Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra (2025) - Minor Upgrade. Great Watch

Despite the pressure for tech manufacturers to update their products at least once a year, it's not compulsory. In fact, when you think about it, it's not even realistic.

Imagine coming up with something so ground-breaking, so innovative and so desirable it becomes one of the most coveted devices of 2024.

Now imagine being told you need to do it again 12 months later.

Why?

Has the competition suddenly replicated every design element? Every feature? Every function of the software?

Of course not.

I assume that's what Samsung was thinking when it unveiled the 2025 Galaxy Watch Ultra.

That's right. This year's Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra looks exactly the same as the 2024 version. Its the same size and weight. It has the same processor and even the same battery. 

Bearing in mind it's a very powerful processor for a watch and that battery will last more than two days, even if you're using all the features - up to 100 hours in power saving mode.

For once, Samsung has literally said, "If it ain't broke..." and you'd be hard-pushed to break this device of course. Titanium casing. Sapphire Crystal glass. Components cushioned against impact. This is the watch that meets so many military standards, it's not just water and dust-proof but also height, depth, heat, cold and pressure-proof. 

I don't ever want to be anywhere where it's minus 20° - or positive 55° for that matter. I doubt that I'll ever find myself 9000 metres up or 100 metres underwater - but it's good to know if I ever do, I'll still be able to tell the time and measure my stress levels. I imagine they'll be pretty high.

This is the watch that can track everything; your skin temperature, your blood pressure - even your heart-rate variation while you sleep.

Not to mention dozens of sports and exercises, including full dual-frequency GPS for accurate navigation and the ability to retrace your steps.

None of that is new. Doesn't mean it's not still pretty awesome.

And it's not like there are no differences at all.

The 2025 Galaxy Watch Ultra now comes in Titanium Blue, in addition to last year's choices of Titanium White, Titanium Grey and Titanium Silver.

And the new model has twice the built-in storage - 64GB rather than 32GB.

And that seems to literally be it.

Not that it isn't great to have another colour to choose from and if you're going to have phone-sized storage on a smartwatch, this is the one to have it on. That's because the Galaxy Watch Ultra is probably the most suited of any watch to be worn out and about without its paired phone.

The durability and good battery life are part of the reason but also the fact its large display makes tasks like replying to messages more practical. Most importantly, you can activate an eSIM on the Galaxy Watch Ultra so you can use it to its full functionality, even when you leave your phone at home.

That means you can load your favourite playlist or podcasts onto that 64GB, pair directly with earbuds or headphones and take your phone out of the equation while you're out and about heli ski-ing, base jumping or setting land speed records in the desert. All that sort of thing.

Obviously, all the sport and exercise tracking I've covered off numerous times before just keeps getting better and better - with significant improvements to the running coach options. But it's the enhancements and additions Samsung has made to health tracking that have really captured my attention.

By calibrating with a third-party blood pressure cuff, the Galaxy Watch Ultra can then keep an eye on things for you. Combine that with skin temperature readings, Heart Rate Variability during sleep and now the ability to measure vascular load - you'll receive plenty of warning if there's an uncharacteristic change you might want to consult a doctor about.

You can now even measure your antioxidant index based on the level of carotenoids in your skin. This is a somewhat cumbersome process though, as you have to take the watch off and press your thumb against the BioActive sensor, while following instructions from the Health app on your phone. Newsflash; I'm not eating enough fruit and veggies.

Perhaps the most depressing thing about reviewing a new Galaxy Watch is the results that appear in the Samsung Health app from my sleep tracking. The fast charging and good battery life of the Ultra make it a practical sleep tracker, although being such a large watch, some users may find it too bulky to wear comfortably all night. I've also had some negative feedback from the other person in the bed due to bright light leaking from the BioActive Sensor pressed against my wrist.

Combine that with my horrendous snoring and it's a miracle she puts up with me.

I can't argue about the snoring either - between the Galaxy Watch Ultra and the S24 Ultra phone I have it paired with, the evidence is there for everyone to see - and hear. Not only do I know I snored for 1h 22m last night, I can select from any of the ten recordings that were made to hear exactly how earsplitting it was.

I also know I'm spending too much time awake during the night (probably because of someone snoring) and that I'm not getting enough deep sleep.

On the bright side, my Sleep Latency is excellent. That's the length of time it takes me to fall asleep. I mean, I'm really tired.

