Uplayteck Wake Up Light Alarm Clock

Although it seems to be aimed at children this combined wake-up alarm clock, night light and Bluetooth speaker can be used by anyone.

The lamp arrived packaged in a simple but attractive display box without the expensive presentation of some high-end rivals. Inside was the lamp itself, a short USB power cable, and a User Guide. Build quality is excellent for the price and the lamp looks quite stylish and attractive without the flimsy feel of cheaper rivals. The User Guide is well written and easy to read and makes a pleasant change from the poorly printed manuals so often received.

The 440g clock is attractively and for once logically designed. On the front is the LED colour display surrounding the rectangular LED screen in the centre. This screen shows the current time, Battery level, Brightness, Bluetooth, Volume, AM/PM, and Alarm status of the clock. Below it is the combined Power On/Off and screen brightness button. Along the edge of the clock are buttons for Previous/Vol Down, Next/Vol Up, Snooze/Play/Pause/ Alarm on/off, Light Mode/Alarm Setting, Light On/Brightness/Bluetooth On/off. All the buttons are large, easy to find in the dark, have descriptive icons on them and are clearly explained in the user guide. On the rear is the micro-USB charging port.

The clock can be powered by the built-in 2000mAh Lithium rechargeable batteries or directly from any USB port. Depending on the usage and setting you should get around ten hours of use per charge and up to 160 hours on standby.

As an alarm clock, it works well and supports up to three separately configured alarms. You can be awoken by a mixture of subtle lighting and a choice of eight alert tones, all equally annoying. Press any button to snooze for ten minutes.

It also works as a night light with four stages of brightness and as a Bluetooth speaker. It has 8 lighting modes: blue, pink, red, yellow, three mixed colours and 1 breathing mode.

As a Bluetooth speaker, the sound quality is actually rather good, distinctly better than I expected, and there are a set of large and easy to find volume and track controls along the top to control the music. It uses Bluetooth 5 to connect and this up to date version offers a longer range with fewer dropouts than previous versions.

The build quality seems fine. The clock is heavier and more substantial than I was expecting and it does have rather a quality feel to it. It is an excellent piece of kit and the only thing lacking, for me anyway, is a remote control.

Priced at a penny under £40 this is not a cheap item, and there are many cheaper rivals out there, but this is a well made, easy to use, and well specified item and sometimes it is worth paying a bit more for the best.

The Good
Good User Guide
Bluetooth Speaker
Night Light
4 Stage Brightness
8 Light Modes
8 Audio Alerts
Any Button Snooze
Rechargeable Battery/USB Powered
12/24 Hr Time Display
3 Separate Alarms

The Bad
No Remote Control
Expensive

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Conambo JBT700 Bluetooth Headset

If you work from a home or small office and find yourself continually dealing with phone calls then you may well have a need for this self-contained call centre headset. This set is fully wireless and uses Bluetooth to connect the phone interface or computer with a handy USB dongle provided for devices with no built-in Bluetooth option.

In the rather plain and business like product box was the headset itself, a USB Bluetooth dongle, a charging cable and a well written and nicely printed User Guide The headset has a fully adjustable boom mic with. a pair of comfortable on-ear memory foam padded leather earcups which feel far nicer than the cheaper foam padded earcups too often used. The headset feels comfortable and light in use and I would guess would be fine for extended use. The charging cable has a standard USB A plug on the end and a micro-USB plug on the headset end. All is explained in the user Guide which is large, well written and easy to read and I include a scan of it in my unboxing video.

The non-detachable microphone stalk can be fully rotated and positioned as close to the mouth as needed and then folded up and out of the way when not. The microphone can be muted when not needed using the easy-access button on the end of the stalk.

The headset has just three buttons, both on the same side, with a large multifunction button in the centre and audio up and down buttons on either side of the headband. The buttons are easy to find and operate solely by touch with a proper clicky response.

