MeihuaTu Bluetooth Headphones with Mic

 

Don’t let the surprisingly small box deceive you. This £21.99 headset gives you a lot for your money with the upmarket looks and sound quality of a much more costly device.

Inside the mid-market display box was the headset itself, USB Charging Cable, audio cable and User Guide. The User Guide is well written and nicely printed but small and hard to read. I attach a scan of it to my unboxing video.

The headphones feel lightweight but well made and robust and are of the on-ear rather than over-ear type. The headset looks good with an attractive black gloss finish to the body and what looks like PU leather for the headband and earcups. The padding is good but by no means luxurious. The build quality seems fine to me with no sign of the padding on the band working loose, poor stitching, visible wires or weak joints – all elements that have failed on similar headsets I have owned in the past. There is nothing to make me suppose that the headset is not well made. Time will tell and if something fails drastically in the future I will update the review accordingly.

The headset is very lightweight and comfortable to wear for extended listening sessions. The simple control buttons are on one ear cup only and are easy to find and identify by touch and by sight. There are the usual track/volume and multifunction buttons to control audio and phone operations. The buttons are large, not recessed and this makes them easy to use by feel and for me, this is a big plus. Another plus, unusual in a budget headset, is the separate Power On/Off button, a feature which I always prefer to the long press of the Multifunction button.

Bluetooth Pairing simple enough and achieved in the usual way by depressing the Multi-function/Power button for several seconds. The connection is indicated by the usual Red/Blue flashing LED and voice prompts. Once paired I found the connection to be stable and strong.

Battery life seems fine to me and I have no reason to doubt the claimed ten hours music time from a two-hour charge of the 400mAh lithium battery A red LED illuminates during charging and goes off when completed.

This headset is lacking a few features often found even on cheaper units these days. The is no FM radio, NFC, AptX codec or Bluetooth 5 (this set uses the slightly older Bluetooth 4.2). However, it does has a micro SD card slot and can work as a normal headset using the supplied audio cable.

Keeping in mind that this is a budget headset I was very happy indeed with the audio quality. The bass is good, clear, smooth and undistorted. Mid tones are clear and detailed and very easy to listen to. The sound quality of this headset has to be one of the main selling points. The headset has the looks of a more expensive device and the presentation is nice enough to make it attractive as a gift.

I like this headset. It is well made, comfortable, lightweight and easy to wear even for extended listening sessions and with decent sound quality too. It is a pity there was no NFC pairing or radio but I wonder how many people would actually use them? Nevertheless, the excellent audio reproduction and good build quality and presentation make this a great buy for the price asked.

The Good
Great price
Attractive upmarket looks
Excellent sound quality
Easy Access controls
Good build quality
Comfortable to wear
Microphone
Bluetooth 4.2
Separate Power Button
SD Card Slot

The Bad
No NFC
No Radio
No Bluetooth 5

More Info and Purchase

Gvoo Twin Hanger Car Hook Set

This pair of hanging hooks are designed to clip to the car rear headrest stalks to allow shopping or other bags to be hung from them down into the boot. It is a very simple idea well realised here.

The hooks arrived nicely packaged in a moderately attractive branded box rather than a plastic bag in a jiffy bag I was expecting. No instructions or paperwork was included and none needed.

The two hooks are identical and are made of robust piano black ABS plastic with bright green silicon grips for the shaft mount. Each hook weighs just 30 grams and is 9.8cm x 2.8 x 4.7cm in size with a supporting weight of 8Kg.

As you would suppose, using them could not be easier. They just press in place onto the headrest, the soft silicon grip means there is no click when they engage, and rotate freely. When in use the allow bags or other items to be suspended from them into the boot area. When not in use they can be discreetly folded away under the headrests.

Build quality seems fine and the design blends in well with most modern vehicle interiors. The current Amazon price of £5.99 for the pair certainly does not seem unreasonable for the quality and I am happy to recommend them.

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Yoleo 1.7L Blue LED Illuminated Kettle

 

Well priced on Amazon at £42.99  this is attractive and nicely designed kettle from YOLEO offers some features not usually found at this price point.

The kettle arrived in a rather unattractive down market box containing the kettle, base unit and a large and well-printed User Guide which I append to my unboxing video.

Build quality seems fine with everything made of robust plastic and metal with High Borosilicate Glass for the 1.7 Ltr kettle transparent body. As with most kitchen top devices, this one comes with a short cable and a prefitted UK three pin plug. The kettle features a thumb panel on the handle allowing a range of temperatures between 70C and 100C to be selected with a keep warm option to hold the kettle at a selected temperature. The kettle has mesh filter over the spout which hangs free and can be removed for cleaning. With every button tap or when the kettle concludes an operation, there is a beep, which so far as I can tell cannot be disabled but is not so loud as to be annoying.

