Azhien LED Book Light

I have tried plenty of clip-on lights before as I search for the best one to use with when watching the TV at night with my Chromebook on my lap. All the ones I have tried have worked to a greater or lesser extent but none have been without issues and most have packed in after a while.

This new clip light from Azhien is the best yet and ticks nearly all the boxes.

It arrived in a tiny mid-market box containing the lamp itself, a short USB charging cable and a one-page User Guide. Build quality seems genuinely good and better compared to the others I have tried and better by far than I expected for the crazy £5.99 price. this does not seem like a bargain-basement gadget likely to fall apart after a month of use.

The 22cm gooseneck is fully flexible and can almost be tied into a knot. The clamp is large and very firm with a ribbed rubber grip. Once in place, it is pretty firm, although not perfect. There is a single soft touch button on the head of the 7 LED lamp. Short press to scroll through the three modes: warm white at half power, daylight white at half power, daylight white at full power. You should be able to get between five and twelve hours of light depending on the mode selected.

The light can be powered either by USB or from the internal 850ma Lithium Polymer Battery. I was pleased to note that a standard USB to micro-USB cable has been used for charging, so should the cable fail a replacement can be easily found.

This little device has a quality feel to it, works well and is budget-priced. You cannot really go wrong by buying one.

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Zbrandy Wide Striped T-Shirt for Men

This T-Shirt can is best described as a Breton Style shirt as the true Breton shirt, adopted as the official uniform of the French Navy in 1858, has long sleeve and smaller more aligned stripes. That is no criticism of this is T-shirt, which is everything I hoped it might be.

The garment arrived simply packaged in a plain and unbranded plastic bag inside of which was just the shirt itself, with no external labelling or tags.

Made from 100% cotton, the shirt is soft and forgiving when worn and feels comfortable and warm. I selected the red striped version although it is also available in blue and black. I was pleased to see that the colour of the stripes was less garish than I was expecting and was far more pleasing to the eye. To avoid colour wash it is best to cold wash by hand or machine.

Build quality seems fine with all the seams well stitched and just one minor hanging thread. The T-shirt has Chinese sizing which is smaller than ours and so I would suggest selecting a garment two sizes larger than normal. I chose XXL and that fits me perfectly, and in any case better too large than too small!

For the £12.99, this attractive T-shirt is rather a good buy.

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Ally Mens Mountain Bike Cycling Shorts

For a shade under $38.00, you get two products in one. A pair of versatile and stylish MTB shorts and a separate foam padded liner or undershorts. The MTB shorts can be worn as regular ones without the lining and the lining can be worn with other shorts or MTB kit as required.

I am more of a runner than a biker, but when I do on my bike I know the importance of keeping my rear end protected when out on the trail. My usual cycling shorts are fine but the padding is rather more obvious than I would like and I always feel a bit awkward when wearing them when dismounted.

This new MTB shorts kit from Ally features a separate liner or undershorts with a thick and effective foam liner built in. The shorts themselves have no padding and so can be worn without the liner as a normal pair of outdoor or sporting shorts. There are no less than seven pockets, five of the zipped with two easy access hip pockets. You can get a 5.5″ phone, batteries, cards and all your usual bits and pieces into the pockets easily and without feeling overstuffed.

Both the shorts and undershorts feel lightweight and comfortable. The Polyester/Spandex shorts are elasticated and have velcro waist tabs to ensure a good fit. Sizing seems fine but if in doubt select a size up, as I did, to ensure they will not be too tight. The undershorts and shorts have effective wicking to keep moisture and sweat at bay and the shorts are listed as water repellent. They do a good job of protecting the rider and pocket contents from rain and splashes but they will not be much use against water immersion, so take care not to fall in!

The undershorts feature a large padded area on around the seat, this is foam rather than gel padding which I prefer for longer rides. The great thing about this system is that the padding is hardly visible when worn with separate shorts as the material of the shorts hangs away from the padding. This also allows the shorts to be worn separately as regular outdoor or sporting wear, impossible with normal cycling shorts.

I would be perfectly happy to pay the asking price were these just normal shorts, as they are stylish, comfortable and very practical for day to day wear. The separate padded liner in many ways can be looked on as a bonus and should disaster befall the shorts, the liner can be worn with any other pair of unpadded shorts or pants.

This will be a good addition to my summer MTB and outdoor kit and I am happy to recommend them.

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HULKER Extension Plugboard with USB slots

I have seen plenty of plugboards at this price, but none with the build quality and attention to detail that this one has. I have tried other high-end plugboards but none at the budget price of this model from HULKER.

The product one arrived packaged like a techy gadget in a rather posh gold coloured box. The upmarket presentation makes a difference in how the product is perceived and this is not just the same as the rest. This one is designed to sit on the desk rather than under it and the attractive design makes it look not at all out of place there. It comes with a 1.6M heavy-duty power cord with a three-pin UK fused 13A plug hard-wired in place. In the box were just the plugboard and a well written but annoyingly small and hard to read User Guide, which I reproduce at the end of my unboxing video.

As a powerboard, the device is more versatile than most with the three sockets all capable of handling a range of plug formats and voltages: UK, EU, USA, Australia, etc. The sockets are all controlled from a single switch and there are no separate switches for each socket. Keep in mind that this is a power adapter and not a transformer and check that your foreign device will work on UK 240v before plugging it in! Remember too that the plugboard will support devices with a total load of 3250W, so don’t go plugging three kettles into it! That said, this plugboard is fully fused and offers surge protection in case disaster strikes.

