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The 10 Best Greens Powders, Tested and Reviewed (2025)

by admin June 22, 2025

Greens Powders We Don’t Recommend

Photograph: Louryn Strampe

Huel Daily Greens for $50: Huel’s greens powders come in a big bag with a scoop, and an optional shaker bottle that is included for free if you purchase from the Huel website for the first time. The normal flavor is horrifyingly bad. I am not a person who gags easily, ever, and I thought I was going to actually hurl as I walked around my kitchen gagging after trying it. It is oddly reminiscent of banana, but specifically the white stringy parts of a banana, mixed with the way dog food smells. It’s bitter, savory, and vaguely sweet at the same time. I could only sip it a few times to get those tasting notes down before I dumped it down the drain. The Watermelon flavor is, somehow, even worse. Like if you drank whole milk mixed with a watermelon seltzer water and added in a dash of white button mushrooms. I won’t tell you what’s in this powder because I can’t in good conscience recommend it to you. Even if you hate the taste of Brussels sprouts, I promise they’re still preferable to this supplement. And! To add insult to injury, this vile powder made me gassy, which I am unfortunately admitting to you here on the internet in the hope that it further persuades you to try something else.

Amazing Grass Sweet Greens for $30: I’ve been drinking powdered greens for over a year now, and I can say that, like broccoli or Vegemite, many if not most greens brands are an acquired taste. Ironically, none has challenged my ability to keep drinking ground-up spirulina and alfalfa as much as Sweet Greens, Amazing Grass’ attempt at making greens more palatable. “Fall in love with greens all over again,” say the marketing materials, promising tasty fruit flavors like Peach Hibiscus, Summer Berry, and Tropical Lime. For reasons known only to myself at that exact moment in time, I bought the latter, and if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to add plain stevia to a bucket of moldy cardboard covered in pond water, you might enjoy Tropical Lime Sweet Greens. For everyone else, I’d recommend sticking with Bloom. —Kat Merck

WelleCo Super Elixir for $85: This powder claims to come “without the bitter greens taste,” but bitter greens were all I could taste with the Lemon and Ginger flavor. It wasn’t outright offensive, per se, but the flavor combined with the texture made this a miss for me. The powder took forever to fully dissolve, and it left behind a gritty texture that made me want to brush my teeth—no matter how much I diluted it, the granules stuck to the roof of my mouth and all of my tooth enamel. The nutritional profile isn’t bad, with added biotin, zinc, and copper, but, ultimately, I think this greens powder would be too difficult to drink on a daily basis for the average person to reap any benefits. Unless you want to plug your nose and chug it, I’d recommend going with another pick.

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June 22, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

3 Best Thermal Brush, Tested and Reviewed by WIRED (2025)

by admin June 20, 2025

Sutra’s Infrared Thermal Styling Brush has a design similar to our top pick, the Wavytalk, but instead of having two buttons, there’s a single power button that you can hold down to turn on and off, or tap to toggle between the five heat settings. The button is easy to tap while you’re using it, but it won’t change the heat settings right away, so it’s not the worst thing if you find yourself accidentally pressing it. It reaches the highest heat level of the thermal brushes I’ve tested, making it a good choice for unruly hair that needs higher heat to corral it.

It does a good job smoothing my frizzy, curly hair after I air dry it, or reviving my DIY blowout the day after I use a blow-dry brush. I would prefer better controls, but it’s worked well for me for months. I have the 43-millimeter option (which is about 1.7 inches), which has been a nice oval size for a classic blowout look, but Sutra also has a smaller, rounded 32-mm brush ($110) if that’s more your style.

SettingsFive heat settings betweenWhat’s includedOne 1.7-inch thermal brushWarrantyOne-year warranty

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June 20, 2025 0 comments

Gaggia Classic coffee maker on kitchen counter

Gaming Gear

I’ve tested 13 coffee makers over the last year, but this Gaggia machine is still my all-time favorite

by admin June 20, 2025

I’ve tested a new coffee maker every month for the past year here at TechRadar, and there have been some real gems.

The Jura J10, for instance, is a fully automatic powerhouse for creating hot and cold beverages at the touch of a button, while the manual Smeg Mini Pro is frankly gorgeous, and excellent for consistency.

However, no matter how many other machines I try, there’s still just one sitting on my kitchen counter at the end of the day: the Gaggia Classic Pro.

Doom: The Dark Ages’ path tracing upgrade tested – maximum fidelity, reasonable performance

by admin June 19, 2025

Doom: The Dark Ages has finally received its promised path tracing upgrade on PC, adding a further dimension of visual fidelity to an already impressive game. To see how the new graphics mode compares to the standard RT available at launch, some testing was in order.

I ran the game on a high-end desktop PC with an RTX 5090 graphics in the new path tracing mode, while my colleague John tested the game on a laptop RTX 5090 with standard RT graphics. It made for a fascinating comparison, with some areas exhibiting just how good the standard RT graphics already were, while other scenes showed off the kind of uniquely realistic visuals that only path tracing can provide.

We opted for the second mission in the game, Hebeth, as it includes plenty of Doombase-style shiny surfaces and therefore ought to be a good showcase for the new graphics techniques in play.

Here’s the full video comparison of the new path tracing graphics in Doom: The Dark Ages versus the standard RT available previously. Watch on YouTube

One of the first thing we noticed is that the cutscenes show relatively few changes in side-by-side comparisons. That’s because the cutscenes are authored with plenty of extra light sources placed just where they’re needed to light subjects with the cinematography in mind, in comparison to gameplay which needs to look correct no matter what the player is doing. Given that the game already featured ray-traced global illumination (RTGI), that means these controlled scenes tend to look fairly similar between a PC running with standard RT and path tracing.

