Have you picked out a gift for dad yet? No, it’s not his birthday — at least probably not. But Father’s Day is getting perilously close. Sunday, June 17 close.
You didn’t forget mom on Mother’s Day, so don’t make the mistake of skipping that other big parental celebration day. And don’t even think of those classic gifts like a tee-shirt emblazoned with a dad joke, a fishing hat or a tape measure. Dads love tech just as much as anyone else. Maybe even more so. So get him something cool this year.
If you’re stumped, we’ve put together a Father’s Day gifts guide with 10 sure hit high-tech gifts any dad would love to receive.
High-Tech Father’s Day Gifts Guide: Nomad Charging Wallet
The Nomad Charging Wallet is a modern, high-tech spin on a classic Father’s Day gift choice.
The wallet part is a big, rustic, bifold version made of premium Horween leather. It holds a handful of credit cards and lots of cash. And that leather will only look better as it ages.
The high-tech spin? The spine of the wallet conceals a Lithium-ion battery (safely housed in a strong aluminum enclosure), with an integrated Lightning cable. The wallet will fully charge an iPhone 7, letting dad come to the rescue should someone forget to charge their smartphone before an outing.
High-Tech Father’s Day Gifts Guide: Goal Zero Yeti Portable Power Station
Goal Zero makes a line of Yeti portable power stations that are virtual dad magnets.
These aren’t your typical portable battery packs. They feature extremely high capacity, support for solar recharging (so they can be used off the grid) and they’re portable, so they can be carried (or wheeled) to a remote location. Even the smallest offers a myriad of ports including an AC outlet.
I tested the Goal Zero Yeti 1400 — which is not even the highest capacity model — and it powered a full-sized refrigerator for over 12 hours.
High-Tech Father’s Day Gifts Guide: Audio Technica Bluetooth Turntable and Headphones
The Audio Technica AT-LP60BK-BT turntable brings dad and his milk crates full of records kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
He gets a fully automatic belt drive, dual speed turntable from a trusted name. And it has integrated Bluetooth so he can play those records and stream the audio wirelessly to a Bluetooth speaker or headphones (like the matching Audio Technica SonicFuel BT headphones).
High-Tech Father’s Day Gifts Guide: Audeara Headphones
Has dad ever asked if you’re hard of hearing, especially when referencing your music? Maybe it’s actually him…
If so, these Audeara headphones would be an inspired choice as a Father’s Day gift. They look like your average set of over-ear wireless headphones. But the wearer first completes an app-based, detailed hearing test. Based on those results, the audio on the headphones is programmed to provide playback completely customized to their hearing profile.
The results can be spectacular, especially for someone who may have rung up a few decades of hearing damage.
High-Tech Father’s Day Gifts Guide: Nest Learning Thermostat
One of those dad stereotypes that often has more than a seed of truth to it is the role as keeper of the home temperature. The guardian who maintains the thermostat at a reasonable temperature to keep those heating and cooling bills from “going through the roof.”
That’s why he’ll love the Nest Learning Thermostat. He can keep tabs on that temperature and adjust it from anywhere using his smartphone. It will “learn” his patterns and start adjusting the temperature automatically on a schedule. The smart thermostat will even turn itself down when no-one is in the house, saving even more energy — and money.
Even better, buy a Nest Learning Thermostat between now and September 3 and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) will throw in a free Google Home Mini smart speaker.
High-Tech Father’s Day Gifts Guide: DeskView Standing Desk
Does your dad work a desk job, sitting all day?
Studies are concluding that this is not great for long-term health. But standing desks can be expensive and bulky. So consider giving him a DeskView.
This is the world’s first window-mounted standing desk. It attaches to any glass surface in five seconds thanks to a pair of industrial strength suction cups mounted to aerospace-grade aluminum brackets that support a shelf that’s big enough for a laptop. It holds up to 40 pounds, it’s solid, and DeskView can be removed instantly without leaving a mark. It can also be used as a shelf to hold gear or decorations in a room that lacks free wall space.
I’ve tried one and it works surprisingly well.
High-Tech Father’s Day Gifts Guide: BenQ treVolo S Portable Electrostatic Speaker
A final musical option. This one gives dad all sorts of bragging rights and it will look like nothing else out there.
The BenQ treVolo S is the world’s smallest Bluetooth electrostatic speaker. What does this actually mean? Cool looks and great sound.
The main case holds the battery, a pair of standard drivers for midrange, and bass reflectors for low end. Pretty standard issue there, although visually it’s nicely done. The magic is the two thin panels that fold out on either side. These are flat, electrostatic panels (typically found only in large and very expensive speaker systems) that provide crystal clear high frequency audio, with virtually no distortion.
High-Tech Father’s Day Gifts Guide: ASUS Rapture router
Is Wi-Fi the new battleground in your home? If so, dad is probably stuck in the middle, trying to keep kids from arguing over who is using all the bandwidth. Been there, done that and it’s not a fun spot to be in.
There are plenty of new Wi-Fi routers that will help to alleviate Wi-Fi woes. But why not give dad something that will utterly annihilate Wi-Fi as a source of conflict?
The ASUS Rapture GT-AC5300 router is an award-winner that was built for PC gaming — among the most demanding of Wi-Fi uses. The tri-band Rapture offers 5300 Mbps of total bandwidth, with eight adjustable antennas blasting it at high power. Of course it also has all the latest 802.11ac technology including MU-MIMO, beamforming, smart connect and adaptive QoS. 4K video streaming, gaming and smart devices won’t make this wireless beast even break a sweat.
High-Tech Father’s Day Gifts Guide: Vizio P-Series Quantum TV
This next idea is one that requires two asks from the gift giver. First, it’s not going to be cheap. And second, it doesn’t officially arrive in stores until later this summer, so you’ll have to make do with a picture of it on Father’s Day.
I have seen it in person and I can assure you, this TV is worth both the wait and the cash outlay. Vizio’s P-Series Quantum TV is a 65-incher that’s expected to retail for about $2,200.
But… Dad will get a lot of TV for that money. It features LCD quantum dot technology and 192 local dimming zones, with a whopping 2,000 nits peak brightness. I’ve seen it side-by-side with OLED, and I found the P-Series Quantum outperformed the more expensive OLED for color. Of course it’s 4K resolution with Dolby Vision HDR, and it also has voice support for Google Assistant and Amazon.com, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Alexa.
High-Tech Father’s Day Gifts Guide: Traeger Timberline 850 Grill
Finally another high tech twist on a dad gift classic: the Traeger Timberline 850Grill.
This is high quality wood pellet grill from Traeger. It can get hot enough to grill, but it’s strength is in long, slow, low temperature wood fire smoking, using hardwood pellets. With 850 square inches of cooking capacity on three grills, it’s capable of handling nine chickens or eight full rib racks at a time.
What makes it a high-tech grill is its WiFIRE controller. This grill is Wi-Fi connected and you can use the app on your smartphone to check and control temperature, engage Super Smoke mode (my favorite), set timers and even let the grill cook according to a program.
I have a review unit at the moment and I’m dreading the thought of going back to a gas grill that doesn’t have smoke on demand and doesn’t let me lower the temperature 5 degrees while I’m standing in line at the beer store. If your dad loves BBQ, he will lose it for this grill.
As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
