Ham Radio Gifts, Off Road Gifts, 4×4 Gifts, Camping Gifts, and Even Jeep Gifts! We got the ideas covered for you!
It’s that time of year! Christmas shopping is going on all over the place, and if you are anything like me, you haven’t come close to finishing yet. In this article, we are going to list a bunch of great options that any off road, 4×4, ham radio, camping nut would love to get under the tree this year. We have done our best to find the best value on everything here. Which means, it may not be the best overall price, but for the quality, and ease of use, it will be the darn close to the best bang for your buck that you can find.
Use the boxes here to navigate to a section that you think your gift receiver would be most interested in!
Ham Radio Gifts Recovery Gifts Lighting Gifts Map and GPS App Gifts
4×4 Gadget Gifts Camping Gadget Gifts Jeep Specific Gifts
Ham Radio Christmas Gifts
First off, if your adventurer doesn’t have their ham radio license yet, buy them an Online Ham Radio Class! Our classes are made specifically for the off road adventurer. We make it easy to understand for anyone with zero electrical experience, and you actually leave the class feeling like you learned something, rather than just memorizing questions and answers. For $40, and able to take the class from the comfort of your couch in the evenings while drinking some adult beverages, you can’t beat it.
My Off Road Radio’s Online Ham Radio Class ($40.00) – Check Today’s Price!
If your adventurer already has their ham license, then we can always use more radios to play with! This Mark III is our favorite outdoor ham radio handheld radio for the value. It does 8 watts (most ham radio handhelds do 4-5 watts). It comes with a nice IP54 weatherproof rating. It comes with an additional hand mic which is nice while driving. And it also comes with a car charger so you never have to worry about killing the battery while offroading. At a ridiculously low price of $45, you get a ton of bang for your buck.
BaoFeng GT-3TP Mark III Ham Radio Handheld ($50.00) – Check Today’s Price!
If your adventurer doesn’t have their license yet, and doesn’t want to get one, then we have just the option for you. Check out this MURS handheld. MURS is a radio service that you can use without any kind of license. And, because it operates on a particular frequency, it will work great in the outdoors settings with hills, and ridges and rocks all over the place. You won’t get the range out of it as you would with a ham radio, but it will be the next best thing! This one rings in just under the $55 price range.
BTech MURS-V1 MURS Handheld Radio ($55.00) – Check Today’s Price!
If your budget is a little bigger, or your adventurer is REALLY into ham radio and off roading, then get him or her an Icom 5100 Mobile Ham Radio! They do anything and everything an off roader could ask for! APRS (so you can keep track of them!) (it will also allow them to text you to let you know they are safe), GPS, Compass, Elevation, and automatic repeater functions like taking your GPS coordinates and finding the nearest repeater to you! It is awesome! And… if your adventurer doesn’t want it, we would love to take it off your hands for you <3<3
Icom 5100 Mobile Ham Radio ($550.00) – Check Today’s Price!
Recovery Gifts
If your adventurer is always going out in their off road rig, then having recovery items is quintessential. There are tons of different kinetic recovery ropes on the market right now. The big names are Voodoo Ropes and BubbaRope. While they have some awesome ropes, we have found that you end up paying a premium and markup just for the name. Our favorite recovery rope is the Billet4x4 Kinetic Rope. The 1″ x 30′ kinetic recovery rope comes in a bunch of different colors. Our favorite is the “Safety Orange” because you won’t lose it! And at $135, it is a good $70-$80 less expensive than the bigger name guys.
Billet4x4 1″ x 30′ “Safety Orange” Kinetic Recovery Rope ($135.00) – Check Today’s Price!
Every single recovery situation will be using shackles of some sort. The off road industry is trying to move away from heavy, metal recovery equipment. Instead, they are using high grade, nonstretch rope. Sometimes, this new rope technology can even have a higher breaking strength than their steel counterparts, and they don’t become a projectile if equipment fails. We personally like the ProShopDay’s 7/16″ Soft Shackle. It has a breaking strength of 32,000lbs (more than a conventional 3/4″ steel shackle), has a protective sleeve to help the shackle last longer and protect whatever you put it on, and comes in a nice, bright color so you can always find it. We have lost way too many shackles throughout the years because we lost them in the mud or snow. At $28 it is almost half the price of some others.
ProShopDay 7/16″ Soft Shackle ($28.00) – Check Today’s Price!
Some people still prefer steel shackles. They are proven to work well. They are the least likely thing to break in your recovery equipment, and we always lose them. The only issue is that they can become a lethal projectile when recovery equipment fails. That is why we recommend and prefer soft shackles. But, if your adventurer swears by their steel shackles, then check out the Liberrway 3/4″ Shackle. They are super heavy duty with a breaking strength of 57,000 lbs, and come in a variety of colors to choose your favorite “don’t lose me” color. At $20 for 2, they are less than half the cost of the soft shackles above.