Once in gameplay, the stone floors near the start of the level provide our first out-and-out difference versus the standard RT presentation. With path tracing enabled, these rougher surfaces provide reflections, with bright nearby objects clearly visible, even when off-screen. By contrast, the standard RT look has a more conservative roughness cut-off, with only shiny surfaces sporting reflections. This even extends to your weapons, with the shotgun and other armaments reflecting bright light sources in the path tracing mode.

Interestingly, these reflections are often more mirror-like and coherent in the standard RT mode to save performance, whereas the path tracing has a duller but more realistic (and expensive) look.

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The path tracing BVH also includes elements that are dropped in the standard RT mode when they don’t appear on-screen, most notably force-fields and holograms, but there’s plenty of other particles, leaves and transparencies too. Objects in the reflection also sport more complex materials, which is quite evident in the glossier environments found in the interiors of this level.

Of course, the path tracing mode isn’t just about reflections – it also uses a higher number of bounces for its global illumination. This can make some scenes noticeably lighter, eg allowing light to bounce multiple times to reach an interior space from the sun and sky outside.

You can see more objects in the reflection with path tracing engaged – such as the pickups here – as well as seeing reflections on rougher, less glossy surfaces. | Image credit: Digital Foundry

The path tracing mode also suffers from fewer incidents of light leaking through solid walls to illuminate areas it shouldn’t, thanks to its more fine-grained per-pixel light calculations. Having the better denoiser of ray reconstruction enabled in the path tracing mode also gets rid of the stippled look of volumetric lighting in the standard RT mode.

Emissives are another area where the path tracing mode looks significantly more realistic. Light sources in your environment, such as fires, gun tracers and even LED light strips, actually produce light that shines on its surroundings with path tracing enabled, something that’s disabled in the standard RT mode.

The difference in lighting can be significant, with the larger number of light bounces allowing more accurate lighting of darkened spaces. | Image credit: Digital Foundry

Emissive lighting is another feature enabled in the path tracing mode, allowing for a greater number of light sources – which can combine beautifully with the improved RTGI and reflections. | Image credit: Digital Foundry

There are relatively few differences in terms of shadows, with most scenes taking place indoors and already featuring quite sharp shadows. Instead, you’ll see more noticable changes outdoors, where long distance shadows are sometimes presented more clearly in the path tracing mode that are incredibly soft and diffuse in the standard RT mode, due to how coarse the calculations are to save performance. There’s less shadow break-up in outdoor scenes too.

Speaking of performance, the full path tracing mode is light – at least in relative terms. We saw around a 39 percent drop in frame-rate with path tracing engaged versus standard RT in our test scene, using a high-end PC with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card and AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D using 4K DLSS Performance and ultra nightmare settings.

The path tracing mode of Doom: The Dark Ages is expensive, as you’d expect, but it works out as being an average 39 percent drop in performance versus the standard RT – one of the lighter performance penalties we’ve seen from a path tracing mode. | Image credit: Digital Foundry

That’s a significant drop, but still a smaller margin than we’ve seen in other games, like Cyberpunk 2077. It speaks to both how much RT is provided in the base game – and how well architected id’s latest release is, as we’ve come to expect from the studio.

Going through this footage, one thing that struck me is just how scalable Doom: The Dark Ages is. The game still looks pretty reasonable even on “low” settings or on more limited consoles like the Xbox Series S, but there’s a huge assortment of visual niceties that you can add on if you have the performance to spare.

This new path tracing mode is the logical conclusion, bringing unparalled realism to the game’s fantastical environments for those on higher-end PCs – and earning major plaudits for id’s top-tier developers.

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June 19, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

7 Best Electric Toothbrushes, Tested For Two Weeks Each (2025)

by admin June 16, 2025

Honorable Mentions

There are far more electric toothbrushes than we can recommend in a single guide. If none of the above options appeal to you, one of these might do the trick.

Photograph: Oclean

Oclean X Ultra S Electric Toothbrush for $130: Oclean makes great electric toothbrushes that clean well without vibrating your brain around. They’re a bit pricey, but if you or your kid would benefit from a voice assistant telling you that you’re brushing too fast or applying too much pressure, this particular model might be worth the money spent. The voice frustrated one of our testers—but maybe that’s a good thing. Oclean brushes connect to the brand’s app where you can access detailed reports about your brushing habits and efficiency, but it isn’t necessary, thanks to the screen on the actual brush itself.

Snow LED Whitening Electric Sonic Toothbrush for $79: I found myself leaning toward sensitive options with brands like Moon, but I have been plenty happy with the standard setting for Snow’s LED toothbrush. There are settings for whitening and polishing too. The brush also has blue-light technology built into it to help whiten your teeth even on the non-whitening settings, and I do think mine look a touch brighter after weeks of use—you won’t get the same effect as a true whitening product if you’re looking for serious brightness, but I like that this can help me try to keep the tea stains away. My only complaint is the price, but if you’re looking for something powerful but gentle, this is a great choice. —Nena Farrell

Philips One by Sonicare Toothbrush for $25: This was our original budget pick, but Bitvae’s is more powerful, rechargeable, and cheaper. Still, this one is cute, thin, and offers gentle vibrations for a step above a manual brush. It also comes with a carrying case.

AquaSonic Black Series for $50: This brush also comes with eight brush heads, like the Bitvae above, which is nice for the price. I think it cleans well, but the heads are a bit small, and the whole thing was too vibratey for me, like the body was vibrating the plastic of the brush head more than the bristles.

What About U-Shaped Toothbrushes?

