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Klipsch Flexus Core 300 soundbar on stand with TV in background
Product Reviews

Klipsch Flexus Core 300 review: a seriously immersive soundbar system with Dirac Live room correction

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Klipsch Flexus Core 300 Soundbar: One minute review

Klipsch Flexus Core 300 soundbar with optional Flexus SURR 200 rear speakers and Flexus SUB 200 subwoofer (Image credit: Future)

The Klipsch Flexus Core 300 isn’t the cheapest Dolby Atmos soundbar you can buy, but those who can afford it will find it matches the best Dolby Atmos soundbars on just about every level.

Now, it might not be the best soundbar for everyone. Aside from the big price tag, it’s also physically big. But it does everything else right. It has all the ports one could want, and it has all the features you’d expect to see in the best soundbars. Most importantly, it sounds really good. And once you set it up with the Dirac Live feature, the sound quality goes from really good to great. It’s that last bit that really puts it over the edge for me.

If you’re looking for a soundbar system that gives a true theater experience at home, the Klipsch Flexus Core 300 is more than capable, and the experience gets even more immersive when you add the accompanying surround speakers and subwoofer.

  • Klipsch Flexus Core 300 at Sweetwater Sound for $1,199

Klipsch Flexus Core 300 review: Price & release date

Klipsch Flexus Core 300 system packaging (Image credit: Future)

  • Price: $1,199.99 / £1,049.00 (about AU$1,830)
  • First available: September 2025

The Klipsch Flexus Core 300 soundbar system reviewed here is anything but cheap. In fact,the Core 300 soundbar, with the Sub 200 subwoofer, and Surr 200 surround speakers that I tested will set you back an eye-wateringly high $2,299.97 / £1,827 (about AU$3,500).

Individually, the Core 300 soundbar goes for $1,199.99 / £1,049.00 (about AU$1,830), while the Sub 200 subwoofer is $599.99 / £419.00 (about AU$910) and the Surr 200 surround sound speakers are $499.99 / £359.00 (about AU$760) per pair. There are cheaper versions available of the subwoofer and surround speakers, so you can get away with a lower system cost, but you won’t have the same experience.

Also. Aussies will have to sit this one out (at least at the time of writing).

Klipsch Flexus Core 300 review: Specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Dimensions (W x H x D)

soundbar: 54 x 3 x 5 inch / 1371 x 76.2 x 127mm; subwoofer: 15.25 x 15.25 x 15.25 inches (387 x 387 x 387mm); surround speaker: 4.1 x 8.75 x 4.31 inches 105 x 222.25 x 109.5mm

Speaker channels

5.1.2 (soundbar), 7.1.4 (with sub and surround speakers)

Connections:

HDMI 2.1 passthrough, HDMI eARC, USB-C, optical digital, subwoofer output, Bluetooth

Dolby Atmos/DTS:X

Yes/Yes

Sub included

Available separately

Rear speakers included

Available separately

Features

4K 120Hz passthrough, Dirac Live room calibration, AirPlay, Google Cast, Google Home support

Klipsch Flexus Core 300 review: Features

The Klipsch Flexus Core 300 soundbar and the optional wireless sub and rear speakers uses wireless dongles to transmit and receive audio signals (Image credit: Future)

  • Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support
  • Night and dialog
  • Can adjust the volume of individual speakers

As you would expect from its price, the Klipsch Flexus Core 300 is feature-filled. It supports both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and you can add an optional subwoofer (or two subwoofers since dual subs are supported) and wireless surround speakers for a full surround sound experience. On top of that, it has built-in Dirac Live, a calibration software that minimizes the effects of room reflections on the sound.

The Flexus Core 300 features movie and music modes, along with a night mode that compresses the audio dynamic range for late-night viewing. A dialog mode offers three different levels to emphasize the specific part of the mid-range where dialog sits. This is a bit more subtle than what I’ve found on other soundbars, but still effective.

In the app, there are quite a few additional options for fine-tuning the sound. There’s a three-band EQ, and you can adjust the individual volume of each channel if you feel like something is out of balance. The only thing missing, surprisingly, is any kind of voice assistant support – a feature typically found on the more expensive soundbars.

WiFi streaming supports Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, AirPlay, and Google Cast. Google Home is the only supported smart home ecosystem.

Klipsch Flexus Core 300 review: Performance

Both the Klipsch Flexus Core 300 soundbar and SUB 200 subwoofer are large compared to most soundbar systems (Image credit: Future)

  • Basic sound quality is very good
  • Dirac Live elevates sound clarity
  • Immersive soundstage

There are two experiences when listening to the Klipsch Flexus Core 300: with and without Dirac Live. Without it, the soundbar sounds very good. Action movies like The Workman have that oomph you expect from a movie theater experience, where you can just feel the subwoofer. Whether it’s a sound effect of someone getting punched or the low notes in the score that add a sense of foreboding, the sound has an impressive sense of weight to it.

The treble is as good as you would expect from a soundbar this pricey as well, with synths, flutes, and windchimes sounding crisp with no loss of detail.

The mid-range is what suffers the most without Dirac Live as it sounds a bit overstuffed without adjustments and dialogue can get lost just a little bit. You can offset with a three-band EQ that provides a 6 dB boost or cut, and changes to the EQ, even with presets active, are noticeable.

But, the real solution is to use Dirac Live (which I describe below in the usability and setup section). Once you’ve gone through the Dirac Live setup, the soundbar will create a custom EQ profile to adjust for the reflections of soundwaves bouncing around your media room, and the difference is stark. Dirac Live makes this soundbar go from good to amazing, with everything sounding clean, especially in the mid-range.

I watched The Batman, the first episode of The Residence, and an Eagles vs Cowboys football game, along with plenty of music during my testing. No matter how complex the soundtrack or music was, I could hear everything with precision. That alone justifies the Flexus Core 300’s price. Other room calibration systems I’ve tried can be very good, but this one is great.

I also experienced immersive sound when testing the surround sound speakers, even when they were not as widely placed as they should be. For the most part, their presentation was subtle; I would almost not realize that there was audio coming through them until I paid attention and realized that I was hearing the sound of wind.

Klipsch Flexus Core 300 review: Design

The Klipsch Flexus Core 300 has a bright alphanumeric LED display for control feedback (Image credit: Future)

  • Modern, elegant look
  • Large soundbar and subwoofer
  • Extensive ports

While the Klipsch Flexus Core 300 comes in basic black, there’s something about its look that’s more elegant than a lot of the competition. (A walnut version is also available.) The soundbar and subwoofer both have wood grain showing through the black (not so for the surround sound speakers), and a silver Klipsch logo is featured prominently on each unit.

Now, don’t mistake that elegance for compact. This isn’t Apple. The Klipsch Flexus Core 300 soundbar is 54 inches wide, and the SUB 200 subwoofer is a 15-inch cube. The SURR 200 surround speakers are just under nine inches tall and a bit over four inches wide and deep. If you’re limited on space, this is not the system for you.

Focusing on just the soundbar, I really appreciate that the Klipsch Flexus Core 300 has an alphanumeric LED display that’s bright and sizable enough that it’s easy to read.

As far as controls go, most of the functionality is either on the remote or in the app. The soundbar itself just has power, input, and volume up and down buttons situated off-center on top.

The Flexus Core 300 comes with just about everything portone could ask for, including but not limited to multiple HDMI ports featuring eARC and 4K 120Hz passthrough, along with an optical digital input and RCA subwoofer output. Of course, there’s Bluetooth as well.

Most of your interaction with the soundbar will probably be through the remote. While I wish it was rechargeable instead of using AAA batteries, that’s really the only criticism I can throw at it. It feels good to hold with its rounded back, and the layout allows you to adjust most functions without having to use the app, including switching sound modes and adjusting the volume of the surround speakers and subwoofer.

Klipsch Flexus Core 300 review: Setup & usability

Klipsch’s control app lets you adjust all system functions and is also used for Dirac Live calibration (Image credit: Future)

  • Generally easy to set up
  • Sub and surround speakers use wireless dongles
  • Dirac Live calibration requires silence

Klipsch packs the soundbar, subwoofer, and surround speakers with their own manual, and setting them up is a fairly straightforward process, though not exactly plug-and-play. I’ve set up a few soundbar systems with wireless connections before, and those typically get paired right out of the box. Here, both the subwoofer and surround sound speakers come with their own wireless dongle that needs to be plugged into the soundbar before pairing.

Considering that the sub and surround speakers are separate purchases, that makes sense. But it’s an additional step, and you have to press the pairing button on each external speaker and wait for the soundbar to connect.

If you want to get the most functionality out of Klipsch’s system, you also need to set up the app. This part was easy – all I had to do was connect it to Wi-Fi and answer some personalization questions.

The only thing I found a little difficult was setting up the Dirac Live calibration, which is finicky compared to other automatic calibration systems I’ve used. But then again, Dirac Live is the standard that audiophiles use for room correction.

The soundbar comes with a wired microphone that gets placed around the sitting area, and the calibration process requires complete silence. If a pet passes by or someone calls out during the ten-minute Dirac Live calibration, or if the air conditioner is too loud, then the test will fail and need to be run again.

  • Setup & usability score: 4.5 / 5

Klipsch Flexus Core 300 review: Value

Klipsch’s SURR 200 rear speakers are easy to setup and deliver immersive surround sound (Image credit: Future)

  • Expensive compared to other premium soundbars
  • Other premium systems not as well designed
  • Competition doesn’t support Dirac Live

As great as the Klipsch Flexus Core 300 Soundbar System is, it’s expensive compared to the competition. That’s especially true if you compare the system to premium models from large manufacturers like Samsung and LG, and not boutique audiophile brands that typically go for even more money.

