Stay Home and Watch HDTV
Last month we reported on several ways to save gas this summer including buying a GPS with traffic info and gas prices. Since that report was published the price of gas has risen over a dollar a gallon along with the price of everything else. After much internal discussion we can only re-emphasize the conclusion that the best way to save gas is to not drive. Seriously, this may very well be the summer of the stay-at-home vacation and while you're staying home, why not watch HDTV? Look at it this way; a week-long road trip vacation is going to set you back at least $2,000. For that kind of money you can get a nice big LCD or Plasma TV that you'll be able to enjoy all year 'round.

Summer Olympics HDTV Extravaganza
There’s no shortage of good HD programming. The summer Olympics start in a few weeks and NBC has promised that this is going to be a premiere HD event with over 1000 HD cameras recording over 3500 hours of HD Olympics coverage. And before you know it, the fall TV season will be starting up including Monday night football. If you haven't watched football in HD you have been missing out on the visual treat of viewing players' tattoos in detail and checking out all the good looking babes (and guys) in the stands that on SD just look like one big blurry mass of people.

1080p vs. 1080i
We've been known to recommend 1080i/720p sets for good value. In fact, they're still good values and if you're looking at something smaller than 32 inches most people can't tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p at those screen sizes. Furthermore, all programming comes in over the air on cable or satellite at 1080i or 720p so a 1080p is really unnecessary. On the other hand, with less expensive (maybe) Blu-ray players on the horizon, upconverting DVD players and game consoles all driving 1080P on HDMI outputs, we say it's a good idea to future-proof your HDTV set purchase with a set that supports 1080P.

HDTV Suggestions
Here are some suggestions of HDTV sets that will cost lest than a week long vacation and still leave you with enough cash for maybe one fill up.

The Olevia 747i is at the top of Retrevo's LCD value list. For around $1,500 you get a 47" LCD TV that does 1080p and gets high marks from experts and users for image quality. Second on the value list is Sony's BRAVIA KDL 46V3000 which also does 1080p and costs around $1,600. It gets generally favorable reviews with some mention of blurring on fast action scenes. For a real bargain you should consider a 720p Vizio LCD TV. The 37" VX37LHDTV goes for well under $1,000 while the better rated, 32" VX32LHDTV which gets very good reviews costs around $600.

If Plasma is your choice then consider the Hitachi P50T501, 50" Plasma HDTV that does 1080p for a very affordable $1,300. Samsung offers the Samsung FP-T5884 a 58" 1080p Plasma TV for around $2,300 and LG has a 60" Plasma for about the same price called the LG 60PC1D while the top-rated Panasonic TH-50PZ77U, 50 inch plasma will cost you around $1600.

Projection TVs are probably going to disappear eventually as big LCD TVs become better and cheaper but you can still get a lot of HDTV for your money. Unfortunately part of that bigness comes in size for example, you can get the Samsung HL-S5687W, a big 56 inch rear projection TV that runs 1080p for less than $1000. You can get the Sony BRAVIA KDF-46E3000 a nice LCD-based projection TV for around $900.

Just like they say don’t mix drinking and driving, now it’s about the cell phone. No wonder, it isn’t safe to be answering calls or texting a message while driving, but with a handsfree, you can however be on the safer side.

On July 1st, 2008, California will join many other states that restrict cell phone use while driving. California's new law says that if you’re over 18, you can only talk and drive "handsfree." If you’re under 18, you can’t talk on a cell phone at all while driving. If you’re caught, the first offense will cost you $20 but won't add points to your license. The law is intended to save lives and make the roads safer however, you have to wonder how many additional accidents will result from adults and teenagers resorting to texting since texting is still legal while driving.

Here are some recommendations for going handsfree in your car:

1. Buy a Car With a Bluetooth Connection.
Many cars both foreign and domestic offer Bluetooth connectivity. Usually the sound comes through the car speakers (interrupting the stereo when a call takes place) while microphones placed in the headliner or dashboard pick up your voice. Currently over 30 brands of cars offer Bluetooth including Toyota, Lexus, Audi, Dodge and Land Rover. Many manufacturers make Bluetooth available as an option like Chrysler's UConnect or Audi's HandsFreeLink.

