Reviews

House of Marley Roots Solar: Two-minute review

Competition is fierce among portable, beach-ready speakers. The best Bluetooth speakers offer all-day battery life, enjoyable audio and pool-proof durability, without draining your bank account. It’s in this crowded market that the House of Marley Roots Solar tries to stand out, as a beach-ready speaker with neat features and a unique sustainable design.

Physically, it achieves that goal. Fronted by a facade of renewable bamboo, the Roots Solar looks and feels distinctive. The fabric grille is nicely tactile, while the rubberized body – made from recycled plastics – is robust. There’s a reassuring weight to the whole package, which gives the impression that it’s solid enough to survive several summers.

Clever touches suggest that House of Marley’s design team has put a lot of thought into this speaker. The buttons are simple, well-sized and accessible. Little feet underneath cushion against vibrations. The carry strap is a handy addition. And then there’s the built-in bottle opener on the back: a party trick that bolsters its cookout credentials.

Unfortunately, other features are less impressive. At 14 hours, battery life does stack up well against rival speakers, lasting a full day on one charge. But the solar panel from which the Roots Solar gets its name is ineffective. House of Marley claims that it’s good for up to five hours of extra playing time. In my experience, even after several hours in direct sunlight, it did little or nothing to recharge the speaker. The strip is essentially decorative.

That’s a shame, because the promise of solar-powered listens is a key selling point, and one that ties in with House of Marley’s sustainable ethos. I had to charge the Roots Solar via USB-C like any other speaker, which somehow felt more galling than if the solar panel wasn’t there in the first place. Worse still, it means eco claims can’t save the Roots Solar from its biggest failing: sub-par audio.

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Given the weight of its build and the bass radiator on the rear, you’d expect the Roots Solar to give a bold performance – especially as it’s marketed for outdoor use. Yet, in practice, the sound lacks richness, depth and dynamism. It doesn’t come close to the low-end punch of something like the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4, with a sonic signature that feels thin in comparison.

It can’t boast particularly good balance or clarity, either. The mids are easily muddied on layered tracks and I encountered some significant distortion when listening at higher volumes. Only when playing indoors at a medium level can the Roots Solar come close to a making a good account of itself, and only then with songs that aren’t too complex.

I really wanted the Roots Solar to be a good speaker. I like its design and I salute House of Marley for trying to do things differently, making audio kit that’s environmentally conscious. I’m all for nifty features like bottle openers and I’d love a speaker that can boost itself from the sun.

But with solar charging out of the equation, the House of Marley Roots Solar lets itself down where it matters. You can get a sturdy speaker with similar features and significantly better audio quality for the same money or less. And use the change to buy yourself a bottle opener.

House of Marley Roots Solar review: Price and release date

• Released in September 2024
• Official price: $99.99 / £79.99 / AU$149.95

House of Marley added the Roots Solar to its speaker line-up in September 2024. At launch, it was priced at $119.99 / £99.99 / AU$149.95. That put it at a slight premium compared to other portable Bluetooth speakers with similar specs.

Since then, its official price has been reduced in both the US and the UK, to $99.99 and £79.99 respectively. With that discount, the Roots Solar sits more competitively alongside some of the best Bluetooth speakers, including the splendid JBL Flip 7. OK, the JBL speaker is admittedly a little pricier, but worth it. As you’ll read below, the numbers only tell part of the story.

House of Marley Roots Solar review: Specs House of Marley Roots Solar review: Design

• Made with bamboo and recycled materials
• IP67 water-resistant
• Built-in bottle opener

Sustainability has always been at the heart of House of Marley’s ethos. That comes through in spades with the Roots Solar. Available in black and cream color schemes, both versions feature a facade hewn from renewable bamboo. This wood grain veneer gives the speaker a uniquely natural look and feel among portable Bluetooth speakers.

The whole package is both consciously constructed and satisfyingly tactile. Up front, there’s a fabric grille that’s woven from recycled materials. The body itself is made from House of Marley's own REGRIND silicone, a composite that's a solid step up from virgin plastic. This material's speckled finish feels smooth yet suitably robust, standing out from the cheaper plastics used in some budget speakers.

There are flourishes around the entire speaker which illustrate the thought that’s gone into its design. There’s the solar panel neatly integrated into the top of the unit and the fabric carry strap attached to one end by knurled metal screws. Rubber feet beneath help to insulate the standing surface against vibrations, while a light ring around the grille subtly illuminates when the speaker is powered on or charging.

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Three buttons live on the left side of the rubberized body, controlling power, volume and brightness. It might seem like a minor detail, but these are perfectly weighted with a responsive click. At the back, you’ll find a port cover neatly shielding the aux-in and USB-C ports, along with a bass radiator that’s seamlessly fused in place.

Then there’s the Roots Solar’s party trick: a built-in bottle opener. This consists of a sculpted indent and a metal bar. It certainly does the job of popping tops, although I can’t say how well it would hold up with repeated use. The novelty of opening bottles with a Bluetooth speaker is probably also one that would wear off after a few goes, but it doesn’t hurt to have it as a backup.

It’s all quite smart and tidy. It’s weighty too, in a good way. There’s a reassuring heft to the Roots Solar, which suggests that it’s robust enough to survive a run of seasons by the sea. That’s backed up by an IP67 water-resistance rating. In terms of its physical build, no corners have been cut in the design or assembly departments.

• Design score: 4.5/5

House of Marley Roots Solar review: Features

• Battery rated for 14 hours of playback
• Built-in solar panel for ‘gradual top-ups’
• Stereo and Party Mode pairing

On paper, the Roots Solar has a killer feature compared to its rivals: solar charging. House of Marley claims the built-in solar strip can deliver ‘gradual top-ups’ for up to 5 hours of extra listening time. That’s in addition to a solid 14 hours of battery life when recharged using USB-C.

The reality is different. The standard battery life certainly holds up, easily lasting a full day on a single charge. At 14 hours, that gives the Roots Solar the longevity go toe-to-toe with the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4 and go just shy of the Flip 7's 16-hour stamina – and those are two of our favorite Bluetooth speakers.

What it can’t do is eke things out any further. In testing, even when left in bright, direct sunlight for several hours, the House of Marley Roots Solar showed zero or minimal gains from the solar panel. The LED light, which pulses when the speaker is charging, only glowed when connected to mains power. It never once illuminated from exposure to sunlight.

As a result, I didn’t experience any of the top-ups promised by House of Marley. I had visions of the Roots Solar as a speaker that I could leave by the window for passive charging to boost its battery on brighter days. Or at least as one which would last longer away from the wall on beach and camping trips, which is how it’s been marketed.

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Instead, I had to charge the Roots Solar using the USB-C cable just like any other Bluetooth speaker. Somehow, the presence of a non-functioning solar panel is somehow more frustrating than if it wasn’t there at all. It doesn’t add to the user experience or substantively enhance the speaker’s eco-friendly chops. The strip is basically redundant.

Without it, the Roots Solar has to rely on other features to compete with other Bluetooth speakers. In that arena, it does offer stereo and party pairing, allowing you to link up with one or more matching speakers for synchronized playback. It also benefits from an aux-in port, something of a rarity in 2025.

I will mention one other small but irksome trait: the Roots Solar is very quick to power off if nothing is playing. Pause your playlist for any reason and you’ll routinely find that, when you come back to the speaker, you’ll need to power it on again to continue listening.

• Features score: 3.5/5

House of Marley Roots Solar review: Sound quality

• Lacks low-end punch, especially outdoors
• Mids sound muddy on layered tracks
• Distortion at higher volumes

Given its solid construction and the presence of a bass radiator on the back, you’d be forgiven for expecting the Roots Solar to give a bold performance. While the radiator does its best, though, the speaker simply lacks oomph. Even indoors, playback feels thin and bland. Take it outdoors, as its waterproofing suggests you should, and this lack of low-end energy really becomes apparent.

Not every speaker needs to be bass-heavy, of course. But the Roots Solar can’t boast balance or clarity as a saving grace, either. The mids feel crowded even on stripped-back acoustic tracks. Challenge the Roots Solar with a busy composition and things quickly get muddy, with little room for the layers to breath.

Crank up the volume and the audio goes from mediocre to unpleasant. Treble distortion quickly becomes apparent, while the bass radiator’s fruitless attempts to give some weight to the lower frequencies only end up clouding the mid-range even more.

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If it sounds like I’m describing a complete cacophony, perhaps I’m being unfair. Playing at a medium volume in a small room, the Roots Solar does a passable job. To the untrained ear, it’s fine for streaming digital radio in the kitchen or bathroom. But the inescapable truth is that you can get a much better listen from other speakers for the same price or less.

This isn’t a speaker that I’d choose to soundtrack a beach party. No portable Bluetooth number is going to satisfy an audiophile, especially not outdoors. But both the Wonderboom 4 and the Flip 7 offer better balance, depth and dynamism for the money. The Roots Solar simply can’t compete.

• Sound quality: 3/5

House of Marley Roots Solar review: Value

On paper, the House of Marley Roots Solar has a unique value proposition. It promises a sustainable construction and a robust, premium build, with the benefit of solar charging to keep summer singalongs going for longer. The built-in bottle opener is just the sweetener.

Because it fails to deliver on several of those promises, the Roots Solar is a hard speaker to recommend. Its eco-friendly approach is one to be applauded, and there’s an argument for supporting House of Marley’s efforts to use renewable materials. But those alone can’t justify the price tag.

When you consider the ineffective solar panel and the sub-par audio quality, the Roots Solar feels like an underwhelming speaker in premium packaging. Perhaps that’s why House of Marley has reduced the price of the Roots Solar in the UK and the US, in quiet recognition of its limitations.

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Even at its new, reduced price, the Roots Solar sits in direct competition with the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4 and the JBL Flip 7. Those speakers both offer punchier, richer sound output for the roughly the same money, as well as IP67 water resistance and day-long battery life.

If you’re committed to buying greener gear, the House of Marley Roots Solar is still a contender. But sound is also important and if it's decent audio indoors and out you seek, there’s better value to be found elsewhere.

• Value score: 3.5/5

Should I buy the House of Marley Roots Solar? Buy it if…

You appreciate a sustainable approach
House of Marley kit is environmentally conscious. The Roots Solar uses renewable bamboo and recycled plastics in its construction. Solar charging adds to its eco credentials, even if it’s slow.

You want a speaker to take to the beach
With a robust build and IP67 waterproofing, the Roots Solar is made to withstand life outdoors. Its built-in bottle opener is useful and the battery can last all day.

You want a distinctive Bluetooth speaker
This is a well-designed speaker. Its bamboo facade is unique, while the speckled body, fabric grille and carry strap are all nice touches. It feels built to last, too.

Don’t buy it if…

You want the best possible audio quality
It doesn’t take keen ears to detect the limitations of the Roots Solar. It lacks the dynamism and punch of similarly priced speakers, with muddy mids and distortion at higher volumes.

You want a speaker you don’t have to charge
Solar charging is a neat addition in theory, but top-ups are pretty ineffective. Even with lengthy exposure to sunlight, you’ll still need to charge it regularly via USB-C.

You want a powerful outdoor speaker
The Roots Solar is fine for background sound, but it lacks the punch to start an alfresco party. The Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4 is a better bet for beach beats.

House of Marley Roots Solar review: also consider

Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4
A small, punchy speaker with a similar price to the Roots Solar, the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4 is our favorite Bluetooth speaker for picnics. It’s simple, portable and durable, yet capable of impressive sound quality. Like the Roots Solar, it offers a 14-hour battery life. There’s no solar charging, but the output is punchier, with more low-end oomph.
Read our in-depth Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4 review

JBL Flip 7
The JBL Flip 7 is our favorite Bluetooth speaker overall. There's no easy way to say this, so I'll blurt it out: it’s just better than the House of Marley speaker. Auracast compatibility also means that as well as forming a stereo pair with a second Flip 7 (albeit not with any of of the previous Flips), you can hook up as many Auracast-enabled products as you like into a single entity for simultaneous playback.
Read our in-depth JBL Flip 7 review

How I tested the House of Marley Roots Solar

• Used it as my main Bluetooth speaker for a month
• Tested it in a number of rooms, as well as outdoors
• Played a variety of genres via Spotify and BBC Sounds

To put the House of Marley Roots Solar through its paces, I used it as my primary Bluetooth speaker for several weeks. I listened to it in a number of rooms around the house, to see how well it performed in spaces of different sizes. I also tested it at different volumes, to see how the dynamics held up at a range of output levels. When the neighbours were out, I cranked it right up.

