Expert Reviews Product of the Year Awards 2026: The results

Welcome to the Expert Reviews Product of the Year Awards 2026. This is your definitive guide to the absolute best products we’ve tested in the past year, as selected by our team of experts. 

We tested and reviewed almost 500 products in 2025 across roughly 70 categories. From smartphones, laptops, TVs and headphones to air fryers, coffee machines, lawn mowers and vacuum cleaners, our specialists have been tirelessly recording, measuring, timing, pouring, cleaning, cooking and tasting throughout the year to bring you their expert verdict on the latest tech and home appliances. 

And what a year it has been. In tech, we saw Primary Tandem RGB and Quantum Dot OLED TVs push the boundaries of brightness, while smartphones grabbed AI by the horns and redefined what good battery life could be. Laptops also brought on-device AI to the mainstream, alongside MORE gorgeous OLED panels and performance that we could only dream of a few short years ago. 

In the home section, meanwhile, innovation took the form of versatility. From self-emptying robot vacuums to cordless sticks that double as mops, cleaning has never been simpler. Air fryers, meanwhile, cemented their place in our homes with massive capacities and intelligent cooking features, while coffee machines perfected the art of pleasing even our most discerning coffee snobs.

Below you’ll find our favourite products across 54 categories – a winner and a runner-up for each. We’ve also named our overall favourite home and tech products of the year: these are the products that defined their sectors with outstanding innovation.

Tech Product of the Year | Winner

OnePlus 15

The best tech product of the year isn’t just the most flashy; it’s something that substantially moves technology forward. In 2025, that was undoubtedly the OnePlus 15. The main appeal here is the incredible battery life, with the high-capacity 7,300mAh cell blitzing past all other competitors in our testing, delivering the best battery life we’ve ever recorded. Add in class-leading performance from the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, gorgeous cameras and a crisp, colour-accurate display, and the OnePlus 15  is an incredibly well-rounded product that feels like a true advancement for smartphones.

Judged by Ben Johnston

Home Product of the Year | Winner

Sage Luxe Brewer

The Sage Luxe Brewer is unequivocally the best home appliance I’ve reviewed over the past year. It’s got an excellent selection of thoughtful features that make it a filter coffee enthusiast’s dream. You can fine-tune water temperature, bloom time and flow rate among other variables, and it comes with a filter and a testing strip so you can adjust the machine’s settings to suit your area’s water hardness. It produces great-tasting coffee, and the thermal jug will keep it warm for hours. If you like splashing out on expensive coffee (I’m talking £16 for a 250g bag of light roast single origin beans), it’s your best option.

Judged by Gareth Thomas

360 Camera of the Year

Winner | DJI Osmo 360

If you’re looking for an action camera, instead of opting for a single lens, forward view camera, why not consider something like the award winning DJI Osmo 360? Not only can it capture video in full 360-degrees, but it can do so in phenomenal quality, with dual 1in sensors producing 8K video at 50fps in 10-bit colour – and it comes with a generous 120GB of internal storage, which is super useful for anybody who has ever left home without a microSD card. In short, DJI’s debut 360 camera is a triumph and a bit of a steal, too, at just under £400 for the standard package.

Highly Commended | GoPro MAX2

It took GoPro a good long while to upgrade its original 360 camera, but when that upgrade arrived in 2025, it was worth the wait, offering sharp 8K 360-degree video capture, superb image stabilisation, and improved mobile editing via the Quik app. Best of all, the lenses are replaceable for those times when the worst happens and you bash your camera on a rock. It isn’t quite as good as the DJI Osmo 360 in low light, but there’s very little in it – the GoPro comes in second place by a whisper.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Air Fryer of the Year

Winner | Philips 5000 Series NA555/09 Dual Basket Steam Air Fryer

Combining air frying and steaming, the Philips 5000 Series air fryer is a great option if you’re looking to cook healthier meals. Not only can you cook steamed vegetables and dumplings (in addition to the usual air fryer fare such as crispy chips and frozen snacks), but you can also use the air frying and steaming functionality in tandem, to bake bread for instance. Our reviewer used this method to cook a whole roast chicken and found that it produced excellent results. Its two asymmetric drawers offer a combined capacity of 9l, and you can also use the steam function to clean the larger drawer.  

Highly Commended | Tefal Easy Fry Pizza FW4018G0 Air Fryer

Tefal’s compact Easy Fry Pizza air fryer offers a unique benefit that many others don’t. The clue is in the name. Owing to its flat, yet wide, 4.5l cooking drawer, you’re able to cook 11in pizzas as well as chips, chicken wings and more. Its low height lets you easily store it under hanging kitchen cabinets and it’s easy to clean with dishwasher safe parts.

Judged by Gareth Thomas

Air Purifier of the Year

Winner | Dyson Purifier Big+Quiet Formaldehyde

An air purifier that lives up to its name, the Dyson Big+Quiet Formaldehyde is large, powerful and doesn’t make a racket in operation. In our tests, it filtered the air from 140.7µg/m³ to 25µg/m³ in just under 140 seconds. We measured a noise level of 32dBA at its lowest fan speed and 53dBA at its highest. Its fan power suggests that it’ll be a welcome addition to your home in summer too, with a maximum air speed of 2.6m/s. It’s easy to set up, filters a range of pollutants and is a great option for larger spaces.

Highly Commended | Blueair Blue Signature air purifier

In a world of bulky, rather clinical-looking air purifiers, the Blue Signature is an attractive option. You’ve got a choice of different coloured pre-filters, as well as a wooden leg attachment or chrome ring base (both optional extras). Aesthetics aside, it cleans the air well. And when we put it to the test, reduced PM2.5 levels from 309µg/m³ to under 25µg/m³ is just over a minute and a half. 

Judged by Gareth Thomas

Android Phone of the Year

Winner | Google Pixel 10

Google saves the best Android features for its own Pixel phones and crucially, the experience is the same across all of its flagships, so you get just as much quality from the Pixel 10 as you do from its pricier Pro siblings. In addition to the clean and accessible AI and integrated Gemini support for the Google smart assistant, the Pixel 10 is promised seven years of OS updates, security patches and Pixel drops. The latter gets users access to new and exclusive features like Magic Cue and Camera Coach. If you want the best from Android, go straight to the source.

Highly Commended | OnePlus 15

The OnePlus 15 is excellent on the hardware front but that shouldn’t overshadow its achievements in software. In particular, the new Mind Space AI is easily one of the most useful and well-designed versions of smartphone AI around right now. Activated with the Plus Key, replacing OnePlus’ traditional alert slider, this feature takes your screenshots and audio notes and collects them in one place, allowing you to search and peruse at a later date via the intelligently created folders and Google Gemini integration.

Judged by Ben Johnston

Bluetooth Speaker of the Year

Winner | JBL Flip 7

JBL’s dominance of the Bluetooth speaker market is undisputed, and the JBL Flip 7 demonstrates exactly why the brand is so popular with critics and consumers alike. It’s incredibly potent, outmuscling many speakers twice its size, yet wonderfully portable. You can sling it in a bag, carry it around via a strap, or even clip it to your rucksack using the included carabiner. It’s tough as nails, too, with its waterproof, dustproof and drop-proof housing protecting it from damage wherever you take it. Put simply, no Bluetooth speaker ticks as many boxes so well.

