www.bespokeradiatorcovers.co.uk

Radiators in kitchens, bathrooms and living rooms; bedrooms, offices and hallways are often unsightly at best and making them fit into preferred colour schemes and décor styles can be an expensive undertaking – if not impossible. This can make turning a new house into a cosy, stylish home quite difficult. Thankfully, Sentimo have come up with the perfect solution to this dilemma: metal radiator covers.

Custom made in an established, large metal processing plant in the Netherlands, Sentimo’s made-to-measure radiator covers come in a wide range of delightful colours perfect for making unsightly old radiators neatly ‘disappear’ into the background or transforming them into colourful focal points.

Available in two high-quality finishes – ‘solid’ or’groove’ – and offering optimal heat conduction (which, of course, minimises heat loss), these tailor-made covers are suitable for any size & type (i.e. flat or column) of radiator.

The ordering process is simple and clear instructions on how to measure radiators to ensure the perfect fit are provided. Assembly and installation could also not be any easier: the cover’s parts easily clip together, and the assembled cover then simply attaches to the radiator by use of strong magnets – meaning no drilling is necessary.

Competitively priced and delivered – complete with a three-year guarantee covering manufacturing defects – within 30 days (UK Mainland) of order confirmation, these metal radiator covers make a stylish, practical and affordable housewarming gift that will help recipients effortlessly turn a new house into their home – highly recommended.

Sentimo Metal Radiator Covers are available at www.bespokeradiatorcovers.co.uk

www.takker.com

The Hardwall Takker is the perfect gift for dads who are DIY and gardening enthusiasts. This ingenious, hand-powered device enables you to hang pictures, bathroom hooks, kitchen accessories and much more onto any surface.

This wonderful product works in seconds and can be used on concrete, brick, mortar, ceramic tiles and plasterboard. It can brilliantly be used indoors and outdoors so your home can be organised both inside and outside.

This versatile product will change how you carry out DIY in the home. It will help you avoid unsightly and difficult to fix holes, cracked walls and broken tiles. The Takker is extremely quick and easy to use and you will wonder how you ever did without it.

You simply mark your chosen position on the wall and position the drill bit on the mark for drilling the hole. Holding the Hardwall Takker in one hand, you push it firmly against the wall. With the other hand, you simply turn the drilling handle clockwise while applying firm pressure. The Takker indicates when you have drilled exactly the right depth of hole so you know when to stop. You then take a Hardwall Takk that is stored on the handle and place it into the Takk inserter found on the side of the Hardwall Takker. Once the Takk is aligned with the hole, you simply push firmly. The hook is now ready to attach so you can hang your object.

Amazingly, it can hang up to 12 kilos and replaces the need to use electric drills, wall plugs, screws and screwdrivers.

The Hardwall Takker is a great gift for Father’s Day and any DIY lovers will love this.

The Hardwall Takker Kit costs £24.99 including postage and packaging within the UK and Ireland. It is available from www.takker.com.

www.autoglym.com

Car experts, Autoglym have a brilliant gift available for car lovers; the Perfect Bodywork and Wheels collection. This collection of fabulous products that help clean, polish and protect your car wheels and bodywork is the perfect gift for anyone who looks after and takes pride in their car.

This Autoglym gift contains six carefully chosen products. The Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner and the Clean Wheels are used to first clean the car. The next step is to polish the car and wheels and the Super Resin Polish and Instant Tyre Dressing are included for this. Finally, Extra Gloss Protection and Alloy Wheel Seal help to protect the car.

I personally take good care of my car and always make sure it looks in perfect condition. I therefore have tried many shampoos and polishes in the past and was very impressed with the Autoglym collection. After using all the products on my car the bodywork and wheels looked great. To say my car was gleaming is an understatement. The products brought out the shine on the paintwork and will protect my car against the winter weather. Autoglym is definitely one of the best car cleaning kits I have used and I will definitely use it again.

The six products in this set are all boxed neatly together. The collection is also great value for money as you can get your car looking like it’s had a professional valet for the RRP of £37.99.

I would definitely recommend the Perfect Bodywork and Wheels Collection as it is a great range of products that will compliment your car beautifully. It is the ideal gift for car lovers.

To see all the Autogylm products available visit www.autoglym.com.

www.braun.com

WaterFlex is another fantastic shaver from Braun. It can be used with water, foam or gel and leaves skin feeling incredibly smooth. Braun WaterFlex transforms electric shaving into gliding, giving you a very comfortable shave and leaving your skin feeling perfectly refreshed.

Braun WaterFlex gives you ultimate shaving flexibility as you can use this shaver in the shower, bathtub or simply by wetting your face in front of the mirror. This shaver can be used wherever you want to shave, so will suit many different lifestyles.

The WaterFlex shaver gives a very close shave and glides across the face making using this shaver very comfortable. I have used Braun shavers before and I am always very impressed with the shavers they produce. The WaterFlex is another brilliant shaver that made my skin feel extremely smooth and gave a very comfortable shave.

