If you’re a driving enthusiast, you can make your experience of the open road even more pleasurable and exciting than it is now by adding a range of gadgets to your vehicle. Whether you want to get to your destination quicker, see better when driving in the dark or simply show off with some neat additions to your vehicle, there are countless pieces of tech to help you out.
Here are just a handful of the gadgets every driver needs I their car right now:
A Thermal Imaging Camera
If you often drive at night and you find it difficult to see what’s going on around you, the FLIR ONE Infrared Camera could change your life. Used in conjunction with any Android phone it will turn your device into a thermal imaging camera, which will ensure that you can always see what’s happening on the road ahead, and you’ll feel like James Bond when you use it!
A Sat Nav
If you don’t already have a satellite navigation system in your car, what are you thinking? The Sat Nav is an essential piece of kit for any driver. It will help you to easily find your destination, work out the quickest route and tell you in real time how far you are from your final stop. If you do a lot of traveling away from home, there is no way that you should be driving without a Sat Nav, especially since they are now more affordable than they’ve ever been before.
Wiper Wizard Blade Restorer
If your current windshield wipers simply didn’t do the job effectively enough, and your view of the open road is often obscured by dirty smears, treat yourself to the Wiper Wizard Blade Restorer, which will sort out those old windscreen wipers, so that they’re as good as new, giving you a clear, streak-free view of your surroundings.
An Alcohol Tester
If you love a drink, but you’re a sensible sort, and you don’t want to do anything dangerous, it’s never a bad idea to have your very own alcohol tester at hand in the glove compartment. If you’ve had a drink or two and you’re not sure if you’re okay to drive, just blow into it and you’ll either see a red light, which means you’ll be walking that night or a green light, which means you’re fine to get behind the wheel.
A Portable Jumpstart Kit
Most of us have experienced the inconvenience that is a flat battery at some point in our driving careers. If we’ve been lucky, there will have been someone else around to help, if not we’ll have been stuck on the road until help arrives. Now, with the advent of the portable jumpstart kit, no one ever needs to get stranded due to a flat battery anymore. The simple device has its own power source, which means, once you attach its clamps to your battery, you can get the juice you need and be off again on your journey faster than ever before.
There’s no guarantee that someone will be around to give you jump when you need it, which is why it’s wise to always keep a jump starter kit in your vehicle.
A Dashcam
Are you sick and tired of people cutting you off, driving dangerously and generally putting you and everyone else on the road at risk? It might be worth installing a dashcam, which will record every second of your journeys, so that should the worst happen and you get caught up in an accident, you will have evidence to show who was at fault. This could come in very handy if you need to make an insurance claim at any point in the future.
A Touch Screen Radio
If you’re a bit retro in that, you still prefer to listen to the radio over your iPod or smartphone when you’re driving, but you like the convenience of modern touch screen displays, installing a touchscreen radio will see you right. Buying one of these for your car will help you to more quickly and safely change the station, which in these times of increased road traffic accidents is obviously a boon.
The Drop Stop
Don’t you just hate it when you spill half of your sweets down the side of your car seat? It’s almost impossible to get them back, then depending on what they are, in a few days, weeks or months, they will start to smell and you’ll have to get your car professionally detailed. Unless you have the Drop Stop – a great device that will eliminate those annoying seat gaps and ensure you don’t lose anything again.
A Travel Car Bed
Have you ever ended up stranded in the middle of the road when your car has broken down or had to endure a nap in your car on a cross-state journey? If so, you’ll be delighted to hear that you can now buy a very comfortable PVC bed that has been specially designed to keep you comfortable when you have to sleep in your car!
A Reverse Camera Kit
This one is a bit expensive, but if you or another driver in your household has trouble reverse parking, it is probably worth the expense. It’ll be cheaper than getting rid of all those dings and paying for your neighbor to have a new fence erected anyway!
Basically, reverse camera kits enable you, via a small LCD screen mounted in the front of your car, to see what’s going on at the back of your vehicle, so you can avoid getting into any tight spots and park perfectly every time.
The NAVDY In-Car Projector
If you’ve always been jealous of James Bond and his cars’ many great gadgets, and if you have plenty of cash to splash on your vehicle, you might want to look onto the NAVDY – an in-car projector, which is compatible with most smartphones, and which is able to float a projector at a distance of 2 meters in front of your car. What’s the point? I hear you ask. Well, basically, you can use this to control your phone with the simple swipe of a hand. So, whether you want to check Google Maps, switch song on Spotify or take a phone call from your office, you can do so with ease.
A Bluetooth Car Kit
Most new cars are being sold with Bluetooth and even, in some cases, wireless technology included as standard, but if your car is older, that doesn’t mean you have to miss out. Simply invest in a Bluetooth car kit, and you’ll be able to play music and take calls through your car’s speakers just like those new car owners can.
A Wireless Car Vacuum
Wireless vacuum cleaners are all the rage in the home because they are more lightweight and easier to fit into all those little nooks and crannies, not to mention the stairs than traditional corded models, but where they really excel is when it comes to cleaning the car. There are now many models of wireless handheld vacuums, which do away with the need to be near an extension cord, so you can more easily clean the entirety of your car without having to move it around all the time.
Obviously, these are just a few suggestions, which I hope illustrate the breadth of gadgets available to help you make the most of your car. There are many more on the market, which is why it is always worth exploring specialist car stores and websites to see what else you can find.
