The Best Light Therapy Lamp

Shifts in the number of daylight hours—due to changing seasons or long-distance travel—can have varying effects on people. For some, limited daylight hours can sap energy. For others, the effects can be more serious. After putting in 33 hours of research—including reading two books and five comprehensive studies on the subject and interviewing one of the scientists who discovered seasonal affective disorder (SAD)—we’ve concluded that the Carex Day-Light Classic Plus is the best light therapy lamp to treat SAD symptoms.

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How Wirecutter Vets the Security and Privacy of Smart Home Devices

Smart-home devices allow you to light up dark walkways after a late night, fire up the AC on your way home from the airport, and peek in on pets during the workday. Despite all of that comfort and convenience, for many people there remains an undercurrent of distrust—some of it justified—when it comes to their smart-home devices. We worry, too, which is why we’ve made security and privacy a focus of how we test devices and make recommendations.

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The Best Air Fryer

Nothing revives leftover french fries or crisps up a handful of dino nuggets quite like an air fryer. If you’re looking for a compact kitchen appliance to bridge the gap between a microwave and a conventional oven, a pod-shaped air fryer might do the trick.

Using convection baking—basically a powerful fan that circulates hot air around your food—an air fryer crisps food like an oven does, but it heats up and cooks much faster.

We’ve tested dozens of models since 2017, and we recommend the Philips 3000 Series Airfryer L HD9200/91 or its touchscreen-operated twin, the HD9252/91. It crisps food quickly and evenly, and its interface is straightforward and minimal (though the manual dials can be difficult to turn). And it's the best price we’ve seen for this level of performance.

 

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The Best 32-Inch TV

“Bigger is better” may be the television industry’s motto, but not everyone is on the hunt for a massive screen. If you’re looking for a smaller TV that’s suitable for a kitchen, dorm room, or bedroom—or if you just don’t want to spend much money—we recommend the Roku Select Series HD.

None of the 32-inch TVs we tested matched the performance of our favorite premium or budget 4K TVs, but the Roku Select Series HD looks better than the competition, is easy to use, and is even good for video games.

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Most Gift Baskets Are Terrible. These Are Great.

Gift baskets often get a bad rap, and many deserve it for their uninspired or mismatched components: stale crackers, gritty chocolate, Red Delicious apples that are anything but. We wanted to find the standout choices, gift baskets that would be delightful all year long.

After considering more than 125 gift baskets since 2018, we found 23 outstanding options. We found other baskets that we thought were worth mentioning, too. So under some of our main picks, we included baskets that we thought you may also like.

We also have a section featuring other gift baskets that we recommend, with caveats. In all, that means there are 36 gift baskets to choose from in this guide.

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The Best Password Managers

Almost everyone should use a password manager. It’s the most important thing you can do—alongside two-factor authentication—to keep your online data safe. We’ve evaluated dozens of paid and free password managers, and we’ve concluded that 1Password offers the best combination of features, compatibility, security, and ease of use. You don’t have to pay for a good password manager, but if you can, 1Password is worth the $36 per year. If you prefer free software, Bitwarden does everything you’ll need and doesn’t cost anything.

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The Best TV Deals for the Super Bowl

Whether you tune in on Super Bowl Sunday to watch the actual game or your focus is more on the snacks, puppies playing football, or halftime pyrotechnics, having the right equipment for your watch party is key.

Sales on AV gear abound, and though not all of them are worth the spend, our price tracking has shown that late January and early February can offer great deals on Wirecutter-recommended TVs. With one of these TVs, you’ll never miss a moment.

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When Is the Best Time to Buy a TV?

Quality TVs now come at a lower everyday price than ever. One example: Our pick for the best budget 4K TV, the Hisense U6K Series Google TV, sells for under $500 in the 55-inch size. Just a few years ago, a similar-size TV of comparable picture and sound quality would cost hundreds more.

But there are key times throughout the year when you can save even more, and with a big enough discount, you might even be able to spring for a higher-tier model equipped with features such as a brighter display, deeper black levels, and—important if you’re a serious gamer—faster refresh rates.

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The Best Flashlight

The smartphone in your pocket probably has a flashlight, and it’s probably pretty good at shining about 3 feet in front of you. But you can get far better illumination, versatility, ergonomics, and durability with the ThruNite Archer 2A V3, a flashlight that has a lot in common with its costlier competitors. We settled on this model after spending four weeks in the New Hampshire woods with 26 flashlights, draining almost 80 batteries, researching the topic for over 55 hours, reading through countless threads at a number of flashlight enthusiast forums, and speaking to a man who has personally reviewed almost 200 flashlights.

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The Best Boxed Chocolates

If you’re looking for a truly special box of luxurious chocolates to give someone, you can’t go wrong with the 16-piece Recchiuti Confections Black Box. Over the years, we’ve enlisted food experts and staffers to evaluate 36 brands of chocolate in taste tests. We’ve found Recchiuti’s flavors, craftsmanship, and packaging to be nothing short of sophisticated—and, for the right occasion, maybe even a little seductive.

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The Best Humidifier

The best humidifier releases gradual, consistent moisture throughout a room, making you feel healthier and more comfortable. And it doesn’t require constant maintenance or leave dank puddles of dew to dapple everything you own. Sounds simple, right? You’d be surprised how hard it is to find.

After testing dozens of humidifiers over the years, we think the Wi-Fi–enabled Levoit LV600S Smart Hybrid Ultrasonic Humidifier is close to that ideal: It’s quiet, durable, and easier to deal with overall than any other humidifier we’ve tested, with a 1.5-gallon tank that will last all day.