A lot of systems allow you to download your contact list and then use voice commands to dial the number by saying a name. Many high end models like those from Lexus, Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Jaguar incorporate Bluetooth into their navigation systems that also work with voice commands. Microsoft SYNC available in many American made cars like Ford and Buick uses text to speech technology to read text messages to you and voice recognition that allows you to make calls and control your music players.

2.Buy a Bluetooth Car Kit
If you're not in the market for a new car and are happy with your non-Bluetooth enabled car then maybe you should consider an aftermarket car kit. Some require professional installation, while others you can install yourself with a plug that goes to your cigarette lighter. You can get a basic Bluetooth car kit like the Motorola B 89170N T305 hands-free speaker phone for around $50. A more advanced one like the Nokia CK-7W Advanced Car Kit comes with a small remote that you can Velcro someplace close to the steering wheel. It sells for around $125. The Motorola HF850 Deluxe Bluetooth Car Kit costs a little over $200 and gets high marks for sound quality, ease of use and design.

3. Buy a New Car Stereo with Bluetooth
After market car stereo manufacturers are starting to offer Bluetooth capabilities. Pioneer has several stereos that feature Bluetooth. At the top end Pioneer is about to ship three Bluetooth compatible models in their AVIC line; The AVIC-F700BT, AVIC-900BT, and the AVIC-F90BT with an MSRP of $850, $1,100, and $1,200 respectively. All three offer a big 5.8 inch touchscreen along with voice recognition that can even control a connected iPod. If you can't afford to spend that much money, Pioneer offers the FH-P8000BT, FH-800BT, and DEH-P7000BT, all in the $300 range. They include hands-free calling along with HD radio and iPod capability.

4. Buy a Bluetooth enabled GPS
Bluetooth is becoming more common in GPS devices or, should we say, Personal Navigation Devices. Using a GPS with your Bluetooth phone uses the GPS device's built in microphone and speaker for hands-free calling. You can also use it to call one of the Points of Interest (POI) like a restaurant or hotel. The popular nuvi 360 has Bluetooth as well as the newer nuvi 760 and nuvi 880. For a complete list of Garmin Bluetooth GPS check out the section on Garmin's web site covering their devices and Bluetooth. The popular TomTom Go 920 and TomTom Go 930 both have Bluetooth capabilities as well as the Magellan Maestro 4040.

5. Buy a Bluetooth Headset
Bluetooth headsets are everywhere these days. They're cheap and easy to use however they can often be uncomfortable to wear for long periods and audio performance can vary widely. One of the most highly rated headsets comes from Aliph who produces the Jawbone and uses military grade noise canceling technology to produce very good quality calls. Aliph has a new version of the Jawbone called appropriately “The New Jawbone,” which is available now for about $130. Plantronics has been in the telephone headset business for a long time and produces some very highly rated Bluetooth headsets like the stylish Discovery 925. Stereo capability came to Bluetooth via the A2DP Standard so you can now use stereo Bluetooth headsets with stereo Bluetooth enabled media players. Plantronics has a new stereo headset called Voyager 855 which is getting good reviews and costs around $150.

6. Buy a Wired Headset
For about ten bucks you can walk out of any Radio Shack with a wired headset that includes an earpiece and a microphone. For a few dollars more you'll get a volume and mute switch on the cord, and for a few dollars more than that you can get a headset with a head band and a boom mic.

7. Listen to the Radio and Don't Answer the Phone
This could turn out to be the best bet for your physical safety as well as your mental well being. Ask youself, "is this call really that important?" If the answer is "maybe not," then why not turn on and tune in, the radio, that is.

Father’s Day is a wonderful time to honor men and to buy for them. Father's Day offers us the perfect opportunity to appreciate all that he has done for us and tell dad how much we love him. Thoughtful gifts have always been appreciated. If your dad loves camping, get him some cool hunting or camping tools. Get some exciting outdoor gadgets for your dad. To help your Dad find his way, get more out of his exercise regime or just have more fun, one gift you should consider is a GPS.

Wearable GPS
The Garmin Forerunner 205 is a GPS device that you wear like a wristwatch. It tells you how far you ran and how long it took. Serious runners rave about this GPS device. Amazon is taking pre-orders for the Garmin Forerunner 405 which is supposed to ship any day and sell for around $300. It looks more like a real watch and has a touch screen bezel which makes it easier for runners to control.

