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- Review count72
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- First reviewOctober 24, 2013
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Sony's intelligent noise-cancelling headphones with premium sound elevate your listening experience with the ability to personalize and control everything you hear. Get up to 30 hours of battery life with quick charging capabilities, enjoy an enhanced Smart Listening feature set, and carry conversations hands-free with speak-to-chat.
Customer Rating
4
WH-1000XM3, now with multipoint & proximity sensor
on August 31, 2020
Posted by: KusMoG
from Brooklyn, NY
*The Good*
Range: Excellent. My apartment's longest length is 31 feet with 3 walls between them measuring at about 6 inches thickness. I played a 24 bit, 96KHz FLAC file using the LDAC codec to try to really test the connection because those are the highest settings I can get out of my audio. I didn't get a single stutter.
Range: Excellent. My apartment's longest length is 31 feet with 3 walls between them measuring at about 6 inches thickness. I played a 24 bit, 96KHz FLAC file using the LDAC codec to try to really test the connection because those are the highest settings I can get out of my audio. I didn't get a single stutter.
NFC: Allows you to pair and connect a phone with the headphones by just tapping the phone on the left ear cup. No need to go through the menus for bluetooth and scan, or select device. Just tap and it will connect. Your phone does need to be unlocked though but that's it. The rest is just a simple tap.
Noise-cancelling: Great noise cancelling. Successfully blocks out air conditioner sounds. I couldn't even tell if I had the AC on or not while I was wearing them. S-sounds or hissing sounds get cancelled out entirely. It does its best job with noise cancelling on the low frequency end. My PC's fans (6 of them) are brought down to white noise.
I won't be on a plane until next month so I tried playing a YouTube video of plane engine sounds. It cancels out the harshness of the low frequency noise from it but you can still hear the plane sound. However, when I play music I'm able to successfully drown it out. It's not noise cancelling, but with the aid of the noise cancelling I'm able to tune it out for the most part.
The same goes wearing it on the subway. I live in NYC and our subway is one of the loudest in the world thanks to tiles the MTA uses in most of their station's walls, which amplify sound. You're not going to block all the noise, but it does a great job at dampening it so you can hear your own audio better.
You'll still hear cars on the streets but it will sound like they're hovering instead of rolling past you.
If you own a WH-1000XM3, I couldn't tell much of a difference in noise cancelling performance from it.
You can use the noise-cancelling even without any audio playing. It won't time out as long as you have Automatic Power Off set to "Do not turn off" in the app.
Cupping your hand over the right earcup allows you to temporarily disable ANC and hear outside noise.
I won't be on a plane until next month so I tried playing a YouTube video of plane engine sounds. It cancels out the harshness of the low frequency noise from it but you can still hear the plane sound. However, when I play music I'm able to successfully drown it out. It's not noise cancelling, but with the aid of the noise cancelling I'm able to tune it out for the most part.
The same goes wearing it on the subway. I live in NYC and our subway is one of the loudest in the world thanks to tiles the MTA uses in most of their station's walls, which amplify sound. You're not going to block all the noise, but it does a great job at dampening it so you can hear your own audio better.
You'll still hear cars on the streets but it will sound like they're hovering instead of rolling past you.
If you own a WH-1000XM3, I couldn't tell much of a difference in noise cancelling performance from it.
You can use the noise-cancelling even without any audio playing. It won't time out as long as you have Automatic Power Off set to "Do not turn off" in the app.
Cupping your hand over the right earcup allows you to temporarily disable ANC and hear outside noise.
Sound: I'm not an audiophile by any means, but they're my best sounding headphones. Voices sound clear. Instrument separation is clear. I can hear subtle hihat sounds clearly. Bass is evident out of the box and it doesn't sound muddy (I've read from others that it does but it doesn't sound muddy to me). I tend to think the sound sounds slightly warm (bassy) but mostly neutral.
But best of all is the hardware EQ from that you can use from Sony's Headphones app (app available only on Android and iOS). Unlike the XM3, on the XM4 you'll be able to use the hardware EQ even if you're using the LDAC codec. You can wipe out that bass by setting the "Clear Bass" setting to -10. Or boost it up.
You can customize the EQ through 5 frequency bands (400, 1k, 2.5k 6.3k, 16k).
There are 8 preset EQ settings along with 2 Custom EQ settings you can set and save for whatever purpose and one manual EQ setting, which really is just a third custom setting preset.
Since it's hardware EQ, the changes you make hear on the app effectively change the headphone's sound signature. If you use it on any other device like your PC, or TV, the EQ settings you set will stick. So I feel all the criticism about the out of the box sound feels unwarranted. Spend some time with the EQ and find the sound you like and that's the sound you'll have on all your devices because you've changed the way the headphones sound on the headphones themselves.
But best of all is the hardware EQ from that you can use from Sony's Headphones app (app available only on Android and iOS). Unlike the XM3, on the XM4 you'll be able to use the hardware EQ even if you're using the LDAC codec. You can wipe out that bass by setting the "Clear Bass" setting to -10. Or boost it up.
You can customize the EQ through 5 frequency bands (400, 1k, 2.5k 6.3k, 16k).
There are 8 preset EQ settings along with 2 Custom EQ settings you can set and save for whatever purpose and one manual EQ setting, which really is just a third custom setting preset.
Since it's hardware EQ, the changes you make hear on the app effectively change the headphone's sound signature. If you use it on any other device like your PC, or TV, the EQ settings you set will stick. So I feel all the criticism about the out of the box sound feels unwarranted. Spend some time with the EQ and find the sound you like and that's the sound you'll have on all your devices because you've changed the way the headphones sound on the headphones themselves.
The physical buttons: The Custom button allows me to either assign it to toggle ANC or Assistant commands (can't have both at the same time for that button). I have it set to Google Assistant but it also supports Amazon Alexa too. I find the Google Assistant support so invaluable. Thanks to it, whenever I get notifications on my phone I can press the button and it will read me my notifications. Whether you have notifications or not, it will also give you the time. So useful. The voice that reads you the notifications sounds natural too, not robotic, and is easy to understand.
The power button is clearly spaced away from the custom button that I never mistakenly press it for anything else. One press of the power button and the headphones will tell me how much battery life I have left.
The power button is clearly spaced away from the custom button that I never mistakenly press it for anything else. One press of the power button and the headphones will tell me how much battery life I have left.
**The OK**
Comfort: The XM4s has slightly more cushion on the earpads and headband than the XM3. Unfortunately the opening inside the ear cups haven't changed much. They're not that wide, so they'll still sit on some of your ears even if you might not feel like it does. I can prove it does though. When I insert my finger underneath the cup and reach for my ear, I can feel that it's still being clamped under the earpad. You may not feel it because the cushioning is so soft but the pressure gets felt after extended use. The earcup is also not that deep. Your ears will touch the inner soft lining although you will not feel it. The evidence will be when you sweat. You'll find sweat marks on the lining where your ear touches it.
Speaking of sweat, the XM4 made me noticeably sweat more than the XM3 or XM2 did. Conversely though, I imagine these would make great winter earmuffs. Careful though, they're not waterproof, so throw a hood on when it's raining or snowing.
Clamping force will vary on your head size. I have a large round head so they do clamp with some force but I never really found them uncomfortable even after hours of use.
Comfort: The XM4s has slightly more cushion on the earpads and headband than the XM3. Unfortunately the opening inside the ear cups haven't changed much. They're not that wide, so they'll still sit on some of your ears even if you might not feel like it does. I can prove it does though. When I insert my finger underneath the cup and reach for my ear, I can feel that it's still being clamped under the earpad. You may not feel it because the cushioning is so soft but the pressure gets felt after extended use. The earcup is also not that deep. Your ears will touch the inner soft lining although you will not feel it. The evidence will be when you sweat. You'll find sweat marks on the lining where your ear touches it.
Speaking of sweat, the XM4 made me noticeably sweat more than the XM3 or XM2 did. Conversely though, I imagine these would make great winter earmuffs. Careful though, they're not waterproof, so throw a hood on when it's raining or snowing.
Clamping force will vary on your head size. I have a large round head so they do clamp with some force but I never really found them uncomfortable even after hours of use.
Wired passive mode: You can use the headphones without power as regular headphones. When you power the headphones, you can also get ANC. You just can't use the touch controls.
Touch controls: Touch controls are intuitive. Swipe up for volume up, down for volume down. Swipe left for previous track, right for next track. Double tap to play/pause. Unfortunately, the touch controls can be as finicky as they were on the XM3. If you're familiar withe XM3's touch controls and never had a problem with them, the XM4 will suit you fine.
I put the XM4 in the freezer for 30 minutes while playing music to see if the cold issues on the XM3 exist on the XM4. Surprisingly they don't! I even used a fan to simulate wind along with the cold and I didn't get any erratic behavior that I had with the XM3. Touch controls still worked also. There's still about 3 months until winter here in NYC to know for sure, but I think they fixed it.
I put the XM4 in the freezer for 30 minutes while playing music to see if the cold issues on the XM3 exist on the XM4. Surprisingly they don't! I even used a fan to simulate wind along with the cold and I didn't get any erratic behavior that I had with the XM3. Touch controls still worked also. There's still about 3 months until winter here in NYC to know for sure, but I think they fixed it.
Multipoint: You can now connect the XM4 to more than one bluetooth device at the same time. As long as you don't actively use them at the same time, you won't run into many or any problems. If you do actively use them at the same time, occasionally you'll run into issues. If audio is playing on one device, and you play audio on another, the audio from the first device will continue to play and you won't hear the second device until you pause or stop the first device. This appears to be the current nature of multipoint because I get this same behavior on my Jabra Active Elite 75t's multipoint.
Multipoint does NOT work with LDAC. The Shure Aonic 50 supports multipoint on LDAC so bad job with Sony here, especially when LDAC is their own proprietary codec. How does another company one-up you with your own technology?
So only AAC and SBC work with multipoint on the XM4s.
Multipoint does NOT work with LDAC. The Shure Aonic 50 supports multipoint on LDAC so bad job with Sony here, especially when LDAC is their own proprietary codec. How does another company one-up you with your own technology?
So only AAC and SBC work with multipoint on the XM4s.
Proximity sensor: There's now a proximity sensor inside the left ear cup. This allows the headphones to pause audio when you take your headphones off. You can also turn this feature on or off using the Sony Headphones app.
My issue with it is that it doesn't work with all media. It works fine with audio players and YouTube.
It doesn't work with the MLB app when I'm listening to radio broadcasts of games on it. It doesn't work with the ESPN app either. This is probably because they're live streaming sources. But my main reason to even pause audio when I take my headphones off is so the audio isn't leaking out and being distracting and this won't help with that. They could have just stopped the live streaming sources and have them restart it live.