Liberrway 3/4″ D Ring Shackle Safety Orange set of 2 ($20.00) – Check Today’s Price!
If you ever need to use your winch, having a snatch block or 2 or 3 will always come in handy. You can use them to create mechanical advantage, or setup line re-directs. The rule of thumb on snatch block ratings is 1.5x your winch rating. So, if you have a 10,000lb winch, then you will be good with a 15,000lb or higher rated snatch block. Most off roaders run 9,500lb to 8,000 lb winches. But a few will run upwards of 15,000lb winches. A 16,000lb rated snatch block will do fine for up to an 11,000lb rated winch. It will probably do just fine for a 12,000lb winch too, but anything above that and you will want to go with a bigger snatch block. At $22 for the regular snatch block, these make great gifts!
16,000lb Heavy Duty Recovery Winch Snatch Block ($21.99) – Check Today’s Price!
20,000lb Heavy Duty Recovery Winch Snatch Block ($28.99) – Check Today’s Price!
We weren’t sure if this next item was a gadget or a recovery item, but any dead battery will appreciate a jump starter! This car jump starter from Tacklife boasts a 600A jump start. Which is good on gas engines up to 6.2L and diesel engines up to 5.0L. It also has 2 USB ports to charge up cell phones, tablets, or other accessories. It also comes loaded with a 100 Lumen flashlight built in, and a window breaker. The nice thing about this battery jump starter is that it uses smart jumper cable technology. It will tell you if you have the cables hooked up correctly to the battery to make sure that you don’t send sparks everywhere and blow up your battery. At $70 it falls right in the middle of the price range for similar products, and it should arrive to your place before Christmas.
Tacklife 600A Battery Jumper Pack ($69.99) – Check Today’s Price!
Lighting Gifts
Lighting is a little more difficult to do as gifts because lights are in high demand right now. This means they have a high price tag. But still, there is nothing that will make you feel quite more like a man than beating nature with technology. And what better way to do that than by saying “Let there be light!” and having the area all around your vehicle light up! Whether you’re an avid rock crawler, or a weekend camping warrior, rock lights make everything about being off pavement at night, easier. These lights from Xprite are only around $85 for 8 pods. You can turn them on from a switch inside the cab, or you can hook your phone up to the bluetooth controller and control the lights from your phone! With these lights being RGB, they can do any of 16 MILLION colors, and can do hundreds of permutations of flashing if you want to have a dance party on the trail.
XPrite 3rd Gen LED Rock Lights, 8 Pods, RGB ($87.99) – Check Today’s Price!
When it comes to lighting up your night, we have found these Nilight LED Light Bars to work awesome as fog lights and rear backup lights. They are also the perfect lighting for lighting up a camp area right next to the vehicle. We have the 6 LED version on our RunnerCrawler because we were using them strictly for fog lights, but so far, they have held up great, and put out a ton of light for their size. At a whopping $35 for two of these 6 inch LED light bars, and a 2 year warranty, you can’t go wrong. Any Offroader will find a use for them.
NiLight LED Off Road Light Bar set of 2 ($33.99) – Check Today’s Price!
Nilight Wiring Harness (16 gauge) ($17.99) – Check Today’s Price!
If you are just looking for pure night time light on the trails, we found this 42″ Curved LED Off Road Light Bar to be rock solid. It has beam LED lenses in the middle, and flood lenses on the sides so that you get the most light penetration where you need it while driving off road. It is another bar from Nilight because we like their product, and they have a nice 2 year warranty, at a phenomenal price for off road lighting.
Nilight LED Off Road 42″ Curved Light Bar ($71.55) – Check Today’s Price!
Nilight Wiring Harness (14 gauge) ($22.79) – Check Today’s Price!
Don’t forget wiring harnesses for your lights! The rock lights above, come with a wiring harness. The two light bars do not. Make sure you select the correct size listed with each LED off road light bar.
Map and GPS Apps
Our favorite map app at My Off Road Radio for exploring and getting lost is MyTrails. You can download and upload GPS tracks from popular GPS communities like DropBox and GPSies. You can record your own tracks. It has an altimeter and compass built in. You can download maps offline so that you can access them when you are away from cell reception. And you can upload your own maps from your own collections. At only $2.50 on the Google Play Market, it has been the biggest and best investment we have made in ensuring our safe return home when wheeling. Unfortunately, it is only available on Android.
MyTrails by Frogsparks ($2.50) – Read More!
