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- Review count48
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- First reviewFebruary 25, 2010
- Last reviewNovember 3, 2023
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- First answerJune 11, 2019
- Last answerOctober 15, 2020
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The Roomba j9+ robot vacuum delivers 100% stronger suction* and adjustable cleaning power to lift even trapped pet hair from carpets. Equipped with the most thoughtful, pet-friendly features, this smart vacuum has dual rubber brushes to sweep up dust after the dog park, the know-how to steer around pet toys and food bowls, and our P.O.O.P. guarantee** to avoid accidental pet messes or you get a replacement. Dirt Detective, powered by iRobot OS, keeps track of cleaning settings and frequency to auto-customize where and how it cleans so your home is always at its freshest. Go ahead and love your pet–your Roomba robot will handle their mess. *Compared to Roomba i Series robots **See iRobot website for details
Posted by: Pilgrim007
iRobot seems to release a new range of robots every fall and this is from the 2023 selection – the Roomba j9+ self-emptying robot vacuum, in ruby bronze.
I will lead by saying I have an existing Roomba (j7+) which I got about the same time last year, so I was adding a robot vac and not setting up from scratch as I did last year.
Unboxing the j9+ is straight forward as you remove the accessories, robot and base station from their protective packaging. The base station just needs the included power cable attached and plugged in and then is ready to receive/charge the robot. If you don’t have the iRobot app, you need to download that and then click to add your new product. There is a short process to identify your robot and then add it to your wi-fi network but two robots in, this has been very smooth for me.
If you are adding this to an existing Roomba home, then it’s even easier and takes care of the wi-fi setup from the original setup. I moved my j7+ upstairs and promoted the j9+ to taking care of downstairs.
Once the j9+ is online, it will likely want to install a firmware update. I was expecting this, but it seemed to run for a very long time, and I ended up quitting the app and coming back in again, which fixed whatever the issue was. The previous firmware update had gone smoothly so maybe it was just a one-time glitch. Once the firmware is up to date, you can send the robot vacuum out on a mapping run.
The mapping run is more about the robot vacuum learning your layout and it prioritizes this over actual cleaning. It is worth running though before you order up any room cleans or set a schedule. It will save battery by not running the vacuum at full power, so it can get around your entire space on one battery charge. The app will make a good effort at automatically naming rooms and identifying where each starts and ends but you can go in and correct this easily. It is worth fine tuning as then your later commands will be accurate and the robot vacuum will clean the exact spaces you wanted, rather than close to them.
If, like me, you already had a Roomba map saved for your space with a prior robot, you can just opt to use that, which is what I did and saved time.
Once you have your space mapped and the battery charged up on your robot vacuum, you are free to set up schedules or just order cleaning of specific rooms on demand.
The robot vacuum is an improvement on last year’s model in terms of battery life and features. The j7+ was having to come back to recharge before it could complete the floor space but the j9+ can get round on one charge and still has almost half the battery left. Additionally, the j7+ would get stuck between my bar stools and rather than back out, it would drive around for a few feet pushing them with it before noticing it had extra weight and just cancelling the program, to stop in place until I got back home to extricate it! The j9+ is much smarter and does a good job going in and out of the bar stool legs without getting trapped between them.
I would have liked the mopping function included which the j7+ has but this particular model leaves that out. It is another few hundred dollars extra for the j9 Combo equivalent and no robot mop is as good as a human yet, so not something I absolutely had to have this time around.
The vacuuming performance of the j9+ is very good, with it cleaning in nice, straight runs that leave a satisfying trail in the carpet, in neat rows. I usually vacuum the whole house by hand once a week and notice that I am picking up less dust than before, so assume the j9+ has the power to remove much of it in the preceding week. When the robot vacuum runs over any carpet or rugs, you can hear the suction power increase as it automatically turns on its Carpet Boost function.
The app has a new feature on the j9+ I did not have on the old robot vacuum called Dirt Detective which supposedly intelligently tracks and cleans your dirtiest rooms. It is a color-coded map of the floor space the goes from clean to dirty. I tend to let my robot vacuum run every day except weekends, so the map mostly stays on the lighter green (clean) but this week I have paused the robot vacuum for a couple of days and now see the rooms show as between clean and dirty. There is a button to clean any dirty rooms or create a schedule if you do not have one set up already. It takes about 10 days to generate enough data for Dirt Detective to work properly but after that, it can create a plan based on what rooms need and prioritize the dirtiest rooms, rather than just cleaning them all sequentially every day.
Object avoidance is good and every few days, I get sent photos by the app, to say if something is an obstacle to permanently avoid, a temporary obstacle or not an obstacle at all. You can opt in to sharing photos of the alleged obstacles with iRobot so they can add it to their database of known objects.
Once finished vacuuming, it will return to the base station and empty itself. This takes about 10 seconds as a large vacuum on the base station sucks the debris out of the on-board trap. It is loud but fast so not too irritating. The base station came with a bag already set and another stored in it for replacement. Supposedly the bags will last about 60 days, and, in my experience, this is accurate. They are easy to replace and self-sealing for when you remove them and throw them in the trash.
It would be easy to pair with Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant-enabled devices so you can just use your voice. If you follow the app’s suggestions and name and identify specific areas, you can order the robot vacuum to just come out and clean a specific area and then return to base. I still prefer to just use the app for any situation, but it is going to be very convenient to just vocalize in the moment and have the little robot trundle out to help in trouble spots.
All in all, this is a very reliable, low maintenance unit and it appears to be getting smarter as time goes by. The app gets updated regularly and I like that iRobot continues to add features and intelligence over time. It is easy to manage multiple iRobot vacuums in the app and I was impressed with battery life and object avoidance on the latest model.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Achieve high-quality visuals on every play with this Panasonic Ultra HD Blu-ray player DP-UB154P-K. Deep color HDMI output and 4K upscaling delivers immersive enjoyment of your favorite movie titles, showing images at their very best. Featuring Dolby Atmos and HDR10+ compatibility, this Panasonic UHD Blu-ray player immerses you both in lifelike sound and images.
Posted by: Pilgrim007
The first noticeable thing about this player is how small it is. Unpacking it takes seconds and it really is just the player, remote, batteries and an external power supply.
It replaced a much older bedroom-installed Sony player that could not do 4K and the difference in footprint was quite noticeable. The older player had power on board which may have contributed whereas this player has a separate power brick to plug in.
The only other connections on the Panasonic player are USB, Ethernet and HDMI-out. It does not offer a second HDMI-out and there is no wireless network adaptor either, so if you want to use BD-Live features or stay up to date on firmware, you will need to plug this unit into an Ethernet port. I could see this being difficult for some home users. Having said that, when I fired it up and plugged it into Ethernet, it already had the most recent firmware installed.
Once the player starts up, it goes to a basic screen that offers Video, Music or Photos options and then lets you pick from playing via USB or disc. You can also get to the settings from the menu on the left of the screen, where you can test network connectivity or change audio and display settings. I found I was able to force the player to check for 4K at 60Hz. output and it seemed to work with just the basic HDMI cable I had it connected to the TV with. I did not test with a disc I know plays back at 60Hz. though.
Audio options on the player are good, with most known formats available. My TV can process Dolby Atmos and when I tested with “Mad Max Fury Road”, it was routing the audio correctly to the TV speakers. Although not as good as my dedicated home theater, for a bedroom TV playback, it looked and sounded good.