My issue with it is that it doesn't work with all media. It works fine with audio players and YouTube.
It doesn't work with the MLB app when I'm listening to radio broadcasts of games on it. It doesn't work with the ESPN app either. This is probably because they're live streaming sources. But my main reason to even pause audio when I take my headphones off is so the audio isn't leaking out and being distracting and this won't help with that. They could have just stopped the live streaming sources and have them restart it live.
Battery life: 30 hours is what Sony claims.
I got 23.5 hours with AAC, ANC on, no multipoint.
23 hours and 10 minutes with ACC, ANC on, multipoint on (Note 10+, Tab S6)
I screwed up my tests with LDAC time and time again, and it's super annoying to start over from scratch so I apologize for the poor test but I got 60% after 14 hours and 40 minutes with LDAC and ANC on.
So perhaps on LDAC, I can get the claimed battery life of 30 hours.
Battery is reported in intervals of 10% so you'll never see any reports of battery life in between them like 97% or 55%.
Sony claims 10 minutes of charge gives you 5 hours of battery life.
My tests never got anything close to that.
Using a 3.0A charger for 10 minutes I got:
With LDAC, ANC on: 1 hour 55 minutes
With AAC, ANC on: 1 hour 22 minutes
Charging from 0%-100% does take about 3 hours (sometimes less, sometimes slightly longer)
I got 23.5 hours with AAC, ANC on, no multipoint.
23 hours and 10 minutes with ACC, ANC on, multipoint on (Note 10+, Tab S6)
I screwed up my tests with LDAC time and time again, and it's super annoying to start over from scratch so I apologize for the poor test but I got 60% after 14 hours and 40 minutes with LDAC and ANC on.
So perhaps on LDAC, I can get the claimed battery life of 30 hours.
Battery is reported in intervals of 10% so you'll never see any reports of battery life in between them like 97% or 55%.
Sony claims 10 minutes of charge gives you 5 hours of battery life.
My tests never got anything close to that.
Using a 3.0A charger for 10 minutes I got:
With LDAC, ANC on: 1 hour 55 minutes
With AAC, ANC on: 1 hour 22 minutes
Charging from 0%-100% does take about 3 hours (sometimes less, sometimes slightly longer)
**Neutral**
XM4 has Speak-to-chat which allows the headphones to pause your audio and allow you to hear outside noise. It just won't work they way most want it to in real life though. It does an excellent job at not triggering with anyone else's voice but yours. But any sound you make activates it. So no singing along. I find myself turning this feature off.
XM4 has Speak-to-chat which allows the headphones to pause your audio and allow you to hear outside noise. It just won't work they way most want it to in real life though. It does an excellent job at not triggering with anyone else's voice but yours. But any sound you make activates it. So no singing along. I find myself turning this feature off.
**The Bad**
Loss of AptX support. I hoped for AptX low latency but instead they got rid of it altogether. Bad news for older Android devices that can't upgrade to Oreo.
Loss of AptX support. I hoped for AptX low latency but instead they got rid of it altogether. Bad news for older Android devices that can't upgrade to Oreo.
No USB-C audio.
**Concerns**
Build: Plastic construction is like how it was on XM3; feels cheap. May creak after a while. Remains to be seen.
Build: Plastic construction is like how it was on XM3; feels cheap. May creak after a while. Remains to be seen.
**Conclusion**
Great option for Apple users since LDAC and AptX is no concern, and for new buyers that don't own XM3.
Poor value to upgrade from XM3 if you don't care for LDAC or multipoint.
Great option for Apple users since LDAC and AptX is no concern, and for new buyers that don't own XM3.
Poor value to upgrade from XM3 if you don't care for LDAC or multipoint.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Logitech G923 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC is a high-performance racing wheel that revolutionizes the racing experience. Re-engineered to support a next-generation feedback system, G923 features TRUEFORCE high-definition force feedback that dials into game engines to deliver higher-fidelity realism. Feel the pistons pumping, the gravel crunching, and every shift, drift, and hairpin turn like never before. True racing comes from within.
Posted by: KusMoG
from Brooklyn, NY
If you own a Logitech G29, stay put because this wheel is basically a G29 with loss of PS3 support but the addition of the proprietary TrueForce force feedback.
The wheel still uses the same motor.
It's still gear-based so you'll still get a slightly notchy feel when you turn the wheel but it's honestly not that bad in terms of sound. It's actually close to silent. But it's not as smooth as a belt-based wheel, which typically cost more than gear-based wheels (more on this later in my review).
It's still gear-based so you'll still get a slightly notchy feel when you turn the wheel but it's honestly not that bad in terms of sound. It's actually close to silent. But it's not as smooth as a belt-based wheel, which typically cost more than gear-based wheels (more on this later in my review).
The wheel's maximum rotation is 900°, which is par for the course if you're into simulation racing. So you'll be able to turn the wheel 2.5 times from lock-to-lock. Most sport cars have 900° rotation or less. Older vehicles and family cars may have more rotation.
The buttons on the wheel have nearly all the controls of a standard PS4 controller. The only thing that's missing are the 2 analog sticks (because it has the L3 and R3 analog stick buttons).
The Square, Triangle, Cross, and Circle buttons feel premium and the d-pad feels great and precise as well. Perfect for menu selections. The other buttons feel plasticky and kind of cheap by comparison.
The wheel does NOT come with a H-pattern shifter, but it does have metal paddle shifters behind each side of the wheel for gear shifting.
The wheel has RPM LED lights just above the center cap of the wheel.
The wheel is made of mostly metal backed by hard plastic.
So in other words, the looks basically the same as the G29 with the exception of colors. The wheel is now mostly black, including the dial, L/R buttons, and the paddles. The center marker is now something along the lines of turquoise-blue.
The wheel is covered with black leather that feels great to touch.
The Square, Triangle, Cross, and Circle buttons feel premium and the d-pad feels great and precise as well. Perfect for menu selections. The other buttons feel plasticky and kind of cheap by comparison.
The wheel does NOT come with a H-pattern shifter, but it does have metal paddle shifters behind each side of the wheel for gear shifting.
The wheel has RPM LED lights just above the center cap of the wheel.
The wheel is made of mostly metal backed by hard plastic.
So in other words, the looks basically the same as the G29 with the exception of colors. The wheel is now mostly black, including the dial, L/R buttons, and the paddles. The center marker is now something along the lines of turquoise-blue.
The wheel is covered with black leather that feels great to touch.
When you're using the wheel on a PC, you'll need the install the G Hub software to get force feedback to work. I guess they install or act like drivers for the wheel.
In G Hub, you'll also be able to configure the settings for wheel such as the rotation range. This is very useful for emulation gaming since racing games designed with controller play in mind actually have only a 180° rotation (because there's only 2 points of direction, left and right, with analog covering the degrees between them). When left at the default 900° for those types of games, you'll experience severe understeering.
In G Hub, you'll also be able to adjust the sensitivity of the wheel turn; the intensity of the force feedback from the torque (i.e. the pull on the wheel when the wheels on the car are turning) and audio effects (i.e. the vibration from bumps); the strength of the centering spring; and the sensitivity of each pedals.
You'll also be able to set and save specific settings for each application you add to G Hub to their own profile, which will automatically be used whenever you run that application.
In G Hub, you'll also be able to configure the settings for wheel such as the rotation range. This is very useful for emulation gaming since racing games designed with controller play in mind actually have only a 180° rotation (because there's only 2 points of direction, left and right, with analog covering the degrees between them). When left at the default 900° for those types of games, you'll experience severe understeering.
In G Hub, you'll also be able to adjust the sensitivity of the wheel turn; the intensity of the force feedback from the torque (i.e. the pull on the wheel when the wheels on the car are turning) and audio effects (i.e. the vibration from bumps); the strength of the centering spring; and the sensitivity of each pedals.
You'll also be able to set and save specific settings for each application you add to G Hub to their own profile, which will automatically be used whenever you run that application.
The wheel has 2 plastic clamps on each side of the wheel that are tightened with an integrated screw dial above them. These clamps are used to attach the wheel to most tables. The clamp's opening is 1 1/8" so any table/desk that's thicker than that will not work with the wheel's clamps.
The wheel can also be mounted using 2 x M6-1.0 screws. The length of the screw will vary based on what you're mounting it to, but the depth of the screw thread on the steering wheel is 15mm.
The wheel can also be mounted using 2 x M6-1.0 screws. The length of the screw will vary based on what you're mounting it to, but the depth of the screw thread on the steering wheel is 15mm.
The G923 comes with 3 pedals (from right to left: the throttle/gas, brake, and clutch) and are made of metal, with plastic circle bumps within each pedal which I assume is texture for grip. The pedals are screwed on to the spring mechanism using 2 black painted screws, although the black paint wears off easily. I've been using it with my bare feet, sometimes socks, and the black paint on the bottom screw of the gas pedal has worn down to a dirty black-silver.
These screws can be unscrewed the adjust the positioning of the pedals to bring them closer or away from each other. There are 3 positions you can screw them to, and out of the box they are on the center position. You can bring them closer for easier heel-toe shifting or further away if you have larger feet.
The base of the pedals is hard plastic.
The bottom of the pedals' base has rubber feet, although when I used them on my bathroom floor, they didn't hold well and would still slip.
There's also carpet spikes you can pull out, which worked well on my low pile carpet.
Just like the wheel, you can also mount the pedals. It uses 6 x M6-1.0 screws.
The pedals feel great, with the right amount of pressure and resistance when depressed.
These screws can be unscrewed the adjust the positioning of the pedals to bring them closer or away from each other. There are 3 positions you can screw them to, and out of the box they are on the center position. You can bring them closer for easier heel-toe shifting or further away if you have larger feet.
The base of the pedals is hard plastic.
The bottom of the pedals' base has rubber feet, although when I used them on my bathroom floor, they didn't hold well and would still slip.
There's also carpet spikes you can pull out, which worked well on my low pile carpet.
Just like the wheel, you can also mount the pedals. It uses 6 x M6-1.0 screws.
The pedals feel great, with the right amount of pressure and resistance when depressed.
I have some concern about the cables though. The serial cable for the pedals is kind of thin and built-in to the pedals' base.
Likewise, on the wheel itself, the USB 2.0 cable is built-in to the wheel. But unlike the pedal's cable, the USB cable on the wheel is reinforced to prevent breakage. I wish they did that on the pedal's cable too. If either of these two break, they're not easily user-replaceable.
Likewise, on the wheel itself, the USB 2.0 cable is built-in to the wheel. But unlike the pedal's cable, the USB cable on the wheel is reinforced to prevent breakage. I wish they did that on the pedal's cable too. If either of these two break, they're not easily user-replaceable.
The USB 2.0 cable measures 7 feet, however because of the design, the longest you'll be able to make use of it is 6'7".
