The Best Coolers

Many companies have spent an incredible amount of money and time to convince people that they need to spend ridiculous sums to keep a drink cold. It’s not true. Coolers aren’t complicated, which is a good thing to remember in the face of all that advertising. After many years evaluating more than 40 models of coolers, we’ve chosen eight that are well made, well insulated, and fitting for a range of outings.

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The Best 4K Projector

If you love movies and have the space and budget to re-create the movie-theater experience at home, a high-performance 4K projector is a worthy investment that can keep you entertained for years to come. Epson’s Home Cinema LS11000 is our favorite 4K projector because it delivers the best performance with movies that you’ll find for less than $5,000, but it also looks great with games, sports, and HDTV when some room lights are on. Oh, and it has lasers!

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Why We Love GIR Spatulas

My grandmother taught me never to waste food. She passed away early last spring, but whenever I feel her watching over me as I cook, I reach for my GIR silicone spatulas—indispensable tools for dodging Nainai’s “tsk tsk.” The Ultimate spatula helps me scrape the frosting bowl clean (and conveniently fits straight into my mouth). And the Mini spatula helps me get every last drop of ginger scallion sauce from the jar into my preschooler’s rice bowl. Both clean like a dream.

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Bluetooth Headphones Don’t Always Play Nice With Computers. Here’s Why.

Bluetooth headphones have transcended their original purpose of merely delivering sound to the ears. They can reduce background noise, track movement, survive underwater, measure heart rate, and even enhance hearing. When you consider all that they can do, it becomes even more confusing and frustrating when some Bluetooth headphones seem unable to perform a simple task: connect reliably to a computer.

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The Best Deals From REI’s Anniversary Sale 2022

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. For even more deals, check out our Deals page and follow us on Twitter @WirecutterDeals.

Every year, ahead of the slew of Memorial Day sales, REI hosts its own Anniversary Sale. This year’s event runs from May 20 through May 30 and includes discounts on everything from camping and hiking gear to clothing and accessories. Discounts are available to all shoppers, but REI members get an additional 20% off one full-price item and 20% off one REI Outlet item with the single-use code ANNIV22. (Note: The two items must be in your cart at the same time for the code to apply to both.)

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The Best Memorial Day Sales 2022

Memorial Day weekend is traditionally chock-full of hyped-up sales. Most of them are garbage. We never want you to get taken in by a bad deal, which is why the Wirecutter Deals team only posts real deals on great gear amid a sea of crummy deals on subpar items.

We’ve rounded up our favorite real deals on everything from sleep essentials—like bedding and mattresses—to excellent prices on appliances and outdoor grills.

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The Memory-Jogging Joy of Making an Annual Photo Book of My Kids

My iPhone is a sinkhole, swallowing up tens of thousands of photographs into a digital morass of unfindable, forgotten memories.

Every year I take countless photographs (mostly of my undeniably adorable children). Each photo is a precious moment that, when captured by my iPhone’s camera, I’m positive I will cherish forever. But I don’t. I rarely revisit these digital photos.

Thankfully, I have a solution.

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The Best Portable Power Station

If you’re going off the grid or prepping for an emergency, the Jackery Explorer 1000 can keep your electronic gear running for hours—or even days—at a time. It’s roughly the same size and weight as a small microwave, and it provides a steady stream of power without the noise or exhaust of a gas-powered portable generator. After 73 hours spent testing 16 portable power stations, we found that the Explorer 1000’s impressive max output, wide array of ports, easy-to-use interface, and rugged exterior helped it stand out from the competition.

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The Best Surge Protector

Any power strip will work in a pinch to add a few extra outlets to a room, but it’s important to find one that won’t let harmful power surges fry your electronic devices or start a house fire. We’ve spent more than 150 hours researching and testing surge protectors, and we’re confident that the Tripp Lite Protect It 12-Outlet Surge Protector offers the best combination of protection and outlet quantity at a reasonable price. It absorbs common household surges—up to thousands of volts—before they reach your electronics, preventing damage and fires. And you don’t have to wonder whether it’s still doing its job, because once its protection has worn out, it safely cuts the power so you know it’s time to get a replacement.

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The Best Wildfire Preparedness Supplies and Strategies

Due to human-driven climate change, catastrophic wildfires have evolved from seasonal hazards to year-round disasters that cause air pollution, scorched earth, property loss, and death. People who never thought they’d be at risk of a wildfire are now forced to consider evacuation, oftentimes with little advance notice. If you live in an area prone to wildfires—or somewhere that’s quickly becoming one—we’ve gathered some essential tools and advice to help keep you safe.

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Lego Isn’t Just for Kids. Here’s How to Become an Adult Lego Master.

Like many Gen Xers, I rediscovered my childhood love of Lego when the company began releasing Star Wars–themed sets back in 1999.¹ That specific licensing, combined with the soothing nature of building the sets, was a double dopamine hit of nostalgia for this ’80s kid. And from then on I’d pick up a couple of new releases each year for the memory trip.

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The Best Binoculars for Birds, Nature, and the Outdoors

To find the best binoculars, we had a professional ornithologist spend over 100 hours field-testing 17 pairs against his own $2,500 Leica Ultravids. After using our test pairs in the mountains and hills of Southern California, then on a research trip to the rain forests of southern Mexico, he found that the Athlon Optics Midas ED 8x42 pair was the best of the group, offering performance comparable to his Leicas for a fraction of the price and the widest field of view out of all the binoculars tested. This means you’ll see more, and it will look better.

