spent on the one gadget to rule them all. The iPhone of course.

Now I don't need to use the two line LCD readout and controls on the servocat controller itself, I don't need to bring my laptop with planetarium software to tell me whats in the sky or control the scope. I just boot up SkyVOyager planetarium app on the iphone, pan around the sky with my finger, see something I like, pull up info on it and if I want to look at it through the scope I just tap the object on the iPhone screen and it sends the commands to the scope motor via the wifi and the huge scope slews around to the object all by itself like a surface to air missile battery!

Knightrider Mods - a set on Flickr

wow, that does sound superb....I'd love to come and have a look.

[Jon Weaver]

Originally Posted by Sweetwater

Just ordered a Celestron Skyscout CLICKY.

Don't know if it will turn out to be my best gadget but it does look rather cool.

As someone who is obsessed with gadgets, there arn't many toys out htere that I havnt' seen.. But this one is new on me.. And I like the look of it.. Where did you get it? Have you found a good deal??

Jon

[sonysean]

Favorite gadget i got this year would be a difficult choice between my PS3, Harmony 885 or Sky+ HD Box

[kez]

blackberry bold and popcorn hour A110 for me

although i have just about every gadget going :D

[Ultima]

Originally Posted by Jon Weaver

As someone who is obsessed with gadgets, there arn't many toys out htere that I havnt' seen.. But this one is new on me.. And I like the look of it.. Where did you get it? Have you found a good deal??

Jon

I got it from Amazon for £192.28 inc £7.65 for next day delivery (well it actually comes tomorrow). I think I've seen it cheaper but I've never had problems with Amazon so I went with them.

[Jon Weaver]

Originally Posted by Sweetwater

I got it from Amazon for £192.28 inc £7.65 for next day delivery (well it actually comes tomorrow). I think I've seen it cheaper but I've never had problems with Amazon so I went with them.

Interested to hear feedback as it looks REALLY good.. I am sceptical that it will be able to do everything it says.. After all, it must have to have a compass to know which way you are pointing and my experiences with 'electronic' compasses have been mixed.

The reason I am fascinated by this is that when I was a boy my step dad 'made' me something similar.. It was a tin can, probably beans (or it might have been soup) lined with black paper and it had holes punch out of the bottom.. I had a selection.. One for "Orion".. The other for "The Plough". The theory was that in daylight, I could hold it up to the sky and 'see' the stars.. Even at that age I know it was s**t, but my Dad thought it was a good idea.

I am just amazed how things have changed.. OK that was more than 30 years ago.. But back then, we had tin cans with holes in.. Now we have GPS.. LCD displays.. Buttons.. Commentary.. You just wouldn't have imagined that such things were possible back then!

Jon

[tdenson]

Originally Posted by Strocky

TIVO by a country mile

Absolutely. Years and years ahead of its time, it was doing stuff for me in 2001 that my modern PVR (a Humax) still can't do.

Although I think the iPhone just pips it to the post in terms of what can be done with it.

[Ultima]

Originally Posted by Jon Weaver

Interested to hear feedback as it looks REALLY good.. I am sceptical that it will be able to do everything it says.. After all, it must have to have a compass to know which way you are pointing and my experiences with 'electronic' compasses have been mixed.

The reason I am fascinated by this is that when I was a boy my step dad 'made' me something similar.. It was a tin can, probably beans (or it might have been soup) lined with black paper and it had holes punch out of the bottom.. I had a selection.. One for "Orion".. The other for "The Plough". The theory was that in daylight, I could hold it up to the sky and 'see' the stars.. Even at that age I know it was s**t, but my Dad thought it was a good idea.

I am just amazed how things have changed.. OK that was more than 30 years ago.. But back then, we had tin cans with holes in.. Now we have GPS.. LCD displays.. Buttons.. Commentary.. You just wouldn't have imagined that such things were possible back then!

Jon

Jon, the beans tin can things sounds fascinating.....aren't dad's brilliant.

It should arrive today so if there are clear skies over the weekend I'll give it a blast (along with my new telescope that I collect tomorrow) and come back with my initial thoughts.

Things have changed Jon.......I can remember when I was about 10 I think, my mum and dad bought me a computer for Christmas. This would have been around 1980. It was one of those that you had to type 3000 lines of BASIC to get a little bat and ball bouncing round the screen. Now I'm playing as Torres on Fifa 10 that looks superb on a HD 50" Plasma.

Where will we be in another 30 years??

[Ultima]

Originally Posted by Sweetwater

Just ordered a Celestron Skyscout CLICKY.

Don't know if it will turn out to be my best gadget but it does look rather cool.

Well, it's arrived

Looks pretty good tbh....about the size of a camcorder and comes with a carry bag, which together is not all that big.

Can't wait to give it a try tonight.

[Jon Weaver]

Originally Posted by Ultima

Well, it's arrived

Looks pretty good tbh....about the size of a camcorder and comes with a carry bag, which together is not all that big.

Can't wait to give it a try tonight.

How did it go?

[IanW]

Aaaaarrrrrggggggghhhhhh top gadget, there are so many to choose from!

I think that it will have to be a collective gadget - my cinema.