I am surprised that the player does not include Dolby Vision as a video output. Likely this is down to licensing costs, and it is a love-it-or-hate-it format (some say it is too dark) but I prefer to have it as a choice. The player does however cater to HDR, HDR10, HDR10+ & HLG formats so is still very capable of the latest video formats on UHD discs.
The player does not have any apps like Netflix, Prime, AppleTV+ etc. so owners will still need some other method to access streaming apps. I do not miss these on a disc player, preferring a dedicated player but so long as the owner has a TV with apps or a streaming box like Roku, they should not miss these.
Playback of discs, both UHD and standard definition is very good and discs startup fast. The video and audio output on my LG C2 TV was excellent and the player is very quiet, with no noticeable disc “whir” sounds.
In summary, this is a good UHD disc player that performs its disc playback task well. While it misses a couple of features other players may have, they are not deal breakers and the player is a good upgrade for anyone wanting to play back 4K UHD discs.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Experience an IP67 rated dust & water-resistant¹ earbud made for your most intense workouts, even in the rain. The TONE Fre Fits ergonomic design keeps them in place and comfortable while you move. You'll be able to get in (and stay in) the zone with LG's Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation technology that uses two mics to keep outside noise out so you can focus on your fitness. Plus, the UVnano+ charging case uses UV-C light to kill 99.9% of bacteria on the eargels of the earbuds while they charge. In just 10 minutes the earbuds are sanitized and have the power to go.² Plus, you can do your thing in comfort with soft, hypoallergenic medical-grade eargels that provide a comfortable fit and help prevent irritation.³
Customer Rating
5
Wonderful, Noise Cancelling Workout Ear Buds
on February 20, 2023
Posted by: Pilgrim007
Finally, a set of workout ear buds that do everything I need and more!
I was previously using an older set of wired, exercise earphones which connected with a wire and could clip to my shirt, to prevent the wire bouncing around. While music sounded good on them, they were not noise cancelling so most of my footfall on a treadmill or other turning was part of the soundtrack too.
Additionally, they would sometimes work their way out of my ear and I found myself routinely pushing them back in or adjusting while I ran or exercised.
The LG TON -TF8Q throws down the gauntlet, as soon as you get it unpacked. In a neat little charging case that holds enough charge to recharge the buds on its own a couple of times, it can also kill most bacteria that might gather on the earbuds after use – more on that later.
The ear buds come with extra ear gels and ear hooks of various sizes, but I was lucky and found that the default gels and hooks fit just fine and I have yet to have an ear bud fall out. They also ship with two cables – a USB Type-C charging cable for the case and a USB-C to Aux cable, to connect the charging case to an aircraft stereo or treadmill with the appropriate connection.
Connection to my iPhone was simple via Bluetooth and I was rocking music from various iPhone sources within seconds of unpacking them. You can touch the earbuds themselves to control some basic functions, such as play/pause (one touch) or next track (three touches). Depending on the context, these gestures will do other things too like answer phone calls or mute/unmute so they are quite useful. Volume control would have been nice but I can still do that off the source device so not really a problem.
Connection to my iPhone was simple via Bluetooth and I was rocking music from various iPhone sources within seconds of unpacking them. You can touch the earbuds themselves to control some basic functions, such as play/pause (one touch) or next track (three touches). Depending on the context, these gestures will do other things too like answer phone calls or mute/unmute so they are quite useful. Volume control would have been nice but I can still do that off the source device so not really a problem.
LG has an app called “LG TONEFree which is useful for managing the earbuds. It will detect the earbuds and show things like battery left as a percentage, as well as let you set the equalizer settings. There are five presets (Immersive, Natural, Bass Boost, Treble Boost and 3D Sound Stage), with Bass Boost being my favorite and then you can set up two custom settings of your own to pick from as well.
You can also manage the ambient sound or active noise cancelling levels in the app. I tend to just keep noise cancelling on, but it is possible to turn that off (saves some battery) or go to ambient sound which would be safer if you run on the road or ride a bike with these on.
The multi-point and multi-pairing feature in the app is useful if have multiple devices you will use these with. Two devices can be connected to the earbuds at the same time and the app will remember and show you the five most recently connected devices. You can then quickly switch between them from the app, rather than mess about unpairing/repairing and the other troubleshooting you end up doing when the wrong device is auto selected.
Software updates for the earbuds are also handled in the app but I have yet to see an update since receiving these. They shipped with 1.10.1 which is so far current.
Another notable, useful app feature is the ability to locate your earbuds by having them emit a loud chirping sound, triggered from the app. It even lets you pick if you lost the left or right and then just chirp that one.
The playback quality on the earbuds is great and I really enjoy rocking out with them on, usually while running but sometimes while just doing chores around the house or yardwork. They are dust, sweat and water resistant so are great for these kinds of activities.
While the active noise cancelling does not match up to my over-ear (and twice as expensive) headphones, it is really very good for earbuds and noticeably cuts down on outside noise. It was surprising how often my wife needed to wave to get my attention and then let me know that yelling at me was not working! At the same time, with the great equalization, I find the original sound is not too distorted and still matches what I expect for playback.
While the active noise cancelling does not match up to my over-ear (and twice as expensive) headphones, it is really very good for earbuds and noticeably cuts down on outside noise. It was surprising how often my wife needed to wave to get my attention and then let me know that yelling at me was not working! At the same time, with the great equalization, I find the original sound is not too distorted and still matches what I expect for playback.
So long as the charging case is connected to power, when you put the earbuds back in for safekeeping and charging, the UVnano feature will disinfect them by bombarding them with ultraviolet light, killing most bacteria that may have gathered there while in your ears. It’s not a feature I would have sought out but it does no harm and makes me feel better about not getting an ear infection.
All in all, this is a feature-packed set of workout earbuds and definitely worth the investment for all that you get with them.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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The premium vacuum and mop solution like no other. It’s the only 2-in-1 with D.R.I. (Dry Rug Intelligence) means the Roomba Combo™ j7+ uses carpet detection and the Auto Retract Mopping System that lifts itself to the top of the robot, completely away from carpet preventing wet messes entirely. On hard floors, it vacuums and mops at the same time. The 4-Stage Cleaning system combines our Edge-Sweeping Brush, Dual Multi-Surface Rubber Brushes, Power-Lifting Suction and first-of-its-kind mopping with added pressure for a thorough clean. It's all designed to keep your carpet and hard floors cleaner while avoiding obstacles at the same time—so you can live your life.
Posted by: Pilgrim007
This is my third robot vac but the first from iRobot. I had always heard great things about the Roomba range and wanted to see if it was as good as the chatter indicated.
Unboxing is fairly painless and all the different packing compartments are clearly marked. There was a written tip to remove the robot separately from the dock but that part seemed switched so I was lifting out the entire dock and robot, which could have been messy. I ignored the instruction and just grabbed the robot out which made more sense, then the dock, and all was well again.
There are a few packing bits to remove from the robot but the dock is ready to plug in and things were all set within a few minutes. The quick-start guide suggested you could get going immediately and while that was true, the Roomba only had about half the charge it needed so in my case, it might have been better to charge it up and then start.
Once the Roomba was on the dock, I started to work through the Roomba app and get it set up. This part was particularly good! I have quite a few Internet-connected devices around the house and often, they are painful to add to our wireless network. The Roomba however was a champ, getting things done quickly and right first time! Within a minute or two, it was getting new firmware and that was done and out the way quickly and ready for the first task.
