c/gadget-reviews

My new smart scale called my cat 'obese' and suggested a diet plan

I put my 14 pound tabby on it to see if it would work, and the app gave me a full body fat report with a workout schedule. I guess the motion sensors just saw a warm blob and ran with it. Has anyone else's smart home gear totally misread a pet?

Showerthought: My new fitness tracker is basically a tiny boss that yells at me

I had to pick between one that just counts steps and one that tracks sleep and stress. Went for the fancy one, and now it buzzes at 3pm every day telling me I'm 'strained' and need to breathe. Has anyone found a way to make these things less naggy?

A guy at the hardware store told me his $30 laser level saved him a whole day on a tile job

My $40 smart plug review turned into a home network meltdown

Plugged it in to test the timer feature and it somehow knocked my entire Wi-Fi offline for an hour. Anyone know a reliable brand that won't take down my whole house?

I thought the whole 'smart ring' thing was just a gimmick

I saw a review for the Oura Ring a few months back and figured it was just a tiny, worse smartwatch. I tried one on at a store in Austin and was shocked by how light it was, barely 6 grams. After wearing a friend's for a week, the sleep tracking was way more accurate than my wristband. The battery also lasted a full seven days, which my watch never does. Has anyone else made the switch from a watch to a ring and stuck with it?

Looking back at my old phone reviews from 2019, I finally understood why they felt so flat.

I was just listing specs I read online until a viewer commented, 'Tell us how it feels to actually use it for a day in your pocket,' which made me realize I wasn't reviewing gadgets, I was just reading a manual out loud.

My smartwatch kept telling me to stand up during a movie and I had to choose between ignoring it or missing the best part

I picked ignoring it, but then my watch buzzed so hard on my wrist during the quiet scene that the guy next to me in the theater actually shushed me, so has anyone found a good 'theater mode' that actually works?

I finally stopped obsessing over benchmark scores for my new phone.

My old Galaxy S21 felt perfectly fast for everything I actually do, which tipped me off that I was just chasing numbers. Anyone else think we overvalue synthetic performance tests?

My cousin told me to ignore the bad reviews on the new EchoBud 2s

He said the audio issues were fixed in a firmware update and I'd be fine. I bought them anyway for $130 and the left earbud cuts out constantly, even after the update. It's been three weeks of this and I'm stuck with them. Has anyone actually gotten these to work right or should I just return them?

I thought the $200 'smart' meat thermometer was a total scam until my Thanksgiving turkey.

My brother got one of those Bluetooth probes that connects to your phone. I laughed at him, said a $15 analog dial does the same job. But then he was out in the yard with the kids, his phone buzzed, and he just walked in and pulled a perfectly cooked 22 pound bird out of the oven. Didn't have to keep running inside to check. I had to admit, the remote monitoring thing is actually useful, not just a gimmick. Anyone else have a gadget they were totally wrong about?

Honestly, my phone's battery life was a joke for months until I did this one thing

Tbh, I was only getting like 3 hours of screen time on my Pixel 7 and was ready to buy a new phone. A friend told me to check the battery usage by app, and I found a social media app was running in the background constantly. I restricted its background activity, and within a day my battery easily lasts until bedtime now. Has anyone else fixed a gadget just by changing one dumb setting?

My old phone charger finally died so I grabbed two cheap ones from the gas station

One was a no-name brand for $8 and the other was a slightly better known one for $12. The cheap one got super hot after 30 minutes and my phone battery actually went down while plugged in. The other one charged my phone from 15% to full in about an hour and stayed cool. I tested them both on my same phone for a week. The extra $4 was totally worth it for not frying my device. Anyone know a good durable brand for under $20 that will last more than a few months?

