Kindle Paperwhite

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A really good Kindle

Just to add my praise to the thousands of reviews: I'm really pleased with my Paperwhite.  Bought to replace an old Kindle Touch, the screen and new font are excellent for reading, the internal light is a really good feature, the battery lasts very well, it's light and comfortable in the hand and it's just a pleasure to use.  I'm a very happy customer.

(I paid the extra so I didn't get the "Special Offers," by the way.  I figured that as I'd be using it regularly for years, I'd regret not spending a extra few quid now to avoid constantly dealing with ads.  So far, I'm very glad I made the decision, but that's just personal preference.)

Ultmate Ears Megablast Speaker with Alexa

Rating: 3/5

Review:
Not as good as I'd hoped

The Megablast is a well made speaker, but for me it does have some serious weaknesses; principally, there is no AUX jack input and I'm not all that impressed with the sound.  The Alexa functionality is also slightly limited at this stage – it won't access Spotify, for example.  I would expect that to be updated later, although there is no guarantee.

The speaker is very nicely presented and looks great.  It is plainly very solidly made and looks stylish.  Pairing with Bluetooth was very easy and it has a very good range.  I found the Wi-Fi set-up more tricky even when I'd downloaded the app, partly because of an almost total absence of written instructions.  That may just be because I'm a bit of an old git, but I do have a fair amount of experience in speakers, wi-fi and the like.  The voice controls work well, as does the limited Alexa function.

The lack of an input jack socket is a big drawback for me.  I still carry a lot of my music on a Sansa mp3 player and I want to be able to play it through the speaker.  No chance – nor can I plug in a CD player.  This may make me a dinosaur, but a small addition of an AUX socket to make this compatible with a lot of devices still in use would make the Megablast much more useful to a lot of people.

The sound is pretty good.  It certainly goes very loud without distortion and tops and middles are good and distinct, but at the normal volumes at which I want to use it I find the bass a bit weak.  I've tested this with a lot of music in different genres and Things like Hey Now by London Grammar, Leave A Trace by Chvrches or The National's Sorrow lack that real bass resonance they really need, and a viola da gamba or the basses in choral classical music sound rather thin, for example.  In a unit at this price I'd expect better.

For me, this rates about 3.5-stars.  At the moment, with no access to Spotify along with the other reservations I have, I can't round this up to 4.  Some other reviewers like it very much, but I can only give the Megablast a pretty qualified recommendation.

Jam Reload HX-P251BK-EU Bluetooth Speaker

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good compact speaker

As a small unit for under twenty quid (at the time of writing) this is a good speaker.

The speaker is very stylishly packaged and comes with just a micro-USB charging cable and a good manual. It has a good, durable feel to it and seems solidly made with a stylish look.  The AUX input and charging port are, behind a seal but easily accessible Bluetooth connection was straightforward; it is solid with a good range of at least 7m and the jack input allows connection to non-Bluetooth devices.  The controls allow you to skip forward and back, pause/play and change the volume; they all work fine.

 
In use, I found the sound pretty good for such a small speaker. I have listened to a lot of music through it, including my Test Playlist from Tudor choral music to London Grammar and it all sounds pretty good. The output is clear and hiss-free, the tops and middles are very good and it goes pretty loud with no distortion. The bass is not great – for a small unit at this price it's not bad, but don't expect hi-fi depth: things like the low strings in Sibelius's Karelia Suite or the deep bass in London Grammar's Hey Now get rather lost. Battery life seems to be around 4 hours and may possibly improve to the manufacturers' claimed 5 hours after a few cycles.

I think the speaker is good value at this price. It's a very nice-looking object which is well made and has decent sound as a desk or bedside speaker, for example.  Recommended.

Waterpik WP-562UK Cordless Water Flosser

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good water flosser

This is a good water flosser.  It's well made and does the job, although it is, frankly, large and ugly.

I had a cheaper Chinese water flosser for a while until the charger nearly caught fire.  It had convinced me of the benefits of water flossing, though, and I'm glad to be able to try another one.  Personally, I don't find it a complete substitute for ordinary flossing; I use this in the morning and normal floss in the evening and the combination gives excellent results.

This machine is a great big thing, and it's not pretty.  However, this is necessary to get a decent sized water tank and it's designed so that despite its size it is pretty easy to use and manoeuvre into place for all my teeth.  The tank isn't quite big enough to do the whole lot in a single fill, but a quick top-up half way isn't much trouble.  It has a decent pressure although it could be a little stronger, and it leaves things feeling good and clean.

