Lenovo Legion Go 2 - The Heavyweight of Handheld Gaming

When it comes to mobile gaming, how far are you prepared to go to get the best experience possible?

Some people might be happy enough tapping and swiping away at their phone.

But you're not those people. You're a real gamer.

You have a console. Or perhaps a proper gaming PC souped up with extra RAM, lots of cooling and a high-end GPU.

So how are you going to replicate that when you're out and about?

The Lenovo Legion Go 2 takes all that and squashes it into a handheld that weighs in well under a kilo.

And I do mean all that.

Although it's small enough to fit into any backpack, briefcase and most handbags, the Legion Go 2 comes with its own padded, soft-shell case, with an internal pocket just big enough to accommodate the 65W USB-C fast charger.

Depending on how long you expect to be gaming on the move, you may not even need to take the charger with you; battery life should good enough to last at least a couple of hours or so, depending on how hard you run the device.

And you can run it pretty hard.

The Legion Go 2 is commanded by an AMD Ryzen Z2 or Z2 Extreme processor, comes with 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of internal storage, with the option to add still more storage via microSD.

Packed with cooling measures to keep things running at their optimum, the updated Legion ColdFront thermal system utilises a combination of larger radiators, bigger fan blades and improved dual heat pipes.

So it's fast. And it's powerful.

It connects via Wi-Fi 6E - which I've found to be plenty quick enough to stream games like Call of Duty Black Ops 7 via Xbox Cloud Gaming and you can connect bluetooth accessories like mice, keyboards and external controllers using Bluetooth 5.3.

However, as we all know, serious gamers often prefer to connect via cables, and here's where the Legion Go 2 designers have let themselves down a bit.

I get that these days it's not super unusual for laptops and the like to be a bit miserly when it comes to the number of I/O ports they have. But with the Legion Go 2, Lenovo seems to have taken this to the extreme. You get just two USB-C ports, one of which you'll probably need to leave free for plugging in your charger and of those two ports, one's in a dumb place.

There's a USB-C on the top edge, with a power indicator LED next to it. You'll also find the power button up there which doubles as a fingerprint reader for quick, secure logins.

Bizarrely, the other USB-C slot is on the bottom edge - and so is the headphone jack.

Now, admittedly, if you're using this handheld as a handheld, putting those two plug-holes down there doesn't matter so much. But if you want to make use of the Legion Go 2's very sturdy, flip-out kickstand to play on a desk or table top - perhaps with a mouse and keyboard rather than the attached control paddles - plugging things like headphones and power supplies into the bottom edge makes no sense whatsoever. If they couldn't put all the ports on the top, how about the back? 

That niggly design flaw aside, not only can you use external, 3rd-party accessories to control the Legion Go 2, you also have the option of detaching the controllers and converting the right-hand one into a joystick mouse with the attachments included in the box.

Apparently, this is something FPS experts like to do - in effect, it enables you to hold the controller more like a gun, creating a more immersive First Person Shooter experience.

An experience enhanced even further by the 8.8-inch PureSight OLED gaming display - a screen far superior to most other mobile gaming devices. You're getting the pure black contrast only OLED can deliver along with vibrant colours that really do pop, at a 144Hz refresh rate. It's this premium display that really makes the Legion Go 2 feel like a desktop or console you can hold in your hands.

The only downside is it's quite reflective - so the 500 nits of brightness is somewhat cancelled out if you try to game in the sunshine.

But as a gamer, you're allergic to sunshine, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Aside from the usual dual joystick, D-Pad, A B X Y button configuration and even a small touch-pad, there are heaps of other controls placed just where you need them.

Although I never used one myself, I understand a major criticism of the original Legion Go was it was a bit boxy and uncomfortable to hold. The Gen-2 version has been rounded off a lot more and although it can start to feel a little heavy after a while, I haven't found myself cramping up trying to reach the top or rear buttons.

