The Best Rolling Pin

A rolling pin is such a simple tool that we wondered if there could be much difference among models, but after nearly 20 hours of research and a dozen conversations with bakers and cooks—both professional and amateur—we learned that small variations matter.

When we tested 12 carefully selected rolling pins (out of nearly 30 we considered) on three types of dough, the timeless maple 23-inch Whetstone Woodenware French Rolling Pin proved to be a superior tool and a great value. It’s more agile than a handled pin, doesn’t stick to the dough as much as cheaper models, has just enough heft to do some of the work for you without smashing fragile dough, and is one of the easiest to clean.

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The Best Pie Plate

Whether you fill your pie with crisp apples, sour cherries, pumpkin custard, or chocolate cream, a great pie plate can help it look good and taste great, preventing slumping crusts and soggy bottoms. We’ve tested 19 pie plates since 2013, and we recommend the affordable OXO Good Grips Glass 9″ Pie Plate With Lid. It’s just the right size, it bakes evenly, and it allows you to check if the bottom of your pie is browned.

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The Best Gaming Keyboards

Any keyboard out there works just fine for playing games, but a great gaming keyboard can make the difference between digital life and death. The tactility of a keyboard’s mechanical switches, its responsiveness to your key presses, and the control schemes it allows you to configure can all help you perform better in your favorite games. Plus, you can immerse yourself in games with a keyboard’s colorful, dynamic lighting.

After hundreds of hours of testing and typing, we found gaming keyboards across a range of budgets that represent the best combinations of comfort, accuracy, and customizability.

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8 Cheap(ish) Things to Bring Leaf Peeping

Halloween candy lines supermarket shelves and Starbucks brought back the Pumpkin Spice Latte—it’s officially fall, y’all. And that means it’s time to step into your boots, pull on your flannels, and head outdoors to admire the changing colors. Whether you’re planning to take in the foliage on a long, scenic drive, a rigorous hike, or just a casual stroll, the right gear ensures that your outing isn’t spoiled by bugs, fluctuating temperatures, or a phone that’s running on empty. Here are seven not-too-expensive things that’ll make your leaf-peeping experience one to remember.

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Why We Love the Staff-Favorite Technivorm Moccamaster

Wirecutter’s expert testers have long been fans of the OXO Brew 9 Cup Coffee Maker for its consistently good coffee, thermal carafe, and automatic presets. But it’s hardly the only good coffee-making option out there. And plenty of coffee obsessives have many, many opinions on their preferred methods and machines, including the Technivorm Moccamaster.

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Which iPhone Should I Get?

If you have an iPhone that you’re happy with, keep it. We don’t think you should upgrade just because Apple has released new phones.

But if your current phone is running too slow or is damaged, or if you’re simply ready for an upgrade and want a new phone now, we recommend the Apple iPhone 15. It offers an almost Pro-like iPhone experience, with an all-day battery, a snappy processor, and versatile cameras—and, finally, a USB-C port.

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The Best Cake Pans

Whether you’re baking a cake for your two-year-old’s birthday, or simply because it’s Tuesday, a good pan can make all the difference. We’ve tested cake pans in three essential shapes (round, rectangular/square, and loaf), and found picks that produce a golden crust, don’t stick, and are easy to clean. Throughout our tests, pans from USA Pan came out on top. They're highly recommended by experts, and feature a combination of a slightly corrugated texture with nonstick coating that releases better than any of the competition.

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Lodge Cookware Can Last a Lifetime, and It Costs Less Than $100

Few kitchen items inspire love and devotion like cast-iron cookware. Pans are carefully passed down through generations as family heirlooms, and vintage pieces—rescued from yard sales or swap meets and restored to their original glory—sell for thousands of dollars on Etsy and similar sites.

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The Best Insulated Vest

When you want to add a little more warmth but are seeking greater freedom of movement than a jacket allows, a vest is the perfect cozy addition.

To find the best insulated vest to keep you warm on your most active days, we sent 22 adventurers with 25 vests to nine states and two countries.

After all of those adventures, we’ve determined that the Patagonia Down Sweater Vest (men’s and women’s) is the best down vest both for technical performance and for everyday commuter or office use.

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The Best Winter Boots

Snow and freezing rain can turn a typical grocery-store trip or post-office visit into a slippery, cold, wet affair for your feet.

You may encounter dry pavement, wet pavement, packed snow, fluffy snow, chunky ice, black ice, wet ice, slush, a slick cocktail of oil and grit, or some combination of all of these things.

After 125 hours of research and in-the-snow trials wearing 30 pairs of boots, we picked a variety of options to help you navigate the ever-changing underfoot topography of winter.