As far as specific examples go, the LG S95AR is an impressive soundbar system in its own right – I gave it a very favorable review – and comes with surround speakers and a subwoofer without requiring an extra purchase. Its price tag of $1,699.99 (about £1,260 / AUD$2,610) might seem higher than the Flexus Core 300’s price tag of $1,199.99 / £1,049.00 / AU$1,695, but it’s actually a good deal when you consider it’s a complete package. The Klipsch is more aesthetically pleasing and sounds better, but both are quality systems.

The Samsung HW-Q990F, which retails for $1,799 / £1,699 / AU$1,995. Is a feature-filled 11.1.4 system that also makes the Klipsch Flexus Core 300 Soundbar System feel overpriced. Again, there’s a difference in aesthetics and the Samsung (along with the LG) doesn’t support Dirac Live room calibration, although they do provide their own proprietary calibrations.

Should I buy the Klipsch Flexus Core 300?

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Section

Notes

Score

Features

Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Night and Dialog mode are all here along with Dirac Live room EQ

5 / 5

Performance

Very good immersion and basic sound quality that is strongly enhanced by Dirac Live

5 / 5

Design

Classy looking and with an LED display, but large for a soundbar

4.5 / 5

Setup & usability

Relatively easy to set up, though Dirac Live calibration can be finicky if you don’t have complete silence

4.5 / 5

Value

As great as this soundbar system is, it’s among the more expensive options

4 / 5

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Klipsch Flexus Core 300 review: Also consider

Swipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell – Column 0

Klipsch Flexus Core 300

Samsung HW-Q990F

LG S95AR

Sonos Arc Ultra

Price

$1,199.99 / £1,049.00 (about AU$1,830)

$1,999 / £1,699 / AU$2,099

$1,699.99 (about £1,260 / AU$2,610)

$999 / £999 / AU$1,799

Dimensions (w x h x d)

Soundbar: 54 x 3 x 5 inch / 1371 x 76.2 x 127mm; subwoofer: 15.25 x 15.25 x 15.25 inches (387 x 387 x 387mm); surround speaker: 4.1 x 8.75 x 4.31 inches 105 x 222.25 x 109.5mm

Soundbar: 1232 x 70.8 x 138 mm (48.5 x 2.8 x 5.4 inch); Subwoofer: 249 x 251.8 x 249 mm (9.8 x 10.0 x 9.8 inch); Rear speaker: 129.5 x 201.3 x140.4 mm (5.1 x 8.0 x 5.5 inch)

Soundbar: 49.2 x 2.5 x 5.3 in (1250 x 63.5 x 134.6mm); subwoofer: 7.9 x 16 x 15.9 in (200 x 406 x 404mm); rear speakers: 6.3 x 8.8 x 5.6 in (160 x 223.5 x 142mm)

2.95 x 46.38 x 4.35 inches (75 x 1178 x 110.6mm)

Speaker channels

5.1.2 (soundbar), 7.1.4 (with sub and surround speakers)

11.1.4

9.1.5

9.1.4

Connections

HDMI 2.1 passthrough, HDMI eARC, USB-C, optical digital, subwoofer output, Bluetooth

1x HDMI out (with eARC), 2x HDMI 2.1 in, optical digital audio, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

2x HDMI (1 with eARC), optical, digital, Bluetooth, USB type-A

1x HDMI with eARC, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Dolby Atmos/DTS:X

Yes/Yes

Yes/Yes

Yes/Yes

Yes/No

How I tested the Klipsch Flexus Core 300 Soundbar

(Image credit: Future)

  • I used the Klipsch Flexus Core 300 Soundbar system for several weeks
  • Tested with TV, movies, games, and music

I used the Klipsch Flexus Core 300 Soundbar System regularly for several weeks with TV, movies, games, and music. I tested the different modes and inputs, and I spent a lot of time with the Dirac Live calibration.

I’ve tested plenty of tech gear over the years ,from laptops to keyboards and speakers, and so have been able to use my expertise towards giving an honest and fair opinion, not to mention a critical eye, to any product I test.

Read more about how we test

  • First reviewed: September 2025

Klipsch Flexus Core 300: Price Comparison



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Ultrahuman Home Review: Overpriced and Underbaked
Gaming Gear

Ultrahuman Home Review: Overpriced and Underbaked

by admin


The Ultrahuman Home is a futuristic-looking home environment monitor that tracks air quality, light, sound, and temperature. All this data flows into the Ultrahuman app on your phone, offering potential insights into your environment and suggestions on how you could make it healthier. Sadly, this mostly amounts to reminders to crack a window open, because most of the touted features are not yet present and correct, despite the rather hefty $550 price.

Ultrahuman made its name with a subscription-free smart ring that made biohacking more affordable (though it may soon be banned in the US due to a lawsuit from Oura). The Home monitor may seem like a strange sidestep, but if you’re going to hack your body, why not your environment? After all, we know air quality, light and sound exposure, and temperature and humidity can impact our sleep and general health.

Setup and Tracking

Photograph: Simon Hill

Taking a leaf from Apple’s playbook, the Ultrahuman Home is a 4.7-inch anodized aluminum block with rounded corners (it looks like a Mac Mini). There’s an Ultrahuman logo and light sensor on top, a power button and LED on the front, and a USB-C port on the back flanked by privacy switches to turn off the microphone or connectivity (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth).

Setup is super simple: Plug it in and add it via the Ultrahuman app. The Home gets its own tab at the bottom of the Ultrahuman app, alongside the ring, and if you tap on it, you’ll get a score out of 100, indicating how healthy your environment is. Scroll down for a breakdown of the four scores that combine to create your overall Home score (air quality, environmental comfort, light exposure, and UV exposure).

Ultrahuman via Simon Hill

Ultrahuman via Simon Hill

To compile all this data, the Ultrahuman Home is packed with sensors:

  • Air quality sensors to track things like volatile organic compounds (VOCs), typically released by cleaning fluids, and carbon dioxide levels (CO₂) that might indicate poor ventilation. They also watch out for formaldehyde (HCHO), carbon monoxide (CO), and smoke.
  • Particulate matter sensors to track tiny particles in the air, including things like dust, pollen, mold spores, and particles released by cooking. Covering PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10 (the number refers to the size in microns), the Home warns if you’re in danger of breathing these particles in.
  • Temperature and humidity sensors to track how warm or cool it is and how much moisture is in the air. You get a chart of the temperature in your environment and the humidity level.
  • Light sensors to track the level of light and also its makeup, including the amount of blue light and ultraviolet (UV) exposure.
  • Microphones to track the noise levels in your environment, showing noise in decibels in a chart.

Ultrahuman via Simon Hill

The data is all easy to access and read in the app. You get notifications throughout the day, including alerts if VOC levels spike or there’s prolonged noise. I set the Home up in my office for a few weeks and then tried it for another couple of weeks in my bedroom, after I moved houses. This raises the issue of where to put it, because it must be plugged in and isn’t really designed to be moved around. The bedroom seems like the best bet, but you ideally want both, though I can’t imagine springing for two or more of these to cover all your bases.

Oversensitive and Alarming

Photograph: Simon Hill

The idea of combining body and environment tracking data seems smart, but the Ultrahuman Home doesn’t really do it yet. The touted UltraSync with the Ultrahuman Ring Air is limited to basic common sense advice for now. I don’t think anyone really needs a box to tell them they will sleep better in the dark and quiet, and the air quality advice mostly amounts to opening a window for better ventilation.



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Factor Protein Plus Meals Review (2025): Filling, Not Fattening
Product Reviews

Factor Protein Plus Meals Review (2025): Filling, Not Fattening

by admin


The Protein Plus options are pretty broad, comprising about half of Factor’s menu items overall. The meals remain mostly stolidly middle American: garlic herb chicken, barbecue wings, a red pepper frittata for breakfast. Jamaican jerk salmon and a Thai yellow curry chicken were among the most peripatetic options I tried, but even these feel domesticated, accessibly tame. (I did in fact like the jerk salmon a lot more than I expected to.)

Most dishes, though, are classic square meals: a meat, a starch, a veggie that’s probably green. It’s almost wholesome, Midwestern mom food. Heck, Factor—founded and based in Illinois—even has a Midwesterner’s sense of improvised adventure: An “unstuffed pepper” is basically the rice and meat and tomato sauce you’d canonically stuff into a bell pepper, but delivered in saucy meatball form with bell pepper bits strewn amid the rice. It looked sloppy, and it tasted like pure distilled comfort. If you hate what’s essentially a peppery meatball stew, I don’t know you.

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

In bygone years, Factor was perhaps over-reliant on mashes and hashes to fill out meals, but these made only a few appearances—including an actually kinda tasty mashed potatoes with leeks, served as a gloppy side to a pleasantly thick slab of filet mignon that arrived medium-rare, and reheated up to more like medium.

The proteins, uniformly, came out tender and relatively juicy, whether chicken or shrimp or beef. Reheated veggies are always difficult to manage in terms of texture, and that was true here, too. In general, Factor’s veggies were likely to be a little soggy if you nuked them—and a lot better if you put them in an air fryer or convection oven. Also, steer toward meals with brown and wild rice over white or “risotto.”

