Top Gifts for Dads

The Bodum Bistro Electric Burr Coffee Grinder earns solid scores in all our grind-performance tests, including an Excellent rating for coarse grind performance (great for cold-brew and French-press coffee). This model is easy to clean but not as convenient to use as other top-performing models, because of unclear markings on its controls. The Bodum is also one of the two noisiest grinders in our tests—we’re talking loud enough that constant exposure over a long period of time could cause hearing loss. But because you’re using your coffee grinder only for a minute or two at a time, it’s more of an annoyance than a health concern. The Bistro features 12 grind settings, an auto-stop feature, and a timer.

For more options: Best and Worst Burr Coffee Grinders

A more affordable take on Ninja’s Coffee Bar brewers, the Ninja Specialty CM401 is a terrific all-in-one machine, capable of brewing hot and iced coffee, lattes, macchiatos, and other specialty brews. In our lab tests it receives an Excellent rating for brew performance, and its glass carafe handles with ease. This model is also loaded with features, including an over-ice brew mode for iced coffee, a built-in milk frother, brew-strength control, and six brew sizes for everything from travel mugs to full carafes, making it one of the most versatile coffee makers we’ve tested.

For more options: Best Combination Coffee Makers

You might not associate the name Crock-Pot with something that isn’t, well, a crockpot. But it makes this well-priced Crock-Pot Artisan pan, which can sear a steak and earns Very Good ratings at both browning scallops and baking cornbread. And after all that cooking, it’s easy to clean. Unlike many other enameled pans, the inner coating of this one is white rather than black. The only advantage? It makes it easier to see how your food is browning.

For more options: Best Cast Iron Frying Pans

The NuWave 37001 air fryer boasts a measured capacity of 5.8 quarts. Our experts found its electronic controls with preprogrammed settings to be among the easiest to see and use. The inside and outside of the appliance are a cinch to clean, but cleaning food out of the holes in the basket takes a little extra effort. This air fryer is on the noisy side, earning only a Good rating in our noise tests. The fan is as loud as a countertop microwave, so you’ll hear it running. The warranty is good for one year.

For more options: Best Air Fryers

With more than 120 years in the business, Lodge knows a thing or two about cast iron, and the Lodge 6-quart Dutch oven turns out bread that’s nicely browned and crispy, earning a Very Good rating in our bread-baking test. Cleanup is a breeze. Weighing in at 14 pounds, this Dutch oven has a 7-inch cooking surface diameter and wide loop handles.

For more options: Best Dutch Ovens

With just five pieces—three pans and two lids—the Made in Cookware Starter Kit is aptly named. But even a novice cook will appreciate the performance of these pots and pans. The stainless steel pan aces the cooking evenness test, meaning pancakes turn out evenly browned. Speed of heating is also superb, and we quickly brought 4 quarts of water to a near-boil in the 5-quart stockpot. Food release is impressive, earning a Very Good rating, though no uncoated pan measures up to a nonstick pan in that test.

For more options: Best Cookware Sets

Vitamix earns an Excellent rating in predicted brand reliability, according our survey of Consumer Reports members. That means this blender will continue to produce thirst-quenching icy drinks for years to come. It’s also terrific at blending soups and can even heat the soup using the friction created by the fast-whirring blades. In our test, raw ingredients went from cold chunks to steaming soup in 5 minutes.

For more options: Best Blenders for Making Smoothies

The Bose Smart Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 are the successor to the company’s flagship QuietComfort 35 Series II headphones (which are usually at least $100 cheaper). The two models are almost identical in performance: Both deliver superb sound quality and noise cancellation. However, the Bose 700s are much slimmer when folded up and have updated elements, including more integration with digital assistants, touch controls, and sensors for Bose’s augmented reality apps, which enhance a listener’s surroundings based on movement, or location data from a connected mobile device. These headphones keep some of the best-loved features from Bose’s older models, such as adjustable noise cancellation and a mode to let in sound from your environment for situations such as a train ride, where you might want to hear announcements. They have an advertised 20-hour battery life.

