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IKEA is the brand most people think of when they want furniture that’s good-looking, decent quality, and relatively affordable. Over the years, however, the store has expanded far beyond furniture. Now you’ll find a growing catalog of smart lighting systems, wireless chargers, and a decent selection of tech gadgets. And when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. If you’re already at IKEA outfitting your living room or bedroom, why not grab the tech that goes in those rooms too?

But here’s the thing: IKEA’s strength has always been furniture, not electronics. And when a company branches out from what it’s mainly known for, the results can be hit and miss. Sure, there’s a long list of smart home devices you could consider buying, and an even longer list of IKEA tech that users say you’ll want for your home office.

Still, a few offerings fall short of what customers expect, especially when IKEA has built such a solid reputation for value. No one likes to waste money or end up disappointed with a purchase. So, here are 4 IKEA tech and tool products that, based on customer feedback and recurring complaints, you might want to skip.

Wireless chargers make a nice addition to your desk and side tables, and a product with about 1,600 customer reviews is certainly popular enough you may consider giving it a try as well. But here’s the problem: close to 400 of those reviews are one-star ratings. That means roughly 1 in 4 reviewers gave it the lowest possible rating, making the LIVBOJ Wireless Charger one of the worst-reviewed tech products at IKEA. Some customers have even said buying it is like throwing $8 down the drain.

Admittedly, this is a very basic wireless charger. IKEA lists its maximum wireless output at 5W, which is at the baseline end of wireless charging. And although wireless chargers have their pros and cons, low wattage isn’t in itself a dealbreaker. Besides, when you pay for a device, you at least expect it to work. Well, that’s the problem with this charging pad. Many owners say it starts charging, then stops anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes later. The phone still sits on the pad, the light stays on, but the charging cycle just stops randomly.

Others find the pad works only with certain devices or needs finicky placement, while some say it never worked at all. Oddly enough, that’s not the worst of it. In some cases, the charger didn’t just fail to charge devices, it actually drained their batteries. One customer placed their phone on the charger and returned ten minutes later to find the battery completely depleted. Another reported their AirPods dropping from 42 percent to zero.

Motion sensors are one of those smart gadgets that can instantly upgrade a living room. But products like the VALLHORN Wireless Motion Sensor have you wondering if IKEA is the place to buy smart home products. Sure, it looks reasonably priced at $12.99, but it’s hard to ignore the 2.9-star rating. The bulk of the complaints come down to the fact that it just doesn’t work the way it should.

On one end, some owners say it constantly detects motion when there’s none. This isn’t the occasional glitch or a sensitivity setting you can tweak. One reviewer said their unit kept triggering even with an empty room, and even after troubleshooting, they couldn’t find a fix. On the other end, some people report the opposite problem. Even after placing the sensor on the floor, 4 feet away, it would not pick up movement at all. There seems to be no middle ground.

And that defeats the whole point. What’s the use of a sensor that either gives false positives or misses motion entirely? To be fair, it does work for some people. But that’s not a gamble you want to take. One customer installed 13 units in their home. At first, only 11 worked properly. Then, over time, they started failing one by one. Five began detecting non-existent motion nonstop, and two had stopped working completely by the time the review was posted. It makes you wonder how many, if any, are still going strong.

The NODMAST LED Portable Lamp is possibly one of the best-looking LED lamps you can get for $19.99. But while it’s cute, many owners say it’s not very functional. A better way to put it is that it’s unreliable. For some, the lamp seems to decide on its own when it’s time to shut off, and a few people say they can’t get it to work again after that. Even with fully charged batteries, some owners say the lamp only stays on for a few minutes before it shuts off again. And swapping in fresh batteries or trying a different brand of battery doesn’t seem to fix the issue either.

Even charging this lamp might give you a headache. Some users report that the lamp blinks constantly while it’s plugged in, which ruins any ambience you might be trying to create in your living room. It’s not a problem you can simply move to the bedroom, because one customer said the flashing was distracting enough to disrupt their sleep. Even if you can find somewhere to hide it while it charges, there’s still one more thing to annoy you.

For a product this good-looking, the design is oddly inconvenient. Something as basic as accessing the battery compartment requires a screwdriver. That extra step is already frustrating, but owners also say you have to read the manual carefully and follow the instructions to the letter. Plus, the battery plate strips easily. Once that happens, you may be unable to open the compartment at all, which means you can’t swap or recharge the batteries.

Last on our list is the SYMFONISK Sonos Wi-Fi Bookshelf Speaker. It’s a collaboration between IKEA and Sonos, and the sound quality is pretty decent. The problem is getting it to work in the first place. Many owners struggle to connect their devices because the app is buggy and unreliable. Sonos did roll out a redesigned version of the companion app. Usually, updates like that fix bugs. In this case, a lot of customers say it didn’t make much of a difference.

They describe the app as unstable and frustrating to use. That’s a shame, because while the hardware does seem solid, the connection experience makes the speaker hard to enjoy. And the price doesn’t even help matters. When these speakers launched in 2023, they cost $99 each. Now one goes for $179.99. And you’ll need two of these if you need to play stereo content. Now, that’s not the kind of money you want to spend on speakers that can be difficult to connect and control.

Also, the fact that these are “Wi-Fi speakers” means you need a steady internet connection and the Sonos app for setup and daily use. If you want something that pairs with Bluetooth or Chromecast, or a device you can use with your mobile hotspot, this is really not the speaker for you. So, between the software complaints, the higher price, and the fact that IKEA and Sonos have ended the SYMFONISK collaboration and now discontinued the entire line of products, there’s no upside to getting this speaker.

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We started by combing through hundreds of reviews on IKEA’s website and flagging products with a clear pattern of consistent, negative feedback. You’ll notice that every item on this list has a substantial ratio of one-star ratings, and the complaints are not random. These are products that don’t work the way they’re advertised, fail far too early, or come with design choices that make them frustrating to use.

Then we used this simple question to narrow the list down: does the product actually deliver on what IKEA is known for, which is decent quality at a fair price? A low price tag is never really an excuse for poor performance. And just to be clear, this piece isn’t intended to discourage you from shopping at IKEA. We do believe IKEA sells a lot of great products. But these specific tech and tool items have too many issues that you’re better off checking out other options.