My sister's comment about my phone upgrade made me feel kind of dumb

I was showing her my new phone, which cost me $850, and I was listing all the camera specs. She just looked at it and said, 'So you paid that much for a better picture of your dog?' I realized I'd spent months reading reviews about sensor sizes and megapixels, but I never actually thought about what I was really using it for. Now I'm wondering if I just got caught up in the tech hype. Has anyone else bought a gadget for the specs and then realized they didn't need half the features?

Am I the only one who saw a guy at the airport using a selfie stick as a back scratcher?

It was at O'Hare last week, and he was really going for it behind a pillar. Has anyone else seen a gadget used in a way that made zero sense?

My neighbor's kid made me see my phone review habit in a new light

I was showing him my new phone, going on about the screen and battery like I always do. He just looked at it and asked 'But does it help you build a cool fort?' It was such a simple, weird question. I realized all my reviews focus on specs, but never on what a gadget actually lets you *do* or *make*. For the past week, I've been trying to write about how a tablet helps my friend's kid draw, not just its processor speed. Has anyone else had a moment that made them change how they think about reviewing stuff?

Showerthought: My brother-in-law in Tampa called my new smartwatch a 'glorified pedometer' and now I can't unsee it.

He said it while we were grilling last weekend, pointing at my wrist and asking why I needed a $400 screen just to count steps I could track with my phone, which honestly made me pause and wonder if I got sold on the hype over actual utility.

My old phone charger took 3 hours to fill the battery, but this new one does it in 45 minutes

I had a standard 5-watt charger from a few years ago. I bought a 30-watt GaN charger last month for about $25. The old one took over 3 hours to charge my phone from 10% to full. The new one gets it done in under 45 minutes, which is a huge difference when you're in a rush. The main thing is the higher wattage and the GaN tech making the brick smaller. Has anyone else switched to a fast charger and been surprised by the real-world time save?

Got stuck in a rainstorm at the park and my phone case saved the day

I was at Central Park last month when a sudden downpour hit, and my phone slipped right out of my pocket into a puddle... I have a Spigen Tough Armor case on it, and after drying it off, the phone worked perfectly fine. Has anyone else had a gadget saved by a case you almost didn't buy?

Just tried two different screen protectors for my new phone and the difference is huge

I bought a cheap pack of three from a gas station for about $8 and a single one from a phone shop for $25. The cheap one went on with bubbles I could not get out and felt sticky under my thumb. The good one went on clean in one try and feels just like the glass screen. Has anyone else had this happen with a specific brand they trust?

I think the new smartwatch battery life hype is totally wrong. Mine died halfway through a hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Question about the new smart lock at the hardware store in Springfield

I was at the big hardware store in Springfield yesterday looking at smart locks. I picked up the new 'SecureHome Pro' model to check it out. The box said it had a 6-month battery life, but the small print on the back said that's only if you use it less than 10 times a day. For a family of four, that's maybe a week of real use. The sales guy tried to tell me it was fine, but that math doesn't add up at all. Has anyone bought one of these and had to change the batteries constantly?

Vent: My neighbor said my new smartwatch was just a 'glorified pedometer' during our chat over the fence yesterday, and it actually made me realize I only use it for step counting.

Has anyone else bought a gadget with a bunch of features but ended up using it for just one basic thing?

My buddy in Denver swore by his old Garmin GPS for hiking, even with phones around.

We were on a trail near Boulder last fall and his phone died. He pulled out this ancient Garmin eTrex 20, said he'd had it for 8 years, and it still got a lock in under a minute. He just shrugged and said 'batteries you can swap beat a dead brick every time.' Anyone still use a dedicated GPS unit, or is that totally pointless now?

Vent: My $80 smart plug almost started a fire in my kitchen

I bought a no-name smart plug from an online deal site to control a coffee maker. It worked fine for about two weeks. Then I smelled burning plastic and found the plug itself was hot to the touch and had started to melt the outlet. The app still said everything was okay. Has anyone else had a close call with cheap smart home stuff? What brands are actually safe?

Bought a $40 phone gimbal for a trip to Seattle, and it made my videos worse, not better.