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Sofa Buying Guide

When you buy something online, sight unseen, you’re taking a leap of faith. And this is especially true with sofas, which often cost hundreds or thousands of your hard-earned dollars and can be a hassle to return. There are so many styles, types, and sizes of sofa—from buttoned-up Chesterfields to the Dalì-inspired Bocca—that “best” is often a matter of personal taste. After years of research and testing, we’re ready to admit that we can’t tell you which sofa model is the best one for you. But we can walk you through the process and help you balance quality, budget, and space constraints with your unique needs and tastes.

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The Best Beard Trimmer

Even though beards have been in vogue for at least a decade, their popularity seems to increase every year. And the rising reluctance of workers to spend 40 hours a week in an office will probably keep that trend going. Unless the beard wearer plans to make regular trips to the barber (or his name is Rick Rubin), all that bristly growth will need frequent trimming. We’ve found the cordless Philips Norelco MG7750 is the trimmer best suited to getting most beards looking great.

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The Best Hurricane Preparedness Supplies and Strategies

Hurricanes have terrifying power, and because of their sheer scope and unpredictability, each one presents variables that are totally out of your control. How destructive will it be? Will it shift direction and come right at you? Will you have to evacuate? As unsettling as these questions are, there’s a lot you can do to get ready for one of these megastorms, from staying informed to making sure you have the right gear and completing a few relatively simple home improvements.

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The Best Memorial Day Mattress and Bedding Deals

For even more deals on Wirecutter-recommended products, check out our Deals page and follow us on Twitter @WirecutterDeals.

Quality sleep is important—but it can be elusive. Between genetics, busy schedules, stress, and your environment, it turns out catching all of your recommended Zs isn’t easy. While you can’t control all of those factors, there are a few variables you can influence, like your sleep setup.

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The 25 Best Father’s Day Gifts

The greatest gift you can offer the father in your life is time spent together. A distant second is a thoughtful sentiment or token that recognizes the unique connection between father and child. With that in mind, we selected our favorite Father’s Day gifts (curated from Wirecutter guides and the experiences of our choosy staff) that will show your heartfelt affection for your dad—and that can be used and loved for years to come.

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How to Clean a Pepper Mill

I love having a mill to crack freshly ground pepper onto salad and pasta. And I’ve used our pick—the sleek, trusty Peugeot Paris u’Select Pepper Mill—for years. But I’d recently placed my pepper mill in storage for a year. When I took it back out, I tried to season some eggs, and I was perplexed that it wouldn’t crank anything out. As I learned, damp pepper can get cakey and prevent a mill from grinding properly—I needed to clean it out and add fresh pepper.

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The Best Washing Machines (and Their Matching Dryers)

After washing hundreds of dollars’ worth of fabric stained with pig blood and body oils of mysterious origin, visiting some washer brands’ quality-testing labs (and one factory), investigating the sorry state of appliance reliability, and trying to unravel some urban legends about laundry, we’ve found a handful of great washing machines to suit different budgets and ways of washing clothes (and the best dryers to match). At the top of our list: the LG WM4000H front-loader.

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The Best Vacuum Cleaners

If you want an affordable, versatile vacuum cleaner—nothing fancy, but something dependably solid—look for a bagless upright vacuum that costs about $150. It will work well for most people in most homes. (The Shark Navigator line has been our favorite for this style for many years.) But if you’re looking for something different, we’ve also rounded up the best of the rest—from cordless sticks and long-lasting canisters to cheap handhelds and even robots—for all types of homes.

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The 28 Best Gifts for Coffee Lovers

Plenty of people love coffee. Yet it can be difficult to find just the right gift for someone who has a real compulsion—sorry, predilection—for a good brew. To find gifts for the person who worships at the altar of espresso and can’t stop tapping their heel at 4 in the afternoon, we spoke with a handful of experts, including the owner of New York City’s Ninth Street Espresso, and Wirecutter’s coffee-obsessed staffers.

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Our Favorite Things to Bring to a Barbecue

A barbecue is more than just the quintessential warm-weather meal. It’s also an event that enables us to gather with our loved ones, chow down, and make a toast to the summer and to one another.

Even though all you really need is a gas or charcoal grill and some fresh ingredients, there’s a lot more that goes into hosting or attending a great barbecue. This gear, all recommended by Wirecutter’s experts, will make your next BBQ the envy of the neighborhood.

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The Best Cordless Stick Vacuum

Cordless vacuums are so impressively convenient that they can feel almost fun to use. They’re so easy, in fact, that plenty of owners are willing to overlook their many flaws, such as high prices and mediocre reliability. The best cord-free vacuum for you depends on your home and expectations of performance, but the first one we recommend right now is the Tineco Pure One S11.

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The Best Nintendo Switch for You: Original, Lite, or OLED

If you’re looking to play games with unparalleled graphical fidelity on a huge 4K TV screen in the comfort of your own home, then Microsoft and Sony have powerful, expensive video game consoles to do that. But if you’re looking for a game system with a big library of party games, indie titles, and outstanding exclusives that is also portable, you can’t beat the Nintendo Switch.

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The Best TV Wall Mount

Mounting a TV on a wall not only looks nice but also frees up space and prevents your TV from tipping over. If you just need a simple, non-swiveling mount to securely hold your TV in place, we recommend the Sanus VMPL50A-B1 tilting mount for its solid steel construction, easy tilting mechanism, post-install leveling, and ample supply of included hardware. If you’re seeking more mobility to position your TV toward a specific seat or even point it into another room, we like the Sanus VLF728-B2 full-motion mount.

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The Best Headphones for Running

There is a little ritual I do before every run. After the required prelude of lacing sneakers, applying Body Glide, and patting pockets to confirm the custody of keys, I put in my earbuds, close my eyes, take a deep breath, and press play. In that moment, I shrug off the worries and responsibilities of the day. For the time being, there is only me, the music, and the movement. The act of propelling your body forward through space can have significant benefits to your physical and mental health, but the hardest part is taking that first step.

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