Beach Blanket Gizmos: 5 Great Gadgets for Fun in the Sun

Daniel Howley
·Technology Editor
Updated

Beach Blanket Gizmos: 5 Great Gadgets for Fun in the Sun

If you’re heading to the beach this summer, you’ll probably be packing some tech along with the SPF 50 sunscreen and that cheesy E.L. James novel. You’ll want to keep your gear safe from the sand and the surf; you may also want to bring wireless speakers, chargers, and other gadgets along for the ride.

Relax, we’ve got you covered.

Whether you need a case to keep your smartphone dry, a backpack that doubles as a portable solar charger, or a cooler that keeps your beers frosty (while simultaneously blasting your favorite tunes and charging your iPad), the right gadgets can go a long way to make your day on the shore a beach time blast. Start with these five.

LifeProof fre: Keep your smartphone high and dry

Few things are more relaxing than watching the sun shimmering atop waves as they crest and crash on the pristine sand at your feet.

Capturing that kind of image with your smartphone camera can help you preserve that serene scene for years to come — right up until you drop your phone into the surf, ruining it.

That’s why if you’re going to the beach, a case like the $80 LifeProof fre for the Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S6 can be a life (or at least phone) saver. LifeProof claims that its case will keep your smartphone as dry as a bone in up to 6 feet of water.

And even if you never venture past the edge of your blanket, the LifeProof fre will still keep any blown sand particles out of your handset.

OverBoard Waterproof iPad case: Safer surfing

If you’d rather surf the Web on your tablet than ride the curl on your short board — or just like to read e-books and watch movies while you bake in the sun — you’ll need to bring some protection for your tablet, too.

For $60, the OverBoard Waterproof iPad case will keep your iPad from damaging sand, dust, and water. So if the tide comes in and swamps your beach blanket, you’ll at least know your iPad is safe and sound.

KoolMax Cooler: Stay cool, rock out

Keeping cool on the beach means bringing a cooler full of beers — er, sodas. But once you pack that and your towels and chairs, you’ve got no room for a pair of Bluetooth speakers to jam on the sand.

That’s where the KoolMax Cooler comes in. For $400 you get a cooler large enough to hold 48 cans of … whatever, as well as a built-in 350-watt speaker system that connects to your phone via Bluetooth. You can even turn this thing into a karaoke machine for late-night beach parties.

The KoolMax also comes with a waterproof holder for your tablet and smartphone, as well as a magnetic bottle opener. That’s pretty cool.

The KoolMax is homely and pretty expensive, but hey, you’ll be able to rock and keep hydrated at the same time. And that’s certainly worth it.

Off-Grid Solar Backpack: Juice from the sun

Streaming music and taking pictures can take a toll on your smartphone’s or tablet’s battery. So how can you keep them juiced up without having to search for an outlet? A solar-powered backpack, that’s how.

The $200 Off-Grid Solar backpack comes with its very own solar panel that absorbs power from the sun’s plentiful rays and uses it to fill its own backup battery. So you can fully charge your smartphone and even power up your tablet using the same solar radiation that’s cooking your keister to a crisp.

The 4-pound Off-Grid backpack can give you four hours’ worth of smartphone battery life by simply sitting in the sun for an hour. And when fully charged, the Off-Grid’s battery pack can recharge your phone up to 1.5 times.

Sandless beach mat: For keeping clean

Besides struggling to find a parking spot, one of the most annoying aspects of going to the beach is getting sand on your blanket. It’s hassle enough to keep the thing from blowing away, and you end up with half the beach on top of it.

That’s where the Sandless beach mat from Hammacher Schlemmer comes in. Starting at $60, the mat lets any sand that lands on top of it slip through its fabric back onto the beach. And because of the way it’s designed, the sand won’t come up through the bottom of the mat.

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley or on Google+.