9 Early-Bird Gift Ideas for Techies

Affordable gift suggestions that will make the life of your tech-savvy friend easier, or at least more fun.

gear patrol magazine gift guide techie Henry Phillips

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Modern life is an avalanche of gadgets; the trick is finding ones people will actually use. Here are a handful of options sure to make any techie happy.

Power banks are a dime a dozen, but this one’s integrated Lightning cable puts it above the rest in terms of convenience. With enough capacity to charge an iPhone to full from empty and a form that can slip into a pocket, it’s an essential for any iPhone owner.

Streaming sticks aren’t exactly bleeding edge, but they’re leaps and bounds better than the built-in smart-TV features your techie might be using. Better yet, they’re great for travel. Roku’s offering is small, cheap and supports 4K HDR streaming.

Incredibly affordable and simple to use, the Wemo Mini works with Google-, Amazon-, or Apple-based smart homes. It’s the perfect entry-level gadget to help them smarten-up an appliance they already own.

Whether they’re keeping an eye on the pet, the plants or something else, this $30 smart-home camera can hang with competitors twice its price and beyond. The Wyze Cam Pan can also, well, pan – a superpower that gives its users an even better vantage.

The Kindle is a classic gadget; its latest incarnation has a screen that automatically adjusts its brightness based on ambient light, and built-in Bluetooth for wireless audiobook listening. And the battery life? Luxuriously, weekslong.

Mini gaming consoles are affordable, work with modern TVs – and come with nostalgia packed right in. The Genesis Mini is the Sega kid’s answer to 2016’s NES Classic, perfect for revisiting Ecco the Dolphin, Sonic the Hedgehog, Earthworm Jim and Street Fighter 2.

Unfortunately no Apple Watch can stay on forever. This sleek, portable charger lets you top off at any time.

A disposable camera can’t match the image quality of a modern day smartphone, but nothing can match the experience of film.

A turntable can only sound as good as the records it’s playing. This fluid and brush kit will keep vinyl clean and pristine.

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