The humidifiers of yesteryear were known to spew out vapor without rhyme or reason. But the Homedics Natura auto mode setting is made to release just the right amount of moisture. Contributor Yelena Moroz Alpert employs the warm mist to keep her airways from drying during the harsh Cleveland winters. “[The humidifier] adjusts the moisture level and shuts off periodically” once it reaches the humidity point you set on the appliance, she says in her best humidifiers review. The mist dissipates around a room instead of spewing out like a wet stream, which keeps Alpert worry-free about ruining her wooden bed frame. Another perk? The 1.3-gallon tank has a run time of 60 hours. “Even when I forget to refill it, it just shuts down instead of waking me up with sputtering noises,” Alpert adds. And just because the humidifier is techy, it doesn’t mean it lacks in biophilic design. The style includes a built-in planter, which works especially well for tropical plants like pothos.

Coming in under $250, this is one piece of smart tech that can give you peace of mind without breaking your bank account. Senior commerce editor Nashia Baker likes to put her Coway Airmega on auto mode, even though it comes with three speeds. “This is a favorite feature of mine, as it automatically detects the air quality through three LED light modes: blue (good), purple (moderate), and red (unhealthy),” she says in her best air purifiers review. “Whenever there’s a change in the air quality, like if I’m cooking, the LED light adjusts to either purple or red, and the air purifier picks up its speed to quickly regulate it. Usually, in just a matter of minutes, the light changes back to blue and the air purifier goes back to a whisper-quiet sound.” Once all the air pollution goes to zilch in half an hour, the Airmega automatically switches into eco mode.

Vacuuming can be such a drag. Unless you have one with motion sensors that implements the same obstacle-avoidance algorithm as a self-driving car. Contributor Terri Williams took the Eufy X10 Pro Omni for a spin and was pleased that the robot vac knew not to run over her house shoes and up to 100 other items. “Since it does such a good job of working in the background, I usually don’t notice it,” she says in her best robot vacuums review. “Therefore, the voice reminders like ‘low battery, heading home,’ and ‘start scheduled cleaning,’ are helpful in keeping me abreast of the machine’s activities.” When the battery drains, the Eufy knows to recharge and then returns to the same spot where it left off. In addition to controlling the robot vacuum via the phone app, this smart home tech pairs with Alexa or Google Assistant for voice control. Eufy’s Omni Station self-empties the dust and debris into the 2.5-liter dust bag, which can hold two months’ worth of dust.

When your winter is essentially one never-ending polar vortex, your house is likely a smattering of salty puddles and footprints. Alpert has been glued to her Narwal S30 Pro for this very reason, which makes it her go-to for a quick cleaning session. “Because it can go down flat, I have no problem maneuvering it under the table and chairs,” she says. “One of my favorite features is its ability to get right up to the baseboards, so not a crumb is left behind.” The AI Dirt Sense tech knows when to kick up the cleaning power (like for those pesky footprints) and adjust the suction. For instance, Alpert was cleaning under her kid’s dining room chairs, and Narwal announced that she needed to take it back to the dock to clean a dirty roller brush. “I am pretty sure it trapped some dry spaghetti,” she explains in her best wet-dry vac review. Alpert is also relieved that she doesn’t have to waste extra time dismantling the machine. The S30 Pro has a self-cleaning option that utilizes hot water and detergent. Plus, it comes with a scissors gadget to remove hair from the brush roll.

Investing in a home security system is practically a no-brainer. With the Eufy FamiLock, you’re practically playing out a scene from Back to the Future II. This smart lock implements palm vein recognition that activates in less than a second. But if you’re not into the palm-reading feature, you can still use the keypad. It also comes with a head-to-toe video doorbell to track guests at the door. You can pair it with Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, and SmartThings if you’re wanting ultra-seamless home automation.

Any designer will tell you that lighting is one of the most important in home decor. With the Philips Hue Smart LED bulbs, the soft, warm lights are the unicorn of perfect lighting. You can control the luminosity via the Hue smart lighting system without draining your Wi-Fi. These Philips smart light bulbs also react to voice commands via Alexa or Google Assistant. That means you never have to get out of your cozy bed to turn off the lights.

Even homes with a functioning furnace and HVAC system have cold zones that the smart thermostat may not reach. And for those areas, you’ll want this space heater to come to the rescue. The dual motors can warm up a space as large as 250 square feet and even allow you to microdose heat by setting up temperature increments. Like a fan, this machine oscillates, allowing the heat to spread out evenly. Don’t blame us if you forget to use your favorite winter blanket.

No smart home hub is complete without a Nest thermostat. This gadget intuits the temperature by learning from your behavior. Say you leave the front door open during the summer months. The system will calibrate to make sure you’re not blasting your AC for no reason. Its smart-home control features allow you to minimize energy waste during your travels. But you can still heat up the house on the way from the airport via the Nest app.

We don’t take art lightly, but we don’t always want to sacrifice entertainment for a pretty picture. Enter the Samsung Frame Pro. The screen offers a QLED matte finish display, but with a brighter picture than the original design. Its fully wireless outputs and a bevy of technical upgrades please tech purists and design-lovers alike. Commerce producer, Lauren Arzbaecher, tried the 65-inch Samsung Frame Pro model—but it goes up to 85 inches for those looking for a bigger screen. Arzbaecher was eager to see art mode in action. The artwork is selected either through Samsung’s Art Store (which requires a $4.99 per month subscription) or through personally uploaded photos to the SmartThings companion app. “I chose a selection of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Claude Monet, among other artists, with the rotating gallery feature,” she says. “While essentially all the artwork I tested out looked beautiful on the screen, the paintings with thicker brushstrokes made me want to reach out and touch them to see if they were real.”

If the Samsung Frame Pro is out of your budget, we have a respectable alternative. The Hisense Canvas TV is a relative newcomer but is holding its own in the art TV arena. “The matte screen helps it reflect as a piece of art,” says Baker in her review. “What actually makes the TV realistic to me is the color quality. The screen mirrors the same colors I’d see on a piece hanging in a museum, so much so that the texture also comes through, even though it’s on a TV screen instead of an actual canvas.” She says that, in high or low lighting situations (like in the morning or at night), she hasn’t seen a single glare on the screen. This model uses smart tech to adjust the brightness of the display in a matter of seconds. And when you leave the room, the art display automatically turns off once the TV detects that no one is in the room for 15 minutes. Brownie points for extra energy savings.

We already have Bang & Olufsen as a brand to watch for design-forward tech gifts, and the Beosound A5 speaker is most certainly on our wish list. It may look like a picnic basket (with an elegant Danish oak handle), but the woven design is the only bucolic feature here. This portable smart speaker is compatible with other speakers you may have in the house. Once on, the soundscape spreads all around or can even be tailored to a narrow sound direction, and you can control the tunes via the app. With a battery life of 12 hours, the party can go on and on.

Vinyl is booming, and we take our record player research seriously. “The music quality is clean and crisp, and the speakers get extremely loud,” says contributor Jacorey Moon, who tested the Crosley. “It comes with the ability to play at 33 rpm and 45 rpm, and it also has a Bluetooth setting that allows you to use it as a speaker.” You can stream and stream to your heart’s content and let the sweet sound pour out of the matching full-range bookshelf speakers. The setup comes with everything you need. “All you’ll have to know how to do is balance the tone arm and clean your vinyl between usages,” Moon adds.