To operate the kettle after filling with water and placing on the base you can either press the On/Standby button to begin heating to the maximum level or else press the Keep Warm button and then the reset button for the beverage or temperature you wish. The kettle will light up with a ring of blue LED’s around the glass bottom during heating and the beeper will sound once.  When the selected temperature is reached the kettle will beep again and the  LED illumination will go off. When the Keep Warm feature is enabled the kettle will switch on and off automatically to keep the water at the selected temperature. How many of us actually need or may use this feature or need water at any temperature other than boiling is open to doubt, but better to have it than not.

The kettle has a wide and easy to access mouth with a lid that pulls right back and so is easy to fill and empty. Take note that the scale filter can be removed for cleaning and is prone to popping out but can be easily clicked back in place.  The kettle lights up in a very spectacular way when in operation and certainly looks good in the kitchen, particularly at night! Boil time is good and fast and the kettle is no louder than normal when in operation.

If you want a well made and visually striking kettle with preset temperatures and a keep warm feature then this may be just what you are looking for.

The Good
Good Build Quality
Good Price
Preset temperatures
Keep Warm Feature
LED illumination Glass Bowl
Easy access opening

Auto Shutdown

The Bad
Water Filter pops loose
Beep cannot be disabled

LED cannot be disabled

More Info and Purchase

YANX USB to Dual Port Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

 

This one of those difficult items to review because it is so simple in design and just does what it is supposed to do with a minimum of fuss and bother. Just plug it in and use it.

But what does it do?

This is a rather specialised adapter and when connected gives the user two additional RJ45 Gigabit LAN ports which can allow separate and independent access to LAN networks at 10/100/1000 Mbps speeds. Assuming the computer already has one Ethernet port and Wifi this could mean that as many as four networks can be used at once. Of course, most of us do not need this but those in finance or software development or those using Virtual Computers may need it. It should work with Windows (XP and up), Mac OS 10.6 and up, Linux Linux kernel 2.6.14 ~ 3.5.0.

The unit arrived packed in a simple but attractive mid-market product box with all you need to know about it printed clearly on the box.  Inside the box were the adapter, printed User Guide and a driver CD.

The device could not be more simply designed. On one end is a short hard-wired heavy duty cable and USB 3.0 plug with a USB 3.0 port next to it.  Personally, I would have rather had a separate USB input socket to allow for my choice of cable or replacement should the original be lost or damaged. It is perhaps a pity too that USB 3 was used rather than USB-C but as USB-C is only now starting to come to laptop and desktop machines it was no doubt felt that USB 3 has a wider market.  The USB 3.0 port can be used to replace the one take up by the adapter, important on some laptops with few spare parts.  Build quality is excellent and the adapter seems robust and well made.

On my Windows 10 machine as soon as I connected the adapter two more Ethernet ports immediately became visible with both functioning just as well as the built-in Gigabit LAN port. I did not need to install any additional drivers. It was as simple as that.

The current Amazon price of £37.98 is not cheap but then this has to be viewed as a low volume specialised item for advanced users and with that in mind, the price is not bad at all.

The Good
Good Build Quality
Good price

Simple to Use

The Bad
Hard Wired Cable
No Carry Case

Sable Cordless Shiatsu Massage Pillow

 

 

There seem to be plenty of these Shiatsu pillow massagers on the market these days and most of them very similar but at just £38.99 this is slightly dearer than most rivals but it does offer at least one thing the others lack – wire-free operation.

The massager was supplied in an attractive mid-market product box, suitable for storing the device in when not in use. Inside the box aside from the massager itself was a UK power supply and a simple but well printed and easy to read User Guide. I include a scan of the User Guide in my unboxing video.

The device consists of a large and quite heavy four roller mechanism contained in a robust mesh and leather look housing. Unlike the more expensive rivals, it lacks the arm slings which hold the roller tight to the shoulder and so with this device you have to control the massage intensity by simply pushing back onto it. It has a single large control button: press once to turn on, press again to turn the heat On/Off, long press to turn off. The switch assembly seems well made and has a good positive action although there are no status LEDs. There are an array of red LED’s which light up around the rollers when it is in use and heating mode selected. On the rear of the unit is an adjustable elasticated strap which holds the unit in position on the neck support of your seat. This is a problem as in the home I suspect few of us have suitable high necked chairs in the lounge or bedroom but in the car or office, it should be OK. In general, the build quality seems very good and the equal of the similar devices from more expensive rivals. It is a pity it is not supplied with a storage bag but at a pinch, the box it is supplied in could be used.

