Bucket lists usually include mountains, oceans, or a restaurant you’ve been meaning to try for a decade. But some of life’s most satisfying moments come from spending your hard-earned cash on something you probably don’t need, yet know you’ll really enjoy.
Every gadget on this list has one thing in common: none of them are necessary. You will survive without a robot that mows your lawn. Your teeth will not fall out if a camera isn’t watching them get flossed. You don’t need to track your sleep with a device that looks like jewellery. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth having if you fancy a splurge.
From the coffee machine that grinds to the milligram to the phone that folds in half because someone decided it should, here are 10 gadgets that justify their price tags simply by being wonderful.
Peloton Cross Training Bike+
Yes, it’s a spin bike, but it’s not just any spin bike. The Peloton Cross Training Bike+ features a huge 23.8-inch swivel touchscreen that’s great for catching up on The Gentleman during your bike workout, and it pivots for strength and yoga sessions when you climb off. Auto-resistance matches whatever your instructor is yelling at you, Sonos-tuned speakers make those instructions sound great, and a movement-tracking camera counts your reps and gives you feedback on your form.
There’s a fan, a phone tray, and hands-free voice control, because touching buttons mid-workout, when all your energy is going into getting your cadence up, is far too much to ask. It’s compact enough to fit in a spare room and expensive enough that you’ll use it out of guilt. You also get Peloton IQ, which will help build a workout plan for you and try to keep you on track to meet your goals. You’ll spend over $2,000 here, plus the monthly subscription, but at least this gadget is also doing something for your health.
EightSleep Pod 5
The EightSleep Pod 5 system might seem excessive, but you’ll only think that until you use it and then try sleeping in a bed without it. I can confirm it is one of the best gadgets I have in my home, and the one I miss most when I travel. The Pod 5’s cover slips over your existing mattress, cooling it to 12C or heating it to 43C. It’s dual-sided, so if you like it cool but your partner likes it warm, you won’t end up in a divorce arguing over who gets their way each night.
It also tracks heart rate, HRV, and sleep stages, but it gets clever by using AI to adjust the temperature to keep you in specific sleep stages for longer. If you opt for the full sleep system with the base too, snoring will trigger automatic elevation. Otherwise, the standard cover will just let you know how many minutes you and your partner snored, with a leaderboard for sleep scores too – nothing like a bit of competitive sleeping to ruin breakfast. Gentle vibrations can also replace your alarm, making you a nicer human every morning than if you wake up to a blaring tone from your phone.
Dyson CameraJet Electric Toothbrush
Dyson is known for excellent technology, from its vacuums to its popular Airwrap hairstyler, but one of its latest inventions takes the humble electric toothbrush and adds a camera to it, because why not? The Dyson CameraJet‘s tiny macro lens identifies interdental gaps, then fires a precision jet of liquid into those gaps while you brush, allowing it to floss and clean simultaneously. No more lectures from your hygienist about how often you use those colourful mini brushheads.
The dual-bristled head tackles surface stains, the sonic motor keeps the bristles in constant motion, and the whole thing pairs with an app that lets you watch live footage of your own mouth, if that’s your thing. It’s very typical Dyson, with clever engineering wrapped around a very mundane task and it’s probably the most anyone has ever spent on flossing, but you’ll have a lovely clean mouth as a result.
Samsung Frame Pro
There are TVs, and then there are TVs like Samsung’s Frame Pro. Off, it displays over 5,000 gallery-worthy artworks via the Samsung Art Store, matte-finished and glare-free enough to fool guests at all those dinner parties you’re hosting into thinking you’re a proud owner of a Monet. On, its Neo QLED with Mini LEDs delivers sharp, vivid, and fabulous picture quality for bingeing your fave box set.
The Wireless One Connect box banishes cable clutter, magnetic bezels let you swap the surrounding frame as you please to match your décor, and Samsung’s Vision AI Companion answers questions about whatever’s on screen. The best part is that it’s one of the cheaper gadgets on this list – relatively speaking, obviously.
Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro
If you often find yourself wondering why a decent flat white costs so much, Ninja’s 3-in-1 espresso, filter and cold brew machine might stop your whining. In true Shark Ninja style, it’s a feature-packed bit of kit that is essentially the equivalent of hiring a barista and popping them on your counter.