The pre-installed Legion Space app is essentially your one-stop-shop for tweaks and customisations. You can access this at any time with a single button press. Then you can adjust power settings, reassign certain controls and access your game library - regardless of what platform it's on; Xbox, Epic, Rockstar, whatever.

In fact, there's literally nothing you can't do on this device you can do on any other Windows 11 PC... Other than the fact some things look weirdly tiny on this form-factor. I mean, it's technically possible to check your emails and review spreadsheets but apart from anything else, where's the fun in that?

I recommend pairing a keyboard and mouse for your initial setup but the on-screen keyboard is usable enough for logins etc.

After that, you should have everything you need to play most games right there in your hands. There really is no limit - from triple-A new releases to retro favourites, the Legion Go 2 is the PC in your pocket you've been waiting for.

You'll need pretty deep pockets - it's larger than some portables and perhaps the most expensive - but if you want serious gaming in a mobile package, it 's probably a price well worth paying.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Lenovo Legion Go 2.

Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights - A Long Line of Quality

When it comes to lighting the exterior of your home, there are two ways to go about it.

You can do it cheap... You know; solar pathway lights that look good for a few weeks then one by one, mysteriously stop working. Perhaps accentuated by a DIY sensor light that you were sure you could set to stay on - until you wired it in and discovered unless you move around every thirty seconds, your outdoor dining experience resembles more of a nightclub with a strobe light.

Or you can do it right...

When it comes to doing lights right, Philips Hue has never let me down yet, although the Festavia Globe Outdoor String lights were the first I've tried for outside.

I knew I was dealing with a quality product right from the git-go, even when I was just taking them out of the box.

I'm talking a 21-metre long set of 30 globes, each light meticulously wrapped in paper and the entire length tied into more manageable bunches to avoid the frustration of any pre-hanging tangles.

21 metres is decent - that should cater for most outdoor areas in one way or another, although there's a 14-metre extension available if you really want to go to town. Just note, while it's called an extension, it actually connects at the beginning of the string, close to the plug end with its own T-shaped connector.

The so-called "Lightguide" bulbs are almost perfectly spherical and perhaps a little larger than I was expecting, which I consider to be a bonus. The globes aren't glass - Hue describes them as "glass-look" - again, that's a good thing because it means they're both weather and shatter-resistant, so you can leave them up permanently. Helpfully, even if you do manage to damage one of the bulbs somehow, you can replace each one individually.

My only disappointment early on was the lack of mounting hardware included in the box. At NZ$659.99 you really are shelling out a fair whack for what is essentially a string of coloured lights and while both the bulbs and cable seem very durable I thought there may have been a few sticky hooks or something to help me hang it all up.

Luckily, I happened to have a bucket of plastic gutter hooks stashed away from a previous life when I felt co-ordinated enough to run strings of fairy lights around my whole house each Christmas.

These sorts of fastenings are relatively inexpensive and I found they worked with the Hue Festavias just as well.

While lights like these are generally used to create a little atmosphere above outdoor dining areas, over spa pools or suspended from pergolas, given the time of year I decided to give the front of my house a more public display of holiday cheer.

It didn't take me long to run them along the guttering above my garage door, then around my entrance porch, the idea being anyone who arrives at the house will be bathed in a Christmassy glow of some sort.

As always, with Philips Hue, setup is streamlined and effortless with the latest version of the Hue app. Remember, Hue has been around a long time now so when it comes to a user-friendly configuration process, they definitely know what they're doing.

Like most other Hue products, the Festavia lights connect via a Bridge - not directly to your Wi-Fi. Initially this may seem like just an extra expense but it ultimately works to your benefit as the Bridge ends up being the only device taking up space on your home network instead of each Hue product you own hogging the Wi-Fi individually.

It also results in a reliable connection that never seems to drop out or fail when it comes to automations.

Hue has good compatibility with virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri, so you can easily control your lights with a simple voice command.

But here’s where Philips flexes: customisation.

