Gadgets Gizmos Gossip

A satellite navigation system is now far more than a piece of gadgetry that will get you from A to B. The best sat navs on the market now have a number of additional features that make some possess similarities with the best smartphones on the market, such as web hook-up, inbuilt cameras and HD screens. This surge in new applications is a response to the refining of GPS on high-quality phones. So what next for the sat nav? Well, here is an insight into two of the leading sat navs currently on the market.

Garmin Nuvi 3790T

The 3790T is as stylishly designed as many smarthphones. At just 9mm thick and finished with glass and alloy, this alluring gadget makes most other sat navs resemble Fisher Price toys. With a retail price of £330.00 the 3790T isn’t cheap, so what features justify such a high-price tag? The 3970T is simply unbeatable in a number of areas, best of all its quick. It locks on to satellites nearly instantly; the menu is practical and accessible and it has an incredible amount of storage space available for postcodes or POIs. The Garmin Nuvi 3790T is a market leader only matched by the TomTom Go Live 1000.

TomTom Go Live 1000

Arguably the best sat nav currently on the market. At £280.00, the TomTom Go Live 1000 isn’t cheap. But don’t be fooled by the high price tag. Yes the Go Live 1000 does have plenty of features, but unlike other pricey sat navs it concentrates primarily on the navigation essentials.There are little accompaniments that tarnish its capabilities to guide. The TomTom has ported its UI to the same Webkit back-end that results in the iPad’s speedy browser. The model also possesses an impeccable HD Traffic service which works out where jams are by tracking the signals of mobile phones. If all this isn’t enough to convince you to purchase a TomTom, then maybe the voice of Brian Blessed will incite you. He is the latest celebrity to add his tone to the TomTom catalogue.

Aidan Donovan is a keen travel blogger that has discovered Kenwood Travel to be keen on prices; but still wouldn’t go anywhere without a good sat nav.

There are a seemingly never ending stream of gadgets and gizmos or supposed must-haves for your car, some genuinely useful, some barely so and some just plain kitsch nonsense.  Lets’ get the boring bits out of the way first.  The eminently practical suggestions include:

Portable Vacuum Cleaner.  A messy car is a depressing place so keep it up to scratch with a dedicated vacuum cleaner.   There are dozens of rechargeable versions out there, but try to avoid the 12V jobs that run off the cigar lighter.  They never really seem to have enough “oomph” and look for ones with attachments to reach all those nooks and crannies.

Halfords Autosafe.  If you’ve got heaps of very portable in-car technology you usually need to take it with you when you leave your car to be sure it’s secure.   A great back up is this compact car safe that can be tethered pretty securely to the vehicle without using any bolts.  It only costs £29.99 from halfords.com.   It’s perfect to keep your own personal gadgets and gizmos safe if you’ve borrowed someone else’s car using short term car insurance for cover.

USB Charger. The humble in-car cigarette lighter should be re-named the “Gizmo Centre” because all sorts of stuff runs off it.  There are loads of clever little gadgets from about £13 upwards which become a two USB-port charger for topping up a range of gadgets.

Some other items are frankly beginning to get silly.  Some are so downright embarrassing that you’d be best advised to take out one day car insurance and inflict these on a friend’s car you’ve just borrowed rather than permanently affix to your own motor!

LED car signal. A cheeky range of messages and a winking face to boot, which you can suspend over the boot! Mind you, if you’ve accidentally cut someone up or pulled out unexpectedly, being able to say “Sorry” in your rear windscreen might prevent road rage or worse, though the winking face symbol could be catastrophically mis-interpreted.  You’ll get one of these from most online gift stores from around £25.

CarLashes. Are what you think they are - eyelashes that fix to the headlights!  They are apparently the new must-have car accessory for female motorists in the US and Britain.  And if you are of the male persuasion and have a hankering to capture the mojo of legends like Jason King, Hulk Hogan and Tom Selleck, then check out the Carstache.  It’s a large, fuzzy moustache for your car that attaches to the bonnet above the front number plate.

As the latest James Bond movie is soon to hit our screens, with probably a cool Aston Martin DBS at his beck and call, we look back at the greatest ever fictional cars that have hit our screens and give a brief description of them.

Bat Mobile

This has to be one of the greatest fictional motors; it is a trademark of batman and provides great protection for Bruce Wayne’s alter ego. This car is usually equipped with armour and high performance engines as well as being an anti gravity vehicle and implemented rocket boosters.

Grease the Movie

If you have not seen grease then you must be on another planet, the love film of Danny and Sandy A.K.A. John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. If you are familiar with the song “Go Grease Lighting”, you will remember the gorgeous red car that was created out of the imagination of the cast. This car was a babe magnet and had the cleanest engine I have ever had the chance to see, not to mention that it could fly!

Back to the Future

One of the greatest science fiction films of all time and probably one of the top fictional motors, Michael J Fox who starred as teenager Marty McFly and Christopher Lloyd as crazy scientist Dr. Emmett Brown. This car had the ability to time travel, even watching it back now I still would love to see this vehicle. I have to say though that the second film was probably the best, as the car also ran on rubbish. If only we could use a car like that now.

Knight Rider

David Hasselhoff staring as the Knight Rider, this vehicle was a sentient talking car with artificial intelligence. I have to say that I think the KITT was the star of this movie, as people just used to tune in to see what the car would do or say next. Magnificent stunts and deserves to be up here with the rest, a true classic.

Transformers

Well these are amazing to say the least, these cars had a mind of there own and could transform into powerful destructive machines. The recent movie has propelled these cars to a top spot position.

There are plenty more fictional cars that just could not be mentioned such as the James Bond, Spy Who Loved Me, Dukes of Hazard, Men in Black and who could forget Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!