Here are some reliable speaker dock that still allow you to dock your iPad and immediately play your music:

Sony RDPXF300IPN Lightning iPad Dock

The Sony RDPXF300IPN Lightning iPad Dock is the best sounding speaker dock I’ve tested. The two speakers output 20 watts each, and have a rich and bright sound. In fact, this dock sounds better than the Bose SoundDock Series III (which also lacks bluetooth connectivity and a remote control).

This dock has an internal lithium-ion battery so it can be used as a portable player, it also features a radio and a remote control.

The Sony RDPXF300IPN Lightning iPad Dock is available from Amazon for about $300.

iHome iDL48BC Dual Charging Portable Rechargeable Speaker

The iHome iDL48BC speaker dock is a good budget choice for a speaker dock. It delivers resasonably good sound, but it lacks some of the clarity and bass of the Sony RDPXF300IPN.

The iHome iDL48BC is available from Amazon for about $80.

The post The Best iPad Speaker Docks Of 2017 appeared first on Reactual.

Update September 2016: The SVS SB-1000 is now our top recommended subwoofer under $500.

Polk Audio PSW505 ($200)

Pros:

• Powerful enough to fill a large room
• Flexible input options
• Impeccable build quality

Cons:

• Too much bass for small spaces

Top Review Sources:

• Amazon 5.0/5.0 (200+ reviews)
• Newegg.com: 5.0/5.0 (225+ reviews)
• AudioEnz: “A fine sense of extension, tactile impact and all round bass weight and authority”

The Polk Audio PSW505 is an established and respected player in the large-room subwoofer game. Its performance is class-leading, with deep reserves of thundering bass and incredible precision. The PSW505 is a 12-inch woofer with a frequency range of 23 to 160Hz. It is solidly-built, measures 16-1/8″ H x 15-1/8″ W x 18-3/16″ D, weights 43 pounds, and is wrapped in black, real wood veneer. Features include an adjustable low-pass crossover, volume control, and a phase switch. This sub is magnetically shielded against interference and has an auto on/off switch to conserve power. Inputs are 5-way binding posts, line level (filtered), and LFE (unfiltered); output is a pair of 5-way binding posts. The PSW505’s 300 watts of power and big volume potential make it best suited for large spaces.

Amazon sells the Polk Audio PSW505.

Polk Audio PSW10 ($94)

Pros:

• Solid construction
• High value
• Clean and clear sound

Cons:

• No LFE input
• Might be insufficient for large rooms

Top Review Sources:

• Amazon: 4.5/5.0 (375+ reviews)
• CNET: 3.5/5.0 “It pounds out home-theater thrills and musical bass with equal prowess”
• Newegg.com: 5.0/5.0 (225+ reviews)

The low-price, high-performance Polk PSW10 makes it difficult to justify building a home theater without a powered sub. For $100, this subwoofer delivers 50 watts of continuous power through a 10-inch composite polymer speaker, producing rich bass with plenty of punch. Equally skilled at enhancing music, movies, or television, the PSW10 does its job without becoming boomy or muddled at high volumes. Its solid construction contributes to its great sound: 26 pounds of medium-density fiberboard measuring 14-3/8″ H x 14″ W x 16-1/8″ D. Included are speaker-level and line-level inputs, plus a speaker-level output. Frequency response is 35 to 200Hz. You also get on-speaker volume, crossover, and phase controls as well as an auto on/off switch. The PSW10 is built for small- to medium-size spaces. It is available in black or cherry finishes.

The Polk Audio PSW10 is currently available on Amazon.

Definitive Technology SuperCube III ($379)

Pros:

• Small package; huge bass
• Great range
• Solidly built

Cons:

• Will distort at extreme volume

Top Review Sources:

• Crutchfield: Staff Pick “True, accurate, and extremely deep bass in any room”
• Best Buy Customer Reviews: 4.5/5.0 (15+ reviews)
• Home Theater Magazine: “other SuperCube subs…have had amazingly low but very musical bass output—and lots of it. The SuperCube III is no exception”

Definitive Technology’s SuperCube III produces unbelievable bass despite its compact footprint. Its sound profile is defined by its extreme depth—all the way down to 16Hz. The SuperCube III produces an authoritative 650 watts of power, capable of handling the bass duties in small or large rooms. Listeners appreciate the SuperCube III’s versatility; it performs as well when asked to provide a steady, undistorted rumble as it does when the soundtrack demands rapid, staccato bursts of bass. Though this gloss black cube weights a substantial 25 pounds, it only measures 10-1/4 inches in any dimension. It has a signal-sensing auto on/off switch, low-pass crossover, volume control, 5-way binding post outputs, and line level, LFE, and 5-way binding post inputs. Its woofer is 7-1/2 inches in diameter.

