6 Portable Entertainment Gadgets To Buy From Costco (And 5 To Skip)

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As the weather gets warmer and you start spending a bit more time outside, you might be looking for entertainment gadgets you can take on the go. If you have a Costco membership or you're thinking of getting one, the members only warehouse store offers a wide selection of entertainment gizmos. In some cases, you'll even get them more affordably or with extra perks than you would if you bought them elsewhere.

Of course, just because it's on the store shelves doesn't mean you need to take it home. We're looking for gadgets that can be taken with you to the park or on a road trip, for gadgets that add an element of fun to your day, and for gadgets you might actually use on a fairly regular basis. We combed through all of the portable electronics Costco offers to determine whether they're worth adding to your summer plans or better left alone. Here are six portable entertainment gadgets we recommend considering this summer, followed by five others you can probably skip.

The first tablet computer already had been played with in a handful of devices like Samsung's GRiDPad or Fujitsu's PoqetPad, but the iPad was the first to make the technology approachable and accessible to the masses.

A decade-and-a-half after the release of the first version in 2010, the iPad remains a popular choice for its portability and versatility. The iPad Pro is one of Apple's latest and beefiest tablets. It comes with a 12MP Center Stage Front Camera, a 12MP Wide Camera, Face ID functionality, Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, a 13-inch Ultra Retina XDR display, 16GB of memory, and up to 2TB of onboard storage.

While the sticker price is high, you'll save $50 buying the iPad Pro 13-inch with 1TB of storage from Costco, bringing the price down from Apple's $1,899 price tag to $1,849. Moreover, buying Apple products from Costco comes with some additional benefits, namely easier returns. Costco's standard return period is 90 days from purchase, handsomely beating Apple's own 14-day return period.

This is almost like having your own personal movie theater that you can take with you from the theater room to the backyard and wherever summer adventures take you. The C2 Pro portable mini projector bundle from Costco comes with a carrying case, and a portable 120-inch indoor/outdoor projector screen, so you can take family movie night to the backyard.

The projector features two USB ports and two HDMI ports. Like the Hisense M2 Pro, it also features triple laser light for a sharp display with impressive color and brightness. You can change the angle of projection to watch your favorite TV and movies on ceilings, walls, or whatever space you have available. If you're projecting directly onto a wall instead of onto the included screen, it can even detect the color of your wall and adjust the display color accordingly.

You can adjust projected image's size from an already impressive 65 inches to a staggering 300 inches. The projector pairs that with a 20W 2-channel JBL Sound System, for decent built-in audio. And the whole package weighs just 12.6 pounds, so it should be relatively easy to transport on your summer travels.

Drones are practically a dime a dozen these days, the kind of thing you pick up for a few dozen dollars for a kid's birthday and never think about again. The Antigravity A1 8K 360 drone available at Costco seriously ups the ante, with a $1,280 price tag to match.

The gadget features a 360-degree camera which sends video to a pair of 360 Immersive Vision goggles with 2K live viewing. You can fly the drone around as if you're riding in the cockpit, you can even add an augmented reality dragon to put yourself in a fantasy story. Later, in the editing bay, you can manipulate your video to create unique shots, changing the point of view thanks to the 360 degree camera.

The drone weighs in at about 0.55 pounds (249 grams) and the goggles are only about 0.75 pounds (340 grams) so they are easy to transport and wear. It comes with two batteries, each of which can provide up to 24 minutes of flight time. Costco offers the Antigravity A1 as part of an Essentials Bundle, which includes a Grip Motion Controller, two flight batteries, a drone carrying case, a sling bag, landing pad, vision battery (for the goggles), replacement lens kit, a 256GB MicroSD card, and a charging hub.

Nintendo has long dominated the handheld gaming space with devices like the Game Boy and 3DS, and the Switch 2 carries on that tradition. While the Switch and Switch 2 can be docked and used as at-home consoles, they're also designed to be carried around and played pretty much anywhere.

