Still searching for holiday gifts for geeks? Try these offbeat suggestions recommended by our panel of consultants, from the practical to the fantastic and everything in between.

Season's greetings, holiday shoppers! If you're stumped on geek gift ideas for the techies on your list, look no further than our annual guide.

3D printers aren't a new concept, but this year, our geek gift consultants put them back at the top of their lists as the technology has advanced and become more affordable. Brand names they dropped include Bambu Lab, Creality and Toybox.

"Make your own toys!" enthused one of our geek advisers. "The cheaper ones are really good now."

Cheaper still means between $150 and $250, and at the low end, this geek gift idea isn't for connoisseurs, they warned. "It's more of a toy than a tool. Still good, but you pay for a simple experience, not features/functionality."

Your geek gift recipient may also be in need of an upgrade in the Wi-Fi department, said one of our consultants, who recommended UniFi's cloud gateways and wireless access points.

"If you are like many, you haven't upgraded your Wi-Fi in many years. And guess what, it's showing," they said. "A new Wi-Fi setup will make your existing internet connection perform better! Be careful not to overload frequencies, however, and check to see if you have smart devices around that require the 2.4 GHz frequency."

For geek gift buyers with a limited price range, our geek experts also said that low-end computers have improved over the years. Examples included the $80 Evolve III Maestro Windows computer as well as starter kits for perennial favorites Raspberry Pi and Arduino. Geeks can use these tiny computer kits to build small machines for retro video games, making old printers wireless, and many other forms of tinkering.

"I had low expectations, but it actually quite exceeded them," said an adviser of the Evolve III Maestro. "Here is the reality check -- only use the browser, don't plan on upgrades and don't install applications; this doesn't have the legs for it. [But] I was pleasantly surprised. If it doesn't work out, I can also put Linux or ChromeOS Flex on it!"

Tinkerers might also enjoy an Amazon Echo or Nvidia Jetson development kit, although these can be pricey.

"The Jetson kits are compact, powerful AI computing platforms that allow developers to experiment with deep learning, robotics and edge computing," said one geek consultant. "The Amazon Echo dev kit provides tools and hardware to build and test Alexa Skills and integrate Alexa into smart devices. Same goes for a Google Home developer kit."