VAVA Voom 20 Bluetooth speaker

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Outstandingly good

This is a bit of class.  I was sent it for review; I test a lot of speakers and the VAVA Voom 20 is quite outstanding in this price range.

The speaker comes beautifully packaged (see the video), marking it as a product made with real care.  The speaker itself is splash-proof and very well made. It is neat and stylish with elegant push-panel controls on the top and a well sealed input/output panel at the back.  Here you can connect an AUX jack (supplied) to non-Bluetooth devices, a micro-USB lead (also supplied) to charge the speaker, and there's also a USB port which acts as a power bank to charge a phone or similar.

It all works very well.  Bluetooth pairing is simple both conventionally and via NFC and the signal is very solid up to at least 8 metres. You can connect to two Bluetooth devices at once of you want to.  Battery life is good; I haven't run it to exhaustion but the advertised 10 hours sounds quite reasonable to me.

The controls work well for both music and hands-free calls – but unusually, there's no skip forward or back control on the speaker.  This isn’t a problem for me, but some people might like to know.

It's the sound quality which makes the Voom20 really special.  The top and middles are very crisp and well-articulated, and the bass is superb from such a small unit.    Classical music sounds rich and full, with cellos ringing beautifully and orchestral music articulated with real crispness. Rock is fantastic, and even the deep sub-bass in London Grammar's Hey Now comes through beautifully.  I've played a lot of music through this speaker, from 16th century choral music to modern, high-production rocky stuff, and everything sounds great: Nigel North's lute, Eric Clapton's guitar, Rachel Podger's violin, Danny Thompson's bass, full orchestras, Wolf Alice, a string quartet and the voices of Emma Kirkby, Roger Daltrey, Leonard Cohen, Thea Gilmore, The Tallis Scholars…and so on.  I really have put this through its paces and I haven't found a weakness.

The only speaker I know which is in the same class as this is the ADX Pulse V4.  I think I still prefer the Pulse whose bass is quite astonishingly good, but the Voom 20 runs it very close – and is better for outdoor use because it's splashproof.  I've had full sized stereos which haven't sounded as good as this and if you want a classy speaker with excellent sound and very good build quality I can recommend this warmly.

Mecool compact messenger bag

Rating: 5/5

Review: 
A very good messenger bag

This is a very good messenger bag.  I was sent a sample for review and it's smart and of good, robust quality.

The bag is quite small.  The dimensions given  are accurate, (8.6" W x 10.2" H x 3.9" D) but be aware that the main pocket is only about 2.5in (less than 6cm) deep.  It's big enough to take my 8" tablet and in the lining there is a zipped pocket which would take a phone and  a couple of other little pockets for pens and small objects.  There's also a front pocket with a magnetic closer and a more secure zipped pocket on the back.  The bag is smart and compact but it's designed more for personal essentials than for a whole day's college supplies, for example. 

It's very well made.  The materials are good quality; the canvas is durable but quite flexible, the lining is very nice, the strap is very strong and the zips and fastener are good.  Stitching is very solid and neat, and the whole thing has a very durable, rather classy air about it.

As always on-line, be careful with the colours.  My brown bag is *very* brown – much deeper in colour than it appears on the page here, so I think the other colours will be deeper than they appear, too.  Not a problem, but something to be aware of.

I think this is a very nice bag.  I can't fault it for quality and it's neatly designed and practical.  If you're after a small, neat messenger bag for your everyday essentials this will do you very well, I think.

Amazon page HERE

NOA 4.5" smartphone

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A very good budget smartphone

I like this phone.  I was sent it for review and at this price I suspected it may be poor quality tat, but it's a very good budget phone.  It's a little low spec, but it's robust, it  works very well and I think it is excellent value.  (At the time of writing it costs around seventy quid.)

When reading this review, please bear in mind that I am in late middle age and that my use may not reflect yours. I don't game, tweet or upload lots of photos, for example; I use the phone for calls and texts, music, email, taking some photos, catching up on radio programmes and occasional TV and a little web browsing. Also, I'm no expert on lots of technical specification and so on, but for what it's worth:

It's very nicely packaged and I think the phone itself is attractive; it's in white plastic and has nice styling.  It seems robust, it's easy to set up by installing the removable (and therefore replaceable) battery.

The 4.5" screen is very good to my eyes.  It's clear and sharp with decent colours and it's reasonably tolerant of viewing angle. although it isn't great when viewed at an angle and you do need to keep it pretty straight on to you. Also supplied with the phone are a spare screen protector, a user manual, an adequate pair of earphones, a mains charger (with an EU-type plug, so you'll need an adaptor) and a micro-USB lead - all in white with some rather garish orange trim.

Everything I need works very nicely for me - the phone runs Android 5.1, all the functions I want are simple and pretty intuitive, and it seems pretty quick. The internal memory is 8GB which isn't huge, but it's adequate and you can expand it with a micro-SD card. (I use a 32GB card and it works fine).  It is dual micro-SIM and there are three slots so you can install two SIMs and an SD card, which not all dual-SIM phones have. 

(Note that this works on 4G network FDD-LTE 100/1800/2600/800MHz, Band 1/3/7/20.  You will need to check that it will give 4G on your network.)