Not only can the Hue Festavia globes get very bright, they can also wind down remarkably dim - and obviously can be set to any colour imaginable or a combination of both.

Hue offers a wide variety of scenes - both static or dynamic - all customisable to your preferences.

Don't like how fast or slow something changes? You can adjust it.

You can even match your lights to a photo (or an album of photos) if you're going for a particular style or theme for your next party, or if you prefer, sync them with your playlist and see the colours move in time with the music.

I was after something Santa would approve of, so I went with a preset called "Under the Tree" - although the Hue Scene Gallery has a selection of ten different themes in its Winter Holiday section alone.

I then bumped up the brightness and increased the speed of the colour changes because that's the kind of tech tweaking nerd I am.

Now, the front of my house lights up like a beacon for Rudolph to follow every night from 7:30 - 10:00. Just like the colour settings, setting up automations like that is easy too.

Is more than $650 to much to pay for a set of lights? Probably. But knowing they're exceptional quality, there are plenty of them, they're durable and easily customised with one of the best smart-home apps I've used, means a lot less stress at the most wonderful time of the year.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Philips Hue Festavia Globe Outdoor String Lights.

Mighty Ape 3-In-1 Magnetic Chargers - Bend Me. Shape Me

Have you ever gone from not knowing something exists to loving it so much you can't live without it?

I kind of feel that way about MagSafe chargers.

It started out as an Apple thing; why just charge wirelessly when you can actually stick your phone to the charger with a magnet? Then you can produce a bunch of other accessories that magnetise on as well... Battery packs, wallets, car cradles - you had me at magnets.

Unfortunately, because I review a lot of different handsets, most of them aren't magnetic like iPhones are, even if they charge wirelessly.

Luckily, you can usually pick up a third-party case that is, so you can continue using that nifty MagSafe charger.

Now, with the holidays looming, and travel potentially on the cards, you might be looking for a more portable magnetic charging solution. Boy, does Mighty Ape have some options for you...

Today I've picked out three of my favourite Mighty Ape 3-In-1 magnetic travel chargers. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses but I'd be happy to find any of them wrapped up in my Christmas stocking come the end of the year.

Let's start with the Kogan 3-in-1 Qi2 Foldable Wireless Charging Stand.

This charger caught my eye because it's quite a different shape to most other options, about the size and shape of a camera lens. At 340 grams its surprisingly heavy, which may be a bit of a drawback if you're planning on stuffing it in your handbag or backpack - although its cylindrical profile makes it a good contender for sliding into your drink bottle pouch so it's always handy.

Of the three options I'm highlighting today, it's the most fun because not only does the top charging plate hinge forward to reveal a second wireless charging cradle for earbuds or AirPods, the third charger pops out of the side for you to perch your Apple Watch on.

Because this is a newer-generation Qi2 device, it promises faster charging speeds and safer, cooler operation.

It'll charge your phone at 15W, your buds at 5W and your Apple Watch at 2.5W - which isn't bad, although some of the latest iPhones and Apple Watches can juice up faster than that with the right chargers. 

The folding phone plate is where the magnetism happens, so you can choose to MagSafe your iPhone to it in landscape mode to make use of the recently added Nightstand clock iOS feature.

When I first plugged it in, I was alarmed to see a bright white ring light flash on around the base of the device. I was worried this was some kind of over-the-top status LED to let me know when the charger is charging - an absolute no-no in the otherwise pitch-black master bedroom in the Hart House.

Thankfully, this simply turned out to be a nightlight, that you can turn on, off and adjust the brightness of via a capacitive button on the side of the device. It's not really bright enough to read by or anything but it could be useful for helping you navigate an unfamiliar hotel room in the middle of the night.

The next option is Mighty Ape's own Foldable Magnetic 3-in-1 Wireless Charger.

This is probably the clumsiest-looking of the three but it's very light and folds quite flat, so it's nice and portable.

The main phone charging panel hinges up from the base where you'll find a pad for your earbuds, while the watch charging stand folds out from behind the phone charger.

