ASTRO A50 Generation 4 Wireless Headset + Base Station Review

The Astro A50’s are in my opinion the best true wireless headset you can get for the Xbox One, I will start off by saying this does not mean I didn’t have any issues it just means there are limited options to choose from with only three companies holding licences to make true wireless headsets for Xbox to my knowledge and I consider these are the best.

These arrived in a very slick Astro branded bespoke box with everything needed to set them up and have them working, the quality of the headset feels and looks really nice. After unboxing them I had a read through the manual for setting them up and I would suggest going to the Astro website and following the setup video’s or going to astrogaming on YouTube as the setup video’s are far better than following the manual.

The first thing I did after setting them up was to install the Astro command center software from the Astro gaming website and update the firmware, a very simple process and something I would always suggest doing as it helps to remove any bugs they find or are reported. The command center software also has some very good usage tutorials to follow and I found it more than adequate for small adjustments and for advanced user settings.

They seem to have taken great care with how these fit and feel when wearing them and they have a lot of easy adjustments from the slider on the sides to the movement in the ear cups so you can adjust them to exactly the position you want them on your ears. The controls are easily accessible with the voice balance adjustment being on the side of the ear cup this makes it really easy to adjust and get the right balance between game and voice chat volume.

The volume wheel I thought needed more resistance and it was too easy to accidently move, the microphone is good and mutes chat when you push it back up, personally I prefer a mute chat button but it works fine. The sound is really superb and as I have been using Turtle Beach headphones years I would say considerably better quality, I would like to have had your own voice feedback to the ear also from the mic which helps distract from the fact you are wearing a headset but not a big issue.

• Improved Connectivity: Updated wireless technology resulting in enhanced connectivity, range, battery and audio performance
• ASTRO Audio V2: Delivers crisp highs, controlled mids and distortion-free bass for clear dialogue, music and in-game sound
• Dolby Audio and Dolby Atmos: Immerse yourself in the game with cinematic quality spatial audio that gives you a competitive advantage
• Game/Voice Balance: You have total control over your game and chat audio by using the controls built into their headset
• ASTRO Command Centre Software: Fine-tune your audio and voice communication preferences to your specific needs

Overall the sound is really superb, they are way more comfortable than the Turtle Beach headsets, the build quality which is something that Turtle Beach don’t seem to even care about is very nice and well thought out not having high stress areas and using strong resilient lightweight material meaning they are not too heavy, the base station is very compact and works well both for storage and charging so overall I really like them.

 Price: £279.99
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Juno Interactive Baby Elephant Review

Juno hasn’t left my daughters side since she got him/her even going to bed with her. This arrived in a really nice custom designed elephant box and was certainly well packed and secured inside with all the elephants legs tied down and fitted to little plugs in the bottom of the box.

This certainly has a wow factor that puts a smile on your face and as my daughter say’s ‘it’s so cute’, it takes four AA batteries which are not supplied but not really a big deal, it comes with a little mouse and peanut which Juno throws about with his trunk much to my daughters delight.

After opening it all up I gave it a good look over, the finishing and feel of the material used is extremely nice with great attention to detail, after fitting the batteries I opened up the manual which was very disappointing being in multiple languages and very difficult for me to follow never mind a child, I looked up the products YouTube channel which was much more informative giving a good visual idea of how it all worked so it was then it was time to introduce it to my daughter.

My daughter absolutely loves Juno and he hasn’t left her side even having to eat dinner with her, she didn’t have any problems getting Juno to respond and is already on a third set of batteries, she talks to Juno, praises, tells off for throwing the peanut, laughs and cuddles Juno.

• LIFELIKE ANIMATED TRUNK: Juno My Baby Elephant has a highly realistic and playful moving trunk that responds to your touch. It's incredible to watch in any mode of play. Juno uses her trunk to make adorable trumpet noises, eat her peanut, play games, interact with her toy mouse, give you a kiss, and more.
• PERSONALITY THAT GROWS: When Juno first comes home, she'll be a bit shy and hide behind her ears. As you pet and play with her, Juno's silly and cute personality unfolds. Once she's comfortable she'll giggle, make funny sounds and playfully swing her trunk around.
• INTERACTIVE ACCESSORIES: Feed Juno her peanut or use it to teach her tricks like how to dance and trumpet with her trunk. Give Juno her toy mouse to play games like peek-a-boo and build a tune. Discover more of Juno's special games and tricks as you play together.
• Wildluvs Juno My Baby Elephant is an adorable interactive pet elephant, and makes the perfect gift for kids aged 5 and up. Requires 4 AA batteries (not included). Love begins the moment you unbox Juno.