Highly Commended | Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (3rd Gen)

The Beosound A1 (3rd Gen) is a sight to behold. Indeed, when it comes to aesthetic appeal, no other Bluetooth speaker is its equal. It’s not a case of style over substance, however. B&O have tuned this thing of beauty to perfection, with the 0.6in tweeter and a 3.25in woofer delivering an incredibly consistent, refined and detailed audio performance. AptX Adaptive means high-resolution streaming is on the menu, too, which is a big bonus.

Judged by Andy White

Dehumidifier of the Year

Winner | MeacoDry Arete Two

Our Dehumidifier of the Year winner for two years running now, Meaco’s Arete Two continues to win us over with its quiet operation and impressive drying power: in our tests, it reduced relative humidity from 76% to 61% in two hours. It doesn’t make too much noise and it’s energy efficient, with our tests measuring maximums of 38.7dBA of and 224W respectively. The Arete Two’s dedicated Smart Laundry Mode (an upgrade on the previous Arete One) is excellent too: this runs the machine at full tilt for six hours, or until relative humidity is at 32%. If you’re looking to tackle larger rooms, the MeacoDry Arete Two is a fantastic choice.

Highly Commended | Duux Bora

The Bora also impressed our reviewer when it came to drying power (reducing the relative humidity in a living room from 78% to 61% in an hour) and its laundry mode, which fully dried a rack of clothes in just four hours. This power, combined with its compact size, makes it a good option for both larger and smaller rooms. And the carry handle on its water tank makes for easy emptying.

Judged by Gareth Thomas

Digital Notepad of the Year

Winner | ReMarkable Paper Pro Move

Digital notepads are on the rise right now and ReMarkable makes some of the most desirable products around. The Paper Pro Move is its latest product and it’s a brilliant device: a colour e-ink tablet small enough to fit in your pocket that’s stuffed with features that make it an amazing thing to take notes on. Writing with the stylus feels almost like jotting with a real pen on paper and this, combined with excellent software that makes it easy to organise your thoughts, share between devices and search your notes makes it the best product of its type released in the past 12 months.

Highly Commended | Boox Note Air5 C

It’s not quite as convenient as the Paper Pro Move, but Boox’s  Note Air5 C is the best large screen digital note taker we’ve used yet. It’s a beautifully made thing with a big 10.3in colour e-ink display, comes with an active stylus for writing, and is stuffed with features that make jotting and organising your notes and drawings easy. Best of all, though, it runs full-fat Android, including Google Play, meaning you can install apps like the Kindle and Libby reading apps. As a do it all digital taker and large screen e-reader it is unsurpassed.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Electric Shaver of the Year

Winner | Panasonic Series 900s

It might look like a big Apple AirPods case, but this palm-sized shaver delivers a close but gentle shave that’s great for sensitive skin. Our reviewer found that its ergonomic design – to be held between the fingers and thumb rather than gripped in the fist – allows for a delicate touch while it “glides through facial hair with ease”. Its “Beard Sensor+” tech, automatically adjusting the motor performance depending on hair length, makes for efficient cutting while also helping to extend battery life. It’s easy to clean too, with a removable foil head and a waterproof body that means you can rinse it under the tap.  

Highly Commended | Braun Series 9 Pro+

There’s a reason we dubbed the Braun Series 9 Pro+ the “Rolls-Royce of electric shavers”: there are plenty of features and advanced tech to contend with here, including a multi-blade foil system, powerful motor and “Sonic Technology” that “ensures an efficient shave with minimal effort”. There’s an included dock for automatic cleaning and disinfecting. You can also use the cleaning station to charge the shaver too, in addition to the portable charging case.

Judged by Gareth Thomas

Electric Toothbrush of the Year

Winner | SURI 2.0

Greatly improving on its predecessor with the addition of a pressure sensor (not to mention solving an issue that the previous model had with its charging contact points), the Suri 2.0 is a lovely electric toothbrush. Not only is its aluminium body and recyclable plant-based heads a much more sustainable approach to toothbrush design compared to plastic, but it feels pleasing in the hand and makes brushing an almost-enjoyable experience. Battery life is solid, lasting around 140 minutes (that’s 70 brushing sessions, or 35 days) in our tests. We also liked the included UV charging case, and the magnetic wall mount is a nice touch too.

Highly Commended | Ordo Sonic Edge

At just £15, the Ordo Sonic Edge is a brilliant budget sonic toothbrush. Its simple functionality makes it easy to use, and the timer’s pulsations clearly indicate when you need to move to the next quadrant of your mouth. What really impressed us, though, was the Sonic Edge’s battery life, which outlasted almost every toothbrush we’ve tested: it completed a whopping 106 brushing sessions (212 minutes, or 53 days) on a single charge before the battery died.

Judged by Gareth Thomas

Espresso Machine of the Year

Winner | De’Longhi Stilosa

We don’t come across many decent manual espresso machines at this price point, but the Stilosa is a bit of a diamond in the rough. For a sub-£100 machine, it makes remarkably good espresso and its steam wand has enough power to achieve “wonderfully silken, creamy microfoam”. It’s easy to use, with a rocker button to turn it on/off and a large dial to switch between espresso, steam and hot water. What’s more, the specific model we tested (EC230.BK) uses unpressurised portafilter baskets, which offer much better potential for the quality of your espresso.

Highly Commended | Jura C8

If your budget allows it, the Jura C8 “makes some of the best-tasting, zero-effort coffees you’ll get south of £1,000”. For a start, the machine looks great, with no parts jutting out of its largely minimalist design. Its control panel is easy to use, and it pulls a great shot of espresso with body and character. We were impressed with the machine’s milk frothing system too, which you can use with the glass carafe provided with the machine as well as your own jug or bottle.

Judged by Gareth Thomas

External Hard Drive of the Year

Winner | LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5

The LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 is the fastest portable hard drive we’ve ever tested, making it ideal for video editors and YouTubers on the move who need to shunt around huge files quickly. It supports the ThunderBolt 5 standard, comes in 2TB or 4TB sizes and we measured it registering transfer rates of up to 7.09GB/sec for reads and 5.11GB/sec for writes. Despite all the storage and the speed, however, the drive is packaged in a neat, pocketable case, that’s rubberised and rugged, and its IP68 rating means it’s dust and water resistant as well. As an all-round storage solution for the travelling creative, the SSD 5 Pro is tough to beat. 