As recommended, I sent the Roomba out just to map the downstairs and save battery by not vacuuming on this first run. It took quite some time and needed to recharge about halfway through but got a good baseline for a map of where it would be vacuuming and mopping. Additionally, the maps show where carpet or rug has been detected. Once you have a map, you can go in and set boundaries, tighten up what it thought was a room and then name the spaces. I liked that I could customize some room names (our den has a more functional name) and setting boundary lines for rooms in our open plan was accurate too. Our previous robot vac’s app did not allow custom names and setting lines for boundaries was tedious and often impossible to get right.
The next day, it was time to test out the cleaning functions. I thought the Roomba would vacuum first and then mop but it does the two simultaneously. The Roomba comes with 2 microfiber mopping pads and two starter sachets of Bona floor cleaner, one for hardwood floors and one for other hard surfaces. We have fake wood floors so the second sachet was better for our situation but great that you get one of each. I will need to get a refill bottle which are easy to find online and then you just top up from there, with no need to dilute. The included sachets are concentrated so you would top them off with water.
I sent the Roomba to just clean the kitchen and it scooted off its dock and got to work. Once it had got the lay of the land, the mop deployed from on top and settled underneath, to do its work as the sweeper at the front got any dust or debris ahead of it. The deployment of the mop is genius – it keeps a potentially wet mop above the Roomba while it navigates across carpets and rugs. The previous robot vac had mopping capability as well but the mop was fixed and it refused to cross carpet with its wet mop. While great in protecting carpet, it made it useless for us as the dock is situated across the house, in a carpeted room. The logic of that robot just made it spin around by its dock when in mop mode because it could not handle carpet at all. The Roomba on the other hand, is able to go where the hard surface is and then deploy the mop. If it comes across any carpet or rugs, it will shift the mop back up and over to the back of the robot vac and deploy once safe again – very smart!
So far, I am only having it mop on demand but if you fill up the tank each day and keep the supplied mop pads clean, you can have it vacuum and mop all the time. The Roomba is smart enough to know if the mop is attached or you have enough cleaning liquid on board and will just vacuum if not.
I asked me wife what she thought of the finished results on the kitchen, as she will sometimes mop the floors by hand. She was very impressed and liked what the Roomba had done. This is praise indeed as the last robot vac was not very good – it just seemed to drag a wet mop around and smear water. The Roomba maybe does a better job because it is using the same cleaning liquid my wife uses to clean? She noticed that in some high traffic areas, footprints and water marks were still visible but said she had to work those areas hard by hand to clean and did not expect the robot vac to be matching that. Maybe something for the next generation to focus on?
Once cleaning is complete, the Roomba will head back to the dock to unload its dustbin. The dock comes with a dust bag in place and a second is neatly stored next to that one, for when it is time to swap. The transfer of dust from Roomba to dock is loud but fast and seems to get the dust bin cleared out well.
The Roomba ships with the spare bag in the dock, a spare HEPA filter, spare front brush and a spare roller brush. The app will keep track of life on these parts so you will get plenty of warning after the original set of parts is used before you need to order more.
The app is very good and easily lets you set up custom jobs, review the last cleaning run and keep you updated on the health of the Roomba. Currently, while it learns our home, it notifies me after each run and sends me photos of items it does not recognize, to ask how to deal with it in future. Things like cat bowls, my slippers and wires are the main offenders and I have been able to set some of the wires as no-go areas easily, as well as a table with a slim, round stand that the robot vacuums like to clamber over and scrape the paint off. My wife hates this so the Roomba agreed and set it as a no-go area which should prevent any issues in the future.
I should point out, the Roomba has a front-facing camera, with bright LED light nearby, so it can illuminate and identify objects which it then compares to a database that iRobot must be assembling of general household objects. I only saw the photos when they were shown at the end of a run and there doesn’t seem to be any other way to access them or the camera, so privacy issues should be at a minimum.
So almost all my review has been complimentary – what don’t I like? Not much but one thing I miss is the live-map the last robot vac had. You could pull up the app and see where in the house the robot had got to, as well as the path it took so far – basically observing it in real time, against a map of the house. While you can see the map in the Roomba app, it does not show you where the Roomba is on it. It does identify the name of the space though, so you can at least see what room it is working on. On the other hand, if the Roomba is getting stuck on less or even zero objects, it shouldn’t be as important to see exactly where it is. Our previous vac had a LIDAR sensor on top whereas this Roomba relies more on its camera, so that probably makes a bit of a difference. Without the sensor, the Roomba can fit under more furniture, so it does make cleaning gains without the extra hardware on top. It does seem to bump more furniture as it goes but on the other hand, it gets dust and dirt closer to walls and items than the LIDAR-fitted device would.
The Roomba also only has one sweeper brush at the front, instead of the two I am used to. I preferred two to rotate inward and push debris right in front of the robot vac but maybe iRobot found in testing that only one was required? At least it means less parts to replace as they wear out.
The last robot vac talked and voiced status updates when necessary – this one will beep occasionally but relies on the app to keep you up to date. Battery life and charging status can be set in the app so it shows as a light on the main button on top but otherwise, you will need the app to get status updates.
Back to what I do like – the straight line vacuuming and mopping is good and the robot vac does its best to keep them as straight as possible, adjusting when it does eventually hit an object and pivoting around it as close as possible.
The mopping function is good, with the stowing of the wet mops a great and necessary feature. You need to manually clean and dry the mop pads after use but other than that and keeping the tank topped up, you could have the Roomba mop daily without too much fuss. I thought the Roomba was skipping some of the edges as it made turns at the end of each run but watched it finish up by mopping all the edges, before it stowed the mop and headed back to recharge.
The mopping function is good, with the stowing of the wet mops a great and necessary feature. You need to manually clean and dry the mop pads after use but other than that and keeping the tank topped up, you could have the Roomba mop daily without too much fuss. I thought the Roomba was skipping some of the edges as it made turns at the end of each run but watched it finish up by mopping all the edges, before it stowed the mop and headed back to recharge.
This is a great robot vacuum and I am very happy with the upgrade, even though other than the mopping being a bust, the last robot vac was mostly fine. Having the ability to have the floors mopped well and keeping the carpets dry is a great feature. The vacuum alone functionality is excellent, while the constant learning of what is an obstacle, compared to a central database of known household objects makes this a very smart robot vacuum. I’ve retrieved many a cat toy or string from the previous vac but so far, am having no problems with the Roomba Combo j7+.
They say “don’t believe the hype” but in this case, I’m impressed with what iRobot and the Roomba range have achieved.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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The Shark Air Purifier MAX 3-in-1 uses Pure Air MicroForce to deliver fast, powerful, and quiet purification with added purified heat and purified fan modes. Clean Sense IQ senses air quality & auto-adjusts to improve and report results in real time. A HEPA filter captures 99.98% of airborne particles like allergens*, dust, and dander (based on IEST-RP-CC007.3, 0.1-0.2 microns). Cleans up to 1000 square feet. *“Allergens” refers to non-living matter.
Posted by: Pilgrim007
I became a convert to air purifiers a few years ago when a nearby forest fire left smoke in the air for several days. We had purchased a purifier to help with my wife’s allergies but I wasn’t very excited. The purifier got much more attention when the fire came and did a fantastic job keeping our home air clean and when we changed out the filter, it had certainly collected a lot of particles we might otherwise have kept breathing.
