KiteTech 2022 Holiday Gift Guide

2022 Holiday Gift Guide

At KiteTech, we love helping people find the right technology solutions for their business.  But, we also love technology in general!  So, for the holidays we asked our staff what technology they’ve been using that would also make for a great gift.  Here’s what they recommended!  The below list includes a bit of everything, at a variety of price points, so whether you’re shopping for a loved one, or maybe looking to treat yourself, there’s something for everyone.

Anker Powercore Essential 20000

At some point, everyone finds themselves in a situation where they need a bit more power for their devices: Maybe you’re flying and need your phone to provide in-flight entertainment, on vacation taking lots of video or mobile gaming.  Whatever your use-case, Anker’s PowerCore Essential 20000 can provide the extra power you need.  Jake Weyer (Project Technician) used his Anker on a recent family vacation to charge not just his phone, but his family’s devices as well.  The Anker Powercore provides enough juice to fully charge a phone multiple times and can charge two devices simultaneously.  It can charge via USB-C, Lightning, and Micro-USB ($36.52, amazon.com)

 

Philips Hue Smart Light Starter Kit

Old-school lightbulbs and lightswitches are soooo last century.  The Phillips Hue Starter Kit includes the basics to get started with smart lighting, including 2-4 smart bulbs and a Hue Bridge.  The starter kit allows you to use your phone to turn lights on/off, set brightness, set color (if you have color bulbs) and control your lights away from home.  Each bulb can be independently set.  If you really want to feel like you’re living in the future, Philips Hue can integrate with smart home systems like Alexa or Google Home, to allow voice control of your lights ($69-$199, bestbuy.com)

 

Beats Fit Pro True Wireless Noise Canceling Earbuds

Beats Fit Pro takes the audio quality Beats are known for and expands on it.  The Fit Pro provides three different listening modes: Noise Canceling when you just want to hear your audio, Transparency for when you want to hear your audio but also remain aware of your surroundings and Spatial Audio, which uses built-in sensors to adjust sound as the user moves their head, to create an immersive sound experience.  Beats Fit Pro are designed for all-day comfort coupled with six hours of battery life (24 hours with the charging case).  Beats Fit Pro works for both iOS and Android, but iOS users will further benefit from Siri integration and auto switching between devices ($179.95, amazon.com)

 

LG C series 65 Inch 4K Smart OLED

Dillon Fornaro (Security Engineer) swears by this award-winning TV.  The 4K OLED screen provides fantastic image quality, with excellent contrast and punchy colors, while the 120hz refresh rate also ensures this TV is up to the task for gaming.  The TV is no slouch with audio either, with Dolby Atmos support for immersive surround sound.  All this is wrapped up in an elegant, pencil-thin display ($1696.99 for the LG C2, amazon.com)

 

Garmin Smartwatches

(Left: Garmin Forerunner 255s Music. Right: Garmin Instinct 2 Solar)

Jimmy and Krystal Son (Project Engineer and Help Desk Team Lead, respectively) recently traded in their Fitbits for Garmin Smartwatches.  “Smartwatch” may be slightly misleading: While these watches have basic smartwatch functionality (notifications, app store, contactless payment) they are less like smartwatches and more akin to activity trackers.  Both these watches have much more basic screens than an Apple or Samsung watch (The Instinct 2 has a black and white display), and this is by design: These watches trade vivid displays for greatly increased battery life: 12 days for the 255s Music, and potentially unlimited for the Instinct 2 Solar (50 days is more reasonable).  Beyond that, both have an onboard altimeter, barometer, compass, thermometer and GPS, which allows them to provide basic weather and backcountry navigation independent of a data connection.  Both watches provide heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and calorie burn, and can track a wide variety of athletic activities (Forerunner 255s Music: $400.  Instinct 2 Solar: $450, rei.com)

 

Logitech G733 Wireless Headset

Fun fact: If you’re speaking to one of our help desk technicians, they are likely speaking to you on a Logitech G733 Headset.  This headset quickly became popular with our techs due to it’s comfort, battery life (26 hours), convenience (wireless range of 60 feet) and audio and mic quality.  Other wireless headsets we had tried would frequently lose connectivity or the mic would pick up too much background noise; not so with the 733.  While they are great for meetings and productivity, they’re also great for gaming, so long as you’re on a PC or Playstation; sorry, Xbox fans ($119.99, bestbuy.com)

 

Rocketbook Core Smart Reusable Notebook

Note-taking apps like Google Keep and Apple Notes are undeniably useful.  But, sometimes nothing quite beats the tactile experience of a pen and paper.  Rocketbook seeks to bridge the gap between note apps and pen and paper, to provide the best of both worlds.  Rocketbook includes 35 or so reusable, glossy paper pages.  You take notes on these pages with an erasable pen (not proprietary).  The ink from these pens, once dry, will stay put until erased with a moistened cloth.  If you want to upload your notes, you can use the Rocketbook app to scan the note, then send it to a note-taking app, online storage or to your email ($18.99-$34, amazon.com)

 

Tile Slim Bluetooth Tracker

If you’re in the habit of misplacing your wallet or purse, Tile may make your life easier.  Tile Slim is a Bluetooth tracking device compatible with IOS or Android, small enough to fit into a wallet, a purse, luggage, etc.  Once the Tile is synced with the Tile app on your phone, you can use the in-app Find feature, which will cause the Tile to ring so you can find it (more to the point, whatever you’ve put the Tile in).  The Find feature also works in reverse: If you can’t find your phone, but have your Tile Slim, you can press a button on the Tile to locate your phone.  The Tile app can also be configured with alerts: If you were to leave your wallet behind at a restaurant, the app can be configured to alert you.  Tile Slim has an advertised range of 250 feet with a three year battery life, though the battery isn’t replaceable.  The more expensive Tile Pro’s batteries are replaceable.  Tile makes a variety of other trackers, including one for your keychain ($24.99, bestbuy.com)

Time to Shop!

So, there you have it!  Hopefully, our tech gift guide will ease your shopping experience and is providing you with some ideas of cool items you can add to your gift list!  Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones from all of us here at KiteTech!

Jimmy Son

Jimmy Son

Project Engineer
Kite Technology Group