The next most popular map and GPS app for adventurers is Gaia GPS. It will do everything that MyTrails will do, and a little more. The nice thing about Gaia is that it is cloud based and a lot of trails and GPS tracks and crowd sourced. So, when you download trails, you get the exact trail that someone either hiked or drove. If you have cell reception, you can even do searches for trails nearby, and then download them into your phone once you find one you like. The app is $20 on Android. If you upgrade to the Gaia GPS Premium version, you will also get access to National Geographic Topo Maps, which are regarded as some of the most complete and useful maps on earth for adventurers. The Premium Membership will cost you $30 per year.
Gaia GPS Map App – Read More!
4×4 Off Road Gadget Gifts
Every off road adventurer could use an easy way to deflate their tires! Deflating your tire exponentially increases your tires’ effectiveness off road and is the easiest way to increase the off-road-ability of your vehicle. It also exponentially increases the softness of the ride of your vehicle. Which can be a backsaver if you travel a lot of fire roads or forest service roads. Sometimes, it can be a PIA to sit there and deflate all 4 tires though. Which is why we recommend the EZDeflator. We have one ourselves and it is a nice, quick, and painless way to let air out of the tires. It removes the valve core so that air can escape the fastest, but it keeps the valve core safe in its metal housing until you get to your desired pressure. And, it is bright orange so we never lose it! At just under $20, this price can’t be beat.
EZDeflator Tire Deflator with Gauge ($19.50) – Check Today’s Price!
Even if you don’t wander off road in your car, this OBDII scanner is awesome for ANY vehicle. It plugs into your car’s OBDII port, and then transmits a WiFi signal. You then connect your phone to that WiFi signal while you are driving. With the use of some handy 3rd party apps, you can read a ton of useful information about your engine, in real time, there on your phone. You can even diagnose Check Engine Lights, and re-calibrate your speedometer with it! It can tell you how much torque you are putting out at the engine, your engine temperature, fuel mileage, and tons more. This only works on cars newer than 1996 that are using OBDII ECU protocols. So, we can’t use it in our 1985 RunnerCrawler :'(
Veepeak WiFi OBD 2 Scanner Adapter ($16.99) – Check Today’s Price!
If you are doing any kind of off road 4×4 driving, you may have problems keeping your cell phone safe. Especially if you use some of the Map and GPS Apps above. We personally love our RAM Mounts in our RunnerCrawler. They hold our cell phone tight through ANY terrain. They come with tons of mounting options too so you can choose exactly what works best in your vehicle. We use our cell phone for everything in the RunnerCrawler, it is pretty much our infotainment console, and have tried far too many cell phone mounts. We can honestly say this is by far, the best one out there for off roaders. We personally use the dash mounted Ram Mount, but we also don’t mind drilling holes in our dashboard. We do know of a few people that use the suction cup mount for off roading, and they hold just fine. We are debating on getting the seat wedge mount, with an X-Grip to hold our tablet so we can start running more things at once, not just on our cell phone.
Ram Mount Twist Lock Suction Cup Mount ($41.99) – Check Today’s Price!
Ram Mount Flat Surface Bolt-On Mount ($37.99) – Check Today’s Price!
Ram Mount Seat Wedge Mount ($76.99) – Check Today’s Price!
It doesn’t matter who your off road adventurer is, they can always use more tools! These wratcheting wrenches have started becoming popular in the past couple of years, and I must say, they are incredibly nice to have. They behave like a socket and wratchet, but you can fit them into almost any space. Having these will work for any off roader, as some sort of trail repair is ALWAYS inevitable. Having 2 tools in one helps save space and weight in the vehicle. Thus leaving more space for more important things, like the kids!
Ratcheting Wrench Set SAE and Metric 22 pcs ($69.99) – Check Today’s Price!
Camping Gadget Gifts
Ways to keep drinks cool or hot while camping are always a top concern! Fortunately, Yetis are all the rage right now! Yeti makes all sorts of great drink holders that are vacuum sealed and stainless steel. We love our 30 oz tumbler and use it for literally everything while camping: Coffee, water, juice, beer, and mixed drinks around the camp fire! Check out these options below!
Yeti 30 oz Tumbler ($29.99) – Check Today’s Price!
Yeti 10 oz Rambler set of 2! ($39.99) – Check Today’s Price!
Hydro Flask also makes an awesome drink holder. Their flask is completely sealed, which works great for hikes. You can throw it in a pack and not worry about it spilling anywhere. We use our 24oz Hydro Flasks while skiing. We load one up with cold water for the day, and we load a 2nd one up with hot tomato soup. When lunch comes, both are still cold and hot, waiting for us to enjoy!
Hydro Flask 40 oz Bottle ($42.95) – Check Today’s Price!
Hydro Flask 24 oz Bottle ($34.95) – Check Today’s Price!