Highly Commended | SanDisk Extreme Pro with USB4

For those who don’t need the all-out performance of the LaCie, SanDisk’s Extreme Pro with USB4 is the external hard disk to beat. It has a rugged rubber jacket just like that drive, plus IP65 dust and water resistance, and it’s plenty quick, too. It supports USB 4 data transfer speeds and reached maximums of 3.42GB/sec for reads and 3.25GB/sec for writes in our tests; that’s fast enough for most people’s needs without breaking the bank.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Fan of the Year

Winner | MeacoFan Sefte 8in

Meaco has bagged another win in the cordless fan category following last year’s winner: the Sefte 10in Pedestal Fan. This time round it’s the brand’s Sefte 8in Portable Table Air Circulator that has wowed us. It’s easy to use, compact and effective, reaching a powerful air speed of 3.8m/sec on its maximum setting. You’re not wanting in terms of features: there are 12 air speeds, plus an Eco and a Night mode. Its built-in rechargeable (and replaceable) battery gives you up to 17 hours of use from a three-hour charge, and it works quietly too – putting out 43.8dBA at max and as little as 27.3dBA at its lowest setting.

Highly Commended | Duux Whisper Flex 2 

The clever three-part design of the Whisper Flex 2 allows it to function as a floor, table and pedestal fan, depending on whether you have the stalk in place or the head plugged directly into the base (on which the control panel is located). It’s powerful and quiet – delivering max speeds of 2.5m/sec at 45.8dBA – and also doesn’t guzzle too much electricity: we measured 4.5W at its lowest settings and 23.4W at max with horizontal and vertical oscillation turned on. Its smart features and app compatibility is very useful too.

Judged by Gareth Thomas

Filter Coffee Machine of the Year

Winner | Sage Luxe Brewer

Sage’s Luxe Brewer is, simply put, one of the best filter coffee machines we’ve tested. You’ve got heaps of features to play around with – including variable water temperature, bloom time and flow rate – as well as a water filter, a testing strip to determine which water hardness settings to use, and a selection of three filter baskets (for two different types of filter paper, and a reusable mesh filter). All of this, plus a spacious 1,800ml water tank and a sturdy thermal jug, make it clear that Sage has put a great deal of thought into what it takes to achieve a great cup of filter coffee.

Highly Commended | Melitta Aromaboy

The Aromaboy might possibly be the cutest coffee machine we’ve ever tested, particularly its beige and brown colourway. Pair this with a chunky rocker button and a dinky glass jug and you’ve got a lot of irresistible retro style for your £45. It makes good coffee too, using Melitta’s smallest Size 100 filter papers and brewing up to two cups from its 350ml water tank. If you live alone or you’re the only coffee drinker in your household, it’s a great buy.

Judged by Gareth Thomas

Folding Phone of the Year

Winner | Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7

Sleek, stylish and immensely powerful, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is without doubt the most appealing version yet of the foldable smartphone. Not only is its folded form barely any thicker than standard phones, it’s also much lighter than previous iterations, at just 215g, making it far more comfortable to use in either configuration. Both displays are crisp, bright and punchy, the cameras are sharp and versatile and both performance and battery life are some of the best we’ve ever seen from a foldable phone. This form factor has come a long way in recent years, and the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the pinnacle of all that evolution. 

Highly Commended | Motorola Razr 60 Ultra

In the more compact, clamshell style of foldable phone, the Motorola Razr 60 Ultra stands tall as the best around. It proved to be wonderfully powerful in our testing, with the fastest speeds and longest battery life we’ve recorded from a flip phone. The secret ingredient, however, is the cover screen. Motorola truly understands the benefit of using a flip phone, and allows you to easily open any app you choose on the external display, making the Razr 60 Ultra the most versatile and accessible option in its class.

Judged by Ben Johnston

Gaming Monitor of the Year

Winner | Dell Alienware AW2725D

You can’t beat OLED monitors for gaming prowess, and the 27in Alienware AW2725D is the best we’ve seen in recent times. It combines a super quick refresh rate of 280Hz with a sharp 1440p resolution, 0.03ms response times and an HDR 400 rating for punchy, vibrant HDR visuals. And it performed superbly in our testing, with our reviewer praising its motion clarity and colour fidelity in particular. Best of all, it comes in at a price that’s accessible rather than And at a price that’s comfortably below £500, this 27in monitor is a serious option for gamers on a stringent budget. We love it.

Highly Commended | Asus ROG Strix XG32UCWG

Slightly larger and more expensive than the Alienware monitor above, the Asus ROG Strix XG32UCWG is our favourite monitor for more serious gamers. It measures 32in across the diagonal, delivers 4K resolution at 165Hz and has a fancy WOLED panel for amazing image quality. But that’s not all: this is a dual-mode monitor, which lets you switch it to Full HD, with the benefit of extra smooth 330Hz refresh for ultra-responsive gaming. Our favourite feature, though, is the TrueBlack coating, which improves black depth under any lighting, making this a truly great gaming monitor with very few faults.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Gaming TV of the Year

Winner | Samsung S95F

The Samsung S95F offers a superior all-round gaming experience to any other TV we’ve tested in the past 12 months. Its stunning HDR images bring digital worlds alive with astounding vibrance, and its ability to render 4K graphics at 165Hz means action is always incredibly smooth. There’s support for VRR in all of its forms, input lag in Game mode is lightning fast at 9.4ms, and Samsung’s Game Bar and Gaming Hub provide customisation and game-streaming options aplenty. If you’re looking for the best current-gen gaming experience available, the S95F is the TV to buy, regardless of whether you’re a PC or console gamer. 

Highly Commended | LG C5 OLED

“Exemplary gaming displays” is not a phrase that TV mastermind John Archer uses lightly, which should give you an idea of how good the LG C5 OLED is for gaming. All four of its HDMI ports support 4K at 144Hz, variable refresh rates in both the G-Sync and FreeSync forms, and the television’s Boost mode reduces input lag to a staggeringly low 9.2ms. Add rich colours and pixel-precise contrast control to the mix, and you’ve got a TV capable of delivering a truly satisfying gaming experience.

Judged by Andy White

Handheld Games Console of the Year

Winner | Nintendo Switch 2

The Nintendo Switch 2 has to be one of the most hotly anticipated tech products in living memory, and, from a hardware standpoint, it more than lived up to the hype. Nintendo gave the fans what they wanted by delivering a larger, sharper and smoother display, along with the ability to play games in 4K resolution at 60Hz when the console is docked. Other tweaks to the winning Switch formula are very welcome too, such as the new C button, Joy-Con mouse operation and improved kickstand. Though we’re longing for more first-party titles to play on the Switch 2, the console itself is phenomenal. 

Highly Commended | ROG Xbox Ally X

The ROG Xbox Ally X is likely as close to an official Xbox handheld as we’re going to get, so it’s just as well that it delivers. It has the power to run AAA titles smoothly and make them pop, it’s comfortable to hold and use, and the control layout will feel instantly familiar to Xbox console gamers. Just about every gaming storefront is supported, including Steam, meaning you’ll never be stuck for something to play on this handsome portable gaming PC.

Judged by Andy White

Hard Floor Cleaner of the Year

Winner | Philips OneUp 5000 Series Electric Mop

According to our reviewer, Philips’ OneUp Electric Mop might mean the end for traditional mopping. Much more than an expensive gimmick, the OneUp cleans effectively and doesn’t leave you with floors that take an age to dry. It has two water tanks: one for dispensing clean water and cleaning solution, and another into which dirty water is sucked up. This makes for a nicer neater to traditional mopping, where you’ve got to manually wring out your dirty mop head before dunking it back into the clean water. In our tests, the OneUp 5000 Series might light work of a variety of stains, including mustard, ketchup and dried-on blackcurrant squash.

