The 21 Best Gifts for 5-Year-Olds

By the time kids are 5, they’re developing skills and more-specific interests that open up new gift-giving possibilities. Many 5-year-olds are starting kindergarten, and they’re exploring new subjects and ideas in school for the first time. Toys and kits that let them engage in project-based inquiry—such as performing simple science experiments and exploring nature—can help them make connections between what they’re exposed to in the classroom (be it virtual or in-person) and what they experience out in the world.

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The Best Outdoor Security Camera

An outdoor security camera can be a powerful deterrent to mischief makers. It will let you know instantly whether that bump in the night comes from a friend, foe, or furry creature. However, after reviewing dozens of cameras over the past five years, we’ve yet to find a perfect model. Some are hard to place, some need to be charged regularly, 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 one that can light up the night (or at least your porch), we suggest the Eufy Floodlight Cam 2 Pro.

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The Best Plant Identification App

Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? With an accurate plant-identification app installed on your phone, you won’t have to guess.

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The Best Electric Toothbrush

If you find an automated two-minute timer helpful or you need or prefer to brush with a powered assist, it may be worthwhile to upgrade from a manual to an electric toothbrush. After more than 100 total hours of research, interviewing dental experts, considering nearly every model available, and testing 36 toothbrushes ourselves in hundreds of trials at the bathroom sink, we’ve found that the Oral-B Pro 1000 is the best electric toothbrush. Although it has among the fewest fancy features of the rechargeable brushes we’ve tested, it does have the most important things experts recommend—a built-in two-minute timer and access to one of the most extensive lines of replacement brush heads available—at an affordable price.

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The Best Wi-Fi Mesh-Networking Kits

Wi-Fi that sucks can be more frustrating than no Wi-Fi at all, and the culprit in many cases is one router trying to cover too much house. Mesh-networking systems take the weight off just one router, instead spreading multiple access points around your house to improve the range and performance of your Wi-Fi. After spending hundreds of hours evaluating and testing 64 Wi-Fi mesh-networking kits in home and lab environments over the past four years, we’re confident that the Eero 6 system is the best mesh router for most people who need one.

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The Best Humidifier

A good humidifier creates a comforting indoor condensation level that can soothe your cracked skin and help you breathe more easily. But even the best ones still require more maintenance and attention than you’d expect from such a seemingly simple device. We recommend the Wi-Fi–enabled Levoit Classic 300S Ultrasonic Smart Humidifier because it’s quieter, more durable, and easier to deal with overall than any other humidifier we’ve tested, with a 1½-gallon tank that will last all day.

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The Best Budget Projector for a Home Theater

If you want a big-screen front-projector experience in your home but need to spend less than the cost of a refrigerator, the BenQ HT2050A is the best projector available for less than $1,000. Although its performance can’t rival that of the best 4K home theater projectors, the HT2050A offers good image contrast and impressive color accuracy, and it will make your favorite movies look richer and more engaging than other budget projectors.

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The Best Ebook Reader

With an ebook reader, you can carry thousands of books at a time and access a library of millions more on a device that’s smaller than a paperback, lasts for weeks on a single charge, and gives you a better reading experience than a tablet or phone. After testing every competitive ebook reader available in the US, we can say that the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Kids is the right choice for almost everyone (yes, even for adults).

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5 of the Best Coffee Deals to Celebrate National Coffee Day

Coffee made with care is more than a pick-me-up. It makes the start of your day feel well-spent. It doesn’t matter if you drip, percolate, press (French or Aero), or cold brew—having the right coffee and gear to create that perfect cup is essential. Today is National Coffee Day, and while the coffee enthusiasts at Wirecutter don’t need a holiday to celebrate our morning fix, we welcome it. In the spirit of the day, we’ve found five deals on coffee and Wirecutter’s expert-approved coffee-gear picks.

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How Mobile Phones Became a Privacy Battleground—and How to Protect Yourself

In the 15 years since the iPhone’s debut, the world of data privacy has changed significantly. Since 2007, app-privacy controversies—ranging from the social network Path downloading the contents of people’s address books to every weather app under the sun selling location data—have snowballed, leading to concerns both legitimate and misinformed, as well as the inability of many phone owners to determine which threats are real. But digging through history to understand where the privacy controls of iOS and Android began, and how both mobile operating systems have shifted to give people more control, can give you a better idea of what the true threats are right now.

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The Best Portable Induction Cooktop

Portable induction cooktops allow you to cook almost anywhere you can find an outlet—from your back porch to a dorm room to an RV. They don’t emit heat but instead make your pan hot using electromagnetic induction, so they work quickly yet are cooler and safer than other portable burners. Our pick, the Duxtop 9600LS, is reliable and precise, and it offers a wide range of temperatures to tackle everyday cooking. You might find yourself choosing to use it even when you don’t need to.

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How to Clean a Remote Control

Remote controls are among the most-touched objects in many households, right up there with doorknobs and toilet handles. They’re also known to migrate from the coffee table to the floor to the dog bed to the black hole between couch cushions. But can you remember the last time you cleaned your remote? Let us walk you through it.

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What You Really Need to Know From Amazon’s 2022 Fall Event

Along with the changing of the leaves, a dip in the (smart) thermostat, and the start of weekly football-fueled bacchanalia, autumn’s arrival brings Amazon’s ritual announcement of new devices. This year’s crop included a few new smart-home product announcements, such as for Ring, Blink, Echo, and Fire TV devices, but otherwise the event was heavy on added features and improvements to existing devices. We’ve highlighted the standouts below, along with some of the more tantalizing bits we hope to try and test as we get our hands on these devices in the coming weeks and months.

