c/gadget-reviews

Hot take: I was reviewing earbuds all wrong for a year

I always tested new earbuds in my quiet home office in Chicago. Then last week, I was walking my dog near a busy street and tried a pair I'd just called 'great'. The wind noise was so bad I couldn't hear the podcast at all. I never thought to test them outside. How do you guys test audio gear to make sure it works in real life, not just a quiet room?

My buddy said my new smartwatch review was basically just an ad

We were grabbing coffee in Seattle last month and I was showing off my new fitness tracker. I told him about the heart rate monitor and sleep tracking, really into the details. He just looked at it and said, 'Man, you sound like you're reading the box. Where's the part where it glitched on you?' It stuck with me because he's right, I only talked about the good stuff. Should reviews focus on the perfect features or the real problems you find after using it for a week? What's the better way to do it?

I think those 'smart' plant sensors are a total waste of money

I bought one of those little stick-in-the-dirt gadgets three years ago after seeing all the good reviews. It was supposed to tell my phone when my fiddle leaf fig in the living room needed water. Thing is, it kept telling me the soil was dry when it was actually damp an inch down. I ended up overwatering and nearly killed the plant. Now I just use my finger to check the soil. Has anyone else had a plant sensor give them bad info?

Why does nobody talk about the moment your phone dies right as you're trying to scan a boarding pass at the airport gate?

My Pixel 7 battery hit zero percent as I was fumbling with my carry-on at the Denver terminal last Tuesday, forcing me to sprint to the help desk for a paper ticket and almost miss my flight.

My buddy said I was crazy to buy a refurbished tablet

He told me it would break in a week and be a total waste of $180. I got a Samsung Tab S7 from a certified seller anyway, and it's been perfect for six months now. The battery life is still great and I use it every day for reading reviews. Anyone else had a good run with a refurbished gadget?

I used to just trust the star rating on a review site. After getting burned on a cheap tablet that died in 3 months, I started reading the 3-star reviews first. They're way more honest.

I finally tried that 'review first, unbox later' method from a tech blog

Last week, I watched a full review of a new tablet before I even took it out of the shipping box from Amazon. I realized I already knew all its flaws and didn't even feel excited to open it, which felt kind of backwards. Does reading a review before you get the gadget ruin the fun of a new thing?

I picked the cheaper fitness tracker and it's been a weird mix of good and bad

So I was looking for a new fitness band, right? My old one broke. I had it down to two: the fancy one with the color screen and built-in GPS for $150, or the basic model that just tracks steps and sleep for $40. I went with the cheap one, thinking I didn't need all the bells and whistles. After about three months, I'm kinda split. The battery life is amazing, like two full weeks, and it does the simple job well. But last week I went for a run and realized I really missed having a map of my route. The app just shows a straight line, which is useless. It also doesn't sync well with my phone's weather app, so I have to check that separately. Has anyone else gone basic with a gadget and found one specific feature you didn't think you'd miss so much?

My new smartwatch died halfway through a hike in Sedona and I had to navigate back using the sun.

I was relying on its GPS for the trail map, so when the battery went from 60% to zero in about twenty minutes, I was stuck without a route three miles from the trailhead.

My dad told me to skip the first smartwatch and wait for the second generation

Back in 2015, I really wanted the first big smartwatch that came out. My dad, who fixes old radios, said to hold off because new tech always has problems. I waited and got the second model a year later for about $250. It had a much better battery and didn't crash like my friend's first version did. Anyone else have a piece of tech advice from a family member that paid off?

Showerthought: My brother's comment on 'review depth' made me stop trusting star ratings

I was showing him a new phone review last night, and he pointed out the guy spent 45 seconds on the camera but 8 minutes on the unboxing. He said, 'They're not reviewing the thing, they're just making a video.' That hit different because I realized most reviews I watch don't actually test stuff in a real way, like battery life over a month or how a case holds up after being dropped. I've bought three gadgets this year based on five-star reviews that turned out to be junk. How do you find reviewers who actually use a product for more than a day before posting?

Rant: I was charging my phone wrong for a decade until a guy in a coffee shop called me out

Honestly, I always plugged my phone in overnight, letting it sit at 100% for like 8 hours. Last Tuesday, this dude at The Daily Grind in Austin saw my charger and just said, 'You're cooking your battery, man.' Ngl, I looked it up and he was right. Keeping it fully charged all the time wrecks the battery health way faster. Has anyone else switched to only charging to 80% and noticed a real difference?

