If you’re looking for some cool tech gadgets without breaking the bank, we’ve got you covered in today’s episode. Here are five Cool Tech under fifty dollars that you can consider purchasing.
Also Read: The 12 Cutting-edge Tools
1. Razer Anzu Smart Glasses
For May first, up today we have some smart glasses from Razer, we have their Razer Anzu. These smart glasses are not only blue light filtering and can double as sunglasses, but they have a built-in mic and speakers for Bluetooth audio, touch control, and act as a voice assistant. I had no idea these were even a thing.
On each side of the foldable arms, right under the Razer branding, there’s a slight bump, and that’s where you press for your controls – things like taking calls, skipping songs, pausing, enabling Siri. There are 10 different total touch commands.
In terms of the audio, the speaker is built in right underneath the arm, so it’s right by your ear, which also makes it less of a distraction to others around you. You can see that right underneath the speakers on each side. The quality won’t blow you away admittedly, but it’s great for taking calls, listening to music while you’re out and about, some casual gaming even through Bluetooth. It’s really cool because only you can hear with the speakers positioned right by your ears, you won’t annoy people around you. It reminds me a lot of how the bone conductive headphones work, and stuff but yeah, pretty cool overall.
When you want to shut them off, all you got to do is take them off, close them up, and it’ll auto shut off for you. Now imagine if avoided double the sunglasses because they do include a satisfoppable polarized lenses you can just swap out if you do want to use these to be sunglasses. There’s an optional app you can do things like track battery change up the EQ with sound profiles and remap what those two buttons do and how to trigger the other commands if you want. But really, as blue light filtering glasses, I always prefer them ones that don’t have the orange-tinted lenses, which these don’t. Hell, you could even put in your prescription lenses if you want to wear these 24/7. But the blue light filtering always helps with reducing eye strain and protection if you’re in front of screens all day and tend to get headaches like I do.
Sure, are they kind of bulky? Yeah, but I mean they’re gonna be. They have speakers built in on the sides. In terms of the competition out there from like bows or even the Amazon’s own smart glasses, these are by far the most affordable option. Now on Amazon, they have two different sizes and two different styles from rectangular to round. Mine are the large rectangular ones. But also, you’ll notice the massive price cut. These used to be two hundred dollars, I recently got this in March on sale for 47. So as you can see, these are heavily discounted right now.
Also, most of the negative reviews you’ll find were factored into the 200 price point, which yeah, these are not worth two hundred dollars, but for 50 bucks, definitely.
2. Aisizon Wireless Clip Mic
Today, I want to share my experience with a product that I recently purchased, and to be honest, I had very low expectations for it. However, it turned out to be way better than I expected. This is a tiny wireless clip-on lav mic that allows you to record audio wirelessly in a few different ways. You can use it to record your voice to your PC with the USBC receiver, making it perfect for wireless voiceovers. If you’re a streamer, you can wear it as well and use it with your USBC Android phone natively, or use the included adapter to use it with your iPhone. Whatever you’re doing, whether it’s making videos, taking calls, or recording on TikTok, you can now have a wireless lav mic to use. All you have to do is clip it on and start recording. And, with the USBC connection to your phone, laptop, or PC, you can hear how it sounds.
Overall, it’s pretty damn good, and for just around $25, it’s a great deal. It’s not limited to just Bluetooth range either. For example, if you’re outside and not right in front of the camera, using the in-camera mic would be terrible. However, with this wireless lav mic, you have the flexibility to get these wireless shots where you’re outdoors. Maybe you’re doing some interviews or documentaries where you need wireless audio on your subject. You’re not limited to just that Bluetooth range either. You could keep your phone in your pocket so that it’s always going to be in Bluetooth range of you, regardless of the distance from yourself to the camera. In any case, this product offers quality wireless audio that is really tough to complain about, especially for the price.
3. SOULWIT Cooling Gel Ear Pads
Up next are swappable ear pads for your favorite pairs of headphones or gaming headset, but these are a bit different. These are solid cooling gel ear pads, just in time for those hot summer months coming up. What immediately sold me on these was the day I got them in the mail. It was like 80 degrees outside, and when I opened up the pack of ear pads, they were literally cool to the touch, around 65 degrees Fahrenheit, while everything else in the box was upwards of 75 degrees or close to the ambient temperature, but not these.