So I've been assigned a sleep animal. I'm a shark, apparently. Sounds pretty cool but it turns out sharks never stop moving and as a "Shark Sleeper" I'm not getting enough total sleep time, I tend to wake up at night and I have inconsistent sleep times from day to day.

The frustrating thing about sleep tracking with the Galaxy Watch Ultra is I can take all the coaching advice it has to offer - the fact is, I do a job that requires me to get up at 2:50AM and I can't seem to get the Samsung Health app to take that into account.

Essentially, Samsung keeps finding new ways to tell my how unhealthy my lifestyle choices are. It sums all this up in an Energy Score at the start of each day, with some advice on what I can do to improve the next day's score.

For example, during the week when I get less sleep, my Energy Score tends to be fairly low and my watch tends to suggest I reduce my activity and up my rest. If only.

No wonder my AGE index is so high. Not my age - my level of Advanced Glycation End products. I think this means my body is older than it should be.

Unfortunately, I can't just press a button on the Galaxy Watch Ultra and magically fix all these worrying measurements - not even the "Quick" shortcut button can do that, although I do have it set to instantly commence my Outdoor Walk workout which happens to coincide with when the dog requires his daily constitutional.

However, forewarned is forearmed and now it's my challenge to see if I can influence some of the stats my watch has presented me with - more useful information than any other smartwatch I've worn to date. Maybe one day I'll no longer be a shark and I'll have morphed into a hedgehog, or perhaps even a walrus instead.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy Watch (2025).

HP EliteBook Ultra G1i - Ticking All the Boxes

I don't really know why it is but some devices just wow you from the moment you take them out of the box.

In fact, in the case of the HP EliteBook Ultra G1i, I wasn't even sure it was IN the box to start with.

It's actually not the lightest laptop in town - although at just 1.19kg, it's pretty light - especially for a device with a full 14-inch display. But when I picked up the box in the mail room, I wondered if they'd left something out. Like the 65W power adapter. Or the computer.

However, once I got it home and pulled it out I saw what I had here was a very classy - yet quite understated - piece of tech.

The HP EliteBook Ultra G1i has been manufactured in an "Atmospheric Blue" metal chassis and because of its spacious 14-inch, 16:10 display, there's plenty of room on the opposite half for a full-sized keyboard, including a complete set of function keys, and a touchpad that's about the size of a basketball court.

Okay, slight exaggeration there - but it's pretty big, which means you can be very accurate with your cursor placement on screen. Given the fact that it's a touch screen too, you might not even feel the need to pair a mouse with this device.

While we're talking accessories, I was most impressed to discover three USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports at my disposal, all capable of 40Gbps transfer speeds, all DisplayPort 2.1 for connecting external displays and all able to be used for USB power delivery. The best thing about that is there are two on the right side and one on the left, which makes things far more convenient when it comes to plugging into different setups - be they at work, at home or on the road.

There's also a USB-A slot - one of those sneaky pull-down ones that keeps the design as slim as possible.

That's a lot. And I hadn't even turned it on yet.

After setting the HP EliteBook Ultra G1i up, the first thing I was pleased to see is the 9MP camera set into the slim top bezel is Windows Hello enabled - so not only can you log in using the fingerprint sensor under the power key but you can do it very quickly and reliably via facial recognition too.

This is a Copilot+ PC of course, so you can access all the AI options Microsoft has to offer but there's a lot of HP-specific software pre-installed too. Whether you consider this to be "bloatware" comes down to how useful you find utilities like HP Assistant and Wolf Security Suite. Some users are irritated by how many of these apps double-up on certain tasks Windows was already taking care of but I've always considered the HP tools to be the best way to keep your drivers up to date - relying solely on Microsoft to keep an eye on 3rd-party updates can be somewhat time-delayed.

You'll certainly want to check out the pre-installed Poly Camera Pro to access enhanced video settings for the camera - there are a few extra tweaks available here on top of what Windows Studio Effects has to offer. You can virtually adjust lighting and skin tone and even take a screen grab of your usual office background to use if you're joining an online meeting from somewhere else but you don't want to let on where.

Video quality is top rate as is mic quality - although you may want to tweak the settings here too to get the best out of the dual mic array.

The 2.8K OLED display is simply sublime. Sure, this kind of panel is slightly more reflective than other IPS options might be but I'll take that in order to enjoy more vivid colours and popping contrast. This is also an HDR-capable display - just like a flash telly - and you can calibrate the HDR settings to your preference.

