A gift guide for gadget lovers
1. OCULUS QUEST VR
Immerse yourself in the world of VR gaming with the top of the range Quest. No PC required and there are no wires to trip over. You can play almost anywhere with just the headset and controllers. It recognises when you walk around, crouch or jump for truly exceptional game-play. From €449
2. ECHO SHOW 8
If you’re adding an Amazon Alexa device to your home, there’s a host of devices to choose from but the Show 8 is perhaps the pick of the bunch. It has room-filling sound and a bright, sharp display. If you’re privacy conscious, the Show’s camera can be blocked with the built-in privacy shutter. €141
3. SMART GARDEN 3
Fun and useful, this is an indoor garden that cares for itself and grows fresh, flavourful herbs, fruits and vegetables for you. It works just like a capsule coffee machine, but for plants. Instead of coffee pods, it uses biodegradable plant pods which are then perfectly calibrated for automated watering, light and nutrients from the Nasa-inspired soil. €100
4. FITBIT VERSA 2
Fitbit’s best device yet with 24/7 heart rate tracking, Sleep Score, apps and more, all in a stylish and improved lightweight design. There’s an always on-screen option, onboard music storage and it has multi-day battery life. Now with Amazon Alexa built in and Fitbit Pay compatibility. €200
5. NEXTBASE 422GW DASH CAM
The 422GW includes groundbreaking safety features such as Emergency SOS that will detect if you’ve had a serious incident and call the emergency services. It’s intelligent park-mode keeps an eye on things when you’re parked overnight. Alexa is built in for all so you can do things like turning on the heat at home while you’re on your way. RRP €199.99
6. DJI MAVIC MINI
The drone for everyone, and one everyone can fly. It’s ultralight at only 249g and has a flight time of up to 30 minutes. Comes with onboard-GPS and a precise hover function. There’s a 3-axis gimbal and a built-in 2.7KHD camera to capture breath-taking cinematic video and stills. €399
7. IKETTLE
A wifi kettle may not sound like a a necessity but you’ll use it everyday. Connect to Google Home or Alexa, and activate the kettle by voice. It has a useful keep warm feature and a formula mode to set the temperature for baby food and can pe programmed to be part of your daily morning routine. €104
8. AIRTHINGS WAVE MINI
The Wave Mini is a great first step into smart home environmental monitoring. Simple to set-up it will measure the TVOC toxins, temperature and humidity in your home. Battery powered, it records your data, allowing you to keep an eye on the air in your home and gives a visual health indicator with a wave of the hand. €79
9. HUAWEI FREEBUDS 3
Huawei’s answer to Apple’s Air Pods, for Android users. Stylish and available in black or white, they fit easily and have built-in Active Noise Cancelling that activated with a tap to one bud. The other bud can be programmed to play/pause your music. Excellent call quality and fast wireless charging. €179
10. APPLE WATCH 5
The best smartwatch you can buy at the moment, gives you not just heart-rate monitoring but the ability to take an ECG and share it with a carer or doctor. Now with an always-on display, it has excellent fitness tracking features with improved cycling tracking and it even lets you know if the noise around you could impact your hearing. €459
11. PHILIPS HUE MINI STARTER KIT
Smart lights are fun, but useful. The kit gets you up and running with a couple of colour bulbs and the required bridge and then you can control the colour via the app or connect to to Google Home or Alexa for voice control. You can also program it to come on when you’re out, if you are security-conscious. €158
12. GOOGLE NEST MINI
The Nest Mini is the new name for Google’s mini smart speaker. Covered with a lovely durable fabric, it now has twice as much bass than the original giving surprisingly great sound for such a small device. Voice recognition has improved and it integrates with loads of smart home devices. €59
13. SONY NOISECANCELLING HEADPHONES
The WH-CH700N are exceptional Bluetooth headphones at this price. Battery life is up to 35 hours, the noise-cancelling is excellent and there’s remote volume control and a microphone making for great quality phone calls as well as music. €99.99