40 Techy Gifts Under $100 That We Tested and Love

This cute ball of sound is the latest Alexa speaker from Amazon. You get rich, powerful sound from the Echo Dot Max (8/10, WIRED Recommends), a nice sloped design that makes it easy to see and press the buttons, and it also brings access to Alexa+, Amazon’s souped-up version of its voice assistant. While Alexa+ offers a more natural conversation experience, the caveat is that it requires a subscription once Early Access mode ends. It’ll cost $20 per month, though if your giftee has Amazon Prime, they won’t have to subscribe.

Sling a good portable charger in your bag, and you will never be stranded with a dead phone again. Our favorite is Nimble’s Champ, which is compact, light, and packs a 5,000- to 20,000-mAh capacity, capable of recharging most phones and laptops at least once, fully at its smallest size. It comes in snazzy speckled colors with a handy lanyard strap and a small USB-C cable. We are also big fans of Nimble’s environmental efforts (using bioplastics and plastic-free packaging).

This power bank is the top pick in our Best Portable Chargers guide.

We love multifunctional gadgets like this headphone stand from Oakywood, which offers a place to hang your cans and a spot to wirelessly charge your phone. The angular base in solid walnut or oak is super stylish, and the steel stand keeps your headphones neatly out of the way.

This headphone stand appears in our Best Wireless Chargers guide.

Comfy to hold for long gaming sessions, with a subtle texture that adds grip, this mobile controller combines sensitive analog sticks with clicky buttons and an excellent D-pad. It can connect via Bluetooth or USB-C cable for gaming on a Nintendo Switch 2, MacBook, Windows PC, Android phone, or iPhone. Battery life is 20 hours, it has programmable buttons on the back, and it’s easy to remap.

This is a top pick in our Best Mobile Controllers guide.

For folks looking to make their home a little smarter, a motion sensor can prove very handy indeed. This one from Eve reliably tracks room occupancy and light levels, works with Matter for easy compatibility, and makes it very easy to automate things like smart lights and smart shades.

This combination sound machine and night-light is also a dimmable bedside clock. You can customize colors, adjust the volume, and play content from the sound library in the app, but you can also just tap the top to cycle through options (there is a child lock if you need it). The optional $50 annual Hatch membership adds bedtime stories, lullabies, and meditations.

This gadget appears in our Best Sound Machines and Best Night-Light guides.

One of the best scissor-switch keyboards available, the Keychron B2 Pro offers a comfortable and quiet typing experience, is fully customizable (you can use Keychron’s Launcher software to remap keys and set up macros), and it looks pretty stylish.

You’ll also find this deck in our Best Keyboards guide.

You don’t have to spend big to snag a great gaming mouse, and the Steelseries Rival 3 proves it. This mouse is lightweight, responsive, and has a lovely rubbery scroll wheel and a couple of handy side buttons. It’s everything most people need without the unnecessary frills.

This is the budget pick in our Best Gaming Mice guide.

A perfect review score is rare, but the Soundpeats Capsule3 Pro+ (10/10, WIRED Recommends) are a little bit special. They deliver epic sound from a combination of dynamic and xMEMS drivers, boast good microphones, offer solid noise canceling, and have easy-to-use touch controls.

These earbuds are the top pick in our Best Headphones Under $100 guide.

With a practically indestructible powder coating, this travel mug is ideal for folks seeking a low-maintenance mug that doesn’t need careful handling. It also has a pebbled texture that adds grip, and it holds plenty of coffee.

This is the top pick in our Best Travel Mugs guide.

Solidly made, with a sleek stainless lid surrounded by sturdy plastic, this Cuisinart waffle maker (7/10, WIRED Recommends) can feed a family of four. It weighs about 10 pounds, so storing it under the counter is recommended. There are five settings to get the shade of waffle you prefer, and it is mercifully tough to burn them with this gadget.

This waffle maker appears in our Buy It for Life guide.