If you use the cable management loop, it will shorten to a max length 5'11" or shorter.
Be prepared to use a USB extension cable if needed for your setup. I used a cheap one for my living room and it worked fine on my PS4.
If you use the cable management loop, it will shorten to a max length 5'11" or shorter.
Be prepared to use a USB extension cable if needed for your setup. I used a cheap one for my living room and it worked fine on my PS4.
The force feedback will vary depending on the game you're playing as each game programs it their own way. I found the feedback good for the most part, although the stronger hits were somewhat annoying because it was this unrealistic rattling/hammering feeling from inside the wheel's base. Like something inside the base was knocking hardly on the plastic shell of the base. It reminds me of those corn popper toys that little kids play with with the handle that you roll it around with to make it pop (look it up on youtube).
The only upgrade the G923 features that the G29 doesn't have is the TrueForce force feedback. At the time of this writing only 3 games officially support it:
Assetto Corsa Competizione
Grid (2019)
Gran Turismo Sport
Assetto Corsa Competizione
Grid (2019)
Gran Turismo Sport
iRacing unofficially supports it when you edit its ini file to enable it.
The experience of TrueForce will vary depending on the game.
TrueForce on Gran Turismo Sport was subtle. It's hard to put in words because it's all about feel, but the feeling running over dirt road felt more defined. As does going up or downhill. So it does give you a better sense of immersion. It just feels a little half-baked though. When the car is idle the engine is still running but your wheel feels like the engine is off with no vibration at all. Gran Turismo Sport still doesn't recognize the G923 as its proper model despite supporting TrueForce. The wheel is identified as a G29 in the controller settings. There is also no option to configure TrueForce feedback.
On Assetto Corsa Competizione, the TrueForce feedback feels a lot more pronounced. When your car is idle, you can still feel the engine rumbling from the wheel. When you're accelerating on a straightaway you can feel the gear changes when they shift, like in real life. Driving over grass felt more realistic. When I turned off TrueForce, the engine rumbling while idle was gone. Driving over grass had a more generic rumble feel. The game felt more lifeless after using TrueForce. Feedback was there but it felt plain, like I couldn't feel the nuances of the actual environment or situation.
TrueForce on Gran Turismo Sport was subtle. It's hard to put in words because it's all about feel, but the feeling running over dirt road felt more defined. As does going up or downhill. So it does give you a better sense of immersion. It just feels a little half-baked though. When the car is idle the engine is still running but your wheel feels like the engine is off with no vibration at all. Gran Turismo Sport still doesn't recognize the G923 as its proper model despite supporting TrueForce. The wheel is identified as a G29 in the controller settings. There is also no option to configure TrueForce feedback.
On Assetto Corsa Competizione, the TrueForce feedback feels a lot more pronounced. When your car is idle, you can still feel the engine rumbling from the wheel. When you're accelerating on a straightaway you can feel the gear changes when they shift, like in real life. Driving over grass felt more realistic. When I turned off TrueForce, the engine rumbling while idle was gone. Driving over grass had a more generic rumble feel. The game felt more lifeless after using TrueForce. Feedback was there but it felt plain, like I couldn't feel the nuances of the actual environment or situation.
With PS5 having DualSense with its new controllers, I can imagine those haptic feedback sensations would be translated to this wheel via TrueForce. But the problem is, I don't KNOW that. I'm assuming.
This was such a difficult wheel for me to review because I honestly loved using it. Logitech doesn't help itself by releasing the wheel at an awkward point in time, months before the release of PS5. It has been confirmed by Logitech themselves that the G923 will be compatible with the PS5, but so will the G29 as well as Thrustmaster's line of PS4 wheels (confirmed by them on their website). Due to this awkward timing, the G29 can be had for less money. For the same price of the G923, the Thrustmaster T300 RS GT (which uses a belt drive) with the 3 pedals can be had.
TrueForce is amazing when used to its potential, but it all depends on how the game uses it. It still remains to be seen how many games will actually use TrueForce since it's proprietary. And that right there is the $399 question. I get why it's priced that way. Every new wheel from Logitech starts at that MSRP. But unfortunately it doesn't offer anything to differentiate itself from the G29 aside from TrueForce, which is feedback technology that I see great potential with. But maybe by the time more games support it and have the best of it to show, the wheel can be bought for a cheaper price. If you plan to spend $399 *now* a better wheel can be bought.
If you ever find the G923 at $200-$300 though, BUY IT. It's a great wheel and I love TrueForce. It's just too expensive right now to put all its chips on the promise of a not yet widely accepted proprietary tech (again only 3 games *officially* support it right now). And you lose PS3 support. With the G29 you'll have a wheel that supports PS3, PS4, and PS5 for a cheaper price.
If and when more games support TrueForce and the price is still $399 then I may recommend it because loved the immersion and detail it had to offer in Assetto Corsa Competizione. I believe its implementation in games can only get better. But wait. Don't buy now (unless you fear of it being sold out). If you need one now, belt-based wheels that used to be $600 5 years ago can now be had for $399 and will also support PS5.
TrueForce is amazing when used to its potential, but it all depends on how the game uses it. It still remains to be seen how many games will actually use TrueForce since it's proprietary. And that right there is the $399 question. I get why it's priced that way. Every new wheel from Logitech starts at that MSRP. But unfortunately it doesn't offer anything to differentiate itself from the G29 aside from TrueForce, which is feedback technology that I see great potential with. But maybe by the time more games support it and have the best of it to show, the wheel can be bought for a cheaper price. If you plan to spend $399 *now* a better wheel can be bought.
If you ever find the G923 at $200-$300 though, BUY IT. It's a great wheel and I love TrueForce. It's just too expensive right now to put all its chips on the promise of a not yet widely accepted proprietary tech (again only 3 games *officially* support it right now). And you lose PS3 support. With the G29 you'll have a wheel that supports PS3, PS4, and PS5 for a cheaper price.
If and when more games support TrueForce and the price is still $399 then I may recommend it because loved the immersion and detail it had to offer in Assetto Corsa Competizione. I believe its implementation in games can only get better. But wait. Don't buy now (unless you fear of it being sold out). If you need one now, belt-based wheels that used to be $600 5 years ago can now be had for $399 and will also support PS5.
Mobile Submission: False
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
Tackle heavy workloads quickly with the 17-inch LG Ultra PC laptop. The 512GB NVMe SSD enables rapid app loading, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card delivers lifelike visuals, making it ideal for basic gaming. This LG Ultra PC laptop features a 10th Generation Intel Core i5 processor and 16GB of RAM for responsive multitasking and Windows 11 Home for a fast, secure interface
Customer Rating
4
Great light 17" laptop but beware, it's not Gram
on July 24, 2020
Posted by: KusMoG
from Brooklyn, NY
Weight:
At 4.3 lbs, it’s over a pound heavier than LG Gram.
It’s still lighter than the average 17” laptop without compromising build quality.
At 4.3 lbs, it’s over a pound heavier than LG Gram.
It’s still lighter than the average 17” laptop without compromising build quality.
Battery Life:
From my real world test, which consisted of internet browsing, streaming videos on YouTube, using MS Office, and having my phone connected via Bluetooth for the "Your Phone" app / 40% brightness / Wi-Fi On / Bluetooth On / 75% volume, I got 8.5 hours.
From my real world test, which consisted of internet browsing, streaming videos on YouTube, using MS Office, and having my phone connected via Bluetooth for the "Your Phone" app / 40% brightness / Wi-Fi On / Bluetooth On / 75% volume, I got 8.5 hours.
It kicked into Battery Saver mode after 7 hours, which means CPU becomes slower and screen is dimmer for the last 1.5 hours. However, I didn't notice any slowdown from the regular tasks I previously mentioned while in Battery Saver mode.
While gaming, playing Final Fantasy VII on Steam / 40% brightness / Wi-Fi On / Bluetooth On - using a DualShock 4 controller wirelessly / 75% brightness, I got 4 hours. But note that gaming will vary greatly depending on the game and your settings.
While gaming, playing Rez Infite in VR, max settings / Samsung Headset Odyssey+ with its motion controller / and all the other settings the same as my other tests, I got less than 2 hours.
Design:
Very clean dark silver aluminum with minimal branding. It looks very professional, and to me, attractive.
The casing is not a fingerprint magnet.
Very clean dark silver aluminum with minimal branding. It looks very professional, and to me, attractive.
The casing is not a fingerprint magnet.
The build feels sturdy and I don’t hear any creaks or feel anything loose while using it.
The keyboard’s keys feel nice to type on with no real noise or durability issues.
However, the layout may be a bother to some. Unlike most other laptops with numpads and arrow keys, this laptop does NOT isolate them from the QWERTY side of the keyboard. This may make finding the arrow keys tricky and result in typos.
The numpad layout is also unconventional. The period (.) button is on the top as opposed to being on the bottom where it’s normally found. If you’re a constant numbers cruncher you may find this extremely annoying, especially if you use more than one computer regularly.
The NumLk key is placed normally where the Del key would be above the Backspace key.
However, the layout may be a bother to some. Unlike most other laptops with numpads and arrow keys, this laptop does NOT isolate them from the QWERTY side of the keyboard. This may make finding the arrow keys tricky and result in typos.
The numpad layout is also unconventional. The period (.) button is on the top as opposed to being on the bottom where it’s normally found. If you’re a constant numbers cruncher you may find this extremely annoying, especially if you use more than one computer regularly.
The NumLk key is placed normally where the Del key would be above the Backspace key.
There is NO biometric security on this laptop for Windows Hello.
No fingerprint reader.
No facial recognition of any kind.
No fingerprint reader.
No facial recognition of any kind.
Fan/Cooling:
It uses fans and the vents are on the bottom of the laptop. There is a warning sticker on the bottom of the laptop that says to use it on a flat surface. This is to prevent the vents from being blocked. There are feet underneath the laptop that raise it above a flat surface so it gives the vents room to ventilate.
It uses fans and the vents are on the bottom of the laptop. There is a warning sticker on the bottom of the laptop that says to use it on a flat surface. This is to prevent the vents from being blocked. There are feet underneath the laptop that raise it above a flat surface so it gives the vents room to ventilate.
The laptop stays cool while on the default Balanced power and surprisingly very quiet! It's actually silent most of the time. At its hardest, the noise is not very obtrusive - sort of like white noise. It never sounds like a vaccuum or jet engine.
Camera:
An LG HD 720p Webcam, with a max of 30fps.
Photo quality is a measly 0.9MP (1280x720).
Interesting to note is that while the display is 16:10, the camera only records/takes pictures in 16:9 aspect ratio. Windows’ Camera app does take advantage of that extra height space by having the recording time shown in the empty black space below your video instead of the usual overlay on top of your video for 16:9 displays.