They sell them for hundreds of headsets or headphones, like Sony, Bose, Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, Turtle Beach, Razer, Corsair, SteelSeries, you name it, they’ll have ear pads for it. Just do a little search, and each set comes with detailed instructions, which is really nice because you know each headset can be different in how the pads come off.
I purchased a few from my go-to cans, got a set here for the Razer BlackShark headset, and yes, these also came with a tool to help remove them without damaging the pads as well. So say you’re gaming, you tend to get either hot or sweaty, having that cooling sensation on your ears and head is definitely a bit refreshing. I’d say it lasts about an hour or so before your body’s temperature seems to equal that cooling gel, but still a nice way to keep cool with the summer coming up.
The pads are really high quality as well. The gel is underneath the exterior silk fabric that’s also breathable, and it’s dense enough to give you some cushioning as well when you’re wearing them. So the gel is acting sort of like a memory foam, in a sense, to this naturally forming to your ear and the side of your head. They were a bit thicker than the stock pads that came on the headset, but again, since they’re breathable and squishy, it didn’t cause any discomfort or feel tight at all while I was wearing them.
Now like I said, there’s literally hundreds of headsets and headphones that they make these cooling pads for, but I originally picked them up a few weeks ago for my new Sennheiser HD 660 S2s. And once I felt how nicely made and actually cool to the touch they were, I went ahead and picked up a few different pairs from my go-to cans. Prices on these do vary depending on what model you’re buying them for. It seems to be anywhere from like 15 to 25 dollars, but definitely worth the pickup. I’d say it’s a nice mod you can do to your favorite headphones or headset.
4. Autbye Gameboy Phone Cases
What you’re looking at is not a Game Boy or an emulator. It’s actually my phone case. So, technically, it is a Game Boy emulator, but it’s built into the back of my phone. This gives it more than just a cool retro look – it actually works! These phone cases are available for a bunch of different phones and in a bunch of different color options. I just picked them up in black and white to show you guys.
As you can see, it has a bunch of knockoff NES games built in, including “Nuts & Milk.” Due to obvious copyright issues, the names of the games are all a bit different, but there are 36 different games in total to pick from. You have your standard OG Game Boy controls and layout all built into the case, with a full-color display on the back.
This phone case doesn’t run off your phone’s battery – it has its own – so you don’t have to worry about it draining your phone. Now, you may be saying to yourself, “Why buy this when I have games already on my phone?” And my answer is, “Yeah, good point.” But I think it’s a cool gift idea for your little brother, cousin, or any little sibling in your life that could possibly have some fun with this on a long car ride or just to kill some time. It could also introduce them to those retro NES titles. Plus, it’s literally only twenty dollars for the case. I don’t know, it’s cool tech under $50.
Side note: I couldn’t figure it out, but anybody who buys this or may already have it, if you can figure out how to load your own custom games on there, definitely let me know. I’m trying to play some Pokemon on here because why not?
5. Charger Dock for Nintendo Switch lite
And then lastly, how about a charging dock for your wireless gaming mouse? While this one requires a bit of minor DIY to get it up and running, I’m personally really interested in a desktop mouse dock like this because not a lot of mice have this anymore.
I was a huge fan of the original Razer Viper Ultimate and used that for about three years, and I was always used to just having that dock on my desktop so at night time, I could charge it up. But, like I said, we don’t have that, so that’s where this repurposed switch dock comes into play.
This is supposed to be a desktop charger for your Nintendo Switch, and they also make these in a bunch of different colors. I have the teal one to match our Pulsar X2 Mini and the dark gray for the Rage Viper Mini Signature Edition. But using these little USB-C extensions, it makes it so now you can just pop in any USB-C mouse.
Most mice nowadays are USB-C, so this works properly, but you will need that little extension because the port in the mouse is seated too far in, and it doesn’t work with the stock USB-C on the dock.
These little docks are about 15 bucks, and you can also get those little USB-C extensions for like five bucks as well, so altogether, a pretty affordable alternative to a desktop mouse dock.
And again, I don’t know what it is, I’m just more likely to put this on a dock overnight than I am to remember to plug in the cable to it. It’s weird, I know, but like I said, I’m just so used to the original Razer Viper Ultimate and that desktop dock. It’s small, it’s compact, it gets the job done at the end of the day. You dock it up, and it’ll immediately start charging for you.
Now, is this the best execution? No, at the end of the day. Does it work and solve a problem with letting you dock up your mouse so it doesn’t die? Yes, and that’s all that matters. Just around 20 bucks total.
