You don’t need the thinnest, lightest, or most elegantly designed items for your home office. In the space you make your living, you want reliable, comfortable, efficient tools—though it doesn’t hurt if they look nice, too. That’s why a team of three experienced remote workers spent more than 150 hours researching and testing new gear and apps, picking the most office-friendly items from The Wirecutter’s guides to find a selection of tools that we’re sure will earn their place in your workspace.
To round out a work-optimized list of computer, phone, printing, and audio gear, we looked for the best software and apps that help remote workers get organized and connected. We tested apps for time tracking and task management, tax filing, web meetings, and project management, then compared and debated the merits of each to find the best fits for most people.
Once we had our picks, we set them up on our ideal standing desk, took some photos, and then, inspired by the challenge, fixed up our own home offices, as did many other Wirecutter staffers and contributors. We hope this guide provides you with your own spark to make your home office a more efficient and less stressful place to get things done.
Bluetooth headset
Not everyone needs a Bluetooth headset. But if you’re hopping on and off the phone throughout the day, or if you’re often talking on the phone while driving, the Plantronics Voyager Edge is the Bluetooth headset for you. A top-notch model with the right balance of stellar sound quality, long battery life, impressive Bluetooth range, and comfortable fit, the Voyager Edge emerged as the best Bluetooth headset for most people after we tested more than 12 models over 20 hours for our most recent update.
The Voyager Edge hits all the right notes for a Bluetooth headset. A panel of Wirecutter writers and editors, including audio experts, agreed that its outgoing audio sounded better than other models we tested, and its incoming call quality was also excellent. Although it didn’t prove to be the single most impressive model in terms of battery life or range, its performance in those categories still offered the best balance when we considered the price. And although no headset is perfect for all ears, another panel of testers said that the Voyager Edge was one of the most comfortable they’d tested. -NG