The Braun WaterFlex has many great features that help to make this shaver so fantastic. It has a contour-adaptive swivel head that reduces friction allowing the shaver to glide gently over your skin. It also has optimized OptiBlades that are designed to maintain a perfect balance of closeness and gentleness. The ergonomically placed holes in the OptiBlade allow more hair to get into the foil and therefore cut hairs very closely.

The WaterFlex shaver has a rechargeable Li-Ion battery that fully recharges in 1 hour for 45 minutes of cordless shaving. The shaver also has a convenient 5 minute quick charge function for fast and easy shaving.

As the WaterFlex shaver can be used in the shower and bath, it is 100% waterproof up to a depth of five metres. Therefore it is definitely safe to use. It also has an anti-slip grip so the shaver remains firm to your hand in all wet conditions.

The WaterFlex is available in four attractive finishes; black, white, red and blue.

The RRP for the Braun WaterFlex is £159.99 and is available from www.braun.com.

www.braun.com/uk

Braun CoolTec is the first electric shaver equipped with Active Cooling Technology. This means this shaver combines a great shaving performance with a special cooling treatment that is great for those with sensitive skin.

I have very sensitive skin which can be easily aggravated when shaving. The idea of a shaver that cools my skin whilst shaving, sounded brilliant and I was very interested in testing this shaver.
The Braun CoolTec shaver soothes the face and increases skin comfort without the need for gels and lotions. If you are like me, and dislikes putting creams and lotions on your face, then this shaver is ideal. With the push of a button your skin is soothed and cooled to make shaving a lot more comfortable.

Unlike many other electric shavers where the shaver head becomes warm, the Braun CoolTec has an amazing cooling element that actively cools down the shaver head and directs the heat away from the skin. This made my skin less irritated and red and allowed me to shave very comfortably. After I used the shaver I not only noticed that my skin was less red but that the shaver gave a very good shave. My skin felt extremely smooth, which was brilliant.

This shaver has a Braun SensoFoil, which is designed to capture and cut hairs that are growing in different directions. It also has a 3-stage cutting system so can also be used for cutting beard hairs efficiently too. It also has a fantastic ‘Clean and Charge’ station where you can charge the shaver whilst hygienically cleaning and lubricating the device.

I thought the Braun CoolTec gave me a close, refreshing shave that definitely minimised the irritation I usually get when shaving. I would definitely recommend this shaver for anyone who has sensitive skin.

The RRP for the Braun CoolTec is £199.99. For more information and stockists visit www.braun.com/uk.

www.gioteck.com

The new Gioteck EX3-R is definitely designed with comfort and quality as a priority. This ultra-light, single ear, messenger headset allows fantastic online communication with friends and opponents.

I liked the fact that the headset is single ear, as I still had one ear tuned into the outside world. This device also has a brilliant mute button that allows you to silence your chats quick and easily.

This headset looks very stylish and sleek and is very comfortable to wear as it fit nicely on my ear. It is also small and compact so I did not have any discomfort whilst playing. The microphone is also not intrusive as it sits on the side of your ear.

The EX3-R was very clear so I could hear my friends very easily and did not have to struggle to hear what they were saying. I was extremely impressed with the voice quality of the headset.

The headset also comes with a tangle free cord which was a bonus.

The Gioteck EX3-R is definitely worth buying if you are looking for a good quality inline messenger headset that is not only comfortable but is also reasonably priced.

The RRP for the Gioteck EX3-R is £19.99. For more information visit www.gioteck.com.

www.roku.com/uk

Roku 3 is an internet media streamer that makes it extremely easy for you to enjoy the hottest films, TV programmes, music and games on your TV or monitor.

They have a wide selection of entertainment with over 450 channels, including Netflix, NOW TV, BBC iPlayer, Demand 5 and Spotify. Not all channels are free as some of Roku’s partners, such as Netflix and NOW TV charge subscriptions. However it is up to you if you pay for these or not.

Even though there is a huge range of free channels, I did find that I did not watch most of them. I did however sign up to one of the subscription channels which had a wide range of programmes that I watched and I found the video quality was brilliant, and use it regularly for BBC iPlayer.

The Roku also supports Plex which is a great way to stream your movies from your computer straight to the Roku, along with a USB port allowing you to add a usb hard drive to play your movies directly on the Roku from the hard drive. Although the interface for the USB isn’t great it does a brilliant job playing video off the hard drive.

The Roku 3 is a tiny black box that can be hidden away as the remote control does not need a line of sight to work. This is a fantastic feature, if like me, you do not want your home media equipment on show. I keep all my av equipment in the garage and the Roku remote control works brilliantly.

The Roku 3 is extremely easy to use. It connects directly to your TV and to your high-speed Internet service via your home network. All you have to do is select what you want to watch, whenever you want to watch it using the fabulous Roku remote control. Roku have created a range of media streamers to suit every household. There are currently four on the market; the Roku LT, Roku 1, Roku 2 and Roku 3.

The chart below shows the differences between the four Roku streamers to help you find the right media streamer for you. One feature I love about the Roku is that there is no standby, it is always on. You simply turn to the correct HDMI channel on your TV/amp and it is ready to go.

In use the Roku uses about 2 watts of power which is equivalent to a fraction of the power of a light bulb. There is also a clock screensaver for when the device is not in use. The fact it is always on makes it so convenient; no powering up a media pc, turning on a games console or Sky HD, the Roku is just ready to go.

