Author: Bill Murrell

A smart sprinkler controller is an irrigation timer that joins your home WiFi so you can schedule, monitor, and cut watering runs short from a phone, and that automatically skips or trims cycles using local rain, wind, temperature, and soil data. On a large property, that automation is the difference between a lawn that stays…

Best overall for camping: the Jackery Explorer 300. It weighs 7.1 pounds, holds 292Wh, and pushes 300W continuously (600W surge), which is enough to run a 12V compressor fridge overnight, charge phones and laptops, and top up camera batteries. If you need more than a day off-grid, step up to a 1,000Wh unit. We put…

Yes, propane fire pits are safe on a deck when the unit is CSA or ETL certified, the flame is contained in a bowl or table cavity, and you keep 36 inches of clearance from anything combustible. Propane throws no sparks, no embers and no ash, which is exactly what makes wood-burning pits dangerous on…

If you are searching for the best wood burning fire pits for backyards, you are really weighing two separate questions: how clean does the fire burn, and will the pit still look good after two winters of rain and ash. A wood burning fire pit is an open or partially enclosed steel, cast iron, or…

Most patio fire pits fail for the same two reasons. The open ones fill your seats with drifting smoke and ash, and the ones sold as smokeless often cost so much they feel like a gamble. We spent six weeks burning through twelve of them on patios, decks and balconies, logging how each one handled…

A fire pit table is an outdoor furniture piece that combines a usable tabletop surface with an inset gas burner, so it works as a coffee table when the flame is off and as a heat source when it is on. That dual function is the entire reason this category exists: a bowl fire pit…

A chiminea fits a small patio where an open fire pit cannot, because the enclosed gourd-shaped body concentrates a smaller fire and pulls smoke straight up instead of letting it drift across your seating. For most compact patios, the sweet spot is a unit 16 to 22 inches wide and under 40 inches tall, set…

A smart garage door opener is a garage door opener with WiFi built in, whether that means a full replacement motor unit or a retrofit controller that bolts onto the opener you already own. For a two-car garage the bar is higher than usual, because a 16 ft door is wider and heavier than a…

Interview audio is the one thing you cannot fix in the edit. A slightly soft picture, a blown highlight, a drifting frame rate – all of those are recoverable. A lapel mic buried under a shirt, buzzing with clothing rustle, or sitting so close to the speaker that every breath thumps the capsule, and you…

A drum coffee roaster tumbles green beans inside a rotating metal cylinder while heat is applied to the outside of the drum, so the beans pick up heat through direct contact rather than through forced hot air. That single design choice is why drum roasting produces fuller, rounder cups than air roasting, and why the…