Judged by Gareth Thomas

Home Security Camera of the Year

Winner | EufyCam S4

The EufyCam S4 is like no other security camera we’ve ever tested. It’s a multi-talented beast of a product, with not just one lens, or two, but three – with two mounted on a motorised pan tilt zoom turret for a full 360-degree view. There is nothing this camera cannot do: it has a big battery, so it lasts ages on a single charge; it has a solar panel to keep that charge topped up, image quality is great and there’s also automatic intruder framing, zooming and tracking. If you have a large area to monitor, there is no better camera than the EufyCam S4.

Highly Commended | Reolink Altas

For those with simple security requirements, the Reolink Altas ticks all the boxes. It delivers great image quality during the day and night, lets you store video clips locally so you don’t have to worry about paying a monthly subscription, and comes with a solar panel to keep its internal battery topped up with power. Moreover, it performed brilliantly in our performance tests. It’s simply a great value security camera that we found very difficult to criticise.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Kettle of the Year

Winner | Tefal Includeo Kettle

What stands out about the Tefal Includeo is just how accessible it is. Whether you have a visual impairment, or you just appreciate its clear labelling and compact, ergonomic design, it’s “one of the most practical kettles you can buy”. At 720g (empty) it’s light to lift too, making it an ideal choice for older people. The large, bold fill lines are accurate as well as easy to read, and its short stature means you can fit it under the tap of even the most awkwardly sized sinks. We were also impressed with how long it managed to maintain water temperature: we measured this at 89°C, ten minutes after boiling.

Highly Commended | Russell Hobbs Calm kettle

As well as looking very nice, the colour-changing light of the Russell Hobbs Calm Kettle also provides a visual indicator for boiling. It pours smoothly and it’s got a helpful automatic keep warm feature that will maintain water temperature for 15 minutes (though even with this disabled, we measured water temperatures of 87°C ten minutes after boiling). Regardless of whether it’s a bit gimmicky, we also liked the spa-like music that it plays, adding a touch of zen to morning routines.

Judged by Gareth Thomas

Laptop of the Year

Winner | Honor MagicBook Pro 14

There are many factors that go together to make a great laptop, but many struggle to deliver across the board. Not so the Honor MagicBook Pro 14, which not only delivers workstation-class performance in a compact, well designed package, but also a sublime 3.1K OLED screen, upgradeable storage, brilliant battery life and all at a price that significantly undercuts Apple’s MacBook Pro machines. If you want a Windows laptop that can do pretty much anything you’d want, but you don’t want to pay through the nose, the Honor MagicBook Pro 14 is the laptop for you.

Highly Commended | Framework Laptop 13 (2025)

The Framework Laptop 13 (2025) takes a completely different approach to laptop design than most rivals. It’s upgradeable using snap-in modules and embarrassingly easy to fix when things go wrong – all you need is one tool, the requisite spare parts and a few minutes of your time. In our opinion, this is the way all laptops should be, and it’s why we’ve awarded it a Highly Commended gong in this year’s awards.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Lawn Mower of the Year

Winner | Ego LM2236E-SP

For a battery-powered mower, the Ego LM2236E-SP offers immense cutting power. In fact, if you were to judge it on torque delivery alone, you’d be forgiven thinking it’s a petrol mower. It’s got plenty of heft, weighing in at more than 31kg – 3.2kg of this being the 10Ah battery: the most powerful mower battery around, with enough juice to cut 2,000m² on a single charge. It’s self-propelled with variable speeds and, despite its heavyweight build, our reviewer found it “still pretty wieldy, and the large wheels ride bumps well”. If you’ve got a large lawn to contend with and don’t want to go down the petrol route, this is your mower. 

Highly Commended | Flymo Ultramow Duo 460

With a wide cutting deck and twin contra-rotating blades, Flymo’s Ultramow Duo 460 is an efficient battery-powered mower that cuts down on the need to make several repeat passes. We tested it with a pair of 4.0Ah batteries, designed to tackle 600m² of lawn, which powered it for an impressive 47 minutes flat out, and our reviewer found that its wheel arrangement (smaller in the front and larger in the back) make it very manoeuvrable.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Mid-Range Phone of the Year

Winner | Google Pixel 9a

It’s hard to overstate just how much of a bargain the Google Pixel 9a is. The Tensor G5 chipset runs rings around most mid-range competitors in both CPU and GPU performance, the battery life proved one of the best in its class in our testing and the software support is without equal, staying updated for the same seven years as Google’s flagship phones. And then there’s the cameras: the main lens delivers gorgeous shots in all light conditions, video shoots up to 4K/60fps and the selfie camera delivers sharp portraits with natural skin tones.

Highly Commended | OnePlus Nord 5

The OnePlus Nord 5 is incredibly powerful for its price, with our CPU and GPU tests showing it to be generally faster and capable of higher framerates than its rivals. It smashed our battery life test, too, scoring one of the highest results we’ve ever tested and outlasting some phones that cost twice its price. Tied together with a beautiful 165Hz display, a solid camera suite and the useful Mind Space AI, the OnePlus Nord 5 is a mid-range marvel.

Judged by Ben Johnston

Monitor of the Year

Winner | Dell UltraSharp U2725QE

With its 27in 4K, 120Hz IPS Black panel, 3,000:1 contrast ratio and 99% DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage, the Dell UltraSharp U2725QE is a “near-perfect do-it-all monitor” according to our reviewer. He loved it not only for its image quality, which is excellent, but also for its flexibility. It looks great, has a sturdy stand with plenty of adjustability, and – best of all – Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, which delivers up to 40Gbits/sec of bandwidth, up to 140W of power delivery and the ability to daisy chain other Thunderbolt 4 devices. It’s a connectivity and image quality beast, and as a result is our favourite monitor of the past 12 months.

Highly Commended | Asus ZenScreen Duo OLED

Portable monitors are on the rise and our favourite for on-the-go workers this year is the Asus ZenScreen Duo OLED. It wins a Highly Commended accolade because it’s the best quality portable monitor we’ve ever tested, complete with twin 14in 1,920 x 1,200 OLED panels that can turn your hotel room into a multi-monitor command room in a matter of seconds. It’s a brilliant device with “stunning” image quality.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Office Chair of the Year

Winner | Slouch Task One

We’ve tested a fair few chairs since we reviewed the Slouch Task One, but it’s still one of the best office chairs we’ve had the pleasure of reviewing – and also what our Home Editor sits on in his home office. For a very reasonable price, you get all the essential adjustable features, from seat height, depth and back tilt, to armrest angle and the all-important adjustable lumbar support. The Task One is also a remarkably smart-looking office chair, with a stylishness that looks neither too corporate or garish – you can buy it with a grey or black frame, and you’ve got a nice selection of muted colours when it comes to the seat upholstery too.  