Charging is pretty quick using a very neat magnetic charger, and I find that a full charge lasts about a week using it once a day.  It's decently accessorised and seems like a well made, robust object.  I'm pleased with this and I can recommend it.

Amazon page HERE

Russell Hobbs Dorchester Kettle

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good kettle

This is a perfectly decent kettle from a good manufacturer.  It has very few bells and whistles, but that's fine with me; it looks good and does the job, which is what I want from a kettle.

The kettle is well made, is a pleasing shape with simple black trimmings and sits solidly on its base.  There is no external level gauge, nor any "on" light.  Inside is a little plastic level gauge with three steps to show you one, two or three cups' worth of water.  Personally, I've just taken this out (fairly easy to do) because that leaves no plastic in contact with the water in the kettle, something I much prefer.  The plastic lid is just lifted off manually; again, that's fine with me, although some people may prefer a hinged one.

In use…well, it's a kettle.  It has a standard 1.7l capacity and 3kW power rating, so it boils fairly quickly (as do all kettles with these ratings).  My one gripe is that the "max level" mark is just faintly printed onto the interior surface and is almost impossible to see.  Once you know where it is it's not hard to judge, but it could be much clearer.  The on/off switch on the base is very simple to use and the automatic turn-off works well, and there is an automatic cut-out if it's turned on with no water in it.

So, a slightly basic kettle, but well made, attractive and fine for my purposes.  Russell Hobbs are a reliable firm so I'm expecting this to last well, and if you like the look of it I can recommend it.

Sanimaid Boston Silicone Toilet Brush

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Good, not perfect

I like this toilet brush, but I'm slightly reserving judgement.  It's well made and hygienic but it is harder work on the arms than a normal brush and I'm not certain that it cleans quite as well.

It's good in many ways.  It is solidly made and looks very robust.  The silicone cleaning head is certainly far more hygienic than a brush-head and it's neat and compact.  It does get under the rim well and reaches further round the bend than my existing brush.

I'm less keen on the storage: you have to stick or screw a bracket for the plastic holster to the skirting board (not something I really want to do), and it's not a very elegant addition to the bathroom.  You can, however, unclip the holder from its bracket to clean it, which is important.  The cleaning itself seems OK, but it's a lot harder to move this over the surface than it is a conventional brush.  I'll be interested to see how clean it keeps the loo long-term and I'll edit this if I'm unhappy after using it for a while.

This is a decent idea which may be a very useful development.  To me it seems expensive for what it is, but it's a good, well-made product and may well be worth a try.

Geekria media player case

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good case but a bit big

I bought this as a case for my HifiMan Super-Mini mp3 player.  It does the job, although it is a bit bigger than I expected.  It is well made and smart; it's covered on a tough-looking blue woven fabric, the zip seems very solid and it has a durable feel.

The case is 11cm x 6.5 cm x 5 cm deep.  This fits the player well and has plenty of room for a set of earphones and a charging cable, plus a storage card in which I keep microSD cards loaded with my music.  It's not big enough for a charger with a UK-style plug, but is made pretty deep so the player rattles around in it a bit.  This isn't serious enough to be a real worry, but a tighter-fitting band to keep it in place would help.

Overall, though, this is a very decent case which I am pretty happy with.

Amazon page HERE

Cookset stainless steel vegetable steamer

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A good steamer

This is a good quality steamer.  I've used steamers of this design for many years and this is as good as any I've had. 

The steamer is made of what looks to be good stainless steel which is still looking pristine after several uses.  It's a sensible size and will fit into most pans from the smallish to the pretty large.  It's solidly made with firmly attached legs and a central column for lifting it out.  This is a little short but it's adequate; the shortness does make it easier to store, though, and the column can be unscrewed and removed if you prefer.

In short, if you're looking for a vegetable steamer, this will do you well.  Recommended.

Amazon page HERE

Nokia Thermo - Smart Temporal Thermometer

Rating: 1/5

Review:
Requires phone app and account set-up to work at all

This thermometer will not work at all without a phone app and an account, set up with Nokia, which records, "analyses" and keeps all your data.  This is not what I was expecting, nor is it what I wanted; I thought I was getting a simple device for taking a person's temperature easily, quickly and reliably.

Once unpacked it is impossible to activate the thermometer until you have downloaded and installed the app.  Even this isn't simple because the instructions are incorrect.  They direct you to a website which doesn't exist, but I eventually found the app myself by searching the Play Store for Nokia Thermo.  Once installed, it insists that you register and set up an account, and at this point I rebelled.  It's just a blooming thermometer, for heavens' sake!  I don't want yet another account which I have to log into to use the thing and – worse – I don’t want some anonymous company to have access to my own or my family's personal and medical information, thank you very much.