In use, this phone is fine for me. Everything I want just works. The battery lasts for several days with my light use (although I carry a little power bank just in case). Music played through speakers this small always sounds pretty terrible to me and this is no exception, but through headphones or via Bluetooth the sound is excellent and the music player is fine. Bluetooth is simple and stable up to a decent range. The cameras aren’t brilliant at 8mp and 5mp, but they're adequate for everyday stuff. Playstore and a reasonable selection of apps come pre-installed, and syncing via my Google account was very simple. Data transfer with my laptop is simple and pretty quick and other functions also seem very good.
 
In summary, this is a very decent-quality budget phone which does everything I want.  If you want a high-end, high-spec phone you'll need to look elsewhere and spend a lot more, but this does the basics well, seems robust and works well for me. I am very happy with mine and can recommend it warmly, certainly to fellow non-techies who want a decent, simple smartphone which just does the job.

DKnight MagicBox II speaker

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good speaker

I was sent this speaker for an unbiased review and I like it. It's not hi-fi, obviously, but it is a very nice little unit at this price.

The speaker is very well packaged in a smart, sturdy box and comes with a micro-USB charging cable, a jack-to-jack lead, a decent quick-start manual which tells you all you need, and a "bass pad."  This is a neoprene-type pad to stand the speaker on, but to be honest, I don't think it affects the sound significantly.

The speaker has a good, durable feel to it and is very well made. It is solidly built with a protective rubberised finish. The AUX input, charging port and on/off switch are on the side so they are accessible but unobtrusive and the controls are on the top. They are clear, neat and work very well, giving volume up and down, skip forward and back and a multi-function phone button to take calls via the inbuilt microphone. Bluetooth connection was straightforward and solid with a good range of at least 8m and the jack input allows connection to non-Bluetooth devices.

In use, I found the sound very good for such a compact speaker. I have listened to a lot of music through it, from Tudor choral music to London Grammar and it all sounds pretty good. The top is very sharp, the middles distinct and full and the bass is decent for a unit like this. If you want a real bass kick, you'll find it a bit weak and things like the low strings in Sibelius's Karelia Suite or the deep bass in London Grammar's Hey Now don't come over that well, but it's quite adequate for most things. It goes loud enough to fill a medium-sized room without audible distortion and battery life seems to be around 8 hours, which is fine for me.

I have tried a lot of speakers in this sort of price range, and I think this is good value at this price.  Personally, I think I prefer the sound on two similarly priced speakers from Audio Dynamix, the Fusion V3 and the Clarity2, or the (much bulkier) Apie Sound Cannon but these things are personal and you may well prefer the look and sound of this one.  It's certainly a very good product which is well made and has good sound and I can recommend it.

Amazon page HERE

Minkle New Bee NB-9 headphones

Rating: 4/5

Review:

Slightly weak bass, but pretty good for the price

I was sent these Minkle New Bee on-ear headphones for review.  I think they're pretty good: they are very well made, they are reasonably comfortable and they have pretty good sound quality.

The headphones are decently packaged and come with a very nice protective carry-case with standard mini-USB charging lead and jack-to-jack lead, and a decent User Manual in comprehensible English, but which is printed very small.  There is also a built in pedometer for counting steps which works via a phone app.

The headphones look very nice, I think; they have a nice retro-look and fold up for easy transport and storage.  They have both Bluetooth and wired connection, and I noticed no difference in sound quality between the two modes.  They are light and although they're not the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn, they're perfectly OK for pretty long periods. The controls are the usual you would expect: on/off and volume + and - buttons which also serve for pause/play, skip forward and back and standard phone controls, and there's a perfectly decent microphone.  Bluetooth pairing is simple with both standard pairing and NFC, and it's impressive to find NFC included at this price. Battery life seems very good; I haven't tested it to exhaustion, but it's still going strong after 10 hours use or so.

Sound quality is pretty good.  The bass is a little weak to my ears, but tops and middles are excellent and the clarity of articulation is good.  I test all headphones and speakers using a playlist of test tracks which give all aspects of the sound a thorough trial. It starts with 16th Century choral music, it ends with London Grammar and it has most things in between - orchestral, choral, vocal and chamber music, classic rock, acoustic music and so on.  They perform pretty consistently throughout and a good bass boost on my player's equalizer helps a lot, but they don't have a real punch in the bass which may be a problem for some listeners – certainly the deep bass is missing on a theorbo or viola da gamba and in London Grammar's Hey Now, for example.

However, overall I find them good as budget, everyday headphones and I think they're good value at this price. They seem solid and durable and if you're looking for a set of Bluetooth and wired headphones, I can recommend these.

Amazon page HERE

UEB Phone repair screwdriver kit

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A very nice little toolkit

This is a really nice little toolkit which was sent to me for review.  It's compact, good quality and very good value.

The kit comes in a faux-leather wrap-around wallet with a press-stud closer.  It contains 24 detachable bits which fit into a comfortably sized handle with a rotatable head.  I'm not a professional phone repairer, but I know good tools when I see them and this is good.  It's solidly made, the bits are precisely machined and fit well, and the whole thing has a good, durable air.

(To begin with I struggled to get the bits out of their holders, but I discovered that the trick is to swing them up to just beyond vertical and they come out simply enough.)

The only snag with this is that the bits aren't held into the handle magnetically, so they can slide out when you hold the tool vertically.  It's not a big problem, but can be a slight annoyance.