This model also features a ring "Ambient" light, this time around the back of the phone charging pad. There's a physical button for this on the base that toggles through several different brightness settings, which seems like overkill for a feature you'll probably hardly ever use.

Alarmingly, right next to that button, there IS a status LED that can't be turned off once this charger is plugged in. I know it sounds silly - after all, it's just a tiny line of light a few millimetres long - but some people simply cannot sleep with glowing lights in the room, no matter how little they are. Personally, I'm not worried by them. However, I'm not the only person in the room at night and that other person matters a lot more than me. So out comes my roll of black insulation tape and away goes the little light.

This charger is actually the most powerful of the three - still 15W for phones and 5W for buds, but twice the wattage - at 5W - for Apple Watches, which is especially good news if you wear an Apple Watch Ultra - they have bigger batteries and can take longer to top up.

The third offering is my favourite; another Kogan-labelled gadget, the 3-in-1 Aluminium MagSafe Compatible Wireless Charging Stand.

Why do I like it so much? For starters, it's the most compact; it folds down to the shape of a credit card and is only 22mm thick.

Secondly, it looks classy - a combination of brushed aluminium and matching grey charging pads.

And thirdly, it's the only one of the three that will charge both an Apple Watch and a Samsung Galaxy Watch. This is especially convenient for me because I'm often swapping between Samsung's and Apple's ecosystems, so it's nice not to have to change chargers every time.

I note there's at least one other non-folding charger on Mighty Ape's site that has a reversible watch pad but I've never come across one that'll just accept both types of smartwatch before.

As you can see from the photos, this aluminium beauty simply folds up in a Z-shape, with that bi-charging watch pad popping up in the middle.

The pads for phone and buds are rubber-coated, so they won't scratch the devices you're charging and the hinges are reassuringly stiff and stable, so the stand will stay at whatever angle you prefer.

It's not all good news - although its webpage assures me this charger has been designed with Overcharge Protection, Overvoltage Protection, Overcurrent Protection and Temperature Protection, this stand is the only one of the three that does get a little warm when in use - perhaps something to do with its aluminium casing?

It also only promises a meagre 2W charge from its otherwise uniquely versatile watch stand. In saying that, I just popped my Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra on while writing this and went from 51% to 61% in fifteen minutes, so it's not exactly the end of the world.

Lights-wise, it's the worst of both worlds. No "Ambient" light at all and a tiny - but inexplicably bright - status LED right on the front of the base, that had me reaching for my roll of tape again.

So there you have it, the pros and cons of just a few of the chargers Mighty Ape has to offer. Each one pledges not to overcharge or overheat and all seem to be well designed and manufactured.

They all come with a USB power cable in the box but no wall charger. This is a potential trap because you're unlikely to achieve maximum charging speeds if you don't plug into the right power brick. Luckily, Mighty Ape sells plenty of those too. Maybe that'll be a topic for another review, another day.

Meanwhile, priced between just NZ$50 and NZ$62, I'm sure any of these three chargers would make a welcome addition to someone's Santa Sack this Christmas. Or maybe give one to yourself if you're planning on going away and you want to keep things magnetic.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Kogan 3-in-1 Qi2 Foldable Wireless Charging Stand.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Mighty Ape Foldable Magnetic 3-in-1 Wireless Charger.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Kogan 3-in-1 Aluminium MagSafe Compatible Wireless Charging Stand.

JBL Grip - Get Hands-On

The world of tech is funny.

Sometimes the big brands invent products and spend a lot of time and energy trying to convince us how much we need them... even though we never asked for them in the first place.

Virtual headset, anyone?

Luckily, the opposite scenario also happens occasionally too. Customer demand and popular trends can prompt manufacturers to, you know, actually give people what they want.

For example; if people are going to keep dropping their phones in the toilet, I guess we'll have to make them waterproof.

Likewise, JBL has seen what you've been doing with its speakers and has decided to make it easier for you.