Photograph: Autobrush

There are many U-shaped toothbrushes available now that use a mouthpiece full of bristles to brush one section of teeth—or sometimes the entire mouth—all at once in around 30 seconds. We’ve tried a few and think they’re fine to use in addition to regular brushing. None of them are as effective as standard electric toothbrushes. Bill Busch of North Kansas City Dental and Joseph Salim, owner of Sutton Place Dental Associates, agree that these aren’t replacements.

“I find the best use for it is for children and in nursing home environments, where to get quick and easy compliance to brush is critical,” Busch says.

AutoBrush Sonic Pro for $119: AutoBrush is the original in the category, and Medea has tried both the old silicone-bristle model and the new nylon version. She wasn’t wowed by either, but if you want a U-shaped brush and can get this one on sale, try it. You can read about AutoBrush’s study with Salus Research here.

SymplBrush for $149: Former WIRED reviewer Brenda Stolyar used SymplBrush, which looks like a mix of Willo and AutoBrush, and liked it. “I can tell it hits each tooth and each side of it that might be missed with a standard toothbrush,” she says. “It’s a nice, all-around, clean-type feeling.” But she notes that it didn’t always get the buildup around her gumline, so she’d have to go in with a brush anyway. As someone who brushes too hard, she felt this offered a gentler experience for her gums.

Y-Brush DuoBrush Sonic for $80: This is a great option because it has a U-shaped attachment and a standard brush head and isn’t crazily priced. Medea was impressed by how clean her teeth felt, and having both reminded her that she still needed a deep clean in between quick sessions.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the Correct Way to Brush Your Teeth?

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Floss before brushing at least once a day, ideally twice (morning and evening). Floss picks, like this refillable version from Quip, are supplementary (not interchangeable).
Brush at least twice a day, two minutes at a time, 30 seconds for each quadrant. The American Dental Association recommends placing the brush against the gum line at a 45-degree angle and moving the brush in gentle, vertical strokes to not damage the enamel of your teeth. Make sure to clean the inside surfaces, too.
Be gentle. If your toothbrush bristles look like they’ve been crushed, you’re brushing too hard. You also want to use a soft-bristled brush to prevent gingival injury.
Don’t forget your tongue. Bacteria build up on your tongue, which can cause bad breath despite clean teeth. You can use the tongue cleaner that’s on the backside of some brush heads or purchase a separate tongue scraper. I like this one for $10.
Don’t rinse. If you’re using fluoride toothpaste—which helps prevent tooth decay—you shouldn’t rinse your mouth or use mouthwash right away.

Which Toothbrushes Do Dentists Recommend?

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There is a seemingly endless array of electric toothbrushes to pick from, but they generally fall into two categories: sonic and oscillating. (For U-shaped brushes, see below.) The best toothbrush is the one you’ll use twice a day. You can buy the most highly rated toothbrush around, but if it feels weird in your mouth or hurts your gums, you might not want to use it.

Ada S. Cooper, a dentist and consumer adviser spokesperson for the American Dental Association, said that both styles are effective in reducing plaque. She notes that you should talk to a dentist about which one will work best for you, and she says to look for the ADA Seal of Acceptance. Most of our picks have it. (If they don’t, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re bad.)

A sonic toothbrush looks similar to a manual brush, with an oval brush head. It vibrates gently and quietly, using high-speed side-to-side bristle motion to break up plaque. Sonicare was the first brand to introduce a sonic toothbrush and is probably the most well-known name in the category.
Oscillating toothbrushes rotate and pulsate—oscillate means to move or swing back and forth—around the whole tooth. They tend to be louder than sonic brushes and might make your head vibrate more while you brush. You will get used to this if you’re new to electric brushes. Oral-B is probably the best-known brand for these types of electric toothbrushes.

What Features Should I Look For in the Best Electric Toothbrush?

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In addition to choosing between oscillating and sonic toothbrushes, these are a few other factors that you might want to think about.

Future costs: You need to replace the brush head about every three months—more if you tend to brush with too much pressure. Heads range in price depending on the brand and type, so it’s a good idea to check beforehand. Oral-B offers various types of heads in packs ranging from $9 for one to $55 for 10. Many brands offer subscriptions for cheaper. You can often find off-brand heads that cost less but work with the handle, though you might not get the same quality.
Battery life: Electric toothbrushes have either rechargeable batteries or replaceable ones. Battery life depends on the brush, but it could need charging every week to every few months. Do you want to commit to keeping it charged, keeping a spare battery on hand, or do you prefer the ease of a manual brush that works anywhere anytime?
Brand reputation: If you buy from a brand like Sonicare or Oral-B, there’s a high likelihood that you’ll be able to buy replacement brush heads or get ahold of customer service should you need anything. You can also get this in-store instead of having to order online. We recommend a few newer brands here, many of which only have online storefronts, and there’s no way to predict whether they’ll be around in five years. Some make great brushes, however, so it may be worth it if the initial cost isn’t too high.

How Do I Clean My Electric Toothbrush?

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Per the American Dental Association’s advice:

Rinse your toothbrush well after each use.
For extra sanitation, soak it in antibacterial mouthwash or clean it in the dishwasher.
Consider using a UV sanitizer to eliminate microorganisms.
Always store it upright and let it air dry between uses.
Replace your toothbrush every three months or sooner if the bristles wear out.

How Do I Dispose of Old Toothbrush Heads?

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First, check with your local and state organizations on the disposal methods or restrictions in your area. Some companies offer specialized recycling programs for their products, like Suri and Oral-B’s Recycle On Us program—which only accepts brush heads. You can also repurpose your old toothbrushes for polishing jewelry, scrubbing corners, and other errands.

Do Charcoal Toothbrushes Work?