The headset comes with a Bluetooth 5 dongle but can be connected to any Bluetooth equipped audio device. It can pair to up to two devices simultaneously. To pair just set one or both sound sources to pairing mode and press the Multifunction button on the headset until the ‘Pairing’ prompt voice is heard. If necessary select ‘JBT700’ on your source devices and pairing will take place automatically and you will hear the ‘connected’ status prompt, twice if connecting to two devices.

Sound quality is not usually of prime importance when designing call centre style headsets but this model is the exception with headphone sound quality that is more than adequate for home use for music and speech, perhaps due to the large 40mm audio drivers. The microphone too is better than I expected, not fantastic, but certainly above average for the price. The microphone has built-in DSP Noise Reduction, to cut down on intrusive background sounds. 

Call quality seems fine on both ends of the conversation and I had no trouble making and receiving calls through this headset. The headset is lightweight and comfortable and the padded headband can be set to almost any position for comfort. Weighting just 123g it is very suited for long office sessions and the user soon forgets it is being worn. However, due to its light weight, it is probably not super robust, so take care not to drop or sit on it.

Priced at £39.99 before discounts, it is not inexpensive and there may be cheaper and better rivals out there, but it is nicely made, works well and gets the job done and is probably a decent buy.

The Good
Good Price
Excellent Build Quality
Two Device Connection
Good Call Quality
Mic Mute Button
Bluetooth 5
Excellent User Guide

The Bad
Expensive
No Cable Option
Lightweight Construction
No Storage Case

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Anyork Laser Golf Range Finder Review

This compact little device allows you to measure the distance to a remote object and see the result through the telescope like eyepiece. It is primarily designed for golfers to determine the distance to the tee, a bunker or for the next stroke and can be set to automatically compensate for the level of slope needed to reach it.

In the rather plain box you get the rangefinder, a rigid carry case, charging cable, lanyard, carabiner clip, cleaning cloth and a well written and easy to read user guide. Build quality seems fine and nothing looks like to fail, break or fall off anytime soon.

The 104 x 39 x 72mm rangefinder sits nicely in the hand and at just 182g is nice and easy to use. On the front are the large optical laser send and receive lenses, on the rear the viewing lens with a focusing ring. On top are buttons for power/measure and mode, and on the side a large backlit button for Slope measurement on/off.

The device is waterproof, has image stabilisation, has a flag lock feature and can be set for either imperial or metric measurements. It can be used for distances up to around 1500 yards with a distance accuracy of about 0.5 yards and a slope angle accuracy of around 45°.

The device has a built-in 750 mAh battery with a USB-C port on the side to charge it. One 30 minute charge should last for literally thousands of measurements.

It is simple to use. Just press the button and as you look through the eyepiece you see the calculated distance. Press the mode button to see the distance in real-time as you move or to factor in the level of slope. The slope adjusting feature can be turned off so that the device can be legally used in golfing tournaments with the illuminated slope switch confirming that this has been done.

But of course, this device is not just for golfers and it can be used for anyone needing to measure distances outdoors, for hunting, forestry work etc.
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At £85.99, it is not cheap, but it is well made, accurate, and is easy to use and I think it is worth the price.

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CWOWDEFU 10 Inch Android 11 Tablet

The first thing I noticed about this new tablet is the weight, it feels hefty, well made and substantial in the hand. The build quality throughout is first rate and a cut above the Amazon 10 inch tablet I also own.

In the attractive mid market box, you get the tablet, two screen protectors (one is prefitted), a UK charger, a lightweight scribe pen, and a pretty standard Android setup guide. The tablet has a grey metallic effect rear casing with quite a large screen bordering on the front, which does not bother me much as it reduces the chance of accidental screen presses. It all seems nicely presented and a cut above the usual budget tablet.