The JBL Grip is about the size and shape of a can of soft drink. That can't be a coincidence. 

My guess is someone noticed how many people were shoving their speakers into the bottle-holders on their bikes, into cupholders in their cars and into the drink-bottle pouches on their backpacks.

I reckon that same someone thought to themselves, "Hang on, the Flip is really the only speaker we have that sort of fits that scenario. What if we came up with one especially for it?"

And the Grip is the result. A fairly powerful bluetooth speaker with good battery life that fits easily in one hand.

Like JBL's other portables, the Grip is ruggedly put together, with durable rubber bumpers on each end to keep it drop-proof and an IP68 rating to keep it beach-proof.

There's no lanyard or handle attached to the speaker but there is a small loop around the back you can clip or tie something onto - like a carabiner perhaps?

It has a 16 watt output and that's enhanced by JBL's AI Sound Boost algorithm to create a "bigger" sound without any distortion or unwanted vibrations. As usual, no matter what size the JBL speaker is, it still manages to magically create a decent amount of bass punch.

JBL claims the Grip will play for about 12 hours on a full charge and my testing so far seems to match up with that. By activating Playtime Boost through the JBL Portable app, you should squeeze out an extra couple of hours before having to recharge - although that feature in turn deactivates some others, like the customisable EQs.

The JBL Portable app is also required to control the light. Yes, this portable comes with its own light show.

If you've ever read any of my other reviews, you'll know I'm no fan of having flashing lights just for the sake of it. When I first tried the new LEDs out on my review units I was pretty underwhelmed. It's a fairly small panel on the back of the speaker and while it glowed brightly and I could change the pattern slightly, that was about it. In fact, initially, I thought it was only white.

Then I updated the JBL Portable app. Suddenly, I had a choice of colours - not a big choice, and weirdly, there's an extra option on the iOS app than on the Android one, but still, by the time you choose a theme and a colour, you've really personalised the look of the thing.

Then I realised why the light panel is on the back - not behind the front grille like the party lights are on JBL's much bigger PartyBoxes - it's called an Ambient Light, so I figure it's supposed to wash against the wall, rather than be viewed directly. Once I started using it this way it was actually pretty cool - you can even control the brightness or thankfully, turn it off completely.

But my favourite feature by far is the same feature I love on every JBL speaker I've reviewed lately; Auracast - the ability to connect and stream to any other Auracast device, regardless of what make or model it is. Yes, you can create a stereo pair with two identical Grips (and at the time of writing, they're on special for just NZ$99,95 each, so why wouldn't you?) but with speakers this compact, I like to hide a few around the house to create an invisible Auracast ambience - not necessarily loud, just music everywhere.

Of course, if you leave their lights on, they probably won't be that invisible. Especially since when you connect via Auracast, the light theme syncs too.

The great thing about Auracast is, if you're not satisfied with the bass boom of the Grip on its own (although as I've said, it's quite respectable, given its size) you can team it up with a much bigger option - perhaps the Boombox 4 or Xtreme 4. Bass frequencies are pretty much non-directional, so with the Grip on one side of the room and a bigger speaker on the other, things will still sound fairly balanced.

I'd wrongly assumed the Grip would be just another speaker, but between its more than adequate power and frequency range, its durability, its impressive battery life and the all-new light effects, I have no problem recommending it as a "handy" stocking-filler this Christmas.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the JBL Grip.

eero Max 7 - Push Your Home Network to its Limits

If you're anything like me, you've found yourself on a never-ending quest for better Wi-Fi.

It's not just about speed - although speedy downloads and uploads are great. More and more, it's about creating a home network to which everything stays connected, reliably. 

I currently have 59 devices connected to my Wi-Fi, with another 29 that are either switched off or are away from home right now.

Not all of those gadgets need the fastest, most powerful connection. They just need a router that recognises them and can help them access the net if and when required, every time.

Not too much to ask.