I also tested it with a range of genres: podcasts while I painted the bathroom; pop hits on BBC sounds while cooking dinner; and the old faithful on a Friday night – Spotify’s Dinner with Friends playlist.

Because the House of Marley Roots Solar is pitched as a beach-ready speaker, I also made sure to test it outdoors. Besides using its built-in bottle opener for its intended purpose, I also tossed the speaker around in my backpack to give its rugged credentials a gentle test.

To see how effectively the solar panel could boost battery life, I used the Roots Solar in both sunny and overcast conditions. And to assess how well its sound carried alfresco, I used it to soundtrack several outdoor afternoons.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed: May 2025

Canon EOS R100: two-minute review

The Canon EOS R100 looks like a pretty dated camera in every sense, and it'll feel alien if you've only used a smartphone camera before. However, don't judge a book by its cover – it actually makes perfect sense for people looking for a cheap camera, especially for the family, and in particular for any budding photographers in the family.

This is the cheapest mirrorless camera that you can buy new, and it's one that utilizes the same 24MP APS-C sensor and reliable dual-pixel autofocus as Canon's pricier models, the EOS R50 and EOS R10.

Naturally there are compromises. The build quality is basic, especially the fixed rear screen, which isn't even touch sensitive, and the video specs are dated too.

However, after using the EOS R100 for many months my family has found it to be an excellent little snapper, and a perfect fit for small hands. Furthermore, I actually think the EOS R100's limitations are its strength, especially for first-time photographers.

With its old-school DSLR-style design, a viewfinder, and a rear screen lacking touch functionality the EOS R100 isn't trying to compete with a smartphone, and this has led my kids to explore what each external control does, and consequently pick up some photography basics.

The Nikon Z5 II with the Nikkor 24-50mm f/4-6.3 kit lens (Image credit: Future)

There's been further good news since the EOS R100 launched, too. Canon opened its RF-mount to third parties for manufacturing APS-C lenses, and Sigma has already seized this opportunity, launching RF versions of many of its excellent DC DN Contemporary lenses that enhance the EOS R100's photography chops, where previously lens choice for Canon's mirrorless cameras was severely limited.

I've particularly enjoyed using a quartet of Sigma f/1.4 prime lenses, which are all compact, lightweight, high quality, and an excellent physical match with the EOS R100 – I'd highly recommend the Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary as a second lens after Canon's 18-45mm kit lens, which is pretty basic.

There's a part of me that still can't warm to the EOS R100; but I'm an experienced photographer, and it's not designed for me. It's my family that have really taken to it and actually used it – which is more than I can say for some of the dedicated cheap kids camera we've tested, and pricier alternatives that are complicated to use.

I felt like I can trust my kids with the EOS R100, and they've taken some excellent photos with it, taking the experience to another level by (easily) printing some of their favorite shots using a low-cost Canon Selphy printer. It's this sort of positive engagement with creative tech that I've always hoped my kids would have.

Canon EOS R100: price and release date

• The Canon EOS R100 and 18-45mm kit lens launched for $599 / £669 / AU$1,099
• That bundle now sells for as little as $350 / £410 / AU$800
• It's available body-only too, and in a twin lens kit with the 18-45mm and 55-210mm lenses

I often have friends asking me to recommend a first camera for their young kids / tweens, with a budget around $500 / £500, and naturally they'd rather buy new. That leaves few other options besides the EOS R100.

And that's exactly the point of this beginner mirrorless camera. The design is stripped back, it has basic build quality and some of Canon's earliest mirrorless tech, and it's mass produced, readily available, and sold on the cheap. If general photography is your intended use and you don't need flagship power, the EOS R100 still holds up well today.

The camera was launched in May 2023, and with the 18-45mm kit lens it cost $599 / £669 / AU$1,099. However, since then I've seen some incredibly good deals, especially in the US during Black Friday 2024 and other seasonal sales, during which time the camera and lens price fell to as low as $350 / £410 / AU$800. It costs even less body-only – it's quite simply the cheapest mirrorless camera you can buy new.

• Price score: 5/5

Canon EOS R100: specs Canon EOS R100: design and handling

• Canon's smallest mirrorless camera, and an ideal fit for smaller hands
• It features a viewfinder and a fixed rear screen that's not touch sensitive
• Images are recorded onto a single SD card

The EOS R100 feels like a shrunken-down version of Canon's DSLRs of old, only with mirrorless tech under the hood.

It's comfortable to hold thanks to a pronounced grip, and its diminutive proportions are a perfect fit for little hands – my kids, aged between five and 12, could all hold the camera comfortably and easily take photos with it.

A dinky viewfinder provides a clear view of your scene for when it's otherwise tricky using the rear screen, such as in bright daylight.

Personally, I'd rather the rear screen at least tilted for easy viewing from awkward angles – the slightly pricier EOS R50 features a vari-angle touchscreen – although the fixed screen was less of a limitation for my kids, whose knees are rather less creaky than mine.

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At first my kids were thrown that the rear screen didn't respond to touch – they've grown up with tech and are familiar with smartphones, and the camera's screen felt alien to them.

Eventually, however, the lack of touch functionality caused them to turn their attention to the EOS R100's physical controls, and I felt like this encouraged them to they explore the camera more, figuring out what each control and button did.

I initially called the camera 'out of touch' with beginners, precisely because of its old-school design and non-touch screen, but after extended use I've changed my mind – this is in fact an ideal camera with which to learn photography basics.

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The body is built from a sturdy plastic. It's not weather-sealed, but as it's cheap and feels solid I felt comfortable letting my kids get on with using it without intervening too much, although I was also conscious of its potential vulnerability in inclement weather and dusty outdoor areas.

As I'm an experienced photographer, the EOS R100 isn't enough for me – there would be far too many occasions when I'd miss having a certain control or a feature at my fingertips. However, for beginners the EOS R100 makes a lot sense.

• Design score: 3.5/5

Canon EOS R100: features and performance

• Canon's original dual-pixel autofocus is snappy for general photography
• Burst speeds are a fairly average 6.5fps for continuous shooting
• Video specs are basic – this is primarily a camera for stills

As you can imagine, Canon's cheapest mirrorless camera is fairly stripped back when it comes to features, and limited when it comes to outright speed.

It does, though, feature Canon's dual-pixel CMOS autofocus with face detection and human subject-tracking autofocus, which I found to be really sticky and reliable for portraiture.

Should you wish to employ a different autofocus mode, such as spot AF, the convoluted process involves diving into a menu, while there's no joystick for speedily selecting focus points manually.

Canon's latest autofocus system in the pro EOS R5 Mark II is another level, with a range of subject-detection modes for animals and vehicles, sports priority, the option to store specific people to prioritize, plus Eye Control AF – the two cameras are worlds apart. However, for general photography, the EOS R100's autofocus is very good.

The EOS R100 has rudimentary burst shooting speeds of up to 6.5fps, with sequence lengths up to 97 JPEGs or just six raws – an action photography camera this is not.

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Video recording options include 4K up to 30fps, plus Full HD up to 60fps; that's the minimum I'd expect for a video-capable camera launched in 2023. Dig deeper into the specs and you'll find that video recording is in 8-bit color, which is much less color-rich than 10-bit.

The camera has a hotshoe for attaching accessories such as a flash gun. It's the more basic 5-pin type, meaning not all of Canon's flash guns are supported by the EOS R100, so if you're looking to purchase such an accessory check that it's compatible with the camera first.

• Features and performance score: 3.5/5

Canon EOS R100: image and video quality

• Same trusted 24MP APS-C sensor as pricier Canon cameras
• 4K video recording up to 30fps, 8-bit color
• No C-Log color profile or 'recipes'

There's not too much more to say about the EOS R100's image and video quality that hasn't already been covered in our EOS R10 review – it has the same potential for natural-looking photos with Canon's lovely color profiles.

This also means the EOS R100 can grab detail-rich photos of similar quality to the likes of the Sony A6100, Nikon Z50 II and Fujifilm X-T30 II, all of which utilize a sensor with a resolution around the 24MP mark, which is impressive considering that the EOS R100 is a much cheaper camera.

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All of the photos above were taken with either Canon's RF-S 18-45mm or RF-S 55-210mm.

Canon's RF-S 18-45mm kit lens doesn't quite match the quality of Nikon's 16-50mm kit lens, while the RF-S 55-210mm lens, which is available in a twin-lens kit with the EOS R100, is decent without overly impressing; detail is a little soft in the images of ducks, above, while bokeh in the cat portrait has an onion-ring effect.

To truly elevate image quality, I would recommend buying another lens. The photos included in the first gallery directly below are made with some of Sigma's DC DN Contemporary f/1.4 primes – the 16mm , 23mm and 30mm. In the second gallery below, all the photos are made with Sigma's 56mm lens, which is ideal for portraits.

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Video quality is rudimentary. Yes, the EOS R100 can shoot 4K, but only up to 30fps and with 8-bit color depth, which isn't as rich as 10-bit, which cameras like Fujifilm's X-M5 offer.

Flat color profiles for video, which would give color graders more to work with when editing, are missing too, as are custom profiles that can be uploaded to the camera, something that's available with the Nikon Z50 II via Nikon's Imaging Cloud

None of this is surprising given the EOS R100's price point and target user, though, and we're left with Canon's familiar range of color profiles which, thankfully, are better than most.

• Image and video quality score: 3.5/5

Canon EOS R100: testing scorecard Should I buy the Canon EOS R100? Buy it if...

You're looking for a first 'proper' camera
With its small form factor, comfy grip, decent photo quality and changeable lenses, the EOS R100 is an excellent camera for budding photographers.

You want a cheap camera
The EOS R100 is not only Canon's cheapest mirrorless camera, it's the cheapest mirrorless camera from any brand – and there are usually superb deals during seasonal sales that further lower the price.

Don't buy it if...

You want versatile handling
The EOS R100's basic build quality and fixed rear screen with no touch functionality do limit where and how you can shoot.

You shoot photo and video
The EOS R100 has decent photography credentials, but its video specs are limited by today's standards.

Canon EOS R100: also consider Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV

The Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV is arguably the best-value beginner mirrorless camera available, with its retro-styling, a capable 20MP sensor and superb image stabilization. As it's a Micro Four Thirds camera an enviable selection of lenses are available, and despite being launched in 2020 its tech is of a similar era to the EOS R100's.

Read our in-depth Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV review

Fujifilm X-M5

For an additional outlay, the Fujifilm X-M5 is a superb alternative for beginners who want to shoot video and much as photos. The X-M5 is tiny, is supported by a superb selection of lenses, and comes with a 26MP sensor that delivers 6K video. However, like most other beginner mirrorless cameras, it's about twice the price of the EOS R100.

Read our in-depth Fujifilm X-M5 review

How I tested the Canon EOS R100

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• I picked up the EOS R100 more than six months before writing this review
• During that time both I and my children have used it regularly
• I've paired the camera with many lenses, primarily the RF-S 18-45mm kit lens, but also third-party ones

This review is a reflection of long-term testing over many months. And it's not just my thoughts and testing of the camera that have informed my thoughts, as my kids have taken a keen interest in the camera too.

Initially, I used the camera with just the RF-S 18-45mm kit lens, but we've also tried out Canon's RF-S 55-210mm telephoto zoom, plus four Sigma Contemporary lenses – 16mm, 23mm, 30mm and 56mm f/1.4 primes.

We've primarily used the camera for taking photos rather than video, shooting landscapes, portraits, wildlife, pets, closeups and more.

First reviewed April 2025

I've tested quite a few office chairs in the Sihoo Doro range, including the S300, S100, and the C300, and now, the C300 Pro - an upgrade on the former. So, opening up the Sihoo Doro C300 Pro, I had a good idea what I was in for.

By now, all the box openings feel the same, and the lumbar support in the C-lineup and the mesh across the Doro line-up feel the same. It's all great. The one thing I keep getting hung up on for the otherwise fantastic chair is the flagship 6D armrests. Perhaps I lean more on my armrests than most; possibly, I am too particular, or maybe I am just the vast minority. Regardless, my team and I have found these armrests too mobile, making them challenging or frustrating to use rather than a benefit we desire.