The unit has a single control button with a good positive click to turn the whole plugboard off, plugs and USB together, with a status LED visible through the USB slots.

Often plugboards now come equipped with USB charging sockets but too often they output a have a low power standard output of just 1A or even lower. Not so here as this plugboard comes with three smart sockets and will automatically detect and deliver the amount of power your USB device needs between 0.1 to 2.4 A. It is a pity, however, that there is no USB-C output, a feature I have yet to see on any similar powerboard.

The thing that strikes me most about this plugboard is the high-end build quality together with the care and attention detail used in the production. There are plenty of equally well-specified rivals out there but I am sure none for the same budget price.

This is an excellent plugboard designed for the modern home or office use, and for the current Amazon price of £9.99, it is a very attractive buy.

The Good
Attractive Design
Good price
Smart USB sockets
Fast Charge USB socket
International Power sockets

The Bad
No wifi or Voice control
No USB-C socket
No individual socket switches

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DJI Osmo Mobile 3 Case from Kismaple

The new and excellent DJI Osmo 3 gimbal can be bought alone for £99 or as the DJI Osmo Mobile 3 Combo which gives you the gimbal and standard accessories plus a semi-rigid case and mini-tripod for £158. When I received mine I was annoyed to discover that the supplied mini-tripod would not fit into the case and it was such a tight fit that it was all I could do to get the two cables needed in there!!

Checking online I found there was a wide selection of Osmo 3 cases now available. There were multiple versions of the case under test today from Kismaple with prices between £12 and £20. I suspect they are all the same item rebranded.

The case arrived with no external packaging other than a ziplock bag and the Amazon box it was sent in. There were no instructions or paperwork and none was needed.

The 23.5 x 18.5 x 6.4cm 290gm case is of the semi-rigid type – slightly flexible, not hard plastic but robust enough to protect the contents and very similar in build quality to the much smaller DJI official case. The box has a full-length zip with two grippers, and a full-size internal mesh pouch again with a zip opener. Inside the case are five padded flexible spacers which can be positioned to protect the gimbal and tripod with the spare spacers used to pad the small extra space which can otherwise contain extra items. There is a padded internal flap which offers further protection and this flap has eight elasticated openings each capable of housing an SD card or other small items.

I am very impressed by the design and build quality particularly for this low cost.

I would advise any prospective Osmo 3 buyers to avoid the official Combo set and instead buy the Osmo 3 alone and pick up a case like this and third party mini tripod. That should get you a better protected kit and save £25 or more.

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Azhien 10000 Lux Daylight SAD Light

Seasonal Affective Disorder is a recognised and well-documented type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. With SAD, symptoms start in the autumn and continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody. Treatment for SAD may include light therapy (phototherapy), medications and psychotherapy.

This is where this light comes in.

This unit does not resemble a table light or other domestic light but takes the form of a 24.8 x 17.8 x 2.7cm panel with a large LED display on the front with below it a backlit LCD screen and easy to use control buttons next to it.

The idea is that you sit in front of the lamp for set periods with the lamp set to either 6000k simulated daylight or the more power mood affecting Blue light which the unit can also emit. The light can be switched from Daylight to Blue at 5 brightness levels and there is a built-in timer to control the operating time. The unit has a fully adjustable kickstand which slots into the body when not in use to adjust the positioning angle of the lamp. The large backlit LCD panel and well sized and marked buttons make operating the unit a breeze. The large, well written and easy to read User Guide advises on the optimum distance to sit from the lamp and for operating times needed for most effective use.

The unit is mains powered and comes with a UK power supply with a hard-wired power cord somewhat shorter than I would have liked. It is a pity there is no built-in battery or remote control to enhance ease of use, but no matter, all the key features needed are found here.

If you find yourself depressed and down at heel during the winter months maybe this £54.99 lamp is just what you need.

The Good
Good Build Quality
Good price
Easy to Operate
LCD Display
Good User Guide

The Bad
No Carry Case
No Battery Option
No Remote Control

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DDLBiZ 6inch LCD Carbon Fiber Vernier Caliper

You cannot expect much for £3.99 but it will get you this lightweight but perfectly functional Vernier Caliper.

The device survived the journey to me in a plain unpadded shipping bag inside of which was the Vernier Caliper itself along with an LR44 battery but no instructions or paperwork of any kind. No big deal as operating this little device is not rocket science.

Build quality is lightweight and as you would expect for the budget price. The device feels distinctly low end with a rather dim display and buttons that feel soft and squishy. The unit extends to measure lengths of up to 150mm and features a non-backlit LCD screen. On the front below the LCD screen are the three control buttons to select Metric/Imperial, On/Off, Reset to zero. As the unit opens the depth bar extends to allow interior distances to be measured.

The device can measure in four different ways: internal, external, step and depth. The track moves smoothly when in operation but there is no way to lock the unit in place to hold a distance. Also, there is no memory feature to store measurements. However, the unit can quickly switch from Metric to Imperial units and be reset to zero at the touch of a button.

That it works at all makes this a good buy for just £3.99 and impossible not to recommend. Personally, I would prefer to pay more for a more robust build quality along with some memory and distance lock features together with a storage case.

The Good
Good Price
Fully Functional
Easy to Use

The Bad
Lightweight Construction
No Case
No Backlight
No Measurement Lock

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