34 Best Gifts for Dads

The Bodum Bistro Electric Burr coffee grinder earns solid scores in all our grind-performance tests, including an excellent rating for coarse grinding (great for cold-brew and French-press coffee). This machine is easy to clean but not as convenient to use as other top-performing models because of unclear markings on its controls. The Bodum is also one of the two noisiest grinders in our tests—loud enough that constant exposure over a long period of time could cause hearing loss. But because you’re using your coffee grinder only for a minute or two at a time, it’s more of an annoyance than a health concern. The Bistro features 12 grind settings, an auto-stop feature, and a timer.

For more options: Best and Worst Burr Coffee Grinders

A more affordable take on Ninja’s Coffee Bar brewers, the Ninja Specialty CM401 is a terrific all-in-one machine, capable of brewing hot and iced coffee, lattes, macchiatos, and other specialty brews. In our lab tests, it receives a top-notch rating for brew performance, and its glass carafe can be handled with ease. This model is also loaded with features, including an over-ice brew mode for iced coffee, a built-in milk frother, brew-strength control, and six brew sizes for everything from travel mugs to full carafes, making it one of the most versatile coffee makers we’ve tested.

For more options: Best Combination Coffee Makers

The Tramontina Enameled Cast-Iron Series 1000 frying pan excels at two tasks you might do often in a cast-iron skillet: searing a steak and browning scallops. It also nabs a near-top-level rating in our baking test, which is on a par with most of the top pans in this category—and it’s easy to clean, too.

For more options: Best Cast-Iron Frying Pans

The budget-friendly Dash Digital Tasti-Crisp air fryer is small but mighty. With a measured capacity of 1.9 quarts, this 6-pound model is one of the most compact air fryers in our ratings. Still, it ranks among the best. It earns high marks for its controls and ease of cleaning, and it’s relatively quiet. It has a one-year warranty, which is typical for air fryers.

For more options: Best Air Fryers

Tia Mowry’s Saffron Enameled Cast Iron heats up quickly and bakes bread that comes out with a crispy crust, earning an excellent rating on both tests. It’s almost as good at simmering sauces, and it heats evenly. Best of all, it’s a cinch to clean. It weighs almost 14 pounds and has a cooking surface that’s 8 inches in diameter.

For more options: Best Dutch Ovens

The 10-piece Crate & Barrel EvenCook Stainless Steel cookware set can cover all your dad’s cooking needs. It comes with two frying pans, two saucepans, a sauté pan, and a stockpot. All but the frying pans have their own lids. These pans ace all our tests for cooking evenness, sauce simmering, speed of heating, and food release—the last one in which we cook four eggs in a row to see how easily they slide out of the pan. These are also very easy to clean; in fact, only one stainless set gets higher marks in that test. Like most high-end pans, the handles are sturdy and stay cool to the touch as you cook.

For more options: Best Cookware Sets

The noise-canceling technology on the Apple AirPods Pro is terrific, with an effective transparency mode that pipes in outside sound to allow you to hear what’s going on around you. The latest Pros also add an adaptive transparency mode that’s supposed to attenuate loud noises, but Allen St. John, a senior product editor at Consumer Reports, thought it didn’t work as well as he had hoped when he tried it. And, of course, the Pros offer easy interaction with all Apple devices.

For more options: Best Noise-Canceling Headphones

The Sony WF-1000XM5 wireless noise-canceling earbuds sound simply fantastic and are one of the very few models that achieve our top rating for sound quality. They replaced the highly rated XM4s, and our testers report there are some improvements. The WF-1000XM5s sound just a little better than the XM4s with just a tiny bit less distortion. They also offer top-notch noise cancellation with an effective ambient mode that allows you to hear what’s going on around you, which makes them a solid choice for walkers and runners.

For more options: Best Workout Earbuds

The Edifier S1000W is the best-sounding speaker in our ratings, earning a rare score of excellent for audio quality. The S1000W replaces the previous sound-quality champs, Edifier’s S1000MKII and S1000DB. Though it looks and sounds identical to those earlier versions, the S1000W gains a significant new feature, allowing you to stream music through a stable WiFi connection from Edifier’s smartphone app. While it’s not quite as versatile as a Sonos system, it supports Apple AirPlay, Amazon Alexa, Spotify, and Tidal, and our testers found it quite easy to use.