I ran the excellent AIDA64 analysis app on the tablet and it gave me the following details about the internal hardware of the device. The tablet runs Android 11, comes 3Gb of ram and 32 Gb of storage and has a quad-core ARM Cortex A53 1.6Mhz processor. The screen display is bright, clear and easy to read and belies the rather modest 1280x 800 pixels size. It supports both 2.4 and 5Ghz wifi with wifi 6 and has a 6000mAh battery. There is an 8 MP full HD rear facing camera and a 5MP 720p front facing camera. It has a micro-SD card expansion port but no SIM card slot or GPS sensor. There are two speaker grills on the underside and the sound quality is distinctly above average, although not the best I have heard. All the usual buttons and ports are to be found along the side and I was pleased to see the up to date USB-C port is used for charging and data.

A major plus for me as this tablet is virtually 100% pure Android. There are no unasked for apps or unneeded features and the interface is clear and uncluttered. The only apps on it are from Google and in fact, you will need to get some apps downloaded onto it before you can do much with it.

So how does it work? Perfectly fine for general use. This is no iPad, so don’t expect to be able to render 4K video on here or other high end tasks but for web browsing, video streaming, and zoom calls it is perfectly fine. The screen is bright, snappy and responsive, browsing websites is fast and trouble free as are video calls and streaming. The build quality is excellent and I do not foresee the tablet failing any time soon.

If you need a budget tablet for everyday use, then this would be rather a good buy for the current asking price of a penny under £100 before discounts.

The Good
Good Price
Good Build Quality
Good Cameras
Child Mode
Dual Band Wifi
Bloatware Free
Android 11
USB-C

The Bad
No GPS
No SIM Card Slot

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DIGITNOW! Digital Film Scanner

My partner needed a reasonably priced scanner to digitise a load of ancient photos and Kodachrome slides. Looking around a rather crowded market it seems there are loads of sub £100 scanners which all seem to contain the same 14 MP scanning technology. They all scan natively at 14MP with interpolation to 22 MP with the main difference being in the casing, size of screen and price. This one was about mid-range at £89.99 with a larger than normal 4.3-inch screen and HDMI output as selling points.

In the box, you get the scanner and a range of film mounts to accommodate all the popular film sizes from 35mm downwards: 35mm Slide Holder, 35mm Neg Holder, 110 Slide Holder, 8mm/Super 8 film holder, and 110 neg holder. Also included are a cleaning brush, UK power supply and a USB to mini USB power/data cable and a well printed but rather over complicated user guide. Build quality is entirely from plastic and is a long way from premium but is not too bad for the price.

Below the screen at the front of the scanner are a poorly placed row of buttons for Mode, Back, Power, Forward and OK. Press the power button to turn on and the screen shows Capture Mode. Press the Forward button to scroll through Playback Mode, Film Type selection, Format, Resolution selection, Language selection, and USB Mode.

Operation is simple enough but slow as it needs to be done frame by frame. After selecting film type and resolution, enter Capture mode and press OK, then press Mode and press OK to Scan. The file is saved to the SD card. The device can be used with SD cards formatted as FAT32 up to 128gb in size. No card is included with the scanner.

Although the scanner will scan at 22MP per image this is through interpolation and only increases the image size and not the resolution. It is quicker and easier to scan at the native 14MP resolution and then change the size if required on the computer.

There are exposure and colour correction options available on the scanner itself but these are pretty basic and lost when the device is restarted. I usually wait until I have a good number of images scanned to the SD card and then transfer them to my computer to enhance and correct them. Connect the USB cable to the computer and switch the scanner to USB mode to automatically mount the SD card to the computer desktop as a drive.

The results are as I expected. Medium quality with pronounced colour casts and fairly low resolution. If all you want is to digitise some images for posting to the internet then or for general use then this will be OK. If you want a professional level archival scanner then keep on looking and expect to pay several times this price.

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G-WILL 500W Ceramic Space Heater

This tiny little heater certainly packs a punch and is not short on features either. It outputs 500w of heat, has two fan modes, a 12-stage timer, a fast 2-second startup, LED temperature display, remote control and fully adjustable thermostatic control.

