Top 10 Gadgets I Want For Christmas – And Maybe You Would Too? [2010]

Christmas is closing in on us, but according to the stores and malls it kinda looks like it’s Christmas already. It’s amazing how they manage to make everything look Christmassy sooner and sooner almost every year.

Anywho, what’s a tech blog without a top 10 list of some of the greatest gadgets that most of us would love to see under the Christmas tree? Except for just a tiny problem of course: Price! The price tag on many of these gadgets might be a quite a hurdle for most of us. But then again, it’s Christmas and you’ll never know what Santa might bring…

Maybe you’ve already read my 2009 version of the “Top 10 Gadgets I want for Christmas – and maybe you would to?“-list? Whether or not, I’d just like to revisit some of the items from that list real quick. First there’s the Apple Magic Mouse. I didn’t get it for Christmas but I bought it later on – and had it for about a few hours, it sucked!

Then there’s the Sennheiser HD800 headset which, back then, had a price tag of $1,400. I’d never pay that much for headphones! Instead, I ended up with the Bose QuietComfort 15 acoustic noise cancelling headphones which I really like – and you can read my Bose QuietComfort 15 review right here.

Finally there’s the Canon EOS 7D DSLR camera body. Not long after I made that list, and before Christmas in fact, I wound up purchasing my very first DSLR camera. It was a Nikon D5000 – and not a Canon (thank god, I almost feel like saying… just kidding, I don’t mind Canon DSLR’s)…

Let’s get on with the 2010 list. Cheapest items first…

Magic Trackpad from Apple ($69)

Last year I had the Magic Mouse from Apple on this spot. This year, it’s the Magic Trackpad. As mentioned earlier, I found the Magic Mouse to be terrible. I don’t think the Magic Trackpad is a great product for those who will use it all day long when working in front of the computer, but I think it would be cool for a media center computer or similar, or a kitchen computer. A place where it’s not in use several hours a day.

Kata DR-467i Camera Bag ($85)

Newbie photographers need a good camera bag to protect their new gear. Photographers who are really into their hobby (or profession) will go through a ton of camera bags, always looking to find the perfect camera bag (which doesn’t exist, I might as well tell you, there’s no single bag perfect for everything!). The Kata DR-467i camera bag is recommended by many photographers and Kata is good quality too.

Western Digital My Passport Essential 1TB ($129)

Small 2.5″ external drives are more expensive than the bigger 3.5″ drives, but they often don’t require an extra power supply to be attached, like the bigger ones do, plus the 2.5″ drives are easy to carry around with you in the bag – for whenever you need it. One awesome feature of this WD My Passport Essential SE 1TB USB external drive is the built-in hardware encryption. You need not to worry if you lose your drive, your files are safe as it requires a password to unlock the drive and access your files. I use this drive as my backup drive and it’s great (so I don’t really want this for Christmas, but I feel it deserves to be on this list).

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS & Watch ($137)

A watch with a built-in GPS receiver and heart rate monitor. I love it – so cool. I probably wouldn’t need it for its intended purpose, such as running or maybe just hiking. But Garmin Forerunner 305 is able to calculate how many calories you burn throughout the day – which I’d like to know and I’m sure it would be easier (and more fun) to burn more calories throughout the day when you have a cool GPS watch to help you…

Eye-Fi Pro X2 8GB Class 6 SD Memory Card ($140)

Do you also hate having to either plug in the USB cable in your camera – or take the SD card out and insert it in your card reader – each time you need to download your pictures? Well, I do. That’s why I’d love to have a wireless Eye-Fi SD card that simply transfers all the photos directly to my computer, using my wireless network. This Eye-Fi Pro X2 8GB card even supports RAW files (also read: RAW vs JPEG). As of November 12th, this memory card comes with 1 year Flickr Pro membership when you buy at Amazon (US only).

iPod Nano 8GB 6th generation ($144)

This new iPod Nano 6th generation is cool, so cool! I love the little touch screen which is probably not at all that useful for much else than navigating music and such, but that’s okay. You can even wear it as a watch if you can find a proper wrist band to put it on. Not sure what I’d do with it if I had one, since I already have an iPhone 4, still, I think this new iPod Nano is cool!

Sony HX5V Digital Camera ($292)

This little Sony compact digital camera is so awesome. You can read my Sony HX5V review if you like, or just take my word for how great this camera is great. This tiny little plastic box holds a 10.2 megapixel sensor, 3″ LCD, 10x zoom, HD video, built-in HDR, GPS geotagging, etc. I highly recommend the Sony HX5V. An alternative is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 (TZ10 in Europe) at $259 which has many of the same features.

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 lens for DSLR ($799)

Ideally, I’d want the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, but at $2159, I’m gonna pass for now – that’s just too much money, though I’m sure it’s “great glass”, as they say. A much cheaper alternative, and often recommended, is the Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG HSM II Macro lens. Another alternative, also cheap, is Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8. It’s my understanding that the Tamron has better optics, but a slower and more noisy autofocus, as well as the general build quality of the Tamron is poorer than Sigma. FroKnowsPhoto.com explains why you might want a f/2.8 lens instead of those f/5.6’s you can find a lot cheaper and smaller.

Nikon D7000 DSLR Camera Body ($1199)

With that sweet Sigma 70-200/2.8 lens above, you’ll need a camera body – and what else to get than the brand new Nikon D7000? It’s so popular that you might not even be able to get a hold of one before Christmas, it seems to be sold out a lot of places already, so let’s hope Nikon will be able to supply more, sooner rather than later. Nikon D7000 has a magnesium alloy body, really great ISO sensitivy, 6fps, 3″ LCD, HD video recording and a ton of other great features – it’s mouth watering!

MacBook Air ($1199)

The new 11.6″ MacBook Air from Apple is a stunning little netbook. In fact, I don’t even think you can call it a netbook – it’s too powerful for that plus it has a full-size QWERTY keyboard as well. It’s more like a little laptop notebook. I wouldn’t buy one myself as I don’t have the need for one, it’s too much money for a gadget – but I wouldn’t mind getting it for Christmas… like that’s ever gonna happen 🙂

That’s it! Now, what do YOU want for Christmas?

Now it’s your turn – leave a comment below and let the world (and Santa Claus) know what your gadget wishes for this year’s Christmas might be – it doesn’t have to be something from the list above.

Oh, and I don’t mind jokes about my name being somewhat related to “Santa Claus”… I use it myself whenever I have to spell/say my name to someone in a country where my name is not so well-known, it always results in a smile 🙂