- Publisher: Ecoloblue
- MSRP: $1199-1699
Ecoloblue Environmental Water Generator
We’ve honestly been wanting to feature the Ecoloblue Environmental Water Generator in the guide for as long as we’ve been doing it. What’s so special about it? The machine makes water!!! That’s right, I’m sitting here right now, drinking an ice cold glass of water that the Ecoloblue pulled right out of the air. How freakin sweet is that?!?
This machine pulls water directly from the air and then runs it through a reverse osmosis filter, several layers of carbon filters and then even runs it through a UV filter to kill off any potential bad things that might have come in through the air. We can’t speak highly enough about this machine. Depending on the model that you buy, it can make between 26 and 30 liters of water a day and it can store over three gallons at a time… at the temperature of your choosing! again, depending on which model you purchase, you either get hot or cold options (with digital temp control) or when you get the 30 S model, it can even be dispensed to you in a carbonated form… Kinda makes that soda stream you bought look like garbage, right?
This fits into so many categories for gifts. Not only is it perfect for the kitchen, and it is truly an epic gift, but this is also an essential survival tool for when society breaks down and the world ends at the end of next year. When everyone else is in water lines waiting for their daily ration because the whole public water supply is contaminated with zombie virus, you’ll be kicking back in your house, sucking water straight from the air and into your frosty glass. You don’t even have to worry about when the power grid shuts down because the Ecoloblue also has an add on solar generator that you can buy!
Get yours today at: Ecoloblue
- Publisher: Think Geek
- MSRP: $24.99
- Age: 6+
Huey the Color Copying Chameleon Lamp
When we saw this item from Think Geek we knew that we had to test it out. Chameleons are cool. They always will be. Now, the kids are loving them too because of Disney’s movie “Tangled”. There are plenty of cool chameleon toys out there, but there are not really any items like this. They call him Huey the Color Copying Chameleon Lamp. You can use him as a plugged in night light or you can throw some batteries in him and carry him around to have a lot of fun. You see, he’s got a sensor on his underside which will cause him to light up in the same color as anything you place him on. We put this little guy to the test for several days and we were unable to stump him. Sadly, he can’t really do plaids or spots, but who would really expect that anyways. Point is, this is a great stocking stuffer for any grown geek and an excellent lamp/ toy for any kid over 6.
Get yours today at: Think Geek
- Publisher: Silver Screen Machines
- MSRP: $79.99
Die Cast Cars of Classic Movies and TV Shows
This is a great gift for car collectors and general pop culture geeks in your life. Silver Screen Machines has taken some of the greatest cars from TV Shows and movies and turned them into exquisitely detailed 1:18 scale models. Right now they are offering: The Munster coach and Dragula from The Munsters, Greased Lightning from the film ‘Grease’ and Speed Racer’s Mach 5. We only had a chance to look over the Greased Lightning, but if it’s quality is indicative of the rest of the line, all of these cars are worth owning.
What can we really say about this car? You can tell that there was a lot of care put into the design of the vehicle. it is spot on from what we remember from the movie and is sure to make anyone who loved ‘Grease’ break into song. The paint job was fantastic and very clean, there’s just nothing bad to say. If we were going to improve the car in any way, we’d probably just turn the radio on the dash into a sound chip and have it play the ‘Greased Lightning’ song, but that would probably be a licensing nightmare and take the cars price point way up. This is a definite buy!
Get yours today at: Autoworldstore.com
- Publisher: Hasbro
- MSRP: $7.99
- Age: 6+
Hasbro’s Kreo Bumblebee
When I was a kid, I had the nasty habit of wanting to know what made my Transformers work… so I would take them apart with a screw driver. If only Kreo’s were around when I was young. Kreo’s are Hasbro’s answer to LEGOs. In fact, the Kreo pieces even work with LEGOs.
There are several levels of Kreo Sets out there for Transformers. We tried the smallest level and it was actually a lot of fun. Unlike a normal transformer, you don’t actually transform the car into a robot. You take him apart and build the robot. However, the car rolls really well on the table and the robot form has great articulation and an excellent robot head. I can only imagine that the bigger sets are even more spectacular. If you have a kid who likes Transformers and likes building toys, there is probably a set that is right for them.
Get yours today at: Hasbro
- Publisher:Pleoworld
- MSRP: $469.00
- Age: Age: 6 (with supervision) – 60 million years old
PleoRB The Robot Dinosaur
I remember the first time I saw a Pleo, it was way back when I was writing for a magazine called Toy Shop. In the years since, the Pleo, which was cool even back then, has been revamped into one of the sweetest creatures we’ve ever seen. I don’t want to call this thing a toy, that just wouldn’t be fair. Pleo is a robotic companion. He isn’t quite the bear from AI, but he’s the closest thing that you can buy on the consumer market. I could spend pages talking about all the features on a Pleo. First, he’s a super cute dinosaur… like Land Before Time cute. Next, this isn’t just some out of the box robot. When you get him (or her) it is in infant mode. Over the course of several days it matures into a playful, puppy type dino pal. You can teach him tricks, get him to sing for you, he’s got cameras and sensors to recognize touch and shapes. As your owner, you name him and he’ll treat you like a master. if you drop him, he’ll act injured and you’ll have to nurse him back to health. There’s so much that he does, it is really the closest I’ve seen to a real pet. You even have to feed him. Also, if you are mean to him, he gets depressed, so be sure to pet him and be nice and keep him happy.
