A surround-sound speaker system gives movie lovers a home audio experience that’s more like what they hear in the theater. We picked the Polk Signature Series as our favorite because it delivers the best combination of performance, design, user-friendliness, and affordability. The speakers sounded as good as anything we tried in their price range, and they look terrific.
They say that money can’t buy love, which is good, because many people don’t have much. Still, February 14 is not the day to skimp on your display of affection. Luckily, you have lots of ways to impress on the cheap. Here we list our favorite budget-friendly Valentine’s Day gifts for lovers, friends, and loved ones, all at prices you’ll love.
Your computer, phone, or tablet holds all kinds of personal information about you, and before you sell, return, recycle, or donate it, you should make sure to delete all of that information correctly. On most devices, wiping your data securely is pretty straightforward, and doing so can prevent your data from being recovered by someone you would rather not have it. How you do this depends on which operating system you have and what type of storage drive your device has.
Whatever you celebrate on February 14th—Valentine’s Day, Galentine’s Day, or illustrious suffragette Anna Howard Shaw’s birthday—it’s an opportunity to show the lady in your life some love. We’ve gathered our favorite gifts for women here, so you can focus less on shopping and more on celebrating your relationship, whether it’s romantic, platonic or something in between.
Whether you’re celebrating a long-term romance, a treasured friendship, or just a flirtation with the new barista at your usual cafe, Valentine’s Day is the occasion to treat the special guy—or guys, if you’re lucky—in your life. We’ve pulled together the best Valentine’s Day gifts to show your father, brother, boyfriend, husband, or doomed Tinder date just how much you care. And of course, any Valentine would appreciate these gifts.
Most internet providers will rent you a Wi-Fi router as part of your internet package. But routers you own outright aren’t overly expensive. If you choose a solid router like the TP-Link Archer A7, our budget pick, you can start enjoying an empty line on your monthly bill in no time.
We can’t predict the future, but there is a high probability that pretty soon you’ll be surrounded by screams of victory mixed with cries of defeat, interspersed with questions on how long till halftime. We’ve got you covered with some great deals on TVs (and other goodies) that’ll elevate every aspect of your next totally super, unnamed, copyright-free game-day watch party.
Having cold feet is pure misery. When the weather gets chilly, almost nothing feels as good as donning a pair of cozy slippers to warm your body from the ground up. After 120 hours of researching and wearing 39 different styles, we still love our six-time pick, L.L.Bean’s durable and warm Wicked Good Moccasins, in women’s and men’s sizes.
We could all use a little extra support these days. Whether you’re shopping for your first bra or looking to upgrade some lackluster staples, this is a good place to start. We think any bra you put on your body should be comfortable and well constructed. And it should make you feel beautiful. To find some of the best bras, we spent 23 hours researching bras and talking with industry experts about what makes a great one. Then we enlisted a panel of four testers of different sizes who spent countless hours wearing 43 models from 19 brands—pitting industry titans against fledgling startups. We’re confident that our 10 final recommendations will suit a slew of moods, bodies, and style preferences.
A great pair of bookshelf speakers is one of the best investments a music lover can make. It should last for years and deliver better performance than you can get from the majority of all-in-one Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speakers that are all the rage now. The Q Acoustics 3020i is our favorite pair of passive bookshelf speakers to mate with your favorite stereo receiver, while the excellent Edifier S1000MKII pair is a more complete option with built-in amplifiers and Bluetooth.
A button-up shirt may be your closet’s stealthiest chameleon, equally at home in a blue-chip law firm, at an oonz-oonz dance club, and at a Sunday farmers market. But this undeniable utility can make choosing a button-up overwhelming, especially since you can spend upwards of $300 on a bespoke version or just $10 for one from a mass retailer. After researching hundreds online and testing with a panel of various body types, we’ve found five shirts—Oxford, dress, and linen—that stood out for their fit, quality, and wearable comfort.
We’ve been shoveling ourselves out of average snowstorms and heavy nor’easters with the True Temper 18-Inch Ergonomic Mountain Mover every winter since 2013. It’s the best snow shovel for most people looking to clear walkways, steps, and small driveways. No other shovel matches its unique blend of ideal size, ergonomics, durability, and availability.
Shovels work for snowy stairs and walkways, but on a wide-open driveway or patio, you can’t beat a fast, effective, easy-to-use snow blower. After seven New England winters of testing, the Toro SnowMaster 824 QXE 24-inch snow blower is the first tool we reach for, even with larger, pricier machines in the same shed. Its speed blows away everything else we saw in our tests, and its simple, intuitive controls make clearing deep snow a job you can (almost) enjoy.
If you’re a musician who’s starting to get serious about recording your work yourself, you need a USB audio interface that lets you connect any microphone to a computer or iPad and record multiple tracks at once. We tested nine audio interfaces and found that they all record clear audio, but the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 offers the best combination of features, portability, and ease of use.
A stylus isn’t a necessary accessory for your iPad, but if you want to draw or take notes, or if you simply prefer a digital pen for navigating, Zagg’s Pro Stylus can significantly improve the experience. We’ve tested every major stylus, and Zagg’s stands above them all with the best combination of accuracy, features, and price.
One of the best things about mirrorless cameras (or DSLRs) is that you can remove the lens and put another one in its place to change the way you see and capture your world. If you’re ready to move beyond the kit lens that came bundled with your camera, we have choices that will let you take sharper photos at night, shoot detailed close-ups of tiny objects, catch all the action of your weekend warrior, create professional-looking portraits, and capture dramatic landscapes.
Consider this your annual reminder that pleasure should be a priority in your life. Of course, you don’t need to wait for a holiday to treat yourself to something special, but these deals are some of the best prices we’re likely to see all year. Whether you’re reconnecting with yourself or a romantic partner, we’ve rounded up a handful of deals to help you get hands-on.