Followed by my Alu MacBook and AVForums!

Ian.

[Ultima]

Originally Posted by Jon Weaver

How did it go?

Couldn't see a thing because of the clouds.

Maybe tonight???

[socnsum1]

still can't beat my 80 gb Ipod classic!

[Ultima]

Originally Posted by Ultima

Couldn't see a thing because of the clouds.

Maybe tonight???

Last night was a very clear night.....my Skyscout had it's first outing.

I put the batteries in and turned it on and stood out in the back garden waiting for it to acquire the GPS satellites lock. After about 2 minutes it had my location. Pointed at a few objects in the sky and it locked on and gave full info on the small LCD screen. To confirm what it was telling me was accurate I had my laptop next to me with Stellarium working. This is a free program that tells you whats in the sky and where in real time.

You have the option to point at something and ask the unit to identify it. 100% accurate. You can locate a named star/plant/galaxy etc and it guides you to it in the sky. 100% accurate. It can give you a tour of the sky and take you to suggested views but I didn't try this part.

I played with the unit for about 20 minutes then went to my telescope which was also new. My wife then played with the Skyscout and absolutely loved it. She couldn't put it down and after half an hour or so had visited most of the constellations in our view.

Well recommended.

[tdenson]

Originally Posted by Ultima

Last night was a very clear night.....my Skyscout had it's first outing.

I put the batteries in and turned it on and stood out in the back garden waiting for it to acquire the GPS satellites lock. After about 2 minutes it had my location. Pointed at a few objects in the sky and it locked on and gave full info on the small LCD screen. To confirm what it was telling me was accurate I had my laptop next to me with Stellarium working. This is a free program that tells you whats in the sky and where in real time.

You have the option to point at something and ask the unit to identify it. 100% accurate. You can locate a named star/plant/galaxy etc and it guides you to it in the sky. 100% accurate. It can give you a tour of the sky and take you to suggested views but I didn't try this part.

I played with the unit for about 20 minutes then went to my telescope which was also new. My wife then played with the Skyscout and absolutely loved it. She couldn't put it down and after half an hour or so had visited most of the constellations in our view.

Well recommended.

Is there any element of magnification with the viewing - if not how do you get the granularity to point at lots of things.

[Ultima]

Originally Posted by tdenson

Is there any element of magnification with the viewing - if not how do you get the granularity to point at lots of things.

There is no magnification so I can see this as a problem with densely populated areas of sky. The scope is pretty accurate though. There was a couple of occasions where I put a star in the centre of the scope, pressed target and it didn't lock on. There were a few stars in the area and I obviously didn't get it bang right in the middle. Tried it again making sure it was bang centre and it locked on straight away.

Overall it's a play thing for budding astronomers.....it's quite educational but it does have it's limitations.

Overall I'd still recommend it.

[tdenson]

I have an app for my iPhone 3GS called Starmap which is absolutely great. Using the GPS and compass it shows you what is in the sky in front of you, but I must say the Skyscout does sound a neat little toy.

[Ultima]

Originally Posted by tdenson

I have an app for my iPhone 3GS called Starmap which is absolutely great. Using the GPS and compass it shows you what is in the sky in front of you, but I must say the Skyscout does sound a neat little toy.

I have a similar program on my blackberry called MicroSky, that's quite nifty too.

[raymond2009]

It's my turn now. Mine top one is not that cool as yours but i bet it's more brighter. That's the 35W 3700 lumens(lol) xenon hid flashlight torch from Greenlaserpointer.org . It's ultra bright at night. I sought a high power laser pointer(not recommended coz it injures the retina) but finally chose this less dangerous & much brighter gadget. I'm a student and don't use it often, but it turns me on everytime i point it at the buildings far far away.

[Markyp7]

Got to be Sky + HD for me.
Don't seem to watch anything unless I've recorded it!
Only trouble is we record to much and If we watch TV else where the adverts drive us mad!

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

Originally Posted by raymond2009

It's my turn now. Mine top one is not that cool as yours but i bet it's more brighter. That's the 35W 3700 lumens(lol) xenon hid flashlight torch from Greenlaserpointer.org . It's ultra bright at night. I sought a high power laser pointer(not recommended coz it injures the retina) but finally chose this less dangerous & much brighter gadget. I'm a student and don't use it often, but it turns me on everytime i point it at the buildings far far away.

I use HID for mountain biking, on 700 lumens but bright enough for 6 hours night riding.

[raymond2009]

Originally Posted by Jazz Monkey Jr

I use HID for mountain biking, on 700 lumens but bright enough for 6 hours night riding.

Really？I think i need get a 700 lumens torch. 6 hours, that's cool. I had a 250 lumen flashlight collection, and just plain.

Thanks, anyway.

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

Originally Posted by raymond2009

Really？I think i need get a 700 lumens torch. 6 hours, that's cool. I had a 250 lumen flashlight collection, and just plain.

Thanks, anyway.

It is a Light & Motion bike light, arc ultra has the 6 hours life, most people are getting the cree LED ones now though, 900 lumens for them.
I have also go a 300 lumen cree torch, great for winter nights.