The cool thing about Pleo is that he works on several levels. He’s a great toy for the whole family. He’s also an excellent training tool for kids who won’t stop yammering about wanting a puppy. Most interestingly, he’s also a great gift for your older relatives who live alone. Because Pleo reacts to emotional touch and stimuli, he makes a great virtual companion for the elderly… also, if they forget to feed him, he won’t die in the corner and stink up the house. We can’t recommend the PleoRB enough!
Get yours today at Pleoworld
- Publisher: Hasbro
- MSRP: $9.99
- Age: 6+
Nerf Vortex Gun
It isn’t Christmas if there isn’t a Nerf Gun under the tree and the new Vortex Proton is the perfect gift to keep your siblings at bay when they go grabbing for your presents. It seems like every year, Nerf figures out how to shoot their spongy little ammo that much further and this year is no exception. Instead of darts, this gun uses foam discs that are really easy to load and really fun to fire at someone’s forehead when they are not expecting it. If there was one thing that we’d suggest you watch out for on this gun it is the ammo supply. The gun comes with three discs. Anyone who has ever had a Nerf gun knows that three pieces of ammo will disappear pretty quick. If you are going to drop your cash on the gun, go ahead and spend $10 dollars more on a package of extra ammo. That way you’ll know the fun will last for more than 20 minutes!
Get yours today at: Hasbro
- Publisher: Knex
- MSRP: $60.00
- Age: 9+
Knex Doubleshot Coaster
Is your kid ready for a construction toy that takes them beyond just making buildings and vehicles out of LEGOS? It might be time to start looking at Knex’s really cool roller coaster kits, especially the new Double Shot. The Double Shot is an 1,100 piece kit that builds an amazing working roller coaster that stands over three feet tall and uses over 30 feet of track. We liked the challenge and the fun of this kit. It was great that they actually include a chain life for the coaster cars. It really gives it an authentic coaster feel. We also liked that you could go online and get alternate design plans. Of course, you can also use your imagination and build something totally new. If your kid is a builder… this is a must have.
Get yours today at: Knex.com
- Publisher: Knex
- MSRP: $9.00- $100.00
- Age: 6+
Knex Mario Kart Wii building Sets
Need a way to trick your kid into leaving the video games behind and doing something with their hands? The Knex Mario Kart Wii building sets will be your best friend for a long time to come. Knex has really done something spectacular here. They’ve essentially re-created the entire Mario Kart game in the real world, on a toy level scale. If your kid wants to play this game, they’ve got to actually build it themselves. They assemble the track. The assemble the Mario Kart Vehicles. They even assemble the obstacles and traps from the game. You can either start them out with something simple like just the car and a trap set like Mario Vs the Goombas or you can go all out and get some of the Bowsers’ Castle sets. When it is all together, the motorized karts will run the track and set off all the traps. It isn’t just a great toy for kids who love Mario Kart, it is a great entry point to introduce your kids to the basic physics behind rube goldberg machines.
Get yours today at: Knex
- Publisher:Triplogik
- MSRP: $149.95
Triplogik Mile Logger
Sometimes gifts might not be sexy, but they are super practical. The Triplogik is one of those gifts. At its core, the Triplogik is a simple to use mile logging device that will make your life a lot easier, especially if you are someone who drives a lot for work. We played around with this device for over a week and we were amazed at how well it worked. Hooking it into our cars was beyond simple… like, my techno-challenged 61 year old relative had no problem with it. The hardest part is just finding the right outlet in your car… but I suppose that would have been easier if I had checked my car’s manual.
This isn’t a GPS… it is sort of a reverse GPS. It tracks everywhere that you’ve been in your car with remarkable precision. The applications for it are great. If you are someone who drives a lot for work, this thing does all that stupid math that you wind up having to track and add up at the end of the year when you do taxes. Just push a couple buttons and the software will print out an exact report of your tax deductible miles to either turn into your boss for reimbursement or for you to use directly on your taxes.
We also figured that there are a couple other purposes that make this a great gift for parents of teenagers. Make using it a condition of driving privileges and you’ll learn all kinds of things about where they went when they told you they were at the library… and all sorts of other bits of info.
The Triplogik looks like a simple device… and it is simple to use, but it really is an amazing machine. Everyone around the office agreed that this is one of the top practical gifts of the year.
Get yours today at Triplogik
- Publisher: Think Geek
- MSRP: $29.99
Star Trek Enterprise Pizza Cutter
In past years we’ve had some great Star trek items. Star Trek Sporks, Star Trek Bottle Openers, but this is just a whole different level of awesome. Not only is this possibly the nicest and fanciest Pizza Cutter that we’ve ever seen, but it is shaped like the USS Enterprise! This isn’t some pirate job either. It is an actual licensed item from Star Trek. You know what that means? At 3 AM when Shatner wakes up with the munchies, this is probably what he uses to slice up his Totinos microwave pizza!
We can’t speak enough about how beautiful this thing is. If you weren’t looking closely at it, you would think it was a prop replica, not a kitchen utensil. It has a Laser Etched Stainless steel blade with solid zinc-alloy chromium plated body. Also, it cuts through a crust like a photo torpedo through a Kingon Bird of Prey.
