CNN Underscored is constantly testing products – from electric toothbrushes to pillows to mobile apps – to find the best in each respective category. Our testing process is rigorous, starting with hours of research to find the top products in each category. When we create test product groups, we test and retest each product multiple times in real settings over several weeks or even months.
This year, we tested dozens of products – from Macbooks to rice cookers to home security cameras – to find the best products you need to improve your life. Here are the winning products from August.
Philips Sonicare 4100
Affordable, full-featured, effective, and compatible with a wide range of replacement brush heads from Philips and third parties, the Sonicare 4100 is a great way to improve your oral hygiene routine. Gentle mode makes it easy for beginners to get used to high-tech brushing.
Philips Sonicare for kids
Easy to use, with a built-in timer, multiple modes and a simple app that guides kids through the brushing process. Philips Sonicare for Kids makes brushing effective and fun.
Arlo Essential Indoor Security Camera
Arlo Essential Indoor Security Cameras are built with security in mind, are easy to set up, and offer an inexpensive monthly hosting plan. Top notch video quality, fast motion alerts and great sound.
Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker
Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy consistently had the best results in all of our cooking tests. It cooks rice perfectly every time and has handy features that make it a must-have for those who cook and eat rice frequently.
Stand mixer
KitchenAid 5-Quart Artisan Series Tilt-Head Stand Mixer
KitchenAid’s 5-Quart Artisan Series tilt stand mixers deliver the best performance of any mixers we’ve tested. With over 20 colors available and a classic look, you’ll want to showcase this tilt-head mixer in your kitchen.
LL Bean 280-Pima Cotton Percale Yarn Counter
The LLBean panels are the best feeling sheets we’ve tried: breathable and crisp, they’re great at regulating temperatures throughout the night, and the perforations along the top sheet and pillowcase make these sheets feel Looks like a hotel.
Parachute
Among the most luxurious sensations we tested, the Parachute linen sheets have a pleasant weight in the hand and a unique texture. Parachute sheets come in a variety of colors and sizes, and each different piece of bedding set is available to replace or combine with other fabrics.
Coop Home Goods The Eden
Soft and supportive without feeling too firm, The Eden pillow by Coop Home Goods was one of our favorite pillows during our testing. The pad can be added or subtracted to suit different body types and preferences, which means it should fit most people lying on their backs.
Eli and Elm Side Sleeper
The Eli and Elm Side Sleeper Support Pillow has a U-shaped cut that makes room for your shoulders when sleeping on your side. It also supports our necks when we sleep on our backs, so it’s great for anyone who changes positions.
Saatva Latex Pillow
The Saatva pillow is a favorite pillow that’s supportive enough while being soft and pliable in the best way. The outer layer is filled with alternative fibers and a removable inner core made of shredded latex is completely enclosed to prevent the filling from spilling.
Mavogel Cotton Eye Mask
The Mavogel Cotton Eye Mask has a genius nose wire, so it blocks all – and we mean all – light. The mask is soft on the eyes and comfortable on the head, and it never shifts during the night, no matter our sleeping position.
Rosetta stone
We like the easy-to-use design and streamlined lesson format of the Rosetta Stone app. It helped us learn the basics of French quite easily. It is available in 25 languages, including Dutch, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. It offers a 3-day free trial.
Pay for apple
While Apple Pay only works on iOS devices, its user interface is clean and easy to use. The app also provides strong security and authentication for all your purchases, and offers 2% cashback on P2P payments.
Strava
Strava connects to a wide variety of heart rate monitors and provides powerful tools for creating custom running routes. The app is recommended for experienced runners and professional or semi-professional athletes; however, it is easy enough to use for any runner.
Lose it! Reward
We found LoseIt! Premium to be simple and intuitive and the most affordable of the weight loss apps we’ve tested. It provides strong support to the user community, with active discussions on user forums related to nutrition and weight loss.
Cabeau Evolution S3
The Cabeau Evolution S3 is the Goldilocks of the travel pillow: We found it firm enough to support our heads and necks, soft enough to fall asleep, and completely portable, thanks to its elastic memory foam construction. recovery allows you to compress it in half. its size.
EarFun Air
We’ll make this really simple for you: If you want to spend less than $100 on wireless headphones, you won’t find a better pair than the EarFun Air.
MacBook Air M2
The MacBook Air M2 is the ideal MacBook for most people, packing the best performance you can get for the price into a slim, modern design with many practical upgrades over the previous generation.
Best smartphone overall: Apple iPhone 13
Apple’s iPhone 13 has a modern build with a vibrant display, the best performance, and one of the best cameras we’ve ever tested.