Over the Long Haul

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

I will always like fresh-cooked food better than meals that have been prepared and reheated from a box: The brightness of a fresh tomato, the pop of a pea, the lively crispness of a just-so carrot, are impossible to replicate in food made yesterday or last week. But proteins and stews fared pretty well in particular, and so the Protein Plus options amounted to my best experience with Factor. It was also among my favorite prepared meal services overall. (See also WIRED’s guide to the best delivery meal kits.)



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An Acer Predator Helios 300 laptop sat on top of the Klim Mistral laptop cooling pad in front of a pink background.
Product Reviews

Klim Mistral review: this comfortable laptop cooling pad is almost totally lacking in chill

by admin



Why you can trust TechRadar


We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Klim Mistral: review

The Klim Mistral is a mid-market laptop cooling pad that has proven particularly popular on online retailers such as Amazon. While it had an original list price of $86.97 / £74.97, shop around and you can pick it up for less, with even Klim selling it direct for $69.97 / £59.97. This seems a pretty decent outlay, especially given it rocks pretty hardcore 4500rpm fans. But how did it perform in practice?

First off, I was pleasantly surprised by its aesthetics. As I remarked in my Klim Wind review, I wasn’t all that enamored by the look of that cooling pad – I still stand by my assessment that it looks like a “cyber-goth butterfly”. By contrast, the Mistral is more mature-looking, dropping some of that edgy gamer styling for a cleaner silhouette and a five-color LED light strip – although the latter is cheaper-looking than some, clearly just showing 10 separate RGB LEDs.

There are also plenty of design touches that would imply it offers more professional cooling. For example, it comes with a rubber seal around its rim that will create a high-pressure area designed to force cooling air into your laptop’s fans, maximizing their effectiveness. In addition, Klim has supplied heat shields to redirect air flow should your laptop also vent from the rear as well as from beneath; our testing Acer Predator Helios 300 laptop with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU sits firmly in this camp, so I dutifully applied them.

When it comes to ergonomics, the Mistral offers a good range of height settings, offering six in total. The top 29-degree angle is too steep to use the keyboard comfortably, but spot-on if you’re just using the screen, while the lower 19-degree angle felt comfortable for long typing sessions. Conversely, I found the placement of the laptop rests to be a bit uncomfortable – they’re easy to adjust to the height of your laptop, but since they stick up above the lip of the wrist rest, I found they dug into my wrists. However, I find this is a problem with a majority of cooling pads.

So it’s safe to say that after experiencing this mindful design, my expectations of the cooling the Mistral would offer was quietly optimistic – or maybe even loudly optimistic, once I’d seen those two enormous 4500rpm fans built-in. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed more thoroughly than a college student’s AI-written dissertation.

(Image credit: Future)

As always, I tested the Klim Mistral’s cooling capacity by running a 3DMark Steel Nomad stress test on our testing laptop for 15 minutes with the cooling pad on max power, measuring the device’s temperature before and after. During the test, our laptop rose from 77ºF / 25ºC to 113.9ºF / 45.5ºC, a whopping 36.9ºF / 20.5ºC – for context, we’ve only had one cooling pad perform worse, the $29.99 / £29.77 TopMate C12 Laptop Cooling Pad, which presided over a rise of 41ºF / 22.8ºC. That’s significantly below what I’d expect from a cooling pad at this price.

In fact, I was so baffled that I did something I never do: I gave the Mistral a second chance. I re-ran the test later in the day, in the event that user error had somehow contributed to this poor performance. Ensuring the laptop was sat firmly on top of the seal, I found the results were certainly different – but not in the way I’d hoped. This time, the laptop’s core temperature rose a ludicrous 54.9ºF / 30.5ºC. Given our baseline stress test for our laptop only saw it rise 57.4ºF / 31.9ºC, this would mean the cooling pad shaved off only 2.5ºF / 1.4ºC, which is negligible enough not to be worth the trouble.

Trying to give Klim the benefit of the doubt here, it does warn heavily on its website that only certain types of laptop will work properly with the Mistral. Your computer will need to be between 15 and 17 inches and feature downward ventilation – but our testing laptop did meet both these criteria. I have also seen several online user reviews mention that the design of their laptop meant there were still small gaps around the rubber seal, negating the high-pressure effect intended.

Still, even if the Mistral’s poor performance is down to the fact our laptop isn’t the perfect fit for its design, most of the other cooling pads I’ve tested have functioned regardless of the shape of our testing device. Sure, it’s perfectly possible that the Klim Mistral will send a chill through your laptop more icy and severe than your second-grade teacher – but do you really want to roll the dice on that?

(Image credit: Future)

Another thing that Klim warns about on its site is that its supposedly high-performance design can result in a lot more noise. If I’m honest, it didn’t really strike me as much of an outlier here: measuring the combined noise output of the cooling pad and our laptop 10 minutes into our test, it clocked 61dB from a few inches away and 51dB at my head height. That’s pretty much par for the course for medium to high-end cooling pads, so it wasn’t really a concern. If you’re a bit more noise-sensitive though, you may find your mileage here varies.

Ultimately, I feel like the Klim Mistral’s build and price write checks that its cooling can’t quite cash. Yes, I’ll accept that it might achieve better results if you have the exact design of laptop – but is that something you should really have to take a punt on when spending $69.97 / £59.97? Fundamentally, other options on our list of the best laptop cooling pads offer more predictable performance, whether you’re spending this kind of money or much less.

(Image credit: Future)

Should I buy the Klim Mistral?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Klim Mistral review: also consider

(Image credit: Future)

How I tested the Klim Mistral

  • Used it over the course of several days
  • Measured the heat rise of a laptop with the pad on maximum settings
  • Recorded how much noise it made two-thirds of the way through our stress test

To put the Klim Mistral through its paces, I followed TechRadar’s standard testing procedure. Running a 3DMark Steel Nomad stress test for 15 minutes on our Acer Predator Helios 300 laptop with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, I set the Mistral on its maximum cooling and measured our laptop’s temperature before and after using a thermal camera. I then compared this to the benchmarks recorded from every laptop cooling pad test we’ve run to date.

In addition, I recorded the combined noise output of the cooling pad’s and our testing laptop’s built-in fans. To do this, I used a sound level meter to measure their volume 10 minutes into the test, recording it both from a few inches away and at my head height (21 inches away). This allowed me to get a sense of both an objective volume, as well as the subjective amount of noise you’re likely to experience in use.

Finally, I made sure I used the Klim Mistral in a variety of scenarios to get a sense of its ergonomics and how comfortable it was in use. I did this by using it to play multiple games and by using it for some of my daily work, so I could build up a meaningful impression of how it works in practice. I bring plenty of experience to this table: not only have I been covering gadgets for many years, but I’m also a creative and gamer, which means I have a lot of experience of pushing my laptops to their limits.

  • First reviewed: September 2025
  • Read more about how we test



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Raleigh One e-bike review: redemption tour
Gaming Gear

Raleigh One e-bike review: redemption tour

by admin


Two good things have come from the 2023 bankruptcy of VanMoof. The first is the all-new VanMoof S6 e-bike that recently launched under new ownership. The second is a new commuter e-bike developed for Raleigh by VanMoof’s departed founders, Ties and Taco Carlier.

Like a VanMoof, the Raleigh One e-bike comes with anti-theft features like GPS tracking and an alarm, cables routed through the aluminum frame, wide tires, mudguards, integrated lighting, and hauling options needed for daily commutes across a city. It also comes packed with lessons learned about reduced complexity and serviceability, including a bevy of off-the-shelf parts and a single-speed, belt-driven transmission connected to a rear-hub motor with a battery that can be quickly removed for indoor charging. The bike also emits pleasant sounds when doing things like powering on, enabling the lights, and arming security without being all hey, look at me and my fancy bike like VanMoofs of old.

It’s pretty much the simpler VanMoof I always wanted the company to build. The only thing missing is the boost button, which is a shame.

I’ve been testing the Raleigh One in flat Amsterdam for the last few weeks. That’s important to know because this single-speed e-bike produces just 35Nm of torque from its 250W motor with a max speed of 25km/h (16 mph). It really suffers on hills without the boost button found on VanMoofs and the Tenways CGO009 this e-bike resembles.

Nevertheless, it is a very good e-bike priced at £2,399 / €2,699 (around $3,000 USD) for the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands. That’s expensive for a Raleigh, but it’s still close to the €2,681 average for European e-bikes and cheaper than local competitors like Cowboy and VanMoof.

$3155

The Good

  • Simple, single-speed belt drive
  • Removable battery
  • Decent range, fast charging
  • A very pleasant ride

The Bad

  • Weak 35Nm of torque and no boost button
  • Frame too tall for shorter riders
  • Software is a work in progress
  • Subscription upsell

The Raleigh One is the first premium, connected e-bike from the British brand established way back in 1887. Unfortunately, in 2025, Raleigh is essentially a logo on top of a marketing strategy after several acquisitions and factory closures. The brand is currently owned by the Accell Group, an industry behemoth responsible for brands like Batavus, Sparta, and Carqon’s electric cargo bikes.

Most people that buy a Raleigh One will take delivery at a local bike shop where it’ll be assembled and prepped for handover. I asked to have mine shipped to my house to test the direct-to-customer route. I had it ready to ride in 30 minutes with the help of excellent illustrated instructions and efficient packing. That’s fast for a DTC e-bike!

