Kindle, Kobo or reMarkable? Our pick of the best e-readers in the UK for 2026, for every budget and a splurge for note-takers.
May 24, 2026Comments are off for this post.
HP Colour Laser 150nw Review UK 2026: Do Not Buy
Last updated: 24 May 2026
By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance
This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.
This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.
Tech / PrintersDo Not Buy
HP Colour Laser 150nw review: the printer that died at eleven months
We bought an HP Colour Laser 150nw for about £130 thirteen months ago. It is now sitting in a recycling pile. This HP Colour Laser 150nw review explains exactly why, because the power button broke, HP's support website was impenetrable, and returning it to Currys was not worth the trip.
Cool Factor
★☆☆☆☆
1 out of 5 — Do Not Buy
So here is the short version. The print quality was genuinely fine. Everything else was not. We are writing this review so that you do not waste your money the way we wasted ours. Below, we walk through everything that went wrong, why the fault is baked into the design, and exactly what to buy instead.
The HP Colour Laser 150nw. Compact, tidy, and now destined for the recycling centre.
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May 17, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Best Running Watches UK 2026: Tested, Strava-Verified Picks
Last updated: Sunday 17 May 2026
By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance
Affiliate disclosure: CoolCuration is reader-supported. When you buy through links on this page we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we'd genuinely use ourselves.
Best running watches UK 2026: tested, Strava-verified picks
The best running watches UK buyers can buy in 2026 are not the most expensive ones. After a year of parkruns, half marathons and one deeply regrettable ultramarathon between us, our verdict is unambiguous. The Garmin Forerunner 265 remains the right watch for most runners, the COROS PACE 3 still humiliates everything near its price, and the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is finally credible for iPhone owners who actually train. Everything else is either better than that trio (and considerably pricier) or, more often, worse.
Why this matters: the running watch market has a dirty secret. The best watch for 90% of runners costs about £250. Spend more and you mostly pay for maps, sapphire glass and longer battery for ultras. Spend less and GPS accuracy collapses, which is the one thing a running watch cannot afford to get wrong. A watch that tells you your 5K was 4.8K is worse than useless. Below is our curated shortlist for UK runners in 2026, organised by need rather than brand. Every pick syncs with Strava natively and automatically. If a watch can't talk to Strava, it doesn't exist to us.
Between us we've run in Garmin, Apple Watch and COROS. We've done parkruns, half marathons and one deeply regrettable ultramarathon. The Garmin won, every time.
Best overall
Garmin Forerunner 265
From £329. The right watch for most runners.Best value
COROS PACE 3
From £219. A silly amount of watch for the money.Best budget
Amazfit Active 2
From £99. Mapping at this price is unheard of.Best for trails
Garmin Fenix 8
From £849. Routable maps. Weeks of battery.Best smartwatch for runners
Apple Watch Ultra 3
From £719. iPhone only, but finally honest.Best battery for ultras
Garmin Enduro 3
From £699. 90 hours of multi-band GPS.Best for recovery data
Polar Vantage V3
From £400. Recovery science nobody else matches.
May 15, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Best Home Printer UK 2026: Laser Beats Ink, Every Time
Last updated: 15 May 2026
By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance
Affiliate disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend kit we would put on our own desks.
Printers are the one piece of tech that has somehow got worse over the past 20 years. They jam, they run out of ink the moment you need them, and they cost more per millilitre than vintage champagne. So when we set out to find the best home printer UK buyers can actually live with in 2026, we started from a position of mild rage and worked outwards.
Here is the short version. For most homes the best home printer UK answer is a small Brother mono laser. It is boring, reliable, cheap to run, and the toner never dries out. If you genuinely need colour at home, skip ink cartridges entirely and buy a refillable ink tank such as an Epson EcoTank or a Canon PIXMA MegaTank. That is the whole guide in two sentences. The rest is the working.
