I recently became a parent. For the first time, mind you. And being a techy, I almost immediately started researching baby tech when I found out I was pregnant. There are lists of baby monitors available in the market, and finding one that suited our needs was… a long and tedious process.

Now I’m a parent of a newborn, and the R14,000 Owlet Baby Monitor Duo 2 caught my attention due to its intriguing combination of video monitoring and wearable tech. The setup is almost like an Apple Watch for your infant (from birth up to 18 months), paired with a camera monitor to ensure your little one’s stats are good.

The full kit

The Owlet Baby Monitor Duo 2 arrives in two separate boxes — one for the Cam 2 and another for the Smart Sock 3. The packaging is well-designed and includes all the necessary components for installation.

Setting up the Cam 2 is relatively straightforward, whether you choose to mount it on a wall or position it on a flat surface. The magnetic base offers flexibility, but opting for the wall mount option requires a bit more effort. The pairing process, while generally smooth, may encounter occasional hiccups, especially during the QR code scanning step.

I should note here that you’ll need a WiFi network in your home, and that the system won’t work sans power. So if you’re opting for a WiFi baby monitor, you’ll need backup power of some sort, as well as continuous internet connectivity.

Owlet emphasises the devices’ security and privacy, assuring users of a secure, encrypted WiFi connection. It’s still a good idea to ensure security on your home WiFi network as an additional layer of defence. You don’t want creeps poking around in your baby’s room via the baby monitor.

Constant check-in

Equipped with 1080p HD video, night vision, and a wide-angle lens, the Cam 2 promises crisp and clear visuals. In practise, the video quality is impressive, capturing every detail with clarity.

However, we did experience a decrease in video quality during real-time use, particularly when streaming over WiFi. This issue could be attributed to transmission limitations rather than inherent camera capabilities. But it happened more than a few times in our testing.

It is nice to have the live feed on your phone though. Most people will have their smartphones with them at all times, so it’s super convenient.

That happens in the Owlet app, which serves as the central hub for monitoring your baby’s activities. It’s user-friendly and provides access to nursery streams, temperature/humidity readings, and two-way audio communication. Despite occasional lags in loading times and video quality fluctuations during motion or sound detection, the app offers essential features for remote monitoring and gives you peace of mind.

One notable feature of the Owlet app is its customisable notification settings. Users can tailor alerts based on sound, motion, or room comfort preferences. This is a very good idea. We found the default notification settings overwhelming as they’ll notify you of every movement and sound (newborns can be pretty active when they sleep).

We suggest fine-tuning the notification parameters to strike a balance between staying informed and avoiding unnecessary interruptions.

Baby’s first Fitbit

The Smart Sock 3 adds an extra layer of monitoring by tracking vital signs such as heart rate, oxygen levels, and sleep.

Setting up the Sock is straightforward, guided by the app’s instructions. The soft fabric and sensor design offer a comfortable fit for your baby – it shouldn’t be uncomfortable for long-ish sessions on their foot during sleep.

It gives you real-time sleep quality indicators which offer valuable insight into your baby’s sleep patterns. From heart rate variations to oxygen level fluctuations, the app supplies a comprehensive overview of the baby’s sleep quality and metrics.

The app will alert you if the baby’s oxygen drops below a healthy range, transmitting the data via the base station which doubles as the sock’s charging port. This base station is essential for communication between the sock and the app.

And even when the app goes offline or WiFi disconnects, the base station still receives readings from the sock and alerts if anything goes wrong. You just won’t have real-time access to stats or the video feed in the app.

Owlet Smart Sock 3 and Cam 2 Verdict

The Owlet Baby Monitor Duo 2 presents a compelling proposition for parents looking to monitor their baby’s vitals and physical health. While the Cam 2 offers standard features found in its competitors, the addition of the Sock 3 sets it apart as a pretty solid sleep-tracking option.

As the technology evolves and user feedback offers improvements, the Owlet system has the potential to become a staple in modern parenting. The only serious consideration is the price. Almost R15,000 for a baby-compatible tracking system might seem like an overspend but that’s only a thought you have if it’s not your newborn being watched over.

But you can say that about basically any backup battery. Does it have anything special to recommend over the vast swathes of other battery brands in the local market today? That’s a slightly more difficult question to answer. Sure, the Bluetti EB70 has a lot going for it but is it enough?

Built like a brick…

The Bluetti EB70 716Wh battery is a substantial rectangular brick of plastic that will blend into most darker corners. Stuff‘s images, shot under lights, make it seem more prominent than it really is. For all its monochrome nature, the various markings are readily visible. As is common with power stations, the various sections are grouped and powered independently. If you’re only after the 12V socket and a couple of USB ports, there’s no need to activate the AC output, for instance.

There are nine output ports in total and only a single input. If you’re hoping to use a portable solar panel or something similar to charge the EB70, you’ll have to make use of the included adaptor. Outputs consist of dual USB-C (100W each), USB-A, and 12V DC ports, as well as a single 12V socket. The remaining two are a pair of Type D AC sockets capable of delivering 220V of power with a draw of up to 1000W. There’s also an LED light with two levels of brightness, in case you need to see what you’re doing in the dark (spoiler: you do).

Station operation

As with most power stations, Bluetti’s EB70 is a simple matter of plug-and-play. Plug in your TV and console and you’ll be able to play during Eskom’s outages. The same is true of other appliance combinations, obviously. The EB70’s operation is actually simpler than most products of its type. Any power button will begin proceedings, meaning there’s less fiddling in the dark if all you want is the LED, while shutdown calls for all the power buttons to be turned off.

The LED display offers basic input/output information and also shows the battery level. The level indicator takes a second to fire up so it always looks like it’s flat for a few seconds before the bar climbs to the top. There’s little other information available, so there’s no problem with the LED shutting itself down a few minutes after it lights up. The info is still there and you can wake the LED if needed. You just won’t need to.

Trouble keeping up

So far we’ve seen that the Bluetti EB70 is a competent power station, even if it’s a little short on features. There is one more feature, not counting the wireless charging pad built into the top of the unit, but it has its ups and downs. The feature is pass-through charging, a nice-to-have on most power stations. This one is a bit of a left-handed gift, however.

Generally, the EB70 operates in silence. You can connect a substantial power draw to the 716Wh battery and it’ll get on with the job without a mutter. But if you happen to connect the charger while this is going on, which has a chunky brick at its midpoint, you’ll be greeted by a lot of fan noise. This is a combination of things — the EB70’s internal fan but mostly it’s the power brick grumbling about being forced to work.

There’s also the charge speed to contend with. The Bluetti is capped at 200W, meaning it takes a few hours to get back up to full strength. Passthrough charging should help this, in theory, but we found that the unit struggled to maintain even that charging speed when powering something on the other side. Disconnection and recharge when it’s not needed is probably the better way to use this one. You lose the convenience of passthrough but you also lose the constant noise of the power brick.

