ANYOYO Alarm Clock Wake Up Light

 

 

I already have a rather expensive Philips Wake-Up light and was interested to see how this budget rival compared to it.

The unit arrived packaged in a reasonably attractive mid-market display box but lacked the stylish and expensive presentation of the Philips. Inside was the lamp itself, a short USB to micro USB power cable, and a User Guide. Build quality is good for the price and the lamp looks quite stylish and attractive. The User Guide is fairly easy to read and makes a pleasant change from the tiny poorly printed manuals so often received. Build quality seems fine although a little more obviously plastic than the high-end rivals.

The lamp offers multiple functions: Lamp, Clock, Wake-Up alert, Sleep-Aid, Alarm Clock, Night Light. It has four built-in sleep assisting ambient sounds, a range of selectable colours for the light and night light, and a choice of battery or mains power via a USB adapter (not supplied). The only significant feature lacking is a radio. It has an LCD panel on the front displaying the time, status settings, and current mode or feature selection. On the rear is the micro-USB power in slot.

The Wake-Up feature operates much the same as on other devices. The sleeper is awakened by a subtle light that gradually brightens over 15/30/60 minutes together with the selected ambient sound (thrush singing, kingfisher singing, white noise, distant bells). A snooze feature is available to supplement it.

The Sleep-Aid feature is more unusual. When selected the background light changes to the 590-750nm wavelength of red-orange light a specific colour said to stimulate the body’s natural secretion of sleep-inducing melatonin. This too has a timer to turn itself off automatically.

It can operate as a normal dimmable bedside reading lamp and as a nightlight. For the night light, it can either scroll automatically through the seven colours of the display with the option to select and lock the colour of your choice. It can be powered in any mode either by the built-in 3600 mAH battery or from the mains using the USB cord. I was pleased to see that a standard micro-USB interface has been used so there is no need to worry about losing a device specific cable.

This device looks nice once set up and is quite stylishly designed. It performs all the basic features well enough and works well as an incremental wake-up alarm clock and bedside lamp. The build quality although perfectly acceptable is on the cheap side and certainly cannot compare to my Philips unit – but that cost more than four times the price of this one.

This is a decent quality device and although not as good as much more expensive rivals is still a good buy at the current price of just £29.99 and the time of writing Amazon are offering a 5% reduction.

The Good
Great price
Attractive lighting options
Built-in Ambient sounds
Battery operation mode
Good User Guide
Dawn simulation wake up mode
Standard USB plug
Sleep Aid mode

The Bad
No Power Adapter Included
No Radio
Poor audio quality

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PinShare Home Clamp Mount USB Reading/Desk Lamp

 

I was expecting something larger. I was surprised when such a small box arrived but inside was the lamp, base stand plate, and a small but well-written user Guide. No mains adapter is included but USB power ports and suitable adapters for this 5W device are widely available in most homes and all offices.

I was expecting a large full sized desk lamp but in fact at just over 13″ tall this is larger than a computer reading light but smaller than a normal desk light but in fact, to a large extent will do the job of both. It is small and light enough to clip on top of a computer monitor to act as a keyboard lamp but large enough to stand on the desk or bedside table as a reading light.

The head is 2″ across by 2.7″ long and has a frosted type front surface to avoid glare from the surprisingly bright lamp. It has three colour temperature modes available between 3000K-6500K and eleven brightness levels which can be selected using the large and easy to use control box on the 200cm power cord. Press the M button to scroll through the lighting modes and the + and – buttons to select the brightness level. Press and hold the power button and the light will automatically power off after five minutes, a handy feature when exiting a darkened room.

Build quality seems excellent. The lamp seems well made and robust and has is attractively designed enough for use in the bedroom as well as the office. The gooseneck is one of the most flexible I have encountered and you really could tie a knot in it. It flexible and easy to twist into position with no need to hold the clamp in place. When the detachable base is fitted the lamp is, of course, less stable but it is by no means top heavy and will stand upright perfectly securely with any normal position for the gooseneck.

The Amazon price of £19.99 (with a further 5% reduction at the time of writing) is excellent for a well made, stylish, and very functional lamp such as this.

The Good
Good Build Quality
Good price
Multi-step adjustment
Colour Temperature Selector
LED Location Light
Auto Off Feature

The Bad
No Power Adapter Included

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bedee 3 Mode Rechargeable Bike light Set

 

This new two-part bike light set from bedee is, in fact, two separate but complementary products bundled together. The set consists of a multimode forward facing light that can also be used as a helmet light or torch together with a multimode rear-facing red light. The current Amazon price of £14.99 and with an additional 7% discount at the time of writing makes this look attractive deal. But are the lights any good?

