It’s not too early to start planning for the winter gift-giving holidays. Lots of outfits publish “gift guides”, but oftentimes they just look like collections of new gadgets and gizmos about which the editors happened to receive press releases.

I think Navagear’s gift guide is a little bit more thoughtful than that. I’ve selected items that I believe are of high quality, genuine utility, and nearly universal appeal. I own and use these items myself, and if any one of them were lost or broken, I would not hesitate to replace them with the same item from the same manufacturer.

The title of each entry links to the manufacturer’s website. I’ve included links to Navagear entries about the item. If you do any holiday shopping through Amazon.com, don’t forget to use this link to get there; you pay the same price, but Navagear gets a tiny percentage of your expenditure. Thanks!

Picquic Screwdrivers

I wrote last spring (here, here, and here) about the Picquic screwdrivers. I own four of them now, and I use at least one of them at least once a week. While cruising, the Picquic Mariner gets almost-daily use. These are wonderful Canadian-made tools, of very high quality, and not excessively expensive. Do not be fooled by cheap knock-offs.

Petzl TacTikka Plus Headlamp

I’ve written before (here and here) about the Petzl TacTikka Plus. I own two, one at home and one on the boat. When cruising, I bring the one from home along, too; it’s handy to have two.

I also bring one along when traveling by land or air. It’s SO HANDY to have a small, hands-free light along. It’s bright enough to use during the day, for instance when looking for items under car seats or lost under the bed at a hotel. With the flip-up red filter and adjustable brightness, it gets dim enough to use in the dead of night to check on the anchor rode or identify the source of that mysterious “drip drip drip” sound without ruining your night vision.

And I haven’t even started with the regular plain-old at-home uses. If you only own one flashlight, this is the one to own.

Rite in the Rain All-Weather Notebooks

I wrote about this after last year’s Pacific Marine Expo. I carry one of these every single day, and I find it indispensable. It gets plenty of abuse, but so far it’s holding up.

I use another, slightly larger one as my primary vessel log aboard Two Lucky Fish. It’s just about full, so it’s almost time to get another one. Good thing the Pacific Marine Expo’s coming up later this month!

E-Z-Foldz Step Stool

When I wrote about this 18 months ago, I’d only owned it a couple of weeks. Now I know a little more about how it holds up.

The verdict: Indeed, the “stick-on” plastic feet are all gone. Also, the thing can be disassembled by clever children, and it’s a little bit tricky to get it back together again.

But the fact is that the E-Z-Foldz stool is still in active service aboard Two Lucky Fish, and I would miss it if it were gone. You can find these at lots of big box stores.