Air Fryers, Toothbrushes and Gadgets Worth Buying
By Sidra Salman · November 4, 2026 Walk into any big-box store right now and the gadget wall will try to sell you a different life: crispier fries, cleaner teeth, floors that clean themselves. Some of those promises hold up. Most do not, and the difference is rarely the price tag. It is how often you will actually use the thing, and whether a cheaper version does the same job just as well. I spent this week comparing current 2026 buying guides, reviewer test results, and maker specs for the small gadgets people ask me about most. Then I applied one simple test: if you use it at least three times a week for a year, what does each use really cost? A $200 gadget used 150 times costs about $1.33 per use. That math tells you what is worth your money. The cost-per-use test I use before I buy anything Before the picks, here is the test in full, because you can run it on any gadget in about a minute. First, be honest about frequency. Not the frequency you wish for, but the frequency your l...