The nearly silent Mivice motor, wide 27.5 x 2.2-inch Innova tires, and 21kg (46.3lbs) bike weight combine to produce a sturdy ride. The pedal assist feels intuitive, with the Gates Carbon belt drive delivering power commensurate with the force exerted by my legs. The Tektro hydraulic disc brakes bring everything to a stop with confidence and control. Everything feels very serious, lacking the fun felt on more torquey e-bikes.

The Raleigh One performed fine on slopes up to about five percent, allowing me to maintain the 25km/h top speed without too much additional effort on my part. The single-speed transmission was utterly defeated by a 10 percent slope common in cities like Lisbon and San Francisco. Starting from a dead stop on a three percent slope was doable but required a strong push from my quads. It was my testing on hills that made me really miss that boost button.

Integrated front and rear lighting.

The controls and display are simple and intuitive. This single red light tells me the bike is armed.

The Mivice motor is paired with a single-speed Gates Carbon belt drive for flat city commuting.

A removable battery!

I felt comfortable riding in that single gear at speeds up to 30km/h on the downhill side without feeling like a clown. That’s good because many single-speed belt-driven e-bikes will have your legs spinning wildly at speeds that high.

Raleigh claims a range of up to 80km in the lowest pedal-assist mode, or closer to 50km in max power. I did all my testing at level five of five and managed 47.7km before depleting the battery. Most of my range test was ridden into a 10 to 15 knot headwind, with an hour spent trying to update the e-bike’s firmware from a problematic version 1.8.0 to a much more stable version 1.9.0.

The battery recharged to 50 percent in 55 minutes from the bike’s large 5A / 42V charging brick, 80 percent in 92 minutes, and full at 2 hours and 40 minutes — relatively speedy numbers for a 360Wh battery.

The Raleigh app is basic but does what I need. On the left is the main status screen, on the right is the dashboard displayed when riding.

The software on a connected e-bike needs to be as robust as the vehicle itself and here’s where Raleigh currently falls a little short. My review bike suffers from battery drain of about three percent every 24 hours when parked in my living room. A little drain is normal for connected e-bikes that regularly check in on owner proximity and use GSM/GPS to track location, but three percent (about 10.8Wh) is excessive. I also found the app to be a bit buggy, displaying the occasional “this operation can’t be completed” error or just going unresponsive if left open too long. These issues are concerning for a company offering subscription services highly reliant on its mastery of software. Accell Group is aware of the issues and is addressing my concerns.

“Our engineers are currently refining the power management algorithms,” says Darren Smith, Senior Category Manager at Accell Group. “A firmware update will be released shortly to optimize this standby mode, significantly reducing battery drain while the bike is idle without compromising its security features.” Likewise, the bugs I’m seeing in the app are attributed to its connection state. “Our app team is implementing a more robust connection handling protocol to resolve these specific bugs and an update addressing these stability points will be released very soon,” says Smith.

To be clear: you absolutely don’t need a subscription to ride the Raleigh One or to apply firmware updates, but you also won’t be able to track your bike if it’s stolen. For that you’ll need to pay €7.99 per month which also gets you theft alerts sent to your phone, fall detection to alert loved ones of a crash, and more. You can even pay €14.99 per month to add theft insurance for what Raleigh calls “peace of mind” — a line lifted from VanMoof — that lets you file a claim with Raleigh to handle replacement of your stolen bike. Arranging theft coverage from your e-bike company is certainly the easy route, but you’ll likely save some money with an AirBell and private theft insurance, instead.

Subscriptions suck, but they’re increasingly the norm for premium e-bikes. And with so many bike companies going under or posting dire losses, I’m not going to bemoan the Accell Group’s business model. For all its resources, the bicycle giant isn’t immune to the forces of bikeaggedon that took down VanMoof and Cake, and nearly wiped out Cowboy, Ampler, and many more European micromobility brands.

  • I like that the bike’s integrated front and rear lights can be set to automatically turn on when it’s dark.
  • The display ring next to the left hand grip is useful and remains mostly visible in direct sunlight. The five light segments change color and animate to show battery level, current power setting, alarm status, firmware update, and more.
  • The integrated SP-Connect phone mount requires a compatible case you must buy separately. I still prefer my Loop Micro.
  • The Raleigh One is only available in a step-over frame with a standover height of 83cm. I’m six feet tall and can barely straddle that top frame tube — this bike is for tall riders only. Arrange a test ride if you’re unsure.

1/17The ride is pleasant and serious, but there’s not enough torque to call it fun.

Overall I like the £2,399 / €2,699 Raleigh One for European commuters living in relatively flat cities. Sure, I wish the anti-theft features weren’t locked behind a subscription and the bike would benefit from a boost button to make up for its anemic torque. The idle battery drain will certainly be annoying if it’s not fixed in a future firmware update as promised, but at least you can remove the battery and charge it inside. I also like that all those off-the-shelf parts can be serviced at your local Raleigh shop.

Yes, the Carlier brothers failed at VanMoof, yet many of the lessons learned seem to have been applied to the Raleigh One. But I’ve only had it for a few weeks and most e-bikes perform well when new. Let’s see how it does after months of wear and tear in crowded bike racks, rain, dust, sand, snow, and the occasional fall or attempted theft. Ties and Taco’s attempt at redemption will take time, so let’s see how things are going in about a year, shall we?

Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

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Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds review - an exquisite handling model saves an overly disruptive karting offering
Game Updates

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds review – an exquisite handling model saves an overly disruptive karting offering

by admin


A fun arcade karting experience is often too chaotic for its own good, but a tight handling model with a high skill ceiling offers surprising depth.

I’ve recently decided to embrace my interests more, so I binned all my old polo shirts that made me look like a lower-middle class wannabe golf pro who works as the manager of a regional carpet store. To replace them I bought a Pac-Man baseball cap and a truckload of image-heavy t-shirts, most of which make references to video games, films, and popular culture. OK, so this sounds like I’ve become the fashion embodiment of Ready Player One, but some of these shirts are pretty nice. Long story short, my daughter wanted me to buy a Sonic the Hedgehog shirt to match her Sonic hoodie. I did. I am a Sonic fan – there, I’ve admitted it!

Sonic Racing: Crossworlds review

A side-effect of this is how popular I am at parties for pre-schoolers – an age group that, it seems, absolutely adores the Blue Blur. A few months back I happened to wear my Sonic t-shirt, completely coincidentally, to a Sonic-themed birthday party, and at points I was more popular than the magician. Kids parties are always a lot, but this one had an extra level of chaos. Not dissimilar, then, to Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, a kart racer that has the unpredictable energy of someone unintentionally wearing themed merch to a five-year-old’s party. To use a phrase that probably died off at least two generations ago: this pops off.

CrossWorlds at its core is as you’d expect a fun-focused kart racer to be: you pick your character and vehicle (cars and hoverboards) to determine your basic stats, such as how strong you are, your top speed, acceleration, and all the rest, and then duke it out over a grand prix of four races alongside 11 other racers. Speed and a good racing line only go so far, with there rarely being more than a few seconds between power-up attacks or on-course obstacles. So far, so kart racer… but one that’s even more unrelenting than the norm with its power-up fueled carnage.

Rivals appear at the start of each race, smack talking in an age-suitable way. | Image credit: SEGA/Eurogamer

More options to shape your vehicle come from purchasable items (using the easily obtained in-game currency) that can be equipped in the customisation menu, plus a load of perk-like gadgets that give you stat boosts or special abilities. While these gadgets are simple at first and your options are limited, you’ll quickly unlock more and be able to equip extra in each race, making them more useful than they initially appear to be. While I found a gadget that gets you going quicker after falling off the track to be quite useful as I was learning the tracks, I ended up focusing more on stat boosts and didn’t tinker too much once I had a set I was happy with.

Classic karting is the core driving style, complete with power-sliding, boosts, slipstreaming, and more, but at points you’ll also transform into planes and boats. Planes are fine as brief moments of respite from the more frenetic grounded racing, but the boat sections are exceedingly flat in comparison. A tweaked boost mechanic while on water sees your craft also hop into the air, which does open up some shortcuts when used correctly, but compared to Mario Kart World’s boat sections this is less dynamic and is almost devoid of thrills.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is visually bright and bold, but it’s rough in places. | Image credit: SEGA/Eurogamer

The CrossWorlds from the title, then, might be the game’s headline feature, but while racing it doesn’t really add all that much to the experience. For the second lap of each three-lap race the leader gets to choose if they want themselves and the entire pack to be teleported (via a large golden ring) to either a specific CrossWorlds track (there are 15 of these that are separate to the core tracks found on the course selector) or a random track, in a left or right choice not dissimilar to the branching course selection in Out Run. There’s no obvious benefit to the leader, here, outside of some minor gains from having a vehicle potentially suited to what’s chosen, and the teleportation is handled in a rather unspectacular way, but it’s a neat enough gimmick and the CrossWorlds are enjoyably more on the novelty end of the course spectrum.

The same mechanic is used in the final of the four grand prix races, with the three laps comprising the trio of courses you’ve raced up to that point, the course changing as you teleport at the end of each lap. I don’t love repeating previous courses to end a grand prix, nor is the course-swapping handled in a particularly unique way, so I found myself zoning out during many of these final races – which cost me a win on a handful of occasions. A rival system, which pits you against a foe for increased rewards, adds some extra spice, but once I’d won each of the grand prix my interest quickly waned.

It’s all good fun, though, with the chaos made more enjoyable when playing against real people – either online or in local four-player split-screen. Multiplayer isn’t limited to grand prix, either, with a slightly oversold Race Park offering a bunch of team-based events that twist the races. One, for example, gives you a speed boost for driving into one of your team mates, another gives bonus points for rings collected, and another only includes the heavy power-ups. Rewards can be earned for performances against the other teams, but this is still essentially a set of custom game modes.