So…I'm afraid I can't comment on how the device is in use, because I won’t use it on those terms.  I can see the point for something complex like a heart trace (I use the Kardia device in this way and it has been invaluable) but for a single, simple number like a temperature it strikes me as simply absurd.  I recognise that other people may feel differently and be happy to use the app and its features, but you may wish to be forewarned.  For me, this is very overpriced, ridiculously over-complex and very intrusive.

Amazon page HERE

Seagate Expansion 2TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent EHD

So far this portable EHD has been excellent.  I bought it so that I could have my music and so on in an easily portable form and it is doing the job very well.

The drive is compact and surprisingly light.  To me it has a slightly flimsy feel, but seems to be standing up well to being moved around pretty constantly.  It's a neat little thing with just a short USB3.0 lead (about 40cm) to plug in and a discreet blue LED which is lit when plugged in and flashes to indicate data transfer.

It is genuinely plug-and-play on Windows 10; it was recognised and ready to use within a very few seconds on all three devices I've tried it with.  Transfer speeds are good; I only have USB2.0 but I get around 15-20MB/s write speed for normal music files, which is very similar to the powered desktop EHDs (also Seagate) which I have been using for getting on for 5 years now.  I'm impressed; so far it's just quietly and efficiently doing the job I wanted.  It is too early to comment on durability and reliability but my existing Seagate drives have been trouble-free and I will be surprised if this is any different.  I will update this review if I have any problems.

In short, this is a good drive which just does the job without any fuss.  Recommended.

Amazon page HERE

Sony SRS-XB30 Speaker

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Very good but a little expensive
 

This is a good speaker.  Sony have a reputation for quality and this is a very well-made, well-performing speaker.  I think it's a bit expensive compared to some in its class, but it does have features which you may find useful.

It comes well packaged and the speaker itself is splash-proof and very well made. I'm not that keen on the styling, but that's just personal taste.  There are good 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 power 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.  Battery life is good; I haven't run it to exhaustion so I can't vouch for the advertised 24 hours' life, but it will certainly last a good long time between charges.  If you have two (or more) of these you can connect them up in a cascade to give a multi-speaker output, which may be handy – although at 150 quid a go, I'm not sure how many you'd want to buy.  It also has a light display which (thank heavens!) is easy to turn off.  It seems to be a pretty randomly changing colour display with the occasional strobe flash, which isn't something I'll ever use, but it may be an addition to a party.

The sound quality is impressive.  The top and middles are very crisp and well-articulated, and the bass is powerful from such a small unit, with a bass-boost feature which really blasts it out.    Classical music sounds rich and full, with cellos ringing beautifully and orchestral music articulated with real crispness. Rock is great, 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 have given this a thorough workout and I haven't really found a weakness.

It's a very impressive speaker.  For sound and build quality, both the ADX Pulse V4 the Vava Voom 20 are as good, I think, and only cost around half the price so they would be a preferred option for me, and the August WS300 is also excellent and has wi-fi connectivity, too.  However, if you want the cascade feature or lights, or just trust the Sony name, this is a very good-sounding, durable speaker which I can recommend.

(Amazon page HERE )

Leef iBridge 3 32GB memory stick

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Good but expensive

This is a good, neatly designed flash drive which will work with Apple devices using Lightning connector and with anything else via USB3.0.

It's dead simple to use on an iPhone or iPad, where it plugs in and sits snugly against the back of the phone, so it's very neat and convenient.  The app works fine.  With a Windows 10 PC it's just plug and play: after just a few seconds it was ready to go.   Transfer speeds are what I'd expect from such a device; it's just a good, well made drive and an excellent way of transferring data from a PC to an iPhone or iPad.  You also get a little neoprene cover to protect it.

I have to say that at a cost of sixty quid at the time of writing, this is a very expensive 32GB flash drive, Lightning connector or no.  It is very elegantly designed and smartly packaged (in my view it's over-packaged), but with perfectly decent USB drives available for around a tenner, this is an awful lot to pay for a fairly modest amount of storage.

So, you pays your money and you takes your choice, I guess.  This is costly, but it's good quality, nicely designed and works very well so if you do decide it's worth it, you won't be disappointed with it. 