The HP EliteBook Ultra G1i is one of the best laptops I've used for just plain old streaming - be it Netflix or Apple TV+, everything looks bright, clear and has genuine depth to it, enhanced even further by the quad stereo speaker system, tuned by Poly Audio

Battery life is one area where I was somewhat underwhelmed. Until quite recently I'd grown to expect the worst from Windows laptops when it comes to battery life but that all started to change with the introduction of more efficient chips, especially from AMD and even more recently, Qualcomm. Suddenly, you could literally leave your charging brick at home, with enough charge to see you through a whole working day.

The HP EliteBook Ultra G1i will probably get you through too - but only just. And it depends greatly on what you're doing. For instance, while playing the new release of Grounded 2, I watched the battery percentage gurgle down the plughole pretty quickly.

But HP never suggested this was a gaming rig. It's a business rig and the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V chip was born to deliver where it matters; multiple windows running different apps simultaneously - including documents, presentations and browser windows. And because it's an Intel chip, I haven't experienced any of the compatibility issues that seem to pop up with other systems, especially Qualcomm-based ones.

What we've got here is not a beast; it's a thoroughbred. 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage might seem like overkill but with a machine like this, it's more like future-proofing. And it means you can access all the AI tools you need (be they pre-installed or otherwise) without missing a beat. Physically, the HP EliteBook Ultra G1i looks exactly like the high-end business tool it's proven to be. Using the well-spaced and responsive keyboard and touchpad is a joy and the mic and camera setup brings an instant professional edge to your online meetings and videos.

And as for the 14-inch touch display, I couldn't really ask for more.

This laptop really does mean business.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the HP EliteBook Ultra G1i.

Bissell PowerClean FurFinder 200W - The Stick That Stands Up for Itself

I never thought I'd end up being an expert on vacuum cleaners.

Who knew when I started reviewing gadgets, vacuums would often be at the cutting edge of new technology?

But just as I've found with so many tech devices, not all new features are worth having and sometimes, the less complicated a gadget is, the easier it is to use and the better it actually works.

Which is why I've gone from never having heard of Bissell to being a Bissell fan, in just a matter of weeks.

The PowerClean FurFinder 200W might be one of Bissell's latest floor cleaning devices but that doesn't mean Bissell is new at this - far from it.

The company started in 1876 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and when Anna Bissell took over the reins in 1889, she became America's first female CEO. Although I'm late to the Bissell party, Queen Victoria certainly wasn't - in fact she insisted her staff use Bissells to keep the palace clean.

Talk about pedigree.

On the other hand, I've definitely reviewed my share of stick vacuums over the years and I've come to appreciate what makes a good one.

A lot of it is about balance - and I don't just mean how balanced the vacuum feels when you're using it - although that's important too.

I'm talking about the balance between suction power and battery life. Dustbin capacity versus sheer size. Technical features against ease of use. The PowerClean FurFinder 200W gets a lot of those equations exactly right.

Compared to some stick vacuums I've trialled, the main body of the PowerClean FurFinder 200W seems quite long and I was worried that might make things a bit clumsy, especially when using it in close quarters - when cleaning my car, for example. That wasn't the case though and using the combination crevice tool I was able to get into most nooks and crannies easily - on both hard and soft surfaces.

Although, that's not really what this particular vacuum was designed for. As the name suggests, this is supposed to be the go-to cleaner for pet owners and as such, it boasts a "tangle-free" main brush roll. While this is a claim I've seen from many others in the past, often the reality of cleaning up after my shaggy dog and hairy housemates results in a brush head disappointingly snarled up, even on the first clean.

Not this time. I don't know how Bissell has done it - the brush roll doesn't look wildly different from any other I've come across but I can't argue with the results; it truly is tangle-free. 

For anyone who's ever had to hack and pull away at a mess of hair and fur clogging up your vacuum, knowing that won't happen with this one might be a compelling reason to upgrade.

However, that's not the only thing the main brush head has going for it. Despite the PowerClean FurFinder 200W's considerable suctionpower, there are two sturdy wheels to keep it rolling easily over any surface, and there's also the the built-in combination of warm and cool LED headlights so you won't miss a speck of dust or a single strand of hair - even in the darkest corners.

But it's the self-standing abilities of this main brush head that have really won me over. Simply click the PowerClean FurFinder 200W into its vertical position and you can leave it standing there - no need to lean against a wall. What's more, there's also a convenient foot release so you can remove the head without bending over. Lazy? Maybe. Helpful? Definitely.

