Now is the time of year when most of us are asked by loved ones, "What do you want for X holiday?" Just to add to the anxiety of our staffers, we decided to ask them that question as well—what are the things Ars staffers would most like to receive this holiday season?
We were curious not what staffers might expect to receive this season, but instead what they'd be most giddy to unwrap. We knew that doing so would get us a lot of interesting answers, and our staffers didn't disappoint. Responses ran the gamut of tangible and intangible desirables, some of which are truly shoot-for-the-stars gifts and at least one that doesn't cost any money at all. We wanted to share a sampling of the cool things we've had our eyes on as of late, regardless of if they show up on our doorsteps this year or not. Feel free to add what you'd like most this holiday season in the story comments as well.
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Lego Townhouse Pet Shop and Café
Predictably, Lego tops my holiday gift list. My love for Star Wars Lego and, more recently, Lego Speed Champions is well-documented on this site. But for winter 2019, I'm all good when it comes to spaceships and race cars.
No, this year I am jonesing for set #31097, also known as the Townhouse Pet Shop and Café. It's a modern-looking three-floor building complete with some cool brise-soleil action going on, plus a two-floor neighbor with a more classic visage. Yes, it's a step outside my comfort zone, and there's nowhere to park a race car (or a spaceship) without getting creative. But that's the point of Lego, isn't it? I just hope this doesn't act as a gateway to the gigantic (and more expensive) modular buildings, because I have nowhere to display them.
—Jonathan Gitlin, Automotive Editor
Lego Townhouse Pet Shop and Café
Autel Robotics EVO
I want a drone. No, not a silly little indoor/outdoor toy that needs recharging six times to get 10 minutes of use out of it. A real drone, with plenty of power, long range, advanced navigation, a great camera, and better than 15 minutes of fly time. I'm not entirely sure what I'd do with it, mind you... but I want it.
DJI's Phantom 4 Pro v2.0 is the dream, here, but even its normal price of $1,729 is out of my range—and the few Amazon vendors who still have some in stock for the holiday season are scalping them at $2,800 apiece. Nope!
With a budget of $1,000 or so, my top pick—admittedly, as somebody who has never owned a "real" drone yet!—is Autel Robotics' EVO, currently $1,079 on Amazon including two extra batteries. The Autel drone offers 40+ MPH, fly time of around half an hour on one battery, 4.3-mile controller range, and high-quality 4K video. You should be aware of no-fly zones when operating one, though—instead of automatically restricting NFZs like DJI does with the Phantom and Mavic lines, Autel relies on the operator to keep the drone out of them. This may be considered feature as much as bug, since many users report DJI's "nanny" service can ground you due to false positives, like ancient airstrips that have been grassed-over and shut down since the 1960s.
—Jim Salter, Technology Reporter
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