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The Best Outdoor Security Camera

An outdoor security camera can keep tabs on welcome (and unwelcome) visitors, package deliveries, and furry creatures helping themselves to a midnight snack in your garden. They can also be a powerful deterrent to prospective mischief-makers.

However, after reviewing dozens of cameras over the past seven years, we’ve yet to find a perfect model. Some are hard to place, some need to be charged frequently, and others require a subscription fee to be most effective.

If you want a completely cord-free option, we recommend the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera.

If you want something a little cheaper (and have an outdoor outlet nearby), we recommend the Ring Stick Up Cam Plug-In.

And if you want a camera that can light up the night, or at least your porch, we like the Eufy S330 Floodlight Cam.

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The Best Hair Dryer

Most hair dryers are effective at blowing hot air toward your head—sometimes quite fast—in order to speed along your hairstyling. It’s the small differences between models that can make a big difference overall, particularly with daily use.

After putting in over 20 hours of research and spending over 70 hours testing 42 hair dryers, we’ve found that some are far more pleasant to hold and use than others. Because it provides an excellent experience for the price, we think the Rusk W8less Professional 2000 Watt Dryer is the best choice.

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The Best Laptop Backpacks

A backpack is our favorite way to carry and protect a laptop and other necessities on a commute. It’s more ergonomic than a tote or messenger bag, it holds more than a briefcase, and it looks more stylish than a rolling bag.

Since 2015, we’ve tested more than 75 backpacks on buses, trains, cars, bikes, and planes. The following six are the best we’ve found for commuters: a tailored professional bag, a tough pack that fits a ton of tech, a sleek traveling companion, two particularly stylish and budget-friendly options, and an ergonomic office-to-gym workhorse.

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The Best Blue-Light Blocking Glasses

If you believe the hype, blue-light blocking glasses will prevent headaches, decrease eyestrain, and help you sleep like a baby. But do they work? The answer is murky. Too much exposure to blue light, particularly at night, may disrupt your sleep-wake cycle. The experts we spoke with agree that wearing blue-light blocking glasses after dark for computer work or scrolling through your phone may help you to doze off after and sleep better. Still, these glasses won’t magically cure headaches or tired eyes, and those who tell you otherwise don’t have the data to back it up.

For those who are curious and want to give blue-light blocking glasses a try, we found four comfortable and stylish options that won’t break the bank: a wire-framed pair with a subtle cat-eye shape; a square-shaped frame that comes in tons of colors; and two higher-quality rectangular pairs that can be filled with your prescription, if needed.

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The Best Tea Steeper

After more than 30 hours researching dozens of tea steepers, interviewing experts, and drinking many cups of tea made in no fewer than 15 teapots and infusers, we’ve found that the Finum Brewing Basket (the large version) is the most versatile and well-made tea steeper available. The fine-mesh and plastic in-cup steeping basket allows more water flow than other infusers while more effectively keeping tea particles from escaping into the cup. It’s one of the only models that fit both mugs and teapots, and it’s among the easiest to clean.

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How to Buy a Camera Flash

In the world of photography, light is everything. Too much light, or too little, and you have no image. As for the abundant light source in the sky, weather can be unpredictable, and when you’re shooting indoors, sunlight may not be an option.

That’s why adding a camera flash to your photography toolkit can drastically level up your images and allow you to shoot in a wider variety of locations than just outdoors. But finding the right flash can be tricky. Since each camera brand uses a proprietary communication protocol between the camera and the flash, and so many flash units are available, we can’t really recommend one best flash unit for everyone. But we can advise you on what to look for.

To figure out the most important features your flash should have, I spoke to Alex Yuan, a studio-lighting instructor in the MFA Photography, Video and Related Media program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and I drew on my own experience as a photographer.

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The Best Smokeless Fire Pits

Few things are as pleasurable as a toasty fire in the backyard on a chilly evening.

But if you find that the accompanying smoke dampens the pleasure, or if your neighbors live close by and prefer to keep their bedroom windows open to catch the cool air, you might consider using a so-called smokeless fire pit, which eliminates some (but not all) of your fire’s smoke and most of the ash.

We spent four months testing nine fire pits in Hawaii and California. In the end we chose two as our top picks: the Solo Stove Bonfire 2.0 for most people and small backyards, and the Tiki Fire Pit for people with larger yards or those who enjoy the more patio-inspired looks of the Tiki model.

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It’s Cozy Week! Here Are Our Coziest Cozy Deals, From Sleep to Style to Home

For many, the crisp autumn air signals the return of sweater weather and all that comes with it: hot beverages, leaf peeping, and lounging by a fire.