Highly Commended | Flexispot C7

When it comes to ergonomic features and adjustability, the Flexispot C7 has got a lot to recommend it. Arm rests are fully adjustable with a 360° rotation and the backrest tilt has five locking positions. The adjustable lumbar support is good too: supportive yet cushioned. Ergonomics aside, its corduroy-like mesh upholstery feels comfortable and breathable, and the retractable footrest will no doubt be a nice bonus for many.

Judged by Gareth Thomas

Open-Ear Headphones of the Year

Winner | Shokz OpenFit 2+

This winner won’t come as a shock to anyone familiar with open-ear headphones; Shokz has been producing class-leading bone and air-conduction options for years. The OpenFit 2+ are the best example of the latter we tested last year, and excel on multiple fronts. Clean, energetic and impactful sound, support for Dolby Audio, a lightweight and comfortable fit and bumper battery life make them a no-brainer if you want to tune into the world around you when listening to music, a podcast or an audiobook. Open-ear freedom has never sounded, or felt, so good. 

Highly Commended | Huawei FreeArc

The Huawei FreeArc tick almost every key open-ear box and do so at a price that undercuts the majority of the competition. Top performers in the comfort stakes and with an IP57 rating for dust and water resistance, they’re an ideal exercise companion, allowing you to remain aware of your surroundings at all times. Audio is very nicely balanced too, with the FreeArc able to coherently and confidently dovetail bass, mids and treble frequencies. 

Judged by Andy White

Phone Battery Life of the Year

Winner | OnePlus 15

We’ve been slowly seeing battery life results getting better over the past few generations of smartphones but it’s rare to see as much of a leap as we recorded with the OnePlus 15. That’s thanks to OnePlus fitting its latest flagship with a massive 7,300mAh Silicon-Carbon battery, one of the largest to reach UK shores thus far. Coupled with the power efficiency of the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, this wealth of battery capacity allowed the OnePlus 15 to last for more than 45 hours in our looping video test – seven hours longer than the (at the time of testing) next best result.

Highly Commended | Oppo Find X9 Pro

Another of the first wave of big battery flagship phones to come to the UK, the Oppo Find X9 Pro somehow manages to squeeze a huge 7,500mAh battery inside its relatively svelte form – the highest-capacity we’ve ever tested. Unsurprisingly, having oodles of battery capacity helped the Find X9 Pro score the silver medal here, lasting for an outstanding 42 hours in our standard battery test.

Judged by Ben Johnston

Phone Camera of the Year

Winner | OPPO Find X9 Pro

The Oppo Find X9 Pro has almost more megapixel than it knows what to do with. The most pixel-dense of its cameras is the enormous 200-megapixel telephoto lens, which captured gorgeous 3x optical zooms and 6x hybrid zooms in our testing, and can achieve magnification up to a massive 120x. The 50-megapixel main camera is equally impressive, delivering outstanding shots with sharp detail, beautiful colouring and impeccable lighting, as well as shooting video up to 4K at 120fps. Two more 50-megapixel cameras, for ultrawide and selfie pics, round out the set, cementing this as the strongest camera offering of 2025.

Highly Commended | Google Pixel 10 Pro

Quality cameras are Google’s bread and butter and this year, the Pixel 10 Pro has the best of the bunch. Our testing showed the 50-megapixel main camera to be a fantastic performer in all light conditions, producing crisp, naturally coloured shots in daylight and impressively detailed night photos. Further enhancing the camera system is an impressive suite of editing tools, including Add Me and Best Take, making this an incredibly versatile photography tool.

Judged by Ben Johnston

Power Bank of the Year

Winner | Anker Laptop Power Bank (A1695)

Most power banks are simple things capable of charging a smartphone or a tablet in a pinch, but not the Anker Laptop Power Bank. As the name suggests, this brick has enough juice to power your laptop via USB, and with its 165W power rating and 25,000mAh capacity, it can charge at a rapid rate, too. Not only that, we love that it has two USB-C cables built in so you don’t have to remember to take cables with you wherever you go, and that you can use the extra USB-C and USB-A sockets to charge up to four devices at once. With a reasonable price to go with its comprehensive feature set, and a screen that tells you how quickly all your various devices are charging, there’s simply no better power bank you can buy.

Highly Commended | Anker Zolo A1680

Sometimes when you’re heading out the door, and your smartphone is low on battery, you just want something small and pocketable to give you an emergency top up on the way. For that, the Anker Zolo A1680 is perfect. It comes with integrated, captive cables so you’ll always be able to charge, 30W charging speeds and you can charge up to four devices at once. All that for around £30 makes it an absolute bargain, and it’s our runner up in the power bank category.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Premium Headphones of the Year

Winner | Sony WH-1000XM6

It’s said that good things come to those who wait, and that’s certainly true with the Sony WH-1000XM6. The latest iteration of Sony’s flagship over-ears set a new standard for noise-cancelling over-ear headphones in almost every department. They’re comfortable beyond reproach, have a very effective ANC system, and the sound they produce is dazzling. Build quality is excellent, and the XM6’s earcups fold inwards, which deals with one of our few complaints about their predecessors. Helpful features like Speak-to-Chat and Adaptive Sound Control, and customisable EQs further sweeten the deal. In the immortal words of Charlie Sheen: “Winning!”

Highly Commended | Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2

When we think of Bowers & Wilkins, we think of outstanding audio quality coupled with luxurious design, and that’s the B&W Px8 S2 in a nutshell. Their audio capabilities are nothing short of exceptional; no pair of headphones we’ve tested has delivered music with such purity and precision. Instrument separation is second to none, detail levels are off the charts, and everything is incredibly well-controlled. Such sonic prowess, combined with one of the most elegant over-ear designs around, is hard to resist.

Judged by Andy White

Premium Smartphone of the Year 

Winner | Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Samsung doesn’t take the word “ultra” lightly. Everywhere you look, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is just that little bit more impressive than the competition; the solid, stylish build is made with sturdy titanium, the massive 6.9in display is wonderfully sharp, there’s an S Pen stylus tucked inside the frame and the rear cameras include not one but two telephoto lenses. This is everything and the kitchen sink thrown into a smartphone, with incredible performance, extensive battery life, phenomenal cameras and a class-leading seven years of software support. If money is no issue, this is the best that phones get right now.

Highly Commended | OnePlus 15

A bargain flagship that undercuts the competition by hundreds of pounds, the OnePlus 15 doesn’t scrimp on quality to hit its lower price. The enormous 7,300mAh battery delivers the best battery life we’ve ever recorded, and the brand-new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset achieved chart-topping performance in our testing, too. The display has a fluid 165Hz framerate, excellent for fast-paced mobile gaming, and the cameras produce crisp shots with gorgeous colouring.

Judged by Ben Johnston

Projector of the Year

Winner | XGIMI MoGo 4 Laser

Unlike Dr Evil’s harebrained schemes, XGIMI’s decision to use lasers in its portable projector series paid off in a big way. The XGIMI MoGo 4 Laser’s triple-laser system generates impressive brightness and contrast, which is exactly what’s needed to create clean, vibrant images. What’s more, the MoGo 4 Laser is one of the most ingeniously designed beamers on the market, transforming into a Bluetooth speaker at will, and it’s incredibly easy to set up and use, too. Form, function and fun (XGIMI aptly calls it a “vibes machine” due to its ability to project ambient visuals), the MoGo 4 Laser has the lot. 