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Air Travel Is Chaos. This Gear Will Help Get You Through the Exasperating Delays.

Flight cancellations. Traffic jams. Train delays. Is any mode of transportation safe from massively frustrating obstacles? It seems not. Airline and train travelers alike have felt the effects of increased demand and staff shortages all summer, and this fall is shaping up to be no less chaotic.

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The 27 Best Gifts for 2-Year-Olds

Keeping up with the developing skills and interests of a 2-year-old can feel like a sprint—at times literally—or a guessing game. “Play is how they start to understand the world,” said Heather Singh, associate director of school and gallery education at the Thinkery, a children’s museum in Austin, Texas.

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The Best Floor Lamps

A great floor lamp can transform the dimmest corner of a room into the most inviting space to read, relax, or work in—an illuminating punctuation mark of a room’s decor. Over the past few years, we dedicated more than 60 hours to researching hundreds of floor lamps under $300, narrowing down the options to 28 models and then assembling, inspecting, and pelting them with basketballs to simulate the inevitable accidents that happen at home. While we recognize style is subjective, we’re confident our picks—for task, console, tripod, tree, arc, and rod lamp—will complement a wide variety of interior spaces.

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The Best Bluetooth and Wireless Keyboards

A great wireless keyboard can reduce clutter on your desk and help you type faster and more comfortably—on your computer and also on your tablet, your phone, or even your TV. After testing more than 50 wireless and Bluetooth keyboards over the years, we’ve found that the Logitech K380 Multi-Device Bluetooth Keyboard and K380 for Mac are the best wireless keyboards for most people’s needs because they’re enjoyable to type on, versatile, and inexpensive.

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The Best Nonstick Pan

A nonstick pan is the best tool for cooking fluffy omelets, whisper-thin crepes, and delicate fish fillets—without the risk of food sticking to the bottom. After cooking many dozens of eggs in more than 25 pans since 2016, we still think the Tramontina Professional 10-Inch Restaurant Fry Pan offers the best value for the money—in some cases, it outperforms pans that are more than triple the price. For over four years, we cooked in the same model that we tested in 2016. And though it wasn’t brand-new-slick by the time I donated it in 2020, it still released fried eggs and omelets without resistance. In addition to its durable coating, the Tramontina pan offers good heat distribution and excellent maneuverability.

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7 Cozy Home Deals Just in Time for Fall

It’s time to put away the sunscreen and ice cream: Autumn is here. While the weather hasn’t quite gotten the memo yet, summer has just ended, meaning cooler days and brisk nights are in our near future. As much as we love the heat and fun in the sun, fall is the superior season. It’s the perfect time for mulled cider, stylish coats, and watching your favorite games, movies, and shows. That’s why the Wirecutter Deals Team has found seven fantastic deals to help you breathe a little extra life into your home and help you enjoy the season.

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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 Smart Smoke Alarm

Smoke alarms will warn you of danger, but not if you aren’t home to hear them. (They’re also ugly and a pain to shush, and they shriek at burnt toast.) Smart smoke alarms are the cure, and Google Nest Protect is the only one worth buying. It sends speedy alerts of smoke or carbon monoxide to your phone, has great design, is simple to mute, and has a “heads-up” warning before triggering its siren. The Protect also self-tests and has a motion-activated path light.

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The Best Flannel Sheets

A good set of flannel sheets should be so warm and inviting that it’s hard to leave them on a cold morning. If you don’t want to stay in bed all day, they’re just not doing their job. After five years of long-term use, 150-plus hours of research and testing, and 16 flannel sets we’ve tried since 2016, our favorite is still L.L.Bean’s Ultrasoft Comfort Flannel Sheet Set. They’re one of the softest, sturdiest, and coziest flannel sets around.

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The Best Preview Deals From Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale

Amazon has announced a Prime Day sequel. The Prime Early Access Sale will join Target’s Deal Days event in officially jump-starting the earlier-than-ever holiday shopping season. But that doesn’t mean all the featured deals are worth your time. We’re sifting through preview sales to find the best deals on Wirecutter-approved gadgets and gear from Amazon’s Prime holiday gambit. These are the best deals we’ve found so far.

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The Best Duffle Bags

Few bags are as simple, versatile, and satisfying to use as a duffle. Its utilitarian design—a soft, oblong bag with one zippered opening plus two handles and/or a shoulder strap—suits anything from a daily commute to a weekend away to a fishing trip. Though that basic form works in many situations, no single duffle bag (the word is also spelled duffel) can fit everyone’s taste or needs. A small, barrel-shaped duffle may be perfect for toting a couple of towels and lunch to the beach, for example, but it doesn’t offer the organization or space to pack for a three-day business trip. The seven bags we recommend—plus two alternates—are well made, comfortable to carry, and intended to fill a range of roles, including as a versatile adventure bag, a weekend-away duffle, a daily-carry bag, a lightweight convertible backpack, an ultra-packable duffle, a rolling duffle for checking, and a waterproof gear hauler.

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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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What to Carry on the Slopes

A day of skiing or snowboarding consists of glorious hits of exhilaration interspersed with glacial stretches waiting in line for lifts—and often, the key to maximizing the fun and minimizing the cold is how well you prepare. Along with a neck gaiter, waterproof gloves, and, of course, snacks (one Wirecutter staffer stashes mini Snickers bars in all his pockets), consider bringing along the following items to ensure your day is memorable in all the right ways.

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