But you don’t have to reside in New England to cuddle up with some dependable creature comforts. It’s Cozy Week here at Wirecutter, and we’ve used our finely tuned deals-hunting skills to find seasonal savings on our coziest, expert-vetted picks.

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At-Home COVID-19 Antigen Test Kits: Where to Buy and What You Should Know

Rapid antigen tests offer a quick and easy way to screen for COVID-19 on your own. Often called “rapid tests” or “home COVID tests,” these rapid antigen tests rely on a nasal swab to detect active infections within about 15 minutes. They can be a valuable tool for managing life during the pandemic.

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Why We Love the Staff-Favorite Technivorm Moccamaster

Wirecutter’s expert testers have long been fans of the OXO Brew 9 Cup Coffee Maker for its consistently good coffee, thermal carafe, and automatic presets. But it’s hardly the only good coffee-making option out there. And plenty of coffee obsessives have many, many opinions on their preferred methods and machines, including the Technivorm Moccamaster.

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I’ve Baked Hundreds of Pies. These Are the Essential Tools I Use Every Time.

Pie has captured my imagination ever since I was a little kid standing on a chair in my grandma’s kitchen, watching her add ice water, one half eggshell at a time, to a crumbly mixture of flour and Crisco. But it wasn’t until I worked in a test kitchen with a few talented pie makers that I got the chance to significantly level up my pie-making skills.

It’s important to keep in mind that attaining pie proficiency is a lifelong endeavor. My technique has changed over the years, and so have my tools—but these are the ones I now consider essential. I still get the occasional weepy crust—the result of too much fat or too little flour, depending on how you look at it. So think of this list not as a means to overnight success, but as items that will support your honing of a skill.

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Here’s a Subscription Service Wirecutter’s Coffee Nerd Swears By

I’m polyamorous when it comes to coffee subscriptions: I’ve spent months with Trade and MistoBox, which hook you up with fresh coffee from a variety of boutique roasters, and lately I’ve been a big fan of Yes Plz, which serves up delectable weekly coffee blends.

And yet, I always find myself returning to Atlas Coffee Club, which I’ve been recommending since 2018 in our article on coffee subscriptions we love.

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The Best Smartwatch for Android Phones

You can answer calls, send and receive texts, and give commands to a voice-activated assistant on your phone, but sometimes it’s easier to do those things on your wrist—which is where a smartwatch comes in. While the Apple Watch is the gold standard for smartwatches, it works only with Apple's iPhones.

If you’re one of the billions of people using an Android phone, you have a lot more smartwatch options, but most of the watches we’ve encountered are too slow, bulky, or lacking in features to be worth buying. We’ve tested dozens of smartwatches for Android phones, including all the latest models, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch6 is the best option for most Android phone users.

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The 7 Best Cozy Games to Play This Fall

As the air gets a little crisper and the days get shorter, cozying up with a chill video game sounds more and more appealing. We have some long-standing favorites—Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Stardew Valley, and The Sims 4 are at the top of the list. But if you’ve already played those classics and are looking for something new and a little different, we have plenty of games to relax with on the couch, whether you’re playing on your phone, PC, or console.

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The Best Google Nest Smart Speakers

With a simple voice command to a Google Nest smart speaker, you can summon the mighty power of Google Assistant to do your bidding: Call up your favorite music, podcasts, or audiobooks; get news, weather, traffic reports, and trivia; control other smart devices; and, in some cases, even view video. Since Google Assistant performs dramatically better on Google’s own expansive line of Nest devices, we considered only them for this guide. Whether you want to ask Google to start blasting your favorite tunes, find a recipe for tonight’s dinner, or control the smart devices in your home, we’ve picked out the best Google Nest smart speaker for your needs.

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The Best Bath Bombs Are Lush Bath Bombs

A bath bomb—a palm-size ball or disc generally made of baking soda, citric acid, oils, and dyes that dissolve in water—can transform a simple soak into the highlight of one’s day, calming nerves and softening skin while entertaining bathers with fantastic fizz, soothing scents, and captivating colors. After soaking in data from 46 on-the-record baths involving bath bombs from 14 different brands, we’re certain that Lush makes the most luxurious bath bombs (which start at $6.50 apiece).

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The Best Wearable Sleeping Bags to Keep You Warm

I’m often cold. While hanging outside with friends on a chilly fall evening, wandering around a too-air-conditioned office in summer with a throw blanket tossed over my shoulders, and yes, on a warmish January beach day.

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