Bluetti EB70 Portable Power Station verdict

There’s plenty to like about the Bluetti EB70 716Wh power station. It’s super-simple to use, will power up to 1,000W of appliances (for a while) and the battery is substantial enough to keep you entertained for the length of a rugby game or more if you’re careful about what’s connected. The main drawback is the noisy power brick, which renders this unit’s passthrough charging more unpleasant than it should be.

At R9,000, the current price for this backup battery, you won’t feel ripped off. Batteries with similar capacity (but also more features) are around R3,000 more expensive. It’s important that you know that the EB70 takes longer to top up than other LiFePo (lithium iron phosphate) batteries we’ve tested. That might be an immediate downside but it could pay off with a longer battery lifespan. We haven’t tested this one for long enough to be sure of that but hey, it could happen.

And like his alter ego, Patel has triumphed through broken bones, a pandemic, and depleted financing to bring us a fun action adventure flick that pulls so much from mythology it almost becomes its own. This mythology, combined with inspirations from modern action films culminates in a story that is maximalist in both its aesthetic and its narrative, for both better and worse.

The Lost Kid

The story begins with the unnamed protagonist, Kid, being imparted the story of Hanuman the Monkey King by his now-deceased mother. The Monkey, who had a penchant for mangoes, one day came across a mango so large he had to have it. And so he climbed all the way up a large tree to eat the giant mango, only to find that it was the sun, and was struck down by the gods in punishment.

Years later, Kid takes part in the underground fighting rings of Mumbai in a monkey mask, channelling the hero of his childhood. The only problem is – he’s not very good. Routinely taking a beating, Kid makes his money mainly by making the popular fighters look good for the sleazy showrunner, Tiger, played wonderfully by Sharlto Copley who’s so regularly in his element when embracing these zany, off-beat characters.

He intercepts a stolen wallet and returns it to its owner, one foul-mouthed Queen Kapoor (Ashwini Kalsekar), manager of a sordid clandestine gentleman’s club where women are ordered off the menu-like game. He begs for a job and eventually gets one, partnering up with the slick-talking Alphonso (Pitobash), who carries the energy of a used car salesman. Working in the club’s VIP, he spots an unmistakable ear scar belonging to Rana (Sikandar Kher), the same man who took his mother’s life many years before. Kid sets his eyes on killing this man, and many of the film’s antics ensue.

Monkey Man misses a trick by not letting Kid’s all-consuming vengeance be established right from the word ‘go’. When we, the audience, and Kid are introduced to the scarred Rana, it feels like the first time meeting him, only to learn that he’s been the object of Kid’s years-long obsession. Had Kid’s thirst for vengeance been established earlier, this might have felt like a culmination. Instead, we get an introduction with the context being filled later.

Vague Villainy

About two-thirds in, Monkey Man decides to throw in yet another villain, Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande), a religious leader and politician who has garnered god-like worship from the Mumbai populace. It’s here that much of the Monkey Man‘s momentum begins to peter out, for the simple reason that the story doesn’t seem to care about what exactly makes this man tick.

Monkey Man frames Shakti as an important figure in Kid’s past, present and future. That’s all well and good, but the story conveniently leaves out why he did what he did. We know he’s powerful and wants to stay that way, letting us in on what drives this desire for power would make him a more dynamic antagonist. In The Dark Knight, Joker doesn’t chase chaos just for the mere fun of it, he’s also making a point about the illusion of order.

The point is, a complex villain forces the hero to make complex choices. For instance, in the late 2^nd act, Kid is taken in by a group of gender-fluid worshippers of the Shiva-Parvati male-female godhead. Their philosophy of contradictory yet compatible concepts also extends to combat. The leader, Alpha (Vipin Sharma), teaches Kid that many ages ago theirs was an order of warriors. Alpha’s teachings help Kid reconcile the paradoxes of mercifulness and vengefulness, violent protest with peaceful intentions, which help Kid transcend as a warrior.

As interesting as this spiritual detour is for Kid, the crux of his becoming an elite warrior in this temple really comes down to him discovering a mysterious substance, and then an odd musical training sequence. After this, he’s ready to renew his revenge quest, except this time he’s stronger, faster, and more fearless, but any emotional development is lost in the mayhem of murder that Kid embarks on. Because Baba Shakti’s thematically a two-dimensional villain, he forces Kid into two-dimensional growth in that final stretch.

The Man in The Chair

Dev Patel has mentioned frequently in interviews that the movie is about vengeance and faith. It’s also a movie about class, societal prejudice, while also trying to blend modern action with mythology. This results in a maximalist narrative that tries to touch on a lot of different points but doesn’t always integrate them seamlessly. Instead, certain parts of the narrative feel designated to certain ideas, many of which are never revisited.

Monkey Man is truly in its element when dealing with vengeance and class. The fight scenes are energetic and visceral, channelling much of that John Wick’s violent physical humour, especially in the latter half. Patel is a good martial artist and moves fluidly from scene to scene, though he could still learn a thing or two from physical masters like Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves.

Patel does show some skill as a director here. He’s able to convey much without the movie telling you point-blank. An easy trait to champion from a competent filmmaker, but one that isn’t practised elsewhere often. From shots of zooming cars disturbing sleeping street children, to Kid sleeping in a room with dozens, listening to a girl relaying her prayers in the middle of the night, Patel uses the camera well to highlight the plight of the poor without pulling on heartstrings. He also shoots and edits Kid’s earlier fight scenes, whereas later scenes feel more controlled, featuring longer takes.

Monkey Man verdict

And so to wrap up, what Dev Patel has served up here is a multi-course meal with many different flavours pulled from many different creative regions. Reading and listening to interviews about the process of getting this Monkey Man made and finished, sounds about as arduous as the shoots of movies like Apocalypse Now and The Revenant. Dealing with an eye infection, broken bones, a crew member’s heart attack, a pandemic obliterating the funding, having to reuse crew members as extras, it’s amazing that the movie looks quite as good as it does.

Patel really flexes his directorial chops on this debut. If anything, this movie has too little explosion, opting instead to tell its story visually, something we never thought we’d say about a modern blockbuster. With amazing cinematography from Sheron Meir, great editing and a surprisingly stellar score from Jed Kurzel, Monkey Man creates a visually bombastic adventure that redefines what a modern action movie can be.

Monkey Man releases in theatres today, 05 April 2024.

Once we got over that and took a closer look at the anodised aluminium plates, oak wood handle, and paper fibre weave covers, we were reminded of Bang & Olufsen’s esteemed heritage – and that this speaker was probably a pricey one.

The Danish audio company has been around for nearly 100 years, making high-end audio products and the Beosound A5 is its latest portable wireless speaker, starting at R26,000. The price might sound ridiculous at first but after considering its performance, design, and the company responsible, things start to make a lot more sense.