What makes that sad to type is that the rest of the chair is excellent outside the armrests. It feels like a more budget-friendly version of one of my all-time favorite chairs, the OdinLake Ergo Plus 743. And that's no small statement.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) Sihoo Doro C300 Pro: Unboxing & first impressions

Like the other Sihoo chairs I tested, the Doro C300 Pro was no different. It came well packaged, with the necessary tools and that pair of white gloves I should wear but never do. Of course, there are instructions and packing material to help ensure that the parts don't rub against each other, causing damage.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)

The materials are excellent, the mesh is comfortable, the frame is solid, and the ergonomics help and work well rather than feeling gimmicky or over/underdone. Right away, I got working on adjusting my settings to make this chair perfect. Then my arms pushed on the armrests, and I realized they were the same style as the armrests that have driven me nuts for a while now, but it does feel a bit better. Sihoo listened and tightened up the armrests to avoid unwanted tumbles.

Sihoo Doro C300 Pro: Design & build quality Specs

Seat Depth: 16.81–17.76 inches
Seat Width: 20.28 inches
Seat Height Range: 18.11–22.32 inches
Weight Capacity: 300 lbs
Materials: Mesh back and seat with PU-coated armrests
Adjustability: 6D armrests, dynamic lumbar support, adjustable headrest and seat depth
Recline Angles: 105°, 120°, and 135°

The Sihoo lineup of chairs is always built well. The base is sturdy, and the mesh is durable and comfortable. Even after having a few Sihoo Doros in rotation with my team for years now, they are holding up quite nicely and are still loved.

The mesh material that most of the chairs are made from promotes easy airflow, allowing warmer individuals like myself to stay cool throughout the day (I used to get so warm sitting in those classic leather office chairs).

This chair's design is also sleek, and it looks good in a home office setup, a co-working setup, an executive suite, or anything in between.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) Sihoo Doro C300 Pro: In use

My team and I have had this chair in our rotation for 160 days at the time of writing this. It's crossed between a couple of members and has landed with one individual who is 6'4", about 250lbs and fairly muscular. He absolutely loves this chair and how comfortable it is for him. Normally, chairs that fit his height and weight are not meant for his build type, so he loves being able to fit in it comfortably and pull the desk chair arms in and not have them too wide. So far, he has not had any tumbles, which is a big win.

During my time using the chair, I noticed that these armrests seem to be a bit tighter, though I prefer less movement all around, maybe I'm a purist. I've worked entire days sitting in this chair for hours on end without needing to adjust, move around, or wish for another chair. Which, is saying quite a bit since I have some pretty remarkable chairs I get to use.

I feel like this chair can adjust for pretty much any body type due to all the adjustments available. I have actually been able to put this to the test with my team, ranging in weight and size pretty dramatically. It might take some time to adjust and fine-tune the chair to individual preferences. However, for someone using this chair in their personal workspace, or for those who aren't concerned about having it perfectly customized in a co-working environment, this is not a significant issue at all.

Set up as a true work from home desk (Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) Sihoo Doro C300 Pro: Final verdict

The Sihoo Doro C300 Pro combines ergonomic features with a luxurious feel while remaining affordable. It has dynamic lumbar support, great adjustability and high weight capacity, making it great for nearly any body type. While I personally don't love the ultra-adjustable armrests, that's a small note on this otherwise solid ergonomic chair.

For more office essentials, we've rounded up the best standing desks for the home and office.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 41: One-minute review

The Instax Mini 41 is the latest affordable instant camera built for Fujifilm’s Instax Mini film, replacing the 2022-released Instax Mini 40 as the ‘mature’ alternative to the playful, colourful Mini 12.

While the Mini 40 has a straight-up retro aesthetic, the Mini 41 takes things in a more unique and modern direction. I’d call it retro-tinged rather than all-out vintage-inspired, and I think it’s all the better and more eye-catching for it.

Instax Mini cameras have always been simple to use and the Mini 41 thankfully continues this tradition. Loading it with a cartridge of film takes seconds and isn’t fiddly at all and, thanks to the automatic exposure settings, taking a photo really is just a matter of pointing and shooting. 90 seconds later, you’ll have a fully developed and likely great-looking credit card-sized print in your hands.

The viewfinder is big and bright, and thanks to the new parallax correction mode, you no longer need to compensate composition for close-up objects. As with the Mini 12, the Close-Up mode shifts the viewfinder angle slightly so that centering an object within 50cm will actually keep it in the center of the finished print.

(Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

The build quality is lightweight and plasticky, but thankfully doesn’t come across as cheap; I think it feels fine for a camera in this price range. I will concede that the use of standard AA batteries rather than a rechargeable built-in battery seems a little old-fashioned in 2025, but I suppose you can’t have it all.

In terms of image quality, it’s difficult to say the Mini 41 is any better than the 2023-released Mini 12 (which is a bit cheaper), because the lens and film being used is pretty much identical. But that’s no bad thing: Instax Mini photos are colorful, charming and so easy to pass around, pin up to a corkboard or stick on the fridge.

All in all, this is a fun, easy-to-use instant camera with a handsome design and a great price.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 41: Price and availability

• Camera available now for $129.95 / £94.99 / AU$179
• Instax Mini film costs around $20.99 / £14.99 / AU$29.95 for a 20 pack

The Instax Mini 41 is available now for around $129.95 / £94.99 / AU$179. That price, which is pretty reasonable in my opinion, includes the camera, two AA batteries and a wrist strap, but you don’t get any Instax Mini film packs included. US-based readers should note that the price in the States may go up as a result of the recent tariffs, so do keep an eye out for that.

Each film cartridge features 10 shots, and they’re usually sold in double packs (so 20 shots in total) for around $20.99 / £14.99 / AU$29.95. That can initially seem expensive compared to the near-free cost of digital photos, but as these prints are tangible, personalized objects I don’t think it’s fair to directly compare them to shots that sit on your phone or social media account. In my opinion, the film is priced quite fairly.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 41: specs Fujifilm Instax Mini 41: design

• Plastic body with retro-inspired but modern design
• Simple controls and viewfinder
• Selfie mirror built into lens barrel

When I pulled it out of the box, I was instantly impressed by the looks of the Instax Mini 41. It would have been easy for Fujifilm to retain the purely retro 1960s-esque styling of the Mini 40, but instead its designers have blended old and new into something quite singular, much like it did with the Instax Wide Evo.

From the grippy geometric texture on the front to the understated colors (with those all-important pops of the orange accent color here and there), this is just a stylish and elegant camera – and a lot less conspicuous and more grown-up than the Instax Mini 12.

It’s made almost entirely of plastic. That’s normal for something priced as low as this, and helps keep the weight down, but it will get marked and damaged quite easily if dropped or mistreated. My review sample already had a scrape across the back from a previous user, and I suspect a ten-year-old Mini 41 would look quite battered and bruised unless kept in a carry case most of the time.

Say cheese! The Mini 41 features a handy selfie mirror next to the lens. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

Operation is beautifully simple. Loading a cartridge Instax Mini film through the rear hatch is idiot-proof thanks to the yellow indicator lines, and once it’s in all you need to do is twist the lens barrel to turn the camera on. This power switch doubles as a mode dial too, flipping the camera between its Normal and Close-Up shooting modes: Normal is for shooting anything more than 50cm away, while Close-Up handles everything between 50cm and 30cm (the camera’s closest focusing distance).

When in Close-Up mode, the viewfinder shifts perspective slightly, making it easier to frame your shots. This is called parallax correction and I’ve seen it on the Mini 12 too, but it’s a great feature to have if you don’t want to end up wasting photos through poor composition.

To take a shot, you just look through the (big, bright) viewfinder to compose, then hit the shutter button. Everything else, including shutter speed and flash, is fully automatic. If you want to take a selfie, there’s a handy mirror on the lens to help composition (another feature, like parallax correction, carried over from older models).

(Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen) Fujifilm Instax Mini 41: Performance

• Postcard-sized prints delivered in 90 seconds
• Strong color reproduction and sharp detail
• Runs on 2 x AA battery delivering around 100 shots

This camera really is simplicity personified. From pressing the shutter button to looking at your fully developed print, the entire process takes just 90 or so seconds. The Mini 41 doesn’t do anything different to its Instax Mini predecessors in this regard, but then it doesn’t need to: the system works very well. The only thing it's missing, if I'm nit-picking, is a self-timer that'd allow you to set it up somewhere for a group shot.

The prints are credit card sized (62 x 46mm to be precise), nicely glossy, and packed with charm. I suppose you might be disappointed if you’re looking for the most detail, the punchiest contrast and the richest, most saturated colors – but, well, you didn’t truly expect to find them on a cheap instant camera, did you?

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(Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

What these images have in spades is spirit and character. The colors are pleasant and appealing and there’s enough detail here, despite the small print size. And that analog film special sauce suits portraits and selfies well, imbuing them with a timeless quality that digital has always struggled to recreate.

(Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen) Should I buy the Fujifilm Instax Mini 41? Buy it if...

You want a simple, cheap instant camera
At this price it's hard to fault the Mini 41. It's a straightforward instant camera that just works!

You want something a little more grown-up
The cheaper Mini 12 is almost exactly the same camera, but its bubbly, colorful design is a bit kiddified. Not so the elegant Mini 41.

Don't buy it if...

You hate spending money on film
This isn't like a digital camera – you'll need to continually invest in film (and AA batteries) while using it.

You like being in control
Serious creative photographers might bounce off the Mini 41's lack of manual controls. It's designed to be simple and fun, not for professional photography.

(Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen) Fujifilm Instax Mini 41: Also consider Polaroid Flip

It’s more than twice the price of the Mini 41, but Polaroid’s latest point-and-shoot instant camera delivers great-looking square prints thanks to its four-lens system. A longer minimum focus distance means it’s not ideal for snapping selfies, though.

Read our in-depth Polaroid Flip review

Fujifilm Instax Mini 12

With very similar image quality to the Mini 41 (it uses the same film packs, after all), the 2023-released Mini 12 makes for a great and slightly cheaper alternative – if you can live with the cutesy, cloud-shaped and colourful design, that is.

Read our in-depth Fujifilm Instax Mini 12 review

How I tested the Fujifilm Instax Mini 41:

• Used two packs of Instax Mini film (20 shots)
• Took photos in and outdoors in different conditions
• Experimented with portraits, self portraits, close-ups and landscapes

I was only given about a week to use the Mini 41 before my review sample had to go back to Fujifilm, but that was enough time to get through a couple of cartridges of film: 20 shots in total. I took these in and outdoors and in a variety of situations, from selfies to landscapes. I own an Instax Mini 12 too, so am quite familiar with the design and image quality of the Instax Mini range and film, which helped me form an opinion on the Mini 41 despite having limited hands-on time with it.

• First reviewed May 2025

You may want to monitor content on a webpage for various reasons. It could be that you're waiting for your favorite product to be back in stock, or looking for a job, or tracking a competitor to see what they're up to.

However, manually looking for updates every now and then is impractical and, quite honestly, a waste of time. You need someone to keep an eye on your behalf while you focus on your actual work. This is where an online website change monitoring tool comes in.

Change Detection is an easy, beginner-friendly website monitoring tool that lets you track up to 5,000 URLs at once. Every time there’s an update, you can get alerts via 85 various modes, including SMS, email, Discord, and so on.

In this guide, we will dive deep into ChangeDetector’s plans and pricing, features, customer support, and much more. We’ll also list down a couple of alternatives in case it doesn’t fit your needs.

Change Detection: Plans and pricing

Change Detection has a simple one-tier pricing, starting at only $8.99/month. You can track up to 5,000 URLs at once with a checking frequency of 5 minutes.

You can also track the target website from different virtual locations, get instant notifications on email (or your preferred communication app), and bulk import the list of URLs to be tracked.

The best thing is that everything the platform has to offer has been bundled into a single plan, which is pretty affordable, too, particularly when compared with the likes of Fluxguard or Visualping.

Change Detection: Features

Change Detection is an entry-level content monitoring tool just like Sken. It lets you track up to 5,000 URLs at once – a great add-on for businesses. Once you enter the page URL, the platform will track all changes, be they content changes or visual ones.

You will also be notified about all these changes in real-time. Notifications are unlimited and can be sent to over 85 different platforms, including Discord, email, Telegram, and Slack.

If you don't want to be bothered about every single update, there are a bunch of filters available to remove unwanted alerts, such as trigger text, CSS/XPath rules, and ignore text.

For instance, if you’re looking for a 3BHK for rent on a website, you can set up alerts for changes that include the words ‘3BHK.’ This way, you won’t be bombarded with all notifications, making your dashboard clutter-free.

You can also customize the time between subsequent checks as per your needs. For instance, you may want to check for news updates only during office hours. Let’s say you know your favorite shoes will be back in stock next Thursday. You can customize Change Detection to run checks only from 00:01 to 23:59 on Thursdays.

Change Detection can also help you identify valuable trends if the web page contains a number. Let’s say you’re looking for the number of apartment listings on a real estate website. You can instruct Change Detection to look over all previous change snapshots, extract the text, and send you a CSV with the time/date.