The Roku 2 and 3 also have a headphone jack built directly into the remote control which is perfect when watching movies and don’t want to disturb anyone. The 3 also supports games with the motion controller which works surprisingly well. The children love playing Angry Birds on the big screen.

The Roku 3 is a brilliant media streamer that I now use daily. It is very simple to use and I would highly recommend having one in your home.

Roku media streamers are available from www.roku.com/uk.

The RRP starts from £49.99.

www.fiskars.co.uk

The world’s number 1 scissors brand, Fiskars, have developed a wonderful new product that puts the power of multiple tools into just one pair of scissors. Cuts + More scissors have a wide range of uses in the home that make your life that little bit easier. Cuts + More can take on a variety of household tasks with relative ease.

When I had the opportunity to try these scissors, I had no idea how many features a pair of scissors could have. After testing them, the only way I can describe these scissors is pure genius.

What makes these scissors stand out from the rest is the wide range of features they have. These features include:

• High quality blades which are ideal for cutting paper, plastic packaging, twine, fabric, light wire and more.
• Rope notch to cut light rope
• Wire cutter for cutting light wire without damaging the blades
• Twine cutter to cut twine cleanly and quickly
• Pointed awl tip for piercing small holes in cardboard, leather and more
• Bottle opener that can be used with the sheath in place
• Titanium-coated, take apart knife for cutting large and awkward things
• Cover includes an integrated ceramic scissor sharpener and tape cutter for opening boxes

I tested all the features these scissors have and was amazed at how easy the scissors were to use and how sharp the blades were. They cut through wire, rope, twine and cardboard very easily which was impressive. The bottle opener is perfectly placed as the cover does not need to be removed when using the opener. I was also impressed that the scissors could be taken apart to reveal a very useful knife. The scissors were also very comfortable to hold as they have large, ergonomically sculpted finger and thumb loops.

The Cuts + More scissors are an essential household item and would make a great gift for both men and women.

The RRP is £18.99.

www.hornby.com/Pocher

Pocher, part of the Hornby group, will re-launch the iconic die cast model kit car brand, Pocher, at this year’s Salon Privè motoring event at Syon Park, London on 4th – 6th September 2013.

The first model they will release will be a Lamborghini Aventador LP-700-4 kit. This is available in vibrant orange (HK-100) or brilliant white (HK-101). Both products will be launched at the Salon Prive event in September and will be available to purchase in the UK in Autumn 2013.

The Lamborghini Aventador LP-700-4 car body weighs 13lbs and the premium quality model is made from a pre-painted die-cast metal. Pocher states that the kit is easy to build and can be assembled for both left- hand and right-hand drive. The 1:8 sportster kit consists of more than 600 parts made of a range of materials including metal, textiles, rubber and premium quality plastic. Many of the 600 parts are simply screwed in, making the car easy to build. The suspension, steering and spoiler mechanism are functional with doors and hatches being capable of being opened.

The Pocher brand are famous for their attention to detail and for their collectability. The Lamborghini Aventador LP-700-4 is a detailed die-cast self-assembled car.

The RRP is £499 and Hornby are currently taking £50 deposits for both the Pocher kits.

Available from http://www.hornby.com/shop/pocher/

http://www.gtechonline.co.uk

When I used the Gtech cordless grass trimmer I was extremely impressed with how easy it was to use and how neat the edges of my lawn were.

The Gtech grass trimmer is lightweight and was very simple to manoeuvre. Also when I cut the edges, I could see around the head so I could keep an eye on where I was cutting, making edging very easy. The head also rotates 180 degrees to help make trimming simple. I found this very useful as I was able to cut the edges perfectly as the head would move to fit the curve of my lawn.

Whilst using the Gtech trimmer, I was very surprised by the power of it as being cordless I thought it may not be as powerful as wired trimmers. However, I did find it extremely powerful and it cut the grass well.

Unlike other grass trimmers, the Gtech grass trimmer has a super fast charge time so it only took 3 hours to charge the Li-Ion battery. In comparison a NiCad battery can take up to 10 hours to fully charge.

Due to the compact nature of Li-ion technology a 14.4v battery is incorporated into the handle of the ST05. This therefore removes the need for a battery pack to be worn on the hip. It also weighs just 1.5kgs in total making the trimmer very lightweight.

The ST05 grass trimmer also has a high performance run time of up to 30 minutes. This was more than enough time to cut my lawn perfectly.

Overall, I definitely found using the Gtech grass trimmer very easy and my grass look wonderfully neat and tidy after it was used. The Gtech grass trimmer is a brilliant addiiton to my collection of garden tools and is a definite must have for those who take pride in their garden and want it looking perfect.

The Spec at a glance:

Power: 14.4v
Weight: 1.5kg
Runtime: up to 30 mins
Cutting Width: 23cm
Safety Switch: yes
Telescopic Handle: yes
Adjustable Head: yes
Charge Time: 3 hours
Li-Ion Battery: yes

The RRP for the Gtech Grass Trimmer is £69.95 and is available at http://www.gtechonline.co.uk