Make a statement without saying a word

We’ll be honest, we couldn’t see past the picnic basket resemblance for the first few days of reviewing the Beosound A5 but it’s grown on us since then. It’s also available with anthracite plates and a dark oak finish. That one’s slightly more expensive but it probably won’t matter to you if you’re already considering a B&O product.

As ever, B&O has crafted premium materials into an exquisitely designed product that’s worth putting on show before you’ve even switched it on – for some people out there, at least. The materials, build quality, and attention to detail are a few of the design aspects that make the Beosound A5 stand out. They’re also why we’d hesitate to call this a ‘portable’ speaker, weighing just shy of 4kg. The solid oak handle carries the weight with no problem but this isn’t really a speaker for packing into a bag on a hike.

As far as physical features go, B&O has kept it minimal. The control buttons, recessed slightly into the top plate, provide good tactile feedback but are a little tough to see in low light. It’s not a big deal because you’ll probably be using the companion app most of the time anyway. The buttons give you control over power, Bluetooth connection, volume, playback, and four ‘favourite’ buttons that you can customise.

Between the buttons, you’ll find a Qi wireless charging pad. Using this to keep your smartphone going will take a chunk out of the A5’s 12-hour battery life but if you keep it close to a power source or leave it plugged in, that won’t be a problem.

Packed with features, not sandwiches

In fact, we’d recommend you keep it plugged in whenever possible. Its fantastic audio performance is enhanced by an intelligent room compensation feature that plays a tone and then uses the built-in microphones to work out the acoustic signature of the room to cancel out any resonant frequencies. But it only works when plugged in and manually told to. This isn’t the only speaker to use a feature like this but it’s among the best in the game to do so.

Before you can calibrate the speaker, however, you’ll need to download the Bang & Olufsen app. It offers a broad level of control including B&O’s signature Beosonic EQ, support for linking your Deezer account if you really want to, and access to connection settings. It’s also where you’ll manage your other B&O devices in your Beolink Multiroom setup or customise the four ‘favourite’ buttons to play a radio station or playlist of your choice.

Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 handle wireless connectivity options. We’d recommend sticking to a Wi-Fi connection wherever possible as this will offer the most control and is how you’ll stream music to the speaker, either with AirPlay, Spotify Connect, or Chromecast. Surprisingly for a high-end speaker, only SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs are supported. We can’t say we missed high-res codec support streaming from Spotify, but it feels like an oversight when you’re paying this much.

Speaking of wireless features, while the A5 does have microphones and is compatible with a smart home setup and virtual assistant, your voice commands will need to be directed at your smartphone, there’s no support built-in.

How does this Beo sound?

Setting up and using the B&O app with the Beosound A5 was straightforward. We found the app to be a little laggy on our S20 Ultra while jumping between settings pages. It was, at most, a little odd and switching to a newer device helped somewhat. After the initial setup, you probably won’t be jumping between settings pages too often, B&O have placed the frequently used functions upfront.

The Beosonic EQ is one such function and a refreshingly different approach to personalising your sound. We stuck with the ‘Optimal’ sound mode during our tests although you’re presented with a few presets to choose from or the option to create and save your own.

Another important note, we’d recommend disabling the ‘Loudness’ toggle in the B&O app. It’s on by default and is supposed to boost deep bass and high treble when listening at low volumes. But the A5 isn’t short on bass even at low volumes and most people will be happy with the sound sans boost.

Tied into the sound modes is a toggle for directivity. The Beosound A5 features four Class-D amps that distribute its 280W total power between four drivers – a 13cm front-facing woofer, a 2cm front-facing tweeter, and two 5cm full-range drivers on the rear corners. These four drivers and their placement allow toggling between a narrow and omnidirectional sound dispersion.

We found the narrow, front-directed mode provided the best listening quality for indoor use, especially if you’re listening critically, whereas the omnidirectional mode is better suited for large spaces or outdoor listening.

Compensating for something?

Finally, we get to the Beosound A5’s sound performance. We’ll come right out and say this is one of the best portable wireless speakers we’ve had the pleasure of listening to. We were wonderfully surprised at just how big it could seem, effortlessly filling our relatively small room with its rich, full-bodied sound.

We mentioned bass earlier but it’s worth mentioning again. The A5 handles the low-frequency range with authority providing a clean, tight bass response that was never overbearing – not even during Hok-man Yim’s Poem of Chinese Drum.

There was one occasion when we found some distortion at the low end while we had it outside and were fiddling with the loudness toggle. The volume was nearly maxed (attempt with caution, it gets loud) when the bass response started to clip a little in Chase and Status’ bass-heavy Baddadan. In most cases and under practical listening conditions, this shouldn’t be an issue.

Similar poise and clarity are present across the rest of the frequency range. The delicate details of Yosi Horikawa’s Fluid were conveyed with airy confidence while Grace Jone’s vocals in Nightclubbing never seemed recessed, as they often are in less capable products.

Regardless of the genre we played, the Beosound A5 impressed us with its neutral tonality and made for a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience.

Bang & Olufsen Beosound A5 verdict

If you’re trying to find a good home for your spare R30k and need a wireless speaker for carrying around the house or entertaining guests on your patio…Get this one. It’s that simple. If you’re worried about people flinging basket jokes, go for the dark oak model.

Yes, it’s expensive, but B&O have still managed to make the Beosound A5 seem worth it. The pool of people who might find it appealing is admittedly rather small, mostly thanks to its price tag. But if you can stomach it, the Beosound A5 is one of the best-sounding battery-powered wireless speakers we’ve tried, with a fantastic build quality and robust feature set to boot.

You can find better value for your money elsewhere if all you care about is audio quality (you could also easily spend five times this amount), but that’s not what B&O is about. One of its key principles is longevity and the A5’s modular design together with B&O’s Mozart platform means replacing faulty parts or upgrading the streaming capabilities won’t require you to buy a whole new speaker every few years. But if you didn’t bat an eye at this price, you’ll probably buy a new one anyway.

Others choose to go for a soft reboot, by pairing the iconic franchise hero with a plucky young individual who is a possible successor, testing the waters and putting the franchise in a position where it can pivot in a new direction with a new star if needed (see: Indiana Jones 4 with the addition of Shia LaBeouf, or Thor: Love and Thunder with Natalie Portman, and even Despicable Me 4, coming later this year, features the introduction of one Gru Jr.).

Kung Fu Panda 4 is another such addition to the catalogue of quadrilogies, a very soft reboot that, while continuing Po’s adventures, removes him from the Fast Five and introduces him to a potential successor. While it offers some fun action and humour, it ultimately struggles to escape the trap of clichés that filmmakers are faced with once you’ve squeezed most of the magic out of a franchise in earlier movies.