You can buy the Definitive Technology SuperCube III on Amazon

The post The Best Subwoofers Under $500 appeared first on Reactual.

Anker’s Ultra Protective Case is currently the best dustproof iPhone 6 case. It features a built-in screen protector and raised edges to prevent phone damage, and port protectors to keep out dust.  It fits the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6s.

The Details

This ultra-protective case is Anker’s answer to the wildly popular Otterbox smartphone cases. For half the price you get a case that is just as durable as the Otterbox, but is also much slimmer. The Anker Ultra Protective Case adds just .15 inches and 1.6 ounces to your phone, while the Otterbox Defender is 1.7 inches thick and weighs 1.92 ounces. The Anker also has an 18 month warranty, which is six months longer than Otterbox’s 12 month warranty.

Attaching the case to your phone is incredibly easy. Anker’s precision cutouts are engineered to just snap on to the iPhone 6 / 6s. It is a two-part case with a built in glass screen protector. The back of the case has a tactile grip that feels secure in your hand. The front has raised edges to prevent drops, though Anker claims the phone is drop tested 6 times from 3 feet. Customer reviews confirm that the phone does survive drop tests.

Button and port guards ensure that dust does not enter the phone via the charging and headphone openings. They are a bit of a pain to latch back up, but open easy enough. Unfortunately, the case is not rated to be completely waterproof, although the port guards do prevent water from entering.

Currently, Anker only offers three color options, so it they are lagging behind the competition in terms of variety. The case does not have a circular cutout to display the Apple logo, which is either a good or bad thing, depending on your preference.

Another Option

If you want a dustproof iPhone 6 case that is also completely waterproof, check out the LifeProof Fre case. The FRE meets IP68 standards, which means it is completely dustproof and is fully submersible to 2 meters of water for 1 hour. The Fre also has a MIL STD 810F-519 rated, which means it can withstand drops of 6.6 meters.

Expect a trade-off in functionality for the waterproof rating. The Fre requires an extension cord to use most headphones, and reviewers note that the mute button often fails.

The post The Best Dustproof iPhone 6 Case appeared first on Reactual.

The Details

A whole industry has formed around selling durable cases to protect smartphones from inevitable drops, or repairing shattered screens when they happen. Motorola wants to cut out the middle man and released the world’s first shatterproof phone. A lofty promise for sure, but does the product deliver? A WSJ reviewer thinks so:

Twenty drops. Ten times from five feet up. Ten times from 10 feet up. And the Motorola Droid Turbo 2′s screen didn’t suffer so much as a small crack.

UnlockRiver put the Droid Turbo 2 through an even more rigorous test, dropping the phone from a height of 900 feet. The Droid Turbo 2 had some slight cosmetic damage, but remained completely operational after the fall. UR gave it a durability rating of 9.8.

The phone is constructed with five layers of flexible plastic AMOLED and an aluminum chassis. All five layers are proven to absorb shock from dropping and to preserve structural integrity. They also protect the phone from environmental conditions such as adhesion, abrasions and environmental chemicals.

The phone claims to have a 48-hour battery life with a high capacity 3760 mAh battery that can be charged in 15 minutes. It also has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor 2ith 2.0 GHz Octa-core CPUs. It has 3GB of RAM and is available with 32 or 64 GB storage. It weighs half a pound.

The Droid turbo also comes with a 21 MP camera. I have the previous iteration of the Turbo and it suffered from shutter lag and I felt it never really lived up to its full potential. Motorola promises that the Droid Turbo 2 has rapid focus with zero shutter lag and a color-balancing dual LED flash to deliver more consistency. The phone’s main drawback is that is only available to Verizon customers.

The Droid Turbo 2 is available from Amazon for about $624.

Another Option

The CAT S50 is another durable smartphone. It is ideal for use on construction sites and similar environments. The CAT comes equipped with Military-grade dust water proof surface, and is drop-to-concrete resistant up to 6 feet.

The CAT S50 is available from Amazon for around $359.

The post The Best Shatter-Proof Phone appeared first on Reactual.

