We have several incredible pieces of tech that you are going to want to see. If you like headphones or autonomous robots, I think you’re going to find at least one or two products that appeal to you in this episode.
First we have The Nuraphone, which are some of the best and most unique headphones I have ever used. If we look at the hardware, we’ll see a flexible band and a metal body that should help its durability. The ear cuffs consist of soft touch rubber and they form a pretty nice feel and feel comfortable in my ears. But the most unusual thing about these headphones is how they feature typical ear cuffs and in-ear earphones all-in-one.
Using the accompanied Android or iOS app, the headphones will learn and adapt to your unique hearing. The idea is that everyone hears differently so in order to achieve a superb listening experience, your headphones need to fit and measure your specific hearing. And after setting up my hearing profile, I was able to really appreciate the sound of these headphones. There’s even an option to toggle the feature on/off, which really helps you notice the difference.
The bass is strong but not too overpowering though you can increase or decrease it as you see fit. I really do like the all-in-one in-ear and over-the-ear design as the in-ear speaker delivers melodic sounds while the over-ear drivers deliver those deep bass sounds to create more live music listening experience.
These wireless headphones cost a pretty penny. They are $400 but they are absolutely worth it if you’re in the market for premium headphones.
Now it’s not everyday we get a robot vacuum sent to our studio but the Eufy showed up and it’s good enough to include in this Best Tech episode. The Eufy RoboVac 11+ is one of the cheapest autonomous vacuum cleaners on the market. It’s one of the cheapest ones on Amazon, which is what appealed to me as I wanted to see how it compared to my more expensive Roomba.
What I liked about the RoboVac is that it’s much quieter than my Roomba. It also has two little wands to pick up dust and hair compared to my Roomba, which just has one. It features self-charging via the dock and you can actually program it to turn on and off at specific times, which my base model Roomba cannot do. Actually one time, I messed up the settings and found a bunch of my stuff knocked over because it automatically powered on.
The reservoir for the dust and debris isn’t quite as easy to empty as my Roomba but it’s similar in size. It’s hard to say just how much it sucks. But every time I run it, it fills up its chamber with dog hairs and various other nasties.
For around $250, I can absolutely recommend the Eufy; especially if it’s your first robot vacuum. I think everyone should have one of these autonomous vacuum cleaners in their home. They just save so much time.
So wireless tech has been a bit of a trend thus far. We’re going to continue that trend with the introduction of the Anker ZOLO Wireless Earphones. These are $100, which are almost half the cost of the AirPods, Jaybird, and many other mainstream wireless earbuds.
In my testing, I found the sound quality to be actually pretty good for the price. The bass is pretty thumpy. There’s a decent seal around your ears and the volume is more than sufficient. The only thing I noticed is that when the connection is weak, the volume decreases noticeably. But I didn’t notice much skipping or stuttering, which is good so I’ll take that downside.
The earphones themselves don’t have any earfins. They twist in and suction into your ears without appearing too bulky. I’m usually very picky about in-ear headphones but these actually fit my ears well. They come with a charging dock that provides up to 24 hours of power and you do get 3.5 hours of playtime for a single charge.
The ZOLO Liberty wireless earphones are about $100 on Amazon.
I’ve been testing the new Amazon Echo Spot last month and I’ve really come to enjoy the smart speaker. This is a $130 Alexa-enabled speaker that has a ton of aesthetic value, at least in my opinion. The white model, I think, looks great in an airy environment. The round screen delivers visual information, in addition to audible information via Alexa so you can see the name of a music track to view your alarm clock. You can actually make video calls.
The front-facing camera does raise some privacy concerns, especially if it’s placed in a bedroom. And if you cover it up, it won’t dim the screen at night, which is super annoying. I kind of wish there was a separate model without this camera.
Audio quality is pretty solid for the price but don’t expect it to wow you. If you’re looking for a fancy alarm clock with a smart digital assistant, I can recommend the Echo Spot.
If you have a smartphone with support for wireless charging, we have a couple different wireless charging car mounts you should check out. One of the two (Qi Wireless Magnet Car Cradle) features a clip that can actually attach to transverse vents in your car and it uses magnets to hold up your phone. What this means is your car vents need to be compatible with this charger and it can’t be wearing a too thick of a case, otherwise the magnets that you’ll have to attach to the back of your phone won’t be strong enough and you won’t be able to wireless charge your device. But if you meet the criteria, this is one of the most convenient mounts I have tested yet.
The other wirelessly charging mount (Qi Wireless Car Charger Mount Holder) features a suction cup that can attach to your dash or windshield, which every car has. Both of these mounts are from a company called DOCA and both cost around $25.
The last product we have for you today is the Soundcast VG1 Bluetooth Speaker. The VG1 is one of my favorite hiking speakers because it’s so small and it features an IP67 water-resistance rating. There’s a rechargeable battery that can play up to 15 hours of music playback and there’s even support for Siri, if that’s something you want.
Sound quality is pretty good for being a waterproof speaker of this size. It’s actually pretty small. It’s a little bit larger than a Coke can. But if you’re coming from something like the Bose SoundLink Mini, you’ll probably be disappointed with the bass and the mids and overall sound quality.
Overall, the VG1 gets loud. It has a rugged, industrial design and it is waterproof. It’s a great piece of tech for a traveler.
With that last one, those are some of my favorite tech products I had the pleasure of reviewing during the month of February 2018
