GIFT GUIDE
Gifts for Geology Buffs & Earth Science Fans
THE PICK
Seismic Sentinel
WiFi earthquake tracker
from $109.99
Not an earthquake warning system: it reports quakes after the USGS posts them.
Some people read the headlines first. Others open the USGS earthquake map, find the new dot, and can tell you which plate boundary it sits on before anyone else in the room has heard about it. They already own the rock collection, the tectonic map poster and at least one book about New Madrid.
What they don’t have is the whole planet on their desk. That’s the gift: a small screen that follows the world’s earthquakes as the USGS reports them, draws them on a globe lit by the real sun, and works out what each nearby one meant where they live.
THE PICK
Seismic Sentinel
WiFi earthquake tracker
Seismic Sentinel cycles through the U.S. Geological Survey’s reports from every corner of the planet on a bright touchscreen, led by the most significant quake it’s holding, with its distance from home and its depth. A globe lit by the real sun shows the week’s quakes and the plate boundaries they follow, a Felt Here screen estimates whether anything nearby would have been felt where they live, and a tap on a quake tells its story, down to when its waves would have reached their desk.
Before you buy: Seismic Sentinel is built to satisfy curiosity about earthquakes, and nobody should rely on it for safety. There is no sensor inside it, so it can’t feel the ground move or give any warning before shaking starts, and a quake shows up on it only once the USGS has posted it, usually minutes after it struck. For warnings, keep Wireless Emergency Alerts turned on in your phone’s settings, along with ShakeAlert-powered alerts if you live on the West Coast.
from $109.99
The final price, colors and shipping are on the listing, and checkout stays on Etsy.
Buy on Etsy (opens in a new tab)Checkout happens on Etsy. This opens the Seismic Sentinel listing in a new tab.
Want the full tour? See the Seismic Sentinel page, or read the field guide: Magnitude vs. Intensity: The Two Numbers Every Earthquake Gets
Before you gift it
What they’ll need
- A 2.4 GHz WiFi network and its password. Most home routers broadcast one next to their 5 GHz network. No PlankLabs gadget can join a WPA3-only network, or a network that asks for a username or sends you to a sign-in page, which is common on school and hotel WiFi. A normal home password (WPA2) is fine.
- A phone or laptop for setup, which runs in its web browser.
- A USB-A phone charger or a computer’s USB-A port. Every box has a USB-A to USB-C cable, about 3 feet (36 inches), and no wall adapter is included.
- Setup asks for their city and state or a U.S. ZIP code, and their time zone. It is designed for U.S. homes, so setup offers U.S. time zones only.
Not sure it will work for them?
Message me on Etsy (opens in a new tab) before you order. Tell me what you know about their WiFi and where they live, and I’ll tell you honestly whether it will work.
If it doesn’t work out, my 90-day maker warranty covers defects, and change-of-mind returns are accepted within seven days of delivery through Etsy, with the buyer covering return shipping. The FAQ has the details.
Once it’s unwrapped, planklabs.us/owners has the setup steps for every gadget.
WHY IT LANDS
What makes this gift work
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Sources they’ll respect
Every quake comes from the U.S. Geological Survey’s public feeds, and every calculated number is labeled: EST. on shaking estimates, MODEL on arrival times, SIMULATION on the what-if simulator. Earth science people check for exactly that.
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The science is on the screen
Plate boundaries from Peter Bird’s published plate model, shaking estimates from a peer-reviewed intensity model, and wave arrival times from ak135, a standard model of the Earth’s interior that seismologists use. A teacher can point at the globe and explain the core’s shadow.
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History, measured from home
Great Quakes walks through fifteen history-making earthquakes, from the New Madrid sequence of 1811 and 1812 to Türkiye in 2023, with how far each one struck from their town and when its waves would reach them if it happened today.
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Something to play with
Drop a Quake lets them set a hypothetical earthquake down near home, choose its magnitude, and see how long the waves would take to arrive and how hard they would probably shake their town. It’s badged SIMULATION the whole time and never mixes with the real reports.
ALSO WORTH A LOOK
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from $119.99
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See the gadget…for the globe lover whose curiosity runs above the planet as well as under it.
live data Storm Sentinel
WiFi desktop weather station
from $109.99
Forecasts, severe-weather alerts, and radar straight from the National Weather Service, plus an Outdoor Score and a storm-cloud mascot with opinions.
See the gadget…for the natural-hazards buff who follows the radar as closely as the fault lines.
GIFT-BUYER QUESTIONS
The things people ask before gifting one
Is it hard for a non-technical person to set up?
No. Setup runs in a phone’s web browser and takes a few minutes. They plug the gadget into USB power, join the setup WiFi network it makes, and its setup page opens on their phone (if it doesn’t, they go to 192.168.4.1 in the browser). There they enter their home WiFi details, plus their city and state or a U.S. ZIP code, and their time zone, and save.
Will it warn them before an earthquake?
No. Seismic Sentinel has no seismic sensor, and a quake appears on it only after the USGS has posted it, which takes minutes. It’s a way to follow and understand earthquakes that have already happened, not a safety device. For warnings, Wireless Emergency Alerts on their phone (and ShakeAlert-powered alerts on the West Coast) are the right tools.
Should I set it up before I wrap it?
Leave setup to them. It asks for their home WiFi and their city or ZIP code, because distances, shaking estimates, wave arrival times and the nearby-quake alert are all worked out from where they live. It takes a few minutes in a phone’s browser, with no app to install. It is designed for U.S. homes, so setup offers U.S. time zones only, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam and American Samoa.
Will they get hit with a subscription after I gift it?
Seismic Sentinel doesn’t come with one. What you pay at checkout on Etsy is the whole cost, and there is no account for them to set up or keep paying for. The earthquake reports reach the device through my own servers, and firmware improvements arrive over the air on their own. The one honest caveat: the USGS feeds are a free government service that nobody can promise will stay free forever, though the hardware is theirs to keep regardless.
What does it cost?
The Etsy listing has the current price, enclosure colors and shipping estimate, and the Etsy button on this page opens it. When this page shows a “from” price, that is the listing’s starting price, checked with Etsy within the last few hours. Checkout happens on Etsy with full buyer protection, and I back every unit with a 90-day maker warranty.
The Seismic Sentinel listing on Etsy has the colors and shipping. Another question first? Message me on Etsy (opens in a new tab).
from $109.99
Buy on Etsy (opens in a new tab)