Unfortunately, a lot of the convenience and ease-of-use presented by the no-bending-down design of the main brush head is somewhat undone by how difficult the other accessories are to swap out.

In some ways, this is actually a positive. It means when you attach the combination crevice tool or the smaller FurFinder head, there's a satisfying "ker-chunk" when it clicks into place. This solidity is evident over every inch of the PowerClean FurFinder 200W and its tools - there's no snapping, bending or denting these.

But that super-secure connection definitely comes at the cost of being able to easily slide the attachments on and off. There's a small locking rocker at each connection point that needs quite a bit of brute force to click in and out. Perhaps I just have a weak grip? Maybe things will loosen up a bit in time?

Either way, let's turn our attention to the secondary brush head, the smaller FurFinder Upholstery Tool. This is a powered roller - just like the main one - but the brush cylinder is quite different, rows of longer, strong bristles alternating with solid silicon "de-furring" strips, rotating in a spiral. This means no particle of fur, dander or anything else is safe on your couches, armchairs or even your duvet cover. What impressed me even more was I could run this tool over my duvet without sucking up the fabric itself, thereby clogging up the works. Even better; The upholstery tool also has FurFinding headlights - just like the main brush head - making this so useful for darker areas like stairwells and car floors.

As you would expect from any decent vacuum these days, there's a HEPA filtration system so you're not just recycling dust and other allergens back into the air around you. It's also worth noting the dust bin is very easy to remove for fuss-free emptying and like everything else on this vacuum, it snaps back into place with another one of those satisfying "ker-chunks."

I just wish that dirt tank was a little more capacious. At just 400ml, I often find myself having to empty the PowerClean FurFinder 200W before I'm finished cleaning the whole house - a bit frustrating given the 40-minute battery life (in Eco Mode) is enough to get me through. (Even if it wasn't, you can buy a spare battery and leave it charging while you vacuum)

At the end of the day, that small tank is only an issue because the PowerClean FurFinder 200W does such a great job of sucking everything up in the fist place. The powerful lighting on both powered heads means you won't miss a thing and there's no trigger so you won't end up with a tired index finger. Instead, just switch it on and choose Eco, Medium or Turbo.

It's simple but strong and most importantly for me, it never tangles. It's a real stand-up kind of vacuum.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Bissell PowerClean FurFinder 200W.

eero Pro 7 - Next Generation Wi-Fi In Minutes

Although it's tempting to resist it, technology is always changing, constantly evolving.

A cynical consumer might suspect built-in or planned obsolescence - manufacturers deliberately designing their devices to work worse and worse over time to create demand for a new, updated version of the same product.

The truth is, as human beings, we're never satisfied.

We got the internet. But we wanted it to be wireless.

We got Wi-Fi. But we wanted it to be powerful enough to stream music and movies.

We got high-speed fibre connectivity. But then everyone in the house was using multiple devices to do all sorts of things all at once.

Gaming. Streaming. Working. Chatting. Browsing. Running all manner of IoT devices.

More. More. MORE.

So in 2025, it's entirely possible your existing router just isn't cutting it.

The eero Pro 7 tri-band mesh Wi-Fi system should sort it all out for you - and as home networks go, it's one of the easiest to set up I've ever trialled.

Simply use your Amazon login details to sign into the eero app and you'll literally be up and running in under five minutes. Unlike so many other routers I've set up in the past, the eero Pro 7 devices take very little time to boot up and they appear on the app straight away.

Assigning an SSID (Network Name) and a name for each router couldn't be easier. There's even an option during setup to simply replace an existing, older eero unit.

Adding a second and third device to create your mesh network is just as straight-forward; turn it on, add it with the app, all done.

And yes, each compact and subtle eero Pro 7 device has my favourite feature; the ability to deactivate its status LED once it's all up and running. Have I mentioned how much I hate silly lights? Only about a million times? Okay then, moving on...

eero Wi-Fi products come under Amazon's gargantuan umbrella and that means some serious compatibility advantages. Not only are these latest mesh routers backwards compatible with earlier generations of eero products, Amazon has even started building Wi-Fi extending abilities into its latest Echo smart speakers.

So even if the whopping 560 square-metres of coverage from the 3-pack of eero Pro 7s I'm reviewing here isn't quite enough for you, just placing an Echo Pop in a dark spot can extend your coverage even further.

