Popcorn is tricky. The kind that tastes good has too much oil to be diet food, and the air-popped kind has that “singed air” flavor. Even more importantly, the air-popped kind won’t hold on to the salt: I’ve had to resort to LICKING air-popped kernels, then dipping them into the salt that has all sifted to the bottom of the bowl.

But now I have a Presto PowerPop. You can make oil-free popcorn in your microwave with it (you get the usual singed-air taste, but no worse than with the loud air-popper you have to find storage for), OR you can do what I do and add just a couple of teaspoonfuls of oil and get popcorn that is NEARLY as good as the good stuff, and ALSO does a pretty good job of holding on to salt. Not as good as if you melted half a stick of butter over it, but a person has to be reasonable. —Swistle

Link: Presto PowerPop on Amazon.com and the 8-pack replacement inserts (each insert lasts 12-24 batches of popcorn, depending on how much oil you use)
Ballpark price: $20 for the popper, $2 for 8 replacement inserts