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Charcoal toothbrushes are popular due to claims that activated charcoal can reduce bacteria and whiten teeth. But as of today, there’s limited clinical evidence to support these claims, and many health care providers remain cautious. Some experts say that when used in moderation, charcoal might be safe in certain products. But brushing with it regularly could wear enamel over time.

If you’re curious about trying one, check with your dentist first.

Are Electric Toothbrushes FSA eligible?

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According to the FSA, “Electric toothbrushes are not eligible for reimbursement with flexible spending accounts (FSA), health savings accounts (HSA), health reimbursement accounts (HRA), dependent care flexible spending accounts, and limited-purpose flexible spending accounts (LPFSA) because they are general health products.”

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June 16, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

8 Best Automatic Litter Boxes (2025), Tested and Reviewed

by admin June 16, 2025

Others We Tested

Photograph: Kat Merck

Els Pet Orbitie for $189: This is one of the least expensive lidded automatic litter boxes. It functions much like the more expensive models, with an internal 65-liter-capacity orb that rotates and catches clumps with a plastic grate, depositing them into a bag-lined box below. The opening is a generous 12 by 12 inches—plenty big enough for my two 7-year-old cats, who took to it almost immediately despite never having seen anything but a traditional litter box. The accompanying Orbitie app doesn’t offer an extensive amount of information; it tells the user the volume of litter and what step of the cleaning phase the box is currently in, as well as how many times the box has been used and at what times. The first test unit I received was faulty—it sent multiple phantom alerts to the app, letting me know it had cleaned itself as many as 36 times a day, which I knew for a fact was not true. The replacement unit, however, works just as intended, though the bin beneath fills up fast (two to three days with my two cats), and it occasionally needs to be disassembled and cleaned, as tiny pieces of cat litter have a tendency to get in the gears beneath the orb (and make a loud grinding noise). However, this isn’t an unusual occurrence even with pricier boxes. Online reviews panned an earlier version of this box, but Orbitie says this is an improved version. Thankfully, like the bigger brands, Orbitie also offers a 90-day money-back guarantee if you’re on the fence. —Kat Merck

FurryTail Automatic Litter Box Pro for $300: I was surprised at how quickly and easily my cats took to this litter box—even my larger cat, who hates change, quickly started using it. Setup was super easy, and the box comes with a year’s supply of waste bag liners, an additional grate attachment, and a mat to reduce litter tracking. Similar to many models, the circular orb rotates, sifting dirty litter into a waste bag, which on this model is on top of the machine rather than below. The box has both a manual display and buttons on the machine, as well as an app to adjust settings. I’d include this model in our top picks because of how easy it was to set up and use, as well as how much my cats liked it, but the app was basically useless. Through the app, you can adjust settings like timed cleanings and do-not-disturb modes, manually clean, and monitor waste levels. However, the app never tracked usage or weight, and for the majority of the time, didn’t clean when I manually instructed it to. The sensors would sense ghost cats and refuse to clean, with the litter box not automatically cycling for the majority of the day (which sort of defeats the purpose). This automatic litter box has tons of potential, but I can’t fully recommend it until the kinks (especially in the app) are ironed out.

Photograph: Molly Higgins

Not Recommended

PetSnowy Snow+ Self-Cleaning Litter Box for $560: This box looks like something from Kubrick’s visions of space travel, or if Eames started making plastic litter boxes. It takes up quite a bit of horizontal floor space, so it may not be ideal for those in cramped apartments looking to conserve space. Unlike all others on this list, this globe is closed during cleaning, which could cause injury if the machine malfunctioned and didn’t sense a cat. The box also doesn’t tell you when the litter’s low or needs to be refilled. My cats had a really hard time using it—they just couldn’t understand that it was a litter box. Older cats could have a tough time jumping into it, and the smaller opening could be a problem if you have bigger cats. It might be great for someone who wants to keep things tidy—it’s extremely clean, smells good, and hugely reduces litter tracking. However, we just can’t recommend the box since the opening closes during cleaning, which is not safe.

The Pet Zone Smart Scoop for $166: This is probably the least “smart” automatic litter box we’ve tested—it’s a typical rectangular plastic box with an automatic arm that acts as a rake and scoops the clumped (soiled) litter into a small bin on the other side. Once the cat leaves, it begins a 15-minute countdown and the rake slides over the length of the box, (ideally) scooping up the waste and lifting it into the receptacle. You’re only allowed to fill the litter box with about an inch and a half of litter, which my cats didn’t like (they prefer a few inches to really bury it). The rake doesn’t stop when it’s in the cleaning cycle—even if something jumps in, which is potentially dangerous. My cats tend to pee on the side of the litter box, which, because of the rake’s placement, means it misses an inch on either side—I still had to scrape the caked-on litter from the edges. The cycle timing can’t be adjusted, so that the litter didn’t have time to clump completely and the rake would immediately break it down into smaller clumps that would then be missed because they were too small. For me, the hassle’s not worth it, and I’d rather just scoop it myself.

How Do Automatic Litter Boxes Work?

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Automatic litter boxes vary depending on the brand and litter box type. Generally, they have sensors, either by motion or weight, to tell when a cat has entered or exited the litter box. Usually customizable and controlled via app on your phone, or on a more rudimentary timer system, the cleaning cycle will begin a short time after the cat has used the box. With the dome-shaped litter boxes, the cleaning will happen via a cycle where the litter spins and rotates around the spherical interior; the bigger soiled clumps will be deposited into the waste basket while the clean litter passes through the grates and gets recycled back into the litter box.

