Gadgets: Vacation-ready gizmos

Who can say what the best travel gadgets are, especially since we all have different iPods and cameras?

On a recent cruise to the eastern Caribbean I stockpiled my usual array of devices; all portable enough to not elevate my suitcase weight limits or anger a TSA agent about what I was taking on the plane.

Starting with the flight from DFW to Florida, my wife and I brought our separate video iPods since our tastes are different. While we both enjoy the movies, having to sit and hold it for the three-hour flight can be kind of annoying.

To the rescue for my wife comes the Joby Gorillapod. This device is mainly sold in camera stores as a tri-pod (see usage below) but it also comes with a suction-cup clip, which gives a vacuum-tight grip. It held the iPod in place on the plane's tray table for the entire flight.

Information: www.joby.com, prices vary depending on the size of the unit

I used the iRizer MiniRizer stand, which I got from DrBott.com for the same purpose. This device allows you to rest just about any portable media player for viewing and even adjusts to angles of 40 or 50 degrees. It separates into two small pieces that can easily fit into your pocket.

Since the trip, I've been keeping it on my desk to store my PDA for easy viewing.

Information www.matias.ca/irizer, $14.95

Once we got to our room we had to wait a while for our luggage to arrive.

So while killing time on the balcony, I hooked up my Logitech Pure-Fi Mobile speaker to my iPod.

While this isn't a speaker that is portable enough to fit into a pocket (10.75 x 1.0 x 2.75 inches), a travel case is included and it fits easily into my computer bag.

Once connected, four two-inch speakers are on the front of the unit and two very handy metal legs flip out on the bottom to allow the unit to sit on a table top.

Included is a rechargeable battery for about 12 hours of play

Information www.logitech.com, $149.99

Who goes on a trip without a camera? Some might, but I didn't -- I took three. All are of the pocket-sized, point-and-shoot variety, with capabilities to take both still photos and video.

My everyday camera is a Canon 850IS, which stays with me most of the time and works great. I also have the Canon WP-DC15 waterproof case for the camera to take it underwater. This one goes to depths of up to 130 feet (40 meters). The underwater case also provides added protection from dust, dirt and one of the biggest vacation enemy's of a vacation, SAND!

Information: www.usa.canon.com

In addition, on this trip I added two cameras, both chosen because they can be taken into the water for upcoming snorkeling trips.

One is the 10.1 Megapixel Olympus Stylus 1030 SW. This is a shockproof, waterproof to 33 feet, freeze-proof, crush-proof and dust-proof camera.

The waterproof feature was by far the best part, especially since there was no need for a waterproof housing accessory to fit around the camera itself.

Just make sure all the doors to hold the battery, memory card and USB cable doors are closed and just dive right in.

Information: www.olympusamerica.com, MSRP $399.99

The last camera was a late addition. I got a call from Sony two days before I left, asking me if I wanted to test out a 10.1 Megapixel Sony W170 and Marine Pack (underwater housing). I said, "Sure, but you better get it to me tomorrow since I leave the day after that."

Thanks to FedEx, it arrived in time, and like all the others it was small and compact enough to take along. I mainly used this camera in the water and it performed great. One thing about working underwater -- the controls have to be easy to use, and this was the case with this one.

The camera features a 28mm-to-140mm 35mm-equivalent f/3.3-5.2 lens along with a 2.7-inch LCD. Before taking the camera into the ocean, I set the LCD to its brightest setting (easier to view underwater) and set the camera on the underwater scene mode setting.

Sony rates the Marine Pack to go to depths of 132 feet, although I didn’t come close to that.

From there the camera did the rest, and I was really pleased with the photos it produced. Users should remember, while the underwater settings will work for taking photos out of the water, you should change it back to land settings for more accurate color balances.

Information:www.sony.com, W170 $299.99, marine pack $199.99

With three cameras, chargers, extra batteries, cables, memory cards and the Joby Gorillapod to use as a tripod, I had to have something to carry it all in.

My Lowepro SlingShot 100 camera bag was perfect for this trip. It's well-designed with padding to provide comfort for your equipment along with being comfortable while carrying it.

The bag allows you to easily rotate it from your back to the front, where pouches open for quick access. It includes these built-in features: a memory card holder, raincoat (to cover the bag), monopod holder and straps, and clips to wear the bag as a fanny pack.

For me, it held everything to perfection, and I carried it on the plane problem-free. The way the bag is designed, there is no strain on your back or waist. I found the raincoat handy to put on while riding out to a snorkel trip on a catamaran.

Information: http://www.lowepro.com target="blank">www.lowepro.com, $82.99

While on the topic of photos, on the way back to the ship in St. Maartin, my group found the ship was positioned perfectly for our group photo. So instead of handing the camera off to some unknown tourist to take a photo with half of our heads cut off, I used the Gorillapod (which held my wife's iPod on the plane), which was perfect for this.

All I had to do was attach it to the gate (where security was checking passports for re-entry), load the camera onto it and set the timer. By the look on the face of one of the security workers, he didn't look too happy about this move, but nevertheless we got the photo we wanted.

Aside from these main items, I did have a few other gadgets along for the ride.

With a trip like this, a lot of digital images were produced, and I would have hated to store them on my computer and have some kind of hard drive failure when I got home, so I brought along my Kingston Technology's 8 GB DataTraveler High Speed 2.0 USB Flash drive.

This was more than enough to back up photos everyday in a secure manner on a device that fit in my pocket on the trip home.

I brought my computer along, but it wasn't going to leave the room, at least on my account, so I just locked it to the leg of a chair with a Targus Ultra Max Laptop Cable Lock. While it won't stop theft 100 percent, I felt it would look kind of odd to see someone walking down a hallway with a laptop locked to a chair -- along with giving me the comfort of knowing it was locked up while I was out of the room.

The final gadget I had up my sleeve was my iTurbo battery charger for my iPod. The iTurbo is ideal for charging an iPod on the go, and this came in great during days at sea. We spent up to 10 hours at the pool -- and five of those I spent listening to music and watching Jimmy Buffett videos.

With this charger, it only took two AA batteries and it kept me running all day. But it doesn't end there -- the batteries I used were rechargeable USBcell AA batteries from Moxia Energy. They have a cap that pops off to reveal a USB connector for charging, and all I had to do was put them in my laptop's USB ports overnight for charging. So all I needed was a pair of the batteries, with no backups needed.