The wind tunnel here at Gadgetshop HQ is so powerful that whenever we power it up, we have to inform the local electricity company to avoid a surge that could knock-out half the nearest town. When combined with a deep-freeze system, it's not so much Baltic in there as positively Arctic. It was into this sub-zero hell that our colleague Geoff ventured with only his Parka for protection. For he was about to test the legendary stainless steel Ice Scraper from the Wallet Essentials range of handy credit card sized gentleman's accessories. As the chill went down to minus ten, resembling the overnight conditions of a particularly nasty January, Geoff's Fiat Bravo was standing up well, but the windscreen was frozen solid. Knowing that everyday credit cards were useless (he snapped two in half just to prove it), he went to work with the steel scraper, de-iced in a jiffy and popped it straight back in his wallet. But not before he opened his parka and, inadvertently turning himself into a kite, was blown back 30 feet.

This Wallet Essential comes from a range of such tools from the cutting-edge design gurus at Touch of Ginger (although whether this is an indication of the disproportionate genius of redheads is unclear). Whatever the root of their name, one simply cannot question their design credentials - and this ice scraper most certainly does what it says on the tin, with real panache.