Best Travel Gear

With the cold harsh winter of 2004 just a distant memory, millions of Americans are taking trains, planes, and automobiles to enjoy some summer travel. Even with record high gas prices, this summer may very well be a banner year for hitting the road.

Whether you’re traveling to Athens for the Summer Olympics or just visiting Olympia, Washington to see relatives, there are all kinds of really cool travel gear to make your trip fun, entertaining and more productive.

Our team of BEST experts field-tested a new batch of gadgets and here’s the cream of the crop.

Best Music to Go
Without a doubt, it’s Apple’s iPod, now available in two flavors regular and mini. The regular iPod, known as “super-slim” comes equipped with either a 15GB, 20GB, or 40GB, hard drive. That translates to up to 10-thousand songs – that’s 4 weeks of 24/7 continuous playing music – which should be enough to keep you entertained on land, sea, and in the air.

The new iPod mini comes in 5 different colors and weighs in at 3.6 ounces. It holds 1000 songs and will play for 8 hours on a single charge. Both iPods can be used with either Window’s or Mac PC’s and both connect to Apple’s proprietary internet music source called iTunes which you can download free from www.apple.com. iTunes let’s you legally buy and download songs at 99-cents each and it discounts entire cd’s as well. It also categorizes all your tunes in a music library and even let’s you connect to internet radio stations with just a click of your mouse.

The mini-iPod retails for $249 and regular iPod ranges in price from $299 to $499 depending how you want it equipped. Both are available at www.apple.com.

Best Headset to Go
Any music player you buy comes with a set of basic ear buds, most are ok but the best way to listen to your tunes on the go is with a set of Bose QuietComfort 2 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones. Sure, they’re not cheap at $299 but once you give a listen you’ll be amazed at how great they really are. This headset has incredible built-in noise reduction technology. That means if you’re flying, the headset will produce a sound to you ears that counteracts the noise in the fuselage, basically balancing out both sounds to zero. So what you hear is only the pure music from your iPod, laptop, DVD player, or any other audio source you have it plugged into.

This headset works equally as well on a plane as it does in a car. So the next time you’re looking for a little peace and quiet, just slip on a set of these Bose and keep mouthing the words “I can’t hear you” while pointing to your ears. People around you will get the message fast. www.bose.com

Best Portable Audio System to Go
Here’s a great way to share music from your iPod or any other mp3 player. It’s the Cambridge SoundWorks Mick Fleetwood Model Twelve. In a nutshell it’s a self-contained music system packed in a rugged travel box that fits under an airline seat. Mick loves this system so much he put is name on it. The Model Twelve comes with an amplified subwoofer/satellite speaker system along with a high-end amplifier. Just plug your music device (or computer) into the system and you have instant big sound. It’s great to set up in a hotel room, a tent, or even use as your primary computer speakers at home. So forget those little tinny speakers, this system brings the best audio with you anywhere you go. Available at www.hifi.com for $400.

Best Way Not to Get Lost
Asking directions is just so analog. In this digital age finding any point in this country –and the world—is as easy as just a point and click. Garmin’s new GPSMAP 60C is an all-purpose waterproof GPS with a color monitor that’s packed with every conceivable feature you’ll ever need on the road. With a battery life of 30 hours, this little handheld will calculate travel routes in a flash and present them in detail on the screen. If you’re traveling in a car, the Garmin has a built in trip computer that provides odometer, stopped time, moving average, total time, max speed and more. Basically your entire trip can be analyzed on this device. It even has an integrated Outdoor Calendar so you can record best time and locations for your favorite hunting or fishing spots. Oh, it’ll also give you detailed turn-by-turn audio directions with audio alerts when using the MapSource software so you’ll never have to stop at that gas station again for directions. Available at www.garmin.com for $483.