Accessories

MEGA Holiday Gift Guide 2016 – Best Tech and Accessories – Part I

Looking for that perfect tech gift? There are plenty of holiday gift guides out there, but this one surely has a few gems that are essential this holiday season. Some of these are available only online and others from stores near you. Good luck, you only have a few days left.

This is Part I of a two part series, view Part II here.

NETGEAR Nighthawk X4 Range Extender $149

NETGEAR has a cost effective cure for missing WiFi signal from your current router, in the home or small business. Plug in the Nighthawk X4 range extender to a power port near your current router and it will extend wireless access to parts of the home that may be experiencing low signal. It works with nearly any router, including those from NETGEAR. For more information, visit the NETGEAR website.

NETGEAR Nighthawk X10 Ultimate WiFi Router $499

Looking for the ultimate WiFi router for your home? NETGEAR has you covered with the new Nighthawk X10. Their Nighthawk line has been great over the years, but this one is truly exceptional. Upgrade to 802.11ad signal for the fastest possible WiFi. Your wireless gadgets will get the best range as well. For more information, visit the NETGEAR website.

CHOETECH Quick Charge 3.0 20,000 mAh Backup Battery $36.99

Those that go on long trips, have multiple devices to charge and that need a power bank that is Quick Charge 3.0 capable should look no further than this CHOETECH battery. I have utilized it on multiple trips around the world to recharge my tablets and smartphones. The new Quick Charge 3.0 technology can charge compatible devices multiple times faster than standard wall chargers. It fits conveniently in travel bags too. Available on Amazon.

Synology 8.0 Surveillance Kit $749

Go for a more professional home or office surveillance system with Synology’s new 8.0 kit. The kit includes two Amcrest IP2M-841 ProHD WiFi enabled cameras (with pan and tilt functionality), a Synology NAS drive (DS416j), four Seagate IronWolf 2TB hard drives and a customized user friendly surveillance dashboard. Manage recordings from the on-site NAS and save them to the cloud. For more information, visit the Synology website.

OWC miniStack 4TB Hard Drive $249

OWC’s new miniStack 4TB backup drive that is designed to look like your Mac Mini and stacks nicely on top of it too. It has a USB 3.1 port for super fast 208 MB/s transfer speed. Backup years of videos and photos with this solid desktop drive. For more information, or to purchase, visit the OWC website.

Microduino mCookie $89

STEM is important for kids and educators that want to help them to learn electronics. This kit comes with stackable and programmable magnetic gadgets. Combine them in innovative ways and learn how they work with an easy to learn visual programming language. For more information, visit the Microduino website.

Kangaroo Notebook PC $269.99

The Kangaroo Notebook PC is made by the same people who came up with the very cool Kangaroo Mobile Desktop Pro that I recently reviewed on MacTrast. The actual computer specs are the same but has become much smaller. The modular Notebook PC comes with two of the Kangaroo computing modules, one for you and one for your family or friends to use. The Notebook contains a screen, keyboard, two USB ports, an SD card slot, headphone port and touchpad. Windows 10 is installed on both computing modules. For more information, visit the Kangaroos website.

MakeBlock mBot Ranger $189.99

Building robots is fun and controlling them from your smartphone is even better. MakeBlock makes a series of easily programmable bots like the mBot Ranger. Put it together in less than 20 minutes and then program it to do cool things around your home. Give the gift of learning about STEM. For more information, visit the MakeBlock website.

August Door Lock $199 – Doorbell Camera $149 – Keypad $79

Securing your home and taking video from your front door is now possible with August’s Door Lock, Doorbell Camera and Keypad. These are wirelessly accessible from the August app from anywhere in the world. Get notifications on your phone when someone or something approaches your front door. When family visits from out of town and you are not home to let them in with a key, open the app and tap to open the door for them. Are friends staying with you for a few days? Give them a temporary keycode for your front door. For more information, visit the August website.

Yuneec Breeze 4k Drone $399.99

Dronies are the cool new photo craze in 2016. Yuneec’s innovative folding drone has a 4k camera sensor ready to take these dronies and videos almost anywhere. It easily fits in your backpack to take with while traveling. For more information, visit the Yunee website.

LattePanda Windows 10 Dev Board Integrated with Arduino $119

Learn to program with Windows 10 and Arduino with DFRobot’s LattePanda mini PC. It comes with 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage space and Windows 10 pre-installed. Arduino programming software is also pre-installed. Add a mini case to make this a unique IoT controller. For more information, visit the LattePanda website.

This is Part I of a two part series, view Part II here.

 

Disclosure: I received many of these products at no cost for review. I have not been compensated for my gift guide. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I am a NETGEAR Ambassador.

Chris Rauschnot

Chris, Review Editor at MacTrast and Consumer Electronics Blogger, is excited about technology, the web and engaging via social media. He's an Apple Certified Technician. He enjoys traveling, driving cool cars, flying in jets, food, events, and red carpets. He's a conference and panel speaker. Send an email to Chris today for product, app, service, and tech style gear reviews. Follow Chris on @24k Instagram for daily tech videos.