The heater arrived packaged in an attractive mid-market branded product box containing the heater, remote control handset, and a well written and easy to read User Guide.

Firstly, remember that this heater has been designed specifically for small rooms and spaces. It is perfect for rooms up to 30㎡ in size, small bedrooms, the home office etc and is not suitable to heat large rooms. Sized at just 18 x 11 x 11 cm it plugs directly into the wall socket with no cables or trailing leads to trip over and can be rotated to fit verticle or horizontal sockets. The heater, as to be expected, is lightweight at just 470g but the build quality seems fine.

On the front is a large and bright LED panel displaying the current temperature setting, with buttons around it for heat up, heat down, on/off and timer. There is a metal grill on the front to protect the small heating element, air intakes on both sides and on one side the master Power On/Off switch. On the rear is a UK three pin plug with a button to allow the plug to rotate. On the underside is a bright blue Status LED which lights when the device is working or in Standby mode.

The heater has two fan level modes and a thermostat, the current thermostat cut-off temperature is shown on the LED screen as is the timer status when selected. The device is powered off and on with the switch on the side and when turned off the timer and other settings return to the default values with the thermostat temperature of 30 C.

After turning the side power switch to On, to set the heat mode, press the power button on the front display and use the top two buttons to set the desired temperature between 15°C and 32°C which will be displayed on the LED screen. Press the temperature setting buttons simultaneously to select which of the two fan speeds you need and again this will be shown on the screen (LL or HH). Press the timer button on the front panel to scroll through the timer levels in one hour increments and again this will show on the screen. The heater will return to standby mode after timer operation. To turn the heater off press the front panel power button, wait one minute for the cooling fan to finish and the heater will enter standby mode with a countdown to this showing on the screen. When in standby mode you can then use the side switch to fully power off the device.

The easiest way to operate the heater is with the remote control. The remote control is well made, medium-sized and with proper clicky buttons. It features controls for on/off, timer, heat up, heat down, and fan speed.

Drawbacks? Not many, the front grill, which does not show red when in operation, gets very hot, very quickly, so keep this device out of the way of children or animals. It does take a full minute to fully switch off, which can be a nuisance at times, but don’t be tempted just to unplug it as bad things may happen.

For the current Amazon price of less than £20 before discounts, this is well worth considering if you are in the need of a fan heater for a small room but are short on space and cash.

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Discount Code: Code：965CF65XSM88

GooSpy 1080P Wifi Spy Camera Clock

What we have here is a decent quality wifi security camera hidden inside a working desktop clock. The camera/clock is attractively designed, works well both as a clock and a camera with no indication on the front, back, or even inside the rear panel that it is anything other than a simple clock.

The camera can be powered from any USB outlet or by a rechargeable battery. I was pleased to see it uses the widely available 18650 battery which can be replaced when needed. Charging the battery in the camera takes several hours but you can charge the battery externally in a high speed charger for a faster turnaround or just swap it over for another. Battery life is limited when left in motion detection mode and I found it was powered down by morning when left running overnight. Battery mode is really just for short term operation with the USB power option for general use.

The camera can be controlled and configured through the HomeEye app just as you would any other wifi camera and you can also use the app to set the clock time and features. It streams and records video with sound at up to 1080p 15 frames per second including night vision and gives excellent results which can be saved to the SD card or directly to your phone. There are three levels of video resolution available which can be selected in the app. As with other security cameras, you can set it to alert you through the app when the camera detects motion and you can also manually record stills and video directly from the app.

With the app the camera can be controlled either through your home wifi network or directly from a wifi hotspot generated by the camera. Unlike most regular security cameras this one will continue to work when there is no wifi or mains power, saving the video to the internal micro SD card, which can be up to 256GB in size. The camera interface can be password protected with the default password being 6666.

