Get them a combo!

Combination sets have fast become the most common way for people to purchase and receive power tools, whether as gifts or just for personal use. Make sure your combo has everything you need.

• Drill - This is the jack-of-all-trades of your tool box. If you consider nothing else in your combo set, consider the drill.

Make sure the box comes with a set of drill bits, screwdriver heads, and, if possible, a quick-change bit extension. Make sure you don't go overboard on voltage.

• Power box - On the job site it's nice to have a few amenities. Music comes to mind, as does a place to recharge your batteries. Buy a large combo kit and you'll be fortunate enough to have a power box for just these things.

Although they look like construction site boom boxes, these versatile tools now offer things like skip-resistant CD players (CD-R/RW compatible), charging ports for your power tool batteries, charging ports for your iPod, and auxiliary jacks for mp3 players.

• Reciprocating saw - Also known affectionately as a "sawsall," this bad boy is a necessity in any workspace. There are only some things you can cut with a table saw, but you can cut anything with a sawsall. This should be one of your first considerations.

• Circular saw - Although you can lug all your lumber up and try to balance it long enough to get your table saw going, it's probably easier to bring the saw to the wood. If you're doing any extensive renovation, you'll most definitely need one of these.

• Flood light - We all suffer from the same problem - whenever the lights go out, we can't find our flashlights.

When we finally do, the batteries are almost assuredly dead.

With a power tool battery always on the charger, however, you never have to worry about not having light again. Just grab your flood light, pop in the battery and you're ready to rock.