Overall very cute toy, really good variety of sounds and movement, the finishing and quality is extremely nice, the only real issue I have is the manual it really needs a makeover. Juno goes through a set of batteries in around four hours but when they get low he doesn’t just stop working he becomes lazy with his sounds working but he no longer flaps his ears or throws his trunk about, I like this as it means I can spot it needs a battery change before my daughter thinks he’s broken.

Price: £80.00
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Xootz Kids Bubble Scooter Review

A novelty fun idea and a good budget scooter, my daughter is just coming up to four years old and has a little trike she loves riding round on so this is ideal for her with the added bubbles which she loves.

It arrived in a long branded box and needed to be assembled, the instructions are basic which can often be a negative but in this case an easy to follow sheet is really all that is needed. All the fittings and material used seem good and the finishing on all the parts is nice and clean.

Assembly didn’t take long and with my daughter shouting encouragement and advice it was soon finished without running into any problems or issues, the bubble container takes three AA batteries which are not supplied although the bubbles are, this is a detachable unit and easy to release, fill and refit with a switch on the side to turn the bubbles on and off which my daughter had no problem in operating.

This is a perfect size for my daughter so I would suggest it would be suitable for ages between three and five of course depending on the size of the child, my daughter really loves this scooter and even though we had to dodge the summer rain spent over an hour riding round on it. The bubble machine produces a lot of bubbles at quite a high rate a novel idea and something my daughter loved.

Overall a fun little scooter with the added bonus of a bubble machine at a price that won’t break the bank, I did look hard for any real faults or flaws with it but can’t really find anything worth a mention so have given it top marks.

Price: £19,99
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GREPRO Car Jump Starter kit Review

Very neat effective device, I always have jump leads in my car and although with the improvement in notifications such as when you have left the lights on have reduced the times I have managed to flatten my battery I have still managed to do on occasions along with delaying changing a failing battery way beyond the time I should have and been caught out.

Jump leads work fine but of course rely on being able to find another driver to assist you so a device this compact that easily fits in the glove box is ideal, the Grepro jump starter arrived in a branded custom box with everything packed into a very nice quality carry case. I thought the instructions let it down a bit with there being a mixture of different languages on each page rather than bespoke sections for each language covered, the instructions can be followed and understood they could have been more detailed.

The unit is around the size of a small hardback book with a light in the top along with a USB charging port and one of the two charging ports for the unit, the second charging unit is in the side meaning you can either charge the unit via the top connection using a USB charge cable to micro USB or with a car cigarette port to the unit both leads are supplied.

The light works as it should although it is not the brightest it is adequate for use looking into a car engine in the dark and bright enough should you be using the flashing feature as a warning, the USB charging port works well and with a high capacity battery is powerful enough to easily give a full charge to multiple devices.

I tested the jump starting feature out by refitting an old battery to my car and it started the car without any problem, I did however forget that it resets my car stereo code when disconnected so spent quite a time hunting that down to reset it :)

• 500A Powerful Battery Booster - This car jump starter power pack can start 12V car, mower, truck, motorcycle, tractor up to 20 times (up to 4.5L petrol,2.2L diesel engine) in seconds.It is small and easy to carry. Every driver must to have one in case of emergency situation
• 9000mAh High Capacity Powerbank - This battery booster pack with 5V-2A output ports allowing you to recharge your mobile phones, tablets, kindles and other devices in a faster way. Come with a USB cable and a car charger so that you can recharge your jump starter at home or in car. Full charging time: 3~5 hours
•  3 Modes Intelligent LED Light - This jump start pack support 3 LED light modes: Normal, SOS, Stroboscope. In an emergency, it is a lifesaver at camping, picnicking and adventure or breakdown. (Especially at night)
•  100% Quality and security - Upgraded smart jumper clamps with spark-proof technology and seven built-in protection to protect the jump starter battery pack from over current, short circuit, overload, over-voltage, over-charge. Internal lithium-ion cells have UL, RoHS and CE certificates. Both will effectively protect you and your car from potential danger
•  6 Accessories You Can Get - 1 × Portable Car Jump Starter,1 × Smart Jumper Cables,1 × Car Charger,1 × Micro-USB Cable,1 × Small Pointer, 1 × Carry Case,1 × User Manual. Don't forget you'll have our 3 months of worry-free money back guarantee, 12-month warranty and lifetime technical support!

