00:03So we've reached the end of another gift guide series, which means we've reached the end of
00:07the year pretty much. So this is kind of the finale of all the gift guides plus giveaways
00:12that I've been doing. I've saved the best for last. This is like a budget episode. So stuff
00:15that's more affordable. Plus it's like kind of last minute because it's technically my last one.
00:19So to enter, just make sure you're sub to the channel, obviously follow along on socials where
00:23I'll be posting the winners of everything, probably after Christmas. That's the update.
00:28Let's get into it. So the first items need no intro. They're featured on the channel every year.
00:32The cheapest thing that you can literally get. So these are dbrand skins. They're around like 15,
00:37maybe 25 bucks. If you're getting something larger for say a laptop, they're essentially just a sticker
00:41or a skin that goes over top of your device. They've got them for pretty much everything.
00:45You can see I've got it on my iPhone. And what's nice is you can cover as much or as
00:49little as you
00:50want. So I just have mine minimally covering the center. You can get ones that wrap around fully.
00:54And I think especially for iPhones, because the pro models, softer aluminum, they tend to scratch
00:59more. It's just minimal protection for a fraction of the price. And like I said, you can get so many
01:03different color variants. I think these are great stocking stuffers or just gifts on a budget.
01:08So next switching on to earbuds, I'm just going to give you my favorite ones of the bunch. So if
01:12you're looking for a pair of working out headphones, these are the new Powerbeats Fit. They're obviously
01:16in this orange colorway, which I like. They have these little stems, which are really nice. I find that out
01:21of
01:21all fitness earbuds, these are my favorites. They just tend to fit into my ear better. And these are the
01:25new AirPods Pro 3. I know technically not budget, but out of all products that Apple has released this
01:31year, this was by far the biggest upgrade because we waited the longest for it. The big upgrade here is
01:35around the tips, which are still silicone on the outside, but they are hybrid because it has this foam on
01:40the
01:40inside, which makes it comfier to wear. The noise canceling is also a lot better. So if you're looking to
01:44upgrade your
01:45earbuds, I think this is the best time to do them and accessories for these as an example, to make
01:50this a bit more budget. So ESR once again, featured them across the channel. There's a ton of great
01:54stuff on the budget. They've got this case called the cyber flick lock case. It essentially keeps your
01:59AirPods protected because if you're spending the money, the worst thing that you have to do is say you
02:03accidentally drop these, didn't do it on video. Technically your AirPods tend to fly out. You might lose
02:09one. There's a little lock on the ESR case, which is great. It still has MagSafe, so you can charge
02:13them
02:13wirelessly. You can open them up easily with one hand. It has a carabiner so you can clip your AirPods
02:18kind of anywhere onto your bag, for example. And it has this nice little cleaning brush because if
02:23you've got earwax like me, you might need to clean your AirPods from time to time. Dope little gift and
02:28it keeps it once again on the budget. And if you want something a bit more streamlined, they also have
02:32their hybrid magnetic case. So instead of a locking mechanism, it's a magnet. It's a bit thinner, a bit
02:37less bulky, but perhaps a bit less protection. I'll let you guys decide which one you like. The next budget
02:41item once again from ESR. So this is right around that $35 mark. I think this is great for a
02:46three
02:46in one G2 wireless charger. Literally, you can take this with you anywhere. You can see how compact
02:51this kind of folds down too. And this is great if you want to travel with this or if you
02:56just want
02:56something like right next to your bed that isn't that bulky. You can see I've also got all my devices
03:01here. So as an example, I will flip this up. I can stick my iPhone on here.
03:08I've got my Apple watch, which slots into the back. And lastly, as an example, the AirPods kind
03:13of slot back and they all pretty much start charging instantly. Once again, a great little
03:17product, super compact. And once again, does not break the bank. Super dope. And what's great for
03:23the price. It also comes with a 50 watt charger, which you typically have to pay a lot more for
03:27these.
03:28It also has Chi 2 certified. So it does charge obviously faster and it has this little cryo boost
03:33thing, which keeps your devices cool. Once again, just helps your devices charge quicker,
03:37faster, more optimally for 35 bucks. You can't ask for anything more than that.