Kung Fu Panda: 4 the future

In the last instalment, Dragon Warrior Po had to deal with the responsibility of leading the Furious Five, whilst reuniting with his long-lost father Li Shan. Now, Master Shifu arrives to inform him that it is time for Po to ascend to become the spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace, meaning he must choose a successor to replace him as the Dragon Warrior. He stops a tricky and resourceful fox (whom we later know as Zhen) from stealing ancient weapons and has her arrested.

Unfortunately, though, there’s news of Tai Lung’s return, and Zhen informs Po that this is the work of The Chameleon (dun dun dun!), a shapeshifting sorceress who is hell-bent on stealing and absorbing the kung-fu abilities of Po’s vanquished enemies.

In Kung Fu Panda 4, Po is still that bumbling, brave dumpling-loving goofball we remember from previous films. He shows an ability to solve problems without getting away from his unending belief in the goodness of others. It’s this that ultimately gets Zhen out of prison, and into the film as one of its main (and best) characters.

If there’s any problem with Po, it’s that he’s almost too good. He’s so far into his journey as the Dragon Warrior that he can find a solution to almost any problem (even if he winds up creating more on the way). He has little doubt, no existential fears. Everybody loves him, his fathers get along, and his belief in others is almost always rewarded. His only problems are how strong and powerful the villain he is currently facing is, and he always overcomes those, too. It’s a shame the movie doesn’t use this to have Po ponder his mortality as a warrior.

Zhen’s backstory is simple and run-of-the-mill. She’s an orphaned fox who learned to steal and hustle on the busy streets of Juniper City. She creates an interesting dynamic throughout — with her confident and brash personality — countering Po’s frantic and uncertain energy. And it’s here where most of the film’s comedy chops are put to the test.

Mortal Combat

If you were at all stressed about Kung Fu Panda 4 fumbling its villain, don’t be. You can thank Viola Davis’ amazing and electrifying performance for that, dominating any scene she’s given space to run around — creating what turned out to be a rather formidable foe — for both Po and the writers.

Unfortunately, it’s here where the film stumbles a bit. After a life of constant rejection for her size, The Chameleon decides to master kung-fu by way of sorcery. It’s unclear why exactly her goals are beyond becoming the supreme kung-fu practitioner. Is it for pride? To be loved? To be feared? If so, why? Her master plan is a great undertaking of effort, but her motivation for it is a little thin.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is packed with well-choreographed action scenes, but you probably already guessed that. Though they aren’t filled with as much originality as previous films, they’re still fun and kinetic. The film’s final showdown is its crowning achievement, as expected, offering up a visual spectacle befitting the Kung Fu Panda name. Even so, we’d have liked to see The Chameleon take on a few more action sequences throughout the film.

Kung Fu Panda 4 verdict

It’s hard to inject freshness and novelty with each new entry of an established franchise — especially when you’re nearing a fifth instalment. As the well of great and original ideas runs out, filmmakers and producers play it safe, staying away from bold creative choices that risk alienating fans and thus, shrinking that box office haul. This results in a product that is ‘just fine’, as long as it’s profitable. And that’s what Kung Fu Panda 4 is: just fine. It’s filled with fun action scenes and some good humour, but its fear of daring storytelling choices leaves the story vulnerable to the cliché, betraying a lack of the out-of-the-box storytelling that made previous movies so great.

If you have a hard time with this, you may find the story too predictable. This is not likely to be a problem for the children, though. The movie is packed with enough action and humour to keep them entertained for the relatively short 1:30-hour runtime. Kung Fu Panda 4 promises to be yet another fun and colourful experience for the little ones, especially if they love action heroes. The adventures of Po the Dragon Warrior continue in this film with colourful landscapes and fight scenes, and a cast of side characters with their own funny quirks. The animation is good, and the voice cast does a wonderful job.

Kung Fu Panda 4 releases in theatres this Friday, 22 March 2024.

If fewer zeroes sounds like a good deal, Hisense’s HS2100 soundbar + subwoofer combo will run you roughly R2,700 (if you know where to look), and conjure some decent waves while it’s at it. It might not have the features of something more costly, but it’s got the fundamentals down. It’s repping a subwoofer, 240W of sound and DTS Virtual:X decoding and playback that all make for a soundbar we hated saying goodbye to.

Quicker and easier than falling asleep

Newcomers to the realm of soundbar-subwoofer combos might be intimidated by the set-up, but we found that the HS2100 was about as plug-and-play as it gets All that needed doing was to stick all the cables in the right holes – of which there is a single HDMI (Arc), USB, optical digital audio input and 3.5mm aux at the back of the rectangle of noise. It’s got a two-prong doing the heavy lifting, and it’s mimicked as the subwoofer’s only cable.

The actual set-up involves putting all the cables in the right holes and hitting the on button. The lack of any LED indicators (aside from the volume slider) when pressing the subwoofer’s pairing button means you’ll have to make do with the superlunary voice that bleeds out to let you know everything is hooked up. It’ll be hanging around, too. It’ll keep you in the loop about which preset you’re using. Seeing as we hardly ever left HDMI, we nearly forgot all about it.

After that, it’s all about aligning the HS2100 with your home’s feng shui. We doubt that’ll be too difficult. The HS2100 is about as basic as a soundbar gets, turning up looking like your best idea of a black rectangle that’s here to do one job – spit some loud sounds at you. It helps that it’s smaller, thinner, and lighter than most similar soundbars, allowing it to blend into the background.

It’s covered in all the stuff you’d expect from a sub-R3,000 soundbar – black plastic, a bare-bones collection of ports and a whole lot of black felt. The cheaper build quality and extremely lightweight feel of the 2100 had us questioning whether there’d be a general shakiness as it worked to pump out those loud sounds. It didn’t — at least not until we turned it up to full blast. More on that later.

Mom, I’m scared.

What good is it to anyone if it can’t even pass what we like to call the ‘Mom’ test? If your mother – or someone with a similar disdain towards technology — can’t tell the difference between the two while blindfolded, it’s not worth the effort of taking it out of the box. We found somebody similarly tech-minded to act as our guinea pig and pit the HS2100 against our daily driver; LG’s 2023 CS3.

Purely being able to tell the two apart isn’t helpful to anyone, though. We took it further and had them face off in a proper showdown. Mostly, the HS2100 came out on top. There are still instances where LG’s efforts are king – like retaining quality at lower levels and singling out dialogue – but considering the price, we’re willing to cut the soundbar some slack. Throw the HS2100 at a cheaper TV, however – like we briefly did – and its best qualities blare that much louder.

Resoundingly sound… Sound

All that to say we liked what was coming out of the HS2100’s front end. It’s packing two 60W speakers in each end (that’s what the ‘2’ in 2.1 means), with the subwoofer making up the other 120W on offer here. Don’t let the soundbar’s stature deceive you. Hisense has built something that’s fully capable of convincing you that it’s a larger and more expensive piece of equipment.

