The 50 most innovative, economical and exceptional products of 2019 have been revealed, as our team of experts have painstakingly ranked their favourites of the year.
The votes have been cast and the results counted. From home and garden to tech, cars and everything in between, more than 3,500 products have been whittled down to just 50 – our standout picks of 2019.
Our team of testers voted on their favorite products that had been launched and tested between September 2018 and September 2019, so you’ll have to wait for next year’s list to find out whether high-profile recent launches, such as the iPhone 11, make the cut.
Scroll down to see our top 50 below, or sign up for a trial to Which? for instant access to thousands of product reviews.
The contenders: 50-11
Here’s a brief look at some of the contenders for this year’s honours, and we go into more detail on the top 10 below.
| 50 |  |
Casper The Essential Mattress | £400 for a double | The popular ‘bed-in-a-box’ mattress market isn’t done yet – and this is one of the cheapest we’ve seen. |
| 49 |  |
Cybex Priam (2019) | £685 | A makeover for 2019 gave the Cybex Priam a new lease of life, even if the price is a little on the high side. |
| 48 |  |
Belling IHT6013 | £249 | Although it lacks a few features found in pricier induction hobs, it still impressed our judges. |
| 47 |  |
Stihl FSA 85 | £380 (with battery) | Powerful but pricey, if you need the extras, this trimmer should make short work of your lawn. |
| 46 |  |
Philips GC4902/26 Azur | £70 | Not the ideal Christmas present perhaps, but an effective household essential nonetheless. |
| 45 |  |
Asus ZenBook Pro UX580GD | £2,200 | An unusual laptop that was praised for its innovation – even if this sort of power comes at a price. |
| 44 |  |
Haden Salcombe 191168 | £49 | Our judges appreciated the aesthetics of this toaster and its ability to handle pretty much any bread. |
| 43 |  |
VQ Lark | £80 | A great cheaper alternative to rivals Pure, the VQ Lark has an impressive array of features. |
| 42 |  |
Nextbase 222 | £70 | Judges were impressed by how cheap this dash cam was, even if it lacks some more modern innovations. |
| 41 |  |
Audio Pro A10 | £179 | Pair two of these wall-mountable speakers for stereo sound, plus it’s especially good for speech. |
| 40 |  |
Ion PRO100BT | £150 | As a turntable that’s both affordable and packed with modern features, this could be just the thing to keep the vinyl market alive. |
| 39 |  |
Fairy Platinum Plus All in One | £12 for 60 | A staple for the home – these tablets aren’t cheap, although they can often be found with a good discount. |
| 38 |  |
Russell Hobbs RHMM703S | £59 | A compact, high-performance microwave that won’t break the bank – it’s also user-friendly and easy to keep clean. |
| 37 |  |
Sage Nespresso Creatista Uno SNE500BKS | £244 | Capable of dispensing delicious coffee quickly and quietly, it also has a steam wand and multiple milk-frothing settings. |
| 36 |  |
Amazon Echo Show 5 | £80 | With improved sound and a decent display, the Echo Show could finally be ticking all the right boxes. |
| 35 |  |
Beko Pro DHX93460W | £420 | If energy efficiency is important, they don’t come much better than this Beko machine – saving the environment and your wallet. |
| 34 |  |
Sage The Fresh & Furious | £149 | A versatile blender that’s as good at crushed ice as it is green smoothies – although it is pretty pricey. |
| 33 |  |
Canton DM 60 | £299 | A sound base that’s reasonably priced and did well in our tests – an easy choice for our judges’ shortlist. |
| 32 |  |
Beko CEG5301X | £249 | Some bean-to-cup coffee machines cost upwards of £1,000 – this one’s far more affordable and makes a good brew. |
| 31 |  |
Apple MacBook Pro 2019 | £1,299 | A flagship Apple laptop at a new lower price – there’s plenty to like about this year’s MacBook. |
| 30 |  |
Nikon Z6 | £2,249 | An example of exactly why mirrorless cameras have been attracting attention over their DSLR cousins. |
| 29 |  |
Cybex Cloud Z i-Size | £225 | Five stars in our tough crash tests means Cybex aces protection here, plus it’s versatile too. |
| 28 |  |