This can help you identify long-term trends, which can be useful for consumer-driven businesses.

(Image credit: Change Detection)

The platform also offers a lot of tools to simplify the website tracking process. For instance, if you have a list of URLs, you can import it on Change Detection through a CSV or Excel file. Another way to add new sites to be tracked is through the Chrome browser extension.

What's more, you can also use proxy servers to access a site from different geographical locations. For example, if you're in Asia but want to see what the European version of a certain page has, Change Detection can help you with that.

Change Detection: Interface and in use

The main dashboard is as simple as they come. At the center of the page, there’s an empty field for the new URL that you want to track. Just below that, there’s a list of all the URLs that you are currently tracking.

(Image credit: GitHub)

Changes depicted in text are highlighted in red (for the old version) and green (for the new version) to make it easy for you to spot the difference.

There’s also a settings page for each URL that you are tracking. You can access the settings page through the “Edit” button on the main dashboard. Once inside, you will find another dashboard with a set of menus on the top. The options on the menu are to help you configure how the tracking happens.

Overall, the site is fairly easy to use, but a new user will need some time to find out where all the features are and how to work them.

Change Detection: Support

Change Detection’s support is admittedly a little barebones. There’s a section of tutorials that can help you with basic issues.

Now, if you want to talk to the team directly, there’s a contact form on the home page. You need to share your email ID, existing login URL, and a short message about your concern. However, that’s it – we didn’t find any direct email support option or live chat.

Change Detection: The competition

Because Change Detection is a beginner-level tool, it lacks many advanced features. Two of its biggest competitors are Visualping and Wachete.

Visualping is best known for its AI automation tools that save you tons of time by streamlining mundane tasks. For example, there’s a summarization tool that summarizes all change reports, helping you extract the crux of the matter without having to read through countless pages.

You can also give feedback to this AI about irrelevant notifications, and it will ensure that all similar kinds of alerts are blocked in the future. There’s also another AI tool that helps you set up your account quickly through smart suggestions. Large businesses that have a lot of workload can really benefit from this automation.

Next, we have Wachete. The best thing about it is that it allows third-party integration with Zapier, which in turn allows you to connect with over 7,000 tools. Plus, along with tracking online pages, Wachete also lets you track text documents such as PDFs, Word files, DOCX, and so on. It's also a bit more affordable than Change Detection, with plans starting from $5.40/month.

Change Detection: Final verdict

Change Detection is a good content monitoring tool, best for beginners. It's affordable, too, starting at just $8.99/month. Plus, the interface is pretty simple with a minimum learning curve – you can navigate it even if you are not a tech expert.

Its biggest USP is that it lets you track 5,000 URLs at once – something you don’t get with many website monitoring tools. There are also unlimited notifications available on over 85 different types of platforms, such as Slack, Telegram, Discord, and so on.

Last but not least, it comes with a Google Chrome browser extension for JavaScript websites, simplifying the process of adding new pages to be tracked.

However, it does have a few shortcomings. For instance, there are no AI features, password-page tracking, or an option to track pages locked behind pre-defined actions. All this makes Change Detection a little less ideal for large businesses. In that case, you can try alternatives like Wachete or Visualping.

FAQs What is a content monitoring tool?

A content monitoring tool lets you keep an eye on other webpages, such as your competitors, and see what’s going on. Instead of manually looking for updates, you can use this tool to be notified anytime there’s a major change.

The change could be related to content, visual elements, or the code of the page. Many of these tools, including Change Detection, also offer real-time alerts for such changes so that you can make timely decisions.

Who is Change Detection best for?

Change Detection is best for personal use and small businesses with limited needs. The pricing is quite affordable; any small business can afford to shell out $8.99/month, and such a low price still gives you the ability to track 5,000 URLs with 5-minute checking intervals.

You can also set up a custom check schedule and pull out informative trend reports in a jiffy. Large businesses, however, may feel the lack of advanced tracking options such as password-protected pages or pages that need a pre-defined action to be tracked.

We've ranked the best website builder service.

Businesses need content monitoring to keep an eye on competitors, stay abreast of the latest customer trends and news updates, and ensure regulatory compliance. If you’re looking for reliable content monitoring software, OnWebChange can be a good fit.

OnWebChange is one of the most affordable website monitoring software options, starting at just $0.92/month. It comes with 5 different plans, including a free one, and lets you track both websites and offline files like PDFs and images.

You can choose to track an entire page or just a part of it, track pages from various locations, and keep an eye on PDFs and text files.

Read on as we explore in detail this affordable content monitoring tool, discussing its best features, pricing, pros, and cons. We’ll also suggest a couple of alternatives if OnWebChange doesn’t suit your needs.

OnWebChange: Plans and pricing

OnWebChange offers 5 plans, ensuring there’s something for everyone. You can get started with a limited free plan, which, in all honesty, is pretty basic. It allows you to track 3 pages at once and check 30 times a month with a 24-hour interval. You can also track PDFs (limited to 0.5 MB in size) and ‘plain texts’ – something free plans don’t usually offer.

Next, there’s the Lite Plan priced at €0.89 ($0.92), allowing you to monitor 10 pages at once and run 20K checks a month with 60-minute intervals. Here, you can track PDFs up to a size of 4MB. Costing less than a dollar a month, this is one of the cheapest content monitors out there.

The Standard plan, priced at €2.79 ($2.88), allows you to track unlimited pages and run 100k checks a month. Plus, you get tracker history, a highlighted version of the check reports, a whole suite of tracker management tools, and much more.

This is the cheapest plan we’ve seen that allows unlimited page checks. However, the check interval still remains 60 minutes, which may not be ideal for mid-sized or large businesses.

In that case, you can upgrade to the Turbo-50 plan priced at €4.99 ($5.15). Although you cannot track unlimited pages here (capped at 50 pages), you can run unlimited checks per month at 5-minute intervals. Other than this, you get all the benefits from the standard plan.

Lastly, there’s the Turbo-100 plan priced at €8.99 ($9.28), where you can track 100 pages instead of 50 on the last plan.

Choosing a plan requires you to make a simple decision – do you want to track an unlimited number of pages at a 60-minute interval or a limited number of pages (50 or 100) at 5-minute intervals?

Even the most expensive OnWebChange plan is cheaper than most other content monitoring websites around, such as Verionista or Distill.io.

OnWebChange: Features

The first thing to be noted is that OnWebChange, despite its name, can track both online web pages as well as offline PDFs and images. If you want to track multiple pages, you can simply bulk import all the URLs in a single .CSV file and create multiple page trackers in just a few clicks.

To fine-tune your tracking, it offers customization tools that help you narrow down your radar to specific parts of the page instead of tracking the whole page. This will help keep out unnecessary notifications and focus on material changes.

(Image credit: OnWebChange)

Speaking of unnecessary notifications, OnWebChange lets you set custom rules so that you only get notified about changes that matter to you. For instance, you can choose to be notified only when a specific keyword appears in a change. And if you want to put all notifications on hold for a while, simply put your account on “Holiday Mode.”

You also have the option of choosing between different geographic tracking regions. Sometimes, the same page may display different content based on your location. If you want to track changes on the foreign version of a page, OnWebChange can do that for you.

One of our favorite things about OnWebChange is its highlighted reports. You get detailed change reports with the new changes highlighted so you can easily spot the difference. You can also organize your trackers into groups, then filter & order by groups, labels, creation date, and more.

OnWebChange stores tracker history in case you need it in the future. This stored data can be exported to Excel in bulk or converted to graphs and charts. All this makes it super easy to compare all the different changes in a given period.

Last but not least, there’s also an Intelligent Warning System that notifies you if a page goes through a structural change and is no longer available for tracking.

OnWebChange: Interface and in use

OnWebChange’s interface is very plain. Upon signing up, you’ll see a simple white and blue page containing your account information, some new updates about the platform, and an option to create a new tracker. Compared to other content monitors and website defacement monitoring services, the interface seems to be a bit too bland and like it's stuck in the 90s.

(Image credit: OnWebChange)

There’s no separate dashboard, so organizing your content might be a little challenging. Once you enter a URL to be tracked, you’ll get a snapshot of the current version of that page. You will also be able to access all the other settings by scrolling down the page.

Once you configure and save the settings, you’ll get a plain dashboard that will have a list of the pages you are tracking along with some basic settings and sorting and filtering options.

Overall, the dashboard is very vanilla, which makes it easy to navigate, but it's not as compact as you would have liked. So, you’ll need a couple of days getting used to it, especially if you’re switching over from another content tracker.

OnWebChange: Support

OnWebChange comes with a detailed help center where you get video tutorials, step-by-step guides, and a list of frequently asked questions. There’s also email support (info@onwebchange.com) if you want to directly get in touch with someone from the team.

We particularly like that OnWebChange offers email support on all their plans, even on the free one. However, there’s no phone support, but that’s pretty much the norm for website monitoring services.

OnWebChange: The competition

OnWebChange is a good basic content monitor. However, it does have a few shortcomings, which is why you can consider other monitors like Wachete and Visualping.

Wachete integrates with Zapier, allowing you to access 7,000+ apps to establish seamless workflows for businesses. You can also track password-protected pages and use proxy servers to monitor pages from various geographical locations. Wachete is fairly affordable, too, with plans starting at just $5.40/month. It also comes with a free plan.

The other option is Visualping. Its fantastic AI tool automates a bunch of mundane tasks for you. For example, it can summarize change reports, help you quickly set up your account with smart suggestions, and filter through unnecessary notifications. If you find an alert unnecessary, share that feedback with the AI, and it will block all similar alerts in the future.

OnWebChange: Final verdict

OnWebChange is a robust monitoring tool ideal for personal and small business needs. You can track both web pages and offline files like PDFs and images. It also allows tracking web pages from different proxy servers, allowing you to monitor region-specific content.

You can even import large lists of URLs to be tracked in a single CSV (Excel/Calc) file or export your trackers and manage them externally as a CSV file.

The prices are extremely low, with the paid plans starting at just $0.92/month. For just $2.88/month, you can track an unlimited number of pages.

Overall, the tool is a good investment. However, it does lack advanced features like report summarization tools and third-party integrations. If that's something you just can't do without, consider alternatives like Watchete and Visualping.

FAQs Which is the most affordable content monitoring tool?

OnWebChange is one of the most affordable content monitoring websites, as its paid plans start at less than $1. This starter-level plan lets you monitor 10 pages and run 20,000 checks a month with a 60-minute interval. This should be more than enough for an individual or even a small business.

If you upgrade, though, you can track unlimited pages at just $2.88/month – a proposition you’ll not see any other content monitor offer. OnWebChange also has a completely free plan using which you can track 3 pages with 30 monthly checks.

Who is OnWebChange best for?

OnWebChange is ideal for personal and small to medium businesses. It's one of the cheapest content monitors going around, with plans starting at less than a dollar.

The tool also offers excellent value for money thanks to features like custom notifications, location-based tracking, and email customer support on all plans.

However, it lacks advanced features such as AI tools or third-party integrations. Large businesses with complex needs may, therefore, need to look at alternatives like Visualping.

We rate the best website builder service.

Vantrue E360 Dash Cam: two-minute review

Dash cam manufacturers are becoming ever more inventive in their quest to stay ahead of the pack. This has resulted in many different variations on the theme, with many models offering much more than just a forward-facing recorded view of the road.

One of the big features starting to appear in the specification of the best dash cams is 360-degree capture. The Vantrue E360 Dash Cam is a prime example of this, and I’ve been using it for a while to see if it’s worth considering.

I’ve already tried the decidedly bulbous 70mai 360 Omni, which adopts a slightly different approach to 360-degree capture by using a revolving lens – the latest incarnation has been beefed up to shoot 4K video too. The Vantrue E360 Dash Cam isn’t quite as chunky, although it’s not far off, and it delivers a neat alternative for capturing more complete coverage of the road ahead, the road behind, and inside the vehicle cabin.

I’ve been testing the Vantrue E360 Dash Cam Ace bundle, which is a big box of tricks that includes the 5.2K, dual-lens 30fps unit that shoots with a 210-degree field of view from each lens to produce a 360-degree effect in playback mode. There’s also a more conventional rear-facing unit included for good measure, and the bundle also features a tripod stand, so the E360 can double as an action cam. The base-level package doesn't include the rear camera and the tripod if those are surplus to your requirements.