Overall a very easy to use handy addition to the car with additional useful features and a neat little carry case, I would add should you be using it to charge devices in the car you should put the unit back on charge as is needs a minimum capacity charge to work efficiently and if you plan to keep it in a glove box or the boot giving it a booster charge from time to time is what I will be doing. I didn’t find the manual to be the best but on balance it doesn’t affect the usage of the unit so I won’t be reducing my rating for it but hope they address this in future releases.

Price: £40.99
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Geeksocial Karaoke Bluetooth Microphone Portable Wireless Speaker Review

First off I will say the Children really love this, they have been on it for hours using YouTube karaoke videos. It arrived in a nice flip top branded box containing the microphone, leads and instruction booklet, the microphone was in a plastic sleeve and held in place by cardboard cut outs at the ends.

After unpacking it I put it on charge and had a read through the manual which really needs a re-write by someone who’s first language is English after fully understanding the features and functions of the Microphone as it fails to really describe the usage and functions in a coherent way.

Once it was charged I tested out the features, the flashing light in the microphone works really well adding a bit of dazzle, the echo feature is very good as is the microphone volume control. This is quite heavy although not restrictively so as my 3 year old daughter was able to use it without any issues singing along to baby shark :)

The microphone takes a micro SD card in the bottom so I put some music on one and fitted it, if the micro SD card is in place the microphone will instantly start playing from it but I could not find any way if there is one to select tracks from the SD card as it just played one after another and all you could really do was pause, play, increase or decrease the volume so really only useful for playing music from or a play list of karaoke in a preset order.

Connecting to a tablet or phone was really where the microphone shined with it being really easy to connect then as we did search for karaoke on YouTube and play away singing to the words on the screen, I found the volume really good and lacking any distortion even at the highest level with the children loving it

Overall despite the poor manual and limited micro SD card features I really like it and the children love it, very good battery life and easy to charge, the flashing lights add a bit of fun and dazzle, the sound quality is very good and the echo adds a bit of fun, the box front says MLCROPHONE either a typo or something I’m missing but as I got the name slightly wrong on my video what does it matter :) I can’t give it top marks for the reasons I have mentioned but it is fun and entertaining especially for children.

• Excellent Sound Effect This Karaoke microphone has 50mm diameter, 16 cores high quality speaker. Built-in power amplifier chip brings a heavy bass and crystal-clear treble. No matter in family party, live streaming or KTV Karaoke gathering, this terrific bluetooth Karaoke microphone will promote singer's best performance.
• Wireless and Portable The bluetooth microphone adopts bluetooth v5.0 chip which is prompt to connect to cellphone, tablet PC and computer within 10m distance. This wireless karaoke microphone is only 250g weight and easy to hold or take along when outside. Can be used as speaker and player. When you insert TF card, it can also become a recorder to store your singing.
• 6 Hours Playing  With 2000mAh large capacity lithium battery, supporting 5~8 hours music playing and singing after 2 hours' full charging. Supports Android, iPhone, iPad, IOS and all cellphones, and supports Micro TF SD card, so you can play music and sing without cellphone.
• Fashionable Appearance Special diamond shaped chamber with UV spraying surface. 7-color LED lights flash along with the rhythm of music, just like the lights in KTV which create fantastic atmosphere in night.
• Guarantee Adopts eco-friendly ABS which meets RoHs tests. Besides CE certification, we'll check each microphone carefully before sending out. If any issue, please kindly contact us ASAP. We'll deal with each case wholeheartedly.

Package List:

1 * Karaoke Machine Player

1 * Sponge Cover

1 * USB Cable

1 * Audio Cable

1 * Manual

Price: £39.99

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