These Smart Tech Gadgets Make Great Father’s Day Gifts

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Father’s day is around the corner, and this year, I think you should be smart about what you get him. With all the wifi and app enabled tech on the market, your gifts can do more than offer dad a quick laugh or another tie or coffee mug he won’t get much use out of

These nine smart tech gifts can free up more time he can spend with family, and inspire his inner nerd, sports geek or home brewer.

This robot lawnmower

There is no better gift than removing a chore from dad’s to-do list. There are now lots of robot lawnmowers on the market, but few are as good as those in Mammotion’s lineup. The new Luba mini is perfect for lawns up to a quarter-acre and is half the price of the full size Luba 2. Setting up this particular mower is also pretty fun—you can think of it like a big remote control car. 

The Fitbit Sense 2

If dad’s been holding back on getting a fitness wearable, Fitbit’s current sale, well-timed for Father’s Day, drops the price of the Sense 2 by 20%. The Sense 2 tracks steps, sleep, ECG, oxygenation, heart and even offers GPS. The band comes in a few different manly colors, including graphite, platinum and blue mist, and your purchase includes a six month membership to the Fitbit app. 

The ChiliPad smart bed-cooling system

There is no marriage conflict more universal than the battle over what temperature to keep the bedroom (and how many blankets to pile on the bed). But smart climate control systems for sleep are now available, and can turn this eternal struggle into a bad memory. Using a Chilipad allows each person to control their precise sleeping temperature: Cooled or heated water passes through the coils in the sleeping pad, and each person controls their own side via the app or controls on the machine itself. 

The Brisk It Zelos smart smoker

People who like to smoke meat spend a lot of time standing over a grill—even overnight. Brisk It, a smart smoker, does away with that requirement, managing the smoking process to your precise specifications, without you’re direct involvement. You can use it to control and monitor every aspect of the process through the beautifully designed and easy-to-use app. Brisk It grills also come with Vera, an AI system that will find recipes for anything you’re trying to create and send the relevant program directly to the grill to execute. 

The Huupe Mini smart basketball hoop

A baseball hoop is a dorm room classic, but the Huupe is the adult version—perfect for offices, the den, and even the family room. It has an LED screen (which doubles as a TV, and is loaded with lots of streamer apps) that provides different backgrounds based on the game you choose. You can boot it up and play against family members or people around the world. The kit comes with everything from a remote and door hanging hardware to a pump for the basketball. 

A Smartref refractometer

Any dad who is into home brewing (or winemaking, mead-making or any alcohol-making, really) has likely have been sweating over some of the more critical stages of fermentation. The Smartref is a modern take on an old tool: the refractomoter, which measures sugar content and moisture levels. This app enabled version can take lab quality measurements of brix and wort, and even suggest how to correct issues with a brew. 

A Ting fire monitor and Aqara water valve controller

In combination, these two devices can do more than give dad a discount on home insurance—they can provide legit peace of mind. The Ting plugs into any outlet and keeps a consistent eye on possible electrical problems that could lead to fires. The Aqara water valve controller connects to your main water line and checks for suspected leaks anywhere in the home, stepping in if there’s unexpected usage. Both are passive tools you monitor from a phone, and in concert, give any home-owning dad (or anyone who owns a home) one less thing to stress about.

Rayban Meta glasses

If you haven’t tried smart glasses yet, they are a true delight, at first and over the long haul—you can’t help but smile like a loon when you put them on and feel like you’re experiencing the future. These Meta Rayban specs are particularly well priced, and give you the ability to take pictures on the fly, listen to audio and take calls via the built-in speakers, and most importantly, ask questions and get immediate answers from Meta’s AI. One of Lifehacker’s resident dads, Stephen Johnson, gave them a solid thumbs up.