Make your choice over the CrossWorlds track you want to be teleported to. | Image credit: SEGA/Eurogamer

While I’m not bowled over by the Grand Prix mode (which, to be clear, is the key offering here – there’s no open world to explore, or story mode), there is a Time Trial mode complete with ghost racing against the world’s best players. I’m a sucker for these modes, and CrossWorlds offers a very tidy handling model that only really comes clearly into view when you aren’t swearing endlessly due to being knocked off your stride. I appreciate that purely racing for the fastest times isn’t for everyone, and highly likely not a reason most people care about kart racers, but there’s a lot to learn here if you are that way inclined.

Forget about the slower race speeds, though, as they can feel like you’re driving through treacle. Sonic Speed (the third option in most of the modes) and Super Sonic Speed are your only choices in Time Trial, which is fine as they are what I’d recommend you choose if you truly want to feel alive. Combine this speed with some high-level boost controls tied to drifts and tricks, circuit shortcuts, and optimal racing lines and you’ve got everything you’ll need for a jolly good time. Simply put, drifting builds your boost meter, to a maximum level of 3, but you can retain your boost meter while changing directions if you go from one drift directly into another, and also boost via simple tricks performed in the air. To get the best times you’ll need to know when to build a boost and when you use it, and when to take a route that offers trick potential, even if it’s not the most direct path forward.

I really didn’t get on with the on-water sections, finding them dull compared to the rest of the racing, but the flight sequences are fun. | Image credit: SEGA/Eurogamer

Hardcore Sonic fans may wish ill on my Sonic t-shirt for saying this, but I’ve always found the modern soundtracks to be wildly uneven. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds features a broad selection of classic songs which run the gamut from annoyingly catchy pops to almost causing actual damage to my ears. This inelegant mix is true of the visuals, too – the courses are big and bold, but details are rougher than I expected for a game releasing onto modern consoles in their fifth year on the market. Similarly, the aforementioned CrossWorlds portal rings are presented with lower frame rates than the rest of the game runs at, at a lower resolution, and end up feeling hamstrung by needing to function on the now ancient Switch hardware.

A small point, perhaps, but I’m also not enamored with the way all the crossover elements with non-SEGA games are tied to paid DLC. Pac-Man, Minecraft, and SpongeBob Squarepants are all announced, all tied to the Season Pass – racers and tracks. Free updates are coming from SEGA, but thus far that is only said to be new racers, including Joker (Persona), Ichiban Kasuga (Yakuza), and Hatsune Miku (not SEGA-owned but SEGA has developed games using the character). There’s not a shortage of tracks or racers in the core game, but the crossover courses look to be some of the more visually interesting of the entire lot.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds accessibility options

Subtitles,Steering assist, Auto-accelerate, Trick assist

How much you are going to enjoy Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds really depends on what you want from an arcade racing game. If Mario Kart (let’s say World, but all of them work) is Jaws, a refined and lauded take on the shark attack film, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is Under Paris, a more ludicrous entry in the genre that pushes excess without a modicum of restraint. That comparison might feel odd, given Mario Kart World is a rather joyous celebration of kart racing, but CrossWorlds at times feels like you’re playing a proper arcade game, strapped into the hydraulic moving seat, but also having to contend with the wheel being turned by an overly enthusiastic small child. A child that loves Sonic and anyone who happens to be sporting a high-fashion Sonic t-shirt.

A copy of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds was provided for review by Sega.



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The Status Audio Pro X on a window sill.
Product Reviews

Status Audio Pro X review: premium earbuds with seriously impressive sound

by admin



Why you can trust TechRadar


We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Status Audio Pro X: Two-minute review

American audio company Status Audio was hurt by the curse of poor timing with the release of its next-gen premium earbuds and challengers to our best earbuds buying guide. That’s because less than two months after the firm unveiled the Pro X, Apple finally released its latest buds, the AirPods Pro 3, which slightly undercut the underdogs’ latest release in terms of price.

I don’t think Status needs to worry much about competition from Apple, though, because the product distinguishes itself in a few key areas (and, of course, actually works equally as well for Android users).

For one, the Status Pro X has three audio drivers per bud, one more than the AirPods Pro and two more than most earbuds I test. This trio works together to deliver well-defined and high-quality audio that sounds fantastic, making these some of the best earbuds you can try.

The earbuds also look as good as they sound, with the ellipsoid design language carried between the buds and the case to make them look some of the classiest buds I’ve seen. It’s not all for show either as I found the fit reliable.

Status has nailed more of the basics with solid Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), handy touch controls and wireless charging in the case.

The main let-down for me was the battery life, which basically scraped five hours if you’ve got ANC turned on. That’s pretty poor when you look at averages on the market, even for high-end buds, and rules them out for certain use cases.

In fact, the overall feature set is a little bit anemic, and there are a few common perks that aren’t available on the Pro X. It’s clear that the emphasis here is on the audio quality and design, not the handy extras that often justify a higher price.

That’s the one department where the AirPods Pro 3 cleanly beat the Status Pro X; don’t expect any live translation or heart rate tracking here. But Status has Apple beat in the two other main areas, and that’s good enough for me.

Status Audio Pro X review: Price and release date

(Image credit: Future)

  • Released in ‘batches’ every few months from July 2025
  • Costs $299 / £272 / AU$470
  • Pricier than big-name rivals

The first thing to know about the Pro X is that they’re not cheap gadgets; these are pricey buds that bump elbows with some top-notch rivals.

The official retail price for the Status Audio Pro X is $299 / £272 / AU$470, though it’s worth noting that you can pre-order them for $249 / £226 / AU$384. When I say ‘pre-order’, I don’t mean that the buds aren’t out, but (at the time of writing at least) Status is selling them in waves, with one every couple of months. For the purpose of this review I’m taking the RRP as the real price of the buds though.

That price means the buds cost more than the new AirPods Pro 3, which go for $249 / £219 / AU$429 and roughly match the option that tops our best earbuds list, the Technics EAH-AZ100, which go for $299 / £259 / AU$478.

In other words, I went into this review expecting great things.

One more thing: the Pro X’s predecessor, the excellent Status Between 3ANC, cost $249 (approx. £249 / AU$399).

Status Audio Pro X review: Specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Drivers

12mm driver + 2x Knowles balanced armature drivers

Active noise cancellation

Yes

Battery life (ANC off)

8 hours (buds) 24 hours (case)

Weight

5g (buds) 48g (case)

Connectivity

Bluetooth 5.4

Waterproofing

IP55

Status Audio Pro X review: Features

(Image credit: Future)

  • Poor battery life
  • Decent noise cancellation
  • Fewer features than rivals

According to Status Audio, the Pro X will last for 8 hours of listening time, with the charging case extending it to 24 hours in total. That figure must be for listening with ANC turned off, because when it was enabled, I got a far shorter listening time: roughly four and a half to five hours. That’s not exactly a competitive stat as it falls below average by a considerable way.

A better feature is the noise cancellation which, while not best-in-class, was solid enough to plaster over annoying background noises. The Ambient mode is one of the better examples of pass-through sound I’ve used, with surrounding sounds fed into your headphones without sounding amplified at all.

You can toggle between these modes using the Status Hub app which also lets you customize the touch controls, choose between one of five equalizer presets (plus a custom mode with an eight-band EQ for the audiophiles), find the buds if you’ve lost them (with location tracking and audio cues), set up multi-point connection and toggle whether your voice is hidden by the ANC when you talk in the phone. Hidden in the app’s settings is a Dynamic EQ mode which boosts bass and treble when the volume is low – it’s turned off by default though.

There are a few features which you may expect at this price point that you’re not getting, including surround-sound audio (see ‘spatial audio’), toggle-able wearer detection, fit tests or the ability to change codec or music stream bitrate. The slender feature set is something we’ve knocked past Status buds for and while there are more here (the Between 3ANC didn’t let you change touch controls, for example, and GPS buds tracking is a great tool), I’d still like to see a little more to justify the price.

In terms of connection specs, the Pro X supports SBC, AAC and LDAC, at 24-bit/96 kHz. In my testing I didn’t have any connection issues between the buds and my phone.

Status Audio Pro X review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

  • Classy look for bud and case
  • Handy touch controls
  • Case supports wireless charging

The Status Audio Pro X are some of the more refined earbuds I’ve tested this year in terms of design. They’re stem-toting buds, although ‘stem’ feels like an odd choice of word for the ellipsoid pillars standing tall from the earbuds.

Despite the size of the stems, which made me worry about the reliability of the ear fit, the Pro X stayed in my ears without any shifting or issues. The touch controls worked well and were easy to use, thanks to the size of the sensor area so you don’t need any precision to pause or skip your music.

The buds have an IP55 rating against dust ingress and jets of water, so don’t submerge them in puddles or sinks if you want them to keep working.

Now onto the case; it’s a small oblong box that weighs about 48g (according to my kitchen scales, though I couldn’t find an official figure from Status Audio). It’s not too huge a case although I did notice it in my trouser pocket. I like how it shares obvious design DNA with the earbuds, though I do feel Status missed a trick by not copying the buds’ two-tone shading.

In a neat addition, the case supports wireless charging, so you don’t need to rely on its USB-C port if you don’t want to.