03:41So next moving on to a cool little projector. So this is the TCLC one. So I've reviewed like a
03:47ton
03:47of projectors over the years. This is probably the best like bang for your buck projector that you can
03:52get. So around that $200 mark, there's a ton of value here. So for that price, it's a 1080p projector
03:58from 40 inches all the way up to 120. It's got an auto keystone feature. So when you
04:03set this up, it automatically aligns to the wall. For example, I was watching this like in my studio
04:07here, it looked really good. It's got a 285 built-in adjustable gimbal. You can pretty much
04:12set this up or point it anywhere. It runs off of Google TV. So certified by both Google as well
04:17as
04:17Netflix. So you have access to over a thousand streaming platforms. It's fully sealed and very
04:21durable. So it's IP5X dustproof. It's got a 30,000 hour lifespan on it. It's got some of the best
04:27visuals for its price range. So it has edge to edge clarity. It gets up to 230 ISO lumens of
04:31brightness.
04:32For audio, it has an eight watt speaker with Dolby audio. It also comes with a remote. And the one
04:36thing I would say, it just has to be plugged in wherever you happen to set it up, but it
04:40is super
04:41lightweight, like 3.9 pounds and one of the lightest projectors. So no matter where you put this in your
04:46place, you can't go wrong once again for this price range. And you can also see here the rest of
04:51the
04:51ports. So when you plug this in to say like an HDMI, say you have like a gaming console, you're
04:55doing
04:55gaming night, USB, and obviously headphone jack if you need. And lastly, the on and off button.
04:59Like I said, for the price, this is really tough to beat. So moving on to some creator tech,
05:05one of my own personal upgrades of the year that I wanted to share. So this is the DJI
05:09mic three. You can actually check out how small these have become compared to the mic two,
05:14which I've upgraded from. You can see the size difference here. So it's just a bit more discreet.
05:18If you do place it like on your chest, it's still magnetized on the back and even the little
05:23charging dock. So you can see it here, which is really kind of trimmed down. So just less to carry
05:28around. It's smaller, it's thinner, it's lighter. It's got better audio has 32 bit float. So just
05:33means no peaking for your audio. It's just once again, easier to use, just like a simple plug and
05:38play, plug it into your camera, plug it into your smartphone with these little dongle connectors.
05:42I think it's a great little upgrade for any creator. And the second thing that I actually got
05:46from DJI is their new Osmo Nano, which is essentially their little action camera. So once again,
05:52they've reduced the size. So technically, all you need is this small little guy to actually record.
05:57It also technically comes with the multifunctional vision dock, which you can attach to. So you can
06:02technically see what you're recording. But like I said, you don't actually need this to film. You
06:06can almost use this as like a little monitor to watch what you're recording. And you can stick this
06:10guy literally anywhere and get some of the coolest footage. So it has a new sensor. It's one over one
06:16third, you can get up to 4k 120, some of the smoothest and stabilized footage that I've used. And once
06:21again, the big upgrade to this is just how small and compact it is. It's crazy how good action
06:26cameras have got. It's a great upgrade and makes a great tech gift. Another great creator tool we
06:31actually use for it is this little magic arm. This is what's given me a really unique POV on a
06:36lot of
06:37the shots. And it's really easy to kind of like articulate, you just need to move it around. And
06:41what it has at the end is just a little clamp. So any kind of like hard surface, you can
06:45literally
06:45just like clamp it to a table. And I'll just quickly hit record. And now this is giving me a
06:50really
06:50interesting, I guess, third angle shot of the side of my head. If I'm recording 15 bucks,
06:56easy creator gift. So next thing is this little tech pouch from Peak Design and my little hack for it
07:02because I featured it numerous times, but I just use it so much throughout the year is to actually cut
07:07away the middle so it can store more stuff. So as an example, we've got all the stuff that I've
07:12kind
07:12of talked about. So we've got microphone, headphones, camera, even this little magic arm, charging dock,
07:18Apple Watch, and even phone. So there's these little compartments on the side, which you can slide
07:24tech into, keeps them a bit more protected. Headphone, say camera, you don't want to damage the screen.
