12 of the best... travel gadgets

Camelion Mobile Phone Power Stick

The Camelion emergency charger couldn't be simpler if it tried. Unscrew it, pop in an AA battery, put it back together, connect to your drained phone and bingo, you can communicate. The device comes equipped with adapters for Mini USB and most popular phone makes apart from the iPhone. As chargers go, it's neither particularly fast nor powerful. A decent quality AA battery will give you around 90 minutes of talk time and take about an hour to transfer the charge to the phone.

Still, you’ll have a working mobile as long as you can lay hands on a some batteries and, lets face it, you have to be a long, long, long way off the beaten track to not be able to. A supplied strap can be used to attach the Power Stick to your car keys and it even comes with a handy emergency LED torch. The device itself is about the same size and weight as a tube of lip balm and right now you can buy one from Maplin and get change from four quid. Brilliant.

Reg Rating 90%
Price £4
More Info Camelion

Doberman SE0304 Bag Protector Alert

The Doberman is a motion detector and truly ear splitting alarm wrapped up in a water resistant rubber dongle that you can attach to your bag or rucksack. Once set and put in place the slightest movement causes the 100-decibel alarm to sound and scares the hell out of just about any living thing nearby. Certainly, an ideal defence against the terminally light fingered or any local fauna that decides to have it a rummage through your kit while you snooze in your tent.

It also works as a panic alarm – just yank the mounting up. To avoid the alarm sounding with every elephant fart or earth tremor, the device gives you three seconds grace. If the disturbance stops, the unit goes back to standby. These three seconds also allow you to use your pin to disarm the device without making your ears bleed every morning. Of course, packing one of these does rather suggest you think everyone you meet on life's meandering highway is looking to rip you off and here at Reg Hardware we have always relied on the kindness of strangers and so are inclined to emphasise its use in warding off larcenous squirrels and the like.

Reg Rating 80%
Price £16
More Info Doberman