This compact device is a fast Solid Sate Drive (SSD) drive with no moving parts. It’s housed in durable aluminium case. It is compatible with USB 3.0. It comes with a 3 year warranty, and the manufacturer (Oyen Digital) is responsive to customer requests.

Because it’s a SSD drive it’s a bit more expensive than similar mechanical drives. The 256GB version costs about $120 on Amazon. There’s also a 1 Terrabyte version that costs about $380.

The Details: The Best Portable Backup Drive

I’ve been testing the U32 Shadow over the last few months. The drive has been performs quite well on both my Linux and Mac computers. I’m able to play Blu-Ray movies from the drive without a problem. The manufacturer says the drive is great for HD video editing. Oyen Digital has bench-marked the drive at 400 MB/s when connected to a USB 3.0 port, using a MacBook Pro 2012.

I like the fact that the Shadow doesn’t require an external power source — it’s entirely powered by the included USB cable. The drive uses USB 3.0 by default (with transfer rates up to 400 MB/Sec), but it is also compatible with USB 2.0 connections.

The U32 Shadow is a solid state drive — so it’s resistant to shocks. Solid state drives are much less likely to breakdown than a mechanical drive. They also have faster access and seek times. See this article from ServerWatch for more details.

The drive’s dimensions are 4.9 x 2.9 x .48 inches, and it weighs 8 ounces.

The 256GB version costs about $120 on Amazon. and the 1 Terrabyte version costs about $380.

Another Compact Drive Option

The Transcend SSD is another compact and portable SSD with a similar price. This drive is about as small as a playing card, making it a bit smaller than the U32 Shadow. However, it comes encased in plastic rather than aluminium.

The post The Best Portable External Hard Drive Of 2016 appeared first on Reactual.

Sports earbuds should be comfortable enough to wear for an extended period of time, durable enough to withstand drops, sweat, and dirt, fit securely on the ear – all while producing outstanding sound. Here are our top picks:

• The Best In-Ear Sports Earphones: Jaybird X2
• The Best Behind-the-Neck Earphones: BackBeat Fit
• The Best Over-Ear Sports Earphones Beats by Dr. Dre Powerbeats2 Wireless

The Best In-Ear Sports Earphones: Jaybird X2

Pros:  High-quality audio, secure fit, sweat-proof 

Cons: Left and right buds not labeled

Launched in the second half of 2015, the X2 is the successor to Jaybird’s popular but flawed BlueBuds X earbuds. Although similar in appearance, the X2 offers improved sweat-proofing and sound quality, more comfortable in-ear design, and better battery life. Besides the excellent sound quality, the X2 has good comfort and fit options. Included in the box are three sizes of ear tips in both silicone and foam, as well as three sizes of ear fins. Although the unit is guaranteed sweat-proof, Jaybird offers customers a lifetime warranty against sweat-related damage.

X2 earbuds also feature an eight-hour battery life, and are compatible with any Bluetooth device.

The Jaybird X2 is available from Amazon for about $140.

Best Behind-the-Neck Sports Earphones: Plantronics BackBeat Fit

Pros: Lightweight, comfortable, includes reflective armband/storage case, wireless  

Cons: Cord around neck may bother some people    

A favorite of CNET, Men’s Fitness, and Runner’s World, Plantronics’ BackBeat Fit behind-the-neck earbuds were designed with athletes’ needs in mind. The unit is light, flexible, and allows for the user to wear eyewear unobstructed. Additionally, the ear tips rotate to ensure a snug, comfortable fit. A proprietary audio codec allows for excellent sound, including rich, deep bass. However, the unit doesn’t completely block out external sounds in order to ensure safety and awareness of surroundings. The BackBeat Fit is also durable and waterproof, so feel free to wear these out for a jog in the rain or during an intense sweat-session at the gym. Since the unit was designed to work with Bluetooth smartphones, it also features a microphone that reduces feedback, filters out background sound, and enhances voice quality. Reviewers especially liked the eight-hour battery life and the inclusion of a generously-sized reflective smartphone armband that doubles as a case when not in use.

The BackBeat Fit is available from Amazon for about $104.

