I Investigated IKEA’s Suspiciously Cheap Tech

Used as the pricey benchmark: he paid £55 for one and was annoyed.

A £9 MagSafe charger that is light and wobbly but insane value if stuck down.

Incredible value at £7 and feature-rich, but connection problems undermine it.

Satisfying to use when working, but pairing is so unreliable he measured about a 50% success rate.

Non-Matter light strip at £13 that becomes configurable when paired with a Matter plug, great for the money.

A £7 door sensor that works well in his gaming cabinet automation.

A £5 Matter-over-Thread sensor that makes him wonder how IKEA turns a profit.

Used to show that its sensor alone costs more than the whole IKEA product.

Cheap £1.50 cabinet lights with motion sensors that are nice and bright.

A £2 motion-sensing night light that works as well as Xiaomi's £12 one.

A creative £15 glass bowl that doubles as phone charger and light, which he finds delightful.

Fun to chain together but they don't sound very good.

USB-C docking tea lights that really do last the claimed 35 hours.

A well-designed table that is also an air purifier, with neat hidden power supply and cable routing.

His favourite of the IKEA bunch, a playful lamp with detachable light and auto-off.

Same tech as the £7 bulb but costs £55 in glass, and was hard to connect.