For more options: Best Noise-Canceling Headphones

The Edifier S1000MKII provides top-notch sound. The high frequencies are clear and smooth, and the extended bass remains musical, so you can tell the difference between, say, an upright bass and an electric Fender Jazz Bass. And for a very reasonable price of about $350, you get a stereo pair of Edifiers, which allows the speakers to create a convincing illusion that the musicians are there in the room with you. They include a variety of connections, from robust Bluetooth pairing to RCA and digital jacks. They’re not designed to work as part of a multiroom system, though. They’re all about playing music in one place with truly impressive fidelity. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

For more options: Best Wireless Speakers

Despite its relatively small size, the Sonos Beam delivers very good sound quality. The model has a lot of features at a price several hundred dollars below the company’s Arc sound bars, which are also highly recommended. (See below for info on the Arc.) The Beam has both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant built in, so you can control it, other Sonos speakers, and additional Alexa- or Google Assistant-powered devices using voice commands. It also supports Apple AirPlay 2 for streaming from Apple devices. It comes in a choice of black or white.

For more options: Great Sound Bar Speakers at Every Price

Want to make sure dad stays in touch? The Echo Show 5 is Amazon’s smallest smart screen. Our testers report that the sound is subpar for a music-listening device, but that’s not why you should consider this one. It’s a utility machine that works well on a night table or desk. You get all the Amazon Alexa functionality featured in other Echo devices, plus some added value, thanks to the small screen and camera.

For more options: Which Amazon Smart Speaker Should You Buy?

The Sonos One SL is the company’s entry-level wireless speaker and the least expensive speaker in the Sonos line. It replaces the existing Play:1, which was similar in size and price. The One SL is essentially a Sonos One smart speaker without the microphones that allow it to listen for a wake word. The One SL is slightly less expensive than the One, its smart speaker sibling. Our testers confirmed that the One SL sounds almost identical to the Sonos One, and its sonic performance is also quite similar to the now-discontinued Play:1, which scored a single point less in its Overall Score than the new speaker.

For more options: Best Smart Speakers

The Apple Watch SE packs in a vast majority of features most people desire in a smartwatch and leaves out the higher-end tech and add-ons that sometimes go unused. And in exchange, the price is lower than for other Apple Watches. The SE comes in two sizes (40mm or 44mm) and two hardware configurations (GPS-only or GPS plus cellular). The bands are interchangeable, too.

For more options: Which Apple Watch Should You Buy?

This 12.3-inch, 2-in-1 detachable laptop is suitable for complex school or office work; however, you might notice a lag when performing media editing or playing video games. The display is bright, has wide viewing angles, and shows lifelike colors. Battery life is reasonably long at 10.5 hours in web-browsing tests, and at just 2.4 pounds, it’s lighter than typical laptops in this size category. And of course, there’s something to be said about the versatility of being able to remove the keyboard to use it like a tablet.

For more options: Best Laptops

The Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus has an 8-inch screen that makes it a solid choice for those who enjoy reading or watching movies. It has 3 gigabytes of memory and is available with 32GB of storage, but you can also add a microSD memory card for more storage. Battery life is impressive. Our tests find that it’s slower than most other tablets we’ve tested, though it’s acceptable for most everyday tasks, such as web browsing and email.

For more options: Best Tablets

Sleep Number’s ComfortFit Ultimate (yep, that’s the name) is made of a blend of memory foam pieces and down alternative fibers. Inside the pillow casing are three layers that can be added or removed to tailor the pillow to the level you need. It earns top support ratings for both side and back sleepers in our tests, and our testers found it to be very breathable. It’s not as resilient as some other options on this list, though, and might not hold its shape as well over time.

For more options: Best Pillows

The top-rated Oral-B iO 7 grabbed an Excellent rating for cleaning and battery life, and strong scores for both ease of use and noise levels. It has a timer, a pressure sensor, five cleaning modes, and a battery-level indicator, and can connect to a smartphone app.

For more options: Best Electric Toothbrushes