And yet... even in 2025, all too often our smart speakers ignore us, we can't seem to turn that one smart light on or off and the movie is still buffering before it starts. WHY???

Well, as I've discussed before, there are many reasons your Wi-Fi may be under-performing; What type of plan are you on? How many devices are connecting to your router? Where have you placed your router or routers? You might even be using the wrong kind of cables - after all, they have maximum speeds too.

So when I unpacked eero's top-of-the line mesh Wi-Fi system, I decided to give it every advantage...

On paper, it's easy to understand why the eero Max 7 system blows its other stablemates out of the water. The more entry-level eero 7 devices are great - but they're only dual-band which means when used as a mesh system, some of their bandwidth is taken up with the routers talking to each other. Meanwhile, the eero Pro 7 units are tri-band, so they have dedicated backhaul. But even the Pro 7s are no match for the still larger eero Max 7 devices.

Each eero Max 7 has twice the number of auto-sensing ethernet ports; 2 x 2.5GbE and 2 x 10GbE - that means an incredible potential for wired connectivity if you're on a HyperFibre plan like I am. Not only that, but the larger, more powerful units can cover a massive area - up to 700 square metres, so pretty much my whole section, not just my house.

And finally, Amazon claims you can connect at least 250 devices simultaneously. Which should be plenty. Well, until the robots take over completely, I guess.

Just because the Max 7 is faster and more powerful, it doesn't mean setup is any more complicated. Quite the opposite in fact. Because I was upgrading an existing eero system, the eero app gives you the opportunity to simply swap devices out, maintaining your network SSID (password) and even the location in your home. You can then choose to use the old eero device as another mesh extender.

The eero app might just be the most user-friendly of its kind. You can see every connected device at a glance, including their connection strength and which router they're connected to. You can rename them, pause them, even block them in seconds.

But here's where I was really impressed. The problem with my fibre connection - and I bet this is true for many of you out there - is it comes into my house at about the worst place possible, through the garage wall. This was conveniently close to the road for the installers, but that corner of the house couldn't be further away from where I need the internet most; upstairs and diagonally opposite, in the living room.

Luckily, I do have limited data cabling installed so in the past I've always just plugged in my ISP's default router, down in the garage, then run my actual home network via a hardline from there, feeding into my primary router upstairs.

This time I decided to eliminate any potential chokepoints by using one of my three eero Max 7s at the point of origin, plugged directly into the ONT box. I know in theory, it's virtually impossible to push decent Wi-Fi from a lower storey up to a higher one but I crossed my fingers and hoped I had a way around that.

Following the step by step instructions in the eero app, I fired up the first unit in the garage and... it didn't work. No internet at all. There was a brief moment of panic, then I realised there was probably some unique protocol required for the primary router to connect with my ISP. As it happened, that's exactly what the eero app then asked me for. A very quick Google search provided me with the correct VLAN tag, which I entered and I was away and laughing.

I've never experienced blazingly fast Wi-Fi in the garage like this - as you'll see in the video below, I could now connect at well over 2 Gbps. I could also plug in cables for other rooms in the house via the three remaining LAN ports. Time to take it to the rest of the house. Next stop, downstairs family room.

Here, I set up my next eero Max 7 unit as a Wi-Fi only mesh extender, replacing an older model. This took all of about 60 seconds, again resulting in very satisfying speeds.

Now for the real test. One last Max 7 device, in the upstairs living room.

I knew connecting over Wi-Fi through the floor and several walls was a bad plan so I plugged into my hard-wired access point instead, just to see what would happen. Amazingly, the upstairs Max7 talked to the garage one with no issues and no input required from me. This was a relief because I needed to run a lot of gear off that upstairs unit - a television, an Apple TV streaming box, an Xbox, a bunch of smart lights and just everybody's phones, tablets and computers.

Because my house is wired with Cat5e ethernet cable, I was hoping I could get close to the 1 Gbps it's rated for. When I tested the speed and got the result you'll see in the video below, I was gobsmacked. It was definitely safe to uncross my fingers.