Handheld GPS
The Mio DigiWalker H610 Handheld also includes an MP3 player and at $150 is much cheaper than the usually over-priced Garmin GPS devices however, many reviewers feel Garmin’s quality is worth paying extra for. For the outdoor father we also recommend the $300 Garmin GPSMAP 60Csx. It's a waterproof handheld GPS with a big 2.6 inch color display. Garmin has a new line of handhelds that includes the Garmin Colorado 300 which has an even larger 3 inch display and sells for under $400.

For Serious Golfers Only
The Garmin GolfLogix GPS sells for just under $300 and can be a fun companion on the golf course. It automatically recognizes the golf course, tells you how far it is to the green, and gets high marks from users. How about a laser rangefinder for the golf course? The Bushnell Yardage Pro Golf Pinseeker 1500 is not cheap at $400 but determines distances down to a yard.

Digital Cameras
For the outdoor father Retrevo recommends either a reasonably price SLR like the $450 Canon EOS Rebel XT, a great camera for serious amateur photographers. For a rugged point and shoot camera that slips in a backpack and captures memories from Dad's latest adventure, try the $150, 8 MP, Canon Powershot A580. Another good choice is an ultrazoom camera like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18, a $285, 8.1 MP camera with an 18X optical zoom.

Solar Chargers
You wouldn't want Dad to run out of juice on one of his outdoor excursions so how about a nice "green" solar charger. We like the Solio hybrid solar chargers that have a built-in storage cell that can be recharged from the wall or the sun and then makes that power available to many different devices. The Solio Portable Hybrid Solar Charger and the new Solio Hybrid 1000 can both be purchased for under $100.

Gadget Apparel
No outdoor gadget lover would be complete without a piece of gadget-friendly apparel. For a great gift check out an SeV jacket. It costs $120 but has 19 pockets and compartments for stowing all your gear. Many iPod users rave about these jackets.

All buyers would like to have only the best. Here is the list of recommendations which includes best GPS devices from Garmin, TomTom, Mio, and Navigon.

The Garmin Forerunner 205 is a GPS device that you wear like a wristwatch. It tells you how far you ran and how long it took. Serious runners rave about this GPS device. The older Garmin Forerunner 201 which reviewers don't like as much as the 205 can be purchased for around $120 or you can buy the higher end Garmin Forerunner 305 that adds a heart rate monitor for around $220.

The Garmin eTrex family that includes very small, portable, and waterproof handheld GPS devices make great companions for outdoor activities. They come with WAAS accuracy enhancement technology and run for many hours on AA batteries. The Garmin eTrex Legend CX sells for under $200 and offers 36 hour battery life and a color display.

The TomTom One LE was a doorbuster at Best Buy for $119. It has a 3.5 inch display, Bluetooth, an SD card expansion slot, and comes with a windshield mount which are illegal in California and Minnesota.

The Navigon 2100 has an MSRP of $249 but they were gobbled up on Black Friday at Staples for $99. Staples had the Navigon 2100T the T is for traffic and was included in the price. The Navigon 2100 is part of a Navigon GPS family that just started selling in the U.S that includes The Navigon 2100, Navigon 5100, and Navigon 7100. The 2100 and 5100 have a 3.5 inch screen while the 7100 is a widescreen device. Traffic is included free in the 5100 and 7100. The 2100 gets good marks for industrial design and flash-like graphics but there are concerns about icon and font readability and data entry.

The Mio c230, featuring text to voice was on sale at Radio Shack for $149. You can get this basic 3.5 inch screen GPS that offers Text-to-Speech functionality and gets high marks for performance and ease of use for well under $200.

Best Gadgets to Take on a Spring Break

A Spring break goes very well with plenty of gadgets in the luggage. To help you find the best gadgets to use on your break, Retrevo analyzes reviews and ratings for thousands of consumer electronics products like GPS , Laptops, Camcorders, Digital Cameras from manufacturers like Garmin, Toshiba, Sony, and Canon. Here are some recommendations to make your adventures more fun and memorable.

High Definition Camcorders

If you’re thinking about buying a new camcorder you might as well go high definition or at least wide screen. You can get camcorders that record to good old tape, DVDs, flash memory, or hard drives. If you’re planning on doing serious video editing, tape may still be the way to go since applications like Premiere and Final Cut have been slow to embrace AVCHD the replacement format to miniDV.

