Note: Big update October 2022 to the included original June 2022 article – see the end. I’ve written in here several times about my love for the Xiaomi Mi Band range – I’ve had them all and in June 2022 the brand-spanking new Bluedtooth 5.2-based Mi Band 7 arrived on…
Hohem iSteady V2, Samsung S22 Ultra and Video Production
Last update: Dec 16, 2022 – I’ve been playing with the new for Smartphones on my Samsung S22 Ultra phone. First things first, after opening the box, I went off to the Google Play Store and found the HOHEM PRO App. Firstly a small negative to get it out of…
Meross Whole Home Mesh WiFi System MMW120
An interesting title with the assumption of a certain “home” size. I’m confident this mesh WiFi router pair will handle our small-ish home here in Spain – the box claims “Covers up to 300m2” and “Ideal for 1-500Mbps fibre”. It says nothing about 100Mps incoming 4G but then I guess…
Chuwi Larkbox – Windows + Celeron Mini PC – Updated
This is one of those devices you just have to SEE – I’ll do my best. I started this blog entry around October 2020 but checkout the updates toward the end. The (that Banggood link is no longer valid – there is a newer model but it is much more…
Blitzwolf BW-S25 75W Fast Charger
Firstly take a quick look at one of my blog entries from way back from August 2020 – the Blitzwolf BW-S16 75W Fast Charger cost at the time (and I think still is) something like 56 Euros from Banggood (I hesitate to convert that to other currencies due to the…
TOX3 Android 11 TV Box and More
I’ve just finished setting up the new TOX3 TV box currently on pre-sale at AliExpress at a somewhat silly range of price depending on which Ali store you select. Bearing in mind this is brand new in September 2022, I’m guessing I may have a pre-release model – but here…
Another Athom Day
I always get excited when a package arrives from Athom (2025 now branded as IoTorero) Last time it was various ESP-HOME-compatible lamps and I’d previously had some Tasmota-pre-programmed bulbs from them – which now light up my living room and office. I’m not so familiar however with their general smart-home…
The All-New KNIGHT from Imou
I recently wrote about the new(ish) 4MP Cruiser from Imou – went off on holiday (to the UK) and I’ve returned to find the new Imou KNIGHT 4K camera sitting here waiting for me! This was mid-July 2022. Bang goes another spare microSD I guess 🙂 (the SD is only…
Sonoff CAM Slim FHD Smart Home Security Camera – Neat.
The title pretty much covers it, this is a small, internal-use Smart camera from Sonoff (Itead) which works with their eWeLink APP, Google and Alexa. From the box – 1080p HD images, IR night vision, motion detection, Alerts, Smart Scene, supports cloud storage (as well as TFT card option) and…
The 4G GL-iNET Spitz GL-X750V2 – At LAST
The GL-X750V2 is the latest encarnation of the original SPITZ 4G router from GL-iNET. I reviewed the original here. The 3G/4G LTE dual-band router, like all GL-iNet routers was and is great apart from one minor detail – it’s 4G sensitivity is a bit lacklustre – and so I’ve been…
QUNTIS RX-1919-5 Fast, Smart PD Charging Station
So what’s the difference between the Quntis RX-1919-5 Smart PD Charging Station (with IntelliSense whatever that is in this context) and dozens of other similar-looking chargers out there? Certainly there are many out there which look the same – but looks can be deceiving. To be sure, visually they blew…
Smart Lamps and Sockets with Pre-Installed Tasmota Firmware
Update of original 2021 entry with new info on the Athom 7W RGBWW lamp and a video – see the August 2022 update at the end as I have a new set of the 7W lamps. I’m so excited about this so I’ll dive straight in. The company is called…
Gravastar Sirius Pro Zinc Alloy Gaming Earbuds
If that title alone didn’t grab your interest, maybe you’re not that into earbuds. I’d forgotten all about these and this morning opened the shipping packaging (Amazon) not having a clue what I was looking at, other than thinking to myself “this looks industrial”. My second fleeting thought was “what…
Advanced IP Scanner Tips from Famatech
If you’re running a PC on a network, you may well have used the free “Advanced IP Scanner” – I have for years, especially when I introduce new IOT devices to the network. This short blog entry isn’t an ad (it’s free anyway) but I thought I’d share this as…
Sonoff POWR3 5500W Controller – It’s a Monster
Back in 2019 I reviewed the Sonoff POWR2 unit – an upgraded mains controller which, as against typical power controllers which handle 10A MAX (good for lighting, not so good for heating controls such as immersion heaters), handles 15A MAX along with power monitoring (at a push and for non-inductive…
GL iNET MT300N V2 (Mango) Travel Router Revisited
Update July 2022 Well, I never thought I’d be writing more about this router, but in the last couple of years I’ve become a firm fan of OpenWrt because of it’s ability to be administrated from the web interface LUCI or the command line. In particular I’ve been making great…
Banana Pi M5 SBC – Lots of Possibilities?
I rarely write about new SBCs (single board computers) these days, having covered LOTS of them in the past, then having pretty much settled on the Raspberry Pi 4. With the current inflated price and availability issues with the RPi, I’ve been asked to talk about other boards and the…
Momax SmartEye SL1S Internal IP WiFi Camera and more!
This is probably starting to look like camera week already – I just received some Momax products in the mail including a pair of internal WiFi IP cameras – ok, so who are Momax? I must admit I’d not heard of them until I heard from someone I’ve dealt with…
FriendlyElec NanoPi R5S for Geeks
Long-term readers of this blog will know I’ve reviewed MANY FriendlyArm/FriendlyElec boards in the past but things have been quiet for some time now (Covid won’t have helped). Well, it looks like they are back in action – new WiKi site and a new board. I have the boxed version…
Imou Cruiser 4MP Full Colour Night Vision Pan-Tilt Camera
Regular readers will know that I’ve written about lots of different IP security cameras over the years including some winners from Instar GMBH and LOTS from China including various Imou models. Back in September 2021 I wrote about the Imou Cruiser pan and tilt 1080p camera. At the time it…