The Neakasa M1, for example, rotates backward and then forward (rather than a spin cycle) to sift the clumps from the clean litter, depositing the larger clumps into the waste basket. The Pet Zone Smart Scoop is the most rudimentary we tested, simply using a rake attachment to scoop the bigger clumps into a waste receptacle in the back.

Are Automatic Litter Boxes Safe?

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Pet owners should always do research and make an informed decision regarding which box is best for them and their cat. We only tested automatic litter boxes that remain open during cycling to ensure that if for some reason the weight sensors didn’t pick up on a cat being inside, the cat could jump out. We don’t recommend automatic litter boxes that close completely because of the potential that the machine could not sense the cat and kill it during its automatic cycle.

These automatic litter boxes use sensors—some only needing 1 pound of weight to detect your cat—where the cycle will automatically stop no matter where it is in the cleaning process. Many also have anti-pinch sensors. For added security, the automatic litter boxes on this list have customizable schedules, including “do not disturb” modes. If you’re a neurotic helicopter cat mom like me, you could only run the clean cycles when you choose, like when you’re in the room to observe the cycle (although if you did that, the litter box wouldn’t stay clean for as long).

Where Should I Put the Automatic Litter Box?

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All of these automatic litter boxes require electricity, so they will need to be near an outlet. Since cats will generally take a little while to get comfortable with their new potty, I recommend that you keep your old litter box until they use the automatic litter box regularly. It helps to put the new automatic litter box near the old litter box(es) to help your cat get familiar with it. Adding in litter attractant and using old litter from the previous box also encourages your cat to use the new model.

As a general rule, for old-school litter boxes, you should have a litter box for each cat, plus one. With automatic litter boxes cleaning constantly, there is less need for multiple options, but we recommend leaving your old litter box out for an extended period to ensure the cat has acclimated to the new automatic box.

History of the Automatic Litter Box

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Rudimentary automatic litter boxes have been around since the late ’80s. These early models featured an automatic rake attachment (much like the Pet Zone Smart Scoop box) but had problems with reliability and loudness. It wasn’t until the 2010s that litter boxes started incorporating advanced tech like Wi-Fi and app control. In the decade since, that technology has continuously grown and improved, with most automatic litter boxes providing insight into your cats’ habits and health—truly becoming an asset in understanding your feline friends even better.

What Are We Testing Next?

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I’m hoping to test the newest model from Petkit, the Purobot Max Pro, which has a similar design as our favorite PuraMax 2, with the camera abilities of the Purobot Ultra.

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June 16, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Best Bird Feeders With Cameras, Tested and Reviewed (2025)

by admin June 16, 2025

Odds are, you’ve probably seen or know someone who has a smart bird feeder. They’re fairly recognizable from a distance with their clear housing, cameras, and solar panels, and perhaps a friend or family member has sent you a photo or video of a bright goldfinch or handsome woodpecker (guilty). The question at this point, then, is whether these things are really worth the $100-plus price tag. Are they actually durable? And what about the squirrel problem?

Lucky for you we’ve been testing the most popular smart bird feeder models, including Netvue’s original Birdfy feeder ($135) and Bird Buddy’s new Pro model ($199), for months on end—in rain, snow, and heat, and in a yard with persistent squirrels. We’ve explored the apps and notification settings, installed any optional solar panels, and used Cornell Lab’s All About Birds—as well as Google Lens and our own local expertise—to verify the accuracy of AI identifications.

Updated June 2025: We’ve added a hummingbird feeder from FeatherSnap, Birdfy’s new Bath Pro, and two options from Camojojo Hibird.

Table of Contents

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Best Overall

Courtesy of Birdfy

Netvue

Birdfy Plastic Smart Bird Feeder

This cheery blue- or yellow-roofed feeder, from security company Netvue, is the first smart feeder former WIRED reviewer Medea Giordano tested, back in 2022. At that time she gave it a 6/10 rating for its price and wonky AI. Both metrics have improved since then—I was impressed with the Birdfy app’s AI when I tested the upgraded 2 Duo (see below), and this feeder is very often on sale for $200 or less. If you pay $20 more, you get a lifetime subscription of AI identification, which is a solid deal. Without it, it’ll cost you $5 a month. This is the feeder I bought my elderly parents for Christmas during an Amazon Prime Day sale for its reliability and ease of use, though like Medea, they weren’t overly impressed with the AI. That said, I’ve tested feeders from multiple brands and, given the wide variability in lighting, shadows, and camera cleanliness, no AI is going to perform flawlessly. Unlike some brands’, Birdfy’s AI still works more often than it doesn’t.

Photograph: Medea Giordano

Medea found that the 1080P wide-angle camera picks up a lot more movement from non-birds, so you may end up with a ton of notifications depending on where this is placed. If you’re hoping for a bird-feeder/security-camera hybrid, though, this could be exactly what you want—especially since it offers color night vision. The IP65 plastic construction also makes this feeder durable and easier to clean, and the 50-ounce seed reservoir is far easier to fill than the Bird Buddy with its convenient flip-up top. Not all bundles come with a solar panel, but you can buy it separately. Unlike other feeders, the solar panel is not built in and will have to be mounted and connected separately with the included 9.8-foot charging cable. (The Birdfy comes with a pole mount, wall mount, and tree strap.)