In the first box was the front light, USB to micro-USB charging cable, User Guide and mounts for the handlebars and helmet. It also works perfectly well as a torch when removed from the quick release mount and away from the bike at night. The 300 lumen light is bright and although not the brightest I have seen it is certainly the best I have encountered in this price bracket. Using it could not be simpler. There is a single large and easy to access button on the top which scrolls through Bright, Normal, Flashing and Off modes. The device is IPX 5 waterproof which means it should be fine in the rain for extended periods. On the rear is a grommet protected micro-USB port to charge the 1200mAh battery which is claimed to give a run time of six hours at the standard power and two to three at full power from a three-hour charge. An LED illuminates when the device is charging.

In the rear light box were just the light itself and USB to micro-USB charging cable. No instructions were included other than those on the box. This quick release light is also IPX5 water resistant and offers four lighting modes: Always On, slow LED scrolling, fast LED scrolling and Flashing. The rechargeable 350 mAh battery will run continuously for up to four hours and up to twelve hours when in slow scroll mode.

Both lights are good and bright, particularly the rear one, and should help to keep you safe on the roads at night. Build quality seems fine and both lights are small and neat enough to tuck away in a pocket when not needed. No real criticism to be made other than that the front light User Guide is almost entirely in Chinese but the illustrations make it clear how to fit the lamp if any instructions are indeed actually needed. I doubt if you will find a better bike light set for this price.

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Al-Felice 5m RGB SMD 5050 Waterproof LED Light Strip

As Christmas approaches, the season of fairy lights, it is maybe time to start looking around for easy ways to illuminate the house ready for the festive season. This kit from Al-Felice contains all you need to get going and allows for room for expansion later.

In the blister pack was a single 5M 300LED light strip complete with plugs either end, UK power supply, 44 key infrared remote control, control box, female to female 4-pin adapter and a small User Guide. The User Guide is small, hard to read and rather uninformative but for completion, I include a scan of it in my unboxing video.

All you need is included here. There is no need to buy anything more unless you plan to expand the unit with more LED strips which can be daisy-chained onto this one and powered from the same PSU and controller.

To use the kit with the single strip included then simply plug the output from the mains power adapter into the white control box, plug the tiny and delicate female to female adapter into the controller output plug and then connect that to either of the two plugs on the light strip. Remove the battery protector plastic strip from the remote control and connect the mains plug. If you wish to connect additional LED strips then these and other female to female adapters can be easily found online. You can cut the LED strip to length being careful to cut with scissors along the indicated points found every few inches on the strip. The strip is sticky backed and can easily be mounted in place.

The fitted LED strips if discreetly mounted can be left in place for future festive occasions, otherwise, they can be carefully removed and returned to the box for next year. As with all LED strips over time the sticky surface will come loose and so for long time use a more permanent mounting method should be found.

Everything you need from a simple lighting kit is included here and at a very attractive price too at £14.99. It is attractively presented and would make a great buy for the Christmas season.

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BesserGift Silica Gel Heated Facial Cleansing Brush and Eye Massager

This attractive new £29.99 device from BesserGift is a multipurpose health and cleansing tool designed to remove residual makeup traces from the face as well as tone up and refresh the skin and pores.

It arrived in a subtle and rather stylish product box with just the unit itself, USB charging cable and User Guide within. I attach a copy of the user guide to my unboxing video, go full screen and pause as needed to read it.

The device itself is has a soft and silky smooth silica gel skin with all the controls buttons recessed into it with a slightly banana like curved design. It has a stainless steel effect top which I thought was purely decorative but in fact is an ‘eye smoothing device’ and a set of six control buttons running upwards on the front face. At the top on the front is the large face cleaning pad and on the rear the heated eye pad compress pad. On the rear at the bottom is the grommet protected power in port which annoyingly is a non-standard one, so do not lose that USB cable!

Press and hold the power button for between one and two seconds to turn the device on and it will beep and all the LEDs will light. Scroll through the modes by selecting and pressing the power button. The modes are Cleaning, Massage, Hot Pack, Refresh, Relax. Double press the power button to change the vibration level and heat level from the silica to the metal end. The User Guide explains which levels contain heat, vibration or a mix of the two and how to make the best use of the available modes.

The effect of the device is very pleasant and soothing in all of the available modes. What if any long-term benefits it gives is open to debate but it feels relaxing and sometimes stimulating when in use.

This is a discreet and rather elegant device that will refresh the face, skin or indeed any other body area to which it is applied.

The Good
Stylish Design
Good Build Quality
Multiple Modes
Good User Guide

The Bad
No Storage Bag
Non-Standard USB cable
Simple Packaging

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ONIKUMA K8 Gaming Headset

 

Available from Amazon at just £20.69 this has to be viewed as a budget headset but in fact, you get rather a lot for your money here with the new gaming headset from ONIKUMA.