While the camera is only 720p and not intended for serious picture taking or video recording, it does an admirable job in producing accurate colors, better than some other laptops I’ve used.
However, it performs poorly in low and indoor lighting (75W equivalent lighting is what I used in my test). You’ll see a lot of noise.
When used in abundant natural light though, the noise is reduced dramatically and video/picture quality looks decent.
An LG HD 720p Webcam, with a max of 30fps.
Photo quality is a measly 0.9MP (1280x720).
Interesting to note is that while the display is 16:10, the camera only records/takes pictures in 16:9 aspect ratio. Windows’ Camera app does take advantage of that extra height space by having the recording time shown in the empty black space below your video instead of the usual overlay on top of your video for 16:9 displays.
While the camera is only 720p and not intended for serious picture taking or video recording, it does an admirable job in producing accurate colors, better than some other laptops I’ve used.
However, it performs poorly in low and indoor lighting (75W equivalent lighting is what I used in my test). You’ll see a lot of noise.
When used in abundant natural light though, the noise is reduced dramatically and video/picture quality looks decent.
Ports/Connections:
-Right side of the laptop-
* Kensington lock
* RJ45 ethernet - to accommodate the slim design, the opening of the port widens from the bottom’s spring-based flap. The cable still holds in place when gently tugged, but if violently pulled, I imagine the bottom flap is going to break off and you’ll lose use of the wired ethernet port since there will be nothing from the bottom to hold it in place. It’s very nice to have it *ON* the laptop instead of needing a dongle and still keep a slim design.
* 2 x USB 3.1 Type A (the typical rectangular port)
* 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C (the elliptical port) – Thunderbolt 3 not supported. Laptop cannot be charged over USB-C
-Right side of the laptop-
* Kensington lock
* RJ45 ethernet - to accommodate the slim design, the opening of the port widens from the bottom’s spring-based flap. The cable still holds in place when gently tugged, but if violently pulled, I imagine the bottom flap is going to break off and you’ll lose use of the wired ethernet port since there will be nothing from the bottom to hold it in place. It’s very nice to have it *ON* the laptop instead of needing a dongle and still keep a slim design.
* 2 x USB 3.1 Type A (the typical rectangular port)
* 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C (the elliptical port) – Thunderbolt 3 not supported. Laptop cannot be charged over USB-C
-Left side of the laptop-
* DC-In power
* Full-size HDMI 2.0 port – Outputs up to 4096 x 2160. HDR output not supported.
* 1 x USB 2.0 – This is an interesting decision. USB 2 is dramatically slower than USB 3. However, I have come across some older devices (like USB display adapters) that have conflicts when plugged into a USB 3 port. In that respect, it’s appreciated. On the other hand, you don’t have a USB 3 port on the left side of the laptop, which is where the HDMI port is. This makes using a VR headset somewhat annoying.
You’d want to keep this port strictly for peripherals like a mouse’s wireless dongle, so you free up the USB 3 ports for thumbdrives and such that actually take advantage of that speed. If you’re using a wired mouse though and you’re right-handed, this may be inconvenient. For a lefty, it’s perfect.
* Headphone Out/Microphone In combo jack – tested this with my phone’s included headphones’ inline microphone. Both the headphone audio and microphone input worked.
* MicroSD slot – I don’t have any MicroSD cards fast enough to test its limits. I tested a Samsung 64GB PRO Class 10 Micro SDXC with advertised speeds of up to 90MB/s Read, 80MB/s Write.
I got 87MB/s Read, 75MB/s Write with the slot.
The microSD card ejects from the slot with a spring mechanism. The card sticks out exactly 1mm from the laptop when inserted into the slot.
* DC-In power
* Full-size HDMI 2.0 port – Outputs up to 4096 x 2160. HDR output not supported.
* 1 x USB 2.0 – This is an interesting decision. USB 2 is dramatically slower than USB 3. However, I have come across some older devices (like USB display adapters) that have conflicts when plugged into a USB 3 port. In that respect, it’s appreciated. On the other hand, you don’t have a USB 3 port on the left side of the laptop, which is where the HDMI port is. This makes using a VR headset somewhat annoying.
You’d want to keep this port strictly for peripherals like a mouse’s wireless dongle, so you free up the USB 3 ports for thumbdrives and such that actually take advantage of that speed. If you’re using a wired mouse though and you’re right-handed, this may be inconvenient. For a lefty, it’s perfect.
* Headphone Out/Microphone In combo jack – tested this with my phone’s included headphones’ inline microphone. Both the headphone audio and microphone input worked.
* MicroSD slot – I don’t have any MicroSD cards fast enough to test its limits. I tested a Samsung 64GB PRO Class 10 Micro SDXC with advertised speeds of up to 90MB/s Read, 80MB/s Write.
I got 87MB/s Read, 75MB/s Write with the slot.
The microSD card ejects from the slot with a spring mechanism. The card sticks out exactly 1mm from the laptop when inserted into the slot.
Display:
17.0” diagonal display (no touchscreen)
2560 x 1600 native resolution
IPS LED panel – good viewing angles when you need to stand up or share the screen with someone beside you that’s not looking directly in front of the screen.
The screen can fold back up to 130°
Very bright panel at 100%. Factory default brightness is 40%, which is actually still usable.
17.0” diagonal display (no touchscreen)
2560 x 1600 native resolution
IPS LED panel – good viewing angles when you need to stand up or share the screen with someone beside you that’s not looking directly in front of the screen.
The screen can fold back up to 130°
Very bright panel at 100%. Factory default brightness is 40%, which is actually still usable.
Graphics/Gaming:
It has 2-
*Intel UHD Graphics 620 (integrated GPU)
*Nvidia Geforce GTX 1650 (discrete GPU)
By default, the laptop will auto-select the GPU used. This means the laptop will mainly use the integrated GPU, which is fine, and great for battery life.
It has 2-
*Intel UHD Graphics 620 (integrated GPU)
*Nvidia Geforce GTX 1650 (discrete GPU)
By default, the laptop will auto-select the GPU used. This means the laptop will mainly use the integrated GPU, which is fine, and great for battery life.
To use the discrete GPU to its fullest potential though, you’ll need to have the laptop plugged in with the power adaptor. Discrete GPU may get throttled while on battery.
It handles 4k video fine, even you use dual display on the Intel GPU.
It also handles 3D gaming well.
While plugged in to power, using Rise of the Tomb Raider's in-game benchmark tool, I was able to get around 60fps with the High setting / DirectX 12 mode On / 1920 x 1200 resolution.
It also handles 3D gaming well.
While plugged in to power, using Rise of the Tomb Raider's in-game benchmark tool, I was able to get around 60fps with the High setting / DirectX 12 mode On / 1920 x 1200 resolution.
While on battery, using the same benchmark tool and settings, I got 30fps; a similar experience when the same game is played on a standard PS4.
What I found most surprising is that it handles VR gaming as well.
I used a Samsung Odyssey+ to test VR and it worked perfectly. Connecting it to the laptop is slightly annoying though because the HDMI port and the USB 3 ports are on complete opposite sides of the laptop. The cable allows them to just reach the ports but with little room for give. Remember, the USB port on the HDMI side is a USB 2 port and CANNOT be used for VR headsets.
I used a Samsung Odyssey+ to test VR and it worked perfectly. Connecting it to the laptop is slightly annoying though because the HDMI port and the USB 3 ports are on complete opposite sides of the laptop. The cable allows them to just reach the ports but with little room for give. Remember, the USB port on the HDMI side is a USB 2 port and CANNOT be used for VR headsets.
I tested a 4K VR video using GizmoVR, with the power plugged in, and it played flawlessly with no skipping or pauses. I used GizmoVR’s browser to watch YouTube videos in fullscreen VR, and again, no issues.
With 4K VR video:
GPU utilization: 42%
VRAM usage: 2.4/4.0GB
GPU temperature: 67°C
CPU utilization: 25%
RAM: 7.7/15.8GB
With 4K VR video:
GPU utilization: 42%
VRAM usage: 2.4/4.0GB
GPU temperature: 67°C
CPU utilization: 25%
RAM: 7.7/15.8GB
For VR gaming, unfortunately I only had one to test: Rez Infinite
Again to my surprise, I was able to play it perfectly with maxed out graphics settings except the resolution (didn’t feel necessary since they would exceed my headset’s capability).
With Rez Infinite playing:
GPU utilization: 58%
VRAM usage: 1.2/4.0 GB
GPU temperature: 78°C
CPU utilization: 25%
RAM: 7.6/15.8GB
Note: This was actually the hottest I’ve actually had the laptop felt. This was because I had the laptop plugged in to power and using high quality settings. The empty strip area above the keyboard was hot to touch.
Again to my surprise, I was able to play it perfectly with maxed out graphics settings except the resolution (didn’t feel necessary since they would exceed my headset’s capability).
With Rez Infinite playing:
GPU utilization: 58%
VRAM usage: 1.2/4.0 GB
GPU temperature: 78°C
CPU utilization: 25%
RAM: 7.6/15.8GB
Note: This was actually the hottest I’ve actually had the laptop felt. This was because I had the laptop plugged in to power and using high quality settings. The empty strip area above the keyboard was hot to touch.
When used on battery, I was still able to use VR. The GPU temperature was 10° cooler while on battery. The laptop never felt hot the way it did while plugged in.
Mileage will vary depending on the game but I can safely say it will handle the VR game under the lowest settings easily.
Sound:
Speaker grills are underneath laptop. Sound is average. They're not toy speakers but they're nothing special. About the same as the average laptop.
Speaker grills are underneath laptop. Sound is average. They're not toy speakers but they're nothing special. About the same as the average laptop.
Work performance:
It comes with, as of this writing (7/24/2020), a current generation Intel i5 quad-core processor of the U series, so it's not a budget processor like the Atom, Celeron, or Y series. And it shows. I experienced no slowdown for regular MS Office and Internet browsing tasks using Firefox and 8 extensions enabled, including ad-blocking, which means that extension is working for as long as the browser is open.
It comes with, as of this writing (7/24/2020), a current generation Intel i5 quad-core processor of the U series, so it's not a budget processor like the Atom, Celeron, or Y series. And it shows. I experienced no slowdown for regular MS Office and Internet browsing tasks using Firefox and 8 extensions enabled, including ad-blocking, which means that extension is working for as long as the browser is open.
With 16GB of RAM, I had no issues of slowdown while having over 15 tabs open in Firefox while having other programs like Word, SnagIt 2019, Steam, and File Explorer open and running all at once.
Virtualization is enabled by default. I was able to run VMware Workstation 15 Pro and get a virtual machine up and running.
Disk performance:
The laptop uses a Samsung MZVLB512HBJQ 512GB NVMe interface SSD, using PCIe 3.0 x4.
It's VERY fast.