Highly Commended | BenQ W2720i

The “Absolute Cinema” meme could have been created for the BenQ W720i. This mid-range projector wowed us with its colour performance and cinematic presentation, handling subtle tones and dark scenes with admirable skill, while covering over 85% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut used for HDR content. With 2,500 ANSI Lumens to play with, it’s got the brightness to do HDR justice, too. It’s the kind of projector capable of making you reconsider popping out to your local ODEON.

Judged by Andy White

Robot Lawn Mower of the Year

Winner | Husqvarna Automower 305E NERA

Most robot lawnmowers have one critical weakness: they leave a narrow strip of untidy grass at the edges that you have to trim by hand later. The Husqvarna Automower 305E is different. When it reaches the perimeter, it spins around and uses an extra blade at the rear to cut right up to the edge. It’s an ingenious solution to a problem that other manufacturers have struggled with and not only that, it does the job of mowing brilliantly, too, with options for wire-free navigation using GPS for larger areas. In our tests we were hugely impressed with it: it’s methodical, effective and configurable – it’s the best robot lawnmower we’ve ever reviewed.

Highly Commended | Segway Navimow X350E

Segway’s Navimow X350E is a robot mower exclusively for those with larger areas of grass to cut and, as such, is pretty darned expensive. However, it can cope with lawns up to 5,000m2 in area – that’s almost as big as a football pitch – and as it has GPS it runs without the need for a boundary wire. We loved the ease of set up, the way it methodically covered the ground, its speed and its huge battery. It mowed our small 100m2 test lawn in only 25 minutes and used up just short of 10% of its battery in that time.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Robot Vacuum Cleaner of the Year

Winner | Eufy Omni E25

“Quick and quiet” is how our reviewer described the performance of the Eufy Omni E25, both important quality for a robot vacuum, but the reason it wins overall in 2026 is that it’s good at pretty much everything. It makes its way around your floors quickly and methodically, it performed well in our tests, it empties itself and it even mops the floor with reasonable effectiveness, with its retractable, self-cleaning roller applying an impressive 1.5kg of pressure to ensure even the most stubborn of stains is clean up. Best of all, it squeezes all this in at a price that’s more than reasonable.

Highly Commended | Eufy Omni E20

Most robot vacuums are great at automatically cleaning open spaces, but we haven’t tested one yet that can do the stairs. The Eufy Omni E20 can’t do that automatically, but it at least saves you from having to buy a second vacuum to do just that – that’s because it’s combines regular vacuum duties and robot vacuum capabilities in one clever unit. It’s unusual, but ingenious and as a result we’ve given it our highly commended award for robot vacuums this year.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Router of the Year

Winner | TP-Link Archer BE550

Wi-Fi 7 is firmly mainstream right now and routers supporting the new technology are becoming more affordable by the day. The TP-Link BE550 is one of the best low-cost Wi-Fi 7 routers we’ve tested, packing in three wireless radios for coverage across the 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz frequency bands, solid performance in testing plus an excellent web-based management UI and mobile app. Plus, there are plenty of bonus features: we particularly liked the in-built security scanner and parental controls, which lets users block different types of content from children’s devices and shut off internet access at night.

Highly commended | Asus RT-BE58U

On the same theme, the Asus RT-BE58U is another affordable Wi-Fi 7 router – not as fully featured as our winner above as it only has two wireless radios –  but fast enough for most households and packed with useful stuff. We found it easy and quick to set up, and an absolute doddle to administer via its brilliant app. We also loved Asus’ VPN Fusion feature, which lets different devices connect to different VPN services,  and the ability to combine it with other compatible Asus routers to create a mesh Wi-Fi system. It’s a fabulously versatile router and worthy of its Highly commended award.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Soundbar of the Year

Winner | Samsung HW-Q990F

All hail the undisputed champion of multi-channel, surround sound soundbars. Samsung’s HW-Q990F is a tour de force, combining a soundbar, redesigned subwoofer (which is jaw-droppingly potent) and wireless rear speakers to remarkable effect. The bubble of sound the 11.1.4-channel system creates is so convincing that you’ll feel front and centre of whatever’s happening on screen; Atmos soundtracks have never sounded so immersive at home. Additionally, there are several modes for optimising music reproduction, and the array of connectivity options available means you can enjoy the HW-Q990F’s output from just about any source you can think of. 

Highly Commended | JBL Bar 1300 MkII

The JBL Bar 1300 MkII is unique in the world of premium soundbars in that its wireless rear speakers are detachable. This gives you a huge amount of flexibility as to where you place them, and once you’ve got the 11.1.4-channel system set up, it’ll blow your socks off. It’s extraordinarily powerful, yet controlled, and the new Night Listening mode, which uses just the rear speakers to deliver an intimate, neighbour or flatmate-friendly experience, works brilliantly, too.

Judged by Andy White

Tablet of the Year

Winner | OnePlus Pad 3

The Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset spent most of 2025 powering the top flagship phones, so putting it in tablet form was always going to be a good idea. Indeed, the OnePlus Pad 3 delivered some of the best performance we’ve ever recorded from an Android tablet, as well as gaming framerates that rivalled the iPad Air. Despite being fronted by a big, sharp 13.2in display, the Pad 3 also displayed excellent battery life, running our standard looping video for more than 18 hours. Chuck in affordable accessories that make it a solid laptop replacement and the OnePlus Pad 3 is our tablet of the year.

Highly Commended | Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is the pinnacle of productivity for Android tablets. It is impeccably well made, feeling strong and sturdy despite its ludicrous thickness of just 5.1mm, and fronted by an enormous and gorgeous 14in OLED display. The addition of dual-monitor support makes it even more attractive as a laptop replacement and the massively improved battery life ensures it’s still a cracking portable device, too.

Judged by Ben Johnston

TV of the Year

Winner | Panasonic Z95B

In one of the most fiercely contested categories, the Panasonic Z95B edged out its rivals with sensational picture quality and an immersive audio system that removes the need for a soundbar entirely. With brightness peaks of over 2,500cd/m² and excellent greyscale and colour accuracy, this Primary RGB Tandem OLED shines when handling SDR and HDR content in any environment. And its pictures are complemented by Technics-tuned audio that sounds genuinely three-dimensional. Support for frame rates up to 144Hz, Freely and built-in Alexa voice controls are just the icing on a delicious cake. 

Highly Commended | Samsung S95F

The Samsung S95F fell just short of achieving back-to-back TV of the Year wins for Samsung, but don’t think for one minute that this isn’t an absolutely stonking television. We were blown away by its brightness, contrast and colour reproduction, and its first-rate gaming credentials secured it top spot in that particular category. Its futuristic design, highly effective anti-glare screen and all the smart goodness that comes with Samsung’s Tizen operating system only further this QD-OLED’s appeal.

