Six Last Minute Mother’s Day Gifts

Mother's Day

Oh, golly, Mother’s Day is the day after tomorrow! Don’t panic! Or only panic a little bit. Instead, check out our ideas for some good, gadgety gifts.

Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM Freestyle Collection – $129.95

Mother's Day

We have a soft spot for the Ultimate Ears WONDERBOOM speakers. These portable Bluetooth speakers are compact, tough, waterproof and sound pretty good. And they’re well priced.

They’ve been around for more than a year, but Ultimate Ears has refreshed the line with three new colours or styles. “Avocado” is, well, that colour. “Unicorn” has an almost tie-dyed look in pastels. “Concrete” features splashes of black, white and grey.

And if you and another family member want, you can buy mum one each because two can be paired together for a larger sound.

See our report on the Freestyle Collection here, and our review of the Wonderboom in standard colours here.

AncestryDNA Kit – $99

Mother's Day

Nothing says “family” more than Mother’s Day. So, what could be more appropriate than a gift which helps your mum find out more about her forebears. AncestryDNA says it has the “world’s largest consumer DNA database”. Ten million people, it says, and 100 million “family trees”. We assume that they mean 100 million links between those ten million people.

What it might also tell her is things like genetic ethnicity and relationships with previously unknown relatives.

Be fast. The $99 offer ends at one minute to midnight on Mother’s Day. Follow this link and click “Order Now” to get in before the price jumps back up to $129.

Canon SELPHY CP1300 Printer – $169

Mother's Day

Even though they’ve taken up the smartphone with enthusiasm, many mums are old-school enough to want photo prints. But who wants to muck around with Photoshop and computers to get them? Or troop into a print shop.

The Canon SELPHY CP1300 printer can produce borderless six by four prints directly from her phone, wirelessly. Print time? Less than a minute.

The “Party Shuffle” feature lets multiple people send photos to the printer, for more fun for everyone. It’ll produce smaller prints too if she likes.

Read all about this printer here.

Logitech MX Sound premium Bluetooth speakers – $149.95

Mother's Day

In the end, stereo is best for music. Whether mum’s TV needs a sound boost, or her computer. Or if she just wants better music from her phone, the Logitech MX Sound speakers provide real stereo. That’s because there are two physical speakers, not just one.

We enjoyed them when we were using them earlier this year. We discovered that with them “tight, dynamic music could be delivered surprisingly loudly while remaining clean, with distortion below significant levels”.

Plus, they were fun to use, with the motion-sensing control panel popping up when we put a hand near the right-hand speaker.

Read the Gadget Guy review here.

Jaybird RUN Wireless earphones – $249.95

Mother's Day

Is your Mum fit? Does she yearn for the freedom of listening to music or podcasts without having her head tethered to a phone? Then how about wireless earphones. The Jaybird RUN Wireless earphones are a fine example of the genre. Why not get her a pair for Mother’s Day?

As we noted in our review, you can tweak the sound using the free app. That made them “pleasing to listen with.” Just as importantly, they were “perhaps the most comfortable earbuds we’ve ever used”.

And a particularly cool feature: the app has a “Find My Buds” feature. If she misplaces them, the app will help her track them down.

Read the Gadget Guy review here.

Fitbit Versa watch – $299.95

Mother's Day

The newest and lightest of Fitbit’s smartwatches, the Versa is, well, versatile. It combines the standard Fitbit tracker functions, with advice and some of the kinds of things you’ll find in an Apple Watch. It connects by Bluetooth to your phone. It can play music and make “contactless” payments if you have an account with a participating bank.

It’ll run Fitbit apps including SmartTrack and Female Health. And it’ll track her sleep if she wants, giving a clear summary the next morning.

Does she prefer to swim? Well, it’s water resistant to fifty metres so that the Versa can track her swimming as well. The clock face can be customised so that it looks right for any occasion.

We haven’t laid our hands on a Fitbit Versa yet, but you can get a sense of it from the Gadget Guy review of the slightly older, heavier Fitbit Ionic smartwatch.

Not enough for you?

Didn’t see anything that quite hit the mark here? Why not check out our “Mother’s Day Gift Guide – How Much Do You Love Her edition” and our “Mother’s Day Gift Guide – for the more affordable Mum”.