If you're upgrading from Wi-Fi 6e, 6 or even 5, I really recommend you go whole hog and give the eero Max 7 a try - especially if you're coming from an older eero system, because you can probably use your existing units to strengthen your mesh network even further. Remember, many late-model Amazon Echo smart speakers now have built-in mesh Wi-Fi too, so you might be closer than you think to the bullet-proof, no dark-spot network you've always dreamed of.

Although the eero Max 7 units are bigger, they're still fairly blank and featureless, so should fit in with your decor without too much difficulty and yes, best of all, (for me anyway) you can turn off the status LED using the app.

I've decided I'm no longer cutting corners when it comes to my Wi-Fi. I even bought a whole new set of Cat7 ethernet cables to connect my other devices to the eero Max 7 units, just to be sure. I now have the most reliable, wide-ranging and above all, fastest home network I've ever had. An exciting new benchmark has been set.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Amazon eero Max 7 tri-band Wi-Fi mesh system.

Dyson V16 Piston Animal Submarine - Re-Setting the Standard

I'm no vacuuming expert - although I have been reviewing all kinds of vacuums for a while now.

I'm also in charge of vacuuming at our house, so if I'm not an official expert, I am at least experienced.

Anyway, for what it's worth, in my view, there's nothing quite like a Dyson.

Because of Dyson's driving philosophy of innovation, I think you'd be hard-pushed to come up with another brand that consistently manages to reinvent itself in such revolutionary ways, others struggle to keep up.

And wouldn't you just know it? They've gone and done it again.

As you might be able to deduce from its somewhat multi-barrelled name, the Dyson V16 Piston Animal Submarine has a lot going on. In fact, unboxing this thing is a bit like spending Christmas with your slightly crazy uncle who thinks it's funny to wrap every present in 17 different layers of wrapping paper to maximise the enjoymnent.

Except in this case, every compartment of every box-within-the-box holds a new and exciting present that you really weren't expecting.

Even the accessories are painstakingly designed for ultimate performance. The Combi Tool has long been my favourite car-cleaning aid, with its retractable brush allowing me to quickly swap between two heads depending on whether I'm vacuuming hard or soft surfaces. 

When Dyson first introduced the Hair Screw Tool, I thought its ability to dispose of even the longest of hair was so groundbreaking, I dedicated a whole review to it. Version 2.0 has been modified to remove even longer hair still and there are now "rug strips" to keep soft furnishings like covers of duvets and cushions from being sucked in and causing the tool to stop spinning.

They've even made the Crevice Tool longer, because who doesn't want the longest Crevice Tool possible?

But the main "head"-lines are the titular Submarine 2.0 Wet Roller head and the All Floors Cones Sense cleaner head.

Both of these are classic examples of Dyson's engineers being told to go out and start again from the beginning; design a wet mopping head and an all-purpose one from scratch, paying special attention to the pain points current users experience.

With the Submarine 2.0 Wet Roller, they certainly nailed the cleaning part. I never trialled the original version of this head, so I'm not sure exactly how it's been improved, other than it now offers two levels of hydration - so you can up the amount of water being applied to the roller to help remove more stubborn messes from your hard floors

It's a breeze to use and even though it's quite a large head, it's well balanced and the connecting joint folds down almost flat to allow you access under furniture. It cleans throughly with every pass, and unlike other similar devices I've used with rotating, disc-shaped mop heads - or even manual mopping for that matter - the Submarine 2.0 leaves a streak-free finish and the precisely measured water flow means floors are dry in minutes. For me, it worked particularly well on the bathroom tiles and was easy to manoeuvre under vanities and into other tight spaces.

There is a downside; the cleanup afterwards.