That was made immediately apparent after we booted up our movies – The Fellowship of the Ring and that one really cool bit from Harry Potter. For one, it’s loud. Really loud. You can get louder, but this is the best you’re going to get on a budget for a reasonably sized room. It’ll do so without reaching a bat-like frequency though, hitting the highs of The Treason of Isengard with ease, and keeping the detail on the higher end of ‘good enough’. Confine your content to something… less epic and it’ll show off its more subtle strengths, holding onto that clean and balanced sound profile.

It can’t save Tenet from sounding like a four-year-old was in the mixing room, but that’s to be expected. Soundbar it may be, miracle worker it definitely is not. Give it any other job and it’ll take real care to isolate that dialogue and keep it at the forefront, especially if you’ve got the Movie and Surround presets engaged. Speaking of which, there are six EQ presets to choose from; Movie, Music, Night, News, Sports, and Game. You’ll want to pay attention to these when hopping around the place.

We got on just fine with the included DTS Virtual:X and Dolby Digital support to give some sort of surround sound effect, but we’d have liked to see Atmos get a look in. We’d also like a million bucks, but that isn’t going to happen. Hisense mentions a ‘TV Mode’ that’ll mimic your TV’s decoding – even if Atmos is available — but it looks like that’s only reserved for Hisense TV loyalists. We couldn’t get it going, at least.

Like any soundbar + subwoofer combo worth its salt, the subwoofer filled the role of adding that bit of oomph that’d be missing on a singular subwoofer. It’s got nothing on those Mongolian throat singers, but it offered plenty of functionality to elevate those epic scenes and make them epic-er. All while taking up very little room next to your setup. You can’t ask for more than that. Except maybe an LED indicator.

The boy who lived… come to gripe

If you’ve read the headline, you’ll know we misjudged the HS2100’s character prematurely. Its faults turned out to be fewer and farther between than expected, but they’re still there. Fortunately, they’re minor enough to be tucked away in the back of our minds, but it won’t be the case for everyone.

First up is how the soundbar handles low-level volume. Sounds tend to deflate when the volume crosses a certain threshold and lose out on the finer details until the volume gets cranked back up. When there’s a sleeping house to account for, it’s certainly worthy of consideration. Unless you’ve got a pair of decent headphones to pick up the slack, in which case, pump those rookie numbers up.

Our other gripe will likely only affect other tech reviewers, or those difficult neighbours who think blasting Nickelback at midnight is a good idea. It isn’t. It won’t be. Especially if it’s hooked up to the HS2100. That somewhat flimsy plastic build quality that we praised for knocking the price down, lets itself down when the volume reaches its limits. Those innards begin to hum and rattle more than we liked, Nickelback or not. If you’re the type to, uh, stand away from the thing blaring music, we reckon you’ll be just fine.

Oh, and we weren’t the biggest fans of the buttons in their current state. There’s a shabby remote nearby that nearly always made up for its misgivings, but don’t get your hopes up for any dedicated app support.

Hisense HS2100 soundbar + subwoofer verdict

If you’re looking for a soundbar that’ll cost less than R3,000, stop. It’s here. It’s there. Mess about and it won’t be for much longer. Look past the no-frills design and you’ll bring home a soundbar-subwoofer combo with a lot of heart (and sound, thankfully). It’s a concoction of all the best bits of a soundbar — clear sound, and high volumes — whose only fault is the lack of those frills. Want an app, buttonier buttons, and some surround-sound speakers? Expect to pay a few more zeroes at the till.

At the media launch, a member of the Road Traffic Management Corporation shared a scary statistic – over 50% of South Africa’s fatal road accidents in 2022 happened at night. VW’s Night School hopes to reduce that number by underscoring several important aspects that all drivers should know.

Earlier this week, VW invited Stuff to try out the full course in person at the Zwartkops Raceway in Centurion, Pretoria where VW’s Advanced Driving division is based. We went along to see what the full course entails and to judge if it was worth the R3,500 asking price.

We left six hours later, after some adrenaline-inducing on-track exercises which followed an information-packed set of discussions and lectures (and a tasty dinner), armed with knowledge that could one day save our lives and feeling considerably more confident in our driving skills – not just at night, but in general.

Class is in session

First on the agenda was a discussion about why it is important to know your vehicle. You never know when that information might prove useful – like identifying that new grinding noise that started after you hit a pothole. But in some cases, it could mean the difference between life and death.

This section covered things like knowing how your car locks itself so that you notice when it doesn’t happen properly. This could save you from returning to see your parking spot empty because someone jammed your key fob as you were walking away.

We were also instructed on the dos-and-don’ts of a hijack situation. This ranged from how to perform actions like opening your door and undoing your seatbelt in a clear and nonconfrontational way so you don’t spook the chap with the gun and catch some lead along the way.

Most of the info in this discussion made a lot of sense if you stopped to think about it but most people aren’t likely to do that in the heat of the moment. Now that we’ve heard someone explain the theory behind it and watched them perform the actions, we feel confident that our chances of surviving a terrible ordeal like that have increased.

Taking notes

From there, we moved to the presentation area for a lecture that explained the dangers we face when driving at night and how seemingly small changes, like doing 65km/h instead of 60km/h can make a massive difference.

Don’t let that put you off. This wasn’t an old man standing in the front of the class explaining how we will all die on the road if we didn’t do what he said. Matthew Merton, the course’s chief instructor and VW’s Advanced Driving operations manager, kept the session light and interactive while still conveying the important info.

After a tasty dinner – which is included in the course – we stayed with the vehicle and went over how to do a proper vehicle inspection. That covered all the important stuff that’s necessary to check before leaving, and how to identify if something wasn’t as it should be.

Merton also touched on a driver’s seating position and how sitting incorrectly – whether that be raked back so you’re looking out the rear window or bolt-upright and nearly on top of the steering wheel – could make things much worse for you if you’re ever in an accident.

Following that, we went back to class for one last lecture. This one focused on skidding; what it is, the different types of skids, what causes them, how to prevent it from happening, and what to do when it does inevitably happen.

This also included more info on the different safety systems most modern cars come with, like ABS (antilock braking system) and ESC (electronic stability control). Here’s where the real value of this course became apparent.

Most people have heard of ABS before and might even know a little about what it does. That’s great but having an expert explain it to you before you go out onto the track and experience it first-hand is far more valuable than skimming through the Wikipedia page.

If you’ve never been in a situation where you’ve felt ABS or ESC kick in, it can be extremely jarring and might cause some people to panic, possibly making things worse by doing the wrong thing or not doing the right thing in time. That’s where the on-track exercises come in.

What to do when you’re going sideways

For the on-track portion of the course, the group was split into pairs with each given their own track instructor and test vehicle. The course only uses VW vehicles, obviously, but the entire range is available so you can drive something similar to what you are used to.

The three on-track exercises highlighted the aforementioned safety features in a controlled environment intending to build muscle memory for the actions needed in an emergency.

