The Cheapskate Hall of Fame: the best cheap products of all time

Lexy Savvides / CNET

I’ve been in love with Amazfit Bip for years and the latest S model is even better. For a mere $ 70 (sometimes $ 60, if you get a sale), you get a smartwatch with a transfective screen always on, which is more readable in direct sunlight than even a high-end Apple Watch . Plus, it can work for weeks on a charge, even if you use features like GPS and heart rate monitoring.

No, you cannot reply to text messages or invoke Alexa, but some commitments are expected at this price. Read the CNET Amazfit Bip S review to learn more.

Sarah Tew / CNET

Think a little about the past. When iPads burst onto the scene in 2010, the starting price was $ 500. Amazon Fire 7 costs literally a tenth of that, but it can do even more than the original Apple tablet. Sure, the iPad has matured a lot since then, but it still starts at $ 329.

The Fire 7 may have a low resolution screen and a traditional Micro-USB power port, but it is $ 50. (It often sells for $ 40 and occasionally even less than that.) With it, you can stream videos, read books, play games, check e-mails, listen to music – all things.

Yes, the smartest purchase is the Fire HD 8, which offers a number of improvements for not much more money. But the Hall of Fame beckons to Fire 7, just to destroy expectations about what a $ 50 tablet can do.

Bitwarden

I have already instructed my family to put this on my headstone: “You need a password manager!” Perhaps I should include an asterisk: “… but you don’t have to pay for one.” Bitwarden is a fast, versatile, easy to use and secure open source password manager (read: free of charge).

For me, it replaced a non-free and excessively bloated application that was causing more and more problems on my PC. Bitwarden has been sailing smoothly for almost a year; I’m glad I made the switch.

There is a Premium option available (just $ 10 a year) and a six-user family plan as well ($ 40), but I suspect that most users will not need either. Bitwarden works on all your devices and offers the important ability to automatically sync between them. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

David Carnoy / CNET

I’ve lost count of how many AirPod alternatives have passed my desk. But EarFun Air stood out for a simple reason: good sound, lots of features, low price. OK, there are several reasons, but they combine to make this the current choice of Hall of Fame headphones. (Note to EarFun: many much good competitors are looking for you.)

The Air’s noise isolation buttons do not offer ANC, but come in a USB-C case that can also charge wirelessly. And they have one of my favorite features: in-ear detection. Take out a ‘button, the music pauses. Put it back, the music starts over.

EarFun lists these for $ 60, but they are almost always on sale. At the time of writing, for example, there is a coupon on the page that takes 20% off, lowering the price to $ 45. And occasionally I have seen deals that put them below $ 40 This is very good for your headset .

Hulu

Assuming you’re not interested in live TV, Hulu is the best value in streaming, period. Your $ 6 buys access to a giant library of current and past TV series, some original award-winning content and, OK, a reasonable selection of films.

Yes, Apple TV and Disney Plus are competitive at $ 5 and $ 7, respectively, but they offer nothing close to Hulu’s breadth of content – much of it exclusive to the service. You’ll find comfortable viewing (Seinfeld, Happy Endings), cutting-edge creations (Devs, Mrs. America) and FX superstars (Fargo, Legion, What We Do in the Shadows). I think the original Hulu, Palm Springs, was perhaps the funniest movie I saw in 2020.

The bad news: the $ 6 plan includes commercials. You can get rid of them, but it will cost twice as much. At least you have the choice, unlike when you watch cable TV.

New Wave Toys

With rare exceptions, all energy banks are the same: flat and black bricks. Boring! This looks exactly like the Sony Walkman tape player of my youth, and still has functional (though non-functional) buttons and sliders on the sides.

The Hotline’s 16,000 mAh battery can charge up to three devices simultaneously: one via a USB 3.0 Type A port that supports QuickCharge, one via a USB-C port and one via Qi wireless charging. There is even a small LED flashlight and a set of small lights that show the amount of energy remaining.

Therefore, this is not a mere novelty device, something that survives only by appearance. It is an excellent cell phone charger, but it has a very common price: only $ 40.

Wyze

I still get looks of disbelief when I tell people about Wyze Cam, which does everything a smart security camera owes, but only costs $ 20 (plus shipping). It’s a hall-of-famer in its own right, but I’m giving my $ 30 Wyze Cam Pan ($ 38 shipped from Amazon) my endorsement, which can rotate a full 360 degrees at its base and has a vertical range of 93 degrees to boot.

Pan would be a great deal at twice the price, as it transmits crisp HD video (day or night) to your phone, provides two-way audio, alerts you when it detects sound and / or movement and stores video locally or in the cloud – without extra cost.

Wyze manufactures a series of surprisingly affordable smart home products that are also candidates for the Hall of Fame. For now, however, Cam Pan is a definite addition. Read CNET’s Wyze Cam Pan review to learn more.