Vent: I thought my old tablet was fine until my kid's teacher said something

My son's teacher, Mrs. Ellis, asked me after school if our tablet at home was slow for his learning apps. I said it worked okay, just a bit old. She told me flat out, 'If it takes more than 10 seconds to load a simple game, it's hurting his focus. He gets distracted waiting.' I went home and timed it. Our tablet took 22 seconds to open his math app. I felt bad. I always thought a gadget just had to turn on to be useful, but that delay is a real problem for a little kid. I got a basic new one on sale for $150 and the difference is huge. Everything pops up right away. Has anyone else had a gadget that seemed fine until you saw how someone else actually used it?

Just realized my phone's battery life doubled after a weird update...

My Pixel 7 used to die by 4 PM every day for months, no matter what I did. Then last Tuesday, I got a system update that said it was just 'security fixes'. Now the same phone makes it to 9 PM easy with the same use. I checked the battery stats and the 'screen' part went from eating 60% down to like 35%. No clue what they actually changed under the hood. Has anyone else had a gadget just get way better from a random update?

Hot take: My cheap fitness tracker said I burned 800 calories mowing the lawn

I wore my $30 Fitbit Inspire knockoff while doing the yard last weekend and it logged over 800 calories burned in an hour, which seems way too high. I compared it to my old Garmin Forerunner 35, which said 450 for the same activity. It made me realize these budget trackers might prioritize big, motivating numbers over real accuracy. Anyone else have a gadget that gave you wildly wrong data you trusted at first?

I finally tried that viral phone screen repair kit from a social media ad

The 'liquid glass' solution did nothing for my cracked screen and I'm out $35. Has anyone actually had a good result with one of these?

Serious question, why does everyone say to factory reset a glitchy smart thermostat before checking the C-wire voltage?

After three callbacks for a Nest that kept dropping Wi-Fi, I finally just checked the voltage at the C terminal with my meter and found it was only 18V, not 24V, which a simple reset would never have fixed.

Vent: I thought those new smart thermostats were just for show

I was at my cousin's place in Austin last week and he had his Nest set to cool the house before we got back from a hike... I always thought that was a dumb feature, but walking into a 72-degree house after being in 100-degree heat totally changed my mind. It actually saves energy instead of just running the AC all day. Has anyone else tried a schedule like that and seen a real drop in their bill?

My smart lock bricked itself during a rainstorm

The August Connect module on my front door lock just died Tuesday night. It got soaked from a heavy downpour, even though it's supposed to be weather resistant. I had to call a neighbor to let me in, and now I'm back to using a physical key. Has anyone had a smart lock fail from weather and found a truly waterproof one?

I finally tried the 'low power mode trick' for my old phone battery and it actually worked

My Pixel 4a would die by 3 PM every day. I read a review that said to just leave low power mode on all the time, not just when the battery is low. I thought that was dumb and would slow the phone down too much. Tried it for a week and my battery now lasts until bedtime. The performance hit is way smaller than I expected. Has anyone else kept a phone going longer with a simple setting like this?

Rant: My new smartwatch bricked itself during a 5k run in Denver last Tuesday.

I had to jog back to my car holding a $400 paperweight and now I'm looking at a Garmin instead, has anyone else had a Fitbit just give up mid-activity?

My new smartwatch battery swelled up after just 8 months

I bought a popular fitness tracker last spring, and it worked fine until last week. I went to put it on one morning and noticed the back panel was bulging out. I immediately removed it from the charger and looked up the warranty, which had expired two months prior. Has anyone else had a device fail like this, and what did you do with it?

Remember those 'smart' forks that were supposed to track your eating? I bought one for $90 in 2018.

Showerthought: I picked a flip phone over a smartphone back in 2010 for a whole year.

My old phone died and I had to choose between a basic flip phone for $30 or a new touchscreen that cost over $200. I went with the flip phone because I was broke and thought I didn't need all those extra features. It was fine for calls and texts, but I missed out on maps and taking decent pictures when I traveled. Anyone else try to go simple with tech and end up switching back?

People keep calling a 144Hz monitor a 'game changer' for office work

I see this in a lot of reviews, saying a high refresh rate makes scrolling feel smoother for emails and documents. I bought a 144Hz screen for my home office setup in Phoenix, and after using it for 6 months, I can barely tell the difference outside of gaming. It feels like a waste of money if you're not playing fast-paced shooters. Am I the only one who thinks this is overhyped for regular computer use?