Gifts for Grandad

Nineteen LEDs sit behind the flat head, with three colours from 1800K to 6000K, each at five brightness levels, and it remembers the last setting. Clip it to the back cover rather than the pages and bend the metal gooseneck so the head sits just over the top edge. The lowest amber setting is enough for a paperback once your eyes adjust, and the gentlest on anyone asleep alongside.

What owners say: Owners rate it for reading at night, with brightness and colour to suit, from a softer orange to plain white, and are pleased with what it costs. It works well on a music stand too, and one has it on a desk as a mini lamp.

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It runs to 448 pages with clear step-by-step photos, and covers design, containers, watering and feeding as well. Rather than being read cover to cover, it comes off the shelf for a quick check, when to prune or how to plant, and the Plant Chooser galleries help with a tricky corner. It’s as useful for a first garden as for an established one.

• 448 pages, fully illustrated
• Design, pruning and propagating
• Galleries to help choose plants

What owners say: Owners find it very informative, especially for beginners, easy to navigate and read, and full of good photos.

Faber-Castell first made the Castell 9000 in 1905, and these are made in Germany. The tin lives happily in a school bag. A sharp craft knife gives a longer point than a sharpener, which helps when shading with the side of the lead, and a strip of swatches on scrap paper shows at a glance which pencil gives which tone.

What owners say: Owners find the leads smooth, easy to sharpen and good at keeping their point, and like how well the grades blend and how smart the tin looks.

The Japanese SK5 steel blades are heat-treated to 60 HRC and slice cleanly through stems up to 25mm, on aluminium handles with a non-slip coating. They rarely need sharpening; when they do, a few strokes of a fine diamond file along the bevelled edge only, never the flat back, bring them back. At 230g they sit in a pocket through an afternoon of deadheading, and they suit left-handers.

What owners say: Owners find them extremely sharp and built to last, making short work of thick branches, and say they’re easy to use, smaller hands included.

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Each has Wera’s Lasertip end, made to grip rather than slip, and a coloured band on the handle shows the tip type at a glance: PH1, PH2, PZ1, PZ2 and slotted. The tips aren’t magnetised, so hold a small screw with a finger for its first few turns. The Kraftform handle, shaped with Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute to fit the hand, went on sale in 1968.

What owners say: Owners like how the etched tips bite into a screw head and how comfortable the handles feel, and that the drivers stay put when laid down instead of rolling away.

It charges 12V lead-acid batteries up to 110Ah at 5A and maintains ones up to 160Ah, adjusting the voltage for the temperature as it goes. Choose the small-battery setting for motorbikes and mowers, the normal one for cars and the AGM option for many stop-start cars. It’s water-resistant, and CTEK gives a five-year warranty.

What owners say: Owners like how small it is next to most chargers, and that the eyelet lead can stay fixed to the battery terminals so connecting up takes seconds. They also find the instructions explain each charging stage clearly.

The wave sensor means no fumbling for a button while holding a fuse box cover or a muddy lead. The narrow spot lights the path ahead and the soft flood suits close work like a plug socket, or run both together; a long press dims the beam down to 30%, handy when it bounces back off a white wall. Both are rated IPX5 for rain and snow, charge by USB-C and reach up to 150m.

What owners say: Owners find the white light very bright and the battery long-lasting, say it’s easy to switch on and off, and like it for dog walks in the dark, with a wide headband that stays comfortable.

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It began as a pharmacist’s kitchen recipe to help her father, a rancher whose hands cracked from outdoor work. The tube holds 80ml, and a small amount goes a long way, rubbed well into knuckles and fingertips after the last hand wash of the day. Being unscented, it suits anyone who finds floral hand creams too much.

• 80ml tube
• For very dry, cracked skin
• Unscented

What owners say: Owners say it works almost at once on very dry hands, leaves them soft and is fairly priced, though some find it quite greasy.

It’s 4cm of high-density EVA, 43 × 28cm, with room to shift your weight, a non-slip pattern on both faces and a built-in carry handle. Water doesn’t soak in, so mud hoses straight off and it dries quickly in the sun. Ohuhu also pitches it for cleaning jobs.

What owners say: Owners find it comfortable and easy on the knees through long spells in the garden, rate its thickness and durability, and say it’s handy beyond the garden too.

The palm is reinforced and the wrist cuff adjusts. At about 24cm long they stop at the wrist, so a long-sleeved top helps when reaching deep into a rose bed or a bramble patch. Being thick, they’re the pair for gathering up armfuls of thorny prunings for the green bin, and the leather is heat resistant too.

What owners say: Owners find them heavy-duty, thick and well insulated, keeping thorns and brambles off their hands, and are pleased with the fit, smaller hands included.