Travel Gear: fishing by phone, the roll-up boot and remote pet-sitting

FishHunter Fish Finder
One suspects there may be a few in the fishing fraternity who'll regard a gadget like this as anathema to everything their sport is about. As the name suggests, it's a portable sonar-based fish finder. It syncs with your smartphone by Bluetooth to help track fish up to 36m underwater, thanks to a downward-facing sonar transducer in a robust waterproof ball. Suitable for use off shore or boat, it floats on the surface, pinging away at the prey below. That it can make anyone a more productive fisherman (or woman) is going to be a pro or con depending on your viewpoint. $169 from fishhunter.com

Travelling Boulder Boot
It's quite freaky just how lightweight and flexible these Lem's Boulder Boots are. The uppers are 60 per cent leather with heavy duty nylon, but it comes in at just 283g for men's size eight. The inners are cotton-lined and the fit is very comfortable, with plenty of wriggle room for toes. Moreover, each Boulder Boot can almost ball up like a pair of socks, so you can stuff it in the corner of your case or duffel. $115 from lemsshoes.com

Petcube
If leaving your pet home alone guilts you out, Petcube offers a high tech way to stay in touch remotely with its built-in camera, speaker and laser (more of that anon). Simply add it to the wi-fi network at home, pair it up with the app on your phone or tablet, and you can see what they're at, shout at them to get down off the kitchen table and even engage them in game of chase the laser dot using your touchscreen. In fact, Petcube claims your family and friends will take over watching for you, just to get to play "fetch the light". $199 from petcube.com

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