One of the most appealing aspects of the Vantrue E360 Dash Cam is its ease of setup and installation. I was impressed by this fact when testing the Vantrue E1 Pro recently, especially when it came to working through the configuration steps using the rear screen. You get the same ease of use with this model, despite the fact that the specification left me thinking there might be some tinkering involved. That's not the case however, and I was able to quickly pick my way through the touchscreen menus on the back of the Vantrue E360 Dash Cam.

(Image credit: Future)

Naturally, if the rearward-facing camera is part of the picture, there will be some extra wiring to install. Either way, Vantrue packs everything needed into the box, with a well laid out instruction manual proving invaluable. I tend to favor using static film strips for mounting dash cams, as they make for easier removal, and Vantrue has the mounting bracket design process down to a tee too. In fact, the overall feeling I got from the Vantrue E360 Dash Cam was that everything was really well thought out.

If you go for the basic, non-Ace bundle, the box contains the Vantrue E360 Dash Cam, GPS mount, adhesive stickers, three cable clips, 3.3ft / 1m of USB data cable, 11.5ft / 3.5m of car charging cable, plus ancillaries including a dust cloth, electrostatic stickers, a plastic cable tool and a quick user guide. Choose the Ace bundle and you also get a rear-facing camera and a handheld mount / tripod for using the Vantrue E360 as a standalone action-style camera.

The Vantrue E360 is essentially a premium solution, so alongside the headline-grabbing 360-degree capture the Chinese brand also throws in every other essential. There's a Sony Starvis 2 sensor, 5G Wi-Fi for rapid-fire transfer, infrared night vision and impressive HDR capabilities, plus support for microSD cards up to 512GB. However, it’s worth remembering that the high-spec nature of this model means it generates lots of data.

Similarly, as is the standard, the parking and 24-hour monitoring features will require the Vantrue E360 Dash Cam to be hardwired into a vehicle, which can be done using an optional kit. Vantrue has a comprehensive supporting app, which is ideally suited for managing the large files generated by such a high-spec unit. Anyone who's concerned about monitoring their vehicle at all times can also invest in a Vantrue LTE module, which is an option for live streaming should it be needed.

Vantrue E360 Dash Cam: price and availability

The Vantrue E360 Dash Cam is available now from Amazon and can be configured to suit your own needs. The standard Vantrue E360 Dash Cam is available for $270 / £268 from the Vantrue website.

The Vantrue E360 Ace Dash Cam bundle, which comes with the addition of a rearward camera and a tripod, costs from $350 via Amazon in the US. In the UK, the bundle has a RRP of £483, but it's currently on sale £383 from the Vantrue website or Amazon.

The LTE module for the Vantrue E360 Dash Cam can also be purchased as a standalone option, as can the hardwire kit.

Vantrue E360 Dash Cam: specs Vantrue E360 Dash Cam: Design

Vantrue appears to place a strong emphasis on quality, and I was very impressed with the overall look and feel of the E360. The main camera unit itself is a chunky little thing, which does tend to encroach into the windshield area, especially on cars with smaller screens, but it’s longer rather than wider, and feels very solid to the touch. The same goes for the mounting bracket, which lets the user unclip the camera easily so it can double up as an action cam.

The clean lines of the main camera unit aren’t spoilt by lots of buttons either. There’s a big button on the side, which can be used to power up the camera and also to record an emergency snapshot. There’s a power cable port on the top, and underneath the base is a slot for a microSD card, which accepts capacities up to 512GB.

(Image credit: Future)

Dominating the rear is the 1.54-inch touchscreen, which is made of really good-quality plastic and offers a clear view when it’s on. This is dotted with various icons that offer camera information as well as indicating when the unit is functioning correctly. The only downside is that these icons are quite small, especially if you’re glancing at them on the move. However, the main point of contact for interacting with this model is the Vantrue app, which packs in everything needed for complete file management, as well as allowing for more precise control of settings.

(Image credit: Future) Vantrue E360 Dash Cam: Performance

Given the bold claims made by Vantrue and the impressive specification of the E360 Dash Cam I was expecting a lot, and the main camera doesn’t disappoint in terms of the clarity it delivers. Even the view on the 1.54-inch rear touchscreen is impressive, but the footage looks even better when examined in the app or on a desktop computer or laptop. Alongside the excellent footage, the GPS data is also recorded and displayed along the foot of the video, so I was more than happy with that side of things.

(Image credit: Future)

Personally though, I’m not too keen on the rather fishbowl effect created by the Vantrue E360 Dash Cam. There’s no doubting that it does exactly what Vantrue promises, but I’m left wondering if I wouldn’t just prefer a standard-issue front-facing dash cam supplemented by a small rear-facing unit. Such bundles are widely available, and have become very affordable too. The Vantrue E360 Dash Cam is very good, but it feels a bit like overkill to me.

There’s no doubting the potency of the Sony Starvis 2 sensor, but the capture method might not appeal to everyone. On the upside, Vantrue does offer different options for the recording process, including 360-degree panorama, fisheye, and dual fisheye, but it still looks a little bit odd to me. The appeal, therefore, might be a bit on the niche side, but there’s no doubting that the hardware here is top-notch.

(Image credit: Future)

I can certainly see the appeal for anyone who wants a camera that can do a little bit of everything though. As mentioned, it's easy to unclip the camera unit and use it as an action cam shoot – it’s a great supplementary option that adds value, especially when using the option of the tripod contained in the Ace bundle.

Overall, then, I can’t really fault the shooting capabilities of the lens and sensor arrangement, and they deliver the goods both day and night. License plate details, for example, are as legible as you’d expect from a high-specification dash cam like this. Equally though, the Vantrue E1 Pro meets my needs just as well, and for a lot less money, although it doesn’t have the rearward-facing capability either.

Should you buy the Vantrue E360 Dash Cam?

(Image credit: Future) Buy it if...

You’re after a complete dash cam solution
If you purchase it in the Ace bundle, the Vantrue E360 Dash Cam comes with everything needed for total surveillance, and doubles as an action cam too.

A touchscreen makes all the difference
This model has an excellent though compact touchscreen, which makes setup and installation much easier than for models without one.

You value 4K video quality
Not everyone wants high-resolution dash cam video, but having crisper details including license plates in footage is always a bonus in case of incidents.

Don't buy it if...

You’re not keen on bulky dash cams
The Vantrue E360 Dash Cam isn’t exactly huge, but it does hang down enough to perhaps be a bit of an obstruction in a vehicle with a small windshield area.

You’d prefer a simpler solution
While this model isn’t overly complicated, there is more to do in terms of fitting the camera and wiring it in, especially if the hardwired parking surveillance is required.

You’re not sure about the 360-degree aspect
This is a bit of a niche product, and only makes sense if you’re keen to have unique 360 degree-effect video plus an action cam into the bargain.

How I tested the Vantrue E360 Dash Cam

• I installed the dash cam in two test cars for an initial period of three weeks
• I used it for numerous journeys during the day and at night
• I connected it to my phone and downloaded recordings to assess their quality

Vantrue loaned me the E360 Dash Cam and supplied everything I needed to test it. This included a 128GB microSD card and a hardwire kit, which is an optional extra. However, because I needed to move the camera between vehicles, I was unable to test the parking monitoring feature.

Aside from that, I installed and set up the E360 as per the instructions, and used it during a variety of journeys. This included journeys at different times of the day in order to test all the capabilities of the package, especially after dark.

I tested the accompanying Vantrue app on an Apple iPhone to check transfer rates, using both Wi-Fi and a cable connection to my laptop, and managed the larger 4K files using the same resources.

• First reviewed April 2025

A content monitoring tool is essential for business purposes, like regulatory compliance, competitor monitoring, and brand protection. It also helps identify market trends and consumer preferences. Individuals may also use these monitors to track online sales, offers, job applications, and more.

PageCrawl is one such popular online content monitoring software best known for its customizable plans. Its free plan is one of the most comprehensive, offering features like unlimited alerts, custom notifications, and third-party integrations that are usually available under paid plans.

Apart from online pages and websites, you can also track PDFs, Excel, and Word files using PageCrawl. Plus, all these pages can be managed, imported, and modified in bulk.

Come take a dive with us as we explore in detail PageCrawl and its features, pricing, competition, and support.

PageCrawl: Plans and pricing

PageCrawl offers one of the most comprehensive free plans we have seen in the industry. It allows you to track 6 pages and run up to 180 checks a month. Plus, you get screenshots for the last 3 checks and a 90-day view history.

What we liked the most was the unlimited alerts you get on this plan through email, Discord, Telegram, Slack, and Teams. You can also automate workflows through Zapier integration. The only downside is that the frequency of each check is only once per day.

Next, the Standard plan gives you an option to choose the number of pages you want to track – 100, 200, or 300. The basic 100-page plan allows you to run 15,000 checks per month and costs $8. The 200-page plan (with 30,000 checks/month) is priced at $16/month, while the 300-page plan (with 45,000 checks/month) will cost you $24/month.

The plan allows you to check for changes every 15 minutes. You also get a 12-month view history, email support, API & Webhooks, and Review Boards. This plan allows you to track online-hosted PDF, Excel, and Word files.

Lastly, the Enterprise plan starts at $30/month for 500 pages and 100,000 checks a month. You get 8 plan options to choose from here; the upper ceiling is 4,000 pages per month with 800,000 checks. This makes PageCrawl ideal for even large businesses.

Here, you get a check frequency of 5 minutes, a premium proxy tool, user access roles, and premium email support. What's more, you can also bypass CAPTCHA on websites by paying just a small additional fee.

Note: The pricing mentioned above is for a monthly subscription. If you pay annually, you get two months for free. So, if you’re paying $8/month for the Standard monthly plan, you’ll only need to pay $80 if you choose the annual option.

PageCrawl: Features

Much like other trackers, PageCrawl also gives you the option to either track the whole page or select elements you specifically want to track.

Sometimes, the pages you want to track may be locked behind passwords. In such cases, you’ll only need to configure authentication on PageCrawl. Once done, you can use the same configuration to track multiple pages. This also works for PDFs, Excel sheets, Word, or CSV documents protected by passwords.

(Image credit: PageCrawl)

Besides this, PageCrawl also circumvents bot detection safeguards employed by Cloudflare for seamless tracking. You can even bypass reCAPTCHA/hCAPTCHA authentication for an additional fee.

What we liked the most about PageCrawl is that there are a lot of organization options. You can set up a folder hierarchy that allows you to group tracked pages by categories. Pagecrael also lets you attach custom labels to group pages by keywords or tracking status.

If you work in teams, you can create team-specific workspaces where employees can only monitor pages relevant to their needs. This enhances collaboration and prevents dual work.

To add to this, there are various templates. For instance, if a specific team is tracking only product listings, they can stick to one template to avoid confusion. The same goes for other pages like blog posts or service pages.

Taking this a step ahead, PageCrawl offers a “Review Board” – Kanban-like dashboards that streamline your monitoring process. There are also options to customize the reporting frequency. You can either choose to get real-time updates for time-sensitive changes or get daily or weekly reports for non-urgent changes.

These updates can be received through email alerts, SMS, Slack, Telegram, or Discord. You can also set up conditional notifications to only get alerts when certain words appear. This narrows down the search and prevents false positives.

Other notable features include proxy servers to track geo-restricted pages, third-party integrations, storage for view history and screenshots, auto page discovery, data export and reporting, and so on.

PageCrawl: Interface and in use

The most interesting thing about PageCrawl is that you can start tracking without creating an account. On its homepage, there’s a field to enter the URL of your website.

Once you do, it will show you a snapshot of the current version of the page and send all future updates to your email. However, this way, you won't be able to access any of the other features. So, we recommend registering your account.

(Image credit: PageCrawl)

Once you create an account, you’ll get a dashboard where on the left side you’ll have the menu. This is where you can manage your integrations, notifications, labels, and templates. Here, you will also find the option to create a new workspace or add a new user.

In the center, you will see a list of all the pages you are tracking along with their current status and last update.

Overall, the interface is simple. All the features are in plain sight, and everything you'll need is on one page.

PageCrawl: Support

PageCrawl offers decent support. There’s a help center containing tutorials and guides on almost every query you might have. And if you want to get in touch with the team directly, you can email them your support inquiries at help_me@pagecrawl.io. Please note that email support is only available on paid plans.

The response time depends on the plan you are subscribed to. If you have the Standard plan, the typical response time is 72 hours, whereas if you have the Enterprise plan, the standard response time is 24 hours, excluding weekends.

PageCrawl: The competition

PageCrawl is an all-in-one content monitoring tool. However, if it still doesn’t suit your needs, here are a few options you can look at.