Best Connectivity

Photograph: Kat Merck

Camojojo

Hibird 4K HD Smart Bird Feeder With Camera

If your router only allows for 5-GHz Wi-Fi, you may have been feeling you’re missing out on the bird feeder camera craze, as most of the cameras run on 2.4 GHz only. Lucky for you, there’s a feeder that not only runs on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz but is among the most feature-rich and reliable I’ve tested. It’s got a sturdy body, 4K ultra-HD video, 1080p photos, an included 128-GB SD card, and no subscription needed. (Though that may change, Hibird’s rep told me, as the brand’s overhead with research and development is not sustainable.) It’s easy to set up right out of the box, with clear instructions and a generous 1.5-liter feed container that’s simple to fill. The AI is OK, somewhere between Amazon brands and more established companies like Bird Buddy and Birdfy. The app also isn’t the snazziest, and the Chat GPT-like “Dr. Bird” question function is a bit corny, but everything else is extremely well done and the photo and video quality is truly top-tier.

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June 16, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

13 Best Laptops of 2025, Tested and Reviewed

by admin June 14, 2025

Other Good Laptops We’ve Tested

Dell 14 Plus

Photograph: Luke Larsen

Dell 14 Plus for $1,100: This is the first laptop in Dell’s major rebranding effort, and this one is a follow-up to the Dell Inspiron Plus 14. The Dell 14 Plus (6/10, WIRED Review) is a solidly midrange laptop, meaning it sports a clean but generic design and solid performance, without some of the bells and whistles that make laptops feel premium. The IPS screen is decent, as is the performance and battery life. The only real problem is that all available configurations come with 1 TB of storage, which is why there are no starting configurations under $1,000. Despite being new, however, I’ve already seen it drop in price significantly, making it better value.

Surface Pro 12

Photograph: Luke Larsen

Microsoft Surface Pro 12 for $770: While it’s a tablet, the Surface Pro 12 (6/10, WIRED Review) is designed to be a true laptop replacement as well, which is why it’s on this list. Its $779 price would be excellent for a fanless machine running on the Snapdragon X chip, but it doesn’t come bundled with a keyboard. Once you add that in, this becomes more of a premium laptop. Still, for the right person, it’s a killer travel device for taking your work on the road with you.

Asus ROG Flow Z13 for $2,100: It’s too expensive for most people to take a chance on, but I found a lot to like about the ROG Flow Z13 (7/10, WIRED Recommends). This gaming 2-in-1, a design no one asked for, works surprisingly well. The performance isn’t full throttle, but the Z13’s use of surprisingly powerful AMD integrated graphics makes it far more powerful than you might assume, all while keeping the heat away from your hands.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (Copilot+ PC) for $1,300: The first Intel-based Copilot+ PC (7/10, WIRED Review) we tested is a winner on all fronts, boasting outstanding AI and graphics performance and some of the best battery life we’ve ever seen on Intel hardware. With its slightly oddball 15.3-inch screen, it hits its high points without breaking the bank, though the fan is loud and the system may weigh you down more than you’d like.

Asus Zenbook A14 for $750: This is one of the lightest laptops we’ve ever tested, thanks to Asus’ Ceraluminum material. The Zenbook A14 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is also the first A-series laptop from the company, and it employs Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X chipset, which is the weakest and supposedly the most affordable of the Snapdragon X series. While this laptop excels in build quality, portability, and sports excellent battery life, the chipset is lackluster, only suitable for average web browsing tasks. It has dipped as low as $750 during sale events, so try to avoid the $1,000 MSRP.

Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

Microsoft Surface Laptop (7th Edition, 2024) for $1,200: Want a Windows laptop straight from the horse’s mouth? Buy the 7th Edition Surface Laptop (7/10, WIRED Review). Performance is solid, as is battery life, and you get a smooth 120-Hz display. It’s just way too pricey for what you get, so try and catch it on sale. Read our Best Surface Laptops guide for more.

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (2024) for $1,050: We’ve been pleasantly surprised to see more lower-cost laptops that still incorporate some measure of artificial intelligence-focused performance tuning. The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (7/10, WIRED Review), the latest in the company’s line of affordable, no-nonsense laptops, is under $1,000 and uses the new AMD Ryzen 7 CPU (model 8840HS). This is a small, portable machine (3.1 pounds and 19 mm thick), and it packs in plenty of ports despite the slim form. There are two USB-C ports (one of which is needed for charging), one full-size USB 3.2 port, a full-size HDMI output, and a microSD card reader. The keyboard has small arrow keys but is otherwise nice to type on.

Asus Vivobook S 14 OLED for $950: Not unlike the Zenbook 14 OLED, this 14-inch machine sports an OLED panel for a reasonable sub-$1,000 price. The Vivobook S 14 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 Series 1 chipset with 16 GB of RAM and a 1-TB SSD. It can handle most daily tasks with no problem, though the screen could stand to get brighter. Battery life is OK, hitting up to 12 hours with average use. Unfortunately, the machine is a fingerprint magnet, so you’ll constantly be wiping it down. It has plenty of ports.

Galaxy Book4 Edge

Photograph: Christopher Null

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge for $1,750: Listen. I’m not saying you should buy a Copilot+ PC. These are laptops with a new designation from Microsoft, running Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets, tuned for several new artificial intelligence features. If you decide you need one, Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 Edge (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is our king of the hill. Yes, it suffers from the same problems that impact most Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PC hardware—middling graphics performance and compatibility issues—but these are largely overcome by the many other strengths of the device. For starters, it has some of the best overall performance of any Copilot+ PC laptop we’ve encountered to date, and the larger, 16-inch AMOLED screen even affords you room for a numeric keypad without making the keyboard feel cramped. At AI-driven tasks like Microsoft’s real-time Live Captions, the Galaxy Book4 Edge kept up with rapid-fire dialogue in ways other Copilot+ PC devices we’ve tested weren’t able to do. It also stayed cool and quiet while cranking out a battery life of 14 and a half hours while playing full-screen YouTube videos. It’s a bit pricier than the competition, but you can save some cash by opting for the smaller 14-inch model.