This clever stick plugs right into an HDMI port on your TV and comes with a hands-free remote, so you can use voice commands to pick movies and shows. Roku’s interface is responsive, easy to navigate, and acts as a gateway to every streaming service under the sun.

This is the top pick in our Best Streaming Devices guide.

Despite the ease with which you can stream just about any track ever recorded, a whole new generation is discovering the delights of collecting vinyl. This nifty turntable gives them something cute and affordable to play records on. There is a built-in speaker, but you can also wirelessly stream to another device.

This appears in our Best Tech Gifts for Kids guide.

Whether you want to up your coffee game or make better hot chocolate, a milk frother is a great way to do it. This uncomplicated frother has a 10-ounce max capacity and makes perfectly drinkable wet foam steamed to between 130 and 170 degrees Fahrenheit.

This gadget is featured in our Best Milk Frothers guide.

Easy to grasp, quick to play, and often hilarious, Telestrations is the game that always comes out when we have people over (eight players is ideal). Telestrations challenges you to draw words or phrases to pass along and then to identify the sketches that other players pass to you. When the erasable books get back to the owners, everyone reveals how far from the original message things got.

This game appears in our Best Family Board Games guide.

The gift every grandma has been dreaming of encourages us to sit up straight at the dinner table. The Upright Go S gently vibrates to remind you when you are hunched over and encourage you out of bad habits. It sends your slouching data to the companion app so you can track your posture progress.

This is our top pick in our Best Posture Correctors guide.

I don’t think you’ll find a nicer-looking smartwatch under $100 than the CMF Watch 3 Pro from Nothing. Don’t let its price fool you; it can accurately track your heart rate, and even offers up an “Active Score” to determine if your giftee has been active. The battery lasts more than a week, the screen is bright, there’s dual-band GPS, and it can track sleep and blood oxygen levels as well. No need to wear an ugly fitness tracker anymore!

This is the budget pick in our Best Fitness Trackers and Best Smartwatches guides.

This lightweight, reliable hair dryer won’t let you down. It boasts a powerful high-torque DC motor, three heat and two speed settings, and a removable filter to help extend its lifespan. It’s a budget workhorse that’s ideal for rough-drying before hair styling.

This is the affordable pick in our Best Hair Dryers guide.

Most folks grab a cheap umbrella when it rains, or go without, but a well-made, compact umbrella is a smart addition to any bag. This brolly combines tough fiberglass ribs and shaft with a quick-drying Teflon fabric. It opens and closes automatically, has a pouch with a zipper for compact storage, and comes with a lifetime warranty.

This is the top pick in our Best Umbrellas guide.

Featuring a classic design that’s perfect for a garage or workshop, this dinky portable radio sounds pretty good for the price, has a large display to show the channel you’re on, and easy-to-use dials. It takes three AA batteries for portable mode, but you can plug in the included AC adapter if you prefer.

Find out more about this device in our Best Radios guide.

The iconic red plastic handle of Victorinox’s Deluxe Tinker makes it easy to spot, and it packs an impressive 17 mini-tools. It is light, compact, and durable enough to slip into a pocket or bag and forget about until you need it. The company offers a lifetime warranty.

This appears in our Best Multi-Tools guide.

These eye-catching knitted mitts come in all sorts of fun color combos and keep your fingers cozy. Even better, the tips of the thumb, index finger, and middle finger all work with touchscreens, so you can use your phone without having to take your gloves off. They are machine washable, too.

These gloves appear in our Best Touchscreen Gloves guide.

This tough, minimalist, aluminum wallet with a leather cover has a clever trigger to quickly draw your cards when you need to pay. You can fit six cards in the main compartment, which also has RFID blocking. There’s a strap to hold cash and some extra pockets in the cover.

You can read without disturbing your partner with this clip-on light. It has an easily adjustable gooseneck and two swiveling light bars with seven LEDs apiece. The large, padded clamp supports various positions, and you can cycle through five levels of brightness and three warm colors with minimal blue light. The battery life is up to 80 hours on the lowest brightness, and there’s a USB-C port for charging.

This gadget appears in our Best Reading Lights guide.