I was keen to try this out and although I do own a few compatible Echo speakers, because the coverage from this three unit system is so comprehensive, although the app recognised these units under the list of connected devices, it deemed most of them unnecessary to use as extenders because they wouldn't add any useful extra capacity. Smart.

As you'll see from my testing in the video below, the available download speeds are impressive, everywhere around my house. Of course, to make full use of these speeds, it helps to have a Wi-Fi 7 capable device, like my trusty Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Although that phone is now 18-months old, its Wi-Fi 7 chops have future-proofed it and made it more useful than many other Wi-Fi products still being released today.

But it's not just faster speed on offer here, sheer capacity is perhaps an even more important factor. Because these are tri-band routers, transmitting and receiving on the 2.4, 5 and 6GHz bands, there's plenty of room for everyone - up to 600 devices in fact.

eero uses something Amazon calls TrueMesh to route data through the fastest path available, while something else known as TrueChannel eliminates congestion, interference and dropouts.

On top of all that, each eero Pro 7 unit (like most things Amazon makes) is also its own smart-home hub, supporting all Matter, Thread and Zigbee devices.

Try as I might, I've struggled to find anything that under-performs with the eero Pro 7 system, which makes me wonder why you'd need to extend your budget up to the current top-of-the-line, eero Max 7 router, which purports to be even faster and more powerful.

One reason might be the number of built-in LAN ports. While each eero Pro 7 router has two 5 GbE ports, on the primary router, one of those will be taken up by the very nice, braided ethernet cable (supplied in the box) running from your modem. That leaves you with just a single LAN line at your fastest access point.

I've found running an external switch from this connection works perfectly well but it'd still be nice to have another couple of ports to connect to directly - which is exactly what you get on the bigger eero Max 7.

My only other grizzle is nothing to do with the eero Pro 7 specifically; it's the same issue I had years ago when upgrading from Wi-Fi 5 to Wi-Fi 6... Not all of your existing devices will work with the new Wi-Fi 7 network just because you give it the same name and password - be warned. The tablet I run my Plex server on proved particularly touchy, connecting then disconnecting randomly - not really what you want when you're trying to stream Gladiator II. Luckily, this was easily fixed with a network reset on the tablet (essentially wiping its Wi-Fi memory and starting again).

Weirdly, only a few of the roughly 90 different devices that connect to my home network have acted up this way - most figured things out without a hitch. Conversely, when I went from Wi-Fi 5 to 6 I had to reset pretty much every single device. I never want to go through that again.

That's probably the real beauty of this eero Pro 7 system - not just how fast and powerful it is, or how easy it is to set up - but its glorious backwards compatibility. After all, not all technology is suddenly useless just because it came out last year.

    

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the eero Pro 7 3-pack.

WiZ HDMI Sync Box with TV Backlight, Gradient Light Bars and Gradient Floor Light - At Last There's a Cheaper Way

TV backlighting is perhaps one of the more unnecessary bits of tech you can invest in.

As much as I personally love it, it's certainly not something you need, especially given how much it can cost to set up.

Philips Hue has led the way in this department and I recently reviewed its updated 8K Sync Box - a crucial bit of kit you need before you can even start adding actual lights to your system.

Oh... and if you go with Philips Hue, you'll also need something called a Hue Bridge - this is essentially the wireless hub any Philips Hue lights connect through instead of pairing directly with your Wi-Fi router.

But why am I talking about Philips Hue when this review is about three different WiZ products?

I wouldn't usually focus on competitor products in a review but in this case I'm making an exception because both Philips Hue and WiZ are owned by the same company; Signify.

This is a phenomenon that pops up in the tech industry from time to time - two established brands competing with each other even though somewhere along the way they were brought (or bought) under the same umbrella.

On the surface, one would assume the master plan is to appeal to different slices of the market - Philips Hue using its heritage heft to corner the more premium end of things while WiZ keeps it a bit more cheap and cheerful.

What I've learned while reviewing the HDMI Sync Box with TV Backlight, Gradient Light Bars and Gradient Floor Light - all from WiZ - is the Venn diagram displaying every product from WiZ and Philips Hue shows quite a bit of crossover.

It's easy to be confused by this so if you'd like to add some synced backlighting to your home theatre experience, I'll do my best to help.

The first big difference between Hue and WiZ is you don't need the extra Bridge to connect and control your WiZ devices - just fire them up, open the WiZ app on your phone and they'll appear pretty much automatically.

