(image courtesy myce.com)

I had a RadioShack gift card from an old electronics trade-in; I found it while cleaning my home office. The question, of course, was how to spend it before I misplaced it again. Since I can count on two fingers the number of times I’ve been in a Radio Shack in several years, I tossed the question to the Gear Diary team: What would you do with a Radio Shack gift card?

Carly Z: so if you had around $80 on a radio shack gift card, how would you spend it? new headphones? Nintendo DSi/DS Lite? a metric ton of batteries?

Travis Ehrlich: Remote control car for sure!!!

Joel McLaughlin: Memory Cards or a USB Thumb Drive.

Doug Moran: In my family, it’s ear buds. I would buy $80 worth of ear buds. That might last us a few weeks. (The cats chew on them; the kids lose them.)

Joel McLaughlin in reply to Doug Moran: I rip through buds quickly too.

Carly Z in reply to Joel McLaughlin: these suggestions are awesome! And Travis, i think my dog would eat a remote-controlled car. sadly.

Judie Lipsett: Do they sell charger/FM transmitter/auxiliary cable docks for iPhones there? I need one badly, but I haven’t been in a Radio Shack in so long I’ve got no idea.

Joel McLaughlin in reply to Judie Lipsett: Yeah they do. They also have them at Walgreens and Kroger….dang shoulda put that in my post!

Carly Z in reply to Judie Lipsett: if they do, do you want me to buy it and send it to you?

Larry Greenberg: Maybe an iGo system?

Michael Anderson: Based on the prices I saw the last time I was in Radio Shack … battery.

Judie Lipsett in reply to Carly Z: Noooo! Get yourself something fun! )

Carly Z in reply to Judie Lipsett: like $80 worth of batteries?

Michael Anderson in reply to Carly Z: My joke was that crap there is so out of whack price wise you’ll be lucky to escape with more than ONE battery

Joel McLaughlin in reply to Michael Anderson: You ain’t lying…their prices are crazy on some things.

Doug Moran: spare cables and chargers. I have plenty of mini USB cables, but the micro USB and Apple iPhone/iPod cables are a bit harder to come by.

Dan Cohen: I would get the Motorola Talkabout® MJ270R 27-Mile 2-Way Radios. I don’t really need them, but they get 27 miles range. 27 miles!!!!!!! That is too cool.

So, armed with everyone’s sage advice, what did I buy at Radio Shack? A USB WiFi stick, of course! As it turns out, I needed one, and so Radio Shack fulfilled their sacred duty: being that place everyone goes when you desperately need a random piece of computer kit at 7:30 on a Saturday night, in a rainstorm.

What would you have bought with a Radio Shack gift card? Share your suggestions below!