Do you know someone who is an amateur scientist, whether it is in electronics, meteorology, astronomy or kit building. Here is a list of gift ideas for those amateur scientists on your gift-shopping list.

Shopping and Buying Tips

Many of these prices are from Amazon.com and can change as we get near the holidays. Reading the reviews is very helpful not only when choosing the right gift, but also anticipating problems before you buy the gift. Like getting the right type of batteries to having to download and print the manual. When it comes to prices, you get what you pay for is usually the rule with these products.

Weather Stations and Weather Gifts

Many people love to just watch the weather or want to actually report the weather as a weather spotter. There are numerous brands of home weather stations at various prices. Look for a wireless model. You can set it up and not have to worry about laying cables all over the place. A home weather station should have the basic weather readings including temperature, wind speed and direction, barometer, rainfall, wind chill and a function that records the high and low temperature and the high and low wind speeds.

Many devices use the phrase home weather stations when they are nothing more than just a receiver with an FM antenna that allows you to receive local weather information in your area, like the Oregon Scientific WMS-801. You can do that for free on the Internet. Some are not weather stations but forecast the weather from online sources. And some are just expensive indoor/outdoor temperature readouts. Here are some home weather stations with good reviews. One note, some people have written that Oregon Scientific does not have very good customer support.

Make sure you read all the specifications since some weather stations might only read temperatures down to 0 F, which doesn’t do you much good if you live in a northern climate. The La Crosse models biggest complaint is that their temperature sensors are not waterproof, which isn’t great in the rain. Make sure you read the manuals when setting any of these up. Also reading reviews on Amazon.com can really help sort out any problems or inaccurate readings. Inaccurate readings are usually corrected at the time of setup.

• Ambient Weather WS-1080 Wireless Data Logging Weather Station – USB interface
• Ambient Weather WS-1050 Wireless Weather Station – No computer interface
• Davis Instruments 6250 Vantage Vue Wireless Weather Station
• The AMS Weather Book: The Ultimate Guide to America's Weather

Astronomy

Telescopes are a good way for the beginning astronomer to further their interest. Just don’t expect to see brilliant pictures of galaxies like you see in magazines from the Hubble Space Telescope. Along with beginner telescopes, books or software that show where and when to look for certain objects is very helpful. If you can’t afford one of these it might be better to get a good pair of 10x50 binoculars to learn the sky until you can afford one of these telescopes. Don't buy a telescope at a toy or department store; a cheaply built telescope can actually dampen further enthusiasm. Some telescopes will automatically point to an object you want to see. There are many choices and prices for telescopes. Do not ever look at the sun with a telescope, unless you have a special sun filter for it. There are several good links at the end of this article about buying your first telescope.

• Orion SkyQuest XT6 Classic Dobsonian Telescope is the best beginner telescope but a bit pricey at $280. The Classic XT4.5 is also great with a better price.
• Orion StarBlast XT4.5 Astro reflector at $200.
• Orion SpaceProbe 3 Altaz reflector telescope $100
• Orion SkyQuest XT8 Classic Dobsonian Telescope
• A great companion book to a telescope is “Nightwatch: A practical guide to viewing the universe” by Terence Dickinson.

Microscopes

Microscopes come in two types. The compound microscope is the type we are all most accustomed to; viewing slides and used to view very small objects like cells. A magnification of 200x to 400x should be fine. It is better if the microscope has a light source with it. And the stereo microscope or dissecting microscope, which allows larger objects to be viewed and worked on at the same time. Like rocks, flowers and small circuits. These microscopes are fine with 10x to 40x magnification. Computer or digital microscopes lets you view the object on the computer screen and save as a file. The Celestron 44103 500x had good reviews at around $200 except the light bulb in it gets very hot and worried some people.

• Motic Digiscope 150 & 300 from Edmunds Scientific are fine digital microscopes for the beginner, including software for the PC or Mac. $179. You might be able to get 10% off this price by asking.
• Celestron 44102 400x Power Laboratory Biological Microscope (compound) $188, but it was recently listed at $120.
• Celestron 44340 LCD Digital Microscope

Metal Detectors

• Bounty Hunter IV costs between $90 and $140 is a great metal detector at a great price.
• Tesoro Compadre for $165 to $190 is another great metal detector.
• The Urban Treasure Hunter: A Practical Handbook for Beginners by Michael Chaplan

For more about metal detectors, you can read Getting Started in Metal Dectecting.

Chemistry Kits

• Thames and Kosmos Chem C3000 is a very complete chemistry set. It does say recommended for kids 12 and up, but it does contain chemicals and uses open flames. I would say it is for the experienced user at least.

Solar and Wind Power Kits

• Thames and Kosmos Solar workshop kit is great to teach kids about solar energy. There are 30 different experiments for $65.
• Thames and Kosmos Wind Power Kit has 20 experiments with a wind turbine you build yourself for $50.

© 2009 Sam Montana

Sources:

Creative Commons photo courtesy of rose3694 on Flickr

Where to buy Thames and Kosmos products by state

How to buy your first telescope

Advice for buying a beginner telescope

Gadgets and Electronic Gifts Under $100

Guide to Weather, Astronomy and Science Articles