Overall, though, I'm impressed.  At this price I was half expecting flimsy, poor quality tools, but these are very good.  There's a huge range of bits and I'd expect them to last very well.  If you need a little kit like this (I did!) then this is well worth a look.  It's very good quality and currently costs under a fiver, which is excellent value.  Warmly recommended.

Amazon page HERE

Odec 1000mAh AAA rechargeable batteries

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Very good rechargeable batteries

I was sent these Odec rechargeable batteries for review and I think they're very good.  There's not that much to say about batteries but:

- the claimed 1000mAh capacity seems about right

- they keep their charge very well when not in use

- they perform as well as any other AAA rechargeable batteries I have tried, including Duracell and Amazon Basics.

I use a lot of this type of battery and I'm very happy with these.  The only problem I've had so far is that they come in two neat hinged plastic cases holding four batteries each – which I thought was a really nice touch until I tried t open them.  The catch is so strong that I need to press it in with a screwdriver, which isn't ideal to say the least.

That's a very minor thing, though.  The batteries themselves are very good so far and represent good value for 1000mAh batteries.  It's too early to comment on how long they last and if I have any trouble with durability I will update this review, but they are very good so far and I can recommend them warmly.

Burei Two-Tone automatic watch with metal bracelet Model 15013-P53ER

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A very good quality watch

This watch was kindly sent to me for review and I think it is a very good quality watch. (If you prefer a leather band, by the way, this watch is available with a black calfskin band.)

It comes in a very nice, hinged presentation box with a manual and a little presentation bag, which would make it a very nice gift. First impressions of the watch are excellent. It is solid with a good weight and a very nice, good-quality two-tone band and has a good, durable feel about it. It has a large face, 4cm in diameter (about 1.5 inches) and the dial looks very nice: it is black with simple luminous gold markings and hands. There's a second hand which has a continuous motion rather than second-by-second, which I like very much, and a good clear day and date display. (You can have the days in English or French.) The bezel is gold, with a silver-finish steel body and a nice two-tone band to match the two metals on the watch itself. The clasp is neat, works well and is secure. (A link-removing tool is supplied so you can adjust the band to the size of your wrist.)

Functionally, it's very good. The mechanism is mechanical not quartz-driven, and it's wound automatically by normal movement as it is worn on the wrist. (You can also wind it using the crown as normal.) There is a window in the back so you can see the movement and the winding mechanism in action – another very nice touch. It keeps very good time, it is shockproof and scratch resistant, and it is rated as water resistant up to 50 metres depth. I can't vouch for this, but it's plainly made to last and comes with a good warranty so the manufacturers clearly have faith in it.

In summary, this is a very good watch which is very well made and durable. I can't find any fault with it and if you like the way this looks, I'd say don't hesitate. It's very good quality watch and should last you for years. Recommended.

Amazon page HERE
With calfskin band, Amazon page HERE 

233621 H501 Noise-cancelling headphones

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Very good noise-cancelling headphones

I was sent these noise-cancelling headphones for review, and I think they are excellent. They are very well made, the noise-cancellation is very effective and the sound is very impressive.  Note that these are not Bluetooth headphones; connection is wired only.

The headphones are beautifully packaged; inside you get a good quality hard carry-case, a good set of instructions in decent English, a plain audio lead and a lead with a microphone and control buttons for music and hands-free calls, an airplane adaptor and a ¼" jack adaptor.  It's all very good quality, with gold-plated plugs and good materials.   The design of the headphones is very nice, I think.  They are light and very comfortable in use with a decent grip which doesn't feel too tight and, with the very good padding on the earcups and headband, I find them comfortable for several hours use.

Functionally they work well.   The microphone and simple controls for the phone are fine, but do note that this is designed for Apple devices and the in-line controls may not work on all Android devices. The Active Noise Cancelling is powered by a single AAA battery (supplied) and controlled by a switch on the left-hand earcup.  It is remarkably effective: general background noise is very significantly reduced and almost vanishes much of the time. I can still hear when someone speaks to me and they don't keep out sudden, loud noises, but they perform as well as any noise-cancelling I have ever tried – including my Bose QC2s which I have relied on for many years and a more recent set of Ausdom ANC-7 'phones, which I also rate very highly. They also work fine as passive, unpowered earphones with the ANC turned off.

Sound quality is very good indeed. I find the sound well balanced with good articulation.  There's a firm bass which gets a significant boost when ANC is turned on, and middles are strong and resonant which makes them excellent for rock, pop and the like. The treble is a little muffled occasionally in classical music, but I've found it absolutely fine for other types of music. I have listened to a lot of music through these headphones, including my Test Tracks list which goes from 16th Century choral music to London Grammar. Everything sounds very good to me. Chamber, orchestral and large choral works are clear and distinct with a lovely full sound, and things like classic rock - the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter, for example - sounds great and the deep, rolling bass in London Grammar's Hey Now (one of my standard tests of headphones) is all there. Volume goes plenty loud enough for me with no audible distortion.

In summary, these are very good headphones. They are well made, functional, stylish and comfortable and the sound is very good. If you're looking for a good set of wired noise-cancelling headphones, I can warmly recommend these.

233621 E610 Active Noise Cancelling Earbuds

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Excellent noise-cancelling earphones

I was sent these earphones for review and I think they are excellent. They are of very good build quality with effective Active Noise-Cancelling and the sound quality is quite exceptionally good,  think.

The earphones are well packaged and come with a nice soft carry-case, a good User Manual, extra silicone and Comply foam tips to fit smaller or larger ears, airplane adaptor and micro-USB lead for charging.