Driving in and out of a line of cones showed off ESC in action, with the rear left and right tyres working to keep the car from skidding around. Then, the emergency lane changes with and without breaking showed how both ABS and ESC work to keep the vehicle on the road and facing the right direction.

VW Advanced Driving Night School verdict

VW’s Advanced Driving Night School is open and ready to improve your driving skills but it isn’t without its drawbacks. For now, the full course is only available at Zwartkops in Centurion which makes things rather inconvenient if you don’t live within driving distance. Luckily, if you don’t live nearby or can’t afford to enrol, VW has made the theoretical section of the course available online for free.

It also costs R3,500 which is less than some of the other courses out there but still a good chunk of change for most folks. Having done the course (and passing), we can say you do get your money’s worth and it is money well spent if you’ve never done an advanced driving course before.

Additionally, like other advanced driving courses, you receive a certificate upon completion which you can take to your vehicle insurance company to (hopefully) reduce your insurance premiums. If they don’t accept it, maybe think about switching.

However, we noted on VW’s Driving Academy website that there is another full-day safety course that also costs R3,500 but spans eight hours versus Night School’s six hours. If you don’t have the aim of improving your driving at night and are after a more generalised course, that might feature more info seeing as it takes two and a half hours longer – or maybe they just talk a little bit slower.

Either way, we reckon it’s a good idea for everyone to enrol even if that’s just for the free online course. Having better-educated drivers on our roads surely can’t hurt – imagine arriving at your destination not seething with road rage. We live in hope.

First class first impression

Taking the Zhiyun Weebill 3S out of its neatly packed case is an enjoyable experience. The 1.1kg gimbal has a premium feel with its sturdy black metal arms. They are supported by a matt black plastic handle with a rubber grip. The LCD is within thumb reach and flanked on the left by the mode and shutter buttons and a joystick.

On the right-hand side of the screen you have the power button, menu button, and navigation wheel. Besides navigating the menu and selecting by pressing down, you can also hold down the wheel to switch on the front light and roll it to adjust brightness and temperature. There’s another wheel and a trigger up front. Double pressing the trigger gets the camera to its default position and a triple press enters selfie mode.

The Weebill 3S is accompanied by a tripod, a base and quick-release plate, and a box of cables where you’ll find the hex key that you’ll need for setup. If you aren’t familiar with setting up a gimbal you need to know that it takes some time to balance the camera. The Weebill 3S doesn’t include any materials to help you do that so we had to resort to trial and error before giving up and asking Google for help.

The 3S can support a payload of about 3.5kg and had no trouble with our Fujifilm X-T4. We used an 18mm-55mm lens but it should handle a larger lens with ease thanks to the included lens support.

Our first dance

Operating the Weebill 3S may be simple but it’s not necessarily easy. When shooting close-ups, we found it difficult to keep the gimbal from shaking. Either we need to learn new gimbal-carrying techniques or hit the gym. The alternative would be the sling grip and wristrest but that’s a separate purchase. The extra support and grip angle would make the load a little more manageable and allow lower camera angles with less physical strain. The folded-down tripod is a must while you’re moving about if you’re after stable tracking shots.

This gimbal comes with a variety of modes to tackle moving shot needs. The M button placed conveniently within thumb reach allows you to switch between modes. You can select pan follow (PF), lock (L), follow (F), POV, vortex (V), and portrait (P). One press switches you between PF, L and F and a double press switches you between POV, V and P. Holding the M button puts the Weebill 3S into sleep mode.

One of the things that sets the Weebill 3S apart from its competition is its ability to mount the camera in portrait. To do so, you’d have to slide the camera baseplate holder off the arm using the quick-release button on the arm’s end and slide it back into the perpendicular grove. You’ll need to rebalance the gimbal afterwards, so switching between portrait and landscape takes a few minutes.  For quicker switching, the portrait mode where you’re behind the camera like in vortex mode, is better but that limits your mobility and is a workout.

We had no issues with the Weebill 3S’s stabilisation system. As you can see in the video below, we were able to follow a moving subject with ease. The tighter shots were a bit tougher because of our shaky noodle arms, but that was easily fixed in post or with a few daily pushups. We used PF and L the most for our shoots which covered our needs sufficiently. Vortex mode was cool but more of a use case-specific function and not something we found much use for. You might think differently, depending on what you’re shooting so it’s still nice to have the option.

Base connection

The Weebill 3S supports a large range of cameras but how well it connects to them is a different matter. We were relieved when the connecting cable allowed us to use the shutter button, however, all we got beyond that was exposure control by adjusting ISO and shutter speed. There wasn’t any aperture or focus control and no zoom, which is probably because our lens (XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS) does that mechanically.

You can charge your camera via the Weebill connection if it supports USB-C charging but that limits camera control to the buttons and knobs found on the Weebill. The handy physical controls on our X-T4 were disabled which was frustrating.

You can control the attached camera remotely with your smartphone and the ZY Play app available on iOS and Android, provided there’s a USB connection between the camera and the Weebill. The photography functions, which include Panorama, Time-lapse, and Trajectory Photography, worked well enough.

It might not be the most comprehensive feature but the ability to operate your camera remotely is technically possible. There are a few other things that are technically possible that we could have done without. The app doubles as another social media and video editing platform — we skipped both entirely. To use the video editor you first need to transfer the video files from your camera to your phone. The ZY Play app plays no part in facilitating this process and you’ll find better video editing features elsewhere.

You may not appreciate the added functions in the app but we’re sure you’ll appreciate the Weebill’s 11-hour battery life. It was more than enough to get us through all our shoots without needing a recharge. On longer shoot days the USB-C charging port makes it easy to charge with a phone charger or a power bank. You’re looking at around two hours from flat to fully charged which is great if you forgot to plug it in the night before.

Zhiyun Weebill 3S verdict

The Zhiyun Weebill 3S positions itself as the go-to choice for professional-level gimbals in South Africa and it mostly delivers. It emphatically ticks off enough boxes to justify a purchase. The ZY Play app, while not the most comprehensive, performs well when it needs to and provides enough functionality that you won’t mind forgiving its missteps.

You might find alternatives with extra features not found here but where the Weebill 3S has them beat is its price. It can be had for between R8,000 and R10,100 which makes it a great first professional gimbal.

If you’re interested in audio gear, you will have heard of Klipsch. Born in 1946, in a tin shed in Arkansas, it was one of the first US loudspeaker companies to bring live music to people’s homes. Today, the company produces a wide range of audio products that all bear some of the brand’s rich history. That’s especially true of The Sevens, which fall under the aptly-named Heritage-inspired speaker range.

The Sevens are the middle child of the ‘Heritage’ family, along with the smaller ‘The Fives’ and larger ‘The Nines’. They are high-end active loudspeakers which means you won’t have to go shopping for a suitable amplifier and receiver to have a good time. They certainly aren’t cheap at R30,000 but they’re worth it if you can stretch the budget and serve as a great entry point to the hi-res audio hobby.