The headset arrived nicely presented in a mid-range display box. Inside the box was the headset itself, cable adapter, and a large and easy to read User Guide which I include on the end of my unboxing video.

The headset is nicely made, seems robust and strong, and quite attractively designed compared to some gamer headsets I have tried – which is not saying much. It is moderately well padded on both the earcups, which are of the over-ear type, and on the headband. It is comfortable and easy to wear even for long gaming sessions. The 2.2m braided audio cord has both 3.5mm jack and USB plugs. An adaptor is including which connects to the 3.5mm jack plug to allow the mic and headphone signals to be split to separate jack plugs to allow the headset to be used with computers, consoles, and other devices with separate microphone and audio sockets. The earcups illuminate with multicoloured LED’s when connected using the USB plug and in fact, this is the only purpose of the USB plug as USB audio is not supported and there is no built-in vibration engine. There is a large in-line control box with a thumbwheel to control the audio volume and a mute switch for the microphone.

How does it sound?
The audio quality is actually not bad at all and worthy of a higher priced device. There is plenty of bass, not so much as to be overpowering, with the mid and higher frequencies being clear and well defined without being too sharp or abrasive. When both gaming and listening to music it is becomes a very immersive and enjoyable experience. From a pure gaming viewpoint the lack of direct talkback through the console is a drawback but the fine sound quality and ease of use for general music playing more than makes up for it.

Unlike with some gaming headsets, the LED lighting is quite subtle and not unattractive with the earcup logo scrolling through a range of colours. Colours cannot be preset and the lighting can only be switched off by unplugging the USB plug. It is worth saying again that the USB connection is to power the LED lights and not to allow for system-level interaction with a gaming console. The large microphone stalk is very flexible and can be easily folded out of the way but cannot be unplugged. The mic is sometimes muffled in use and the best I have tried for talkback use.

This is a large and well-made set of headphones described as being for gamers but really they are fine for general purpose listening with a full and rich sound not often found at this price. If you are a serious gamer, particularly a console user then my advice would be to walk away. If you are looking for a budget headset for music, PC Gaming and general use then this would be a decent buy.

The Good
Good sound
Great price
Good build quality
Comfortable to wear
LED Illumination
Audio/Mic adaptor
Adjustable mic position
Long 2.2m braided cable
Passive noise reduction

The Bad
Microphone muffles audio
Not suitable for some gaming consoles

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bedee Alcohol Breathalyser Kit

 

 

I remember when I was a boy, many years ago, that drink driving was not really perceived as a bad thing. It was almost comical and people would laugh about near runs with the police and at worst it was a bit naughty, like walking on the grass when the sign said not to. Not so now and it is seen as a dangerous and stupid crime that no one would own up to doing. That is why a simple and easy to use breathalyser such as this might allow the user to stay both safe and legal. Of course, the best way is simply not to drink at all when driving but carrying this device might be a way of convincing fellow drinkers not to drive.

The device arrived well presented in a mid-market product box containing just the breathalyser itself and a well written if rather a small User Guide. I include a scan of the User Guide in my unboxing video. The unit is small but well made and can fit easily into an inside pocket or into a bag or purse. It is powered by two AAA sized batteries which slot into the compartment on the underside. No batteries are included, which is a pity.

The unit can perform four functions
1. Alcohol level testing
2. Clock
3. Timer
4 Display current temperature

The clock, timer and temperature readings are displayed on the upper LCD panel with the alcohol test results on the lower colour panel. Configuring the time and scrolling through the four functions is done by pressing the Mode button.

Operating the main feature, the alcohol level testing, is easy enough. Turn the device on by pressing and holding the Power button for one second and the device will beep to confirm it is working and the colour screen will show a ‘warm-up’ status message and an on-screen ten-second countdown will display. The unit will beep again and you need to blow into the aperture on top of the device for between three and five seconds. The result will be shown in the colour screen window in the form of both a BAC % reading and a g/L level.

What do the readings mean?
A caution message will display with readings between 0.02% BAC and 0.05% BAC, a danger level message (with beep sound) between 0.05% and 0.08%. The legal driving limit in England and Wales is 0.08% BAC (80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood) and 0.05% in Scotland.

For best results, it is best to take the test more than once and of course if in doubt do not drive.

This is a small and easy to use device and the current Amazon price of £10.99 is a small price to pay to keep your licence.

The Good
Great price
Easy to Use
Good Build Quality
Small Size
Well Written User Guide

The Bad
No batteries included
User Guide Small and hard to Read
LCD screen small and hard to read

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