The Canon HV-20 at $700 is still an all around good value. Canon recently announced its successor, the Canon HV-30 which offers a few minor enhancements including an improved LCD screen.

If you can afford $1400 you can get the latest and greatest camcorder from Sony, the Sony HDR-SR12 1080p which has a big 3.2 inch LCD screen and stores AVCHD video to a 120GB hard drive it should be available in March.

The new Panasonic HDC-SD9 stores 1080p AVCHD formatted video to an SD flash memory card. It offers image stabilization and face detection technology which makes it harder to take a bad shot. It will also be available in March and should sell for around $1100.

For portability you can’t beat one of the new super compact handheld HD camcorders like the Sanyo Xacti HD1000, which shoots 4MP pictures or 1080p video. Users say image quality is very good but the grip is a bit bulky. It sells for around $650. Sanyo also has a waterproof variation that stores non-HD NSTC video or 6 MP stills. It costs a little over $400. Aiptek has a 720p, 5 MP pistol grip handheld, the Aiptek A-HD that sells for a very reasonable $150.

If you prefer to wait a few months the Samsung SC-HMX20C is due out in June. It has a 2.7 inch touchsrceen and records 1080p, on 8 GB of flash memory. It also has an SDHC memory card slot for additional storage.

Very Cool Helmet Camera

In case you want to capture the action from a closer point of view, you should consider this helmet mounted camera that stores video to memory. It’s weather proof and ruggedized so you can use it in the snow or rain. It's an impressive piece of engineering and sells for around $325.

GPS

You don’t have to live in Colorado to use Garmin’s new handheld GPS . The Colorado 300 is a handheld unit with a color display and lots of extra travel-friendly features like an MP3 player and book reader. Garmin announced new products at CES including the Garmin nuvi 260 and the Garmin nuvi 850 but last years models like the Garmin nuvi 360 or the Mio C520 can offer some very good values at prices under $300.

Universal Chargers

There are many products you can buy to charge your gadgets. We like the Solio hybrid solar chargers that have a built-in storage cell that can be recharged from the wall or the sun and then makes that power available to many different devices. The Solio Portable Hybrid Solar Charger and the new Solio Hybrid 1000 can both be purchased for under $100.

Lenmar sells a universal power pack the PPU1700W that can recharge devices like iPods through a USB connector. It’s great for keeping an iPod going for an entire long plane ride and can be purchased for around $30.

Digital Cameras

If you're still carrying around that 1 MP camera or you just never made the switch to digital there are some good values in digital cameras. If you want a professional SLR camera Retrevo recommends the Nikon D300 as the best overall value in digital cameras. It’s a 12 MP SLR that gets very high expert ratings and great user reviews. The Canon Powershot A560 can be purchased for around $130. It’s a 7.1 MP compact camera with a 4x optical zoom and face technology but no image stabilization. A step up from the Powershot A560 would be the Nikon Coolpix 5100. It has optical image stabilization and gets very good reviews but is a bit on the pricey side at $300.

iPod Boom Box

There’s a good chance most travelers will be carrying an iPod or other MP3 player wherever they go. To get a party going wherever you may be, an iPod Boom Box might be a good idea. The Griffin Technology Journi is a good candidate. You can buy it for under $100. It has a rechargeable battery that lasts for 8 – 10 hours on a charge it can also be powered by a USB port and gets good user reviews. Altec Lansing has the inMotion iM600 for around $100. It gets very good user reviews, uses some engineering tricks to make the speakers seem further apart, and even has an FM radio built in.

Book Readers

Two popular readers using electronic paper are Amazon’s Kindle and the Sony Reader. The Sony Reader PRS 505 can be purchased for around $300. The Kindle which includes high speed 3G internet access for downloading books and browsing the web sells for $399. The Kindle has received mixed reviews due to some ergonomic issues but gets many rave reviews as a groundbreaking product. Books cost more to purchase on the Sony reader and you have to go through a computer connected to the internet to download them but the Sony gets good marks for style and usability.

Retrevo for All your Gadget Needs

You’ll find reviews and manuals for all popular gear and gadgets like GPS, Digital Cameras, Camcorders, Cell Phones, Laptops, and more from manufacturers like Sony, Garmin, Panasonic, Toshiba, and more. Have fun on your break. If you decide to stay at home maybe you should consider picking up an HDTV set. You can find the best values on Retrevo’s HDTV Product Advisor.