Configuring the camera is easy enough. After powering the camera on, with LEDs inside the rear panel to confirm wifi status, open the HomeEye app and click on the add device button. You will then be promoted to connect to the Camera wifi hotspot (no password needed) and back within the app to then select your home 2.4Ghz wifi network and enter the password. The camera will then connect to your network and continue to do so in each time it is switched on.

The app settings allow you to fully configure the camera and clock. You can select the camera resolution, night vision status, time, clock display, SD card, etc. It has almost all the features of a regular home security camera although annoyingly there are no zone or scheduling options. On the other hand, the camera can be set to record continuous video 24/7, overwriting the oldest video when the card is full but of course, an external USB power connection will be needed for this. Another good feature is there is no need to register the app, it can be used anonymously and there is no paywall restricting the camera features, it all works fully straight from the box.

I found in good light results were excellent both in daylight and with nightvision. In low light or when too far from the nightvision LEDs the image quality was reduced, so with most other security cameras. The 8-bit audio quality was not great and reduced further when stood too far away from the camera but good enough to catch what is being said.

This is a well made, attractive, easy to use and easy to configure combined security camera and clock which does what it says on the box. For the price of £69.99 before discounts it is rather a decent buy.

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OUBEL 20V Cordless Drill Set Review

My old drill finally packed in and so it was time to around for a replacement. I wanted a compact cordless model that would not be too dear and I am very pleased with this one, which I bought mainly because of the £39.99 price.

In the box, you get the drill itself, two 2000mAh batteries, a charger, a flexible extension bit, a hard carry case, a mixed set of drill bits and accessories, and a user guide. The included drill bits and accessories seem something of an afterthought and are supplied in a plastic bag but are a nice addition anyway. It seems a bit random to me but apparently, there are 3 x Twist Drill Bits, 3 x Brad Point Drill Bits, 7 x Screwdrivers, 9 x Socket Wrenches, 1 x Socket Adapter, 1 x Hex Screwdriver Holder, 1 x Flexible Shaft Driver. Build quality throughout is better than I expected and all seems well made and built to last.

Like most battery drills this one drill also has a screwdriver with a switch to flip left or right rotation and s touch-sensitive grip to get the very slowest speed.

It has simple and easy to use controls and requires no chuck key to lock the drill bit. It has two reversible continuously variable speeds – 0 – 400 and 0- 1600 rpm and a selectable 42 NM 19-stage torque control dial. There is a built-in light to illuminate the drilling area and status LEDs on the side to show the battery power level. Battery life seems good and as it takes only about an hour to recharge the spare battery it is unlikely you will need to stop work mid-job.

The drill itself is smaller and lighter than I expected which makes it easier to use but it seems to have plenty of power for light to medium work. I have used it on wood, metal and brickwork with no issues. For heavy duty work in metal or stone then a heavier duty mains powered drill might be needed.

If you need a budget priced cordless drill for general household use, then for less than £40 this is a pretty decent buy.

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NIMOA Wireless Fridge and Freezer Thermometer

We have two freezers and I needed a way to wirelessly monitor the temperature inside them. There are plenty of identical rivals to this set out there, I struck lucky and got one for less than £10 but usually, they are priced between £15 and £30.

In the box were the combined LCD screen and control panel, two rather large temperature sensors and a user guide. Build quality all seems fine with nothing looking likely to fail or fall off anytime soon.

The control panel/LCD has a magnetic back, hook aperture and a fold-out kickstand, so every mounting option is covered. The LCD shows the current temperature of each sensor and of the control unit itself. The display is not backlit and the viewing angles are rather tight, but in good light, the display is clear and easy to read. You can use the control unit to set audio alarms should the sensor temperature rise above a certain level. The screen will also show the maximum and minimum recorded temperatures for the last day. The two sensors are rather large but feel very heavy duty and each has a clamp so it can be fixed to shelving, has an identification number and a status LED.

