Still no idea what to get for the Fathership? Not to worry.
We have seven pragmatic choices (well maybe except for one) that might be good to have and are unlikely to be frowned upon (well maybe except for one).
Canon M50 Mk II
Is dad tired of his smartphone and is thinking of taking better photos? The Canon M50 Mk II is a camera system that will be perfect for beginners. You have all the elements and controls to learn advanced photography, including a comprehensive library of M-mount lenses that cover the most popular focal lengths. You can also add an adaptor to access all of Canon’s lenses as well. The M50 Mk II also sports convenient features like touchscreen autofocus, and the eye-detection AF works when shooting fast-paced action shots and 4K (25fps) videos. If he’s a bit of a social animal, the camera makes it easy to shoot vertical videos as well as live stream.
From $939 (body only, $1,099 with 15-45 kit lens)
Xiaomi TV P1 55″
Does your dad need a second TV around the house? The Xiaomi P1 55″ is a 4K Android TV for a reasonable price of $799. And if 55″ is too big for the intended use, there’s a smaller 43″ offering for $599. For that, you get a display with tiny bezels and it looks more expensive than it should. But more importantly, it does almost everything you’d expect a Google-supported smart TV to do. The P1 is a smart home hub; it supports HDR10+, Dolby Vision, Dolby Audio and DTS-HD. You have access to most of the key apps on the Google Play store, so it can be more than just a TV.
$799 ($599 for 43″ version)
Creative T60
Fathers being fathers, they’ll be impressed by what they perceive as a good deal. This is something Creative does very well, and the T60 stands out as a great speaker upgrade for the PC. It takes up relatively little space, and it comes with just enough input and output options for other commonly used devices like a games console or any audio-playing device. What’s interesting is that they’ve included a SmartComms headset kit to make your PC zoom-friendly. SmartComms integrates with the speaker and features enhancements like noise reduction to improve telecommunication quality, and it’s easy to switch around from one output to another through the front panel buttons.
$119
ASUS Zenfone 8
Welcome to the cult of small phones. If you don’t get why, check out our resident uncle’s take on this underrated trait . Unless your dad has bad eyesight, we think he might appreciate carrying a small phone around as well. Asus’ Zenfone 8 might strike a chord here, as it has top of the line internals: Snapdragon 888 5G SoC, 8GB ($999) or 16GB ($1,099) RAM with 256GB of storage, HDR10+ ready AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and 240Hz touch sampling rate. Naturally, you can’t expect a cutting edge camera, but they are using Sony sensors after all and are more than capable of delivering quality pictures when the lighting is adequate. An IP68 rating provides protection from daily elements while a 4,000mAh battery provides enough juice to get through the day. This is the premium one-handed experience.
From $999
Casio GMW-B5000TR
For a bit of fun, the Casio G-SHOCK GMW-B5000TR is about as souped-up a gift as you can get. Your dad probably had the good fortune to see first G-SHOCK appear in stores, and seen the brand grow into a phenomenon; there’s a fair chance he owned a DW-5000 back in his day. The B5000TR is the modern equivalent and it;s made from TranTixxii titanium alloy, which is twice as hard as pure titanium but retains its lightweight, anti-corrosive and hypoallergenic properties. More importantly, it shares the same mirror finish as steel, and the watch gets a multicolour ion plating for the bling. Internally, it has Smartphone Link functionality and Multiband 6 reception for the most accurate time possible and it’s also solar-powered to boot – a childhood dream watch, perhaps?
$2,199
Apple AirTags
AirTags are simple devices, no doubt, but they are no less useful. After all, they are timesavers for those who tend to lose their things. AirTags by nature are simple to use and for most people, this is all they need to keep track of valuables; trying to find keys in the house has never been easier thanks to Precision Finding – or more amusing (maybe for the first couple of times, at least). Buy a couple of tags with a couple of accessories and watch him entertain himself trying to find a good use for each tag.
From $45
Sony WF-1000XM4
If your dad thinks it’s stupid to spend anything more than $20 on a pair of earphones, then usually the only way to convince them is to have them use a pair of good headphones themselves. Sony’s 1000X series of in-ears feature a good blend of tech and sound quality and version 4 supports wireless high-resolution audio as well as a host of other quality of life enhancements. It’s likely he won’t be able to go back to a black and white world after this. The worst that can happen is you have effectively kicked him down the rabbit hole of the audiophile gear chase, but we (you) will worry about that later. But he’ll be happy at least. Alternatively, there’s also the cheaper (but still good) WF-1000XM3 if you think he might be a tad too annoyed by the extravagance (kindly ignore the fact that I suggested a $2,000 watch above, please).