Using the app, you can create a whole WiZ home, naming the rooms and devices as you wish. That part's easy.

However, it took me a while to find the section of the app that lets you configure your lights to sync with the picture on your TV. My impression is the WiZ app was designed to control all kinds of smart lighting and the TV sync box didn't turn up until fairly recently, so was just added to the app as a bit of an afterthought.

That's not to say it doesn't work once you DO find out where the settings are - look it up under the "Library" tab, if you're wondering. There, at the top of the options, you can choose to sync your lights with video or with music.

Music uses your phone's microphone to listen for the beat, tone and changes in volume to create a wireless light show to match.

Meanwhile, once you choose the video option, you can then customise the sync mode - Cinematic, Vibrant, Relaxation or Rhythmic - and alter the brightness, saturation and intensity. You can set the lights to come on automatically when the HDMI Sync Box starts receiving a signal and you can even balance the brightness of whatever WiZ lights you've paired up.

For example, in the video below I've plugged a Chromecast with Google TV into the WiZ HDMI Sync Box but the two Gradient Light Bars at the bottom of the screen seem to be a bit brighter than the TV Backlight strip running around the top and the sides - this can be equalised using the app.

You'll also need to indicate exactly where you've placed the lights in the room - this part looks pretty much exactly like the same experience in the Philips Hue app. You simply slide each light around the room with your finger, adjusting the height and position so it can mimic the action on screen exactly.

I like the way the WiZ HDMI Sync Box comes packaged with the TV Backlight strip, complete with its own sticky backing or the option of some little sticky clips to hook the Backlight up with. Unfortunately, the TV I was sticking it to had a textured surface that the little hook things refused to stick to, so I had to go with the more permanent sticky backing on the light strip itself.

While I chose to use the WiZ Gradient Light Bars to fill out the effect along the bottom of my TV, if the base of your telly is obscured by a giant soundbar or something similar, you may feel you only need the effect of the Backlight strip on its own.

The Gradient Light Bars also come with two kinds of mounting stands. You can set them up horizontally, as I have in the video, or you you might want to stand them up vertically and move them further out to extend the backlighting effect on either side of your screen.

A pair of WiZ Gradient Floor lights can take this either further to each side or, as I have in my case, you can use one or two to project synced lighting effects on the wall behind you - working in much the same way as surround-sound speakers do.

As you'll see in my video, this works brilliantly and the immersive way the rear-projected effect brings you into any scene with fire or explosions is particularly convincing.

Another reason I've made the comparison to the Philips Hue range is you can't argue with the value for money. Right now, to buy the WiZ HDMI Sync Box with TV Backlight, the Gradient Light Bars and Gradient Floor Light altogether costs more than TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS LESS than the Philips Hue Play HDMI 8K Sync Box on its own.

From what I can tell, there's not a huge difference between the WiZ Gradient Light Bars, the WiZ Gradient Floor Light and their Philips Hue Play counterparts. Build quality seems great, with nice brightness and colour, although I will say the base of the Floor Light is fairly narrow and it's not super stable on uneven surfaces like thick carpet and plush rugs.

And when it comes to the WiZ TV Backlight, my impression is it's just not as bright as the Philips Hue version - although not everybody has the privilege of testing them together like I do and you might not notice in isolation. I certainly appreciate how much thinner, lighter and more flexible the WiZ strip is - it makes installation a breeze.

But... to keep it real, there is a certain amount of "You get what you pay for" going on here. The first major consideration is how many video sources you have plugged into your TV. If it's just one Sky TV box, or perhaps an Apple TV or the like, that's fine. However, because the WiZ HDMI Sync Box only has one input, if you want fancy lighting effects for your gaming console or any other devices as well, that's going to be tricky.

I assume you could (in theory) run everything through a 3rd-party HDMI switcher of some kind, and then plug THAT into the WiZ box but in my experience, picture and sound quality start to degrade pretty quickly the more devices that get in the way.

Meanwhile, the Philips Hue Play 8K Sync Box has four inputs and yes, as you will have spotted, it's also capable of 8K transmission, when using the right source device and cables.

Back on the WiZ box, the single input is only HDMI 2.0, not 2.1 - so 4K at 60Hz is the absolute best quality picture you can expect.

Which for most people is plenty - so for most people, the WiZ option is definitely worth checking out.