Kitchen counters are some of the most heavily trafficked and high-touch surfaces in any living space. A counter can serve as a prep space, a clutter magnet, and a place to display that fancy new KitchenAid mixer you got for your birthday. Anything that’s used so frequently in such a varied fashion is going to need pretty regular cleaning. Here’s what you need to know to keep the vital task from becoming overwhelming.
A great air purifier can really improve your life—reducing allergens such as pollen and mold spores, and protecting against wildfire smoke and other kinds of smoke. But to qualify as great, an air purifier needs to be powerful enough to clean the air in a large living room or playroom, quiet and dark enough for you to sleep near it in a bedroom, and inexpensive enough that it’s reasonable to have several spread throughout your home. After eight years, during which we’ve tested 47 different air purifiers, we believe the exceptional Coway AP-1512HH Mighty is the best among them—as we have since 2015. Strong as the Mighty is, its performance is not as singular as it once was, and in recent years many other machines have closely approached our high standards. If you prefer the looks, cost, or other features of our also-great picks, know that they match the Mighty in purifying performance.
I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve captured a lot of critters on home security cameras or seen one too many horror movies, but entering a dark house terrifies me. Although my husband would be perfectly happy to solve this problem by leaving the lights on all day and night, it’s completely unnecessary: Smart lighting exists for precisely this purpose.
Wireless chargers are a convenient way to juice up your phone without having to plug it in, even if they’re slower than wired chargers. And stand-style chargers are the best because, unlike horizontal pads, they allow you to use your phone while it’s charging. After more than 900 hours of testing since 2017, we’ve determined that the Belkin Boost Charge Wireless Charging Stand 10W is the best Qi (the industry-wide wireless-charging standard) charger for smartphones because it charges iPhones and Android phones faster than the competition. It also comes with a cable and a wall charger, accessories that many cheaper rivals leave out. If you have an iPhone 12 or later, consider our also-great pick below.
As a daughter of immigrants from Hong Kong, I spent every night of my childhood cooking and eating traditional Chinese dinners with my family. Our nightly food-prep routine—smashing knobs of ginger, slicing slivers of beef for stir fry, chopping veggies—doubled as nonnegotiable bonding time. Quickly, what started as a chore grew into a precious part of our days.
The allure of Costco is undeniable. It offers virtually anything you can think of, from a $950 wheel of cheese to a 10-day trip to Italy to a new mortgage. But Costco is really known for its everyday staples sold in quantity. Why not grab a 7-pound tub of ketchup? How about a liter of shampoo for $12? Or maybe you need 900 baby wipes?
Wireless mice are convenient—they don’t clutter up desk space with wires, and they can make for faster and easier navigation than a trackpad. They’re also inexpensive and reliable enough to make more sense than a cheap wired mouse for most people. We’ve researched and tested mice for years with several different panels of testers, and we’ve found that the Logitech M720 Triathlon is more comfortable for a variety of hand sizes and grip styles than nearly every other wireless mouse we’ve considered.
The Wirecutter Deals team scans the virtual aisles of the internet, searching for great discounts on Wirecutter-recommended products so you don’t have to. In our deals blog posts (like this one), we highlight the discounts that we think Wirecutter readers will love. For more deals information, check out our Deals page, follow us on Twitter @WirecutterDeals, and subscribe to our daily deals newsletter.
Life is messy. We all eventually accumulate clutter. But you don’t have to surrender to disorganization. Below, our experts offer tips that will make reorganizing your life quick and easy.
There’s a tradition among electronics companies: With the launch of any new type of product, a years-long battle ensues in which customers are expected to swear brand allegiance to a format or operating system or some other tech specification—all just to get the devices they buy to work right. The smart-home industry has done a bang-up job of following that tired plotline, and as a result, buyers are stuck worrying whether the smart bulbs they want will be compatible with their switches, and their thermostat, and maybe their sensors and smart speakers, too. But a potential savior is on the horizon, a much-ballyhooed “connectivity protocol” dubbed Matter. If all goes according to plan, Matter will make it so that most new, and many existing, mainstream smart-home devices will be compatible with one another and even easier to set up and use—while also being more secure.
If you’re still attached to a favorite pair of wired headphones but you want to mate it with a Bluetooth device (like a newer phone that lacks a headphone jack), we think the FiiO μBTR is the best Bluetooth receiver/headphone adapter for the job. It sounds good, its design is small but intuitive, and a convenient clip makes it easier to use on the move than competitors. But the best option for most people who want to listen wirelessly to their phone, tablet, or computer is to buy a set of good Bluetooth headphones, which generally offer easier-to-use controls and a better-placed microphone for improved call quality.
Everyone loves watching a great movie on a big screen with a kickass speaker system. Our AV team spends thousands of hours each year seeking the best-looking and best-sounding home theater equipment. Whether you have a dedicated theater room planned or are thinking of upgrading your weeknight living room movie night, we have recommendations covering whatever space and budget you have.
Portable induction cooktops allow you to cook or keep food warm almost anywhere you can find an outlet: the dorm, an RV, or the potluck table. A good induction cooktop should cook your food evenly, have intuitive settings, and be easy to clean. After putting in more than 60 hours of research and testing, we’re confident that the Duxtop 9100MC is the best portable induction cooktop, and a reliable extra burner for small or busy kitchens. This moderately priced model heats quickly and cooks more evenly than the competition. Its easy-to-use interface allows you to choose between a power mode for general cooking and a temperature mode for specific tasks such as frying.
An important note: If you have a pacemaker, most manufacturers recommend consulting your doctor before operating an induction burner.