A more powerful system than its older sibling, featuring a 7.9-inch 1080p display, a refresh rate of up to 120fps, and an upgraded dock that supports up to 4K resolution. When buying a Nintendo Switch 2 from Costco, it comes in a bundle with a 256GB MicroSD Express Memory Card and 12 months of Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack individual membership. The latter perk gives you access to classic Nintendo games from the NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, and even SEGA Genesis platforms. You can also back up save data on most games, so if you ever lose your Switch 2, you won't necessarily lose your progress.

If you like Nintendo games (and who doesn't?), then considering the Switch 2 is probably a no brainer, even if you already have a Switch.

Take note Super Soaker, this just might be the water gun of the future. The SpyraGO Premium Electric Water Blaster weighs about 2.5 pounds when empty and three pounds when full. It uses electricity to fire blasts of water a maximum of 26 feet, so you'll never have to pump air into your water gun again.

The blaster has a built-in rechargeable battery that powers up using the included USB-C cable. It can deliver 75 blasts with a full water tank and up to 9,000 water blasts on a fully charged battery. If the action is heavy, water refills might be frequent, but the battery should last you all day. A transparent tank window shows you the fill level and an LED display counts the number of blasts and shows you the battery level.

The same product is available on Amazon for $65, and that's with a discount. A four star rating on Amazon inspires confidence but it's worth picking up from Costco instead. You'll walk out with the same product for just $40. Recommended for kids (and adults) at least eight years old.

Every kid who ever dreamed of being a treasure hunter is probably interested in a metal detector. The National Geographic Junior Metal Detector Treasure Kit is a way to get your kid into the prospecting game without breaking the bank.

The detector weighs only 1.5 pounds for ease of use by little explorers. The handle expands between 33 and 40.5 inches, and it folds down to just 13 inches for storage. In addition to the metal detector, the starter kit comes with a collection of nine rocks and gemstones and five replica gold coins for you to bury or scatter and for your explorer to find. It lights up and beeps when you've found something and it even comes with a trowel for digging up what you've detected.

It's a beginner tool for a budding explorer, but the general consensus in the metal detecting community is that it's a perfectly fine device to start out with. It also carries the NatGeo brand, which counts for at least a little bit, and anything that gets kids outside and digging around in the dirt is probably a good thing.

The Sony PlayStation Portal Remote Player Bundle lets you connect to your PS5 remotely and play your game library without a television. It's cool in concept, but probably unnecessary.

The Portal is basically an 8-inch 1080p LCD display smooshed inside one of PlayStation's DualSense controllers. It might make sense if you could play games directly on the Portal, but this is no SteamDeck. The device requires a PS5 at home to serve as its brain. It's like having a second monitor you can take with you. Besides, buying a dedicated device for several hundred dollars doesn't make much sense when you can do the same thing with gadgets you probably already have on hand.

If you've got a PlayStation 5 and a smartphone with PlayStation's PS Remote Play app you can do basically the same thing. The app lets you play your game library on your phone or tablet using on-screen controls. Alternatively, you can connect a PlayStation controller over Bluetooth or USB to play just like you're at home. It's worth noting that people have complained about connectivity or lag issues, so if you're going to try Remote Play, you might as well use the devices you already have.

Wireless speakers have become a mainstay of many outdoor activities, adding a soundtrack to the festivities, but it is possible to have too much of a good thing. It's not that the Pioneer PSX615 700 Watt All-In-One Party Speaker isn't good, it's just that it's too powerful and unwieldy for the average person.

The speaker connects to your audio source using Bluetooth v5.4 with Auracast, which allows you to connect to multiple speakers at the same time for a surround sound experience. It also has 15 RGB light modes to add a visual element, all terrain wheels for easier transportation, and an IPX4 splash resistant rating to protect your speaker at pool parties and the beach.