Amazon page HERE

Mymahdi mp3/media player

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A decent basic media player

This is a very decent basic media player, which I was sent for review.  It works well, it looks good and the sound is perfectly acceptable.  It has its limitations, but for the price I think it's good.

The first thing to be aware of is that there is no internal memory, so the player won't work at all without a micro-SD card.  This isn't supplied, so make sure you have one available.  It will take up to 64GB; I've been using a 32GB card which works fine.

Once the card is in you can play pre-loaded files or load them via the supplied mini-USB lead.  (Note this is not the more common micro-USB!)  Once you have navigated to the file you want (more of this later), playing is fine and sound isn't bad at all.  It's not hi-fi but even through some good HD headphones it's perfectly adequate.  Video (in a limited range of formats) plays OK, too.  It's not a great picture and it jerks a little but it's usable.  On a tiny screen like this it's not something I'll use much, so minor flaws won't bother me.  Other functions work well.

However…the controls are a nightmare to figure out and the manual is hopeless.  I spent at least half an hour just managing to select and play albums reliably and there was a good deal of reprehensible language involved.  Once you've worked out and can remember that the "Menu" button often serves as "Select" (very counter-intuitive) and that to navigate files you need to be in Pause mode, it's not too bad, but you do need a lot of patience to get there.

So, for a cheap and cheerful media player this is pretty good.  Once you've figured out how to use it, it's perfectly acceptable as something you might use if you don't want to take a more expensive item or you just need a small, light media player.  For under twelve quid at the time of writing this is good value and I can recommend it.

Amazon page Here 

Sony-Ericsson MH410 earphones

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Very decent basic earphones

These are perfectly decent basic earphones.  They're not hi-fi, but for the current price (well under three quid!) they are very good.

The earphones are decently made with an in-line control panel which works OK with my Android phone.  The sound is really pretty good; the bass lacks much punch, but they don't sound tinny to me so for basic earphones for casual listening, especially for speech, I like them.  The cable is about 1m long, but with an extension lead I find them fine for TV watching.

So, these are pretty basic; for high quality music listening you'll need to look elsewhere, but they're not at all bad and for earphones which cost next to nothing I think they offer very good value.  Recommended.

Amazon page HERE

V-MODA Forza Metallo IEMs

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Outstanding sound

I think these Forza Metallo IEMs are excellent.  I was a little dubious before I opened them because the packaging is so flashily designed that I thought this may be a case of style over substance, but I was quite wrong.  They are very well made and the sound quality is outstanding.

The IEMs are plainly a high-quality product, with machined aluminium bodies, a good cable and high-quality strain relief.  There is a nice little carry-pouch and good range of silicone tips, ear hooks and so on so you'll be able to make them comfortable for whatever you need them for.  (Please be aware that these are wired-only IEMs so if you need Bluetooth, these won't be for you.)

The sound is the most important thing for me and I think it is excellent in all genres.  It is extremely sharp and accurate; articulation is crisp and very clear over the whole range and there's a very good balance.  The bass is superb, I think; it is very solid and gives a full depth to instruments like a theorbo or viola da gamba (which really test bass) and in rock it is powerful but never boomy or over-dominant.  Tracks with a really deep bass like Chvrches' Leave a Trace or London Grammar's Hey Now sound the best I have ever heard through IEMs and classic rock like the Stones or The Who is fantastic.  Middles are lovely, tops are sparklingly clear without any harshness and the sheer detail audible through such small units is remarkable.  

I find these a real pleasure to listen to. I have listened to a lot of music through them now including my Test Playlist which I use to compare audio products. This runs from 16th-Century choral music to London Grammar and covers most things in between and I think everything sounds really good. Articulation of individual orchestral instruments is excellent, chamber music sounds superb and crystal-clear, acoustic music has lots of light and air, rock really rocks, and so on. I the clarity, richness, depth and balance. 

 
I have used a much-loved pair of RHA MA600 for many years and more recently I have also been using HifiMan RE-400s, both if which are very good indeed. I prefer these to either; they cost significantly more but if you care about sound I'd say they're worth every penny.  I'm delighted with them and can recommend them very warmly.

Amazon page HERE

Amazon Basics USB-C to micro-USB lead, 6"

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good quality lead

This is a perfectly good quality lead at a reasonable price.  It's short (6" or so), slim and pretty flexible and will connect a USB Type-C phone or other device to a micro-USB port.  It's well made, with robust plugs, decent strain relief and so on and the plugs fit fine. 

There's not much more to say about a lead.  If you need one like this for charging and/or data transfer, it will do you very nicely and should last.  Recommended.

Amazon page HERE