This is now our third purifier from different brands. It’s not that big of a deal as they all look different and fit in different spaces or we have tried to match the color scheme of the room. Filters tend to run out at different times anyway so no real advantage to keeping them the same brand.
This one from Shark is probably the most versatile of the three. Unpacking it was easy and then if you just follow the quick-start instructions, it will have you unload the filter to remove a plastic bag which protected it during transit and then you can just replace the filter, plug in the tower and get going.
There is a removable remote control which can live on top of the unit and is secured with a magnet. I found this a great way to keep tabs on it when not needing to adjust and most of the time, I don’t need to remove it but it would be useful for people who will be manually adjusting settings from the couch or in bed.
The unit has a switch that controls some of the functions and has two positions: the first lets you use the fan and heated air and the second position is for just cleaning the air on an auto setting. The switch is more of a mechanical function as it changes the direction the purified air will blow out – the front outlet is for fan or heated air and the rear outlet is for the auto purified air. I believe this is probably a safety function in case you place the unit too close to a wall, furniture or curtains as heated air blown out that close might be a fire hazard. The instructions do advise placing this 3 feet away from any furniture or walls and again, I think this is to prevent a heat-related fire from the heated air function. I certainly have the front more than 3 feet from anything but it seem fine otherwise closer to a wall and console.
The Shark 3-in-1 Max is currently in a workout room but will likely trade with another unit. This is because it is powerful enough to clean the air in a much larger space (up to 1000 square feet, with 1 full air change per hour), making me think it would be better in our downstairs area which is mostly open plan. We generally run it on the Auto setting and it mostly reports back through the onboard LED screen that the air quality is 100%. If we open a window in that room or one nearby, this number does drop down to around 70-75% and then the unit cranks up its fan to draw in more air and clean it. If you click through the Information button on the included remote, the tower’s built-in display can show you how long it estimates it will take to clean the room’s air as well as estimated filter life and the actual amount of particles it detects in the air at that time. I try not to click through too much though as the audible “beep” seems to bother one of my cats and she runs away if she hears it. It would be nice to have a silence feature but I haven’t found that yet. This would also mean I won’t put it in the bedroom as it would disturb a partner if you wanted to make a change and had to click through lots of annoying beeps! The Shark does at least let you turn off the bright display at night.
In our workout room, the purifier helps keep the air clean and odors down. The room does double duty as it houses a cat litter box so the Shark definitely helps to keep cat odors to a minimum. The fan function is impressive because you can manually set the power and also set it to oscillate (the top moves from side to side, pushing air out of the front) or literally aim the output which I tend to do so it blows towards me on a treadmill. The fan is obviously more noisy, the higher the fan setting but I had a good, cool and clean breeze on me as I ran and could not hear much with ear buds in anyway. The same probably could not be said for someone going by the room but at least it is just a standard fan noise.
I have tested out the heated air function and it is very impressive, heating up quickly and pushing out warm, purified air. I don’t have any cold rooms in my current house as it is centrally heated but in a cold apartment or house, this would be a great feature. You can even set the temperature you want it to stay at and it will adjust the heat to get the room to that point and then stay at that temperature.
When I was looking at the filter, it seemed different to the other brand’s filters we use and I think this may be Shark’s Nanoseal technology as well as a built-in carbon filter for trapping odors. Shark claim that other HEPA filters may be letting particles back out while theirs traps and holds them. I can’t tell if that is true but it will be interesting when we change filters as one of our others does seem to drop dust and other bits when we go to swap it out and I have to vacuum out the filter body on that one sometimes.
At close to 30 inches in height, this is not an easily hidden unit but it packs a punch, especially if you have a larger space or open plan home and would easily tame a floor with living room, kitchen and more. On the auto setting at 100% clean air, it is almost always silent and barely noticeable when the air quality drops to around 75%. I would think in a more serious situation, the sound would crank up but only long enough to deal with the particles and then back off as the air was gradually cleaned. The LED display also shows when the air quality is an issue and changes from blue to orange and I think then to red but have not seen air quality that bad yet.
The only thing I really miss from this unit is an app and Wi-Fi connectivity, to monitor it remotely and track usage. One of our three units does this and though I am not in it much, the app is nice for reminding me of expiring filters and also keeping tabs on how hard the unit is working during forest fires.
I am very impressed with this Shark purifier and wish I had its heat/fan functionality on the little unit I use at my work. The Shark looks impressive and easily deals with whatever we throw at it. No forest fires recently to test it with but I have no doubt it will be useful as part of our “team”, keeping the air in the house clean and particle free. The oscillating fan and heater function are great additions and knowing that the fan and heater are still purifying the air is great! All in all, this would be the unit to get if you want to cover all eventualities and have a large space to cover.
Well done Shark!
I would recommend this to a friend!
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XPS products are designed to be the best, withcutting-edge technologies, exceptional build quality,unique materials and powerful features. XPS brings together the most elegant designs and premiumexperiences to enhance your work and personalsuccess. This combination ultimately results in beautifully crafted products with no compromises. Introducing the new Dell XPS 13 Plus - our most powerful 13-inch XPS yet. Designed from the ground up to be our highest performing flagship 13 ever so you can do everything you love to do faster. The simplified interiors wow and the best-inclass panels bring your content to life. Featuring the latest Intel 12th Gen Intel Core Evo platform processors and displays with high resolution, brightness and color gamut to bring content to life. Simplified, modern and edge-to?edge interiors are beautiful and provide a seamless, touch?friendly experience for users.
Customer Rating
5
Lightweight, highly portable yet powerful laptop
on September 30, 2022
Posted by: Pilgrim007
I was looking to replace a heavy laptop with something a bit more portable. I was leaning towards a tablet but this laptop is a much more powerful but lightweight option.
The laptop came well packed, with power supply, power cord, 60 Watt AC power adapter and a useful USB-C to USB-A v3.0 adapter. The power connection on the laptop is Thunderbolt 4
The documentation was sparse but included a QR code to the MyDell Mobile companion app which is helpful for first-time setup and getting the most out of the new laptop.
On starting up the XPS 13 Plus, I was easily able to set up Windows Hello for my profile, using the onboard camera to authenticate logins. Once I was done setting up a profile, I added my wife and then when she logged in with her Microsoft account, it let her set up her Windows Hello so that now if it is locked and one of us picks up the computer, it will scan our faces and then knows which profile to load. It’s a great feature and also a very secure way to protect a computer.
The laptop connected to our Wi-Fi 6 home network easily and was getting good connection speeds around the house. A speed test showed it was uploading and downloading close to the maximum available for the connection we pay for.
The OLED screen is very nice indeed! It is the first OLED screen we have had in the house but definitely hints at us going that way in the future. Although the 13.4” screen sounds small, it is not noticeably small and the definition of images on the screen was very sharp. We put some streaming services on the laptop and enjoyed the gorgeous 4K HDR images of various shows – it was really impressive and a great advertisement for OLED. It is a touch-screen which at times can be very useful although I always feel I need to wipe the screen down right after I touch it, taking away a bit of the novelty.
The screen has an anti-reflective finish which supposedly reduces eyestrain and widens the field of view. I can’t say either way if I notice that but the image does look good from the angles we view it together and is not harsh on the eyes.
The Thunderbolt ports on each side can draw power from the included AC adapter or provide power or video to attached devices. It definitely cuts down on the clutter of interfaces laptops have had over the years and probably keeps the laptop size and weight down too.