The laptop uses a Samsung MZVLB512HBJQ 512GB NVMe interface SSD, using PCIe 3.0 x4.
It's VERY fast.
Using CrystalDiskMark 8 Beta 3 I got the following results-
Read | Write (in MB/s)
SEQ1M Q8T1- 3405.42 | 2981.90
SEQ1M Q1T1- 1625.97 | 1759.62
RND4K Q32T1- 489.01 | 427.01
RND4K Q1T1- 48.41 | 154.22
Read | Write (in MB/s)
SEQ1M Q8T1- 3405.42 | 2981.90
SEQ1M Q1T1- 1625.97 | 1759.62
RND4K Q32T1- 489.01 | 427.01
RND4K Q1T1- 48.41 | 154.22
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+11points
13of 15voted this as helpful.
Sennheiser~s new MOMENTUM True Wireless delivers exceptional sound quality with superior comfort and craftsmanship. Now you can enjoy Sennheiser~s outstanding stereo sound anywhere and all day, thanks to Active Noise Cancellation and an exceptional 7-hour battery life, which can be extended to up to 28 hours via the charging case.
Customer Rating
3
Great sound, expensive, bad battery life with aptX
on April 22, 2020
Posted by: KusMoG
from Brooklyn, NY
Some technical info regarding what was used during my testing for this review:
Phone: Samsung Galaxy Note 10+
OS: Android 10
Phone: Samsung Galaxy Note 10+
OS: Android 10
===Pros===
-Excellent sound for true wireless earbuds
-Relatively small for true wireless earbuds that have active noise cancelling
-All touch controls are customizable through app (*EXCEPT* for controls during calls)
-Touch controls have audio cues
-USB-C
-Magnetic case and earbuds
-Good bluetooth range
-Excellent sound for true wireless earbuds
-Relatively small for true wireless earbuds that have active noise cancelling
-All touch controls are customizable through app (*EXCEPT* for controls during calls)
-Touch controls have audio cues
-USB-C
-Magnetic case and earbuds
-Good bluetooth range
===Cons===
-Poor value for the price
-[ANDROID] Mediocre battery life on Android devices that support aptX
-Battery reporting from the earbuds is highly inaccurate
-Mediocre call quality (sounds muffled), can sound distorted when the mic is obstructed
-Groove on earbuds easily collects dirt over time
-Poor value for the price
-[ANDROID] Mediocre battery life on Android devices that support aptX
-Battery reporting from the earbuds is highly inaccurate
-Mediocre call quality (sounds muffled), can sound distorted when the mic is obstructed
-Groove on earbuds easily collects dirt over time
[SOUND]
The sound is probably the best I’ve heard with true wireless and tethered wireless earbuds. It never sounds muddy to me while having responsive bass. I’m not much of an audiophile or have any expertise in the audio field to describe what I’m hearing to give it justice but I think the best way I can put it is that they have a very neutral sound out of the box and sound the most accurate of out all the wireless earbuds I’ve used before. I can easily use the Equalizer to pump more bass or treble as I see fit though the range I can set it to is admittedly tighter. I can’t get the exaggerated/excessive bass that’s like booming from your car stereo when playing bass-heavy hip hop if I wanted to. But I can get to thumping levels where it wasn’t so much out of the box. So the booming bass is with these buds if you want it. It just won’t kick your ear drums like another earbud I’ve tried.
Also worth noting is that the maximum volume of the MOMENTUM True Wireless 2 is lower than the average wireless headphone I’ve tried. If I had to guess I would say the max volume feels about 15% lower than the competition’s max volume.
So what I mean is, if you set your volume to 100% on the MOMENTUM True Wireless 2, you can get that same volume of sound on most other headphones, including earbuds, at 85%.
Will that matter to you? Maybe not. I’ve been able to compensate this so far by raising the volume. The problem may lie with lower volume recordings, like say a movie where they’re whispering in a hall, or some ASMR videos on YouTube. You may be one of those people in the comments complaining about the volume being too low when everyone else is saying they’re not having that problem. It’s your earbuds.
The sound is probably the best I’ve heard with true wireless and tethered wireless earbuds. It never sounds muddy to me while having responsive bass. I’m not much of an audiophile or have any expertise in the audio field to describe what I’m hearing to give it justice but I think the best way I can put it is that they have a very neutral sound out of the box and sound the most accurate of out all the wireless earbuds I’ve used before. I can easily use the Equalizer to pump more bass or treble as I see fit though the range I can set it to is admittedly tighter. I can’t get the exaggerated/excessive bass that’s like booming from your car stereo when playing bass-heavy hip hop if I wanted to. But I can get to thumping levels where it wasn’t so much out of the box. So the booming bass is with these buds if you want it. It just won’t kick your ear drums like another earbud I’ve tried.
Also worth noting is that the maximum volume of the MOMENTUM True Wireless 2 is lower than the average wireless headphone I’ve tried. If I had to guess I would say the max volume feels about 15% lower than the competition’s max volume.
So what I mean is, if you set your volume to 100% on the MOMENTUM True Wireless 2, you can get that same volume of sound on most other headphones, including earbuds, at 85%.
Will that matter to you? Maybe not. I’ve been able to compensate this so far by raising the volume. The problem may lie with lower volume recordings, like say a movie where they’re whispering in a hall, or some ASMR videos on YouTube. You may be one of those people in the comments complaining about the volume being too low when everyone else is saying they’re not having that problem. It’s your earbuds.
[ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLING or ANC]
I still own full-size over ear noise cancelling headphones. When I compared that to the MTW2 inside my apartment, the MTW2 did a better job blocking out my computer’s fan noise and my TV. It didn’t silence them because I still heard them. But it dulled the sound, and did a better job than my over-ear headphone.
But when I went outside to test, to my surprise, it was different. I live in Brooklyn, New York, one of the 5 boroughs of New York City. I live 1 block away from an above-ground subway line (The Q/B lines). There is no short supply of noise in my neighborhood.
The MTW2 couldn’t block out the subway noise to my liking. Nor did it block out the bus and truck rumblings when I was nearby by them as they passed by me. The whole time I was wondering if I actually had noise cancelling on or not, so I kept triple-pressing my right earbud back and forth to hear the difference between ANC on and ANC off. The MTW2 is already aided by the benefit of being an in-ear earbuds so it has passive noise cancellation via sound isolation, provided you get a good tight fit. You’ll want a tight fit for the best sound anyway. But it didn’t matter. The ANC didn’t do that much better of a job than my sound isolation only earbuds of another brand.
Here’s the thing though: You can tune out the background noise when you have music playing at a certain volume. The default 60% on my phone does a good job, and of course the higher the more effective. But you’re only drowning out the outside noise with your music. That’s not the ANC doing its job. When I’m listening to sports talk radio at the same volume (60%) that’s when the actual effectiveness of the ANC was exposed. It wasn’t much more effective than my other in-ear earbuds that were smaller and lighter with no ANC.
I still own full-size over ear noise cancelling headphones. When I compared that to the MTW2 inside my apartment, the MTW2 did a better job blocking out my computer’s fan noise and my TV. It didn’t silence them because I still heard them. But it dulled the sound, and did a better job than my over-ear headphone.
But when I went outside to test, to my surprise, it was different. I live in Brooklyn, New York, one of the 5 boroughs of New York City. I live 1 block away from an above-ground subway line (The Q/B lines). There is no short supply of noise in my neighborhood.
The MTW2 couldn’t block out the subway noise to my liking. Nor did it block out the bus and truck rumblings when I was nearby by them as they passed by me. The whole time I was wondering if I actually had noise cancelling on or not, so I kept triple-pressing my right earbud back and forth to hear the difference between ANC on and ANC off. The MTW2 is already aided by the benefit of being an in-ear earbuds so it has passive noise cancellation via sound isolation, provided you get a good tight fit. You’ll want a tight fit for the best sound anyway. But it didn’t matter. The ANC didn’t do that much better of a job than my sound isolation only earbuds of another brand.
Here’s the thing though: You can tune out the background noise when you have music playing at a certain volume. The default 60% on my phone does a good job, and of course the higher the more effective. But you’re only drowning out the outside noise with your music. That’s not the ANC doing its job. When I’m listening to sports talk radio at the same volume (60%) that’s when the actual effectiveness of the ANC was exposed. It wasn’t much more effective than my other in-ear earbuds that were smaller and lighter with no ANC.
[BATTERY LIFE]
I was NEVER able to get the 7-hour claimed battery life in my tests.
Volume was played at 60% through all tests.
I was NEVER able to get the 7-hour claimed battery life in my tests.
Volume was played at 60% through all tests.
aptX with ANC: About 4 to 4.3 hours
aptX without ANC: About 4.5 to 4.75 hours
AAC with ANC: About 5.3 hours
AAC without ANC: About 6.5 hours
aptX without ANC: About 4.5 to 4.75 hours
AAC with ANC: About 5.3 hours
AAC without ANC: About 6.5 hours
This was interesting to test because Apple’s iOS does NOT support aptX. So the earbuds will always stream with AAC by default. So theoretically, Apple devices won’t ever need to worry about battery life dramatically outside of Sennheiser’s claim. 6.5 hours with ANC off, is close to 7 hours. Perhaps at a volume lower than 60%, 7 hours can be done.
Android devices are a whole different story. If your device supports aptX typically it will choose it by default. I can’t say for certain that this is the behavior across all Android devices, but I can confirm this with the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6. The average user is not going to know how to change the codec to AAC, which is to unlock the hidden by default Developer options menu then change the Bluetooth codec to AAC. Even then, this setting does not save. The moment you turn your MTW2 off or disconnect it from the device, your Android device will forget that setting. The next time it connects to your phone it will default to aptX again.
Charging the battery takes roughly 1 hour to charge from 0% to 100%.
Android devices are a whole different story. If your device supports aptX typically it will choose it by default. I can’t say for certain that this is the behavior across all Android devices, but I can confirm this with the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6. The average user is not going to know how to change the codec to AAC, which is to unlock the hidden by default Developer options menu then change the Bluetooth codec to AAC. Even then, this setting does not save. The moment you turn your MTW2 off or disconnect it from the device, your Android device will forget that setting. The next time it connects to your phone it will default to aptX again.
Charging the battery takes roughly 1 hour to charge from 0% to 100%.
[CASE]
The case is the largest true wireless earbud case but it is still pocketable.
It uses USB-C to charge.
I got 3 full charges of 0% to 100%. On my 4th attempt, it only charged up to 80% before it stopped charging the earbuds entirely.
The case looks very attractive although I have some concern about the case’s material. It uses a cloth/fabric type of material. I’m worried this type of material will soak up oils easily and be harder to clean.
The case locks itself with magnets, which never are in danger of accidentally opening itself.
