As a self-identified slob, I had always struggled to keep my car neat and tidy. But then I invested in a garbage bin made specifically for cars, and now the mere presence of the “carbage” can is all the motivation I need to keep the interior of my Subaru Crosstrek spotless.My trunk, already an unorganized…
Category: Tech Reviews
Reviews of new tech gadgets, software, and tools, with an emphasis on how they can be used for coding..
The Best Travel Car Seats
Let’s face it: Traveling with little kids can be a slog. But a lightweight, compact, easy-to-install travel car seat is one tool that can help make trips a bit easier.We’ve tested 14 travel car seats for infants and up, and examined how they perform in various circumstances, including during air travel and in rental cars.…
The Best Wireless Mouse
Our pickThe Triathlon is comfortable for a wide range of hand sizes, and it has six programmable buttons and long battery life.Connection type: Bluetooth and wireless USB dongleThe Logitech M720 Triathlon can pair with, and quickly switch between, three devices via Bluetooth, or you can connect it via the included USB dongle. It also has…
Baldur’s Gate 3 Is a Fantasy Epic to Be Played
Let’s cut to the chase: The hottest, sexiest video game of summer 2023 is a Dungeons & Dragons adaptation.Baldur’s Gate 3 has been something of a surprise sensation—not bad for the sequel to a beloved but long-dormant pair of PC role-playing games from the ’90s. Millions of players have lost themselves in Baldur’s Gate 3’s…
The Best Packable Travel Towels
We love a plush, thirsty bath towel, but a campsite or suitcase just isn’t the place for one—there, we want a quick-drying, packable travel towel.After putting 20 such towels through 60 hours of testing—including an intense day of sand and surf at the beach—we’ve concluded the PackTowl Personal offers the best balance of drying time,…
The Best Door Lock
After more than 40 hours of reporting, considering scores of deadbolts, and interviewing eight different locksmiths, security experts, and lock manufacturers, we’re confident the Schlage B60N single-cylinder deadbolt is the best lock for most people’s front doors. It has the highest certification available for resistance to forced entry, is extremely difficult to lockpick, and it’s…
The Best Portable Laptop Charger
Our pickThis portable charger has an AC outlet, two fast-charging USB-C ports, and a USB-A port, and it can charge even the most power-hungry laptops while they’re in use. But you need to provide your own wall charger.The Mophie Powerstation Pro AC has the best AC output (174 watts) and as much capacity (27,000 mAh)…
The Best Laptop Stands
Our pickThe Rain Design iLevel 2 is made of anodized aluminum, so it’s exceptionally sturdy and stylish. It’s also the easiest to adjust of all the laptop stands we’ve tested.The exceptional build quality and easy adjustability of the Rain Design iLevel 2 are worth paying for if you need a laptop stand. In our tests,…
The Best Countertop Ice Maker
Our pickThis ice maker is one of many clones available, but it stands out for its value, availability, and customer service.Similar to other standard countertop ice makers, the Magic Chef MCIM22/HNIM27 makes nine bullet-shaped cubes every eight minutes. Within a half-hour, you’ll have enough ice to chill a few drinks.Although the cloudy bullets aren’t exactly…
The Best Cheap Gaming Laptop
Cheaper laptops are being built with more powerful processors and GPUs all the time, and games are also getting more demanding. This year, affordable gaming laptops launched with the newest generation of graphics cards and processors from Nvidia, Intel, and AMD, and we don’t recommend buying a laptop with the previous generation of Nvidia 30-series…
The Best Thermos
A good thermos will hold enough coffee to last an entire day at a job site and keep your drink hot to the final cup.Compared with smaller travel mugs, food thermoses, or tumblers, a thermos will hold more, so you can sip throughout the day or share with others.After comparing 27 thermoses and testing seven,…
The Best Windows Ultrabook
Our pickThe Spectre x360 offers exceptional battery life, a tall touchscreen, and a reliable keyboard and trackpad. It’s also thin and light enough to slip in a bag and take anywhere.Recommended configurationProcessor:Intel Core i5-1235UScreen:13.5-inch 1920×1280 touchMemory:16 GBWeight:3.01 poundsStorage:512 GB SSDTested battery life:11 hoursThe HP Spectre x360 13.5″ has exceptional battery life combined with fast performance,…
The Best Roach Killers
Roaches are tenacious, so you may need to expand your approach to include bait gels and powders. We have recommendations for those, as well as advice on stuff that does not work, including kill-on-contact sprays, bombs, and foggers.Our pickTerro’s traps are easier to monitor than those of competitors. And they stay put on vertical surfaces,…
Why We Love Stashers, the Sustainable Solution to Single-Use Baggies
The sordid details of my deranged ritual are nothing you need to know. Suffice it to say, what I did to divert my non-recyclables from the landfill cost way too much of my precious free time. But I’m not here to relive those dark days. I’m here to tell you that there is a better…
The Best OLED TV
OLED TVs are the best-looking TVs you can buy, delivering extremely high image contrast, rich colors, smooth motion, and much better viewing angles than LCD TVs offer. They carry a higher price, but they’re a worthwhile upgrade for anyone who is truly passionate about movies or gaming.We recommend the Samsung S90C Series because it provides…
The Best KitchenAid Attachments
The stand mixer is widely considered a baker’s tool. But once you’ve taken the leap and dedicated a section of your counter or cupboard to this sizable multitasker, you have a whole world to explore, thanks to KitchenAid’s catalog of proprietary attachments. They work with the mixer’s sturdy motor to automate tasks—such as shredding, grinding,…
The Best Electric Stoves and Ranges
