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It's not always easy to find gifts for dads, especially for those who are often quick to snap up whatever they need on their own. But even the geekiest and most well-informed dads have blind spots — the trick is to find something they've never heard of, but could actually make their lives useful. We've collected some of our favorite dadcore gift ideas, which would suit everyone from a complete gadgetphobe to a total techie.
If your dad has any interest in repairing or modding their own gadgets, the iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit should cover all the materials they need. It includes several screwdriver bits that can help open up devices that aren’t accessible via standard tools, plus a few tweezers, spudgers and picks for carefully taking apart more sensitive components. Naturally, the whole set works well with the many repair guides on iFixit’s site. Dad should still exercise caution with projects like these, but if he ever wants to, say, replace the battery of an old game console, he won’t necessarily need to pay someone else to do it. — Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter
Every dad can use a way to keep canned beverages cold on a hot day, and Brumate’s Hopsulator Trio functions as a koozie and a travel mug. There are a few different models, but I prefer the Trio’s 3-in-1 abilities. For 16 ounce cans, it’s an insulated aluminum holder. For 12 ounce cans, the Hopsulator comes with a reusable cold puck for even more efficient cooling. And as I mentioned, it comes with a lid so you can use it as a cup if you want. I use mine year round, but it gets the most work during the warmer months when I’m out at the grill or sitting on the deck. — B.S.
It used to be a pain to juggle a phone or tablet while also plugging in an additional battery pack. Not so with MagSafe and Qi2 devices, which can wirelessly juice up using battery packs like Anker’s MagGo and also keep those chargers attached magnetically. For busy dads, that makes it easy to charge while their phone is sitting in a pocket or bag, and it also keeps charging if they need to take a last-minute action pic. We recommend Anker’s 10,000 mAh pack since it can fully recharge a phone once, or be used to charge up a few devices. It’s so useful, most dads wouldn’t want to leave home with one. — D.H.
For dads who are frequent fliers, the Twelve South AirFly Pro 2 is a handy gadget that’ll let them connect their wireless headphones to a plane’s inflight entertainment system. Just pair the transmitter with the cans, then plug it into the seat’s headphone jack. The device gets over 25 hours of battery life, so it should easily endure through longer flights, plus it can connect to two sets of headphones at once, just in case mom wants to watch the same movie or show with them. It’s not limited to planes, either — it can add Bluetooth to older treadmills, car stereos and many other devices with a 3.5mm jack as well. — J.D.
I’ve loved Withings’ hybrid watches, which put all the health tech you need into an analog watch body, for more than a decade. The ScanWatch Nova crams the ScanWatch 2’s hardware into a diver’s watch body and looks far more luxurious than it actually costs. And, of course, it’s got all the fancy health and fitness equipment you might be interested in buying for a beloved adult.
Buried inside that case is a built-in ECG, heart rate and oximeter, as well as a temperature sensor. You’ll get sleep monitoring, automatic activity tracking and access to the best in class Withings Health app. But for me, the most compelling feature is the 30-day battery life, which will give you, uh, 29 and a half more days of life on a single charge than the comparable Apple Watch.
Actually, the most compelling feature is the analog subdial that’ll keep track of your step count set to whatever target suits you. If it’s getting late in the day and you want to make sure you’ve got your 10,000 steps in, that information is right there. So, it’s useful, practical, stylish and will outperform plenty of other smartwatches on the market — any questions? — Daniel Cooper, Senior Reporter
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