Best tech gift ideas for your best friend this holiday season

Tech Gift for Best Friend Who is a Gamer -Wireless Bluetooth Speaker

Why not give your best friend a wireless Bluetooth speaker this holiday season? It is a great holiday gift for your best friend because it is convenient, portable, easy to use, affordable, and versatile. Many new Bluetooth speakers are small and lightweight, so they can be quickly taken anywhere you go. Including outdoors. Pair your speaker with your phone or another Bluetooth device, and you're ready to start listening to music or possibly making hands-free calls if you're capable. Some new Bluetooth speakers come with a voice assistant (Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri), which will help you do more than listen to stuff.

Here are some specific recommendations for wireless Bluetooth speakers that would make great holiday gifts for your best friend and are on sale for the holidays:

• JBL FLIP 5, Waterproof Portable Bluetooth Speake - $89.95 on Amazon (31% off)
• Tribit StormBox Blast Portable Speaker:$199 on Amazon. (Read our review.)
• Sonos has a few portable Bluetooth speakers which are very good and are on sale until January 6, 2024:
  • Roam - $134 (reg. $179) - Works with Alexa
  • Roam SL - $119 (reg. $159) - Works with Siri
  • Roam Bundle - $149 (reg. $228) - Works with Alexa
• Bose SoundLink Flex Bluetooth Speaker - $119 (20% off) on AmThe all-new Amazon Echo Pop full sound compact smart speaker - only $17.99 on Amazon.That is a 55% discount off the list price of $39.99. This smart speaker comes in various colors and has Alexa built-in.

Tech Gift for Best Friend Who is a Gamer -Best Gaming Console

If you have a friend who is a gamer, a gaming console is one of these gifts they're sure to adore.  You can spring for the actual device or go even further and pay for the full-year subscription.  Last year, we recommended Google's Stadia, but the company shut it down.  This year, we think the best to get that is a blast is the Sony PlayStation 5 (PS5).   The PS5 is a powerful and innovative console that offers several new features and benefits for gamers.  It is an excellent choice for anyone looking for the best gaming experience.  The entire setup for PS5 is $500 — and that includes one one-year warranty.  This is a fun option for friends and families (especially parents), particularly as a budget entertainment option at home — and a great holiday treat.

Other consoles to consider include XBox S or X and Nintendo Switch with OLED screen.  It's a good option for a friend who likes playing games on the run.

See the best price at Best Buy.

Robot Vacuums Make Great Gift for a Friend

Helping your best friend clean their house while they're out with you — how is that not the best gift you can give?  That's the promise of the yeedi cube All-in-One Robot Vacuum and Mop with Handle, a new smart home all-in-1 robot vacuum designed to handle vacuuming, mopping, and self-emptying dirt and water.   t even comes with a handle that you can use to lift the robot vacuum and move it to a specific spot you need it to clean.  This comes in handy when you need a robot vacuum for two floors.  We understand that $699.99 is a splurgy gift.  But it's currently on sale for $559.99 (20% off), and it is fantastic at picking up dirt, dog hair, and other debris.  Plus, it pairs with Alexa, so your pal can ask Amazon's smart assistant to start cleaning up even as they walk out the door to meet you.

Buy on Amazon - $559.99

Best Tech Gift Idea for Best Friend: wireless headphones

While earbuds are great for working out and commuting, headphones are your working friend. They typically block out noise more efficiently and are often a visual signal: I'm working; let me concentrate. The $199 Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 Wireless Headphones are perfect — they're small and covered with a thick memory foam cushion, which makes them comfortable, even after wearing them for hours. They stay linked to two devices simultaneously, and you can even hear your voice as you speak. These headphones are perfect for a friend looking for a full sound with a deep base that can be adjusted to their ears.

Buy on Amazon or Walmart

Sonos Beam (2nd Gen) - Perfect Soundbar for your Best Friend

The Sonos Beam's (Gen 2) appeal is for those who lean towards the Sonos brand. There are cheaper sound bars on the market (we've had one.) But what's nice about Sonos is that if you buy one, the next Sonos speaker will work with it as well. You can then build — easily — a surround sound experience. The $449 Sonos Beam (Gen 2) has a nice matte finish with a cloth covering on the outside, giving it a heavy and substantial feel. The sound is good — full and bright. Dialog is far clearer, bass is more prominent, and sound is richer. Plus, you can connect to Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. With everyone spending as much time as they are at home, this is a gift any best friend will love.