The Best Over-Ear Sports Earphones: Beats by Dr. Dre Powerbeats2 Wireless

Pros: Excellent sound quality, water- and sweat-resistant, multiple earpieces  

Cons: Six hour battery life

Although Beats headphones have been maligned by the audio community in the past for favoring style over function, the Powerbeats2 wireless earbuds received top scores from technology and fitness magazines alike, and are currently the second best-selling earbuds on Amazon. Even the Wall Street Journal praised the Powerbeats2 earbuds for their superior sound quality. In addition to excellent sound, these earbuds feature lightweight, soft-touch plastic ear hooks that can be molded to conform to the wearer’s ear and four pairs of multi-sized and shaped ear tips for a perfect, snug fit. These earbuds are also water-resistant (IPX4) and sweat-resistant, and built to withstand even the toughest workout. Powerbeats2 earbuds are wireless and compatible with any Bluetooth-enabled device and, with the addition of a remote built into the cord, can be used as a hands-free headset. However, you’ll only get about six hours of playback before these earbuds will need to be charged.

Powerbeats2 is available at Amazon for about $140.

The post The Best Wireless Sports Earphones appeared first on Reactual.

Top Review Sources:

• L.L.Bean customer rating: 5.0/5.0 (65+ reviews)
• ExpertReviews.co.uk: 4.0/5.0 “By far the most flexible and clever torch that we’ve ever reviewed”
• ePHOTOzine: 4.0/5.0 “Ideal for a wide range of applications”
• Amazon: 4.5 out of 5 stars (100+ reviews)

The Joby GorillaTorch is a LED lamp mounted on three flexible legs. The legs can be wrapped around a nearly object in order to hold the GorillaTorch in place while you work. The end of each leg has a rubberized, magnetic foot — this means  you can also stick the GorillaTorch to metal surfaces. The light output is adjustable, with a maximum of 65 lumens. Running at full brightness, the GorillaTorch will last for about 20 hours; on its lowest brightness setting, it will go up to 80 hours before its three AA batteries need to be replaced (see our review of the top rated rechargeable AAs here).

Get the Joby GorillaTorch at Amazon in gray, orange, yellow, or blue for about $17.

The post The Top Rated Tripod Flashlight: Joby GorillaTorch appeared first on Reactual.

Reviewers like stainless steel electric kettles, because plastic kettles can contain bisphenol A (BPA) and the plastic tends to crack over a number of years. Plus, according to Chow.com, plastic pots can imbue your favorite brew with a plasticky taste and aroma. The best electric kettles boil water quickly, last a long time, require little maintenance, and incorporate safety and efficiency features.

Chef’s Choice Cordless Electric Kettle

The Chef’s Choice Cordless Electric Kettle is a well-designed matte stainless-steel kettle is a great choice for tea connoisseurs, as it allows you to choose from a variety of water temperatures. With a two-quart capacity it’s not only the biggest kettle made by the manufacturer, but one of the largest kettles on the market by about a cup. The only potential drawback of this kettle is that can be somewhat complicated to use.

It received an score of A- from Good Housekeeping — reviewers there gave the glass version of this kettle an A+ rating. However, we found many complaints on Amazon, stating that they lid of the glass kettle broke. This stainless steel version of the kettle received an average of 4 out of 5 stars, from 227 Amazon buyers.

The Chef’s Choice Cordless Electric Kettle is available from Amazon for about $40.

The Krups BW500 Electric Kettle

KRUPS has a long-standing reputation of quality and this 1.8 quart cordless electric kettle is one of the most durable on the market. Made of stainless steel, the 3-pound weight may be off-putting to some, but this adds to the sturdiness of the kettle. The 1500 watts heats water quickly and efficiently. There is an automatic shut-off once the water reaches the boiling point.

Most electric kettles have a 1 year limited warranty, but KRUPS offers a 2 year limited warranty. The KRUPS BW500 received an average 4.4 star rating from 14 Amazon customers. It sells for about $60 on Amazon.

Capresso H2O Plus Electric Kettle

The Capresso H2O Plus wins big on style points because it’s sleekly designed out of glass–which lets owners watch water boil, if so moved. Of course, the glass exterior is also prone to breakage.

The Capresso boils water under 5 minutes, shuts off automatically, and has a concealed heating element. As a bonus, the cord retracts into the electric kettle’s base. This kettle also has a slightly smaller six-cup capacity, though whether that’s an upside or downside depends on how many people live in your household and how often you entertain guests.

This kettle received a top rating from Cook’s Illustrated.

The Capresso costs around $49 at Amazon.

The post The Top Rated Electric Kettles appeared first on Reactual.