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For the sixth straight year, the editors at Popular Mechanics have continued their tradition of picking out products and innovators they believe are changing the world in their annual Breakthrough Awards. Here's the year's ten best products. But visit the site for the year's biggest innovators, an interview with visionary Craig Ventor, and much more.![Bosch Miter Saw]()
Bosch's engineers looked at the typical miter's limited range of motion and envisioned the saw as it should have been designed. Typical compound-miter-saw blades are stuck on rails. For the Bosch Axial-Glide Miter Saw ($700), the company’s engineers looked at the tool’s limited range of motion and envisioned the saw as it should have been designed. They replaced the rails with a series of six hinges so that a pair of triple-jointed limbs on the 12-inch, dual-bevel saw articulate like scissors jacks, gracefully and intuitively snapping into position to chop even at an odd compound angle. Popular Mechanics Full Miter Saw Test![Chevrolet Volt]()
Brilliant Idea: A series hybrid that augments a battery pack with an onboard gas engine, easing range anxiety and paving the way for EV adoption. It’s an EV early adopter’s worst nightmare: running out of juice, miles from the nearest charging station. With the Volt, Chevrolet is intent on squelching those fears. When the car’s 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack becomes depleted, the car automatically switches to a gas engine—a transition that is remarkably smooth (it’s nearly impossible to discern on the road). Plus in-dash screens add the gee-whiz element of revealing the car’s inner workings. For a plug-in series hybrid, there’s a lot of hardware—a gas engine, a large battery and electric motors—and clever ideas under the hood, pushing the price to $41,000 ($33,500 after the federal subsidy), a princely sum for a small car. But the Volt is more than the sum of its cutting-edge parts: It’s a dramatic reinvention of the great American car, without sacrificing the great American road trip. Read more about the Chevy Volt at Popular Mechanics.![Sony Alpha NEX-5 Camera]()
Technically speaking, the 14.2-megapixel Sony Alpha NEX-5 isn’t a digital SLR, but it has all the best parts of the bulky black boxes. Technically speaking, the 14.2-megapixel Sony Alpha NEX-5 ($700) isn’t a digital SLR. But it has all the best parts of the bulky black boxes—including the ability to swap lenses and a high-quality image sensor—in a package that is far smaller. In fact, it’s the smallest interchangeable-lens camera yet. The NEX-5 even trumps an expensive SLR in one key respect: It is so adept at low-light shooting that Sony’s engineers decided to design the camera without a built-in flash. What to Look for in a Digital SLR Camera![Trane ComfortLink II]()
This thermostat gathers online forecasts and fires up heating and cooling equipment as the weather changes. It seems almost unfair to compare standard thermostats to Trane’s ComfortLink II ($300). When planning HVAC schedules, the device’s 7-inch touchscreen interface eclipses the competition for ease of use and clarity of information. That’s key, because the device has so much data to share. It gathers online forecasts and fires up heating and cooling equipment as the weather changes. It also remembers a house’s HVAC history, allowing users to compare costs from year to year. But the best features could be yet to come: Trane claims the system could eventually be used to measure specific machines’ performance, combining that with information gathered from local utilities to project costs of a home’s HVAC operation over time.![Sprint EVO 4G]()
In addition to being able to surf the web on its 4.3-inch screen at 4G speeds, the EVO can serve as a mobile hotspot, allowing up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices to tap into the network. Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network should be accessible in dozens of cities through several handsets as of ... now. But it all started in June with the HTC-manufactured Sprint EVO 4G ($200). We’d been waiting anxiously for 4G—in a nutshell, a cellular network that offers Wi-Fi-like data speeds. By comparison, today’s often sluggish and overtaxed 3G networks seem even more … well, sluggish and overtaxed. Competitors have promised their own 4G networks (most of which forgo WiMAX for the alternate LTE technology), but so far, Sprint’s is the only one that is operational. Your Guide to 4G Wireless Networks![Stihl Hedge Trimmer]()
This 36-volt lithium-ion trimmer is poised to convert fans of gas-powered models. Two-stroke, gas-powered tools are famously polluting and loud, but electric variants typically lack the power or durability to really be practical. The 36-volt lithium-ion Stihl HSA 65 Cordless Hedge Trimmer ($500)—the first product to be introduced in a new line of battery-powered yard tools by Stihl—is poised to convert those homeowners demanding a pro-level cut. A single charge provided more than enough power to completely trim and shape a good-size yard during our tests. And because the trimmer can be turned off and on with the flip of a switch, it is also more convenient than gas-fueled models: There’s no temptation to idle it. The First Zero-Turn Electric Lawn Mower![Nissan Leaf]()
Brilliant Idea: A pure EV with space for five, a moderate price and enough range for most tasks—plus, an operating cost that's irresistibly low. It’s not the first pure EV, but the Leaf is hitting the mainstream like none of its predecessors. At $33,720 ($26,220 after the federal rebate), the Leaf costs the same as an average car and offers a 100-mile range—enough to cover the needs of the vast majority of commuters and errand runners. More than 13,000 U.S. buyers have already plunked down $99 deposits, and Nissan hopes to soon move 150,000 units a year worldwide. The car is eerily quiet to drive. “The vehicle is equipped with a sound generator just so people can hear it coming,” says Paul Hawson, product planner for the Leaf. A rational EV that doesn’t drive like a science project? About time. Read Popular Mechanics Full Nissan Leaf Test Drive![Qualcomm Snapdragon]()
A new processor that offers phones more than 1 GHz of speed and almost-all-day battery life. While today's app-hungry superphones require almost as much speed as a desktop, the chips that power PCs consume enough energy to drain a phone battery in minutes. Enter the Qualcomm Snapdragon, a processor that offers phones (such as the EVO 4G) more than 1 GHz of speed, as well as almost-all-day battery life. Competitors Nvidia and Apple have followed with their own 1-GHz chips, but Qualcomm continues to push the envelope, with 1.3-GHz processors coming out this year and upcoming dual-core mobile chips that run at 1.5 GHz. Is Qualcomm’s Mirasol the Future of Low-Power Displays![DeLorme Earthmate]()
This gadget not only provides detailed topographical maps and GPS guidance in the backcountry, it also lets explorers send SOS messages with embedded coordinates via satellite if they’re in trouble. For sure, many adventurers head into the wild precisely to go where cell phones cannot. But being truly incommunicado can be dangerous when a hiking trip is visited by disaster. DeLorme’s Earthmate PN-60w with SPOT Communicator ($600) not only provides detailed topographical maps and GPS guidance in the backcountry, it also lets explorers send SOS messages with embedded coordinates via satellite if they’re in trouble—or Facebook updates if they’re not. Best GPS Units![The iPhone Mechanic]()
By using an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch as a window into a car’s computer, the GoPoint scan tool and its accompanying app offer the kind of diagnostic info that usually requires a trip to the mechanic to retrieve. Modern cars rely on sophisticated computers to operate their engines and internal electronics. To access these computers, owners typically need to use a scan tool—a device that can cost thousands of dollars. By using an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch as a window into a car’s computer, the GoPoint scan tool and its accompanying app ($100) offer the kind of diagnostic info that usually requires a trip to the mechanic. The intuitive interface allows DIYers to view trouble codes, turn off the Check Engine light and monitor every electrical signal that goes through the computer in real time. How to Use an Auto Scan ToolBreakthroughs! 10 Best Products of 2010
From electric cars to ultrahigh-resolution cameras to all-day computing power, here are the ten products that truly moved society forward in 2010 -- thanks to Popular Mechanics annual salute the year's biggest breakthroughs. Read the full story.
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