On starting up the XPS 13 Plus, I was easily able to set up Windows Hello for my profile, using the onboard camera to authenticate logins. Once I was done setting up a profile, I added my wife and then when she logged in with her Microsoft account, it let her set up her Windows Hello so that now if it is locked and one of us picks up the computer, it will scan our faces and then knows which profile to load. It’s a great feature and also a very secure way to protect a computer.
The laptop connected to our Wi-Fi 6 home network easily and was getting good connection speeds around the house. A speed test showed it was uploading and downloading close to the maximum available for the connection we pay for.
The OLED screen is very nice indeed! It is the first OLED screen we have had in the house but definitely hints at us going that way in the future. Although the 13.4” screen sounds small, it is not noticeably small and the definition of images on the screen was very sharp. We put some streaming services on the laptop and enjoyed the gorgeous 4K HDR images of various shows – it was really impressive and a great advertisement for OLED. It is a touch-screen which at times can be very useful although I always feel I need to wipe the screen down right after I touch it, taking away a bit of the novelty.
The screen has an anti-reflective finish which supposedly reduces eyestrain and widens the field of view. I can’t say either way if I notice that but the image does look good from the angles we view it together and is not harsh on the eyes.
The Thunderbolt ports on each side can draw power from the included AC adapter or provide power or video to attached devices. It definitely cuts down on the clutter of interfaces laptops have had over the years and probably keeps the laptop size and weight down too.
The Intel Iris Xe graphics are more than adequate for this type of laptop. Dell describe it as able to provide everyday image quality for Internet use, basic photo editing and casual gaming. It is also optimized to draw less power than it otherwise might. It may be a trade-off for real power users but for the rest of us, this is still a more than adequate laptop with great graphics response and images.
The 16GB RAM is what I would expect for any laptop running Windows 10 or 11 in this case. The XPS 13 Plus uses LPDDR5 RAM and so far, we have not seemed to tax it with our multiple browser tabs and video streaming.
The storage is a 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe solid state drive which runs fast and with no moving parts, should last a while and not generate much heat. I like the fast boot up times of SSDs and this one is no exception. 512GB is about the minimum I would want on a laptop. As this one is 512, it is more generous that we were expecting but still very welcome.
The 12th Gen. Intel Evo i7 processor does a great job and again, I am not sure we will ever tax it to its limit. Most users just want a system that will keep up with them and this one should stay ahead of our multi-taking usage for some time.
Saving the best until last, this laptop is so light and portable and I feel that is what makes it so popular in our household. My wife likes to pack it around and play her favorite shows in whatever room she is working in but also enjoys having it in her lap in the evenings, for casual browsing and online shopping. She is excited to take it on vacation later this year and is not worried about it being too heavy or cumbersome to pack around an airport.
Saving the best until last, this laptop is so light and portable and I feel that is what makes it so popular in our household. My wife likes to pack it around and play her favorite shows in whatever room she is working in but also enjoys having it in her lap in the evenings, for casual browsing and online shopping. She is excited to take it on vacation later this year and is not worried about it being too heavy or cumbersome to pack around an airport.
It provides tablet convenience but with bonuses of a real, lit keyboard and the same operating system as we are used to at work and home.
I recommend this laptop as it provides a great blend of power and a very nice screen, especially for streaming and browsing.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Chances are you’ll run out of energy long before this powerful LG CordZero vacuum does. Kompressor technology compresses dirt and dust so you can keep cleaning instead of stopping to empty the dust bin. Two rechargeable, detachable batteries deliver up to 120 minutes of uninterrupted cleaning performance. The one-touch control makes cleaning a breeze, and a portable charging stand lets you store and charge anywhere, anytime. Even maintenance is easy, with removable, washable filters and cyclone system and ThinQ App Wi-Fi enabled monitoring.
Customer Rating
5
Highly portable, yet powerful stick vacuum
on September 7, 2022
Posted by: Pilgrim007
The LG CordZero Cordless Stick Vacuum is a great looking, relatively light vacuum cleaner which fits in nicely between our existing corded and robot vacuum cleaners.
Unboxing and assembly seemed to take longer than I had anticipated, as some of the references in the quick-start and instructions referred to items that were not included in my set. It appears that there are three different flavors of this vacuum and although I am happy with mine, it had references to accessories, an accessory holder and mopping ability which this one does not have. Again, not a problem as I did not get the vacuum for mopping but it was a bit confusing at first to use the one-size-fits-all instructions.
The manual advises charging the batteries before usage so I timed it and it was about an hour or so before the battery was fully charged. Once the vacuum charging mount is assembled, it provides a spot to charge the battery as well as dock the vacuum with its-on-board battery and both will charge in sequence. This means that once the primary battery runs out, you can just swap it out for the spare and then charge that one as you continue cleaning, doubling the effective running time. The vacuum itself will slide down the very top part of the mount and once settled there, it will charge the on-board battery as the other battery remains below, in its mount – very clever!
The charging mount can be free-standing or attached to a wall with the included mounting hardware. You can even dispense with the stand’s foot if you are wall mounting and don’t need to free-stand the vacuum. I am using the freestanding mount for now but will likely mount it later down the line.
The stand includes two accessory mount points which securely hold the two included tools (crevice and soft brush). It means that the accessories are not with you as you clean but they are at least in an obvious storage spot. Even some corded standing vacuums don’t have the tools on board so this is not a big deal but I occasionally see something I wish I had the tool for and then have to really want it, to stop what I am doing and head back to base for the tool.
The vacuum can join your Wi-Fi network and then the LG ThinQ app will track things like battery life, cleaning history and other interesting but not necessary data. For me, it is mostly a novelty but I do like when the app notifies me that the batteries are fully charged again.
Using the vacuum is quite liberating. After years of cleaning a 2600 square foot home with various corded vacuums, it was eye-opening to take the same route with a cordless vacuum.
With the universal floor tool attached, I found I was moving around quicker than with the corded. As the vacuum is lighter and did not have as aggressive beater bar inside the floor tool, I was concerned it wasn’t as powerful as the corded. It certainly leaves less obvious marks on the carpet but still seemed to collect the same amount of carpet fiber, pet hair and other debris. The manual had warned that the universal floor tool might be loud on hard surfaces but I did not really notice and it did fine on our mix of carpet, vinyl and laminate floor.
Being able to just keep going where I would previously have to retrace my steps, in order not to exceed the power cord length was great. In addition, the Kompressor technology helps to reduce stops and visits to empty the debris cannister in the garbage. The Kompressor really is just a push button slide that pushes hair, carpet fiber etc. down near the bottom of the cannister so you can continue vacuuming for longer. I found it did reduce stops but did not really push it to the limit, in case it reduced cleaning power. It also helped keep the cannister cleaner as debris wasn’t able to just gather at the top although it remains to be seen if that will continue to work or dust will build up near the top over time. That said, the manual said you could wash out the cannister so it may not be an issue if you keep up with maintenance.
I was able to do about three quarters of our house, including stairs, with a single battery on normal power. Occasionally I would boost the power to get something embedded in the carpet but did not need the turbo function yet. The LG documentation shows that the battery life is drastically reduced if you run it in the higher modes for too long so I was careful.
Swapping batteries was painless other than the vacuum abruptly stopping and needing to walk back to the charging station to swap them over. I then had plenty of power to return upstairs and finish the last two rooms.