Capable of carrying textbooks and a laptop in its dedicated 15-inch sleeve, this versatile bag also works as an overnight bag stuffed with clothes and a pair of shoes, or as a carry-on with essentials. The 600-denier polyester with faux leather bottom and handle is a durable combo.

This appears in our Best Backpacks guide.

Our favorite fan features three easy-to-press speed buttons and will happily sit on a table, sideboard, desk, or the floor to quietly and effectively push air throughout your home. It even has a handle for easy carrying, and you can unscrew the front grille to clean it.

This appears in our Best Fans guide.

Merino wool is natural and renewable, and manages to be cool or warm when you need. This top is just the right weight for a base layer, with heavy-duty seams that don’t rub. At only 87 percent merino wool (blended with nylon), this is a great intro to the delights of a wool base layer.

This top appears in our Best Merino Wool Clothes guide.

It might be designed as a camera sling, but your giftee can use this stylish, retro bag from Long Weekend for anything. The larger pocket can fit a decent amount of stuff, there’s a zippered pocket on the outside, and a little pouch next to it. It can be worn as a fanny pack or crossbody bag.

This bag appears in our Best Camera Bags guide.

Jet off to more than 200 countries with this compact adapter, and you can keep all your gadgets charged. It’s easy to slide out EU, UK, and US plugs, and you can rotate the pins for sockets in Australia and China. The plugs lock securely in place. This charger is lightweight, and it has plenty of ports that can deliver a generous charging rate of up to 70 watts.

This is the top pick in our Best Travel Adapters guide.

You can keep your iPhone or Qi2 Android phone going for a little longer or bring it back from the dead with this handy magnetic power bank that sticks to the back unobtrusively to deliver up to 10,000 mAh (enough for at least one full charge). It also has a handy wee fold-out kickstand and a display.

This is our top pick in our Best MagSafe/Qi2 Power Banks guide.

Volume-limited headphones are essential for protecting your child’s ears, and they can give you some peace from the din of repetitive cartoons or strange YouTube videos. This comfy pair from Altec Lansing sound great and boast active noise cancellation, making them ideal for road trips.

These appear in our Best Kids’ Headphones guide.

No matter how good your sculpting skills are, a decent beard trimmer is a necessity to avoid looking like a mountain man who has just awoken from hibernation. This one cuts close and effectively, has decent battery life, and comes with a laundry list of attachments.

This is the value pick in our Best Beard Trimmers guide.

Your giftee will never be without that charging cable they need ever again if you snag them one of these handy multi-cable keyrings. It boasts six charging combinations, with USB-C and USB-A on one end of the short braided cable, and Lightning, MicroUSB, and USB-C on the other.

This handy gadget is in our Best USB-C Cables guide.

Cute desk ornament or crafter’s delight, this tiny, fully working TV can be loaded with hours of video. Home movies, music videos, or your favorite films and shows can be loaded on here. It even has a tiny remote control.

Folks who own Apple’s trinity of iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods can keep them all neat on the bedside and find them fully charged in the morning with this handy wireless charger. It is compact, comes with a charging brick and cable, and turns your iPhone into a bedside alarm clock.

This is the budget pick in our Best Apple 3-in-1 Wireless Chargers guide.

A light strip on the back of your TV that reacts to the onscreen action can be a lot of fun, and this one works pretty well. Signify is the company behind Philips Hue, and Wiz is its budget brand. While this kit isn’t perfect (it won’t work with smart TV apps and only has one HDMI input), it’s the cheapest option without a camera.

You’ll find alternatives in our Best Smart Lighting guide.

These handy wee trackers can help you keep tabs on your luggage, keys, pets, and whatever else you attach them to on your iPhone using Apple’s Find My app.

These are featured in our Best Trackers guide.

A great gift for gardeners, this easy-to-assemble grow box features three LED light strips at the top with a timer and varied light-intensity settings. It’s perfect for cuttings, seeds, starts, and other green-fingered projects.

This gadget is featured in our Best Gifts for Plant Lovers guide.