Functionally they work well, with a microphone and simple control for the phone on the left-hand lead.  (This is designed for Apple devices and the in-line controls may not work on all Android devices.)  The Active Noise Cancelling is controlled by a switch on a separate in-line panel and is remarkably effective: general background noise is very significantly reduced and almost vanishes much of the time. I can still hear when someone speaks to me and they don't keep out sudden, loud noises, but they perform as well as any noise-cancelling I have ever tried – including my Bose QC2 over-ear headphones which I have relied on for many years.  They also work fine as passive, unpowered earphones with the ANC turned off.

The sound is excellent for the price range, with an exceptionally good, deep bass response when ANC is switched on. The articulation is very clear and I find the sound extremely well balanced.  It's not too harsh but the tops are very bright and the middles are rich.  I have a Test Playlist which I use for audio products beginning with 15th Century choral music, ending up with The Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen and London Grammar and going through most things in between; these perform well throughout, and I thought everything sounded good with clear distinction of instruments and voices in classical music and a good firm sound throughout in rock and the like.  Things which need a real bass sound great, like a theorbo or a viola da gamba, or tracks like Sorrow by The National or London Grammar's Hey Now.
  
I have tried quite a lot of earphones and in an increasingly crowded market I think these are among the best I've heard in this price range.  They are very good quality earphones which give very good, flexible sound with exceptional bass response in ANC mode, and they have very effective noise-cancelling. I can recommend these wholeheartedly.

Amazon page HERE

GBB AUX cables - 3 pack

Rating; 5/5

Review:
Very good AUX cables

I was sent these AUX cables for review, and I think they are very good. They are well made and seem robust and of good quality.

In the pack, you get two 1m cable and one 2m cable.  They are well made, with robust, flexible cable and solid anchoring in the plugs. They give very good sound even through longer cables, and the plugs are gold-plated for good contact and easy insertion and removal. Externally, the plugs have an attractive polished aluminium finish with a neat logo.

In use I have found the cables excellent: good sound, simple insertion and removal and tangle-free. They seem very durable, but I will update this review if any problems emerge. There's not much more to ask from an extension lead, so this pack seems to deliver excellent quality at a reasonable price and I can recommend it.

Amazon page HERE

iRULU X1S 7" Android tablet

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A very good budget tablet

This tablet was sent to me for review.  It is pretty basic, but it does the basics well.  It has quite a lot of limitations but it's well made and costs less than thirty quid.  You're not going to get brilliant specs at this price and it's not intended as a high-end, primary device but as a backup or for a young child.  It's fine for this.  So far at least, I've had no problems with reliability, it seems robustly made and everything works; I don't think you can ask for much more from a tablet at this price.

The tablet is nicely packaged in a decent cardboard box. In it, you get the tablet itself, a USB-to-pin lead for charging and a micro-USB lead which can also be used for charging and for data transfer. There is also a good instruction booklet which will be extremely handy for anyone unfamiliar with Android.

[Switching on for the first time, I got a short sequence of screens to set date & time, connect to wi-fi (which didn't work) and sign-in to my iRULU account (which I don't have).  If you get these, just skip all of them, restart and you get the normal Android start-up sequence, which all worked smoothly for me.]

The tablet is reasonably slim and light, so I find it comfortable to use.  The screen isn't great; the definition is OK but not brilliant and it is very intolerant of tilting so that viewing even at a small angle causes significant loss of picture quality.  Treated carefully, though, it's perfectly usable.

The tablet runs Android 4.4.2.  It has modest memory capacity: 8GB hard drive and 512MB RAM.  These are adequate for ordinary use and you can expand the memory with a microSD card up to 32GB (not supplied).  The small RAM does cause some problems – you can't do many things at once.  You may well find other limitations if you use memory-hungry apps or games but for basic use it's pretty reliable.  (Note that it doesn't have Bluetooth.)

There are plenty of good things about this tablet:

- Wi-fi connection is easy and solid

- Apps installed quickly and without problems

- Net browsing is OK, if a little slow sometimes

- Video streaming from YouTube etc. is good

- Email is fine

- Music quality is excellent through an external speaker or headphones, either wired or via Bluetooth.  The built-in speakers are pretty terrible

It also has some poorer aspects:

- the battery life is poor (3 hours max) although it holds fairly well on standby

- No Bluetooth

- small RAM which limits some usage

- low quality cameras (2mp rear and 0.3mp front)

Overall, this is very good for what it is: a very basic tablet with fairly low specs but which works.  If you want something for higher-end use this won't be for you, but as a backup or first tablet for a young person, for example, I can recommend this.

Amazon page HERE

August EP650 Bluetooth headphones

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Excellent headphones

The manufacturers sent me these headphones for review and I am extremely impressed. The sound quality is remarkably good and they are extremely comfortable - the two essential qualities for good headphones.

The headphones can be connected to an audio source via Bluetooth, USB or 3.5mm jack. USB and jack-to-jack leads are included in the box so you can connect them to almost anything. In Bluetooth mode you can also pause the music and accept an incoming call by pressing a button on the phones, and speak via the built-in microphone. They also have volume and skip-forward and skip-back buttons. (These work in Bluetooth mode only, by the way. This makes sense because if you're wired to your device then you can obviously control things from the device itself, but I thought I'd mention it.) The internal battery has a good long life - at least 8 hours use on mine, which is enough for most purposes between recharges. Recharging is via the USB cable.