Dell XPS 14 for $1,200 and XPS 16 for $1,700: Dell’s two XPS laptops of 2024 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) are aimed at Windows users with MacBook jealousy. The design, specs, and sizes line up perfectly with Apple’s offerings. The XPS 14 and 16 both have a gorgeous, sleek design, wonderfully bright and sharp OLED screens (with 120-Hz screen refresh rates), and are plenty speedy for everyday tasks. Unfortunately, when it comes to more intensive tasks like video editing, the MacBook’s benchmarks run circles around the XPS 14. The larger XPS 16, which uses the more powerful RTX 4070 graphics card, fared much better but costs more than a similarly powerful MacBook. The XPS 14 and 16 are both beautiful, well-designed machines. They’re plenty capable for most use cases, though heavy gamers and video editors will want to look elsewhere. They’re expensive for what you get, but if you don’t mind paying a premium for first-class build quality with clean, eye-catching design, then the XPS 14 and 16 are solid laptops.

Acer Chromebook Plus 515 for $399: This is a 15-inch Chromebook Plus model (8/10, WIRED Recommends) with the same internal components as the Lenovo we recommend above. The battery life for this one is a solid 8.5 hours of full-screen video playback time. The Acer offers an HDMI 1.4 output jack in place of the Lenovo’s microSD card slot, making this one a better choice if you frequently need to give presentations or otherwise use the HDMI port. There’s also the smaller Chromebook Plus 514 ($380) that’s equally great.

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra for $3,000: There’s much to love here (7/10, WIRED Review), but that price. Ouch. You get what you pay for, at least, with the new Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor, the current top-of-the-line processor in Intel’s Core Ultra CPU lineup, along with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card. The 16-inch AMOLED 2880 x 1800 pixels touchscreen is magnificent to work on, and performance blew everything else we’ve tested out of the water. But that price.

Acer Swift Go 14 for $1,000: This one is very similar to the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED, our top budget laptop. We found the Asus to be a little faster and have a much nicer build quality, but the Swift Go still offers outstanding performance, especially considering the price (7/10, WIRED Review). It also boasts an impressive 15-hour battery life. The downside is the speakers, which aren’t great, and overall, the body feels a little plasticky. But this is the least expensive Intel Core Ultra laptop we’ve tested by a few dollars, so if the budget is tight, the Swift Go is worth considering.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x Copilot+ PC for $1,200: Lenovo’s svelte Slim 7x (7/10, WIRED Review) isn’t exciting, but it offers the best price-to-performance ratio of the many Copilot+ PCs we’ve tested. Battery life and performance are standouts, though the fan does tend to run loud.

Laptops to Avoid

Amazon is filled with laptops you shouldn’t buy. Just type in “best laptop” into the Amazon search box, and you’ll find plenty of cheap laptops that no one should buy. That includes most of the Windows laptops under $500, which all use CPUs from three or four generations ago.

It gets worse when you search for “gaming laptops” on Amazon, which presents some cheap laptops that don’t even have discrete graphics. Regardless of what companies or retailers try to say, you shouldn’t expect a laptop without a discrete GPU to be able to play modern games. Some of these include laptops from knockoff brands you’ve never heard of, like this one. There’s just no reason to buy something from an unknown brand.

When it comes to gaming laptops in general, I wouldn’t recommend buying anything RTX 30-series or older in terms of graphics. You should still be able to find some decent RTX 40-series laptops that are a better bang-for-your-buck than the new RTX 50-series laptops.

Lastly, there’s the topic of refurbished laptops. Online retailers are full of older laptops that are marked as refurbished or “renewed.” These can be good options, especially if they come heavily discounted, such as this M1 MacBook Air. But there’s always some risk with buying refurbished. Make sure you read the retailer’s return policy. With models that are only a year or two older, however, pay careful attention to the specs, especially when it comes to RAM capacity. For example, some older M3 MacBook Air models will show up with only 8 GB of RAM, not reflecting the increased base memory in the price.

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June 14, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

The 5 Best Griddles and Flat-Top Grills of 2025, Tested and Reviewed

by admin June 14, 2025

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

Griddles are a hallmark of the American diner and short-order cooking, and also the heroes of all street tacos. And we tested each griddle’s ability to make the flat-top-grill’s most hallmark foods.

On the seven griddles I tested for this guide, I made dozens of smashburgers, tacos, fajitas, pancakes, bacon strips, and eggs. I also crisped up skin-on fish, seared pork chops, and tested each griddle’s ability to cook delicate vegetables like asparagus at lower temperatures while meat cooked at higher temperatures on a different burner.

For smashburgers, this involved cooking at the highest temperatures each griddle could handle—testing each griddle’s ability to quickly caramelize meat smashed down on the griddle and then release the meat to a spatula to flip. Pancakes. laid out across the griddle, were a test of the grill’s evenness across the cooking surface. Thicker slabs of meat, like a prok chop, tested the griddle’s ability to retain temperature during searing.

But also, we just got very familiar with each griddle using an infrared thermometer—checking temperature at different points along the surface of the grill as it heated on high or low temperatures. We also raced griddles against each other, checking how long it took each griddle to heat up 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Though note that faster isn’t always better: Griddles that heat faster are sometimes less temperature-stable, or less even. Our top-rated pick, the Traeger Flatrock 3-Zone, took 10 minutes to reach 500 degrees. But it did so evenly across the surface of the griddle.

I assembled each griddle myself, both to familiarize myself with the amount of work each customer will face but also to get down into the nitty-gritty of how each device is put together: You really get to know a grill, while spending an hour screwing together each and every part.