Our pickThis convection range has the best cooktop and oven for $1,000 or less, and it comes in four finishes.The GE JB735 is a sturdy, handsome stove with excellent cooking and baking features for the price.The cooktop has the broadest range of power of any electric stove we’ve found in its price range. The GE…
The Best Multi-Bit Screwdriver
A screwdriver is the single most essential tool for minor home repairs. It’s the ultimate kitchen-drawer tool, and it can help with loose hinges, toy batteries, and wobbly door handles, all on the fly.To get the most out of a screwdriver, you need one with a good bit selection—a comfortable handle and a nice ratcheting…
The Best Smart Hose Timers
If you want to simplify your lawn or garden care, a smart hose timer will help you keep your yard or garden thriving with little effort on your part.We like the Orbit B-hyve Smart Hose Watering Timer because its comprehensive app allows you to easily set up customizable Schedules, and a built-in water-flow meter lets…
The Best Commuter Bike Lights
Our pickBright and affordable, this headlight has good side visibility and a long-lasting battery—better than other lights we tested in its price range. Its quick-release mount is sturdy and easy to use but lacks a functional swivel.You could, of course, spend a lot more money on a bike light that’s brighter or has a longer…
The Best Picnic Blanket
Its soft flannel is comfortable to sit on, the waterproof underlining keeps you dry, integrated straps help you transport it easily, and the colorful stripes make your picnic feel like an Impressionist masterpiece.Our pickOur favorite picnic blanket travels easily, feels comfortable to sit on, and holds up to wear and tear. It has, however, increased…
The Best Universal Remote Control
Our pickThe U1 can control up to 15 AV devices and supports Bluetooth control. And it relies on a mobile app for setup. But it lacks backlighting and activity buttons, and programming advanced tasks can be challenging.The SofaBaton U1 Universal Remote Control is a well-designed universal remote that offers a lot more features than you…
The Best Travel Backpack
If the kind of trip you tend to take involves endless terminal corridors, busy subway platforms, cobblestone alleys, and fourth-floor walk-ups—all in a single day—we prescribe a travel backpack.After carrying multiple packs across thousands of miles for more than three years, we recommend the REI Co-op Ruckpack 60+ Recycled Travel Pack – Men’s and the…
The Best Drones for Photos and Video
But you can find dozens of different models—sometimes even from a single brand—with various costs and benefits to sift through.After test-flying 30 models, we’ve concluded that the DJI Air 2S is the best drone because it combines a high-end camera with the latest autonomous technology for less than $1,000. We also recommend the DJI Mavic…
The Best Sheets for Hot Sleepers
Target’s Casaluna 300 Thread Count Temperature Regulating Sheets are a cotton and polyester blend incorporating 37.5 Technology, which, according to the company that makes it, is a mix of volcanic minerals and activated carbon that comes from coconuts. Wes Burgess, chief product officer at 37.5, told me they use a patented process to blend these…
The Best Tampons
After ripping apart, as well as menstruating on, hundreds of tampons, we can tell you, first, that many of these cotton wads are identical or nearly so, and second, that small details—such as the shape of an applicator or the composition of the wrapper—make some tampons much more pleasant to use than others. Among applicator…
The Best Menstrual Cups and Discs
Over the span of just three cycles, a reusable menstrual cup or disc can save you money. And switching to a menstrual cup or disc reduces the number of disposable tampons or pads you’d ordinarily toss in the trash. The best option for you largely depends on your anatomy.We’ve tested more than 40 different menstrual…
Wearing Fans Around Our Necks Has Been More Pleasant Than
2023 is the hottest summer of your life (so far), and we’re seeing a new crop of wearable gear meant to climate-control your personal bubble, to quote an ad, “Cooler than an air conditioner!” We were skeptical—of the cooling claims for these so-called neck fans and of how we’d look walking around with plastic rings…
This Bed-Cooling System Isn’t Cheap
Couples’ sleep-temperature incompatibility is a tale as old as time, and my husband, Carter, and I spent years trying to find a compromise. Making me warmer was easier than getting him cooler, so we mostly focused on him. We tried solutions like a cheap cooling mattress pad, but it ended up having the exact opposite…
We Had 44 Period and Incontinence Products Tested for Forever
Forever chemicals are everywhere, including in period and incontinence products—even in some that companies claim are free of such substances.That’s the conclusion from independent lab testing we solicited that looked for signs of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in 44 products—including period underwear, tampons, menstrual cups, and more—and found plenty.Often called “forever chemicals” because they…
The Best Indoor HDTV Antenna
Our pickOf all the antennas we tested, this passive, non-amplified antenna gave us the best results on average, and it’s affordable and easy to install.Across seven test runs in two cities, the Best Buy Essentials Thin Indoor HDTV Antenna pulled in the most TV channels on average, although by only a small margin. Most important,…
The Best Kids Sleeping Bags
Whether you’re planning a family camping trip, packing for summer camp, or prepping for a childhood’s worth of slumber parties, the right sleeping bag can help a kid sleep soundly in an unfamiliar spot.After comparing 16 kid-size bags over the past seven years, we think most children will be happy to crawl into the REI…
The Best Surge Protector
Any power strip will add extra outlets to a room, but you should really use a surge protector, which won’t let harmful power surges fry your electronic devices or start a house fire.We’re confident that the Tripp Lite Protect It 12-Outlet Surge Protector TLP1208SAT offers the best combination of protection and outlet quantity at a…