A big part of what made the old James Bond movies so much fun was the cache of high-tech gizmos the intrepid spy always had at his fingertips.

Watching Agent 007 take pictures with his lapel pin was basically science fiction at a time when the norm was huge, clunky cameras with those big blue flash bulbs that blinded everyone within a 3-mile radius.

But during the past decade, techno geek fantasy has become reality.

Now, people with some money to burn can easily get their hands on bug detectors, cameras smaller than a dime, voice changers, lie detectors and night-vision goggles.

Vehicle tracking devices the size of a matchbox allow someone sitting in front of his or her home computer to watch the car’s travels — live. The Global Positioning System devices also report on addresses, when a vehicle stopped and for how long and how fast the car was going.

“You’re only limited by your imagination, money and the law now,” said Harvey Morse, a Daytona Beach private detective with nearly four decades of undercover sleuthing to his credit.

Anyone can now buy counter surveillance equipment that can detect a variety of spying devices and audio jammers that create unintelligible noise for an eavesdropper or an unwelcome recording device. Fax machines can be rigged with a chip that automatically sends copies of everything to a snoop’s number — silently and secretly.

The tiny undercover cameras available now can be installed pretty much anywhere: buttons, stuffed animals, plants, pens, books, sun glasses, baseball caps, children’s toy blocks, wall clocks, air purifiers, calculators.

There’s even a wireless camera that looks like a pack of cigarettes. The user just flips the lid open and presses the transmit button, and that person is sending clear video from a tiny pinhole camera hidden inside the bar code of the box to a receiver.

The hitch is the clandestine cameras aren’t cheap. Many will set you back $400.

Other spy gadgets are even pricier. A cell phone that doubles as a GPS device sells for more than $1,500.

One company touts the special phone as a portable personal security system. The user can push one of the buttons and have continual transmission of his or her voice and location without overtly talking on the phone.

Even small police departments have invested in the latest gadgetry. And what small departments can’t afford, they can borrow from a federally supported agency that lends specialized equipment for law enforcement, Ponce Inlet police Investigator Max Binz said.

The downside of the easy availability of spy toys once reserved for detectives, military spooks and federal agents is that many people are using them illegally. The law says people are entitled to an expectation of privacy in various places and situations, and that dictates how and when devices can be used.

Even a woman who suspects her husband is cheating can break the law by planting a GPS device in his car if the vehicle’s title is in his name only, or if it’s a car he rented. She could also find herself on the wrong side of the law by installing software on their home computer that tracks his cyber activity if he bought the house and computer before they met.

Police also have to be careful monitoring people in private places, but they can get court orders to do things others can’t, said Volusia County sheriff’s Capt. Jim Melady, commander of investigative services.

When Morse has a legal concern, he reverts to old-fashioned detective work.

“If I use equipment illegally, my client can’t use the information, and I lose my license,” he said.

The old-fashioned way can also be better.

“A GPS device won’t show me if someone else got in the car I’m following,” he said.

Lani Faulkner, an investigator with Maxim Investigations in Daytona Beach, agreed the low-tech way is sometimes the best way.

“If you’re sitting in a car doing surveillance, you have to be so aware of your surroundings at all times or you screw up,” Faulkner said. “The person you’re watching can exit from all different areas of a house. You have to be aware who’s watching you or noticing that you keep coming and going.”

Faulkner and Morse say they capitalize on the combination of intuition and new technology.

“The things we could do in the 1970s were completely different than now,” Morse said. “It’s amazing how size reduction came with improved technology.”

He recalled the old tape recorders he once used to capture phone conversations.

“The tape recorder was the size of a cigar box, and you had to be creative where you put it,” he said. “We’d put them in a wall, a drawer or maybe run a wire to the garage or attic.”

He had wireless listening devices in the past that had mini transmitters that overrode radio waves, and he could listen to a conversation on his car radio. But he could only get about 300 feet away from the bug.

Despite dramatic advances, the new equipment has limits, too.

“People ask us to check if their house or office has surveillance equipment, but we can only say at the moment we were there we detected nothing that was present and turned on,” Morse said.

Not all new gadgets are up for grabs on the open market. Some high-powered devices and sophisticated computer software are still available only to police, licensed private investigators, the military and federal agencies.

But the general public can still make good use of basic equipment. It’s still possible to set up a video camera in a clock at a nursing home or child care business with proper permission.

Those fascinated by the dramatic changes in surveillance equipment will continue to be wowed, said Martin Fromm, president of the Spook Tech shop in Daytona Beach.

“The technology is getting bigger and better every year,” he said.