07:30Watch can slot in, little arm goes on top, nano on this side. Everything literally folds up.
07:39And instead of having all your tech just bouncing around, say this isn't a bag, it's in a nice little
07:44pouch that you can kind of access easily. Once again, it doesn't break the bank. I think
07:48these are like 15, 20 bucks. There's knockoffs on Amazon as well, and just keep everything a bit more
07:53organized in your life. So next off, moving on to gaming. So this is tough to keep in budget here,
07:59but since the Nintendo Switch 2 just released like this year, it's probably going to be the hottest
08:03selling console of the year. If it's in your budget, great. If it's not, I think going down like one
08:08step
08:09to say like games, for example, Donkey Kong, I played like one of the latest updates, Pokemon ZA or ZA,
08:14however you want to call it. You've got some of the GameCube stuff in the Nintendo like online store,
08:19Mario Kart. Obviously all these games, like sadly, they are still like $90. Maybe you can get some
08:24older ones like on a bit of a deal, but I would say games are like the second cheapest thing.
08:30And
08:30funnily enough, I was looking around for like cheap gaming stuff. So I found this little notebook.
08:36It is Nintendo Switch 2 related. I think these little notebooks are great. Once again,
08:40stocking stuffers, $10 to $15. You save on the price. They've got some great collabs like this
08:45one that I picked up for the Switch 2. They've got like Harry Potter ones. You know, these are in
08:49the
08:49$10 to $15 range, technically not tech, but if you get one that's like gaming related, you can kind of
08:56sneak it in this video. So now I've given you like price categories or price brackets for everything in
09:01gaming. So next off into affordable wearable tech. So this is the CMF Watch 3 Pro. This is $100 and
09:08I
09:08actually saw it on sale for 80 bucks right now in the wearable space. It is tough to find like
09:13a
09:13smartwatch for that kind of price. It's simple. It's affordable. If you want to track like simple
09:18metrics, like steps, heart rate, this can do that. Maybe not some of the more advanced ones like,
09:23you know, the latest Apple Watch can track sleep apnea. There's like a depth sensor, one that like
09:27measures like heart activity. Obviously this can't do that, but if you just want something more simple,
09:33it's simple. It's got a circular design. It doesn't look half bad. It's got a nice like rubber strap that
09:38you
09:38don't need to worry about for 80 bucks. Once again, it's hard to beat. And if you haven't heard
09:41of CMF, it's like a kind of off brand or a cheaper brand from nothing. Technically they're their own
09:48brand now, but if you haven't heard of them before they do come out with like budget or like cheaper
09:52devices, for example, the nothing phone three, one of the cooler devices of the year, they say that
09:57this is like their first real flagship. And what makes it cool is this like little glyph system. So you
10:02can
10:02see in the corner, you can change that to different things. For example, one of them, or one of the
10:06funnier ones is I spin the bottle. So trying to decide who has to pay for a bill at night
10:10after
10:10dinner, it's you guys pointing to you, you got to pay for the rest of this episode. But yeah,
10:15just a fun little phone. I think just to end it off on a little bit of a light note.
10:19So let me know
10:20your favorite item in the budget category. Try to include like all the different price ranges.
10:25Hopefully some of you found them useful for the giveaway. Make sure you're subbed. I will announce
10:29that all before I head off to CES in 2026. Crazy that the year is over, but just want to
10:36thank you
10:36for, you know, watching my content and just kind of watching my sub count. We are approaching that
10:41one million mark. So if we can crush that next year in 2026, that would mean the world to me.
10:46It's been quite the journey here on the YouTubes going into my like 12th year at CES, like 13th year
10:53in total. Truly crazy. So thanks for being part of the journey. If this is the first video that you're
10:58watching, welcome. If this is the 587th, I have no idea how many videos I have. Thanks for just
11:05continuing on and I'll catch the rest of you in one of my next ones. Peace.
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