In use it is easy enough, you just rest it on your shoulders, switch on and hold it in place using the rear belt or with the hands, leaning back to adjust the pressure. As well as the neck and shoulders it can also be used on the back or indeed any part of the body. It can be quite uncomfortable at times and feels like having two cricket balls pushed into your back but no doubt it is beneficial. The rollers have a very powerful action which can be controlled only by varying the tension it is held in place or by pressing backwards onto it. The direction of the roller travel alternates automatically every minute during use. The heat action is pleasant and quite pronounced but again cannot be varied other than by turning it off. It operates on a fifteen-minute massage cycle after which it turns off.

It comes with a UK power supply but the cable length is too short and long enough only for use when positioned immediately next to a socket although when used on the internal battery this is not a problem. A two-hour charge should give up to two hours of use with heating and at least four hours without.

The massage effect is very powerful and once again at least equal to that from more costly models I have used. The battery feature is a major plus point and makes the device far more easy and comfortable to use. This feature alone makes the device well worth the asking price for me.

The Good
Good price
Good build quality
Attractive design
Effective massage
Auto off feature

Rechargeable battery

The Bad
May be too heavy for some users
Short power cable
No storage bag
Single power setting

Single heat setting

More Info and Purchase

Qoolife Rechargeable Clip On Reading Light

This excellent little lamp from Qoolife arrived nicely presented in a robust product box making the product attractive enough for use as a gift. Inside the box aside from the lamp itself was a short non-standard USB charging lead and a simple one-sheet User Guide.

The product is nicely designed in glossy white plastic with a single large button on the top to switch between the three brightness levels. The crocodile jaws are strong and grip well and once in place the lamp feels pretty secure. The short gooseneck is very flexible and can be put into almost any orientation. The device can be mains powered and will operate when charging but it is primarily designed for use with the internal 1000mAh lithium polymer battery for which it claimed up to eight hours of use from a two-hour charge, which I have no reason to doubt it not the case. It is USB powered but no mains adapter is included along with a charging cable, no problem as we all have plenty of spare USB adapters these days. This leads to my only gripe with the product as the plug on the lamp end is non-standard. If a normal micro-USB port were used, as many similar devices do, then there would be no problem if the cable were lost. As it is if the cable is lost or damaged then the lamp becomes useless.

It is designed mainly for use with the crocodile jaws but will stand self-supported on the flat base but be aware that this limits how the gooseneck is used as the lamp is liable to topple over if it is extended too far out. Most people I expect will be using the clamp to support it and this works very well.

The main use I put it to is to read by at night and it clips neatly to my bedside table for this purpose. It also works well as a computer light and can be powered from a laptop USB port when doing so.

This is an excellent little lamp, good and bright and available now from Amazon for the very attractive price of £12.99.

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SGYD Plug & Play USB Desktop Microphone

 

At just £15.99 you cannot really expect too much, and certainly this is no Sennheiser but in fact and for the price, this is indeed a good buy.

In the simple, plain but robust product box was just the microphone itself,  and a well written but rather small printed User guide. Build quality seems fine for the price. As you might expect for the price everything is made of plastic and feels lightweight but nevertheless seems well made and robust. The microphone has a USB interface with a hard-wired 0.9M cable. The microphone and stand are medium sized at 10.3″ high on a 3.3″ base but when sits neatly on the office desk and looks the business. The microphone has an Off/On switch on the base with status confirmation LED. The cable is hard wired which is a pity as a standard detachable USB lead would have been better as any USB cable could have been used. There is a foam pop filter on the microphone itself which can be removed if needed,

Setting it up is simple enough, is well explained in the User Guide and in fact is exactly the same as with any other USB mic. No additional drivers were needed or installed on my Windows 10 machine. It really is just push and play.

The microphone works well with decent sound quality for the price and a no significant background hum or interference. If better audio quality is needed or for high-end music recording then expect to pay much more. For Skype, blogs and Youtube this budget microphone should be perfectly fine.

If you need a small and neat mic for Skype or other uses with your desktop PC and appreciate the attractive and stylish design this might be for you.

The Good
Great price
Good build quality
Good audio quality

Good User Guide

The Bad
No carry bag

Hardwired cable

More Info and Purchase