And especially, I put in the work of cleaning and seasoning and reseasoning each griddle over time, getting to know its foibles and hot spots, how fast it cools, and how fast it heats—learning the amount of effort each griddle requires, and the degree to which this effort is rewarded.

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June 14, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Best Packing Cubes for Every Kind of Trip (2025), Tested and Reviewed

by admin June 13, 2025

Other Packing Cubes We Tried

GoRuck Packing Cube for $25 (for 1, 10L flat): I loved the 15 x 10 x 3-inch size I tested of this rugged, 200-denier nylon cube with a mesh front. It fit almost anything I needed for any occasion, with a convenient carry handle and signature GoRuck American flag patch on the front. However, they are pricey, and unless you need them to match your GoRuck gear, there’s nothing about them that stands out above comparably priced cubes.

Amazon Basics for $16 (set of 4): This four-pack of cubes with sturdy-mesh windows and ripstop-like fabric was comparable in quality to brands four times the price. However, Bagsmart’s cubes were the same price and even sturdier, so they just edged these out for the top budget slot.

Away the Insider Packing Cubes for $45 (set of 4): I like that these come in 10 trendy colors, many of which match Away’s luggage. However, after testing over 20 different brands and types at various price points, these cubes just didn’t stand out. The material was very thin and was indistinguishable from those of some of the cheaper Amazon brands, and the zippers were small.

Shacke Pak Packing Cubes for $25 (set of 6): These were pretty good quality for an Amazon brand; there’s a sturdy handle and the material is slightly thicker than other packing cubes at this price point. I like the mix of mesh for breathability and opaque fabric for privacy. They come in nine colors, but the colors are clownishly bright and the four-paneled mesh design reminds me of a jock strap. Shacke says it uses YKK zippers on all its packing cubes, but I peeled back the cord covering the zipper and could not find a YKK insignia anywhere.

Gorilla Grip Packing Cubes for $22 (set of 8): These were the least expensive packing cubes I tested, and unfortunately, it showed. The material was very thin, and the zippers were janky. I do like that they come with a shoe and laundry bag, however, and when not being used they fold down quite small. They come in a range of colors, with a nice mesh window while not being totally see-through. Hand wash only.

Other Travel Accessories We Like

Courtesy of Calpak

Calpak Luka Zippered Passport Wallet for $35: Whether you’re traveling internationally or just neglected to update your driver’s license before the US Real ID deadline (guilty), a passport wallet is a must. This stylish, puffy number from Calpak holds not only your passport, but cash, cards, and even your phone in a pocket on the front. The only down side is that it is quite large, about the size of a contemporary paperback book, and it doesn’t have a handle or loop, so it is awkward to carry if you don’t have a purse large enough to accommodate it.

Gorilla Grip Luggage Straps for $15 (set of 4): If you tend to travel with your hard-sided checked bag while it’s expanded, you might have noticed the somewhat alarming lack of structure. Both hard sides contain their own strapped-down loads, flopping around while connected only by a thin fabric zipper. I rely on these straps to hold my precariously packed suitcase together when it’s being launched off the scale onto the conveyor belt or thrown around on the tarmac. And as a bonus, the bright color (the company has nine to choose from) makes your bag easy to spot on the baggage claim carousel.

Kusshi Travel Jewelry Organizer for $49 (medium): I don’t know how I lived so long just throwing jewelry willy-nilly into a toiletry bag, but I don’t advise this unless you want to spend your first night on vacation untangling necklaces. For the ultimate in space-saving organization, you can’t top this hanging model that folds down to be perfectly flat. The medium size features three tiers of soft-lined, PVC-fronted zippered pockets for earrings rings, bracelets, watches, and whatever else you might need, plus a nifty necklace holder with loops and snaps. The large size has the same, but with twice as many sections. When closed, it folds up flat about the size of an iPad.

Photograph: Kat Merck

How I Tested

I’ve been testing toiletry bags and adjacent accessories for the past seven months, using them daily in my bathroom and taking them on trips every few months. For the initial testing round for packing cubes, I inspected each cube or set of cubes for features and materials. I tested how smoothly the zippers zipped open and closed, and how easy it was to use any compression feature. I packed various cubes with bulky sweatshirts and sweatpants to see how many pieces I could fit in the largest cube. Then, at the end of the testing period, I packed a cube from each set in three suitcases and took them on a weeklong cross-country trip, assessing how easy they would be to pack or unpack, or if anything bothered me or my family amid the stress and unpredictability of travel.

Why Not Just Use a Ziplock Bag?

This is the question I see most from travelers suspicious of using packing cubes. Ziplock bags are inexpensive, and you can see everything inside. Why would one spend $25 or even $100 on a set of packing cubes when a box of 2.5-gallon bags costs $5? It’s a valid question, and one I set out to investigate by packing a couple of slide-lock Hefty bags along with my packing cubes for a weeklong trip. I discovered few things.

• Packing cubes are breathable. This is especially helpful on the way back home when most or all of your laundry is dirty. If your clothes smell like anything—anything at all—you will be hit in the face with that smell after they’ve been sitting in an airtight plastic bag.

• Packing cubes are durable. Unlike a plastic bag, packing cubes won’t rip, burst, or develop unexpected holes.

• (Some) packing cubes are compressible. Can you fit five days’ worth of pants and shirts in a plastic bag? Probably not. But you definitely can in a compressible packing cube, like some of the options above.

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June 13, 2025 0 comments

Tested

Greens Powders We Don’t Recommend

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Honorable Mentions

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Best Overall

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Best Connectivity

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Other Good Laptops We’ve Tested

Laptops to Avoid

Other Packing Cubes We Tried

Other Travel Accessories We Like

How I Tested

Why Not Just Use a Ziplock Bag?