Dressed to The Sevens

The Sevens come in two style options; all-black, or a walnut finish with off-white covers. We’re so glad we were sent the walnut option because… well, look at them. Words like ‘classy’, ‘sophisticated’, and ‘elegant’ come to mind, before you remember that they’re speakers. Premium speakers, mind you, and it shows.

They are handcrafted with a real-wood veneer finish. Picking them up is also a good indicator you’re dealing with quality – remember to lift with your legs. The metal control knobs on the primary unit feel sturdy with crisp feedback while you’re selecting an input or controlling the volume.

Even the quality of the included cables surprised us. They’re braided, suitably girthy, and numerous. You get several power cable options, an HDMI cable, a USB-A to USB-B cable for digital audio, and a two- and four-metre tether for connecting the two speakers.

Back to the speakers, we noted a small issue with the control dials being where they are. If you have the speakers set up at ear height (as they should be), you won’t be able to see which source is selected while you’re sitting. That’s just how it has to be because putting the source indicator on the front would ruin the look. You’ll either have to use the included IR remote or the Klipsch Connect app.

200W of woofing

Despite the name, The Sevens feature a 6.5in high-excursion mid-bass driver and a 1in vented Titanium tweeter inside a Tractrix horn. As we mentioned earlier, these are active loudspeakers, meaning they have their own amp (200W in this case) and don’t need external power. These particular active speakers don’t require an A/V receiver either as they support a variety of inputs, all of which are found on the rear of the primary unit.

The supported ports include ARC-enabled HDMI, TOSLink, and USB for digital inputs, an analogue 3.5mm AUX jack, and a switchable line and phono preamp input for moving magnet turntables. There’s also an RCA jack for connecting a subwoofer, another USB service port for firmware updates, and the four-pole connector for sending the audio signal to the secondary unit – that’s what the four- and two-metre tether cables are for.

Also on the back of the primary speaker is a switch for defining how you’ve placed them. Everything you’ll need is on the primary speaker so you can have that act as the left or right channel, depending on your needs. With six metres to play with, you can get great stereo separation. That’s helped further through the Klipsch Connect app and its speaker placement guide.

These don’t provide any Wi-Fi-enabled connectivity like AirPlay or Chromecast for streaming audio directly. Bluetooth is your only option using the aptX and aptX HD codecs. But then you’re not exactly putting the digital-to-analogue converters in The Sevens to work – they can decode PCM signals up to 24bit/192KHz.

Coming back to the Klipsch Connect app, in contrast to what we’ve heard from people who’ve bought (and then returned) The Fives, we had very few issues with The Sevens and the app during the initial setup and continued use. There’s a pairing button on the rear of the primary speaker if they don’t immediately show up and you’re taken through the speaker placement guide on your first connection.

The app offers a decent amount of control over The Sevens including volume control, a three-band EQ with a few presets, input selection, dynamic bass control, and a toggle for ‘Night Mode’. In the settings menu, you’re able to adjust the speaker placement if you’ve moved them since setup.

There are a bunch of other options but one we found ourselves returning to was the auto-power toggle. When toggled on, this will switch off the speakers to conserve power if no active input is detected after a while. If you plan to use these primarily as a Bluetooth speaker, firstly, why? Secondly, you might get tired of having to manually restore the Bluetooth connection or select them as the output inside your music app so you may want to leave this off like we did during our Bluetooth testing.

That’s what beauty sounds like

By now you’re probably wondering how these sound. They’re speakers after all so audio performance is rather important. That’s why we left it for last. These might be some of the most expensive active loudspeakers we’ve had in for review but they’re also among the best sounding.

They possess an impressive amount of taut, nuanced punch in the low end while steering clear of any mid-bass bloat. That said, some folks might want more punch due to their relatively flat response. If that’s you (you know who you are), then we’d recommend fiddling with the EQ and trying out the dynamic bass setting before dashing out to get a dedicated sub. We found the bass in the flat profile to be enough and didn’t particularly like how the dynamic bass setting influenced the sound but your mileage will vary.

The midrange sounds mostly neutral, with good articulation and clarity, although Klipsch has applied some wizardry that grants vocals and some acoustic instruments an added sense of presence. This makes the Eagles’ Don Henley sound like he’s in the room with you singing about a hotel in California. We think.

The Sevens perform just as admirably in the highs. There’s a smudge of roll-off that starts somewhere in the upper midrange and extends into the highs. This translates into a sound that appears to gradually recede away from you as you move up the frequency spectrum duing a sine sweep. Having said that, the highs remain crisp, airy, and detailed without being edgy and difficult to listen to.

When it comes to soundstage, The Sevens produce ample sound to fill a room with great imaging – although this does depend a little on how you have them set up. We started out with the pair one metre apart then increased that in one-metre intervals up to six metres to compare. They really started to shine the further away they were.

Overall, they demonstrated a lush sound profile with excellent tonal balance and fantastic dynamics – they handle quick jumps between quiet and loud sounds well which makes for a fun and entertaining listen with music and translates well to home cinema content.

Klipsch The Sevens verdict

Klipsch has a winner on its hands here. Yes, The Sevens are expensive compared to your average set of two-channel speakers. Most people would probably prefer to upgrade their TV and get a cheap soundbar for the same money. Their lack of network-enabled streaming will also be a dealbreaker for some audiophiles whereas movie lovers will be looking for a multi-channel Atmos-capable setup.

But if your priorities lie first with music and then with movies after, The Sevens are what you should be looking at – if you’ve got the budget. They combine the qualities of a Klipsch product that has made the brand a household name in the high-end audio space while offering a fantastic feature set for someone looking to dip their toes into hi-res audio while keeping one foot in the home cinema door. But whatever you’re playing through them, we highly doubt you’ll be upset with the result.

• This pair of Klipsch The Sevens was sent to Stuff for review by Homemation.

TVs – especially those big mothers – are expensive. But who wants to see Kevin De Bruyne’s assist against Newcastle on some 40-inch rinky-dink display that’s not even OLED? Whether you’re looking for something to pick up the slack in the sports department, or simply going through a mid-life crisis, a projector is usually the next logical buy. Preferably, you’re looking for something 4K that won’t be shackled to your garden’s braai pit. We’d recommend Hisense’s C1 Mini Laser Projector to fill that role.

That 4K spec the C1 is revered for might sound like the most important thing, but in today’s landscape, it’s almost the standard. It’s the C1’s other features – Dolby Vision support, JBL speakers and up to 300in display capabilities that help it stand out from an already overcrowded pool. It doesn’t hurt that the thing is tiny, measuring only 21cm high and 25cm across – making for a rather painless process when moving it around the place. As long as those places don’t include the great outdoors, that is. Please.

These things look good?