Something I need to mention is that, during testing, one of the earbud charging connectors in the case stopped working. I wrote this off as an anomalous error and Status were quick to replace the test unit with another one – which didn’t break – but I feel compelled to mention the issue after I discovered a Reddit post in which people shared stories of the same issue happening, albeit in past Status buds.

Status Audio Pro X review: Sound quality

  • 12mm driver + dual balanced armature drivers
  • Equalizer plus loads of presets
  • Max volume should be higher

(Image credit: Future)

Status is putting all its eggs in the ‘sound quality’ basket with the Pro X. The buds have not one, not two but three drivers: a 12mm dynamic driver and two Knowles balanced armature drivers, with the triumvirate designed to individually hit bass, middle and treble respectively.

This gambit pays off: the Pro X sound fantastic and you won’t find much better on the market in the wireless realm. By default the sound profile is neutral, but the aforementioned app presets let you pull oodles of treble or bass out of your tunes – once you work out what each means, due to the lack of a guide (take a guess which has more bass: Status Signature, Status Audiophile or Knowles Preferred? That’s right, there’s no way of knowing – and that’s the only information you’re given). Whatever your taste, you’ll be able to cater your listening to it.

Treble is distinct and sparkling, while bass is well-defined and mids remain clear and strong. The quality is high, and you can hear the inflection in vocals and the squeak of fingers on a guitar string. There isn’t as defined a soundstage as on some other high-end buds though, beyond the natural separation that you can perceive when the quality of lines is higher.

The Pro X don’t go quite as loud as I would’ve liked either; a few times when I was listening outdoors they didn’t reach the volume or oomph I’d have liked to combat noisy situations, despite the decent noise cancellation.

Status Audio Pro X review: Value

(Image credit: Future)

  • Let’s be clear, these are pricey buds
  • …but you can save money with pre-order

It’s always hard to defend the value proposition of top-end buds. After all, premium tech simply doesn’t give you value for money; you can buy decent buds for a third of the price that don’t drop the quality by a third – and the gains sonically here are absolutely worthy if you value them, but they’re incremental.

So Status goes a long way to justifying the Pro X’s price with the high-quality audio and premium design, but the question of whether they’re great value for money would be a lot easier to answer if the feature set was more fleshed out.

Should I buy the Status Audio Pro X?

(Image credit: Future)Swipe to scroll horizontallyStatus Pro X score card

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Features

The unimpressive battery life and lack of super features hurts the buds

3/5

Design

These look great and fit into ears well.

4/5

Sound quality

The specs don’t lie, and three drivers makes the audio sound fantastic.

4.5/5

Value

Can you expect great value from premium tech? This is pretty good, though the feature set would sway the needle.

3.5/5

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Status Audio Pro X review: Also consider

Swipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell – Column 0

Status Pro X

Status Between 3ANC 

AirPods Pro 3

Technics EAH-AZ100

Drivers

12mm driver + 2x Knowles balanced armature drivers

10mm driver + 2x Knowles balanced armature drivers

Custom driver, custom amplifier

10mm driver

Active noise cancellation

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Battery life

8 hours (buds) 24 hours (case)

8 hours (buds) 30 hours (case)

8 hours (buds) 24 hours (case)

12 hours (buds) 17 hours (case)

Weight

5g (buds) 48g (case)

13.6g (buds)

5.5g (buds) 44g (case)

5.9g (buds) 42g (case)

Connectivity

Bluetooth 5.4

Bluetooth 5.2

Bluetooth 5.3

Bluetooth 5.3

Waterproofing

IP55

IPX5

IP57

IPX4

How I tested the Status Audio Pro X

  • Tested for one month
  • Tested at home, in the office and on walks

As I mentioned earlier in this review, I tested two review samples of the Status Pro X due to one breaking, and it means the total testing period for the buds exceeded a month, longer than we usually give buds.

I paired the buds with my Android phone and used apps like Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, YouTube and WhatsApp for various types of testing. I listened at home, on various types of public transport and on walks around my neighborhood.

I’ve been reviewing gadgets at TechRadar since early 2019 and have tested many different earbuds in that time.

  • First reviewed in September 2025

Status Audio Pro X: Price Comparison



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Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua vacuum testing mop function on wood floors
Gaming Gear

Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua review: a 2-in-1 vacuum-mop that’s great for freshening up floors

by admin



Why you can trust TechRadar


We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua: two-minute review

The Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua is marketed as a hybrid hero: part cordless vacuum, part mop, all in one sleek stick. It sits alongside the regular Unlimited 7, which is a standard cordless vacuum, but the Aqua version comes with two floorheads: a powered vacuum head, and a mopping head with suction. As such, it’s a direct rival to Dyson V15s Submarine, but with a lighter feel and a friendlier price. However, after using it for nearly three weeks, I found it wasn’t quite up there with the best wet and dry vacuums on the market.

On test, I found this vacuum light and nimble, with a properly practical design. There’s a long, flexible nozzle attachment for getting behind radiators, and the main vacuum wand can be released to bend forwards to 90 degrees too, enabling me to skim under sofas, kickboards and low tables without crouching or dragging furniture around.

However, it’s not well suited to strenuous cleaning. With the vacuum head attached, suction was strong enough for everyday crumbs, dog hair and dust bunnies, but not on a par with the best cordless vacuums on the wider market – it struggled to get fine dust out of carpet and wasn’t great on edges, either. The mop head did a decent job of freshening up hard floors, but tended to smear spillages around rather than mopping them up. Plus, the gap between the two rotating pads meant several passes were required for complete coverage. Both the dustbin and water reservoir are quite small, which means frequent emptying and refilling.

Still, if you live in a smaller home, perhaps with mostly hard floors, and are just looking for an all-in-one solution for everyday use, the Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua is well worth a look. You’ll still need to dig out the mop for more thorough cleans, but this stick vacuum will help keep things fresh in the meantime. Read on for my full Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua review.

It comes with plenty of accessories and spares (Image credit: Future)

Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua review: price & availability

  • List price: £499.99 / AU$699
  • Launch date: January 2024 (AU), April 2024 (UK)
  • Available: UK and Australia

In the UK, the Unlimited 7 Aqua officially launched in April 2024, and it’s already seen some decent discounts. The list price is £499.99, but at the time of writing I spotted it on offer for £379.99 with free delivery (which actually makes it cheaper than the base Unlimited 7). Considering the Aqua version comes with a handy mop head as well as the standard vacuum attachment, it feels like a no-brainer if you’ve got hard floors.

Over in Australia, the Unlimited 7 Aqua arrived in January 2024 with a price tag of $699. That puts it neatly in line with the rest of the Unlimited 7 range, which varies between AU$549 and AU$749 depending on which bundle you go for (extra batteries, pet brushes, that sort of thing).

I haven’t spotted any consistent discounts yet, so it’s probably safest to assume it’ll be sold close to full price for now. Sadly, Bosch doesn’t sell its vacuums in the US, so the Unlimited 7 Aqua won’t be making its way across the pond as far as we know.

As for where it sits in the market, the Aqua is at the lower end of the premium sector in both territories. But given the solid build quality, the option to mop and vacuum in one go, and Bosch’s reputation for durability, I’d say it’s pitched fairly.

  • Value for money score: 4 out of 5

Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Weight:

6.4 lbs / 2.9 kg

Dimensions (H x W x D):

51.6 x 9.9 x 53in / 131 x 25.2 x 134.5cm

Floorhead width:

9.8 in / 25cm

Filter:

HEPA

Bin capacity:

0.3L

Battery:

18v 3.0 Ah

Max runtime:

40 mins

Charge time:

5 hours

Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua review: design

  • 2-in-1 vacuum and vac-mop, with separate heads for each
  • Slim, lightweight, yet solid build
  • Flexible wand and bendy hose get into hard-to-reach places

In the box, the Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua comes with everything you’d expect, and more. You get two floorheads (a powered floorhead for vacuuming and the Aqua mop/vac head), a bendable hose, charging cable, battery pack, docking station, a 2-in-1 furniture brush, both short and long, bendy crevice nozzles, plus four textured pads for the mop.

It’s a generous bundle that meant I could get stuck in straight away without feeling short-changed on accessories. You can also store a couple of the nozzles on the wall-mounted docking holster once you’ve decided where it’s going to live.

The floor head has a motorized brush with soft and hard bristles and LED headlights (Image credit: Future)

The vacuum itself is slimline and lightweight and, crucially, it doesn’t feel top-heavy in the hand the way some stick vacs can. All the attachments click into place with satisfying smoothness, and the release buttons are ergonomically positioned, so swapping heads mid-clean never felt fiddly.

If I were to compare it to a car, the build quality was giving VW energy: solid, reliable, and clearly engineered to last, even if it doesn’t have the glossy, showy looks of a Merc or Beemer.

Switching to handheld mode is very easy (Image credit: Future)

Controls are nice and simple. A single slider toggles between Eco, Turbo and Auto, and I mostly left it parked on Auto. Battery life is shown by three LEDs that switch off one by one as the charge drops. It’s functional, but a bit vague info-wise compared to a modern digital display.

Getting deep under furniture is a breeze (Image credit: Future)

The flexible hose was one of my favorite design touches. It bends like an elbow joint, letting me sweep under sofas and kickboards without crouching. I also made good use of the bendy crevice nozzle, which snaked neatly behind radiators and into tight spots.

The roller floorhead mixes stiff and soft brushes, though I couldn’t see an obvious way to pop the roller out for detangling hair without a screwdriver, which felt slightly old-school.