The buds themselves also have magnets that allow it to clasp on to the case and keeping them attached, even when I held the case upside-down while open and aggressively tried to shake them out.
The case is the largest true wireless earbud case but it is still pocketable.
It uses USB-C to charge.
I got 3 full charges of 0% to 100%. On my 4th attempt, it only charged up to 80% before it stopped charging the earbuds entirely.
The case looks very attractive although I have some concern about the case’s material. It uses a cloth/fabric type of material. I’m worried this type of material will soak up oils easily and be harder to clean.
The case locks itself with magnets, which never are in danger of accidentally opening itself.
The buds themselves also have magnets that allow it to clasp on to the case and keeping them attached, even when I held the case upside-down while open and aggressively tried to shake them out.
[APP]
You can change all of the touch controls functions as you see fit EXCEPT for the touch controls for call functions.
It also lets you disable touch controls which is convenient, but also annoying in that it doesn’t follow through this concept all the way. You can disable touch but you’ll still hear the audio cues when you touch your earbud’s control pad even though they don’t do anything.
The EQ doesn’t allow you to configure it by each frequency response, like most EQs. Instead you’re given an X/Y graph based on bass/treble levels (x-axis) vs high/low (y-axis). This makes it difficult for experienced audio users to configure mids to the way they want it to sound. I get what Sennheiser is trying to accomplish though. Their idea is simplifying the process of finding the sound you’re looking for by playing your music, then moving the target point on their EQ until the you find the sound you want.
Oh, there are also NO EQ presets besides the neutral/flat out of the box setting, “Default”.
But perhaps what I’ve found to be the most annoying thing about the app is that it almost always doesn’t stay connected to your earbuds after a period of time.
You can change all of the touch controls functions as you see fit EXCEPT for the touch controls for call functions.
It also lets you disable touch controls which is convenient, but also annoying in that it doesn’t follow through this concept all the way. You can disable touch but you’ll still hear the audio cues when you touch your earbud’s control pad even though they don’t do anything.
The EQ doesn’t allow you to configure it by each frequency response, like most EQs. Instead you’re given an X/Y graph based on bass/treble levels (x-axis) vs high/low (y-axis). This makes it difficult for experienced audio users to configure mids to the way they want it to sound. I get what Sennheiser is trying to accomplish though. Their idea is simplifying the process of finding the sound you’re looking for by playing your music, then moving the target point on their EQ until the you find the sound you want.
Oh, there are also NO EQ presets besides the neutral/flat out of the box setting, “Default”.
But perhaps what I’ve found to be the most annoying thing about the app is that it almost always doesn’t stay connected to your earbuds after a period of time.
[TOUCH CONTROLS]
It makes a sound whenever you touch the touchpad. This helps me know if my press actually registered as a press on the buds.
Even better is that the audio cues have different sounding tones for the button presses.
The touch controls themselves are responsive.
It makes a sound whenever you touch the touchpad. This helps me know if my press actually registered as a press on the buds.
Even better is that the audio cues have different sounding tones for the button presses.
The touch controls themselves are responsive.
[CALL QUALITY]
From my tests, the receiver of the call described the call as me sounding close, but I sounded muffled. This was evidenced from my end when they sounded unsure, hesitant, when I asked them how I sounded.
Microphone placement seems to have a factor with the quality as well. When I twisted the earbud so that the microphone holes are more obstructed with the flap of skin outside of my ears (face-side) I was told my call sounded distorted. When is swiveled them back out of the way of that skin (I don’t know what it’s called) the distortion was gone but I still sounded muffled.
Strangely though, I tested the microphone for sound quality on a voice memo and it sounded fine to me. I suspect the other functions that are only active during a phone call (e.g. sidetone) are the factors that degrade the call quality as opposed to using just the microphone itself.
From my tests, the receiver of the call described the call as me sounding close, but I sounded muffled. This was evidenced from my end when they sounded unsure, hesitant, when I asked them how I sounded.
Microphone placement seems to have a factor with the quality as well. When I twisted the earbud so that the microphone holes are more obstructed with the flap of skin outside of my ears (face-side) I was told my call sounded distorted. When is swiveled them back out of the way of that skin (I don’t know what it’s called) the distortion was gone but I still sounded muffled.
Strangely though, I tested the microphone for sound quality on a voice memo and it sounded fine to me. I suspect the other functions that are only active during a phone call (e.g. sidetone) are the factors that degrade the call quality as opposed to using just the microphone itself.
[BLUETOOTH RANGE/LATENCY]
As far as range goes, I can only test up to 24 feet in my apartment, going through one wall of obstruction that’s 5 inches thick and it plays without any drops.
However, when I have 2 layers of obstruction (so that’s about 10 inches of my walls) that’s when the drops start occurring and it’s no longer a listenable experience.
With that said, 30 feet is probably well attainable provided it is in open space with no walls in the way.
I didn’t experience many dropouts from the left and right, slave/master connection with the earbuds.
I didn’t experience any latency issues with videos on YouTube or Netflix. The only time I did was when I played a rhythm game on an emulator, which tells me that a very slight latency issue does exist but it’s only a noticeable problem when you require extreme accuracy. I couldn’t really perceive any lag with lip-syncing in videos, even if they probably do exist.
As far as range goes, I can only test up to 24 feet in my apartment, going through one wall of obstruction that’s 5 inches thick and it plays without any drops.
However, when I have 2 layers of obstruction (so that’s about 10 inches of my walls) that’s when the drops start occurring and it’s no longer a listenable experience.
With that said, 30 feet is probably well attainable provided it is in open space with no walls in the way.
I didn’t experience many dropouts from the left and right, slave/master connection with the earbuds.
I didn’t experience any latency issues with videos on YouTube or Netflix. The only time I did was when I played a rhythm game on an emulator, which tells me that a very slight latency issue does exist but it’s only a noticeable problem when you require extreme accuracy. I couldn’t really perceive any lag with lip-syncing in videos, even if they probably do exist.
[CONCLUSION]
Great sound but the cons outweigh the pros for me, especially when it’s not kind to the battery life of my phone. I can spend my money for less and get better features with comparable sound through adjusting the EQ.
Great sound but the cons outweigh the pros for me, especially when it’s not kind to the battery life of my phone. I can spend my money for less and get better features with comparable sound through adjusting the EQ.
Mobile Submission: True
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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+29points
33of 37voted this as helpful.
Five pre-programmed settings automatically handle Smoothies, Hot Soups, Frozen Desserts, Pur~es, and Self-Cleaning. The sleek exterior is highly durable and will complement any kitchen d~cor.
Posted by: KusMoG
from Brooklyn, NY
Professional grade blending power that actually takes less time to blend than what a recipe would normally suggest. In fact, blend it for too long (i.e. a smoothie) and you may get undesired effects like a warm, or more watery smoothie.
I came from using a Blendtech Designer 650, which had touch-sensitive buttons. The problem with that is, if your fingers are wet, you won't be able to operate it. With the Vitamix Professional series 750, the controls are all manual, so that will never be an issue.
The blender comes with presets for your most common blending needs: smoothies, ice cream, hot soup, purees, and the cleaning function. What's unfortunate is that it doesn't tell you how much time is remaining from the preset option you chose. This is something that my Blendtec did.
The preset handles all the functions in less time than my Blendtec and with less issues, thanks to the sharper blade and the included tamper, something that the Blendtec doesn't use. The tamper is necessary for thicker concoctions to push the ingredients into the blade, such as making peanut butter or smoothies with a large amount of frozen fruit.
I've also found that the Vitamix produces soup hotter than my Blendtec ever did.
The base of the container has rubber, which helps reduce (but not eliminate) vibration and noise. Make no mistake though, it's still loud. You won't get away with blending something in the middle of the night while someone is asleep in the next room. Starbucks' Vitamix has the more expensive model with the silencing cover over the unit. The base of the Pro 750's unit is also substantially heavy and less prone to moving around from vibration. This was a problem I had with my Blendtec.
The container is made of plastic but feels very strong and sturdy. The container's lid also feels very substantial and doesn't come off easily. I've never had an issues with spillage from blending like I did with my Blendtec.
My hugest complaint with the Vitamix Professional series 750 is how user unfriendly it is, *especially* compared to older versions of this very same model. Contrary to the stock image of the blender you'll see on Best Buy's website, the blender no longer has the written labels "Pulse", "Start", and "Stop" anymore. You'll only see the vague symbols. If what the symbols mean aren't immediately clear to you, you'll need to refer to the manual. Those three symbols are the only markings on the blender that light up with the machine's backlight after you turn it on. Unlike the older versions of this model, the presets and manual setting markers NO LONGER light up. Given how the settings were not easy to read on the machine in the first place because you need to be in front of the machine to easily read it instead of just over the machine, like the Blendtec. The lower your kitchen counter is, the harder it will be to read because it will stray further away from your line of sight. The lit up markings made things a bit easier but they got rid of that in newer models. I called Vitamax customer support, and they confirmed that it was not an error and said as-a-matter-of-factly that this is how they produce their machines now.
Because of how only 3 markings light up, which also happen to be the smallest ones and easy to not notice, I often forget to turn off the blender after I'm done using it. There is no automatic power off like there is with the Blendtec Designer 650.
Continuing the subject of this blender not being very user friendly is the container itself. There are oz/cup and mL (opposite side from oz/cup) measurement markings on it. The problem is they're clear and not colored so they're very hard to read. To me it's near useless because I can struggle less with a measuring cup that does have colored, easily legible markings. I don't get the point of this. My Blendtec container has the measurement markings in black and are VERY easy to read. It's such an understated convenience for simple recipes. You could argue it's so you can see your ingredients better but the Vitamix's container has a bluish-gray tint to it that already makes your ingredients harder to see for what they actually look like. It's just poor design that owners of the previous versions of this model have complained about that still fall on deaf ears.
It's unfortunate. This could have been a 5-star perfect blender. But to take stuff away from what the earlier versions of this same model have and still pay the same $600 feels like a slap in the face.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+13points
16of 19voted this as helpful.
Filter out the world with Jabra Elite Active 75t Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) true wireless earbuds. These earbuds are engineered for a secure fit and have a special grip coating that stays firmly in place during workouts. Waterproof with IP57-rated durability, they are covered by a 2-year extended warranty against dust and sweat. Up to 24 hours of battery time (ANC on) with the pocket-friendly charging case, and fast charge feature provides up to an hour of battery in 15 minutes. 4-built-in microphones for clear calls and HearThrough mode can be enabled to so there's no need to remove earbuds in order to hear your surroundings. Use the Jabra Sound+ app to activate ANC the first time you use it and enable toggling between ANC and HearThrough via your earbud button.
Posted by: KusMoG
from Brooklyn, NY
Smaller, longer battery life, slimmer case with magnetic cover and earbud holders, magnetic earbuds, the Elite Active 75t are a clear upgrade over the Elite Active 65t.