The app kept track of running time and battery status as I cleaned which was interesting but not especially useful. Perhaps over time it could be but the jury is still out for me on the app right now. At worst, it might be helpful when it comes time to replace some of the consumable parts like filters and batteries, which LG warns will wear out and need to be replaced at some point.
In summary, I am very happy with the portability and power of this vacuum and it seemed to be on par with the bigger, heavier corded vacuum we own. It could be run as a stick vacuum or you could remove the stick part and use it to clean stairs or inside a car, with lots of power and even more portability to get in smaller spaces. The battery life is good enough to clean a fairly large house, especially as it comes with two batteries and one can always be on charge. The Kompressor tech is useful but not especially glamorous – still makes it better than most cannisters in terms of keeping them clean and how often they need emptying before they affect the cyclone effect.
Great job LG!
I would recommend this to a friend!
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XPS products are designed to be the best, withcutting-edge technologies, exceptional build quality,unique materials and powerful features. XPS brings together the most elegant designs and premiumexperiences to enhance your work and personalsuccess. This combination ultimately results in beautifully crafted products with no compromises. Introducing the new Dell XPS 13 Plus - our most powerful 13-inch XPS yet. Designed from the ground up to be our highest performing flagship 13 ever so you can do everything you love to do faster. The simplified interiors wow and the best-inclass panels bring your content to life. Featuring the latest Intel 12th Gen Intel Core Evo platform processors and displays with high resolution, brightness and color gamut to bring content to life. Simplified, modern and edge-to?edge interiors are beautiful and provide a seamless, touch?friendly experience for users.
Customer Rating
5
Lightweight, highly portable yet powerful laptop
on July 25, 2022
Posted by: Pilgrim007
I got this XPS 13 Plus for my wife. The Dell laptop we generally use is quite heavy and although it is powerful, for what she wanted, she was leaning towards a tablet. However, once she got this one, she was hooked and said it is much better than a tablet!
Unboxing was fun as my wife said she’d never got to unbox a new computer before, having had hand-me-downs from her dad for years or just using what I had on hand. As this one was almost exclusively going to be used by her, she took the honors. The laptop came well packed, with power supply, power cord, 60 Watt AC power adapter and a useful USB-C to USB-A v3.0 adapter. The power connection on the laptop is Thunderbolt 4
The documentation was sparse but included a QR code to the MyDell Mobile companion app which is helpful for first-time setup and getting the most out of the new laptop.
On starting up the XPS 13 Plus, I was easily able to set up Windows Hello for my profile, using the onboard camera to authenticate logins. Once I was done setting up a profile, I added my wife and then when she logged in with her Microsoft account, it let her set up her Windows Hello so that now if it is locked and one of us picks up the computer, it will scan our faces and then knows which profile to load. It’s a great feature and also a very secure way to protect a computer.
The laptop connected to our Wi-Fi 6 home network easily and was getting good connection speeds around the house. A speed test showed it was uploading and downloading close to the maximum available for the connection we pay for.
The OLED screen is very nice indeed! It is the first OLED screen we have had in the house but definitely hints at us going that way in the future. Although the 13.4” screen sounds small, it is not noticeably small and the definition of images on the screen was very sharp. We put some streaming services on the laptop and enjoyed the gorgeous 4K HDR images of various shows – it was really impressive and a great advertisement for OLED. It is a touch-screen which at times can be very useful although I always feel I need to wipe the screen down right after I touch it, taking away a bit of the novelty.
The screen has an anti-reflective finish which supposedly reduces eyestrain and widens the field of view. I can’t say either way if I notice that but the image does look good from the angles we view it together and is not harsh on the eyes.
The Thunderbolt ports on each side can draw power from the included AC adapter or provide power or video to attached devices. It definitely cuts down on the clutter of interfaces laptops have had over the years and probably keeps the laptop size and weight down too.
The Intel Iris Xe graphics are more than adequate for this type of laptop. Dell describe it as able to provide everyday image quality for Internet use, basic photo editing and casual gaming. It is also optimized to draw less power than it otherwise might. It may be a trade-off for real power users but for the rest of us, this is still a more than adequate laptop with great graphics response and images.
The 16GB RAM is what I would expect for any laptop running Windows 10 or 11 in this case. The XPS 13 Plus uses LPDDR5 RAM and so far, we have not seemed to tax it with our multiple browser tabs and video streaming.
The storage is a 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe solid state drive which runs fast and with no moving parts, should last a while and not generate much heat. I like the fast boot up times of SSDs and this one is no exception. 512GB is about the minimum I would want on a laptop but for my wife, she could probably manage with a 256 if she had to. As this one is 512, it is more generous that we were expecting but still very welcome.
The 12th Gen. Intel Evo i7 processor does a great job and again, I am not sure we will ever tax it to its limit. Most users just want a system that will keep up with them and this one should stay ahead of our multi-taking usage for some time.
Saving the best 'til last, this laptop is so light and portable and I feel that is what makes it so popular in our household. My wife likes to pack it around and play her favorite shows in whatever room she is working in but also enjoys having it in her lap in the evenings, for casual browsing and online shopping. She is excited to take it on vacation later this year and is not worried about it being too heavy or cumbersome to pack around an airport.
It provides tablet convenience but with bonuses of a real, lit keyboard and the same operating system as she is used to at work and home. She would have been happy with a tablet but tells me the laptop is far better and an amazing upgrade after her last tablet died.
We both recommend this laptop as it provides a great blend of power and a very nice screen, especially for streaming and browsing.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Linksys Atlas Pro 6 with Velop Intelligent Mesh is a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 router that delivers next-level streaming and gaming to more than 30 devices per node. Access to 160 MHz unleashes the true power of Wi-Fi 6 technology—these are the least congested channels available on the 5GHz band and offer incredibly fast connectivity. Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) provides access to more channels, reducing interference from neighboring networks. Velop Intelligent Mesh technology offers whole home mesh Wi-Fi coverage that’s easily expandable by adding additional nodes. With easy setup, advanced security and parental controls, Linksys Atlas Pro 6 is an essential upgrade to any home.
Customer Rating
5
Reliable and fast - setup could be easier though
on September 28, 2021
Posted by: Pilgrim007
from Oregon
The Atlas Pro Wifi 6 system from Linksys acts as a mesh, with multiple wireless access points. Many people will use a single access point but then notice dead spots around their homes. The mesh system aims to eliminate this by providing multiple access points you can arrange around your home for maximum coverage and connection speed.
This pack from Linksys comes with 3 units, one of which will be configured as the parent and the other two (nodes) are configured as children. It is possible to run the parent node in bridged mode if you already have a router handing out IP addresses but I just connect my parent directly to the cable modem and then the parent handles DHCP and IP allocation.
Each node has a power supply built into a wall-wart plug which is fortunately not so big to cover two power outlets. The nodes also offer 1 WAN Ethernet port and 3 LAN Ethernet ports. The WAN port is only required on the parent (the cable modem connects through this port) but on the child nodes, you can use the WAN port as an extra LAN port. LAN ports are useful for wired equipment you want to connect with Ethernet cables, rather than relying on wireless. I tend to run as much equipment on my Local Area Network as possible and then reserve the wireless channels for things that will only run that way. It may sound counter productive to have a mesh installed but then try to not use it but wired connections are generally faster and more reliable, so if you can use it, it generally has better results throughout a large home.