Click here for more information on the WiZ HDMI Sync Box with TV Backlight, Gradient Light Bars and Gradient Floor Light.

Satechi FindAll Collection - Keep Track While You Travel

Anyone who knows me, or has read these reviews, or watched my videos, knows I love great design.

For me, great design is a good idea, executed well. It doesn't have to be a complicated idea - if you've got a good idea and you do it well, I'll probably love it.

Which is why I love the new FindAll Collection of travel accessories from Satechi.

To be frank, I don't know if I've come across a Satechi accessory that hasn't impressed me; the manufacturing standard and high quality materials have rarely let me down, if ever.

So I was excited to hear Satechi had entered the bluetooth tracker market in such a clever, streamlined, integrated way.

While Apple didn't necessarily create the tracker market from scratch, over the years it's done a fair job of dominating it and most of us are familiar with Apple AirTags, even if we don't own them ourselves.

Any iPhone user knows about the FindMy app which lists all the Apple devices you own and allows you to track their location. With the introduction of AirTags - small, innocuous discs with even smaller batteries inside - Apple enabled you to bring that FindMy capability to virtually anything you own, from your car keys to your luggage, your work security card to your pet.

While it's been easy enough to drop an AirTag into your bag or perhaps your instrument case, Apple (and other third-parties) have been only too happy to provide you with just the right accessory to help you attach an AirTag to your door key... or your cat.

With this new range of FindAll travel accessories, Satechi has gone one step better by "removing the middleman."

Why attach a tracker to your glasses case when the case can also BE the tracker?

Why slip a tracker into your passport cover when the passport cover can itself be tracked?

Get the idea?

In fact, Satechi has kicked things off with five ingenious FindAll products; Passport Cover, Glasses Case, Luggage Tag, Keychain and a Card. Yup, just a plain old card, the size and shape of a credit card, which will slip much more comfortably into a wallet or purse than a disc will.

The real magic behind each of these accessories is the built-in rechargeable battery, compatible with any Qi, Qi2 or MagSafe wireless charger. I've been using other trackers for quite some time - especially on the two things I always need to know exactly where they are; my keys and the access card for the building I work in. The discs attached to these items work well but I've been surprised how often I have to change the batteries. These are those flat, button batteries and usually they're exactly the wrong kind - when I go to replace them I invariably have every other model of battery in the garage drawer except the one I need.

With the Satechi FindAll Collection, that's just not an issue. Pop any of them on any wireless charger and not only will they juice up surprisingly quickly, the charge lasts an amazingly long time - up to 5 months for the Passport Cover right up to 18 months for the FindAll Card. Simple, right?

And pairing each device with your Apple account is also a piece of cake; you just push the pairing button on the FindAll device and add it using the FindMy app on your iPhone or iPad.

Unfortunately - and this is actually quite a bummer - at this stage Satechi's FindAll gadgets are only compatible with Apple devices, so if you're an Android user you're going to be left looking on in envy.

One other little niggle; the FindAll Card isn't quite the same size as a normal credit card. It's thin - but not quite that thin. This means while I was able to easily slot it into my billfold-style wallet, when I tried to slide it into my slimmer card-keeper, the slots weren't deep enough. Ironically, that card wallet was also made by Satechi.

But the positives far outweigh the negatives. Not only are each of these accessories available in Black, Sand or Desert Rose, they're made from a water resistant vegan leather that not only feels great to touch but is supposed to wear well against the knocks and humidity changes regular travellers know only too well.

And besides showing up in the FindMy app on your iPhone, you can then get directions to their location, share that location with a friend and once you get there, you can play a ring tone from any of these devices remotely, so you can find exactly where it is - even if its been dropped down a seat cushion or stashed in a drawer or cupboard.

Each item would be a quality product, even without the location features. The Luggage Tag has a convenient magnetic privacy cover, so you're not flashing your address and phone number to the whole airport. 

The Passport Cover has several slots for other cards and room to slide your boarding pass in too. 

The Glasses Case folds down completely flat when not in use. Pretty clever.

And the keychain is just cool (well, my one is because it's all black, including the keyring itself).

All in all I was surprised how much these five simple objects appealed to my geeky brain. Not only easy to pair but quick and easy to charge up too. These are definitely the sort of "Why didn't I think of it?" devices that immediately become essential tools. If you're planning on travelling soon, they're certainly an elegant and stylish way to keep track of your stuff.

     

Click here for more information on the Satechi FindAll Collection of travel accessories.