With the magnetic earbuds you can also stick the left earbuds with the right to keep them together while you’re not wearing them outside of the case.
At around 7 hours of battery life, depending on your lifestyle, the battery will last the entire day for most users. The case holds more than one charge and uses USB-C.
The bass is one of the most responsive I’ve ever heard for true wireless earbuds, along with the regular Elite 75t. They really thump. However, the sound profile out of the box is slightly different from the Elite 75t in that the Elite Active 75t sound warmer while the Elite 75t sound brighter.
True to its claim, the earbuds are indeed waterproof. I comfortably was the earbuds in the sink over running water to clean them after a long sweaty session of cardio and they still work without any issues.
The earbuds and case's material have this very slightly grippy feeling but it may just do with the waterproofing only. From my cardio workouts it hasn’t improved grip any more than the regular Elite 75t. They'll still loosen out of your ear canal from sweat. With that said they haven’t fallen out of my ears.
There are a few things they took away from the Elite Active 65t. Gone is the fitness tracking, which was really limited to begin with. If you’re more serious about fitness tracking you’re better served with a Fitbit or a smartwatch. Losing the tracking probably means longer battery life anyway and I’d rather take the battery life that will withstand my longer 5 hours in the gym workouts.
Also gone is the caller ID announcements, which I miss. It was very convenient to know who was calling without taking out my phone. Jabra says the Bluetooth profile on the 75t and Active 75t doesn’t support it.
The buttons have also changed on the Elite Active 75t. They are now single large physical buttons on each earbud. Functions now require you to memorize a bunch of button press gestures. Volume up is holding down the right earbud button. Next track is double pressing the left earbud. Previous track is triple pressing the left earbud. This could potentially be difficult for some users that have trouble inputting double/triple press commands. Do it too slow and you end up doing something different.
Double pressing the right earbud activates your phone assistant, which is customizable on Jabra's Sound+ app. On my Galaxy Note 10+, Phone default (which in my case is Google Assistant) and Amazon Alexa are the available options. The Phone default should allow for Siri and Bixby too.
Some more things to consider. At $199 plus tax, they’re expensive. If you’re looking for battery life on true wireless earbuds, the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ have about 11 hours of battery life and cost $50 less. However those aren’t waterproof. But that depends as well. I owned the Elite 75t for about 4 months and those aren’t waterproof. I worked out with them just fine. And just because the Elite Active 75t are waterproof, Jabra still doesn’t recommend that you swim with them, and they’re intended for fresh water only. Salt/beach water could potentially damage them if not cleaned.
With the magnetic earbuds you can also stick the left earbuds with the right to keep them together while you’re not wearing them outside of the case.
At around 7 hours of battery life, depending on your lifestyle, the battery will last the entire day for most users. The case holds more than one charge and uses USB-C.
The bass is one of the most responsive I’ve ever heard for true wireless earbuds, along with the regular Elite 75t. They really thump. However, the sound profile out of the box is slightly different from the Elite 75t in that the Elite Active 75t sound warmer while the Elite 75t sound brighter.
True to its claim, the earbuds are indeed waterproof. I comfortably was the earbuds in the sink over running water to clean them after a long sweaty session of cardio and they still work without any issues.
The earbuds and case's material have this very slightly grippy feeling but it may just do with the waterproofing only. From my cardio workouts it hasn’t improved grip any more than the regular Elite 75t. They'll still loosen out of your ear canal from sweat. With that said they haven’t fallen out of my ears.
There are a few things they took away from the Elite Active 65t. Gone is the fitness tracking, which was really limited to begin with. If you’re more serious about fitness tracking you’re better served with a Fitbit or a smartwatch. Losing the tracking probably means longer battery life anyway and I’d rather take the battery life that will withstand my longer 5 hours in the gym workouts.
Also gone is the caller ID announcements, which I miss. It was very convenient to know who was calling without taking out my phone. Jabra says the Bluetooth profile on the 75t and Active 75t doesn’t support it.
The buttons have also changed on the Elite Active 75t. They are now single large physical buttons on each earbud. Functions now require you to memorize a bunch of button press gestures. Volume up is holding down the right earbud button. Next track is double pressing the left earbud. Previous track is triple pressing the left earbud. This could potentially be difficult for some users that have trouble inputting double/triple press commands. Do it too slow and you end up doing something different.
Double pressing the right earbud activates your phone assistant, which is customizable on Jabra's Sound+ app. On my Galaxy Note 10+, Phone default (which in my case is Google Assistant) and Amazon Alexa are the available options. The Phone default should allow for Siri and Bixby too.
Some more things to consider. At $199 plus tax, they’re expensive. If you’re looking for battery life on true wireless earbuds, the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ have about 11 hours of battery life and cost $50 less. However those aren’t waterproof. But that depends as well. I owned the Elite 75t for about 4 months and those aren’t waterproof. I worked out with them just fine. And just because the Elite Active 75t are waterproof, Jabra still doesn’t recommend that you swim with them, and they’re intended for fresh water only. Salt/beach water could potentially damage them if not cleaned.
The case also does NOT support wireless charging, choosing to fall behind Samsung and Apple's buds that do.
I’ve also found Jabra's customer support not very helpful.
Mobile Submission: True
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+2points
2of 2voted this as helpful.
Increase your data capacity to handle all your home network needs with this ARRIS SURFboard mAX Pro Wi-Fi system. The latest Wi-Fi technology, 802.11ax, delivers faster speeds and a wider range to accommodate more users, while the quad-core processors support high-bandwidth applications like simultaneous 4K streaming. This Alexa-compatible ARRIS SURFboard mAX Pro Wi-Fi system features four Ethernet ports for flexible connectivity to WAN networks.
Customer Rating
3
Set it and forget it AX mesh router; not for pros
on December 2, 2019
Posted by: KusMoG
from Brooklyn, NY
Despite the Pro in its name, the SURFboard mAX Pro offers basic AX mesh router functionality. The speeds are excellent as well as the range despite just 2 units.
However, router management is only done through the app. The app itself does not have a lot to offer. The 2.4 and 5GHz bands are consolidated and with my apartment, the devices that are compatible work best on the 5GHz band. I have no way of making sure they stick to that 5GHz band as far as I can see.
This was one of the first AX mesh routers released and at this point in time, you have better options. Linksys' Velop AX mesh router allows router administration via app and web browser. Netgear's Orbi is another great option. Skip this unless it's on sale and being on the 2.4GHz band doesn't give you any performance issues.
Mobile Submission: False
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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0points
0of 0voted this as helpful.
The Linksys Velop MX10 whole-home Wi-Fi 6 system gives you more speed, coverage, and capacity than it ever has before. Wi-Fi 6 combined with Velop's Intelligent Mesh~ technology delivers true Gigabit Wi-Fi speeds, up to 5.3 Gbps, to every corner of your home, even the backyard and outdoor smart home devices. Wi-Fi 6 also sends and receives multiple streams of data simultaneously and reduces latency, providing up to 4x more capacity compared to Wi-Fi 5 technology. So, it can handle the demands of up to 50 devices and more, from laptops and gaming consoles to smart home devices and 4K TVs, all competing for the same bandwidth. You'll also always have a more efficient Wi-Fi experience with OFDMA that enables more data to and from your devices in a more streamlined manner. And, with BSS technology, congestion is also minimized eliminating interference from nearby wireless networks to deliver a strong, clear Wi-Fi signal to your home, so you won't have to worry about your neighbor's Wi-Fi interfering with yours again. You'll even have 7x more battery life with Target Wake Time that reduces network interference, allowing your devices to remain in sleep mode longer. The MX10 whole-home Wi-Fi 6 system is a part of Velop's modular system, so if you need more coverage, just add more nodes. Plus, setup is fast with the Linksys app, so you can enjoy the next evolution of Wi-Fi in minutes.
Customer Rating
3
A good Wifi6 mesh router that isn't future-proof
on November 14, 2019
Posted by: KusMoG
from Brooklyn, NY
Let me begin by reminding everyone that this 2-pack costs $699.99. If your goal isn't for high performance, you can spend your money for much less. In fact, the Velop MX10 is really useful to a select group that isn't immediately obvious.
Who is this for?
If you have gigabit internet service, and do NOT plan on upgrading to multi-gigabit internet service anytime soon, this is for you.
If you have gigabit internet service, and do NOT plan on upgrading to multi-gigabit internet service anytime soon, this is for you.
If you have high-speed internet service with speeds less than gigabit speeds but plan on upgrading in the near future, this *may* be for you but consider this: 1) gigabit speeds are not available at all locations, 2) the price for this router will most likely drop by the time you do, 3) there may be better Wifi6 routers by the time you do, especially since this Velop router is Linksys' first entry into Wifi6 for its mesh routers.
The MX10 delivers on gigabit internet speed but it is unfortunately limited by its Gigabit WAN port. So it is NOT future proof. If you have the money to spend on gigabit internet, multigigabit internet may not be far off for you. Some of you may already be on Xfinity's 2Gbps internet. Unfortunately the MX10 will not give you the speeds you're paying for and will cap out at 1Gbps.
For the rest of us, if you don't have gigabit internet a Wifi5 / AC mesh wifi router is good enough for our internet speeds and will be cheaper. Your device also needs to be compatible with Wifi6 (AX) and presently there aren't that many.
I had issues with the setup of this router, but after consulting Linksys support, a factory reset of the routers fixed the issues I had. It's still concerning that I even had to reset it when it was brand new and the setup process is really straight forward. Hopefully mine was just an isolated incident. But the issue I had was that I wasn't achieving max speeds (it capped at 30Mbps) and the child node was getting a weak connection from the parent even though they were a foot away from each other.
Linksys assumes every end-user has a smartphone, so its instructions for setup only refer you to their app. From there, setup is very simple. If you don't have a smartphone, and you're not technically savvy, you'll need to contact Linksys by phone.
For the technically savvy, you can set up the router using the web UI but even then the options for new router setup are hidden away in the CA menu. After you log into the router, on the bottom right hand corner of the site you'll see a link that says "CA". Click on that and then go to "Connectivity" under "Router Settings". You'll now see the once hidden "Velop Setup" tab unlocked.
The MX10 includes a USB3 port, which can only be used for storage and not peripherals. I was pleasantly surprised that the port doesn't appear to be capped. I can't confirm this because all the USB 3 hard drives I threw at it maxed out at their highest speeds but it was my hard drive that's the bottleneck, not the router's USB3 port. The fastest I was able to achieve was 150Mbps read and write. It may be able to do faster than that. So the router can easily transform a USB3 external hard drive into a NAS device. Just be aware that the router can only support the following file systems:
Windows - NTFS, FAT32
Mac - APFS, HFS+, and FAT32
I had a memory card that was in exFAT format and the Velop wouldn't recognize it. I had to format it to NTFS to get it to work.
