Holiday tech shopping: The view from thewirecutter.com Here's a range of interesting gadgets and luxury items that are reviewed by thewirecutter.com. Get it: If you want a lifelike picture Skip it: If space is a concern (large speakers on either side of the screen add to its girth) Price: $3,999.99 This television has a colorful, rich, vibrant image - and has few (if any) issues. It has an incredibly dark black level, creating a powerfully contrasty image. Less like watching a TV and more like a movie floating in your room. It also has great sound quality, thanks to a rather large, built-in speaker array. Think of it as having a halfway-decent soundbar built into the TV. Full review Projector: Sony VPL-HW40ES Get it: If you're looking for a movie theater experience at home Skip it: If you simply want brightness, other models offer more for less. Price: $2,499.98 This is a well-balanced performer across a wide range of important picture-quality attributes, including light output (brightness), contrast ratio, color accuracy and more. It's also quieter than the competition, and it has extensive lens adjustments that allow it to fit in most rooms. Other similarly priced projectors may offer better performance in one or two categories, but none offers the overall balance of this Sony. It also has commendable input lag performance (how long it takes a TV/projector to create an image), which is important for gamers. Waterproof camera: Olympus Tough TG-3 Get it: If you want a sharp shooter that's waterproof to 50 feet Skip it: If video quality is a priority (this one's okay at best) Price: $429.95 After more than 170 cumulative hours of research, interviews and testing in the wilderness and underwater with a National Geographic photographer, we've found that the Olympus Tough TG-3 is the best rugged and waterproof camera today. Simply put, when you're shooting in the field, it'll focus faster than the competition, and it will snap a brighter, bolder photo than almost any other tough camera. That's important, because you have other things to be worrying about outdoors than fiddling with the settings. It has a fast f/2.0 lens that's great in low light, a quick autofocus system critical for catching the action, a macro mode that'll let you get just 1cm from tiny subjects like insects and flowers. Plus, its Wi-Fi app allows for remote shooting, settings changes and quick photo transfers. Drones: DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ Get it: If you don't have a lot of technical know-how and you're not into tinkering for tinkering's sake Skip it: If it seems like a lot of money to spend on a thing that could crash on its maiden voyage Price: $1,399 Of the dozens of drones aimed at the aspiring aerial photographer/videographer, this is the only one that is easy to control while having great battery life and a 2000-foot range, terrific safety features and a smartphone app that lets you preview your on-drone camera for photography and piloting ease. It has a relatively high-quality camera that's almost as good as the GoPro Hero 3+ (rare). Its pre-programmed flight controls can be tailored to beginners and advanced pilots alike. Carry-on luggage: Travelpro Platinum Magna Get it: If you want a reliable traveler Skip it: If you fly more than 25,000 miles a year Price: $600 After 100 hours of research, interviews, and independent trials with flight attendants and high-mileage fliers, we found that this Travelpro has the best balance of features and price for people flying less than 25,000 miles a year. It's relatively light, the wheels are built to last, and it's big enough to easily fit five days" worth of clothes. Compared with other bags in this price range, you also get surprisingly high-end features and a warranty that covers anything (even airline damage) for the life of the bag. Fitness tracker: Garmin Vivofit Get it: If you want a no-fuss wearable to keep you on track Skip it: If you want more sophisticated mobile app/desktop software Price: $129.99 This may be the fitness tracker you're most likely to use consistently, because it offers the convenience of a wrist-mounted, waterproof design and a legible, always-on display that tracks your stats in real time. Its "move bar" flashes red anytime you've been inactive for too long - a feature that proves highly motivating. It is currently the only fitness tracker that combines these features with the added benefit of never having to be hooked up to charger; we have four words for you: one-year battery life. Bose QuietComfort 25 Get it: For peaceful plane, train and car travel Skip it: If you're just looking for a pair of all-around headphones Price: $299 Since these are noise-canceling headphones, noise-canceling performance is paramount. Nothing drops more noise than the Bose, period. Plus they're comfortable, lightweight and able to fold down into a compact carrying case. They're not perfect - the sound quality is decent, but not spectacular. Slippers: Haflinger AT Image courtesy of Zappos.com Get it: If you want warmth in the winter and cool comfort in the summer Skip it: If fluffy slippers are your thing Price: $89 These may not look like the soft, fluffy things you think of when you think slippers - soft, cloudlike piles of fleece, freshly shorn from a baby sheep. But we found that boiled wool just does a better job at all the things slippers should do and is much more breathable. Sure, in terms of pure warmth, you can't beat wool fleece, but for balancing warmth, wicking power and comfort, you want boiled wool - more specifically, you want Haflinger. The slippers get better and better the more you wear them. They're easy to keep clean, and, thanks to their latex hardsole, you can wear them for a quick jaunt to the corner store or the mailbox. Ice cream maker: Whynter SNO Get it: If you want to churn out batch after batch of homemade ice cream Skip it: If you plan to spin a bunch of ice cream next to a sleeping baby (this one might be too loud) Price: $330 The Whynter SNO Ice Cream Maker offers intuitive design, superior results and a no-prep-needed compressor. Many competitors require time-consuming pre-freezing of the bowl, but this one lets you churn out batch after batch. The two-quart removable bowl is easy to lift out, thanks to a built-in handle, so you can scrape out all of the ice cream with ease. There's an automatic shut-off function so that the machine isn't damaged if your mixture happens to freeze solid. And it produces the creamiest ice cream of all the makers tested. More from the holiday tech gift guide: Video games for older players The smartphones and tablets to consider Video games for younger players Tech gifts under $100