I spend most of my day in an editor, so I am skeptical of gadgets that promise to change my life. Most do not. But June 2026 had a genuinely good run of hardware, and a few pieces are things I would put my own card down for, not just review-and-return. Here are five, counting up to the one I cannot stop thinking about.
| Gadget | What it is | Price |
|---|---|---|
| JBL Go 5 | Pocket Bluetooth speaker | ~$50 |
| Anker Solix S2000 | 2kWh portable power station | $680 |
| Insta360 Mic Pro | Wireless mic with E-Ink screen | $329.99 (2 TX + 1 RX) |
| Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max | Daily-driver earbuds | mid-range |
| ROG Xreal R1 | 171-inch AR gaming glasses | $849 |
5. JBL Go 5, the easy yes
Some purchases do not need a spreadsheet. The new JBL Go 5 picked up a 5-star review for cleaner, more powerful sound than its size suggests, plus ambient lighting and a build that survives being thrown in a bag. At around fifty bucks it is the gadget I recommend when someone wants "something nice" without a research project attached.
4. Anker Solix S2000, the boring one I actually want
This is the least exciting item here and the one most likely to earn its keep. The Anker Solix S2000 packs 2kWh of LiFePO4 capacity and a 1,500W AC inverter for $680. The spec that sold me is the idle draw: about 6W per hour, which is unusually low for a station this size. If you work from home and lose power even occasionally, a quiet battery that does not bleed itself dry sitting in a closet is worth more than another gadget that needs charging.
3. Insta360 Mic Pro, a real first not a gimmick
I assumed the E-Ink screen was marketing. It is not. The 1.22-inch six-color E-Ink display lets you put a logo or custom graphic on the transmitter, and because E-Ink only draws power when it refreshes, it costs almost nothing in battery. Underneath the novelty is a serious mic: 32-bit float recording to onboard storage, a three-mic array with four selectable polar patterns, AI noise cancellation that reviewers rate best in class, and 400m of range. The 2 TX + 1 RX kit is $329.99. If you record anything regularly, this is a sharp tool.
2. Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max, the daily driver
Not every win is flashy. These landed as earbuds reviewers actually called productivity-friendly, which for me means good passive isolation and ANC that lets me keep a thought while the room is loud. They are the kind of thing you stop noticing because they just work, which is the highest compliment I give a wearable.
1. ROG Xreal R1, the one I keep coming back to
Asus and Xreal put a 171-inch Micro-OLED virtual screen into 91 grams of glasses, running at a 240Hz refresh rate with a 0.01ms response time and a 57-degree field of view. Tom's Guide called them the best AR glasses for gaming they have used. The pitch is plugging into a handheld or PC and getting a giant private display anywhere, and at $849 they are priced like a real monitor, not a toy.
I am not pretending these replace my desk setup. Reviewers are honest that the perceived screen size depends on how you use them, and there is some edge tearing. But as someone who codes on the move and hates hunching over a laptop on a plane, a wearable big-screen is the first AR product that solves a problem I actually have. That is why it tops the list.
What I would buy first
If you want one thing today, the Insta360 Mic Pro is the safest money: it is useful the day it arrives and the E-Ink screen is a genuine first. The ROG Xreal R1 is the one I am tempted by, but it is a bet on a workflow, not a sure thing. Buy the tool that fixes a problem you already have, and wait on the one that promises a problem you might.