The kit comes with a 53-inch telescoping tripod stand, a wireless microphone, and you can control everything via app, including listening to FM radio. It's a heavy hitter more suitable for professional events, and there are plenty of more reasonable wireless speakers on the market. In fact, we have a list of our 10 favorite Bluetooth speakers to get you started.

This little gadget ostensibly follows you around in the air, capturing video as you ski, mountainbike, surf, or what have you. The HoverAir X1 ProMax 8K Self-Flying Camera Bundle claims to have an artificially intelligent navigation system, but users complain it can lose sight of you and disappear. A tragic end for an expensive contraption.

SlashGear's own review of the HoverAir X1 ProMax found it a promising addition to the drone landscape that doesn't quite live up to its promises. It struggles to locate the beacon to follow you and remote flight is difficult because it doesn't reliably transmit video. Those are functions that are pretty crucial to the effectiveness of the drone.

The camera can capture 8K video at 30 fps, or 4K at 120 fps with its 48 MP camera. It's also fast, capable of quick bursts at speeds up to 37 mph and a following speed of up to 26 mph. All of that folds up to fit inside your pocket between uses. It comes with 64GB of built-in storage, two smart batteries, a charging hub, and a combo case. The specs are pretty impressive, so if they can get the kinks worked out, it could be a lot of fun. Self-flying is cool, but only if it's reliable.

Karaoke machines have survived several technological upheavals. Once upon a time they used specialized CD+G discs which contained information for the song audio and lyrics to be displayed on tiny, black and white CRT screens. Today, they can pull any song you want from the internet and provide dynamic, high-resolution displays.

The Singing Machine Ultimate Karaoke Party System features two wireless microphones which charge when slotted into the microphone holders on the back, a 10-inch touchscreen, and built-in connectivity to Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and other music streaming services. It also features an AI vocal removal feature, designed to remove the vocals from existing music tracks so you can replace the artist's voice with your own. Not to mention the machine's Bluetooth, HDMI, and USB connectivity.

It's a fine karaoke machine, but at the end of the day, you can probably hit the karaoke bar every now and again instead of carting around this techno-musical beast.

While the Meta Quest 3 is a fine VR machine and easily portable (one of the selling points is the lack of wired connection to an external computer or console), it might not be the best choice for most folks. People dipping their toes into the VR space (that's most people) will likely want something  more affordable.

The Meta Quest 3 is undoubtedly good at what it does. Each eye gets its own dedicated display offering 4K resolution, with 2,064 pixels by 2,208 pixels per eye. It comes with 512GB of onboard storage and a 12 month Meta Horizon+ subscription, improved controllers, and more functionality when compared with previous versions.

The hefty price tag is a little staggering at $500, the same as the device cost when it was released nearly three years ago. Whether you're a VR newbie or a veteran of cyberspace, if you're looking for a new rig, you might be better off waiting for the next Meta Quest (if it arrives) or checking out competing options to find something that meets your budget, functionality needs, and familiarity with the medium.

Costco has a broad and ever-changing selection of products, with new electronic gadgets hitting the company's physical and digital store shelves on a pretty regular basis. We completed our search in May 2026 with an eye toward the coming summer.

To make the list, every product had to be portable, it had to have an electronic component, and it had to have some demonstrable entertainment value. From there, we considered things like cost, likely frequency of use, competing products, age, and more to determine whether it was worth adding to your cart or not.

When recommending a device, we relied on reviews from expert sources including SlashGear and other trusted publications. In the case of the metal detector, we relied on two factors. First, the general consensus of online metal detecting communities is that it's a good device for novice explorers. Second, that the device's specifications exceed what you might expect, given its entry-level price tag and intended age range. When we decided not to recommend a product, we relied on a combination of expert reviews, and common sense. In some cases, it's not that the products aren't good or that they don't do what they say they do, it's just that they probably aren't suited to the average person and you can probably skip them in favor of something more suitable to your needs.