The built-in grinder pairs with Barista Assist Technology to recommend the right grind size (negating one of the five main coffee mistakes people make at home), a built-in scale removes any guesswork, and the integrated tamper delivers even pressure at the push of a lever. The Advanced Dual Froth System steams and whisks simultaneously across five presets, producing picture-worthy microfoam, while 29 drink settings covering espresso, coffee and sizes will spoil you for choice.
Husqvarna Automower 410VE
If you thought robot vacuum cleaners were a game-changer, robot lawnmowers are in a completely different league. In fact, I’d go as far as to say they are a better investment than robot vacuums. There are many, but Husqvarna made the first robot lawnmower, so it’s fair to say it has plenty of experience in the field (pun entirely intended). The Automower 410VE has a camera, an AI brain, and stronger opinions about your grass than you.
Wire-free thanks to satellite navigation, the 410VE NERA covers gardens up to 1,500m2 and can detect objects in its path, from kids’ toys and rogue footballs to hedgehogs, reacting accordingly, even at night via infrared. You can also choose how you want your grass mowed, from striped, checkerboard or triangular patterns if you want your lawn to look like a golf green, or irregular if you’d rather keep it organic. You can control it all from the Husqvarna app, then spend your weekend doing literally anything else.
Apple iPhone Duo
Folding phones have been around for nearly a decade, but we’re only now getting one from Apple, fashionably late as ever. The iPhone Duo starts as a passport-sized, pocketable phone and opens to a 7.6-inch inner display with a nano-texture finish that keeps reflections, fingerprints and the crease down the middle barely noticeable.
The build quality is superb, and the software transitions seamlessly between the two screens, making for a very interesting device. There are trade-offs: no Face ID, no Action Button, and a camera system that omits the third zoom lens found on the iPhone 18 Pro. It’s also not cheap, but nothing on this list is, and for anyone tempted by foldables, the iPhone Duo makes a convincing case for itself.
Sonos Beam Ultra
Sonos is no stranger to delivering excellent audio, and when it comes to making your TV sound better, it knows a thing or two about how to make that happen. Its Arc Ultra is one of the best soundbars out there, and the new Beam Ultra is a smaller version of it, cramming 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos surround into a bar not much bigger than the original Beam. Nine Class-D amplifiers, five tweeters and four woofers are on board, along with AI Speech Enhancement for crisp dialogue, even in action scenes.
There’s also Night Sound to tame any explosions or action scenes so you don’t wake the kids, while TV Audio Swap can route your TV’s audio straight to your Sonos headphones so nobody else has to hear what you’re watching. You can also pair it with two Sonos Play or Move 2 speakers as rear surrounds by simply moving them into the same room. When your film is over, you can just pick them back up and wander off to use them as portable speakers around the rest of the house again.
Kindle Scribe Colorsoft
If making notes is your thing, a Kindle Scribe Colorsoft should definitely be on your wish list. At 5.4mm thin and 400g light, it’s a delight to use, easy to carry around and its 11-inch glare-free display does a brilliant job of mimicking pen and paper. The custom Colorsoft display technology renders lovely soft colours, and the texture-moulded glass gives the pen friction so you’ll feel like you’re writing rather than skating across glass.
There are 10 pen colours to choose from, five highlighter shades, and an AI-powered notebook that lets you search your handwritten notes and get instant summaries. Don’t worry, it works even if your handwriting looks like a five-year-old’s. There are no apps or notifications to distract you from your brainstorming, and you get weeks of battery life, as well as Kindle capabilities for when you run out of ideas to jot down.
Oura Ring 5
We’ve been talking about gadgets to buy before you die, but investing in a smart ring like Oura might even help you gain a couple of extra years, if you pay attention to what it tells you. The Ring 5 is currently the world’s smallest smart ring, 40 per cent slimmer than its predecessor. It packs over 50 health metrics into a titanium band that looks more like jewellery than a smart ring, so nobody in the bar needs to know it’s also monitoring your resting heart rate.
It tracks sleep stages, blood oxygen, heart rate variability, cardiovascular age and stress, and lasts up to nine days per charge (though I get around six from mine, so keep your expectations a little lower than that). You have to pay a monthly subscription on top of the ring’s initial price, but it has a Symptom Radar to flag biometric strain before you feel unwell, sometimes even before you develop symptoms, while daily Readiness and Activity scores adapt to how hard your body is working rather than how hard you think it is. The Ring 5 is lovely and simple to use, too. It’s waterproof to 100 metres and comes in six finishes, so there’s something for everyone.
Read more: Best cheap gifts under $50/£50 for Christmas 2026
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