We all have our gadgets that we use on a daily basis at work. We’re not talking about excavators or whatever fancy tiltotators you might have at your disposal, we are talking about the important stuff; the little gadgets that will make your life that much easier on site and help the day run as smoothly as the excavator you’re driving.
- Blue Tooth Earpiece – Plantronics Voyager – Amazon £76.99
While using your mobile while your at the controls should be a no-no, a good Bluetooth earpiece is essential for an operator. Although most machines have Bluetooth technology to link with your mobile, it can be quite hard to hear them over the digger, so a comfy headset is essential for any operator who doesn’t want to be wiping the sweat off their ears every five minutes. The Plantronics voyager will be a great gadget for operators with its noise-cancelling and wind noise protection. For any of you operators that may leave your phone in the car it has up to a 98 ft reach, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting your phone.
2: Excavator Seat Cover – Takeuchi Seat Cover – £47.00 (large or small)
As we all know being sat on a wet seat for eight hours can be make for a less than joyous day at work, so one solution is a seat cover, especially if you drive a canopy machine or are jumping in and out constantly. A self-employed operator may be able to blag a free seat cover with the machine and it will be essential for making that seat stay dry and last a bit longer. A heavy-duty seat cover is a must for all drivers.
- Quality LED lighting – Screwfix £29.99
We know LED lighting is pretty standard now on newer models, but on for your older machines LED lighting might be a goos idea.
With the dark nights well and truly upon us a quality LED light is vital for operators. With a huge range on the market it is important to know what you want, something that has long battery life that is strong enough to survive on site.
You will want the easiest light that you can have in the back of your machine to pull it out when it is needed. Totally weatherproof and with durable glass and a three-hour battery life, the Lucedo LED USB Site Light is a great gadget to have with you. With USB charging, it means you can charge it from your car or a USB socket if you have forgotten to charge it at home. - Universal Phone holder – Amazon £14.99
With a Bluetooth headpiece already on the list, a phone holder is really handy so you can see if the calls coming in are actually worth answering or just someone ringing up to ask why the job isn’t finished.
I have used plenty of phone holders over the years but the last thing you want is it unclipping and dropping your phone into the footwwell so it is important that the phone holder can rotate and has a suction pad with a clip to ensure it stays fully vacuumed to the window and doesn’t fall off. - Weather App – AccuWeather £2.99 (on Android & Apple store)
There are lots of free weather apps out there, but it may be worth buying one for a couple of quid. The Accuweather app is great for anyone on a site so they can see hourly short-term forecasts set for their exact location and can add-in other sites to give you alerts if the weather changes.
This could be essential through the winter months as it will give you the amount of time until the hurricanes / beast from east arrive. - Boots – Cat Holton Boots – £64.99 – £115.00
The next and arguably the most important item on the list is a good pair of boots. It’s all about comfort and Cat leads the way. These feature steel-toe cap, changeable soles and plenty of shock resistance to support those knees and ankles. Cat Holton Boots offer great ankle support and a real focus on comfort. - Flask – Stanley Master vacuum bottle – £45.49
As we all know a cuppa in the morning is an important part of the day. Typical excavator drinks holders won’t fit most flasks so one that can fit into the cup holder will be useful – no rolling around in the back of the cab. - Boot Bag – Quadro Boot Bag – £11.94
The next item on the list may not be useful on site, however it will save you some time on cleaning your car boot. The Quadro Boot Bag is an ideal fit. If your other half uses the car you know how important it is to keep that boot clean. - Tile Pro Bluetooth Tracker – £27.99
Perfect for the guy who would lose his head if not screwed on, the next useful little gadget is the Tile Pro Bluetooth Tracker. Connect to a set of keys or a wallet. Don’t waste your time trying to find them. You can use your phone to find them. It is water resistant so don’t worry about leaving it out in the rain! - Warm headwear – Takeuchi Woolly Hat £9.00
Winter is coming and the King of the North will tell you how important a good warm hat is. This is a great hat from Takeuchi that is thick and will keep you warm enough and looks good enough to go and watch the footy in on a Saturday. It’s a good price and looks great so it is an operator must have. If you are in the cab all day you will want this on your head!