Doro 1370 | £35 | Doro is still champion of the ‘simple phone’, for those who don’t want to spend a lot on a handheld. |
| 27 |  |
Huawei Honor Band 4 | £32 | Get fit on the cheap – Huawei impressed as a great entry-level fitness tracker to get you up and running. |
| 26 |  |
Apple Apple Watch Series 4 GPS + Cellular | £400 | With health and safety tech in the form of a fall monitor and ECG, the Apple Watch has managed to evolve again. |
| 25 |  |
Dualit Lite JKT43 | £85 | It’s quick and quiet, plus it looks great. This expensive kettle could be just the thing for your kitchen. |
| 24 |  |
Oppo RX17 Pro | £360 | This relatively new brand to the UK is causing waves by packing top-end specs into great-value handsets. |
| 23 |  |
JBL 650BTNC | £139 | JBL’s entry price for the 650BTNC has dropped, making it a great option at a reasonable price. |
| 22 |  |
Nutri Ninja FreshVac Personal Blender | £130 | The first mini blender with vacuum features. We saw fewer bubbles and less foam in our smoothies – so it works. |
| 21 |  |
Brompton Electric | £2,595 | It’s compact, lightweight and practical – plus it has an electric motor on the front wheel. Brompton does it again. |
| 20 |  |
LG 43UM7500PLA | £399 | Good smaller TVs aren’t easy to come by, but LG stands out with this 43-inch model, plus at a very reasonable price. |
| 19 |  |
Aldi Almat Bio Super Concentrated laundry liquid | £1.79 | Aldi’s own-label liquid laundry detergent has broken into the top 20 – testament to its outstanding value |
| 18 |  |
LG 55UM7660PLA | £549 | Closer to entry-level than high-end, LG’s larger sets impressed our judges too – even when priced as keenly as this. |
| 17 |  |
Bosch SMV68MD01G | £649 | There are no smart features, but this built-in Bosch is half the price of similar models, so it gets a big tick for value. |
| 16 |  |
BT Smart Hub 2 | £200 | BT’s Smart Hub 2 claims to lead the way in broadband technology, and our judges agreed it deserved to make the shortlist. |
| 15 |  |
Nextbase 422GW | £103 | With potentially life-saving safety features – this dash cam can call emergency services if you crash – Nextbase is on to a winner. |
| 14 |  |
LG OLED65C9PLA | £2,299 | LG’s certainly had a bumper year for TVs – both in market terms and the Which? Top 50. Its high-end OLED shows it’s the brand to beat. |
| 13 |  |
Dyson V11 Absolute | £599 | This is one expensive vacuum cleaner, but with plenty of tricks up its sleeve. Dyson is still the brand to beat on cordless cleaning. |
| 12 |  |
Samsung Galaxy S10 5G | £1,099 | One of the most expensive smartphones ever made, but Samsung has future-proofed with 5G. Plus, it’s rather good. |
| 11 |  |
AEG X Force | £99 | We love great value, and this AEG corded vac certainly ticks that box. An imperfect bargain. |
The top 10 Which? products of the year
When all’s said and done, there can only be one winner. But nine other products made the race to the finish a tight call.
10. LG GBB92STAXP – £999
Never before have we seen a fridge freezer that simultaneously manages to be both this powerful and this efficient.
You can count on it to chill and freeze your food in next to no time, helping to maximise the freshness of your food and keep heat-loving bacteria at bay, while also being extremely economical to run.
This LG model is therefore a fitting end to a decade where the refrigeration industry as a whole has made outstanding progress in energy efficiency.
Read our LG GBB92STAXP review to find out if you’ll like using it as much as your food will like being in it, plus browse all our fridge freezer reviews.
9. Realme 3 Pro – £165
If there’s one thing we love more than a great mobile phone, it’s being completely surprised by a new contender. Realme achieved this to such a degree that it actually got more votes from our experts than any other mobile phone.
Despite its bargain-basement price, the 3 Pro looks the part and has an eye-catching list of specifications. But can it actually compete with big-name rivals for speed and battery life?
Read all our mobile phone reviews.
8. Apple iPad Pro 11-inch – £769
In stark contrast to the Realme 3, which is one of the cheapest smartphones we’ve tested, the the iPad Pro (11-inch) is one of the priciest tablets around.