Fluxguard has some of the best AI tools in the industry. It has an AI tool for translating websites to English, one for summarization, one for filtering irrelevant updates, and another for creating custom AI prompts to narrow down your search. However, it's a little expensive. If you want the same benefits for an even lower price, try Visualping.

Visualping has similar AI features. Its AI can help you summarize reports, filter notifications, and speed up setup with smart suggestions. Plus, it's cheaper than Fluxguard. What’s more, its plans are customizable just like PageCrawl.

PageCrawl: Final verdict

PageCrawl is a great tool for all businesses, thanks to its wide array of plan options – you can track from 6 pages to 4,000 pages per month. It's also one of the few tools that offers a comprehensive free plan with unlimited alerts, folders, and label categorization. The interface is simple and navigable, and the customer support is decent.

It also has a lot of organization options, which makes it easy for inter- and intra-team collaboration. There’s even a Kanban-like dashboard for better tracking and monitoring.

You can track websites, PDFs, Excel sheets, Word, or CSV files locked behind passwords.

Plus, PageCrawl sends you alerts through various modes such as SMS, emails, Telegram, Slack, and Discord, the frequency of which can be customized. Having said that, PageCrawl doesn’t offer AI features, which is why you may want to consider alternatives like Fluxguard or Visualping.

FAQs What is a content monitoring tool?

A content monitoring tool tracks a website or a page and notifies you of any changes on it. Whether it's a change in the content, code, or interface, you will be notified instantly. Most of these tools also create daily or weekly change reports for you so that you can get consolidated information.

Who is PageCrawl ideal for?

PageCrawl, thanks to its mind-blowing free plan, is best for those looking to try out a content monitoring tool – or folks who have limited needs. You can track 6 pages and get unlimited alerts without paying a single penny. Plus, you even set up conditional alerts, organize your work through folders and labels, and connect with 2,000+ apps for a seamless workflow.

Beyond this, even small and large businesses find PageCrawl worth the money. The paid plans start at $8/month, going all the way up to $240/month.

We've listed the best website builder service.

Website monitoring is a must-do for all businesses. It helps you with competitive intelligence, regulatory and privacy compliance, and brand protection. Even on a personal level, website monitoring comes in handy – you may want to keep an eye on your favorite product or monitor your job application.

Fluxguard is one of the best online content monitoring platforms that lets you monitor all changes on any website. It's best known for its AI-powered tools that automate a lot of mundane tasks, making the whole tracking process easier. Although you can get started with a free plan, Fluxguard offers a lot of paid plans for businesses of all sizes.

In this guide, we will take a closer look at its best features, pricing, support, and more. We’ll even compare it with some alternatives to ensure you walk away with only the best tool for your needs.

Fluxguard: Plans and pricing

Fluxguard’s versatile pricing makes it ideal for all sizes of businesses, be they startups or enterprises. You can get started with its free plan, though.

Although the number of sites on the free plan is limited to just three, you get an AI translation tool to translate pages to English – something you won’t get with other monitors. Plus, you can keep 3 versions per page and get daily/instant updates.

The first paid plan is the Standard plan, priced at $99/month. It allows up to 3 users to monitor 25 websites per month. Along with that, you can monitor specific parts of a page and track pages locked behind a login page. However, we found it a bit more expensive than the likes of Visualping and Watchete.

The Plus plan is what most average-sized businesses will benefit from. It's priced at $199/month and allows 5 users to monitor 50 websites per month. Here’s where you get a lot of AI functions – AI summarization tools and AI prompts. You can also use proxy servers to crawl the same website from different regions.

Next, there’s the Premium plan priced at $499/month. It allows 10 users to monitor 100 websites per month. In addition to that, you get an AI filtering option to filter out irrelevant changes, consolidated AI email summaries, updates every 5 minutes with Rapid Crawling, and real-time notifications with Webhooks. This plan is ideal for all large businesses.

For enterprises that need something bigger than the Premium plan, Fluxguard offers a customizable Enterprise plan.

Fluxguard: Features

The most unique feature of Fluxguard is the AI translation tool. Even on the free plan, you can translate websites in other languages to English and track them.

Other than that, it has a full-fledged suite of phenomenal AI tools. There’s an AI tool to translate websites in another language to English, for instance, and another to summarize all your change reports so that you don't have to read through the entire report.

There’s also a tool that creates custom AI prompts that will help you identify key changes and filter out unnecessary updates. For instance, if you’re looking for a job as a typist, you can tell the AI prompt to look for this specific word in its searches. If a match is found, the result will be marked with a yellow flag.

(Image credit: Fluxguard)

We also loved Fluxguard's Proxy Network feature that lets you crawl the same website from different regions. Sometimes, websites have different content for different locations, and you may not be able to track geo-specific content from your home network. With the Proxy Network feature, however, you can monitor each one of these versions.

Thanks to its Form Submission Tracking feature, you can also monitor changes in gated content or sites that are locked behind a login page. This means that websites that are not public will also be available for you to track.

Next up is the Alternative PDF monitoring feature that lets you crawl large PDF files (more than 4MB in size) that live on the web. This is something that isn’t possible with many website monitors. It can come in handy when you’re dealing with lengthy research papers or regulatory documents.

Last but not least, you get to choose which parts of a page you want to monitor and which you want to skip. Monitored content could include texts, media files, and code.

Fluxguard: Interface and in use

Fluxguard’s interface is quite basic, which is also why it's fairly easy to use. You’ll only have to enter the URL of the site you wish to track on the dashboard. The tool will then immediately start crawling the page.

(Image credit: Fluxguard)

At the center of the page, you will find all the details about the last version, the last check, and the monitoring status, i.e., whether it's currently being monitored or not.

On the right side, you will get a snapshot of the current version, and above that, you'll have an option to adjust the crawling frequency. Below all of this will be a list of related pages in case you wish to monitor them too.

Overall, we found the tool easy to use – everything you need is on one page. However, one downside is that Fluxguard doesn’t offer browser extensions like some of its peers. So, you’ll have to keep returning to the dashboard every time you want to add a new website to track.

Fluxguard: Support

Fluxguard has a massive database of help resources. First, there’s an in-depth FAQ section answering almost every question you might have. There’s also a separate tutorial page helping new users set up and a separate video library with video solutions to common user queries. You can even join webinars if you want a live demonstration on how to use the platform.

Overall, we found a lot of resources that will help you set up and use Fluxguard without much fuss. If you still have any issues, you can reach out to the sales team through a contact form. There's also a live chat option, but it isn't 24/7. Still pretty useful, though.

Fluxguard: The competition

Unlike Fluxguard, Wachete can even track offline text documents in PDF, DOC, and DOCX files. Wachete also lets you connect it with 7,000+ apps through Zapier, ensuring smooth workflows. Plus, it is more affordable than Fluxguard, starting at just $5.40/month.

While Fluxguard’s highest-paid plan lets you monitor only 100 websites, Wachete’s highest-paid plan lets you monitor 3,000 pages.

The other alternative is Distill.io, which lets you build macros to monitor complex websites where content is only visible after a certain user action. Plus, you can customize alerts and notifications on Distill through predefined conditions.

This way, you only get alerts relevant to your needs. It's also more affordable than Fluxguard – paid plans start at $12/month and allow 30,000 monthly checks.

Fluxguard: Final verdict

Overall, Fluxguard is a great pick, especially because of its AI-driven approach. Firstly, there’s an AI translation tool that can translate websites to English. Then there's the AI summarization tool to summarize change reports, an AI custom prompt tool to identify key changes, and an AI filtering tool to eliminate irrelevant changes.

There’s also a network of proxy servers to help you track websites from different geographical regions. The interface is pretty simple and easy to use, too, and even non-techies can use it straight out of the box.

Fluxguard comes with a free plan that lets you monitor three websites. That said, it's admittedly a bit on the expensive side. So, if you’re on a budget, maybe consider alternatives like Visualping or Wachete.

FAQs What is a website monitoring tool?

A website monitoring tool keeps an eye on your target websites or pages and notifies you if there are any changes to them. The change could be regarding the content, code, or any other page element. A lot of these platforms, such as Fluxguard itself, allow you to either monitor the entire page or select parts of the page to monitor.

Who is Fluxguard best for?

Fluxguard is ideal for medium to large businesses. It has a bunch of AI tools to automate mundane tasks, such as translation and report summarization, so that you can focus on things that actually matter. Also, businesses often need to track websites outside their own region. In that case, you can use Fluxguard’s proxy network to track such addresses.

We list the best website builder service.

Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S: two-minute review

As someone who has a house that's over 100 years old, my A/C and heater struggle to heat or cool down my rooms and it usually results in high bills at the height of summer or winter. I've tried many different ways to fix this problem – and I think I've finally found the answer in the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S.

Despite the name, the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S is more accurately described as an air circulator. While it has nine different wind speeds and can blow air long distances, it's not the best fan I've tested when used on its own. However, its ability to horizontally and vertically tilt 120-degrees makes it an outstanding tool for circulating cool or hot air from an air-conditioner or a heater around a room.

I used this air circulator in my house, running a number of tests to see how well it works, and I was beyond impressed. When paired with my air-conditioning, the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S cooled my living room faster than the air-conditioner could work. In fact, in less than 10 minutes, it cooled the living room down by five degrees – which I know because I monitored the temperature of the room in the Dreo app where I can easily control the various settings of the fan.

Beyond its air circulating powers, the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S offers more features and settings than most other fans or air circulators on the market. With five different specialty modes and ambient lighting with customizable color and brightness settings, it more than justifies its $119.99 price tag. Tack on the fact that you can schedule the fan, create custom specialty modes, and adjust the oscillation degrees, and this Dreo product feels slightly underpriced.

Read on for a fuller picture of how the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S performed during testing.

(Image credit: Future) Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S review: price & availability

• List price: $119.99 / £129.99
• Launched: April 2025
• Available: US, Canada, UK

The Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S was part of an April 2025 launch of summer cooling products by Dreo. It's priced at $119.99 / £129.99 for all three color options. It can be purchased direct from Dreo, but it's also available on Amazon (although make sure you're buying the model you want here – the product codes are rather well hidden, and a lot of this brand's fans look very similar).

Considering this air circulator fan is stylish, can be controlled within an app, has ambient lighting, and vertical and horizontal oscillation, I would say the price is reflective of the features. I've seen fans with less features and cooling capabilities that cost more.

How does it compare to the competition? One of TechRadar's best-rated fans is the Shark FlexBreeze, which costs $199.99 / £199.99. That model does some things the 508S can't – it can be used cordless or taken outside, and has a misting function, for instance – and it's also more powerful as a standalone fan than the 508S.

Also highly rated is the MeacoFan 1056P, which costs $189.99 / £149.99. This is perhaps a better comparison point because, like the 508S, it can oscillate horizontally and vertically to circulate air. This starts to look poor value for money compared to the Dreo model – there's no app control with the Meaco option, and the vertical and horizontal oscillation range is smaller.

• Value for money score: 4.5 out of 5

Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S specs Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S review: design

• Modern pedestal fan / air circulator with vertical and horizontal oscillation
• Outfitted with ambient lighting in different colors
• Controllable through display buttons, a remote, app, and voice control

The Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S arrived in a few pieces that were easy to put together, even without the instructions provided. It took all but a few minutes to assemble the fan.

While I tested a white colored Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S, it comes in two other colors, silver and gold. The fan sits on a pole that goes into a round base. The pole itself is adjustable, and according to Dreo, it can be adjusted 0-5 inches. Oddly, I measured the full extension with a measuring tape, and found the pole extends up to nine inches for a maximum fan height of 40 inches.

On the pole, there is a digital screen that displays the different settings and fan speeds, indicated by the numbers 1-9. Below the display are a variety of touch buttons – power, fan speed/timer, ambient light, ambient light color, vertical oscillation, and horizontal oscillation/child lock button.

(Image credit: Future)

The fan itself has what Dreo calls 3D oscillation, which basically means that the fan head tilts 120 degrees vertically and 120 degrees horizontally. This is why the fan head feels a little loose around the area where it connects to the pole – to allow for movement.

In addition to the touch buttons, a remote control is provided, as well as a holder for it that clips onto the pole. The remote has the exact same buttons as is found on the fan itself.

(Image credit: Future)

The Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S also connects to the Dreo app, meaning you can control the fan within the easy-to-navigate app. It has also the same buttons found on the fan and the remote, as well as a few others. For instance, in the app, you can adjust the vertical and horizontal oscillation degrees to anything between 0 and 120 degrees. You can also turn off the panel sound in the app and see the temperature of the room. In fact, the ambient temperature from the last 24 hours and past 30 days are recorded.

