12 Great gift ideas for the difficult one on your list

1st Jan 2015 Technology

4 min read

There's always one person on your list who is impossible to buy for. Worry no longer, Olly Mann is on hand with video games, fitness tech and the ultimate selfie experience…

Relaxwell Alaskan husky faux fur heated cushion

£39.99

Hot water bottle, meet your match. No more fiddly refills, no more diminishing heat—this cuddly, machine-washable cushion has five heat settings and only uses a penny’s worth of electricity for every three-hour use.

Basically, it’s the heated blanket for the lady who wouldn’t be seen dead in a heated blanket…

Snugs custom earphones

£159 including fitting

Many people find in-ear earphones uncomfortable, or even discover that they fall out of their ears.

Custom-fitted earphones are a luxurious solution—and make for an amusing gift too, as the bizarre process of getting your ears scanned to create the moulds is all part of the experience.

Tefal Cook4Me +

£129.99

In France, where microwave meals are taboo, these electric pressure cookers shift by the bucketload.

There are 50 delicious single-pot recipes built in, or it can sync with your tablet to provide illustrated guides on a bigger screen. Conjures up super stews and soups in minutes.

Sega Megadrive retro gaming wireless console

£50

If you believe video games hit their peak in the 1980s—when play was restricted to running left to right and/or repeatedly bashing baddies in the face—this plug-and-play console is a must-have.

All you need to do is stick it in your telly’s HDMI port and you can relive no less than 80 classic Sega titles, including Mortal Kombat and—yes!—Sonic the Hedgehog.

Just try keeping it from the kids.

Nordic Ware 365 Kettle Smoker

£88

You can hardly move in Britain’s cities these days for BBQ joints, but if you want to recreate that finger-lickin’ taste at home, you need a garden, or at least a patio, which most city-dwellers don’t possess.

This little pot, though, sits atop your (gas) hob and achieves wood-smoked ribs, fish and chicken indoors. A thermometer, recipe book and wood chips are included; lumberjack shirt and beard are optional.

Parrot Disco FPV

£1,149

Drones became that little bit less special when their prices dropped and every Tom, Dick and Droney got busy papping the neighbourhood with their quadcopters. But now you can bask in privilege once more, with this ludicrously expensive 50mph single-prop plane.

It includes a “first-person-view” headset, which transmits live pictures to your face so you feel like you’re in the cockpit. Pointless yet brilliant—like all good executive toys.

Playstation VR

£349.99

There’s negligible competition from Microsoft—who’ve just released a 4K XBox—but let’s not beat around the bush: this is the gaming device of the year. S

ony’s virtual reality headset is relatively comfortable, looks futuristic as hell and launches with 50 games. It’s compatible with any PS4, but if you’re buying your whole set-up fresh, opt for the PS4 Pro (also £349.99), which handles graphics more smoothly.

Nerf Battlescout

£59.99

It’s difficult to buy a toy gun these days—this is a “blaster” and it takes “darts”, not bullets. But there’s no hiding this bad boy’s ferocity, with its pump-action ten-dart cartridge.

There’s an on-board camera too—which can be mounted to any Nerf gu… sorry, blaster… so you can film your sprees in HD. Watch the clips back and it’s like you’re in your own video game.

Samsung Gear Fit 2

£149

This is a straight-up GPS fitness band—not a smartwatch—so it makes no pretence to high fashion and doesn’t require you to carry your smartphone. Its sweat-resistant band and bright AMOLED screen make it easy to read whatever the weather, so tracking your heart rate, route and distance data is a cinch.

Sometimes less is more, as the fashionistas would say.

Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2

£154

This palm-sized printer creates Polaroid-style printouts from your smartphone photos. It can print in colour, black and white, or even a split template that looks like a particularly fabulous Instagram layout.

Up to eight devices can be connected, so it’s a good gadget to wheel out at a party. Great retro larks—though sadly the film hasn’t got any cheaper since the 1990s.

World's Apart Selfie Mic

£19.99

Combining two irritating trends—selfies and karaoke—in one neat device, Selfie Mic is essentially just a selfie stick with a microphone instead of a handle, but don’t underestimate the hours of fun that can generate.

There’s plenty to appeal to young performers, including songs by Justin Bieber, Little Mix and Ed Sheeran. The app plays these and creates music videos as you sing along with the on-screen lyrics.

You can’t quite sing to your heart’s desire, though: a limited number of “tokens” are included—after that, each track carries an extra cost.

Sony GTK-XB7

£280

This chunky Bluetooth boom box has all the power and quality you’d expect from Sony, effortlessly turning your pocket tunes into party anthems. But it’s the pulsating DJ effects and embedded multi-coloured LED lights that make it stand out from the crowd.

Sit back, hit “EXTRA BASS” and hope that you won’t hear your parents begging you to turn it down and do your homework.

Check out other gifts for him here and why not visit Instash to see some of their Men's Buying Guides.

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