There are many great new road trip gadgets. Like jumper cables for your iPod and iPhone, just stick the Incharge Auto cable in your glove compartment and forget about it. When you need more juice, pop the adaptor end into the car's 12-volt accessory outlet (what used to be called the cigarette lighter) and connect the other end to the iPod or iPhone. The self-resetting fuse makes sure the juice flows properly from outlet to device, confirmed by an LED indicator. The bottom end of the cable is a USB connector that can detach from the 12-volt adaptor and plug into a laptop, letting you charge the device off the computer as you work, or move files.

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Tag Heuer's Night Vision glasses, made for the pros but now available to everyone else, tackle nighttime visual problems that bug all drivers. The anti-glare ophthalmic lenses cut down on distracting head-light reflection, but their yellow tint creates a crisp transmission of blues and greens, giving the driver details of distant objects and structure that might otherwise go unnoticed. These glasses won't make you a safer driver—that's your responsibility—but they can help increase the visual data a driver needs to make correct decisions in the tougher conditions at night.

The Leatherman Surge is jam-packed with implements, ranging from those that you will readily apply—scissors, knife blade, bottle-opener—to those that come into play in more technical situations, such as the wire stripper and cutters, bit drivers, files and electrical crimper. You should be able to handle any basic fix-it job involving other driving gear or your car's general parts (repair a sun visor, or tighten an interior screw, for instance). Those people with big mitts will be pleased at the slightly larger size of the Surge, as it's no delicate surgical instrument, but constructed with outstanding precision. The day will come when you're grateful you bought it.

While this might have "racing" in its name, it's the perfect tire-pressure gauge for the serious driver. The Accutire gauge measures pressure to the tenth of a pound. The LCD display operates like a speedometer—the bars light up around the ring scale, indicating the pressure, and then the numerical value is displayed in the center of the back-lit dial face. Use the built-in bleed valve to back down pressure that's too high. This is a nice hybrid of newer (and often cheaper) digital pressure gauges that display just a number, and the old-school needle-and-dial gauges.

The luminescent U2 Ultra is powerful, but flexible—read a map easy or illuminate the back of the car to change a tire. If you get stuck on the road, you can easily signal other drivers, and a single flash from its strongest setting into the eyes of that drunk in the parking lot should be enough to send him away. Built to last, and built for easy handling, this is the last flashlight you'll ever need on the road.

This 19 x 13 x 9-inch weekend bag comes in hand-milled black or walnut, with the grain and softness of the best saddle leather. All Glaser bags are handmade, and can be altered to customer specs. Properly cared for, leather like this will last a very long time—and it won't ever go out of style. It'll look good in the boot of your Morgan, the backseat of the Jag or behind the seat in your restored '59 Power Wagon. Fill yours with a change of clothes and a toiletries kit and you'll be ready for the changes in personal schedule that occur while you're on the road.

Your gadgets and the car's manual go in the glove compartment. But your log book and pen, and a set of good maps (your state and all neighboring states), go into the Case Logic AX organizer, an essential piece of gear that tucks into the driver's door. You'll know where everything is, and you won't have to move but your arm a few inches to get it. Stick an emergency $20 in one of the folds, and copies of your vehicle registration and insurance card.

While those dashboard-mounted compasses are nice, they're a little bulky to hold next to a map, if you can detach one from its base. But you or your passenger can hold the flat-bodied Carabiner 9 atop a map and very quickly read the bright red-on-black display get the most essential information. Silva has been at the compass-making business since 1933 and their stuff is foolproof. This simple compass clips or tucks anywhere convenient, such as, say, the map case, and costs nothing compared to some of its airplane-quality peers.

Small enough to tuck into the corner of the trunk of a car, IntelligentFirstAid's Talking Kit gives the user systemic first-aid support through both written and audio instructions. Eight individual supply packages, each corresponding to a common type of injury (bleeding, bone breaks, head injuries, etc.), contain the necessary bandages, pads and other first-aid items to deal with each. The printed card in each pack gives both written and illustrated instructions for dealing with the injury, and a button at the top of each card will trigger audio instructions that supplement the card's text. The effect is like having an EMT giving you quick, succinct instructions over the phone. A guidebook included in the kit covers a number of additional medical emergencies, and the kit's manual also makes use of audio instructions.