The Submarine 2.0 is not a vacuum head as such - unlike a robot vacuum, for example, which might vacuum at the front then mop at the back on the same pass, Dyson's method forces any hard debris up into the head where it is trapped in a thin, removable collection tray, which requires rinsing off after ever clean. As does the roller and the head itself. This is all a bit of hands-on and gross - and bear in mind, I'm a father of two so I've seen plenty of hands-on and gross in my time. The roller and head then need to dry out - which takes days, not hours.

There's a base/cover just for the Submarine 2.0 head, to keep everything tidy. I'd prefer this to be some kind of auto-cleaning and drying station, in a similar vein to the various robot vacuums I've reviewed lately. As great a job as this cleaning head does, I'm not sure it justifies the inconvenience of the cleanup afterwards.

On the other hand, the All Floors Cones Sense head couldn't be more user-friendly - and effective.

Dyson has obviously gone all in on cones. I've already mentioned the cone-based Hair Screw Tool 2.0. I reviewed the PencilVac Fluffy Cones cleaner a few weeks back. The All Floors Cones Sense head takes that philosophy to new heights.

The duo of conical brush bars are each wrapped in a twin spiral of sturdy, nylon bristles to help loosen any bits and pieces from carpet and a softer, wider brush that polishes hard floors without scratching them. The head automatically detects what surface it's on and can adjust the suction power accordingly. And best of all, this is the most tangle-free full-sized vacuum head I've ever used.

As long as I've been vacuuming, I've been untangling hair wrapped around the cleaning brush. For years. I've actually become pretty good at it. I've even collected up a few useful tools to help me do it along the way.

Told you I'd seen "hands-on and gross."

Ah, the stories I could tell.

The problem with the All Floors Cones Sense head is I don't get to use those skills anymore. At all. Since I've been using the V16, I haven't had to remove a single hair, not one. In fact, the conical brushes are so effective, when I'm vacuuming particularly hairy spaces -  like where the hair drying and straightening happens - the first pass leaves a tidy little hairball behind which is then easily sucked up on the next pass. It's a miracle.

The newest incarnation of Dyson's Hyperdymium motor never misses a beat, of course. The 900w motor drives up to 315AW of suction. Don't worry if you don't know that AW stands for Air Watt - just trust me; there's all the power you need and more.

The battery behind it all should last around 70 minutes on a full charge and if that's not enough, you can purchase a second one as they swap out easily. Even now, so few of Dyson's competitors offer anything like the detailed, colour LCD display on the top of the device. Never underestimate how useful it is to know what your remaining battery life is in minutes - it can be very motivational. The screen also shows a breakdown of the particles being sucked up by size, so you know when you've got the surface completely clean.

As you'll see in the video below, when you have a vacuum as effective as this one, you may worry about how quickly the 1.35-litre bin fills up. That's where Dyson's next big upgrade comes in; Bin compression. They call it CleanCompaktor technology but it just means you can now squash all the yucky stuff down to the bottom of the bin and keep on vacuuming, drastically reducing the number of times you have to empty the V16.

Even the emptying process is better because that same CleanCompaktor mechanism now ejects all the dust and debris out of the bin without you having to stick anything in there - like your fingers - to work any stubborn clumps of ick out. Essentially, it's the totally hands-off experience I was hoping for with the Submarine head.

By now, it goes without saying Dyson totally aces the filtration system, the durability (yes, I dropped the whole shebang on my hard floor first time I used it) and the app experience; I just updated the firmware this afternoon.

There are so many new and exciting features here, I almost forgot to mention the great ones that have carried over from previous models - like the dust-seeking green light on the brush head and the hidden tools - I mean, how come nobody's talking about the "Easy-Access Wand Tool?" Now you can just push down on the red ring at the top of the main tube to eject the cleaner head without having to bend down. I hate bending down. I love this vacuum.

For the most thorough, tangle-free cleaning experience I've ever encountered from a stick vacuum, the V16 Piston Animal Submarine is the new champ. Now, if we can just get that mop head to clean up after itself, I'd be in vacuum heaven.

        

Click here for more information and pricing on the Dyson V16 Piston Animal Submarine.