Judged by Andy White

Vacuum Cleaner of the Year

Winner | Dyson V8 Cyclone

The latest iteration of the V8 Cyclone is, at £350, reasonably-priced as far as Dyson vacuums are concerned. It’s easy to manoeuvre and handles everyday cleaning with ease. Suction power is impressive, particularly when it comes to pet hair, and the mini motorised head attachment proves excellent at getting this out of carpet, stairs and rugs. Also useful is the crevice tool, and we particularly liked the swappable battery. In our tests, this ran for 60 minutes at the Cyclone’s Low setting, 39 minutes at Medium and a little under seven minutes at Max – an improvement on a lot of alternative Dyson models.

Highly Commended | VAX HomePro Detect Pet-Design

As the name more-than-suggests, the VAX HomePro Detect Pet-Design cleans with pet owners in mind. It comes with a decent selection of attachments, with both its standard and motorised pet heads featuring VAX’s “HairWrap Resist” technology, and DebrisDetect mode automatically increases suction when it detects increased dirt. It does its job well: during our tests, the main head picked up 4.5g out of 5g of pet hair when used on both carpet and hard floor, while the standard pet head sucked up a perfect 5g from carpet.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Value Air Fryer of the Year

Winner | Cuisinart AirTwin XXL

Affordably priced, Cuisinart’s AirTwin XXL air fryer stands out from a lot of its rivals in one crucial respect: it has ditched the plastic in favour of all-metal drawer cavities and inserts, and a PFAS-free non-stick coating. As well as being free from that plasticky smell that some air fryers emit, this allows you to air fry unburdened by concerns about ‘forever chemicals’ and microplastics. In terms of cooking, the AirTwin XXL performed well in our tests – producing crispy mozzarella sticks and spring rolls as well as some successful muffins with its bake mode – and its massive 10.4l capacity affords you a lot of flexibility. 

Highly Commended | Tefal Easy Fry Pizza FW4018G0 Air Fryer

We’ve already given a Highly Commended award to the Tefal Easy Fry Pizza Air Fryer in our ‘Air Fryer of the Year’ category, notable for its ability to cook an 11in pizza in its wide, flat 4.5l cooking drawer. It’s a great value buy too: it cost £140 when we originally reviewed it, but it’s since dropped in price at a penny under the £100 mark. If it’s pizza-frying USP appeals to you, it’s a steal.

Judged by Gareth Thomas

Value Laptop of the Year

Winner | Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x Gen 10

There isn’t a particular trick for producing a winning value laptop, as ably demonstrated by the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x Gen 10. For around £550, it delivers everything you could possibly want from a laptop: snappy performance, a decent and large display, a comfortable keyboard, long battery life (courtesy of the Snapdragon X chipset) and plenty of storage – plus an impressive array of ports and sockets. This is an eminently practical laptop that squeezes as much as possible in for as little as possible and that makes it our favourite budget laptop this year.

Highly Commended | Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 Gen 10

Chromebooks are a great option at the cheaper end of the laptop market, and the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 is the best we’ve seen for quite some time. So impressed with it was our reviewer, in fact, that he called it a “worth successor to the much-missed PixelBook Go”. High praise given that we made Google’s diminutive laptop our overall product of the year back in 2020. It’s a simply brilliant little machine with great performance battery life and a superb OLED screen.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Value Lawn Mower of the Year

Winner | Stihl RMA 235

The lightweight Stihl RMA 235 mower is an affordable gem, particularly considering it comes from such a reputable brand as Stihl. If you buy it as a bare tool without the 4.0Ah battery, you can get it for less than £200: a “veritable bargain” if you’ve already bought into the Stihl ecosystem. It’s easy to use, with wide flat-tread wheels making it clear where you’ve been, and that battery afforded us an impressive 77 minutes of continuous mowing before running flat. For a simple lawn mower that’s suited to small-to-medium sized gardens, it’s a great value choice.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Value Monitor of the Year

Winner | BenQ GW2490

We don’t normally give out awards to the same product two years in a row, but in the case of the BenQ GW2490, it’s hard to argue with the value proposition. For less than £100, this 24in screen delivers a simply stunning performance: image quality is great, it’s vibrant and colour accurate and its 100Hz refresh rate means you can even use it for a bit of light gaming once you’ve finished working at the end of the day. There’s even a pair of halfway decent 2W speakers built in. In short, for anyone looking to buy a general purpose monitor for not much money, there’s simply nothing better. 

Highly Commended | Asus ZenScreen MB169CK

There are some for whom a regular desktop monitor just doesn’t work that well – perhaps they haven’t got much space or they need to pack away at the end of the day. In these situations a portable monitor like the 15.6in Asus ZenScreen MB169CK is perfect, and this is among the best examples of the breed we’ve ever come across. It’s competitively priced, image quality is decent, and it’s flexible, too.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Value Smartphone of the Year

Winner | Motorola Moto G56

Motorola is a staple of the value smartphone awards, and for good reason: no other brand is offering this kind of quality in the sub-£200 price range. The Motorola Moto G56 is the most robust budget phone we’ve ever tested, with Gorilla Glass 7i over the display and flagship-level IP68/IP69 dust and water resistance. User-friendly features like a microSD card slot and 3.5mm headphone jack are present, too, and the camera suite is well-rounded, with a particularly impressive selfie lens. You’ll struggle to find another phone that offers so much quality for so little money.

Highly Commended | CMF Phone 2 Pro

Telephoto cameras have long been associated with the more expensive corners of the phone market but the CMF Phone 2 Pro bucks this trend by including a 2x optical lens for a firmly budget price. The punchy AMOLED display is also something of a rarity for such an affordable phone and the inclusion of Nothing’s Essential AI is a nice touch, too. The design is unlike anything else in its price range but it’s the breadth of features that makes the CMF Phone 2 Pro truly unique.

Judged by Ben Johnston

Value Soundbar of the Year

Winner | Creative Stage Pro

As the upgrade to a longstanding Expert Reviews favourite, the Creative Stage Pro had a lot to live up to. Fortunately, it didn’t disappoint, adding new SuperWide soundstage-expansion technology that optimises output for either TV or desktop use. That flexibility differentiates it from its rivals, but the Stage Pro also has the edge in terms of form factor and low-end response. The soundbar is wonderfully compact and looks smart, while the accompanying subwoofer puts out super-satisfying bass to help bring movie soundtracks to life. Wallet-friendly ways of improving your home audio experience don’t get any better than this. 

Highly Commended | Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus

Dolby Atmos is one of the big buzzwords in home entertainment, and the Fire TV Soundbar Plus does Atmos better than any affordable soundbar we’ve tested in the past year. This slim and well-built 3.1-channel soundbar has a dedicated centre channel to handle dialogue cleanly, and its integrated subwoofer adeptly pumps out bass when required. There’s enough volume to fill your living room, but it’s the way directional sound is communicated that’s the Fire TV Soundbar Plus’s greatest strength.

Judged by Andy White

Value TV of the Year

Winner | TCL C6KS

The price of Mini LED TVs has been steadily decreasing in recent years, but what the TCL C6KS offers for the money is frankly ridiculous. Picture quality is excellent, thanks in no small part to brightness that many televisions costing hundreds of pounds more struggle to match. But the C6KS is accurate, too, controls its dimming zones superbly, and has all the smart features and current-gen gaming support you could ask for. In terms of pound-for-pound value, nothing got close to this Mini LED maestro from TCL in the last year.  