The headphones are extremely comfortable. They are lightweight and very well cushioned, and I've worn them for at least a couple of hours at a stretch without really being aware of them. Where they really stand out for me, though, is in sound quality. I tried them first with a Joan Armatrading album with pretty rich production (it was What's Inside, since you ask), and it sounded just fantastic. Sharp and distinct with good treble, a really full, rich middle and the best bass response I think I've ever heard from headphones. They're just as good with almost everything else I tried, too from 16th Century choral music to Led Zeppelin. Some people may perhaps find them a little bass heavy in classical music, but it's a matter of taste - and anything rocky sounds really great.

I'm sorry to gush, but I listen to a lot of music on headphones and I genuinely think these are excellent. They knock spots off my Sennheiser HD448s and come close to my beloved Bose QC2s. I may even prefer them to the QC2s for rock, blues and the like, which is really saying something. They are very good value for headphones of this quality and I can recommend them very warmly indeed.

Amazon page HERE

August MS515 wireless stereo speaker pair

Rating 5/5

Review:
Very nice Bluetooth speakers

This is a very nice pair of Bluetooth speakers. August sent them to me for review and I am pleased to say that these are up to their usual high standard with very nice design and build quality and good sound for such a small system.

The speakers are very nicely designed. They are roughly prism-shaped with the triangle about 7cm on a side, and 11cm at their longest. They have a good heft to them, the build quality is obviously high and they look great on a desk or shelf. They arrive decently boxed with a jack lead for non-Bluetooth connectivity, a double USB charging lead so you can charge both speakers at once, a lead to connect the two speakers together and a very good instruction manual.

In use they work very well. Bluetooth connection was very straightforward and range was good with a solid connection even with me in the way up to at least 8m. There is an AUX input for non-Bluetooth connection and the supplied lead means you can have a sensible separation between the two speakers. Battery life is good: I haven't tested it to exhaustion, but the claim of 15 hours playing time seems about right.

The sound is good. It goes perfectly loud enough for me with no audible distortion. Tops and middles are excellent, and the bass is OK, giving an overall clear and rich sound with very good articulation. It's not hi-fi – but then it's a very small unit and you can't expect really resonant bass. The stated frequency range is 90Hz-20kHz, so they don't claim to have a really deep bass response, although a bit of bass boost from the equalizer on my mp3 player helped quite a lot. They performed well on all the music I tested them on, from 16th Century choral music to London Grammar, and as a compact Bluetooth speaker system at this price I think it's very good – and excellent value.

Overall, then, a very good little speaker system, especially at this price. If you're looking for a small pair of speakers with Bluetooth connectivity which are stylish and well made with decent sound, these will do you very well and I can recommend them warmly.

Amazon page HERE

Audio Dynamix Fusion V3 speaker

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A classy compact speaker

I think this is a little bit of class. Audio Dynamix sent me a Fusion V3 for review, and I'm really impressed: for its size and price it is excellent.

This first thing to strike you is that it is beautifully presented. The box is stylish, there's a ribbon to help you to remove the speaker, the leads and even the manual are nicely wrapped in boxes of their own, and so on. It just looks really classy, as does the speaker itself, which is a lovely object. It is nicely proportioned, has a very neat robust aluminium casing and a simple, stylish grille. The controls on the top are on a circular, brushed steel panel which looks really good – the whole thing is just really well made and looks good.

In use, it all works very well. Bluetooth pairing is simple both conventionally and using NFC, and the signal is solid up to 10 metres at least. The AUX input allows you to connected to non-Bluetooth devices, and the sound is equally good whichever connection you use.

The sound quality itself is very good. The top and middles are very crisp and well-defined, and the bass is good and firm. The overall sound is very nice (especially after the first few hours use, when it improves noticeably). I have tried this with a lot of music, including my Test Playlist which I use on all audio products for a fair comparison, which begins with Tudor Choral music and ends up with London Grammar. Everything comes over well. Classical music sounds rich and full, with a string quartet sounding well balanced and orchestral music rich and crisply articulated. Rock is good and punchy, acoustic music sounds bright and airy...and so on. The bass response especially is critical in a small unit like this, and I think it's very good especially when resting on a solid surface, where you can feel a gratifying bass vibration through it.

Audio Dynamix are developing a well-deserved reputation for really good quality speakers, and this is an example of why. It's beautifully designed, it seems very durable, it works well and for such a compact unit it has excellent sound. If you're looking for a compact speaker, I don't think you can do better for under forty quid; this is a classy unit and very warmly recommended.

Amazon page HERE

Binger Men's Black Multi-Function steel watch; Model No:BG-9202B-P57EY

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A good quality watch

This watch was sent to me for review. I think it is good – it seems a well-made product, the timer facility works well and it's good value.

The watch comes in a slightly basic but adequate box. The watch itself is quite chunky and is 4cm in diameter (over 1.5 inches.  It's stainless steel with a gloss black finish which is well done. The band is decent quality black steel and, as it's rated as water resistant to 3 atmospheres you van go swimming with it if you want to.

Functionally, it's pretty simple. There is a start-stop button and a reset button to use the stopwatch, and it all works well.

The face itself is black with clear white numbers and hands and looks good.  The dials are easy to read and the date function (between 4- and 5-o'-clock) is also clear.  The whole things has an active, outdoorsy feel to it but it's certainly smart enough to wear everyday.