A small water tank feeds the mop floorhead (Image credit: Future)

The mop head, on the other hand, is refreshingly straightforward: a lozenge shape with two spinning pads that attach via Velcro. Fill the small tank with water (and a splash of floor cleaner if you like), press a button to dampen the pads, click it back into place, and you’re ready to mop. All in all, the Unlimited 7 Aqua’s design is practical, flexible and reassuringly well built. It’s not especially flashy, but it’s smart where it counts.

Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua review: performance

  • Strong suction and flexible cleaning
  • Mop tends to swish dirt around
  • Small bin and tank need frequent stops

Since the Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua is a game of two parts, I’ll start by covering the general stuff like ease of use, noisiness and maintenance, then focus on mop-ability.

Maneuvering the Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua is effortless. Regardless of which floorhead is attached, it glides smoothly across every surface, getting tight to edges and right into the corners with ease, and barely needing any force, thanks to the powered floorhead.

On test, I especially loved the flexible main tube, which I could unlatch and bend to reach right under sofas and low furniture without having to twist my own body like a contortionist. It’s also very lightweight, even for a stick vacuum, so I could lift it up onto the sofas and upholstered ottoman, staircase runner etc.if I was feeling lazy, or switch to handheld vacuum mode if I wanted a bit more precision.

The long bendy nozzle tool is super handy for getting into awkward places (Image credit: Future)

The array of nozzles make the fiddlier tasks easy, too. The crevice tool and furniture brush work exactly as expected, but my fave is the bendy long crevice nozzle, which managed to get into all the nooks and crannies of my fancy (but impossible to clean) radiators and also provided good reach for ceiling cobwebs and curtain rails.

This cordless is so light, I often didn’t bother switching to handheld (Image credit: Future)

While the mop head has a vacuum function, it’s really only designed to clear the way for mopping. For carpets and dirty hard flooring, you’ll need to employ the excellent motorized floorhead.

I loved that it has decent LEDs on the front to illuminate every crumb, and the anti-tangle roller had no truck with my daughters’ long tresses. In terms of noisiness, which I recorded using an app, in Eco mode it was fairly quiet at around 68 dB(A), so I could easily hold a conversation while cleaning. Turbo definitely ramped things up, hitting about 80 dB(A) and sounding punchier, but I used this mode sparingly to save juice so it was never really an issue.

The suction on this thing is way punchier than I expected. Even in Eco mode it guzzled up crumbs, pet hair and muddy paw/boot prints without breaking a sweat. Auto mode was the real star though – I could hear it cranking things up the second I hit a rug, then chilling out again on hard floors.

The red button slides down to drag the bin contents out (Image credit: Future)

The vacuum dustbin was annoyingly small and needed emptying far more regularly than my cordless Miele – this wouldn’t be ideal if you have plenty of pets. On the plus side, it was very easy to empty, and the filter has an easy-clean function whereby you turn the red wheel in the top and the dust pours out. No washing filters under the tap and waiting for them to dry before you can vacuum again.

Mopping

To set the scene, my floors are mostly hard surfaces (engineered wood, porcelain, laminate) and they do not get an easy ride. With two kids, two dogs (including a mischievous puppy), an escapee budgie who thinks he rules the roost, and ponies that seem determined to send half the Devonshire countryside indoors on our boots and clothing, my mop and bucket get a lot of action throughout the week.

With that in mind, it’s fair to say the mop pads on the Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua had their work cut out. They work by taking clean water from the reservoir to dampen the pads, then spinning fairly quickly as you push along, vacuuming at the same time. The mop head has a button you can press with your foot to charge the mop heads with water.

Press the raised button with your foot to charge the mop heads with water (Image credit: Future)

I found the mop pads spread the water and cleaning solution fairly evenly, except for the dry channel created by the gap between the two, which meant I did need to do multiple passes for full coverage. They definitely did some good, judging by the grubby pads afterwards – which were pretty grim, in a satisfying way.

If I’m honest, it often felt like the mops were pushing the dirt around rather than properly lifting it away. In short, when life got really filthy (pretty much every other day), I still needed to follow up with an old-fashioned mop to tackle the worst of it.

That’s the issue with this style of mop: although the pads are fed with clean water, the dirty stuff stays on them until the end of the cleaning session, when you can remove them and rinse them out or pop them into the washing machine.

In contrast, roller-based wet cleaners like the Dyson WashG1 have a scraper that siphons off dirty water as the mop pad rolls around. That kind of setup does require a separate dirty water tank, though.

The rotating mop pads sit on Velcro and can be removed and washed in the washing machine (Image credit: Future)

That said, for everyday upkeep the Unlimited 7 Aqua was still a handy pal to have around. It gave our hard floors a nice little refresh, and I loved how quick and fuss-free it was compared with lugging out the mop and bucket.

For me, this is the machine to grab for a speedy once-over before guests arrive, i.e. when I want to pretend we don’t spend our days knee-deep in horse muck. But after a muddy hack through the fields or a puppy-induced disaster, the good old faithful mop was called back into action.

Cleaning tests

To really see what this machine was made of, I put the Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua through a series of at-home tests that aim to replicate the kind of messes real families deal with daily. Here’s how it did.

Test 1: Fine dust
I started with a teabag’s worth of dry tea scattered on both hard floor and carpet. On hard floor, it was flawless – everything vanished in a single pass on Eco, without any effort. On carpet, though, it wasn’t quite as slick. Eco took several passes and still left bits behind until I cranked it up to Turbo, which eventually got the job done.

Image 1 of 2

Tea on hard floor(Image credit: Future)Tea on carpet(Image credit: Future)

Test 2: Larger debris
Next up, 30g of oats scattered across the floor to mimic larger dirt particles. On hard floor it aced the challenge, sucking them up in one smooth pass without shoving them around like a mini snow plough. On carpet, they bounced about a bit at first, but a second pass on Eco cleared the lot.

Image 1 of 2

Oats on hard floor(Image credit: Future)Oats on carpet(Image credit: Future)

Test 3: Edges
I lined oats along the skirting boards to see how close it could clean without swapping to a nozzle and was not terribly impressed. It needed multiple passes and still left a few stragglers that I had to tidy up with the crevice tool.

The edge cleaning test left a fair few stragglers (Image credit: Future)

Test 4: Mop
This was the big one. I spilt milk on dark laminate and set the Aqua mop head to work. At first glance it looked promising… until I stopped and lifted it, at which point milk dribbled back out. Worse, when the floor dried, there was a faint white film where it hadn’t been properly cleaned.

A second test on my engineered timber floor seemed better at first, but a swipe with a wet wipe revealed plenty of dirt was still lingering. Safe to say, I won’t be relying on it for puppy accidents again anytime soon.

Image 1 of 2

I didn’t cry over spilt milk…(Image credit: Future)…until it poured right back onto the floor(Image credit: Future)

Overall, the tests showed that the Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua is a strong performer on hard floors, handling both fine dust and larger debris with ease in Eco mode. Carpets were more of a challenge. It could cope, but often needed multiple passes or a boost to Turbo to get a thorough clean.

Edge cleaning wasn’t its strongest suit, and the mop function looked good at first glance but ultimately made me sad, leaving behind residue and proving unreliable for all but the quickest spruce-up.

  • Performance score: 3 out of 5

Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua review: battery

  • Around 30 mins with the powered floorhead for vacuuming
  • Mopping eats battery quicker, around 10–15 mins on Auto
  • Turbo gobbles up the juice – about 9 mins max

Battery life on the Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua isn’t mind-blowing, but it’s not a total washout either. In Eco mode, I squeezed out a respectable 41 minutes when using the smaller accessories, though the powered floorhead brought that down to about half an hour (28 minutes, if we’re being precise). Flick it into Turbo and the battery evaporates faster than my kids’ snacks after school – you’ll get around nine minutes before it keels over.

Mopping is another level of thirsty: with the Aqua head on Auto mode, I only managed 10–15 minutes before the lights started blinking. That said, I rarely needed Turbo when mopping, so it wasn’t a huge issue.

Charging is where Bosch redeems itself. Yes, it takes a yawnsome five hours if you plug it directly into the vacuum, but if you shell out for a fast charger base (not included as standard), that falls to just one hour, which feels far more realistic for a busy household. The battery is part of Bosch’s 18V Power For All Alliance, so I could technically pop it into a hedge trimmer or drill, which is pretty handy.

Overall, the runtime won’t blow you away, but I never ran out mid-clean in Auto mode. If you’ve got a bigger place or serious messes, a spare battery is your golden ticket.

  • Battery life score: 3 out of 5

Should you buy the Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua?

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Attribute

Notes

Rating

Value for money

Not dirt cheap, but you’re getting a vacuum and a mop in one, plus Bosch’s solid build. Deals make it even sweeter.

4/5

Design

Slim, light and packed with clever touches like the bendy wand. Feels sturdy and well thought-out, but not flashy.

4/5

Performance

Great suction on hard floors, less convincing on carpets and edges, and the mop turned out to be disappointing.

3/5

Battery

Enough juice for a decent clean, although Turbo and mop modes drain battery fast. Bosch’s fast charger (not included) is a lifesaver.

3/5

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

How I tested the Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua

I spent nearly three weeks living with the Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua, putting it through its paces in the chaos of my pet-filled four-bed family home in the country. To keep things fair, I ran TechRadar’s set tests, sprinkling fine tea leaves, scattering handfuls of oats, dragging it along skirting boards, and even pouring milk on my dark laminate to challenge the mop.

