Festival gadgets

Anti-bacterial handwash? Check. She Pees? Check. Baby wipes? Sandals with built-in bottle opener? Check. Right, sounds like you’re about ready to hit the festival season. Or are you? Christian Rose-Day investigates six of the best gadgets that could make your 2009 festohead experience a little less painful.

Loc8tor Lite
Festival day 1: arrived in afternoon, got drunk, saw bands, lost tent. OR, you could’ve simply attached a small transmitter tag to your lose-able items - cameras, mobiles, tents, drunk friends - and used this mini device to guide you to it. Depending on the density of the crowd/sea-of-tents, this ultra light handset can pick up objects up to 120m away.

Trevor Bayliss Wind up Revolution Eco Media Player
All the bands have finished, everyone’s gone to bed, and you’re still wide awake in your tent. Crank up the dynamo on this environmentally-friendly invention for only 60 seconds and you’ve got 45 minutes of entertainment: a 2" screen for movie playback; 24-bit music player with internal 4Gb or 8Gb memory; FM radio; LED torch; photo viewer; Ebook text viewer; and an voice recorder. It can even charge up your mobile.

Travel John
Your head’s just hit the (inflatable) pillow and you’re slowly drifting off into a Kings of Leon dreamworld when...bugger, need a piss and the bogs are miles away! No awkward beer bottle-maneuvering here though, just a simple unisex plastic opening, resealable dual layer bag, and some ingenious non-toxic, odourless spill proof gel. Then, chuck it away after a couple of number ones (or a spew or two).

Gelert Solar Shower
It’s 6am and your tent is already a sweatbox. Three hours sleep + one gargantuan hangover = the need for moisture. Hang this compact 20-litre beauty from the nearest tree or tent rope and let Ra provide water of 49ºC and above. Plus, it only costs a fiver and is supplied with its very own shower head and flow control.

Handpresso Wild
If the shower cleanses the outer you, then this award-winning demon perks up the inner you. A few hearty tugs on the pump, pop in your Lavazza pod thingie, add a splash of hot water and what what - it’s an instant frothy nomadic espresso. It’s light, comes with a whole range of nifty accessories and is so clever it just had to be Scandinavian-designed.

PowerMonkey Explorer
Your mobile is dead and you’re facing the possibility of spending the last day of the festival alone. Panic not; this water resistant top-up device can recharge your phone three times over. Using mains, USB or solar power (even on cloudy days), the rubber Explorer can also recharge you MP3 player, camera, games console, and, if you really really have to, your BlackBerry.