10 Great Tech Gifts Under $50
Images via Fujifilm/Udreamer
Shopping for your friends and family is hard enough on its own, but shopping for gadget heads? Not only is it tough to parse through the options, but tech gifts are usually on the expensive side.
But if you think a bit below the PS5 or MacBook spending level, there are plenty of great tech gifts out there that will look great under the tree and not break Santa’s bank account in the process. Whether you’re shopping for streaming junkies, world travelers, gamers, aspiring photographers or just general fans of gadgets, we’ve taken a deep dive to break down some perfect picks this holiday season.
Here’s to loading up on some tech finds that won’t break the bank.
For someone getting into vinyl: Udreamer Vinyl Record Player Wireless Turntable ($49.99 from Amazon)
To be clear, a decent turntable costs a couple hundred dollars (House of Marley’s Stir It Up turntable is a great option under $200), but if you’re on a tight budget you can still get a turntable for under $50. Crosley and Victrola pretty much own the entry-level market, and their players do work, but the components are very cheap and don’t work well. If you want something that might hold up a bit better, the Udreamer Vinyl Record Player Wireless Turntable has built-in speakers, belt-driven design and an understated, retro wood-style aesthetic. It also has RCA output for external speakers if you want a bit more oomph. For someone just getting into vinyl, it’s a great option before dropping the cash on a quality set-up.
For the retro gamer: PowKiddy v90 ($39.99 from PowKiddy)
Retro gaming handhelds are all the rage these days, though the high-end ones can get well into the hundreds of dollars. But if you want to test the market with something that doesn’t sacrifice quality for affordability, the PowKiddy is the way to go. It’s basically a clamshell GameBoy emulator that can play GameBoy Advance, GameBoy Color, GameBoy and 8 or 16-bit games from that era. You obviously won’t be emulating Dreamcast or PS2 games here, you can still gift the glory days of Mario and Pokémon — and isn’t that enough?
For the battery burner: Anker 525 Power Bank – PowerCore 20K ($41.99 from Anker)
You can never have too many power banks. Ever. Anker makes some of the best ones, and the PowerCore 20K is an excellent mid-tier option that’s small, portable and still packs a powerful charging punch. The bank’s 20,000mAh cell capacity essentially allows you to recharge a new iPhone or Android phone 4-5 times, which is more than enough to keep you going through a long weekend.
For the smart home aficionado: Amazon Smart Plug ($24.99 from Amazon)
Smart plugs are a basic technology that makes any device smart, and now Amazon is making its own line of basic smart home tech. The smart plug basically does what it says on the box: it’s a plug that you can control via wi-fi to turn another device on or off. It’s programmable with the Alexa smart home platform, and can be used to control devices like fans, lamps or dehumidifiers to set them on timers or activate via voice/app command. Another great use around the holidays? Hook up the Christmas tree lights to the smart plug for an easy way to make the tree cycle on and off on a schedule.