Yahoo Finance These are the best ‘bang for the buck’ gadget gifts
‘Tis the season to pick up great gifts for family, friends and colleagues – and tech toys are often at the top of the list.
But with a seemingly endless number of gadgets and gear to choose from, finding the right holiday gift can be an intimidating proposition. Another issue: many are expensive.
And so in this round-up of recommended picks we thought we’d suggest products that offer great value. That is, they might not be “best in class” — which we often pay through the nose for — but rather, the best “bang for the buck” items you might want to wrap for a loved one or treat yourself with.
Feel free to suggest your own in the Comments section below.
Through the looking glass
If a big-screen 4K TV for under $600 sounds good to you, wait ‘til you lay your eyes on Hisense’s H7 Series Ultra HD LED TV. This $599 television offers four times the resolution of 1080p HD; support for HDR (High Dynamic Range) for better contrast, brightness and colour); and fast Wi-Fi (and with some apps preloaded like Netflix and YouTube). In fact, this Smart TV’s software was developed in Ontario. Along with multiple HDMI ports and a USB slot for media, the H7 boasts clear and powerful audio powered by dbx-tv.
Phone it in
A $0 phone on a 2-year plan (with multiple carriers), the Moto Z Play is very impressive for its ultra-slender body, sharp 5.5-inch screen and 50-hour battery, but it also works with various “Moto Mods” you magnetically connect to the back of the device. This includes accessories like a JBL SoundBoost Speaker ($99); Incipio offGRID Power Pack battery ($89) that adds an additional 20 hours of power; Moto Insta-Share Projector ($399); Hasselblad True Zoom camera ($349); and colourful Style Shells ($29) to customize the look of your phone (including Red Ballistic, Black Leather, and Silver Oak).
Game on (and on and on)
Can’t afford an Xbox One or PlayStation 4? Great for kids and kids at heart, Nintendo NES Classic Edition ($79.99) lets you relive some of the best console games of the ‘80s — on your big-screen TV. This mini version of the iconic Nintendo Entertainment System houses 30 pre-installed 8-bit classics of yesteryear, such as Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, PAC-MAN, Metroid, Mega Man, and Final Fantasy. The teeny console also ships with a full-size NES Classic Controller, plus you can add a second for 2-player fun (sold separately for $12.99), and it also includes an HDMI cable to plug into a television.
Music matters
Enjoy your tunes untethered with a pair of Bluetooth over-the-ear headphones like House of Marley’s Rebel BT On-Ear Bluetooth Headphones ($69.99), which not only look cool, feel comfortable and sound great, but offer up to 8 hours of continuous play between charges. Available in multiple colours, these Bluetooth 4 (with A2DP) headphones features 40mm dynamic drivers, integrated wireless controls on the right earcup and an included (but optional) cable with in-remote and microphone.
Stream dream
While you could spend upwards of $500 for a powerful and versatile router, TP-Link’s Touch P5 is $199.99 and has a colour touchscreen for easy setup and use, an optional app, and parental controls if you want to control when the kids can use the Internet 9tied to a specific device) and where they’re allowed to go online. This Wi-Fi Gigabit Router with AC1900 speeds offers dual bands to minimize interference (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and has three dual-band antennas with high-powered amplifiers, beamforming technology (which focuses Wi-Fi towards devices for stronger connections), and a 1GHz dual-core processor.
Touch much
Powered by Android 5.0 (“Lollipop”), Samsung’s Galaxy Tab A 8.0 – on sale for $219 — is a slender 8-inch tablet with a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, two cameras, and 16GB of storage — with up to 128GB of additional storage through optional microSD cards. Along with integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, this compact tablet grants you access to the Google Play store for an endless array of apps, plus it’s preloaded with Microsoft Office (including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook) and a kids mode to give your little one access to safe and appropriate content.