Whenever you are camping, you need to eat. Jetboil Flash Cooking System is absolutely perfect for individual meals. The system will heat up 1 liter of liquid incredibly fast. This makes soups, boiled water, coffee, hot chocolate and baileys get into your tummy quicker! The Jetboil systems are the industry leaders in personal camp cooking, and start right around $100. Our personal favorite is the Desert Blue, mainly because it is bright and obnoxious colored!
Jetboil Flash Personal Cooking System ($84.99) – Check Today’s Price!
No matter if you go wheeling, or camping, having a nice chair to relax in at the end of the day around a camp fire, or at a lunch stop, is a complete and utter luxury! Sure, you can find chairs that are inexpensive, but it is difficult to find good, solid, comfortable yet supportive, camp chairs. Our personal favorite is the KingCamp Deluxe Steel Arm Chair. Chairs are easy to get, but there honestly is nothing like a good camp chair at the end of the day. And getting one as a gift is a huge blessing, because it’s not something off roaders would choose to spend their money on (we would rather throw it away into our axles!). The KingCamp Deluxe chair is amazinly comfy with completely padded surfaces. It has cup holders, a 3 can cooler, book pocket, lumbar support strap, and folds up into a neat little carrying case. It can hold up to 350 lbs. At $70, it isn’t cheap, but it will be the most appreciated $70 you ever gift someone.
KingCamp Deluxe Steel Arm Chair ($69.99) – Check Today’s Price!
Jeep Specific Gifts
The Jeep JK has a cult following. People that own a JK absolutely love their JKs, and it has been the most successful off road vehicle in history, and rightly so. They are very capable rigs with a longstanding, rich history. The below items would be proud to find their way under any Jeep owner’s Christmas tree!
Every jeep owner loves stickers! And this vinyl cut sticker shows the symbiotic relationship between Jeeping and Beer. It comes in a 2 and is great to put on everything from windows, to your new Yeti Rambler, to your kids school binder! (Okay, maybe not the last one).
Beer Jeep Vinyl Decal 2 pack ($8.95) – Check Today’s Price!
One of the issues with Jeeps, is they are difficult to get in and out of. Especially for passengers! We love watching passengers get in and out of Jeeps. It very quickly became a source of popcorn-entertainment for us. Luckily, for you, if you are purchasing this for an off roader, this will probably benefit you more than the driver! This roll bar grab handle goes securely over the roll cage above the door, and creates a handle to help you get in and out of the jeep. You could also attach it to the A Frame roll bar if you have one.
RidgeFit Jeep Roll Bar Grab Handle 2 pack ($17.84) – Check Today’s Price!
You would think that with how rugged the Jeeps are marketed, Chrysler would have given them some better hood latches. The ones that come from the factory are surprisingly brittle for Jeep standards, and should be one of the first upgrades on a new JK. Unfortunately, like any off roader, we would much rather put our money into lift kits, big tires, or bigger suspensions. So getting these pesky hood latches taken care of as a gift, is awesome! The Rugged Ridge Aluminum Cast Hood Latches are a massive upgrade from the factory latches, and right around $100, still fall within that “gift” price range.
Rugged Ridge Black Aluminum Hood Latch set of 2 ($99.99) – Check Today’s Price!
One thing is for certain, Jeepers love to drive topless and doorless. Unfortunately though, that makes items left in Jeeps very easy to steal. This $55 Bestop Security Lock Box helps fix that problem by giving you a secure location to store items located in a nonvisible location. It is designed for 2007 – 2017 Wrangler JK and JKU models. It will not fit on 2011 – 2017 JK 2 door models. There is an option for a center console lock box, and an under the passenger lock box as well.
Bestop Under Driver Seat Lock Box ($55.98) – Check Today’s Price!
We off roaders are notorious for backing into rocks, trees, manzanita bushes, other vehicles, and sometimes people. All of these make us ruin a lot of rear tail lights. To help fix this, check out E-Autogrilles’ Stainless Steel Tail Light Guards. They bolt right on to any 2007-2017 Jeep JK model and will keep your tail lights safe and in tact.
E-Autogrilles Stainless Steel Tail Light Guards set of 2 ($29.99) – Check Today’s Price!
And that is it for our massive Christmas wish list gift guide for the ham radio, off roader, 4×4’ing, camping, adventurer! Hopefully you find some great ideas for that adventurer in your life. Please leave some comments below with other gift ideas that would work on this list! We love seeing other nifty items from other adventurers.
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You can also join the community forums and ask questions and see what adventures everyone else is up to!
Join the Off Road Ham Radio Community at the Forums!
Also, if you don’t have your Ham Radio Technician License, head over to our Online Ham Radio Class and study up!
And, of course, don’t forget to check out our MORRFlate 4 Tire Off Road Inflation Deflation Kit!
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