So it’s perhaps not surprising that it redefines what a tablet can do. Its stunning screen has a high refresh rate for silky smooth instant response and it produces colours to such a high standard that even the fussiest of creative professionals will be impressed. But is it actually capable of replacing your laptop?
Read our iPad Pro review to see how it fares, or check out our full list of iPad and tablet reviews.
7. Apple AirPods (2019) – £159
Not to be confused with the AirPods Pro, which arrived too late to be considered for this year’s list, the standard version of Apple’s distinctive wireless headphones impressed our experts with their ability to pack such good sound quality into such a small sleek package.
Many rivals struggle to do the same, but is Apple also ahead of the pack for battery life and comfort?
Read our Apple AirPods review to see if it sounds good, and browse all our headphones reviews.
6. rCup Leakproof Travel Cup – £12
You might think takeaway coffee cups are recyclable, but while they’re mostly paper, they usually have a thin plastic lining, making them hard to process. It means most end up in landfill.
It has been estimated that 2.5bn disposable cups are thrown away in the UK each year, so it’s not hard to see why our expert team of product testers picked the rCup – the world’s first reusable cup made from recycled paper cups – as one of the products of the year.
Find out where the rCup ranks for heat retention in our round-up of the best reusable coffee cups and travel mugs.
5. Amazon Kindle 2019 – £70
It’s easy to overlook a product that has been part of so many consumers’ lives for so long. But, more than 12 years after it launched, Amazon’s most basic Kindle deserves celebrating.
That’s because, as of 2019, the most basic version of the Kindle now comes with a set of LED lights built into the screen to make the Kindle legible at night without needing a torch or a lamp, a feature that was previously only available on more expensive versions.
Read our full Amazon Kindle review, and see how it stacks up to other e-readers with our ebook reviews.
4. Sony WH-1000XM3 – £249
Noise-cancelling headphones are extremely popular with regular travellers because they actively cancel our unwanted background sound, such as aircraft and railway noise. That is, provided you buy a good pair.
Our tests reveal that great noise-cancelling doesn’t come cheap and, true to form, these pricey Sony headphones have industry-leading noise-cancelling, earning them a spot in our top five products of 2019. But is the sound quality good enough to do justice to the outstanding noise-cancelling?
Read our Sony WH-1000XM3 review to find out, and check all our headphones reviews.
3. Ikea Malfors (002.774.23) – £99 for a double
Despite such a low price and simple foam design, this mattress provides better spinal support than many we’ve tested, including luxurious handmade mattresses costing 10 times more.
It performed well in our rigorous durability tests, which include running a barrel over the mattress thousands of times to simulate 10 years of use. It’s also breathable, long-lasting and excellent at preventing the transfer of movement from one side of the bed to the other.
Read our Ikea Malfors review to find out how it fared in the rest of our tough tests, plus our mattress reviews reveal all the top contenders.
2. Sony SRS-XB01 – £20
Coming in at second place is this minuscule speaker that packs a big punch. The SRS-XB01 is smaller than 10cm in width, height and depth, but we found it achieves a beautifully clear and driven sound from a tiny apple-sized Bluetooth speaker – and at a bargain price as well.
Its secret is an innovative design that enhances bass. It’s a breeze to use, with 3.5mm aux-in and splash-resistance as well. It has outscored speakers many times its price – making its second-placed position well deserved.
Read our Sony SRS-XB01 review for our full review, or browse all our wireless and Bluetooth speakers reviews.
1. Hyundai Kona Electric – from £35,100
The Hyundai Kona Electric makes one of the strongest cases yet for people to make the switch to emissions-free driving.
It really impressed in our driving range tests. While some mainstream rivals can only manage 124 miles on a full charge, the Kona Electric managed 233 miles. To drive any further on a single charge you’d have to sink vastly more into a Tesla, of which the cheapest – the Model 3 – is around £7,000 more. For this you’ll get just 31 more miles.
The Kona not only has the potential for vastly reducing both running costs and has zero exhaust emissions, but also improves the driving experience, being far smoother, quieter and more refined than Hyundai’s petrol alternative.
Read our Hyundai Kona Electric review for our expert verdict, and check out all our new & used cars reviews.
All prices correct as of October 2019.