Highly Commended | Sharp GM6

We described the Sharp GM6 as “one of the year’s biggest TV bargains,” and that says a lot in 12 months crammed full of awesome televisions available for surprisingly affordable prices. HDR images look great; the GM6 produces decent brightness and keeps colour errors to an impressively low level. Elsewhere, the TiVo operating system, which supports Freely, and the Harman Kardon sound system also help elevate the GM6 above its value-oriented competition.

Judged by Andy White

Value Wearable of the Year

Winner | Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro

Huawei’s smartwatches continue to impress, and last year our favourite was the Watch Fit 4 Pro. While not quite the bargain that the Watch Fit 3 was, it provides several significant upgrades. It’s built from more exotic materials, with sapphire crystal glass protecting its 1.82in OLED display and the bezel is constructed from titanium alloy. It’s slim, ultra comfortable and, in our testing, it delivered consistently accurate results both for GPS positioning and heart rate. Combine that with a feature set that you’d normally associated with a flagship wearable – an ECG sensor, barometer and depth sensor for freediving – and you can see why we’ve made it our favourite budget wearable.

Highly Commended | Apple Watch SE 3

The Apple Watch SE was updated for the first time in four years at the end of 2025 and we think it represents fantastic value. Costing from £219, it does most of what the newest, sleekest Apple Watch Series 11 can do, minus a few newer features, such as hypertension detection, and its display isn’t as large or as bright. However, we think that most people won’t notice the difference. For iPhone owners on a budget, it’s a brilliant choice.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Value Wireless Earbuds of the Year

Winner | Cambridge Audio Melomania A100

It’s hard to stand out in the highly saturated wireless earbuds market. However, Cambridge Audio has been doing just that over the past couple of years, and its Melomania A100 make it back-to-back wins for the UK brand in this category. Not only do they draw upon the comic genius of Matt Berry for voice prompts, but they also offer a specification that far exceeds their price tag, with both aptX Lossless and LDAC on board. They’re top-notch performers, too, with detailed, dynamic audio quality paired with noise cancellation that does a fine job blocking out unwanted distractions. 

Highly Commended | Sony WF-C710N

Sony continues to be one of the biggest players in the headphones world, and the WF-C710N prove that the Japanese brand isn’t just capable of nailing expensive earbuds. They’re some of the most comfortable and ergonomic buds we’ve tested over the past year, but really excel when it comes to active noise cancellation and convenience features. Adaptive Sound Control, which automatically adjusts ANC based on your surroundings, is a unique selling point, but just one part of a compelling all-round package.

Judged by Andy White

Video Doorbell of the Year

Winner | Tapo D235

We reviewed the Tapo D235 right at the beginning of 2025 and it’s held an unassailable lead at the top of our video doorbell charts ever since. It’s easy to see why. Not only is the D235 very reasonably priced, but it ticks all the right boxes. It comes with a chime, it can record video clips to local storage so users don’t have to pay a monthly subscription, its 2.5K 180-degree head-to-toe image is great and stamina from the huge 10,000mAh battery is superb. With superb performance in testing coupled with an easy to use app, the Tapo D235 is a stonkingly good doorbell that we have absolutely no hesitation in awarding our Video Doorbell of the Year award to.

Highly Commended | Imou Doorbell 2S

The Imou Doorbell 2S wins the Highly commended award this year because it’s been brave and offered something a little different from the usual crop of fixed single- and dual-camera doorbells we normally review. Its camera is mounted in a motorised housing that lets it pan left and right in order to get a wider view of the area in front of your front door. Aside from that, it’s pretty good value, with a chime included in the box plus the ability to record video clips to local storage and we liked the app a lot, too.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Wearable of the Year

Winner | Huawei Watch GT 6 Pro

Rounding off a brace of wins for Huawei for its wearables this year is the flagship Watch GT 6 Pro, which takes what makes the Watch Fit 4 Pro so good, and amps up the quality levels and the features. This is a simply brilliant smartwatch, with a battery that lasts for weeks rather than days coupled with looks that wouldn’t embarrass a luxury watch costing many times more that its sub-£400 price tag. Plus, it’s stuffed with fitness and health-focussed features, from accurate running and cycling tracking to all sorts of other sports, from golf to skiing. Coupled with the ability to work with both iPhones and Android handsets, the GT 6 Pro gets our vote for best wearable of 2026.

Highly Commended | Apple Watch Series 11

Apple makes great smartwatches, incrementally improving them year in, year out and the Watch Series 11 is another impressive wearable from the American manufacturer. This year’s big new feature for the Watch is hypertension detection, further extending the watch’s lead in the health and wellbeing segment, adding to the sleep Apnoea detection, ECG, fall and crash detection introduced in previous iterations. It also remains a fabulous smartwatch with class-leading core smartwatch features and an app ecosystem that no other rival wearable can match.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Wi-Fi Extender of the Year

Winner | TP-Link RE235BE

In the last 12 months, we’ve seen Wi-Fi 7 finally become mainstream, with broad support across the industry and even in the slow-moving wireless extender market. Our favourite so far is the TP-Link RE235BE – TP-Link’s flagship wireless extender, which delivers top ease of use, and performed well in our testing. Standout features include a pair of external antennae, full support for MLO (multi link operation), and a comparatively reasonable price. For anyone looking to upgrade their system at home to Wi-Fi 7 who still has a Wi-Fi black spot or two, this is our top recommendation.

Highly Commended | TP-Link RE225BE

TP-Link’s range of Wi-Fi extenders dominated our last roundup of wireless extenders and to be honest, there isn’t an awful lot of difference between them all. The RE225BE gets the Highly commended award as it performed ever so slightly slower in our tests over longer distances, than the TP-Link RE235BE. It hits back, however, with a more reasonable price and its performance is more than good enough for most streaming and videoconferencing needs.

Judged by Jonathan Bray

Wireless Earbuds of the Year 

Winner | Technics EAH-AZ100

There can be no accusations of recency bias in this category: the Technics EAH-A100 were the first pair of wireless earbuds we tested that were eligible for these awards. And, despite a wealth of competition, they stood the test of time, thanks to standout audio quality, a premium aesthetic, ultra-comfortable fit and a whole host of customisation features. Bass reproduction from the EAH-AZ100’s magnetic fluid drivers is top drawer, while new Voice Focus AI earmarks these buds as the best around for calls and meetings. Twelve months on from release, they still slap and absolutely do justice to Technics’ illustrious history. 

Highly Commended | Bose QuietComfort Earbuds (Gen 2)

Arise, the true wireless noise-cancelling kings/queens. Carly Simon once sang Nobody Does It Better; we think she was probably singing about Bose’s ANC. The QuietComfort Earbuds (Gen 2) dampen external distractions more effectively than any other buds, but have several other strings to their bow. Impactful sound, engaging spatial audio, and comfort levels befitting of the product name come to mind, and these are all wrapped up in an easy-on-the-eye package worth every penny of the premium price tag.

Judged by Andy White

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Expert Reviews Staff

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