Honestly, we weren’t all that sure projectors could look, well, good. Samsung’s Freestyle came close, but it just couldn’t quite get there. Fortunately, the C1 doesn’t have those troubles – rocking up in a near cuboid outfit made entirely of brushed aluminium, shaking up the industry standard where plastic is king. That premium coat does equate to a more difficult time lugging the thing around, but that’s okay. That 4.5kg weight means your kids could probably move it without much effort. It doesn’t mean they should, though.

For most products that come our way, a pretty face is usually jotted down in the ‘win’ column. That, unfortunately, isn’t the case for the C1. Oh, it’s got a pretty face, sure, sporting a chic brushed grey look that we wouldn’t mind seeing elsewhere. The thing is – you’re not meant to look at the C1’s pretty face. Ever. You’ll be treated to the projector’s rear end for most of your stay – you know, where it most closely resembles its plastic-encased cousins. The back is also a cable hovel which only added to our annoyance.

Speaking of which, that plastic-looking back? It’s home to more connectivity than you’ll likely need, including two HDMIs (of the 2.0 and 2.1 variety), two USB-As – 3.0 and 2.0 flavours and spots for audio and ethernet. And with Hisense’s VidaaOS already onboard, it’ll save needing to hook up anything that’ll play Netflix or Disney+.

Getting things running

We admit that the view of some slightly bent cables from the C1’s rear end stung just a smidge. It immediately began working overtime to get us to get back in our good books though, and, oddly enough, it worked. That’s largely down to the all-too-easy set-up that only needed us to put all the plugs in the right holes and let Hisense’s VidaaOS (which is primarily Android-based, so don’t panic) do the rest.

Tthe most difficult part of set-up was finding a suitable extension to fit the circular two-prong power cord that’s included here. After that, all we had to do was hit the keys in the right order to connect to the Wi-Fi and pick a couple of apps to download – apart from the already-installed Netflix, YouTube, Prime and Disney+.

Okay, fine. It isn’t magic and needed a bit of help to get the image as rectangular as possible. For the most part, Hisense’s self-adjusting AutoMagic system got most of the hard work out of the way and left us to figure out the last of the keystone alignment ourselves to get it just right. The C1’s autofocus, on the other hand, needed no help from anyone and spat out the clearest picture possible every time we used it.

Lookin’ good (at night)

We won’t pretend we have a 300in wall to throw the C1 at and let it stretch its legs. Our walls are… considerably smaller – but still wide enough to get a display measuring just under 90in going comfortably. For us, that was enough. We’re guessing that’ll be the case for you, too.

There’s a whole host of picture modes to use if you have the necessary content to go with them. There’s bog-standard SDR, hybrid HLG, HDR10 and most importantly, Dolby Vision — a rare inclusion for projectors on this side of R40,000.

If none of those words made sense, that’s okay. The C1 does an excellent job of making the necessary switches when it detects content that can support it, and rarely left us longing for a dive into the settings. If those words did make sense – you’ll be rewarded for digging into the settings where each mode is fully customizable for any slight adjustments you might want to make to keep the image in pristine condition.

Generally, we and the C1 were happy with what we threw at it barring slight brightness adjustments we made to the SDR mode, which, like that weird kid that glommed onto you back in primary school, was a little too dim.

Even if you know what you’re doing, a rather expensive projector won’t be much help if it can’t even pass a good ol’ eyeball test. Fortunately for our eyeballs, it does. Kinda. See, Hisense has rated the C1’s brightness at 1,600 ANSI Lumens – which performed superbly when the lights were off, and the curtains drawn. Wait till morning, however, and you’ll have some trouble making out what’s going on in darker scenes. Fiddling with a few settings will net a better experience but won’t ever beat out a (much smaller) TV at a similar price point.

It’ll even handle some light gaming if you aren’t a snob and can put up with the C1’s 60Hz refresh rate. It’ll need to be switched to gaming mode to unlock the slightly-too-high-for-our-liking 39ms response time, but it’ll get the job done well most of the time. Still, if competitive online gaming is a must, we’d recommend keeping it away from the C1.

Light at the end of the rainbow (effect)

Another big advantage for the C1 is the fact that it’s lauding Trichroma laser tech as its main source of light, melding red, green and blue lasers together. That usually equals a half-decent array of colours to gawp at – which the C1 did – with Hisense rating this one at 110% of BT.2020. That’s, uh, good if you were waiting for a further explanation.

It also means a longer-than-usual lifespan; around 25,000 hours or so. We’ll give Hisense the benefit of the doubt here that the C1 won’t just conk out before its hours are up.

Unfortunately, three-laser DLP (Digital Light Processing) projectors like this one bring about their own complications, and Hisense’s efforts aren’t any different. We’re talking about the rainbow effect – those slightly irritating flashes of red, green and blue trails of light left in the wake of an object moving on screen (or on wall). In our few weeks spent with the C1, it regularly treated our eyes to those rainbow artefacts, most commonly at night when the picture is at its clearest.

Still, it’s worth mentioning that the rainbow effect isn’t always noticeable to everyone. It’s our job to keep an eye out for that sort of thing. It might not be a stand-out to the average Joe.

Public speaking (turn it up)

This being a projector that’s also a home entertainment system (and a pricey one at that), it makes sense for Hisense to include its own Android-based OS – VidaaOS – as well as a set of some decent speakers. That’s what it said on the tin, at least.

Maybe we’re being a little harsh on two 10W JBL speakers fitted in there. They’re more than good enough (and loud enough) for the average dad who’s only picked this up to watch the rugby and attempt to rekindle his relationship with his family when M-Net’s Sunday Night movie comes on. But any audiophiles looking to get in on the fun might want to look at getting a soundbar.

The OS is… fine. It most closely resembles something directly from Android and doesn’t take a genius to figure out its very few intricacies. It’s a win that’s marred ever so slightly by a processor that lets the side down and makes for a slower-than-most experience when navigating. Still, if you’re hooking up a PS5 or Xbox or something similar, you’ll hardly ever have to deal with Hisense’s OS.

Hisense C1 Mini Laser Projector verdict

The only thing left to discuss is the price – if you’re even able to find one of these in stock. We couldn’t. But if you can, or don’t mind employing a bit of patience, it’ll require a sacrifice of R35,000 before it’ll come home with you. We won’t dance around the fact that you can get stronger (and smaller) TVs for a lot less of your buck, but you won’t find anything spanning more than 100in that’s even moderately close to your budget, nor the R35,000 price.

Hisense is aiming at customers who have the necessary wall space to accommodate the larger-than-life 65-to-300in viewing areas. If that’s you, then you won’t have any trouble with the C1’s 4K resolution, Dolby Vision support and JBL speakers that’ll get the job done until you can find a suitable soundbar replacement. But if daytime viewing is a necessity and you don’t mind putting up with something a little bit smaller, say in the 55-to-65in range, you’ll be better off getting something from Samsung or LG’s warehouses that offer OLED or something similar.