Day-to-day, I also used it for real-world chores: sucking up endless dog hair, chasing crumbs under the kitchen table, and tackling the fallout from pony gear being trailed through the hallway. The bendy wand and flexible crevice nozzle got a workout behind radiators and under sofas, while Auto mode proved handy for flitting between hard floors and rugs without me fiddling with settings.

I even gave the mop head a fair chance, though I quickly learned its limitations and gave up using it on Dotty the puppy’s many, many toilet-training fails. I generally found it quick, light and easy to use, even if it couldn’t quite conquer the messiest moments.

Read more about how we test vacuum cleaners.

First reviewed September 2025



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Turtle Beach Racer
Product Reviews

Turtle Beach Racer review: a top budget-friendly option with some very neat ideas

by admin



Why you can trust TechRadar


We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Turtle Beach Racer: One-minute review

The Turtle Beach Racer absolutely has the potential to shake up the entry-level racing wheels market. Sim race enthusiasts need not apply; the Racer is a relatively basic offering that ditches higher-end features like force feedback and on-screen displays – the likes of which we see from the Thrustmaster T248R et al. But for more arcade-adjacent racing games like Tokyo Xtreme Racer and Forza Horizon 5, the Racer is a bit of a cheat code to unlocking even more fun from such titles.

I’ve had a blast testing the Turtle Beach Racer over the past week. Don’t let its relatively low price point fool you; it boasts surprisingly good build quality and is impressively versatile to boot.

While a pair of clamps on the base means you can mount the wheel on a desk, the inclusion of a pair of lap rests allows you to sit back and essentially use the Racer more like a traditional controller if you prefer to play on the couch. That’s driven (hehe) home even more with the addition of wireless connectivity via a 2.4GHz dongle compatible with Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC. No PlayStation-compatible version exists at the time of writing.

Put simply, the Turtle Beach Racer is one of the best Xbox racing wheels I’ve tested in a while. There are some small issues, like the slight bump you’ll feel every time the wheel travels past neutral, and the lack of a pedal set (you’ll instead use the rear paddles for acceleration and braking by default) puts a dampener on immersion. But overall, this is a very impressive package for the price, and makes for a great product for first-time wheel owners or younger players.

(Image credit: Future)

Turtle Beach Racer: Price and availability

  • $179.99 / £139.99 / AU$299
  • Available to buy now
  • Pricier than some budget models, but comfortably under the mid-range bracket

The Turtle Beach Racer is available to buy now for $179.99 / £139.99 / AU$299. It’s on the higher end of that budget ballpark, but it is comfortably more affordable than mid-range wheels that offer more features like the Thrustmaster T248R and the Logitech G923. It’s also costlier than similar budget wheels like the Hori Racing Wheel Apex ($119.99 / £99.99), though I do prefer what’s on offer here with the Racer at a slightly higher asking price.

Turtle Beach Racer: Specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Price

$179.99 / £139.99 / AU$299

Weight

7.5lbs / 3.4kg

Dimensions

11.7 x 11.1 x 10.9in x 297 x 282 x 277mm

Rotation

360 degrees

Connection type

Wireless (2.4GHz), Wired (USB-C)

Compatibility

Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC

Battery life

Around 30 hours

Turtle Beach Racer: Design and features

As I mentioned in my initial Turtle Beach Racer preview at Gamescom 2025, it was the product’s build quality that immediately surprised me. It’s not something that many budget-facing wheels are known for, and while the Racer’s build is primarily plastic, it’s of a good quality. Plus, there are a number of flourishes that take the overall build up a notch.

The steering wheel’s rubberized textured grips are extremely welcome, allowing for a slip-free racing experience. The lap rests, meanwhile, are metallic and have a satisfying weight to them. They each have a strip of textured rubber, allowing them to sit firmly in place. The lap rests can be adjusted, too, meaning you won’t necessarily need to squish your thighs together. I preferred to place mine as far out as they could go, and was able to sit comfortably in my Razer Fujin Pro office gaming chair while playing.

On-board buttons aren’t particularly anything to write home about, but they feel good to press and are all within reach of the wheel itself. There’s a good amount here, too. You’re getting a d-pad, face buttons, and three multifunction buttons that you can assign to your preference.

A pair of pressure-sensitive paddles sit on either side of the wheel, and they’re impressively sturdy. That’s important, because you are likely going to use these for acceleration and braking in the absence of a set of pedals. These are the left and right trigger equivalents on the best Xbox controllers, and were assigned as such across all games I tested.

(Image credit: Future)

Turtle Beach Racer: Performance

I have very limited desk space at my home office, so I personally think that the inclusion of lap rests with the Turtle Beach Racer is a great, forward-thinking addition to the overall package. What’s important to note here, in relation to performance, is that I felt no loss of control in using the lap rests over the more traditional desk clamps. And having tested both methods for this review, either of them is a fine choice for your racing sessions.

Initially, I did feel as if the default wheel sensitivity was a bit on the low side, across titles like Forza Horizon 5 and Tokyo Xtreme Racer. However, this was quickly remedied with the Turtle Beach Control Center 2 software, which you can download on PC and Xbox consoles. Here, I was able to adjust sensitivity and remap buttons to my liking.

Another issue I had with the wheel is the slightly uncomfortable bump sensation when it returns to neutral. Let go of the wheel, and it snaps back to its default center position almost immediately. This means that while turning left to right, you will feel a bit of a hitch as it passes that neutral zone. I got used to it after an hour or two, but it’s something to keep in mind if you were hoping for an ultra-smooth racing experience.

Besides this hiccup, the Racer is an incredibly enjoyable racing wheel. The pressure-sensitive paddles are a delightful addition and are a decent substitute for pedals if you don’t mind the loss of immersion or tactility. Being able to apply specific amounts of pressure here made several things easier between games, such as drifting in Forza Horizon 5 and long-term tire management in F1 25. If the lap rests are the big winning feature here, then the paddles are certainly the unsung heroes of the package.

I also have to mention the Racer’s wireless performance, and it’s another area the product seriously impressed me. Turtle Beach estimates that the wheel can go up to 30 hours on a full charge. I find this to be accurate, as I didn’t have to charge the device until the tail end of my week of testing.

(Image credit: Future)

Should I buy the Turtle Beach Racer?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Also consider…

Not sold on the Turtle Beach Racer? Here are a couple of similarly priced alternatives worthy of your consideration.

Swipe to scroll horizontallyRow 0 – Cell 0

Turtle Beach Racer

Hori Racing Wheel Apex

Logitech G920

Price

$179.99 / £139.99 / AU$299

$119.99 / £99.99 (around AU$183)

$299.99 / £349.99 / AU$549.95

Weight

7.5lbs / 3.4kg

3.09lbs / 1.4kg

4.96lbs / 2.25kg

Dimensions

11.7 x 11.1 x 10.9in x 297 x 282 x 277mm

11 x 10.8 x 11.3 / 280 x 275 x 286mm

10.6 x 10.2 x 10.9 / 270 x 260 x 278mm

Rotation

360 degrees

270 degrees

900 degrees

Connection type

Wireless (2.4GHz), Wired (USB-C)

USB-A

USB-A

Compatibility

Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC

PS5, PS4, PC

Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC

(Image credit: Future)

How I tested the Turtle Beach Racer

  • Tested for one week
  • Tested across Xbox Series X and PC
  • Played a wide variety of racing titles

I tested the Turtle Beach Racer over the course of a week, playing titles on Xbox Series X Digital Edition and my gaming PC. Games I played with the racing wheel include Forza Horizon 5, Tokyo Xtreme Racer, Old School Rally, and F1 25.

While lacking the multitude of buttons and immersive features that make it worthwhile for sim racing, I found the Turtle Beach Racer to be ideal for more casual, arcade-like experiences. In that regard, features like the lap rests and pressure-sensitive paddles made for an easy and comfortable testing period, and above all, a very fun one.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed September 2025

Turtle Beach Racer: Price Comparison



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Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review: Still The Best for iOS
Product Reviews

Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review: Still The Best for iOS

by admin


The same mildly flat indent on the stem of each bud indicates the location of the touch/squeeze controls, and there are black spots where heart rate sensors, wear detection sensors, and microphone ports hide. As with previous models, silvery tips bless the end of each elephant trunk, where a beamforming mic aims at your lips for maximum fidelity. These are all familiar, refined design cues from previous AirPods, and they are better executed than ever, even with such slight changes.

Well-Supported

Review: Apple AirPods Pro 3

I’ve been very impressed with Apple’s software support when it comes to AirPods Pro; last year it added a bunch of free hearing health features as a software update. That trend continues here with the addition of real-time translation and heart rate monitoring on these buds.

The translation can be activated by squeezing both of the buds at once, at which time any Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone (any iPhone 16 Pro or later with the feature on) will pull up the Translate app on iOS. Siri will then listen to the speaker in front of you and translate what they are saying in real time, provided they are speaking English, Spanish, German, French, or Portuguese. I tested this with my multilingual wife, who found it to be very accurate with her Spanish phrases.

This is great for multilingual work or education environments in the United States in particular, as well as for travel, and should help folks who struggle with more advanced phrases or need to deliver a more nuanced message in their native language.

I’ve seen this feature enabled on headphones like the Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 (which do this, but using Google Translate). Side by side, Google’s Buds and associated app offer many more languages and bit better translation (my Thai mother-in-law was very excited at how well it worked with Thai, which isn’t available on AirPods Pro 3), but Apple’s version is still more than welcome.



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