By Gary M. Kaye
Chief Content Officer Tech50+ (www.tech50plus.com)
This holiday season there are more great products than ever being targeted at the 50-plus market. From phones to heat/fan air purifiers, here’s some great tech gift ideas for the boomers – and those a bit beyond – in your life.
Smartphone – Google Pixel XL – This phone has what some say is the best camera on any smartphone. And it is the first to come with Google Assistant, perhaps the most competent and conversational of the voice driven Artificial Intelligence bots. It draws on Google’s immense search capabilities to answer all kinds of questions and does it fast. The fingerprint sensor is on the back, which makes the phone easier for one-handed use. It has a powerful and fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor and a gorgeous display. It’s only available from Verizon - $320 if you take the two-year contract, or $770 without it. Website: www.madeby.google.com/phone
Portable Soft Cooler – Yeti Hopper 40 – Yeti has built an almost cult-like following among outdoors folks for its ice keeping coolers. Now, Yeti offers this shoulder strap soft version that you can take to outdoor concerts, the beach, anywhere a big luggable, or even wheeled cooler just doesn’t make sense. With a 40-liter capacity, you’re good to stock up for a couple of days, knowing that if kept closed, the Yeti Ice packs will maintain the cold for the whole trip. It’s pricey, but I think it’s worth it. Price: $400. Website: http://yeti.com/hopper-40-cooler
Automotive Navigation and Safety Device – Garmin DriveAssist 50LMT – When you watch all the television commercials about new cars and their hi-tech safety equipment, it’s easy to be envious. Garmin’s DriveAssist combines the best of voice command navigation with safety features like a dash cam that records everything in front of you (and freezes the recording if it senses a crash), lane departure warnings and a front collision avoidance alert, and more. And with lifetime traffic monitoring, it will tell you about upcoming traffic problems and suggest alternate routes where that makes sense. Price: $300. Website: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-road/automotive/garmin-driveassist-50lmt/prod524703.html
Tablet Computer – ZenPad 3S – 10” – There are scores of tablets on the market, but I chose the ZenPad because of its combination of price and performance. It’s lightweight, thin and has a great 9.7” screen and a quick MediaTek processor, a machined aluminum body, and comes with either 32GB or 64GB of memory. It has a micro-SD card slot – handy for storing music since the ZenPad also has Hi-Res audio and a DTX high-end output for headphones to further improve the audio experience. Price for the 32GB model is $299, less expensive than several comparable high end competitors from Apple and Samsung. Website: https://www.asus.com/Tablets/ASUS-ZenPad-3S-10-Z500M/
Convertible Computer – HP Spectre X360 – Computers that can be used as either a laptop or a tablet are all the rage. They are thinner and lighter than traditional laptops, but offer more options for both entertainment and productivity. We think that HP has achieved the state of the art with its upgraded version of the Spectre X360. It comes in both 13.3” and 15.6” models. It has a beautifully crafted aluminum body, and big, full sized keys which are backlit, and four Bang and Olufsen tuned speakers. It runs on either an Intel Core-i5 or Core i7 processor and begins with a 128GB solid state hard drive. Models begin at $900 and go up to $1,560 depending on options. Website: http://store.hp.com/
Big Screen 4K HDTV – TCL 55” UHD-TV with Roku – Who says a good quality big screen television has to be expensive? Not TCL, which makes this 55” 4k Ultra High Definition television for less than many premium smartphones. It comes with the ROKU streaming hardware already built in, so even without cable, you can access thousands of streaming shows through ROKU. Plug in a computer stick like those from Asus or Lenovo, add a wireless keyboard and mouse and you’ve got a huge screen computer. The Roku remote is easy to use, with fewer buttons than most, and there’s also a remote app so you can use your smartphone or tablet. It’s available at Amazon for $500. Website: http://www.tclusa.com/currentmodels/55us5800/
Easy Photo Scanner – Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanning System – Before the advent of digital photography, many of us over fifty accumulated hundreds or thousands of photographs now sitting in drawers, storage bins, or closets. This system from Epson rapidly scans your pictures in bulk, both front and back, to record any notes on the back. Then the software allows you to put them in albums, categories, or even use facial recognition to keep track of individuals. Price is $650. Website: https://epson.com/For-Home/Scanners/Photo/FastFoto-FF-640-High-speed-Photo-Scanning-System/p/B11B246201
Portable Hi-Res Music Player – Sony Walkman NW-A20 Series – Many of those who are over fifty remember when vinyl – and even CDs – offered great music quality, long before MP3s squeezed out the highs and lows. Now, Hi-Res music systems with great audio quality are gaining in popularity. This Walkman is one of the lower cost ways to jump into Hi-Res. It comes in two models, the NW-A26, with 32GB of storage and the NW-A27 with 64GB. Plus, a micro SD card slot means you can carry around a pretty good sized music library. It supports most Hi-Res formats, and has LDAC Bluetooth streaming, which means lots more quality if you’re using the device to feed a legacy (or modern) music system. Price for the A26 is $320; the A27 is $400. Website: http://www.sony.com/electronics/walkman/nw-a20-series
Wireless Bluetooth Speaker – Mass Fidelity Core Wireless Speaker System – The Core system uses what the company calls “acoustic holography technology to produce a stereo sound field that is astonishing in size and sound quality. It's like listening to a pair of high-end speakers, except it's coming from a device that's small enough to hold in your hand.” That pretty much sums up the experience. Using a single speaker, the Core creates a stereo sensation – in recordings that separate right and left channels, you’d swear you can hear the music moving from one side of the room to another, a seemingly impossible task for a single speaker. You can pair the Core with as many as seven of its siblings for a whole house music system. Of course, with a price of $599, for most of us, one would be enough. Website: https://www.massfidelity.com/products/core
Air Purifier, heater & fan – Dyson Pure Hot+Cool Link - Dyson has long been known for its vacuums that suck it all up. This product blows it all out – except for the impurities. The Hot+Cool link performs three functions. It will filter the air, removing what Dyson claims is 99.97 percent of all allergens, and pollutants as small as 0.3 microns. It also will heat your room or cool it, and you can adjust the concentration or dispersion of the air coming from the unit. All functions can be controlled from a smartphone app, including the ability to schedule when to heat and when to cool. It also has a quiet mode to assure a good night’s sleep. Price: $600. Replacement filters are $70. Website: http://www.dyson.com/air-treatment/purifiers/dyson-pure-hot-cool-link.aspx
See Through Toaster – Gourmia GWT430 Stainless Steel Toaster – You might think that a toaster would be a pretty easy appliance to get right. In my experience that’s not always so. Too light, too dark, with bagels, too tough. But this toaster from Gournia has a glass see through window so you’ll know if you are getting the toast you expected. It has two extra wide slots to easily swallow bagels and English muffins and features multiple toast settings and adjustable temperature controls. Price: $50. Website: https://www.amazon.com/Gourmia-GWT430-Stainless-Adjustable-Temperature/dp/B01MF5PK0V
Fitness Tracker – Fitbit Charge 2 – If your boomer is looking to make it another 50 years, there’s a good chance he or she is working to keep in shape. Enter Fitbit – the largest selling brand of fitness tracker – that just got better with the Charge 2 with built-in heart rate monitoring. Using the Fitbit app, lets you track your workout with the smartphone’s GPS, and provide calendar alerts and notifications. It also measures a variety of sports activities, boasts a five-day battery life between charges and has a bright customizable OLED display. The Charge 2 has interchangeable bands in a variety of colors. Price starts at $149.50. Website: https://www.fitbit.com/charge2.
