Father's Day Gift Guide: Geeky Patriarch Edition

13. Jabra Freeway In-Car Speakerphone

Need to buy a gift for your technophile of a dad before Sunday? We have 13 top-notch recommendations to satisfy that special someone's inner geek.

So, my dad just got a Chevy Volt. This gift idea is definitely not for him. It’s for your dad—the guy with the older vehicle that doesn’t have built-in Bluetooth and offers no way for your dad to connect his MP3s to his car stereo without a pricey installation or irritating radio gadget (those things never work).

This is one of the best-sounding Bluetooth car speakerphones we’ve tested. It’s bigger than some, but it’s also way louder. There are actually three speakers built in under the housing. It easily combats road noise so you’ll always hear the person you’re talking to, but, somewhat more ingeniously, it will play your music loud enough—and with “virtual surround sound”—that you don’t truly miss the car’s standard stereo. The Freeway plays stereo music or sound via Bluetooth off of any device with A2DP streaming capabilities. That includes most iOS devices, smart phones, tablets, GPS devices, etc. I know it’s strange that we’re most excited about this device’s speakers rather than its prodigious voice activated features, but we’re always on the lookout for easy ways to bring our music collection into the (old) car.

Further, you can actually connect two Bluetooth devices to the Freeway since it supports multipoint profiles—that means an iPhone and a work Blackberry, or a phone plus tablet. Any number of combos are possible.