For more options: Best Wireless Speakers

Despite its relatively small size, the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is a 5.0-channel model with a lot of features. And it’s priced several hundred dollars below the company’s Arc soundbar, which is also highly recommended. The newer Sonos Beam has more processing power than its predecessor, plus support for HDMI eArc, Dolby Atmos, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google’s Google Assistant. You can add a subwoofer and rear speakers to create a true 5.1-channel surround-sound setup for your dad, too. 

For more options: Best Soundbars

With its horizontal design and 8-inch high-definition touchscreen, Amazon’s latest Echo Show 8 delivers a lot for the money. The voice-enabled touchscreen can be useful in a kitchen when you want to follow a recipe while your hands are messy. And though its sound quality is middling, the Show 8’s functional footprint is much smaller than other Echo Show alternatives, making it an ideal choice if you’re short on kitchen counter space.

For more options: Which Amazon Smart Speaker Should You Buy?

The Sonos One SL is the company’s entry-level wireless speaker and the least expensive speaker in the Sonos line. It replaces the now-discontinued Play:1, which was similar in size and price. The One SL is essentially a Sonos One smart speaker without the microphones that allow it to listen for a wake word. It’s slightly less expensive than its smart speaker sibling. Our testers found that the One SL sounds almost identical to the Sonos One, and its sonic performance is also very good.

For more options: Which Sonos Speaker Should You Buy?

The second-generation Apple Watch SE packs in many of the features most people desire in a smartwatch, such as a heart rate monitor, step tracking, sleep tracking, calorie tracking, and a touchscreen display. Plus, it leaves out the higher-end tech and add-ons that sometimes go unused, like a blood oxygen sensor and the ability to take your own electrocardiogram. In exchange, the price is lower than other Apple Watches. You can even personalize the SE with one of the new bands designed for the higher-end models.

For more options: Which Apple Watch Should You Buy?

The LG Gram 17 (2024) is a standout laptop, offering very good performance and outstanding features that make it an excellent choice for both work and entertainment. It handles complex tasks with ease, thanks to its powerful Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 3.8GHz processor, and it has 16 gigabytes of memory. Its 17-inch display is stellar, producing clear, vibrant images, and its lightweight design makes it an ideal option for those who need a portable device with plenty of room for files.

For more options: Best Laptops

The Amazon Fire HD 10 32 GB (2021) is more than powerful enough to stream Netflix or Disney+, play simple games like Minecraft, or scroll through social media. The 10-inch tablet weighs just 1 pound and has a battery that lasts an impressive 14.8 hours in our web-browsing test. You get only 32GB of built-in storage, but the inclusion of a microSD card slot means you can add more storage as needed. Its Android-based Fire OS doesn’t have Google Play support, but there’s a sizable selection of apps and games from the Amazon Appstore.

For more options: Best Tablets

Sleep Number’s ComfortFit Ultimate is made of a blend of memory foam pieces and down alternative fibers. Inside the pillow casing are three layers that can be added or removed to tailor the pillow to your comfort. It earns top support ratings for both side and back sleepers, and our testers found it to be very breathable. It’s not as resilient as some other options that we tested, though, and might not hold its shape as well over time.

For more options: Best Pillows

The top-rated Oral-B iO 7 electric toothbrush earns excellent ratings for cleaning and battery life in CR’s tests, and strong scores for both ease of use and noise output. It has a timer, a pressure sensor, five cleaning modes, and a battery-level indicator, and it can connect to a smartphone app.

For more options: Best Electric Toothbrushes

The Samsonite Outline Pro Carry-On Spinner is the only hard-shell carry-on luggage in our ratings to earn a top mark for usability. That’s in part because it can be expanded and its handle can be raised to six positions, a boon to travelers of different heights. Special features include a compartment divider, a lock, and a built-in USB port for charging electronics. One caveat: Its listed dimensions of 23x15x10 inches might not meet the carry-on dimension requirements of some domestic airlines.

For more options: Best Hard-Shell Carry-On Luggage