The nodes are setup and controlled through the Linksys app. I was running it on my Apple iPhone but you can also use the Android app to do the same tasks. Once your network is setup and running through the app, it is possible to access the Linksys router directly through a web portal on a laptop and this offers a different view and a few more options for advanced troubleshooting.
Setup should be painless but this is my second set of Linksys mesh equipment and I’ve always encountered the infamous “Red Dot of Sadness” in trying to get setup. The basic instructions are to install the app and follow the step-by-step instructions to set up a parent. Once that is up and running, you should be able to add child nodes until by the end, you have 3 happy nodes with the “Blue Dot of Happiness”. The colored LED on top of the nodes is sometimes all you really have to monitor progress and success.
I found I could set up the parent node ok but child nodes were difficult. The instructions seem adequate if it all worked but when it doesn’t and you encounter a red dot and are told to reset and start again, it is quite frustrating. Various reasons exist as to why it might not work – child node was too far from parent, child node was too close to parent and even trying every permutation, I found myself watching a progress bar for 7-8 minutes at a time until it eventually errored out with no real explanation as to why.
I did try to call the supplied tech support but after 20 minutes on hold, figured my time would be better spent trying to fix it myself. I was able to eventually see a child node appear in the app and although it was showing red in the LED and telling me to restart, I ignored it and carried on and eventually the child nodes were up and running, renamed to match the rooms I placed them in. You can also add child nodes from the web portal so if you can find the IP address of the parent, log in to that address and there is a hidden option in there to add child nodes, specifying if they are wired or wireless. I have had success with that method as well – basically the only time I had a first-time successful install of a node.
You can set up a guest network from within the app, keeping guest devices and data separate from the rest of the household network. It is possible to configure the app to work with Alexa so you could turn on the guest network on command and turn it off by voice when guests leave. Password changes and access are handled in the app as well – you can opt to email or text a password to a visitor, reducing the chance of them mistyping it.
Parental controls are also built into the app. I don't have any children so did not test it but it looks comprehensive, including some Alexa functionality to restrict access after bedtime, for instance.
My network is a little different to some but basically, I already had some Linksys Wifi 6 mesh nodes and I added these three to an existing 2-node setup. Additionally, all but one of my nodes uses Ethernet back haul where the parent is joined to 3 of the nodes via an Ethernet cable. This is not always possible, I just happened to repurpose the telephone landline ports around our house, to make a Gig speed local area network but if you can run the cables, it should provide a reliable back haul between the nodes.
The AX5300 set is dual band while my existing nodes are tri band. As I was using the Ethernet back haul for the nodes to communicate between each other, it did not matter to add the dual band – the third band would only be used for the same thing the back haul is handling.
The new units are physically smaller than their predecessors – shorter and with one less Ethernet port. A part of me was annoyed to give up a port but on most of my nodes, I don’t use them all anyway and you can always hang a network switch off a port and then connect up more devices. Despite the smaller size, they still do not meet the Wife Acceptance Factor (WAF) and so locating them in optimum spots (clear line of sight, no obvious obstacles etc.) may not go down well with the in-house interior designer. Placing them in hidden corners on the floor will restrict their range and speed.
The wired back haul devices all reported in that they connected at 1 Gig to each other, which is expected. The device that connects to one of the other child nodes wirelessly reported reasonable signal to noise ratio and a connection speed of about half the wired nodes. Again, this is reasonable as that node sits in the garage which has insulated walls and floors separating it from the other nodes.
The connection speeds are mostly good – my laptop was reporting a full speed connection in Windows although a real-world SpeedTest would report about 300-400 mbps, on a Gigabit connection from the Internet Service Provider. Cell phones and tablets were similar – the worst spot in the house would report a minimum of 200 mbps in SpeedTest but this is also when competing with 47 other wireless devices including streaming TV etc.
In the app, it is possible to see which node a specific device is connecting to. This is useful but also frustrating as often, you will disagree on which node is closest and has the strongest signal. Apple devices can often stay connected to nodes you have long since left and that is based on Apple’s proprietary roaming algorithms which the user has no control over. On my laptop, I was able to set the roaming aggressively and then could watch it jump to a new access point as I moved around the house, always seeking out the closest and fastest.
The Linksys web portal will let you set roaming – I have never found that function in the app. There was also a hidden setting in the portal to have the nodes jump to another node, if one goes offline, so the line of communication between nodes self-heals. Originally, I had issues with this and deactivated both roaming and self-healing but the firmware has been stable for some time and I happily re-enabled it.
The Linksys web portal will let you set roaming – I have never found that function in the app. There was also a hidden setting in the portal to have the nodes jump to another node, if one goes offline, so the line of communication between nodes self-heals. Originally, I had issues with this and deactivated both roaming and self-healing but the firmware has been stable for some time and I happily re-enabled it.
All in all, this is a nice kit, hitting the sweet spot of included nodes and if the installation gods are smiling, it should be easy to get them up and running quickly, without needing much interaction after that. I would have liked something better to help with placing the nodes, so in my case, I ended up using a fairly expensive professional application to identify coverage areas and locate the nodes accurately. The included Linksys method isn’t very informative and doesn’t really let you experiment much beyond “that worked” and “that didn’t work”, with the time-penalty of having to watch the progress bar again for 5-6 minutes, with fingers crossed to not have to keep repeating the process!
The box the units came in claims 3 Pro 6 nodes will cover up to 8100 square feet. That is probably not possible in an actual house, with walls, floors and other obstacles but I find the coverage and speed to be very good in a 2600 square foot house with attached garage. We have no buffering when streaming and our cameras and other wireless devices all seem happy enough on the network, usually picking the nearest node to attach to (although not always and I wish there was a way to force them to specific nodes!)
Although this is quite an investment, it should provide much better coverage than a single access point and easily manage the wireless devices most households possess today.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Imagine having the magic of a movie theater right in your home and feeling totally immersed in every scene. With the Bose Smart Soundbar 900 with Dolby Atmos, you can. Custom-engineered upfiring dipole speakers work with advanced Bose technologies to make it seem like your room is filled with sound from every direction. Even overhead. It’s like you can almost feel the rain coming down during your favorite movie. For content that isn’t encoded in Dolby Atmos, proprietary TrueSpace spatial processing intelligently analyzes signals other than Dolby Atmos, like stereo or 5.1 surround sound system, and upmixes them to create an immersive 7-channel speaker wireless surround sound experience with an impressive sense of height in the soundscape. The result is enveloping sound with convincing realism no matter what you watch with this TV soundbar. But it’s not just the sound quality that you’ll notice with this Dolby Atmos soundbar. Material quality. Construction. Finishes. Controls. Every detail was obsessed over to produce a Bose premium soundbar that looks as beautiful as it sounds. And with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant built in, you can create a connected home theater system. This Bluetooth soundbar helps you control all your entertainment, manage your day, and get information — using just your voice.
Posted by: Pilgrim007
from Oregon
Bose’s previous soundbar, the Soundbar 700, was good but missing a few items. The Smart Soundbar 900 sets out to fix these issues.
This is the first Dolby Atmos soundbar I have owned but I also have a dedicated media room (7.2.4), with Atmos height speakers to compare.
The soundbar comes well protected in the box and includes an optical cable, HDMI cable, remote control with batteries and Adaptiq headset. Once the unit is removed from the protective bag, it is an attractive black rectangular box, with a glass top and protective grills on the front and sides. There are two cut-outs in the top for the new upward firing height speakers. The unit looks good on a console but for someone like me who wall mounts, it did not come with any hardware or mounting instructions, so I will need to track down and buy the correct mounting hardware for this.