I like this watch.  It combines robust build with good functionality and it looks good. It's too early to be certain about durability, of course, but I'd expect it to last very well. If you like the look of this watch and you want a stopwatch function, this is good value at this price; I think this will do you very nicely and I can recommend it.

Amazon page HERE

ADX (AudioDynamix) Pulse V4 speaker

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Phenomenal sound and excellent build quality

The Pulse V4 is outstandingly good. I have had a Pulse V2 for year or so; I have used it pretty well every day and I think it is fantastic. I was delighted when ADX sent me the V4 for review: it is if anything even better. The style and functions have been improved and the sound is superb

The Pulse is far and away the best compact unit I have tried. It is beautifully packaged and very well made, with a very robust aluminium casing and a solid, durable feel - it will last you for years. In the box you also get very good quality AUX and micro-USB leads, a nice velvet carry-bag and a decent manual. The speaker itself is attractively designed and quite small at 19cm(L) x 7.5cm(H) x 8cm(D) (7.5" x 3" x 3.5"). It is fairly weighty at 750g but still readily transportable. The controls are easy to access and use: on the front are capacitative touch buttons with the usual skip forward and back, volume up and down and pause/play which is also used to accept and terminate phone call. On the back are the on/off switch, USB charging input and AUX socket to connect to non-Bluetooth devices.

It all works very well, with Bluetooth pairing being simple both conventionally and via NFC and the signal is very solid up to well over 10 metres. Battery life is excellent; I haven't run it to exhaustion but the advertised 20 hours sounds quite reasonable to me.

What really makes this speaker really stand out is the sound quality, which is quite exceptional. (Placing the Pulse in a corner gives best results.) The top and middles are very crisp and well-articulated, and the bass resonators at each end give an amazing depth and richness to the sound. I said of the Pulse V2 that it genuinely sounds better than some full-sized stereo systems I have owned, and that's even more true of the V4. The articulation is crystal clear, tops are very bright but not piercing, middles are full and the bass is astonishing from such a small unit, thanks to the bass radiators on the ends. Classical music sounds rich and incredibly full, with cellos ringing beautifully and even orchestral music articulated with an amazing crispness. Rock is fantastic, and even the deep sub-bass in London Grammar's Hey Now comes rolling out beautifully. I've played a lot of music through this speaker, from 16th century choral music to modern, high-production rocky stuff, and everything sounds great: Nigel North's lute, Eric Clapton's guitar, Rachel Podger's violin, Danny Thompson's bass, full orchestras, Wolf Alice, a string quartet and the voices of Emma Kirkby, Roger Daltrey, Leonard Cohen, Thea Gilmore, The Tallis Scholars...and so on. I really have put this through its paces and I haven't found a weakness.

The manual says that the Pulse requires 50 hours of use to reach optimum performance, by the way. I don't know about 50 hours, but the sound certainly improves markedly with a few hours playing so make sure you break it in thoroughly. It's worth the wait. I don't mean to gush, but it really is very good indeed.

As with its predecessor, for its size and price this unit is simply brilliant. If you want a high-quality, compact portable speaker and really care about sound, don't hesitate. All the five-star reviews here are completely justified; this is quite outstanding.
 
(I didn't believe that the sound could improve still further, but after using this continually for a month or so with great pleasure. but it did. The richness of the overall sound, the clarity of the treble and above all the sheer depth and firmness of the bass is quite outstanding I think. Even my wife, who is very discerning when it comes to sound quality, said the other day, "That's very good sound from such a tiny thing." Believe me, that is very high praise indeed.

ADX's statement that it requires 50 hours playing to reach optimum performance looks as though it's right, in spite of my initial scepticism. It's a brilliant speaker. Absolutely brilliant.)

Amazon page HERE

Braun/Oral B Genius 9000 toothbrush

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Excellent quality and cleaning - but excessive engineeering?

It hardly needs saying that this is an extremely good toothbrush.  I've used Braun/Oral B toothbrushes for many, many years; they have always been excellent and they have a deservedly high reputation.  This is no different: it is very well made, it works extremely well and has plenty of extras – if you need them.  It is very expensive at almost a hundred and fifty quid (it's only a toothbrush!) so it's probably well worth considering whether you really need all the features that you're paying for.

It all comes beautifully packaged – more like high-end electronics than a toothbrush.  There's a very good travel case which charges the brush and which has a USB charging port for a phone or other device, too, which is a good feature.  There's even a smartphone holder with suction pad to attach to the mirror or tiles so you can use the app while brushing.  You get a good selection of heads to try and the whole thing is an excellent, comprehensive package. 

I have a couple of style niggles.  The toothbrush is black in colour, which looks very sleek and stylish when it arrives – but is not easy to try to keep looking that way.  Black toothbrush with white toothpaste twice a day?  Not a good idea.  Also, the charging base is white, which doesn’t help the look much.

In use, it's excellent.  It does a first-rate job of cleaning in normal mode and it has lots of modes – for teeth, gums, tongue, you name it.  It also has an app for your phone, with a Bluetooth connection, which guides your cleaning like a dentist would, apparently.  Frankly, that's far more than I want (it's only a toothbrush!) and I'm pretty sure I won't use most of the modes or the app much.  The "excess pressure" warning light is very handy – but I've got that on my current Braun Professional Care 3000, which is excellent and costs less than half as much as the Genius 9000.