Windows - NTFS, FAT32
Mac - APFS, HFS+, and FAT32
I had a memory card that was in exFAT format and the Velop wouldn't recognize it. I had to format it to NTFS to get it to work.
The Velop MX10 has the wifi bands consolidated to one wifi connection by default. With this, the router will automatically select which band you're on.
Unfortunately, my apartment gets terrible speeds on the 2.4GHz band so this auto-steering of the bands done by the router was not optimal for me.
Fortunately, through the Velop MX10's web UI (accessible by entering in the IP address of the router into a web browser on your computer), you can split up the bands to be on their own wifi connection. This is what I opted to do, and it works perfectly. By separating them, I can now have all my 5GHz-capable devices stay connected to the 5GHz band. The 2.4GHz only devices can connect to the 2.4GHz band connection.
What stinks is that this can be only done on the web UI. I prefer the web UI, but my issue is that the app and the web UI have features that aren't available on both platforms.
For example, another feature is the Channel finder. This feature is available on the app and will automatically search for the best wifi channel for your nodes and set it up to that. This feature is not available on the web UI. The closest thing on the web UI is manually selecting the wifi channels, but even that feature is hidden. The wifi channel selection in the web UI is unlocked after you click on the "CA" link of the web UI.
For example, another feature is the Channel finder. This feature is available on the app and will automatically search for the best wifi channel for your nodes and set it up to that. This feature is not available on the web UI. The closest thing on the web UI is manually selecting the wifi channels, but even that feature is hidden. The wifi channel selection in the web UI is unlocked after you click on the "CA" link of the web UI.
Otherwise, the user interface of the router administration from the web UI, or the app is clean and pretty simple to use.
The Velop MX10 delivers on range. I have a steel front door for my apartment and wifi signals have a difficult time penetrating through it. This makes it hard for my wifi to reach my Ring video doorbell outside of my front door. With the Velop MX10, it's no longer an issue. I get full bars outside of my door when I couldn't get a signal at all using a traditional wifi extender or Ring's own Chime Pro.
Unfortunately though, I can't recommend this router because at $699.99 it just achieves the basic requirements of Wifi 6 and doesn't really do a great job of distinguishing itself from the competition aside from its brand name, "Linksys".
The Netgear Orbi Wifi6 mesh router has a 2.5Gbps WAN port. This Velop MX10 only has a gigabit WAN port. So much for "future-proof", huh? I'll bet they're saving it for the next Velop refresh. Both the Orbi and Velop cost $699.99 too.
And if you don't have gigabit internet, now really isn't the best time to spend $700 on a Wifi6 router. Wait until you do and I guarantee you the price of this router will drop. ARRIS's SURFboard mAX Pro released earlier this year already has. There's also better Wifi6 router options than the Velop MX10.
Last but not least, you'll also need Wifi6 devices to take advantage of the gigabit wifi speeds and at the moment there aren't many. The newly released Nvidia Shield refresh doesn't even come with wifi6 compatibility. Just be a little bit more patient, and thank me later.
Mobile Submission: False
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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+3points
6of 9voted this as helpful.
Complete tasks with ease while on the go by using this Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 tablet. The included intuitive S Pen lets you take and edit notes for a smooth work experience, while the magnetic technology makes storage and charging easy. Attach a keyboard with built-in trackpad to this Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 tablet for a seamless PC desktop experience.
Posted by: KusMoG
from Brooklyn, NY
If you have a relatively recent Samsung Galaxy phone (let's say S9/Note8 or newer), and you're happy with and committed to it, the Galaxy Tab S6 is nearly a no-brainer, must-buy. It operates much like your phone but with bigger real estate. It also works well alongside Galaxy phones: you can answer your calls and texts from your Tab S6.
At $650, as expensive as it is, compared to its competition, you get a lot of value in what you pay for. It includes the S-pen, something Microsoft and Apple does not do with their respective tablet pens. It also weighs lighter than an iPad Air but with features comparable to the iPad Pro 11" (quad stereo speakers, no front-facing physical buttons). You're also able to expand the memory storage with a microSD card; expandable up to 1TB.
Unlike the iPad however, you get a tablet with a true multitasking experience with more control over how you can use and manage your device without any inconvenient hacking or jailbreaking. You can open more than one app at a time and run them in resizeable split-screen mode, or with one as floating pop-up window that you can move anywhere on the screen, not just the corners. If you're adventurous, you can download Samsung's Good Lock app, and with the MultiStar app within it, you can force apps that normally aren't compatible with multiwindow to open in multiwindow. You can also have sound playing from more than one open app.
For a more laptop-type experience, you can run the tablet in Dex mode which allows you to work in a desktop interface with a keyboard and mouse connected to it, either by bluetooth or by USB if you purchase an optional USB-C hub. Your apps will open in windows, and you can open several at a time.
With the AMOLED screen and 2560x1600, the screen looks gorgeous. The form factor of the tablet is great for consuming full screen video in landscape mode, resulting in less black bars.
File management is a breeze in that you can just plug it into your computer and drag and drop files without any special software. File management within the tablet is just as easy. Using the "My Files" app, the tablet's native file management app, you're able to copy, delete, and move files with ease. You can even access your Google Drive, OneDrive, SD card, and connected USB storage from it.
My biggest knock against it, and Android tablets in general is that there are few tablet optimized apps in the Google Play Store. Sadly many developers appear to favor iOS.Even when a tablet app exists for both platforms, the quality tends to be better on iOS.
However, the versatility, better multitasking, and the ease of file management makes the Tab S6 a winner for me.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
Feel confident in your smile with this Philips Sonicare DiamondClean electric toothbrush. The precision brush head and five brushing modes promote gum health and get rid of plaque and stubborn stains. This Philips Sonicare DiamondClean electric toothbrush features smart timers to help you brush for the optimal length of time.
Customer Rating
5
An excellent toothbrush, especially for travelers
on November 26, 2018
Posted by: KusMoG
from Brooklyn, NY
With a battery life of over 2 weeks the Sonicare DiamondClean is an excellent electric toothbrush for those that travel a lot. For even more peace of mind's sake, you can charge the toothbrush in the travel case using USB. This is very convenient for international traveling if you travel with a laptop because you can charge your brush with one of its USB ports overnight. That's one less adapter to worry about.
Although it may look slick, the brush's handle is surprisingly grippy, and even more so when wet.
The brush has 5 different brushing modes. It also breaks up your mouth into sections and has a vibration alert which signals you when to stop brushing the part of the mouth you're brushing and move on to the next section.
The vibrating head is incredibly fast that it takes all of the effort out of brushing your teeth. In fact, you're actually not supposed to apply a lot of pressure to it since the vibrations are doing all of the work.
The charging dock has a very small footprint and fits in virtually any sink as long as there is a power outlet about 3 feet away from it. It will even charge through the rinsing glass if you want to charge it that way but that's optional. I don't like the idea of rinsing with a glass that I put my brush handle in so I keep them separate and just charge the brush on top of the dock itself.
Highly recommended for travelers. If you don't travel often, I would recommend the Sonicare 3 series instead as the DiamondClean is significantly more expensive. It won't feel or look as premium as the DiamondClean but it gets the job done.
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I would recommend this to a friend!
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KusMoG's Review Comments
Make your home an internet haven with this versatile Linksys Velop wireless Wi-Fi system. Three identical tri-band dual-stream AC2200 routers, each equipped with a quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor, deliver lightning-fast internet. Equipped with Bluetooth 4.0/LE, this Linksys Velop wireless Wi-Fi system is simple to set up and pairs easily with computers, tablets and smart devices.
Overall3 out of 5
3 out of 5Optimized for distance, not speed. Limited admin
By KusMoG
First off, let me preface by saying that I'm coming off using an EA9500, a traditional router that costs $100 less than a Velop 3 pack. I also live in an apartment building with a highly congested 2.4GHz space; so bad it affects speeds dramatically and makes the connection highly inconsistent.
With that said, I wasn't really impressed with the Velop at all, for the amount of money it will cost you. It runs on 2.4 and 5.0GHz bands but which your device is connected to is entirely managed by the Velop mesh router themselves. You can't select it yourself. So for some *stupid* reason, even though my Galaxy Note 5 is capable of connecting to the 5.0GHz band, it connects me to 2.4. Because of this I get a slower and inconsistent connection due to the 2.4GHz congestion in my building.
There's also no web administration page, so you can't configure your Velop Wi-Fi from a computer. You need to do it through their app. That means your doing all the heavy lifting of port forwarding and such, from your phone. I'm not sure if they have an app for tablets.
As far as range goes, it will do the job. You will get a strong signal as long as you are near one of the nodes. But the catch is it only extends the wireless signal for as well as it currently performs in your environment at 100% signal and you have no control over which wi-fi band it connects to, like you do with a traditional router. So if your 2.4GHz band wi-fi is terrible to begin with at 100% signal, I suggest you stay very far away from this unless you want buyer's remorse.
I can only recommend the Velop wi-fi 3-pack to users, most especially with wi-fi dead spots in their home, that have great consistent connection in terms or speed and reliability on both 2.4 and 5.0GHz band with a traditional router at 100% signal. This mesh router will be music to your ears since it will be capable of extending your wi-fi range through your house with minimal signal loss.
I can't stress this enough but this router isn't 5.0GHz friendly. I suspect it recognizes when a device is a phone and connects it to the 2.4 GHz band to prioritize distance. It just doesn't offer the flexibility and power administrators want to manually control these connections. I'll be putting all my wireless devices back on my EA9500 because it clearly outclasses the more expensive, less admin-friendly Velop.
KusMoG
Attention Kristine the Linksys Support rep
March 29, 2017
Hi Kristine,
So I called the number you gave me and spoke with a Linksys representative named Kim (Badge ID# 21791) and she agreed with my review. She said it was a product limitation and that users are not able to select the wi-fi band since it's designed to run on a singular network. She also said there is a web UI but it's virtually the same as the app and offers no additional settings or features. So I stand by my review.
It's an awful lot of spend to spend to have so little control. 2 5.0 GHz bands exists on the node but it's USELESS if and when the Velop decides on its own not to connect using that band, instead choosing the inferior 2.4GHz band. This router is a huge step back for IT professional users.
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Bring your A-game anytime, anywhere. Introducing a universal mobile gaming controller that fits most smartphone devices, designed to bring console-level control to your on-the-go gaming. With this controller by your side, wherever you go, victory will follow.
Will it fit the Galaxy Note 20 ultra
Yes it will. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, while not officially listed as supported, probably because it wasn't available for Razer to test at the time, is the Kishi's limit.
4 years, 11 months ago
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KusMoG