Programming the alarms is easy enough but be sure to keep the sensors away from the freezer door to avoid the alarm sounding when the door is opened. I keep the alarms switched off but do keep an eye on the display during the day.

It all seems to work well, it can take a few minutes at first for it to begin working and it only checks the temperature about every 10 seconds, so don’t expect an immediate update on the screen. The screen is not backlit and has poor viewing angles but in good light is clear and easy to read. Due to the low temperatures be sure to use good quality lithium batteries in the sensors for long term use.

If you need to know the temperature in your fridge or freezer, this is a good buy. I would be happy to pay double the price if the control panel and a USB power option and could connect to Alexa or Google for remote monitoring.

Music: YouTube Audio Library: Look Both Ways – Nathan Moore

We have two freezers and I needed a way to wirelessly monitor the temperature inside them. There are plenty of identical rivals to this set out there, I struck lucky and got one for less than £10 but usually, they are priced between £15 and £30.

In the box were the combined LCD screen and control panel, two rather large temperature sensors and a user guide. Build quality all seems fine with nothing looking likely to fail or fall off anytime soon.

The control panel/LCD has a magnetic back, hook aperture and a fold-out kickstand, so every mounting option is covered. The LCD shows the current temperature of each sensor and of the control unit itself. The display is not backlit and the viewing angles are rather tight, but in good light, the display is clear and easy to read. You can use the control unit to set audio alarms should the sensor temperature rise above a certain level. The screen will also show the maximum and minimum recorded temperatures for the last day. The two sensors are rather large but feel very heavy duty and each has a clamp so it can be fixed to shelving, has an identification number and a status LED.

Programming the alarms is easy enough but be sure to keep the sensors away from the freezer door to avoid the alarm sounding when the door is opened. I keep the alarms switched off but do keep an eye on the display during the day.

It all seems to work well, it can take a few minutes at first for it to begin working and it only checks the temperature about every 10 seconds, so don’t expect an immediate update on the screen. The screen is not backlit and has poor viewing angles but in good light is clear and easy to read. Due to the low temperatures be sure to use good quality lithium batteries in the sensors for long term use.

If you need to know the temperature in your fridge or freezer, this is a good buy. I would be happy to pay double the price if the control panel and a USB power option and could connect to Alexa or Google for remote monitoring.

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GHJ Flexible LED Lighting Kit

This new lighting kit from GHJ seems to be sold primarily as an under-bed set, and I think it would work perfectly well for that purpose, I chose to buy it for us as a light for use with a wide split cupboard in my kitchen.

In the box, you get a UK power supply, a cable splitter extension, two motion detection sensors, two 1.5-meter warm white LED strips, a sticky mount set, and a user guide. No remote control is included.

Build quality all seems fine with nothing looking likely to fall off or fail any time soon. The user guide is well written and easy to use but not needed as common sense is all you need to fit it.

Installing is easy enough, everything comes with sticky mounts and a full set of spare mounts are included. There is plenty of cabling, 3.5 meters in all from the power plug to the LED strips. Each 8mm wide strip has a separate combined sensor and controller with options to vary the brightness and time the light stays on. Although they cannot be extended they do have cut points so they can be trimmed to the length needed. The connecting cables are well made, long and robust. However, the rather thick cables can be a bit obtrusive and hard to conceal. One thing I don’t like is that the LED strips use a non-standard connector and swapping or extending them could be difficult. It is a pity that standard multi-pin strip connectors could not have been used. Another issue for me is with the sticky backing used on the LED strips – the backing is VERY hard to remove and when struggling with it, it is easy to remove the entire sticky layer leaving the plain LED strip.

In place, the set looks good with a warm, bright, even and flicker free light.

This is a simple, versatile and easy to use lighting kit and although at £27.99 there are many cheaper rivals, I think this one is worth the difference.

The Good
Good Built Quality
Easy To Install
Spare Mounts Included

The Bad
Non-Standard Connectors
No Remote Control
Expensive

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