So, this is a very good-quality brush which will last you for years and will do an excellent job.  I'd suggest weighing up carefully whether you really need all the bells and whistles, though, because other less flashy Braun toothbrushes may do what you need for a lot less money.  However, if you do want all this brush has to offer you'll find it excellent.

Amazon page HERE

DKnight Big MagicBox portable speaker

Rating 5/5

Review:
A very good portable speaker

I was sent this speaker without charge for review, and I'm impressed. It's well made, functional and stylish, and it has very good sound.

The speaker is very nicely designed in a cylindrical shape with AUX input and charging port on one end and a bass radiator on the other.  The controls are neat and very clear on the top of the cylinder and all work well.  Volume, skip forward and back and pause/play are self-explanatory, and there's a separate button to control hands-free calls.  The enclosed quick-start manual is clear and tells you all you need to know, and you also get a jack-to-jack AUX lead for wired connection and a standard micro-USB lead for charging.

The speaker seems robust and solidly made and I would expect it to last well even if it's knocked about a bit as it's moved around as a portable speaker.  In use, it all works very well. Bluetooth pairing is simple and I found the signal solid up to 8 metres at least and the AUX input allows you to connect to non-Bluetooth devices.  The sound is equally good whichever input you use.

The sound quality is very good, especially for a small unit like this. The top and middles are very crisp and well-defined, and the bass is good and firm.  I found the balance a little light in the bass, but a bit of bass boost on the EQ settings of my device gave a very nice overall sound (especially after the first few hours use, when the bass improves significantly) and there's a decent kick there if you need it. I have tried this with a lot of music, including my Test Playlist which I use on all audio products for a fair comparison. It begins with Tudor Choral music and ends up with London Grammar, and everything comes over well. Classical music sounds rich and full, with a string quartet sounding well balanced and orchestral music rich and crisply articulated. Rock is good and punchy, acoustic music sounds bright and airy...and so on. The bass response especially is critical in a small unit like this, and I think it's very good; the real deep, resonant bass isn't really there, but it gives a very solid sound which I like a lot.

I think this is a very good unit at this size and price. It is solidly made with very good sound and I can recommend it.

Amazon page HERE

Simpeak 32GB flash drive (USB 3.0 and Apple connection)

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good, versatile flash drive

I was sent this flash drive for review, and I think it's a very good quality, versatile item.  It's well made, pretty quick and can be used with both PCs and Apple devices.

The drive is light but has a good solid feel to it.  It's well made in tough plastic and is a subdued, slightly smoky pink colour which, surprisingly, I rather like.  It has a USB connector at one end (it's USB 3.0) and a lightning connector at the other, so it's an excellent way to carry extra files, music and the like to access on an Apple device, but it also works perfectly well as a normal USB flash drive.

In use, it's very good – and it comes with a good manual, too. It's plug-and-play on my Windows 10 PC and there's a whisker under 30GB of available space.  From USB 2.0 ports I get write speeds around 15MB/s which is good – and it will be much faster with USB 3.0, of course.  Music and video play fine from it both via the USB and lightning connections, and it just does the job without any fuss.

The only tiny gripe I have is that it's a little wide, so if you plug this into one of two adjacent USB ports, it will block the other.  (It's fine in a hub where the ports are in a transverse configuration, of course.)  It's a small inconvenience, but mat be worth mentioning.

That minor niggle aside, this is a very good drive.  It is expensive for a 32GB flash drive (hence the four- rather than five-star rating), but it also serves as a memory expansion for Apple devices, it's stylish and it is well made.  If you need the flexibility of the lightning connector, I think this will do you very well and I can recommend it.

ECHTPower BS-M15 Bluetooth/USB speaker

Rating: 3/5

Review:
Well made but with disappointing sound



I'm afraid I was rather disappointed with this speaker. The Echtpower speakers I have tested previously have been very good but although this is well made I found problems with the sound.

Do be aware that this speaker does not have an AUX input, so you can't connect it to the headphone socket of a non-Bluetooth device, nor does it have any instructions for making hands-free calls (It does have a microphone, so this is presumably possible, but it's not at all clear how hands-free calls are made.) This won't be a problem for many people, but if you want a clear hands-free calls function or rely on a jack-to-jack connection, this won't be for you.

The speaker is smart and solidly made with simple controls at either end and the whole thing has a well-made durable feel to it. Functionally it's excellent: Bluetooth connection is very simple both by NFC and conventional pairing and range is good with a solid signal up to at least 8 metres. The pause/play, skip forward and back and volume controls all work fine. USB connection was also very simple; I just plugged in, it was instantly recognised by Windows 10 and just worked.

However, the sound wasn't nearly as good as I'd hoped. I've played a lot of music through this, including my Test Playlist of music from 16th-century choral music to London Grammar, and although there was an improvement over the first few hours of use, it's still not brilliant. The bass is adequate but a bit weak and there's sometimes a slight hissy rattle on the treble. Volume is a bit limited, too, but the biggest problem was that in classical music there are sometimes very quiet passages or even pauses during which the speaker's volume spontaneously reduces to almost zero, cutting back in again when the music becomes louder which is incredibly annoying. It's never happened to me when listening to rock or other modern music so it may not be a problem for many people, but be aware of the issue.