This fan is outfitted with five different specialty modes. While you can set the Turbo mode with the remote or the display buttons, you must use the app to set the fan on Normal, Auto, Sleep, or Natural mode. You can also create a custom mode that lets you set an ambient temperature goal and oscillation degrees. Users also have the ability to schedule the fan to turn on and run for a certain amount of time.

(Image credit: Future)

Equally as interesting is the amount of control you have with the ambient lighting. Not only can you adjust the brightness level of the light, but there is a gradient that lets you choose up to 1500+ colors, so you're not limited to just a set number of colors. You can even adjust how the light presents itself on the fan. There's the Constant setting – which means the light will remain constant. The Breath setting results in a breath-like pulse of light that can be set on low, mid, or high speeds. With the Circle setting, the ambient light changes cyclically in a set sequence at a low, mid, or high speed.

This is perhaps one of the quietest fans I've ever tested. I barely hear it, even when it's on Turbo mode. For reference, when placed on fan speed 1, it has a 40dB rating, while on Turbo mode, the sound rating is 67 dB.

• Design score: 4.5 out of 5

Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S review: performance

• Extremely effective as an air circulator used with air-con or a heater
• Good airflow power, but there are more effective standalone fans
• Tons of convenient control options, but voice assistant support unreliable

As mentioned above, my air-conditioning unit and heater struggle to cool and heat my house. I've had many technicians tell me that I could benefit from a second unit and more vents. I make do with what I have, but unfortunately, my house has little insulation, and the cool or hot air tends to seep out the ceiling, the windows, or the walls, and my units run longer and ultimately cost me more.

I think I've found a solution in the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S and I couldn't be more ecstatic. Before I explain how phenomenally this air circulation fan worked, I'm going to break down my use of a variety of other features it offers.

(Image credit: Future)

I typically alternated between using the remote and the app to manage the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S, as it really didn't make sense for me to walk over to the fan and use the touchscreen buttons. I was able to use the remote 30 feet away as long as the remote was in the sight line of the fan. Maybe it would work at farther distances, but this is as far as I could go based on the design of my house.

Most of the time I used the app, since you can't access all the settings with just the remote or display buttons. The Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S can be voice controlled with Google Assistant and Alexa too. I tested this out by connecting to Google Assistant on my phone. It only took a few minutes to do within the app, though it was a little confusing, so if you're not tech savvy, you might need to rope in a tech-forward friend to help you out.

With voice commands, I was able to turn the air circulator or the oscillation on and off, increase or decrease the fan speeds, change specialty modes, and check the temperature of the room. While I was able to turn the ambient lighting on and off, Google Assistant couldn't change the color of the ambient lighting for me. There was also a point where I asked it to increase the fan speed to 5 and it increased the fan speed to 4. Clearly, there are some limitations to Google Assistant and Alexa. At least, Dreo provides voice command examples in the app, so you know exactly how to change the settings.

(Image credit: Future)

I didn't use the ambient lighting feature often, except at night when I placed the fan in my bedroom. I'd turn on the ambient lighting, sometimes switching to colored lights for the fun of it. It doesn't light up a room, but it kind of works like a soft night light. While this is not a necessary feature for me personally, I think it definitely adds value to the product.

Now to the most important feedback – is the air circulator actually effective? The answer is yes. Before testing the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S, I hadn't turned my A/C on yet as it wasn't quite hot enough outside to warrant it. That said, my home had grown pretty warm. In fact, it had reached 82F (28C) inside my living room. I know this because the fan can read the temperature in the room it's located, and you can see that temperature reading within the app.

I decided to turn on my A/C and set it to 72F (22C). I wanted to see how long it would take the air circulator fan to cool down my living room that much. I turned on the fan and set the vertical and horizontal oscillation degrees to 120 degrees and the fan speed to 9.

The A/C and the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S had only been running for one minute when the temperature in my living room dropped one degree. I felt the room cool almost immediately.

This is even more impressive when you consider the layout of my house. The dining room and the study are connected to the living room, and there are large walkways (like six feet of space) between them. The air circulator was placed in a corner of the living room. Because I didn't shut off the living room from the dining room or the study, the air circulator was probably working double time, and still the temperature dropped quickly in the living room.

Within seven minutes, the temperature had dropped by four degrees to 78F (26C). At the 15-minute mark, I decided to turn the fan on Turbo mode. After thirty minutes, the living room temperature had dropped to 74F (23C). It took 45 minutes for the living room to cool to 72F (22C), although when I checked my house's thermometer, it said that the house had only cooled to 76F (24C) in that time.

I was thoroughly happy with these results, and I could imagine all the benefits of using the air circulator in the future. In the winter, I'll put it in my bedroom before I go to sleep and use it to circulate hot air from the heater and effectively warm up the room quickly so that it's nice and cozy before I get under the bed covers. This summer, I'm definitely going to use it to circulate the A/C's cool air in the kitchen, so I don't overheat when I'm cooking dinner.

(Image credit: Future)

I can't say this for sure, but I think the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S could save me some money. For instance, rather than lowering the A/C, which will be expensive, I'm planning to set the A/C in the high 70s. That will still give me enough cool air for the air circulator to circulate the cool air in whatever room I'm sitting in and make that room cooler for me. I don't really care if the rest of the house is cool, only if the room I'm in is cool. Money saving idea? I think so!

If you don't have an air conditioner, the TurboPoly 508S can still be used a standalone fan. When it's set on the Turbo speed level, I can feel the airflow 29 feet away, and 12 feet away when it's set on speed level 1. However, I've recently tested three other fans (the Shark HydroGo desktop fan, and the Dreo Smart Tower Fan 519S and Shark TurboBlade tower fans), and I found their airflows much more effective at cooling.

I'll say this – there are times of the year when I don't have my air-conditioning or heater on but I'd still like a fan to cool me down. The Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S will work just fine until I turn on the A/C or heater. But I wouldn't necessarily buy it with the plan to only use it as a fan. It's best designed to circulate air in a room, and I think I've explained above why I love this product for having that capability – and in fact, it assists in keeping me overall cooler or warmer than any fan actually does.

For the most part, I used the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S on Normal or Turbo mode. Sometimes I adjusted the oscillation so that the fan would direct airflow right on me, but as I said, most of the time, I used it as an air circulator.

(Image credit: Future)

I'm a big fan of the Natural mode, because it simulates the feel of a breeze. This is nice when I'm not super-hot but I just want some light air movement across my skin. The Sleep mode also worked fantastically. Like other Dreo fans, when in Sleep mode, the fan speed decreases once every 30 minutes, stopping after the second decrease. For instance, if I set the fan speed at 7 while on Sleep mode, the speed would reduce to 6 after 30 minutes and then 5 after another 30 minutes. It would remain on 5 the rest of the night.

The Auto mode is a smart feature that is super helpful. When set, Auto mode will increase the fan speed until the room temperature lowers. Once the room reaches a comfortable level (which is noted in the app), the fan speed decreases, maintaining that comfortable temperature. I used this feature sometimes, because it was nice not having to monitor the temperature reading within the app.

I didn't schedule the air circulator often, except when using the Sleep mode at night. Usually, I'd schedule the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S to turn on about 30 minutes before I went to sleep so that the air in the room could circulate and cool down before I went to bed.

A cool addition is the option to create your own custom mode, which essentially lets you choose temperature blocks and oscillation degrees. I like that I had the option to customize a mode, but I didn't really find much use for it, at least not at this time. Perhaps in the future, when I've used the fan for longer, I'll see how a specific custom mode might benefit me.

• Performance score:4 out of 5

Should you buy the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S? Buy it if...

You want a to boost your air-con

The Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S is an air circulator fan, which means it's designed to circulate hot or cold air around a room, heating or cooling down a space faster than an A/C unit or heater could do on its own. This is all thanks to the vertical and horizontal oscillation capabilities of the fan. As an air circulator, the 508S is phenomenal.

You want a fan with smart features

Although it comes with buttons and a remote control, this Dreo fan is most conveniently controlled within the Dreo app. The app has so many customizable settings, from the color of the lighting to a scheduler and custom mode creation. Not only that, but it has some smart features like voice command with Alexa and Google Assistant and an Auto mode that increases or decreases the fan speed based on the temperature of the room.

You love cool lighting features

The Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S doubles as a nightlight thanks to ambient light color settings. Not only does it have a white light that you can turn on at night, but in the app you can choose from over 1,500 colors within a color graph.

Don't buy it if...

You want a powerful standalone fan

I've tested a number of fans, and if it's a standalone fan you're after, there are more effective options than the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S. While it does have high fan speeds and a Turbo mode, it isn't the most powerful fan or the best on the market to keep you cool without combining it with an A/C.

You want a fan with 180-degree horizontal oscillation

This fan can oscillate vertically and horizontally 120 degrees, which is impressive. However, there are fans that oscillate 180 degrees horizontally, if you're worried the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S's oscillation won't be enough.

You're on a tight budget

There are some air circulator fans on the market that cost less than $100/£100. While they lack many of the features of this Dreo fan – like a wide range of speeds, specialty modes, app connectivity, smart features, and lighting – they still do a decent job at circulating air in a room, if you're happy to keep things simple.

How I tested the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S

Testing of the Dreo TurboPoly Fan 508S occurred in April 2025 in my house in North Texas. I used every specialty mode, the different fan speeds, and tested how far away I could feel the airflow. Not only did I test the fan in different areas of my house, but I used it in conjunction with my air-conditioning unit to see its effectiveness in circulating cool air around a room and how that impacted the room's temperature.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed April 2025

Monitoring websites can come in handy in various cases, such as when you want to keep track of an online job application or monitor your business rival’s website to see what they are up to.

Wachete is one such website monitoring tool that allows you to monitor an entire website, a simple page, or even text documents. It will track every change that happens on that page and notify you through a daily or weekly report.

The plans are affordable and diverse. There’s a free plan for small businesses and a slightly more expensive “Ultimate” plan for big companies that lets you track up to 3,000 pages at once. If you're wondering whether Wachete is the best online content monitoring software, this article is for you.

Wachete: Plans and pricing

The best part about Wachete is that it offers as many as 5 plans, which means you’ve got plenty of choices. You can get started for free, though, thanks to its free-forever plan. It allows you to monitor 5 pages every 24 hours. There’s also no limit on the number of times you can check.

The first paid plan is the Starter plan at $5.40 /month – this is among the cheapest plans in the industry. Here, you can monitor 50 pages at once, check for updates every 60 minutes, and even monitor a dynamic page. You can select multiple parts of the page for monitoring and access 12 months of history.

(Image credit: Wachete)

If you want to scale up, the Standard plan priced at $10.90/month allows you to monitor 100 pages, check for updates every 10 minutes, and monitor 2 dynamic pages. This is the first plan where you can monitor pages locked behind a login screen.

Next up is the Premium plan, priced at $54.90/month. With this, you can monitor 500 pages and 10 dynamic pages and look for updates every 5 minutes. This is ideal for large businesses that need constant monitoring.

Lastly, there’s the Ultimate plan priced at $329.90/month. It allows you to monitor 3,000 pages at once along with 60 dynamic pages and check for updates every 5 minutes. The rest of the features are the same as the Premium plan.

Note that all the prices mentioned above are on a monthly billing. If you're paying annually, you’ll save one month's worth of money - and that's true for every plan. Plus, each paid plan comes with a 7-day free trial, so you can try it out risk-free before committing.

Wachete: Features

Wachete is a simple website monitoring tool you can use to track a website and see what changes are happening to it. Depending on the plan you choose, you can also track password-protected pages and text documents such as PDFs and .doc files.

Also, if you feel that a page has different content for different locations, you can monitor it from all those different locations using proxy servers.

Once the tracking is turned on, Wachete will send you weekly or daily summaries of all the changes that have taken place. This way you won't have to go through the trouble of manually looking for changes.

If you want to be notified immediately, you can also set up SMS or mobile notifications. You’ll get an email whenever any changes happen to the webpage. All removed parts are highlighted in red, and the content added is marked in green. Another way to view the data is to download it as an Excel sheet.

(Image credit: Wachete)

The monitoring itself is customizable: you can choose which parts of a page you want to monitor and which parts you want to skip.

You can even track password-protected pages. Plus, if there’s a page with different versions for different locations, you can track each of those versions from a proxy server.

Another thing we liked about Wachete is that it integrates with Zapier, which in turn lets you connect the platform with over 7,000 other apps. This way, you won’t have to keep logging in to Wachete to monitor your changes. With predesigned workflows, you can get alerts on WhatsApp, email, Slack, Trello, Google Sheets, and Discord - you get the idea.

