Home & smart home

Helped with snoring but too uncomfortable to be more than a temporary fix.

Fun for listening to music but did nothing for his sleep, and his wife hated the noise.

Temperature control helps him sleep through the night, a mild assist rather than a main driver.

A very small folding projector Arun loved and took home for travelling.

A projector that works as a touchscreen is cool, but the latency makes games hard to play, so the kids gave it four or five.

The pizza came out puffy but doughy and undercooked inside, and the kids scored it three or four.

A Series S shaped toaster from Microsoft that makes toast and little else; both rated it zero for emotional damage.

A bought replacement for his desk chair that suits a fidgeter and keeps his core active.

A sleep headband using acoustic stimulation that he finds squishy and likely comfy, with testing still to come.

A vibration mat for the bed that he is sceptical of but willing to test.

A red and blue light mask with massage that he has only just started using but expects to love as a wind-down tool.

He put them all over his house and counts them among the best tech products he has bought.

Not pro equipment, but a smart-looking cordless washer that does everything a non-pro needs.

A stupidly extra but impressive $700 smart lock with 10 unlock methods, including palm vein, rated 9 out of 10.

A rechargeable, shielded upgrade to the nightlight 2 that he calls a fuss-free gadget and scores 9 out of 10.

A cool concept, but flimsy and only holds two cans deep, so it is disappointing for $240.

The concept is clever but it is made of cheap plastic, launched a sausage and is poor for the price.

A programmable heated dispenser that makes Nutella perfectly runny and takes the top S tier.

A beautiful machine that makes an excellent drink, but the improvement over a blender isn't worth the faff.

Decent portable projector with punchy speakers but terrible mood lighting and expensive; 7.5 out of 10.

Lucky box gamble gave him a mediocre shaver; he should have waited for a sale and picked the model he wanted.

Cheap Balmuda copy that makes toast nearly as good at a quarter of the price.

Slim, manoeuvrable vacuum that suits Asian homes, held back only by short battery life.

Painful headband that shocks at random intervals; he gave it 1 out of 10.