It's a pity, because it could be a good unit and I hope ECHTPower put things right. For now, although this is a well made speaker from a very reputable maker, the sound problems I have had mean that I can't really recommend this.
Amazon page HERE

Salcar USB DVD drive

Rating: 0/5

Review:
A disaster for my devices

There are plenty of good reviews for this DVD/CD drive so it plainly works well for most people, but it has caused terrible problems for me. I was sent it for review; it didn't work and has caused two devices – a notebook and a tablet, both running Windows 10 – to behave very oddly and both have had trouble recovering.  I was sent a replacement drive in case the first one was faulty, but the replacement behaved almost as badly. 

The main thing I need to say is this:  the drive is plainly not compatible with all machines or all versions of Windows 10 (I don't know what the problem is), so approach this with caution.  If you want the details of the problems I've had, read on. 

I tried it first on an iRULU notebook running Widows 10 (fully up-to-date).   The drive clicked continuously and wouldn't stop.  No icon appeared, but it was recognised by the device manager.  However, I couldn't get it to do anything, and the notebook began to behave oddly, with the screen shaking as the drive clicked and no apps worked properly.  I tried to eject the drive using the Windows "Add & remove hardware" function, but it didn't eject.  Eventually I shut the notebook down (I had to use touch screen - the trackpad and keyboard weren't working by this time).  The drive remained on and clicking even when the notebook had shut down, until I unplugged it.  The notebook took a long time to reboot and was still behaving oddly, but eventually has returned to normal (I think).

I then tried the drive with an iRULU Windows 10 tablet.  The same thing happened, but worse.  I couldn't get the tablet to re-boot after shutdown - it was dead.  I re-set by pressing the power and volume keys together and it did start, but kept shutting down again.  After 3 tries, it did boot, but still behaved very oddly with a flickering screen and very slow apps.  After a while it seems to have recovered.  Something very similar happened with the replacement drive.

This DVD/CD drive  has been a disaster for me.  It was a very bad experience and I am still not absolutely certain that either of my devices has fully recovered from using it.  I seem to be alone in having these problems and it may be fine for you, but do be careful…

Amazon page HERE

Sandisk - iExpand Flash Drive 64GB

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent, flexible flash drive

I think this is an excellent flash drive.  It works very well, it's well designed and it seems well made.  (I've not had the durability problems reported by another reviewer – yet, anyway.  I will report back if I do have any trouble with it.)

The device is simple in conception: it has a normal USB 3.0 plug at one end and a lightning connector at the other so it can be used with both PCs and Apple devices.  The design is very neat, with the lightning connector tucked back in to form a handle. 

It just works.  Plug it in and it's recognised straight away, and just under 60GB of free memory is available.  I get write speeds of around 20MB/s on my USB2.0 PC, which is very good – and if you've got USB3.0 they will be much faster.  Music and video play fine direct from the drive, and it's a great way to use or transfer files from your laptop to your iPhone.  (It won't connect directly to an Android phone, of course, but an OTG lead will do the trick.)

I've used Sandisk products for years – both their SD cards and an mp3 player and I have found them excellent.  I have confidence that this will be a similarly reliable and long-lived drive, and I can recommend it.  I'm very pleased with mine.

Amazon page HERE

Cleer DU High-Definition headphones

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Very well made and with excellent sound

I was sent these headphones for review and I think they are outstandingly good.  They are very well made, stylish and with excellent sound.

The headphones come very well boxed and are plainly a quality product.  They come with a nice soft carry-pouch and two leads; one for connection to Android devices and one to Apple.  The leads have an in-line microphone and simple controls for hands-free calls.  There is also a quick-start guide (which amounts basically to "plug your headphones in and put them on"!) and a good user manual. 

The headphones are really well made.  They are quite weighty and have solid metal earcups.  The padding is very good and I have found them comfortable for hours on end.  They grip well but not firmly enough to use for exercise, I'd say – but that's not what they are intended for.  They fold neatly and the whole thing has a classy air about it.

Connection is wired only, which suits me just fine.  Plainly all the makers' effort and money has gone into sound production, because that's where these really stand out.  I test a lot of headphones and these have exceptionally good balance and depth of tone and fantastic quality and precision of articulation.  They have dual drivers (i.e. separate speakers for bass and treble) and the effect really shows.  Everything is crystal clear and that old cliché about hearing things I'd never heard before really does apply to these.  Tops are bright and distinct, middles sound just great and the bass is superb – never dominant or boomy but it has all the depth and kick you'll need when necessary. 

I have listened to a lot of music through these headphones, including my Test Tracks list, which gives all aspects of the sound a thorough trial. It starts with 16th Century choral music, it ends with London Grammar and it has most things in between, and everything sounds just great to me. Instruments like theorbo and viola da gamba sound magnificent, and chamber, orchestral and large choral works are clear and distinct with a lovely full sound and excellent distinctness of individual instruments and voices.  Things like classic rock sound great and the deep, rolling bass in London Grammar's Hey Now (one of my standard tests of headphones) really resonates. Volume goes plenty loud enough for me with no audible distortion and they're just a pleasure to listen to.

I'm sorry to gush, but these really are among the best headphones I've heard – certainly at this price.  I'm comparing them with very good 'phones like Bose Sound True,  Brainwavz HM5 and HM9, Noontec Hammo and others and they're my current favourite.  If you want a set of wired headphones which are very well made and you really care about sound I'd say don't hesitate.  These are excellent.

Amazon page HERE