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May 11, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Best Portable Speakers UK 2026: 12 We’d Actually Buy
Last updated: 11 May 2026
By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance
Long before the AirPods era, before Sonos was on every shelf, before "Bluetooth speaker" stopped sounding faintly novel, there was the Jawbone Jambox. We had one of the original models knocking around for years. Tiny, weirdly heavy, sounded like a pocket-sized rock concert, and felt like the future. Then Jawbone went bust, the Jambox died, and the entire portable speaker world quietly got a lot better. So in this guide to the best portable speakers UK shoppers can buy in 2026, we're rounding up the speakers we'd happily replace that old Jambox with today.
A good portable speaker turns a garden into a festival, a kitchen into a club, and a park meet-up into something worth staying for. A bad one sounds like music playing inside a tin can from three rooms away. Here's how to pick the right one without overpaying.
This guide contains affiliate links. If you buy through our links, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
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May 8, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Best Ethical Phone Cases UK 2026: Compostable, Recycled & Built To Last
Last updated: 8 May 2026
By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance
Your phone case is the thing you touch more than almost any other object you own. It's also one of the most frequently replaced accessories on the planet, and most end up in landfill within 18 months. The best ethical phone cases don't have to follow that script. We've tried cheap Amazon eco cases that fell apart in weeks, and we've tried premium ones that lasted years. The price difference is usually about a tenner. That tenner buys you a case that actually protects your phone and doesn't end up as microplastic in the ocean.
So we set ourselves a simple test. Does it look good? Does it protect the phone? And can we actually verify the sustainability claims? If a case ticks all three, it earns a spot on the list.
Some links in this guide are affiliate links. This costs you nothing extra, and it helps support the site.
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May 2, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Best Wireless Earbuds UK 2026: Honest Buying Guide
Last updated: 2 May 2026
By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance
The best wireless earbuds UK shoppers can buy in 2026 are better than ever, and the gap between cheap and flagship has narrowed dramatically. Truly wireless earbuds are the one gadget almost everyone owns and almost everyone settles for. You buy whichever pair is on offer, they're fine for six months, then one bud dies and you start the cycle again. This guide is about breaking that pattern: buy the right pair once and enjoy them for years.
We've split our picks by budget and use case, from the £49 bargains that punch absurdly above their weight to the £250 flagships that earn every penny. Plus a few honest words about durability, ecosystems and whether you actually need ANC.
This guide contains affiliate links. If you buy through our links, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
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May 2, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Best Refurbished MacBooks UK 2026: Models, Prices, Tips
Last updated: 2 May 2026
By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance
A new MacBook Air starts at over £1,000. A refurbished M2 Air with the same performance costs under £700. Same laptop, same build quality, same Apple silicon. The only difference is that someone opened the box before you. Here is our hands-on guide to the best refurbished MacBooks UK buyers can actually trust in 2026, which models are worth your money, and where to get the best deal.
Some links in this guide are affiliate or referral links. This costs you nothing extra and helps support the site.
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April 28, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Best Phone for Every Budget UK 2026 (iPhone, Android, Fairphone)
Last updated: 28 April 2026
By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance
There are too many phones. Every manufacturer releases three tiers, each with two sizes, every year, and frankly it is exhausting. So we have cut through it: here is the best phone for every budget in the UK right now, whether you are team iPhone, team Android, team sustainable, or team "just give me something that works for under £200".
Some links in this guide are affiliate or referral links. This costs you nothing extra and helps support the site.
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April 11, 2026Comments are off for this post.
Best Refurbished Phones UK 2026 – iPhones, Androids and Top Deals
Last updated: 11 April 2026
By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance
This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice.
This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.
There are two types of people at CoolCuration: those who would sell a kidney for the latest iPhone, and those who would rather eat their own SIM card than leave Android. The office group chat is basically a rolling debate about widgets versus AirDrop. However, there is one thing we all agree on: buying refurbished is the smartest phone move you can make in 2026. This guide rounds up the best refurbished phones UK buyers can get right now, covering flagships, budget gems and sustainable picks from both sides of the divide.
Here is a number that should stop you in your tracks. A refurbished iPhone 15 Pro on Back Market right now starts at around £400. That is roughly what you would pay for a brand new iPhone 16e. One gives you the same chip as an iPhone 15, a single camera and no ProMotion display. The other gives you a titanium flagship with a 48MP triple camera system, ProMotion, and full Apple Intelligence support. Let that sink in.
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