Paper Shredders, Portable Document Scanners, 24-inch Monitors, Deals, Updates and More

Next Week: Paper Shredders After we interviewed a man who made his living stealing discarded personal data and then tested paper shredders with a physicist, we found the best. We recommend the $50 AmazonBasics 12-Sheet Cross-Cut for your paper-document, credit-card, or data-DVD-shredding needs. It was our pick last year, and we still couldn't find a shredder with comparable shredding capacity for the same low price. —Andrew The Best Portable Document Scanner We spent 70 hours on research and hands-on testing to find that the $260 Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i is the best portable document scanner for most people. It’s small enough to take anywhere and can be powered by your laptop’s USB ports, making it more versatile than the others we tested. Plus, it has the most user-friendly scanning software compared to the competition’s. The Best 24-inch Monitor For the third year in a row, the best monitor for most people is the Dell UltraSharp U2412M ($245). We spent two months researching monitors, and this 24-inch monitor has the best combination of image quality, features, ergonomics, screen size, and price of any of the 24 total monitors that we considered serious contenders—and dozens more that weren't. Some other monitors might beat our pick in individual areas, but the U2412M's overall package makes it a great, inexpensive choice for most desks. Its IPS panel delivers more accurate colors (and at good viewing angles that you would use while working) versus monitors that use TN panels to cut costs. Our pick also offers more screen real estate—and is a lot more adjustable—than similarly priced IPS monitors. The Best Adjustable Dumbbells After almost three months of research and more than six weeks of personal and panel testing, we’ve determined that the $300 Bowflex SelectTech 552s are the dumbbells that we’d tell most people to get. Out of the six sets we tested, some excelled at strength-training exercises (“pumping iron” to build muscles) and others were better at fast-paced conditioning workouts (more aerobic, like CrossFit, P90X, or calisthenics), but the Bowflex proved the best overall when testing for both uses. Also, this is the only set that comes with actually useful instructions to help get you started safely—including a DVD with an introduction to resistance training and even some tips for experienced lifters. The Best Hybrid Car After spending dozens of hours considering every hybrid that’s currently on sale (and driving and living with the better ones), we found the best choice for most is the standard 2015 Toyota Prius Two, which starts around $25,000 but can be bought by most for as little as $23,000. No duh, huh? Inner Vision for the weekend of January 30, 2015 In this weekend’s edition of Inner Vision, learn how to recover deleted photos from your SD card, get better seats on a plane for free, and make being thrifty pay off (sometimes). The Best Deals We Can Find Because we think we can make a small difference by being picky, here are some great deals on solid pieces of gear. Updates * There were some promising 4K (and above) monitors at CES this year, and we've added them to our guide. But we still haven't found one with all the features we expect in a great monitor. [The Best 4K Monitor (Doesn't Exist Yet)] * We've updated several of our headphone guides--noise-cancelling over-ears, $150-ish over-ears, under-$40 in-ears, exercise headphones, and best on-ears--with the gear we anticipate testing between now and the summer. * The Apple Watch will go on sale some time in April, says Apple. [Best Smartwatch] * Dropcam says it will stop supporting its oldest IP cameras (the first version of the Dropcam and the Dropcam Echo) as of April 15. But in doing so, it is also offering owners a free replacement camera: the latest version of the original Dropcam, our current step-down pick. [Best Wireless IP Camera] Follow on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend Check out our sister siteThe Sweethome; it's a Wirecutter for house supplies and homewares. Notes We support the dozens of hours that go into our evaluations through a small kickback on purchases through our links. Here's how to support our writers and our work. For more on our ethics and how we work, read this. Help wanted. We have a number of open positions ranging from managing editor to researcher. [Jobs] The true price of something is to be considered by dividing its cost over the hours you'll use it.