Skype Phones?

Gandalf_the_Crazed

I have a good friend who'll soon be leaving to study abroad for a few months. I'd like to get her some Skype credit so she can call me/other folks around here, but apparently they don't sell gift certificates anymore. I'd still like to get her something Skype-related, because I know she'll want to call her family, but also because I'd like to drop the hint-hint that she should call me occasionally while she's gone. :-P

I was thinking about a USB phone she could use with her Skype account. What I'm looking for:

1. Affordable.
2. Mac-compatible.
3. Clear audio and audio transmission.
4. Comfortable to use.

Any particular models I should/shouldn't look at?

Kate of Lokys

I've been using one of these for two and a half years, and it has been just fantastic. It uses AAA rechargeable batteries, and I average a good 7-8 hours of continuous talk time using a pair of mid-grade Duracells. I've used it in sub-zero temperatures, I've used it while sitting in the steam of a hot tub for two hours straight, I've used it while lying in a hammock outside with about 40 feet and two thick stone walls between it and the base station, and it has performed just about flawlessly under all of those conditions. It's comfortable enough that I used to fall asleep on it, it's dead easy to use, and you can even hook it up to a regular phone line to have it double as a conventional phone. It also cost me a whole $100 two and a half years ago, so you could probably find one on sale now.

Of course, it's not perfect. It's not Mac-compatible out of the box, though somebody might have written some drivers for it by now. The sound quality also gets pretty spotty when you start hitting the edge of its range - when I used it at home, anywhere in the basement or main floor was crystal clear, but the upper floor had bad echoing and skipping. But, if you do find one on the cheap (it's pretty old, after all), and you can get it to run on a Mac, it's a fantastic little phone.

Gandalf_the_Crazed

Just making sure, since I've never seen one in action:

Would this include everything she needs to make it work, except the drivers to make it Mac-compatible?