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The Best Carry-On Luggage

Traveling well is not always easy. Keeping your suitcase with you when you fly not only protects your belongings from loss or damage but may help you avoid extra fees as well.

If you decide to do so, you need a good carry-on bag.

Over the last ten years, we’ve handled, tested, and traveled with 67 bags from more than 35 brands, and we remain convinced that the Travelpro Platinum Elite is the best balance of value and quality for most travelers. It packs five days’ worth of clothes into standard US carry-on dimensions and has premium touches you’d expect from a $600 bag at about half the price. It’s a bag that you can rely on for life, even if it’s damaged by airlines—a rarity at any price.

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Sorry, but Stanley Tumblers Leak Too Much. These 4 Dupes Are Superior.

The Stanley tumbler is the talk of the ’Tok.

Hordes of people camped outside Target earlier this year to get their hands on a special-edition pink Stanley Quencher H2.0 FlowState Tumbler. But why? So many better options sit mere shelves away.

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The Best Bluetooth Wireless Headphones

Earbuds are discreet and convenient to use, but if you want to get the best wireless sound for the money, choose over-ear Bluetooth headphones.

Although no single headphones set is a perfect match for everyone, the JBL Tour One M2 comes darn close. We love this pair’s customizable sound, stellar call clarity, and days-long battery life—plus, it includes some bonus features usually reserved for pricier pairs.

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The Best Noise-Cancelling Headphones

For frequent flyers or commuters on public transit, reducing the noise around you is the difference between enduring a trip and enjoying it. Noise-cancelling headphones can make your music easier to hear and your world a little more peaceful.

The Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 is our favorite pair of noise-cancelling headphones, but we also have recommendations for people who want to spend less or prefer earbuds over headphones.

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The Best Mobile Scanning Apps

Smartphones are the Swiss Army knives of the digital world, and mobile scanning apps are one of the best examples of why. Using your phone’s camera, these apps can scan and extract text from virtually any document—plus whiteboards, books, and more—while automatically correcting for distortion and skew. After spending more than 50 hours researching 22 scanning apps and testing 13 of them, our favorite is the lean, efficient, and free-to-use Adobe Scan (for Android and iOS). It’s simple to use, capable of beautiful scan quality, and equipped with excellent text-recognition capabilities.

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7 Cheap(ish) Things to Step Up Your Meal Prep

Preparing key ingredients for a meal—or making entire dishes in advance, usually in bulk—can often save you time throughout the week. Lunches can be packed ahead, and dinner can be ready for you to heat up when you come home from work. The web is awash with recipes, plans, and hacks, and #mealprep has nearly 18 billion views on TikTok.

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The 34 Best Gifts for Girlfriends (That Are Great for Anyone)

Whether the person you’re shopping for is an established bae or a BFF, a long-distance lover or a live-in partner, it can be uniquely challenging to find a gift that expresses the right level of intimacy within an appropriate budget. So we’ve gathered the very best stuff from our staff’s testing and our own favorite things—ranging from silly to sweet to serious—to ensure there’s something here to delight your girlfriend (or any other special someone).

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The 26 Best Valentine’s Day Gifts for Kids

Valentine’s Day is all about celebrating love. For many kids, exchanging cards with friends and family is a treasured tradition. For others, baking cookies or preparing a special breakfast may be the highlight of the day. And gifts—though totally optional—can make the holiday especially fun. Whether you’re a grandparent (or other relative) who wants to send a little joy from afar or a parent seeking a small token for your kids to open on February 14, we hope these Valentine’s Day gift ideas will capture your little one’s heart.

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The Best Indoor Security Camera

It’s said you can’t put a price on peace of mind. Well, we’re doing it anyway—and it’s pretty reasonable.

An indoor security camera lets you keep tabs on the things at home that matter most, whether that’s your kids, your pets, or your prized vinyl collection.

We recommend the Eufy Indoor Cam C120, which is typically available for $35. It provides sharp 2K video, has four options for video storage, distinguishes between people and pets, and even detects the sound of crying. If you want to integrate it with other smart devices, it includes support for Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit.

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The Best Broom, Dustpan, and Dust Mop

While testing hundreds of brooms and dustpans over the past ten years (both in the office and in our everyday lives), we’ve found that these cleaning tools are often unnecessarily awkward to use. We wanted to find options that would help eliminate any discomfort associated with sweeping—from shuffling backward while crouching to getting dust in your face and hit in the forehead with a handle. And we discovered some great picks.

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This Lovely Lego Set Helps My Family Invite Good Luck for Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year is around the corner, which means that it’s time to take out the trash—literally and figuratively.

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The Best Slippers

Nothing soothes cold feet like a cozy pair of slippers. The best ones offer comfortable support and lasting value while warming your body from the ground up. We spent 120 hours researching slippers for this guide before testing 39 men’s and women’s styles.

After years of continual wear and feedback, we still love our three longtime picks: a pair of toasty sheepskin shearling moccasins that are tough enough to venture outside in, handsome and durable felted-wool slippers that don’t make your feet overheat, and fleece-lined vegan scuffs that are a bargain at less than $50.

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The Best Portable Bluetooth Speaker

Portable Bluetooth speakers are the easiest, most affordable way to spread music and podcasts across a room, backyard, or beach blanket. Because these speakers come in a variety of designs and sizes, no model is perfect for every situation—but the excellent sound and rugged design of the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 made it the favorite in our tests.

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