I think I finally have my husband on board in the area of preparedness. This comes courtesy to the nifty gadgets at Bass Pro Shops. Our young pre-teen son has been on board with me regarding this issue, so we all went to Bass Pro Shops as the remnants of Fay approached our area. I was in the camping department of the store while my son and husband roamed around near by. My son came up to me with a hand crank radio and said, "Mom, Daddy likes the gadgets here." I had that cat that ate the canary grin on my face, and I thought of you guys because someone mentioned that the way to get my husband on board might be through gadgets.

It now seems that my husband will tolerate the other stuff that comes with preparedness if he can have a gadget or two.....or ten.

So my question is: What is your favorite gadget that is also very useful?

Thanks for your help!

I went to a Bass Pro Shop for the first time a few months ago. That place is awesome. I love the atmosphere. I've heard Cabela's is the same way, but I haven't found one of those yet.

Anyways, my favorite gadget is my Katadyn Combi water filter. It's amazing how you can pump clear drinking water out of a mud puddle.

My favorite gadget, or perhaps I should say that my most used gadget is my Leatherman Charge Ti. Does that qualify as a gadget?

If we're talking electronics, it would be my Eton Grundig FR200 radio. I use it every day... Which probably assures that in an emergency it will die. While I've not "needed" it in an emergency, we get a lot of power outages in our neighborhood, and it has been nice to turn on some music. During one outage, I fired up the grill, turned on the radio, and my patio became a nice little gathering spot for the neighborhood. LOL

I also have a Freeplay Flashlight that has gotten a lot of use during the frequent blackouts. I charged it up once per month and it lasted about 3 years. Unfortunately, I think it's about to go. I can feel the gear grinding and slipping when I charge it now so it's been relegated to a fifth string backup.

My Fenix L2D CE Flashlight might be my favorite flashlight/gadget. I went camping recently, and it got a lot of good use. It's waiting for the next blackout.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear that your husband is slowly coming to the conclusion that preparedness isn't paranoia so much as good common sense.

My favorite gadget is my Eton FR150 radio. It is smaller than most of their radios, but has a real flashlight to it and its form makes it useable as a flashlight. It also charges from the USB port on my computer (with proper cable) or from sitting in a sunny window. So it is always charged when needed.
A close second is my Doug Ritter PSP, which is actually a small bag of gadgets. But I'm a wilderness survival junkie from way back, so I'm biased.

Congratulations! But you have to remember, those are not "gadgets," those are "tools". At least that is what I always told my ex...

That's fantastic news. BPS has a great little flashlight the SureFire G2...very bright and under $40.

I think my favorite "gadget" is the Garmin GPS. Really great. Runner up would have to be the Katadyn water filter. Nice knowing I won't be without clean water.

CityBoy - Cabelas in KS put Bass Pro to shame. Prices are a tad cheaper and the store is amazing. A great road trip for the family. You can stay at the GreatWolf Lodge, with indoor water park...they share a parking lot.

Oh yes OBG, I know they are tools, but I will let him think they are toys. It's kind of like kids when they find out a toy is educational. They aren't as likely to want to play with it! If I tell him the gadget could be useful in an emergency, he may run!

This is one of my newest and coolest toys

Mike

That's a long way for me to go to the store. LOL

I frequent the Cabelas outside of Omaha even though Kearney is a bit closer. Cabelas has larger stores than Bass Pro with corresponding more variety, but it's a blanket statement to say that they will have cheaper prices.
That said, I'm driving to Kearney tonight as they have Marlins on sale and daddy needs a new rifle