One of the hottest Christmas gifts of 2007 is going to be GPS systems.

GPS is like most high end electronics gear. It starts out very expensive and is only for the few who are rich enough to afford it, then it gets cheaper and cheaper as the technology gets better and cheaper to make, and eventually the price drops to the point where lots more can afford it.

GPS devices are now getting better and coming down in price and will, I predict, become one of the hot Christmas gifts for 2007. A couple of years ago a friend of mine who is into his four wheel driving purchased a Garmin GPS for well over $2000.

It’s a great GPS, we used it over the weekend, but you can now get a great GPS for well under that. On the same day another friend of mine who came along had his Tom Tom GPS with him, and it cost well under $500 and worked fine.

For those not sure what GPS actually is, it’s a navigation system run by satellite that helps you pinpoint your exact position on the globe to within a yard. It was, as I recall, set up by the military for obvious reasons, and is now available for use by anyone with a GPS device.

It is a fantastic technology. You can find out where you are or, with the right software, use it in your car to determine your navigation and route. Well used it can save a lot of money on fuel and many truck drivers are now using it to plan their routes to select the shortest and most economical route.

Higher end GPS models will update with real time traffic information to allow you to avoid all those traffic jams that cost so much time. And the high end GPS units are also voice activated so you can simply tell it the address you’re going to to get it to tell you how to get there.

A GPS device is usually small and easily hand held, although it can also be installed in car. But a hand held unit is by far the most versatile. My friends Tom Tom had a suction windshield adhesive cup so it can be put exactly where the driver wants it, and can easily be removed for hand held use.

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I just love the Christmas displays of Christmas lights every year. Usually just before Christmas day I load the kids into the car and we got out for a long drive looking at all the Christmas light displays near us. The only problem is that it’s usually after the kids bedtime before we start, so they can sometimes miss the last ones because they’ve fallen asleep in the back seat.

If they’re still awake then we do a vote on the best ones.

Here’s a display of Christmas lights that would get the votes from my kids, and me. It’s far and away the best Christmas display I’ve ever seen.

The lights are set to music, but it is not music to disturb the neighbours. There is a sign at the house telling people to tune in to a low power FM radio station so they can hear the music.

It took some 25000 lights, 2 months and $10000 to get going.

It’s not a fake. Apparently it’s in Mason Ohio and is the work of a man called Carson Williams, an electrical engineer. And I suppose he could also now call himself a Christmas display and Christmas lights expert as well. I’ll bet he could do pretty well as a consultant!

And if you’re here looking for some [tag-tec]Christmas gift ideas[/tag-tec] then check out my articles about Christmas gifts and my gift suggestions.