Buy Sonos Beam (Gen 2) - $499

Withings Scanwatch is a good smartwatch gift for your best friend.

How about a hybrid smartwatch that is affordable for your health-conscious friend this holiday season?  If so, check out the new Withings Scanwatch 2 smartwatch.  It is the second generation of the popular Withings ScanWatch health and fitness-focused hybrid smartwatch from French technology firm Withings.  Ever since its first watch, the Activité, arrived in 2014, Withings has earned a reputation for selling high-quality hybrid watches that are as smart as they are stylish.

The latest model, the ScanWatch 2, builds on that reputation, combining an attractive stainless steel case, 16L OLED display,  and optional leather straps with advanced fitness and sleep tracking, plus constant heart rate monitoring, an ECG function, and the ability to measure SpO2.  In short, it makes for an excellent fitness wearable — and something classy.  Perfect for your best pal to wear on their next night out with you.

See the best price on Best Buy.

Best Tech Gift Idea for Best Friend - a Digital Photo Frame

Digital frames allow people to rotate through photographs — many of them. And today, with social distancing needed for families and friends, seeing the people we love is even more critical than ever. The Aura Carver and Aura Carver Mat are digital frames that not only store digital images you upload yourself but allow others to send photographs to the device from wherever they may be. (Note: Carver Mat will enable you to receive videos.) The $149 Carver frame has a chunky, architecturally cool-looking back, the images are beautifully lit, and the frame itself is clean and well-designed. The $179 Carver Mat is the same size as the Carver, but it comes with a white mat and allows for portrait photo pairing in landscape mode. Both are lovely ways to keep your best friend close.

See Price on Amazon

See the Price on Aura Home

A Wireless Meat Thermometer with Bluetooth for your Best Friend who Likes to Cook

For friends who like to cook, we have a great gift idea: a smart meat thermometer makes for a great holiday gift.  This smart cooking device monitors the meat's internal and ambient temperatures throughout the cook via a smartphone app.  They can help your friend the cook remove the guesswork and achieve perfect meat doneness every time you come over for dinner.  We have tested many of these special smart devices and really like how they work.  Which ones are good?  Here are a few we would recommend.

The MeatStick - $69.99 - Buy on Amazon

The Meatstick X set costs $99.99.  See the best price on Amazon

Meater Block - this is a four-set of smart meat thermometers that cost around $299.95.  See the best price on Amazon.

Learn more about the best smart meat thermometers by visiting GearBrain's:  Best Smart Wireless Meat Thermometers for Cooks at Any Lev.el

Best Cutting Board for Smart Meat Thermometers

And if your friend has a smart meat thermometer, a good gift would be a cutting board. Now, no cutting board is smart. They are an excellent addition to your cook's kitchen, but we found one that would be a good fight. It's the MEATER Board, equipped with thoughtfully designed features, including a pouring spout and juice tray to make the cooking process easy & keep your kitchen clean. It's reversible, durable, and made from 100% natural, sustainable bamboo - so whether you're slicing up a juicy steak or curating the perfect charcuterie board, the MEATER Board has you covered!

The MEATER Board has a list price of $129.95.

Buy

Tech Gift Idea for Best Friend - Wireless Earbuds

Packed with Tile trackers, the $50 Skullcandy Sesh Evo can make calls and play music and podcasts while you're out running, and they're solid value at just $50, holding a 24-hour charge. Plus, they're lightweight and can slip into a pocket, connecting to your pal's iOS or Android device via Bluetooth and to Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple Siri. You can also pick them up in mint green, red, black, and sky blue, with a color option sure to appeal to one of your friends.

Buy on Amazon - only $29.99 starting November 20th.

Smart Air Purifier is good holiday gift for your best friend

All parents should have a smart air purifier, especially for the family room. An excellent smart air purifier to consider is the Afloia Smart Air Purifier. We recently tested this smart air purifier and liked how it kept our large family’s air clean. It comes with a H13 True HEPA filter and can easily keep the air clean in rooms up to 1,500 square feet. It has a 4-stage purification system filters out 99.9% of particles as small as 0.3 microns in the air. The Afloia smart air purifier works with Amazon Alexa-enabled devices and has a UV lamp. It costs $219.99 and is available on Amazon.

Please read our full review of the Afoia Smart Air Purifier here.