The unit does not have much of a visual display for reference – the only obvious sign when you use the remote is that a white LED lights up to show something happened. You are expected to rely heavily on the Bose Music app to manage the soundbar. I would have preferred some sort of visual reference for volume but it is not a deal breaker - a lot of current TVs will let you mute the TV speakers but show on screen when you change volume on the soundbar. Using Alexa on the soundbar will also trigger the white LED as a listening response before the Alexa voice speaks.
A sub woofer is not included and neither are surround speakers. Bose make compatible equipment to complete the full 5.1.2 Atmos set up but I currently only have 3.2, relying on the soundbars internal woofers for bass.
Bose Music Application
Once the unit is set up and plugged in, you can use the Bose Music app to do the full setup. It takes you step-by-step through connecting and then tweaking the soundbar to match your room and equipment. I found this part to be simple but thorough and got me up and running quickly.
Once the unit is set up and plugged in, you can use the Bose Music app to do the full setup. It takes you step-by-step through connecting and then tweaking the soundbar to match your room and equipment. I found this part to be simple but thorough and got me up and running quickly.
One minor complaint – I had plugged in an Ethernet cable as I had one ready to use and the soundbar has an Ethernet port. However, this deactivated the Wi-Fi connection and I then the app informed me I couldn’t complete the setup. I had to unplug the Ethernet cord and then all was well. I’d rather use the Ethernet if that becomes available in the future but the Wi-Fi connection appears strong and robust.
Performance
Ok, now for the part we’ve all been waiting for – just how good is the sound?
Ok, now for the part we’ve all been waiting for – just how good is the sound?
For reference and testing purposes, I streamed “Mad Max Fury Road” from Movies Anywhere, via Roku Ultra. I find this a good test of Atmos and the stream is almost as good quality as the 4K disc, in terms of video and sound.
If you are wondering, can it do the Atmos height effects, then the answer is yes. In fact, I was quite amazed at how it placed the sounds about where they should be, compared to my dedicated height speakers in my media room. I’m not sure how the soundbar fools the ear and it probably just bounces the signal off the ceiling with the correct delay and echo cancelling but it definitely works.
In this instance though, the surround channels were missing and the bass was a little disappointing. This can likely be fixed by purchasing the extra surround channel speakers and the Bose sub woofer that is compatible with this soundbar. Still, the phantom voices that use Atmos height in the opening sequences of “Mad Max Fury Road” were placing exactly where I expected them and the similarity to my media room setup was impressive.
I tweaked the sound settings within the app and was pleased with how you could start to dial in the soundbar to match your taste. The Adaptiq process seemed to nail down angles, heights and delays for the upward firing speakers and it was surprising to see that I did not need to tweak the height speaker volume and the Atmos effects worked great from the outset. It is nice that you can tweak the center channel, as well as the height, if you feel the need.
I tested the sound with TV (YouTube TV) and it was a noticeable improvement on my previous sound bar which I thought was good before. The sound was a little sharper and dialogue seemed clearer, without needing to turn on the dialogue function in the app which would boost the center channel over the other channels. TV did not seem to make use of the upward firing speakers (YouTube TV does a maximum of 5.1 sound) but apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Vudu, Movies Anywhere and HBO Max all should when the shows have Atmos sound available.
The soundbar has Alexa and Google Assistant built in which is a nice addition. I set it up with my Alexa account and within seconds, was able to raise or lower the volume and control Spotify, my music player with my voice. It worked well, fading down whatever was playing while Alexa did her magic and then putting the volume back to the original position, whether I was watching TV or listening to music. I actually found the experience better than with our dedicated house Alexas, which can be a bit fussy sometimes, although they are not the latest models.
It is possible to integrate all your other AV devices to the soundbar so you could literally control everything by voice command, through the soundbar Alexa, if you wanted. Bose call it Video4Voice but I use a Roku and not a cable box so didn’t think it worth adding as the Roku is quite picky with voice control within apps.
You can connect to the soundbar via Bluetooth if you want to stream music directly that way. The Bose Music app offered to pair with Spotify which I opted for as my primary music source and it was very good at starting to play what I asked, via Alexa or directly from the app on my phone. The Spotify app identified the soundbar as available, even when off and played as expected.
The Bluetooth connection confused me a little as I thought it would be automatic but I actually needed to put the soundbar into Bluetooth mode – either from the Bose Music app or from one of two buttons on top of the soundbar. The other button is to turn off the Alexa microphone, for privacy. Once I figured that out, it streamed music from my phone with no issues.
I tested Apple Airplay and it was simple, quick and played my music flawlessly. In fact, I should comment that once I had adjusted a couple of the sound settings in the Bose app, music sounded fantastic and we will likely remove a dedicated kitchen Alexa device and just use the Bose TV soundbar for Alexa/music playback as it handles it very well. Considering there is no separate sub woofer, the soundbar still has a good bass response for music and the other frequencies were excellent too – I genuinely enjoyed listening to music through the soundbar and did not notice any distortion, even at high volume.
Uncompressed tracks were super-detailed and sounded very pleasant while compressed tracks were still enjoyable to listen to.
Maintenance
The glass top looks nice but is a complete fingerprint magnet. I did not see a microfiber cloth included but it would have been useful. Otherwise, the soundbar should be fairly maintenance free and any future firmware updates should be handled automatically from the app. I looked to see if there were any updates available but as of me writing this, there was nothing new.
The glass top looks nice but is a complete fingerprint magnet. I did not see a microfiber cloth included but it would have been useful. Otherwise, the soundbar should be fairly maintenance free and any future firmware updates should be handled automatically from the app. I looked to see if there were any updates available but as of me writing this, there was nothing new.
In Closing
This is an attractive soundbar with equally great sound. The fact that it competently handles Atmos soundtracks is very impressive and even without a sub woofer, it is possible to boost the bass up to good levels for watching TV and listening to music. For a truly home cinema feel though, most people will want to look to add the Bose sub woofer which will add a bit more “oomph” to the overall package but obviously increase the total cost. I’m led to believe that the more expensive of the two sub woofers that are compatible is very impressive but as I don’t currently have one, I can’t review that.
This is an attractive soundbar with equally great sound. The fact that it competently handles Atmos soundtracks is very impressive and even without a sub woofer, it is possible to boost the bass up to good levels for watching TV and listening to music. For a truly home cinema feel though, most people will want to look to add the Bose sub woofer which will add a bit more “oomph” to the overall package but obviously increase the total cost. I’m led to believe that the more expensive of the two sub woofers that are compatible is very impressive but as I don’t currently have one, I can’t review that.
Bose should probably be congratulated for not forcing users to buy both soundbar and sub at the same time. I was skeptical that the soundbar would be adequate out of the box without a sub woofer but have to admit that other than missing some room-shaking effects and a bit of thump in music, the soundbar alone is impressive, especially as you can tweak all the channels, including bass, to match your taste.
I would have liked to have some wall-mounting hardware included but accept it would have again boosted the price and I am probably in a minority of people who always wall-mount soundbars, so why force it on everyone?
I would definitely recommend this soundbar based on its looks, overall sound quality and the way it decodes and handles Atmos effects. It certainly eclipses my previous soundbars and once I get around to pairing it with the appropriate sub woofer, I think this will be a very impressive, living room Atmos-capable soundbar that also meets the wife-acceptance-factor.
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