Other noteworthy features include a graphical representation of numeric data, the ability to collect history, changes, and web content for up to 12 months, and the option to create an RSS feed from the monitored content.

Wachete: Interface and in use

Wachete's interface is pretty straightforward. Once you create an account, which only takes a minute, you’ll be led to a simple dashboard that looks empty initially. However, on the top right, you’ll see an option to create your watchlist. Once you enter a page URL to be tracked, all the updates will be reflected in the same dashboard. There’s even a tutorial video if you need more help.

(Image credit: Wachete)

At the bottom, there’s the live chat option that connects you to the Watchet team, where you can directly ask your queries.

Overall, based on my firsthand testing experience, I'd say Wachete is pretty easy to use with a straightforward user interface.

There’s also the option to add Wachete as a browser extension. Supported browsers include Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Just scroll to the bottom of the home page and click on the browser you want; it will open the add-on page for respective browsers where you can download and install it.

Wachete: Support

There’s a detailed FAQ section on Wachete's website that covers almost every issue you might have, starting from how to use the features to managing your Wachete subscription.

If you want to contact the Wachete customer support team, you can reach out to them by email or use the live chat option from your dashboard.

Other than that, there isn't much information (such as the hours of availability) available about Wachete’s customer support. Also, support is prioritized for paying customers.

Wachete: The competition

Wachete is a wonderful, beginner-friendly, and affordable website monitoring tool. But if it doesn't fit your needs, here are a couple of alternatives.

Versionista’s customer support team guarantees to respond within 12 hours. Plus, the response comes directly from their senior engineers, which means you're getting the best possible help for your queries. Another good thing about Versionista is that you can customize the time and location of crawling as well as the frequency of reporting.

Visualping is another solid option. It's one of the few platforms that use AI to simplify your work. From summarizing your reports to setting up your account and filtering your notifications, Visualping’s AI helps you with everything. It even understands the context of the page being monitored and avoids content shifts to generate alerts only for contextual changes.

Wachete: Final verdict

Wachete is a great tool if you're looking for a pocket-friendly option. In addition to the paid plans that start for as low as $5.40/month, there’s also a completely free plan you can use for as long as you want.

It's also pretty easy to use. Simply put, you don't need to be a tech wizard to set up your account and monitor the pages. Setup takes less than a minute, and then you get led to the all-in-one dashboard from where you can add new pages to be tracked, organize them, and also contact the support team.

However, Wachete’s customer support isn't as great as the competition. There’s an email and a chat widget, which is only visible once you log in. However, there's no clear-cut information on the availability of support. That said, there are a lot of FAQs and helpful guides on Wachete's website to solve any queries you might have.

FAQs What is a website monitoring tool?

A website monitoring tool tracks a page online and looks out for any changes that might happen to it. The change might be related to the content, the code of the website, or any other element. The main purpose of such a tool is to help you keep up with the latest information without going through the trouble of manually spotting the updates.

How to use Wachete?

The best thing about Wachete is that it's very user-friendly. Setting up an account takes less than a minute: just click on sign up, enter your email, click on the confirmation mail link, and set your password.

Once that's done, you’ll be automatically led to the dashboard where you can add pages to be tracked and organize them. There’s also a detailed tutorial video available on the dashboard if you need more help.

We feature the best website defacement monitoring services.

Perhaps you're looking for the best deals on your favorite product, or you're hunting for a job. Or, you may just be on the lookout for fresh news and updates or need to monitor websites for academic/business purposes.

All this requires easy-to-use and effective website change monitoring software. Enter Sken.io. It's a basic website monitoring tool that tracks website content and updates you on these changes. Although pretty barebones, Sken.io gets the job done, especially for personal uses. You can easily track changes with its handy comparison mode.

Plus, Sken.io offers you a 14-day free trial to help you get started, besides being one of the most affordable monitors out there. This article will explore in detail the features, pricing, and in-use experience of Sken.

Sken.io: Plans and pricing

Sken.io has three straightforward plans, in addition to a 14-day free trial. The trial lets you run 140 checks, which is enough to gauge if the platform fits your needs. The first paid plan, the Basic Plan, starts at €30.00/year ($31), which boils down to around $2.5/month. This makes it one of the cheapest website monitoring plans out there. The basic plan lets you run 500 checks per month.

If that’s not enough, you can upgrade to the Standard plan at €120/year ($125), with 3,000 checks per month. The Enterprise plan, at €450/year ($467), allows up to 15,000 checks per month. These plans are ideal for small and mid-sized businesses. However, if you’re a large business, you can even tailor a plan as per your needs with custom check limits.

One thing that we liked about Sken.io is that each paid plan supports a monitoring frequency of up to 1 minute. This is not something you get with other providers, where a low interval of 1 minute can only be found with higher-tier plans.

Another impressive thing about Sken.io is that if you are not satisfied with their services, you can request a full refund within 48 hours of payment. This is also something not many providers offer.

Sken.io: Features

Sken.io is pretty barebones when it comes to features. However, given the low price of $2.50/month, it still manages to deliver excellent value for money.

We liked Sken’s comparison mode, where you can use a virtual slider to view the changes side by side. The right side of the screen shows the previous version, whereas the current version is on the left. Simply move the slider from left to right to see all the changes highlighted in green.

(Image credit: Sken.io)

You get two options when setting up a new monitor: regular interval and custom scheduler. The regular interval option comes in handy when you want to constantly check a website – say every hour or every 30 minutes.

However, there may be websites that do not need a regular check. For instance, if you’re monitoring your university results, you may choose the custom scheduler option. Under this, you’ll be able to select the exact date and time the crawling should take place. Not many content monitors offer this option.

You can also choose to monitor only a specific element on the webpage, say images. Next, there are also options to choose between visual check and content check. This eliminates clutter, ensuring you only get results that matter.

There’s also a unique content removal mode, where you can remove elements on a page you don’t want to track. For instance, if you’re looking for job listings, you may not be interested in tracking the images on that website. This mode helps Sken.io focus on the changes material to your needs and avoid any non-contextual change

Sken.io: Interface and in use

Sken.io’s dashboard, in spite of being basic, is free of clutter. You can check all your active jobs and detected changes at the top of the dashboard. Below this, you’ll find a list of all jobs currently being tracked.

(Image credit: Sken.io)

Simply click the ‘Detail’ button on the right side of each job to view a list of all detected changes. On the left, you can access all exported change files along with your invoices (if you have a paid plan).

Using Sken.io is pretty easy, too. Just paste the link to create a new job, choose the frequency, and start monitoring. It does take a bit of time (around a minute) to load the page once you’ve pasted the link, which isn’t a dealbreaker.

Overall, you won’t require any training to start using Sken.io – everything is pretty self-explanatory.

Sken.io: Support

There aren’t many support options on Sken.io. If you have any queries, you’ll need to fill out a form on their website and input your email address and message. Then, simply wait for Sken’s team to reach out to you. Another option is to send them an email at info@sken.io.

Besides this, we didn’t find any tutorials on the website, not that you’ll need them anyway. There are a few blogs, though, that can help you learn more about Sken’s use cases.

Sken.io: The competition

Sken.io is a good entry-level content change monitoring website. However, it fails to deliver the goods for mid- and large-sized businesses. Here are a couple of alternatives you can consider.

PageCrawl offers a comprehensive free plan where you can track 6 pages each month along with PDF, Excel, and Word files. Plus, you get a lot of integrations, reports, and customized alerts – features you only see on paid plans of other providers.

Even its paid plans offer good value for money. You can track pages in bulk, track password-protected pages, and organize your tracked pages. However, PageCrawl lacks AI features.

Fluxguard is a good option if you’re looking for an AI-backed content monitor. There’s an AI tool that can translate other pages in English. Plus, you can use AI to summarize change reports, allowing you to spot key changes quickly and saving you a lot of time.

Fluxguard also allows you to set up custom AI prompts to look only for specific words during searches. However, it can be a tad expensive.

Sken.io: Final Verdict

Overall, we found Sken.io great for beginners and personal needs. Priced at just $2.50/month, it's one of the cheapest trackers on the market right now. Using it is a cakewalk, too. All you have to do is paste the website link and choose your tracking frequency.

You can also set up a scheduled scan by choosing the exact time and date of the crawl and use its comparison mode for a quick visual snapshot of the recorded changes. Although there’s no free plan, you do get a 14-day free trial, which provides access to all Sken.io features. During this time, you can run a total of 140 checks.

However, during our testing, we found that Sken.io lacks a lot of advanced features, like report summarization, tracking password-protected pages, and integration. If you’re looking for a content monitor for business purposes, you can consider other options.

FAQs Does Sken.io offer a free plan?

Although there’s no free Sken.io plan, you get a 14-day free trial to try out the tool risk-free. The best part is that none of the features are off-limits during this trial, which means you get to try the full paid product during the trial phase. You can run 140 scans during the free trial without even entering your credit card details.

Even if you want to upgrade, the Basic plan starts at just around $2.50/month, making Sken.io one of the most affordable content change monitoring platforms.

Who is Sken.io ideal for?

Sken.io is ideal for individuals and startups looking for a cheap content monitoring platform. Its paid plans start from just $2.50/month and are more than enough for starter-level tasks. Also, Sken.io is one of the easiest platforms to use. So, even if you’re not that quick with tech, you’ll find it a joy to use.

It's worth noting that Sken.io does offer a $125 plan with 3,000 checks per month. However, a lack of advanced features like tracking locked content, PDFs, and Excels makes it a less popular choice among large businesses.

We've listed the best website defacement monitoring services.

AMD Radeon RX 9070: Two-minute review

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is a card that just might be saved by the economic chaos engulfing the GPU market right now.

With 'normal' price inflation pretty much rampant with every current-gen GPU, the price proposition for the RX 9070 might actually make it an appealing pick for gamers who're experiencing sticker shock when looking for the best graphics card for their next GPU upgrade.

That doesn't mean, unfortunately, that the AMD RX 9070 is going to be one of the best cheap graphics cards going, even by comparison with everything else that's launched since the end of 2024. With an MSRP of $549 / £529.99 / AU$1,229, the RX 9070 is still an expensive card, even if it's theoretically in line with your typical 'midrange' offering.

And, with the lack of an AMD reference card that might have helped anchor the RX 9070's price at Team Red's MSRP, you're going to pretty much be at the mercy of third-party manufacturers and retailers who can charge whatever they want for this card.

Comparatively speaking, though, even with price inflation, this is going to be one of the cheaper midrange GPUs of this generation, so if you're looking at a bunch of different GPUs, without question this one is likely to be the cheapest graphics card made by either AMD or Nvidia right now (yes, that's even counting the RTX 5060 Ti, which is already selling for well above 150% of MSRP in many places).

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Does that make this card worth the purchase? Well, that's going to depend on what you're being asked to pay for it. While it's possible to find RX 9070 cards at MSRP, they are rare, and so you're going to have to make a back-of-the-envelope calculation to see if this card is going to offer you the best value in your particular circumstance.

I'm fairly confident, however, that it will. Had I the time to review this card when it first launched in March, I might have scored it lower based on its performance and price proximity to the beefier AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT.

Looking at both of those cards based on their MSRPs, there's no question that the RX 9070 XT is the much better graphics card, so I'd have recommended you spend the extra cash to get that card instead of this one.

Unfortunately, contrary to my hopes, the RX 9070 XT has been scalped almost as badly as the best Nvidia graphics cards of this generation, so that relatively small price difference on paper can be quite large in practice.

Given that reality, for most gamers, the RX 9070 is the best 1440p graphics card going, and can even get you some solid 4K gaming performance for a lot less than you're likely to find the RX 9070 XT or competing Nvidia card, even from the last generation.

If you're looking at this card and the market has returned to sanity and MSRP pricing, then definitely consider going for the RX 9070 XT instead of this card. But barring that happy contingency, given where everything is right now with the GPU market, the RX 9070 is the best AMD graphics card for 1440p gaming, and offers some of the best bang for your (inflationary) buck as you're likely to find today.

AMD Radeon RX 9070: Price & availability

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• How much is it? MSRP is $549 / £529.99 / AU$1,229, but retail price will likely be higher
• When can you get it? The RX 9070 is available now
• Where is it available? The RX 9070 is available in the US, UK, and Australia

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is available now in the US, UK, and Australia for an MSRP of $549 / £529.99 / AU$1,229, respectively, but the price you'll pay for this card from third-party partners and retailers will likely be higher.

Giving credit where it's due, the RX 9070 is the exact same MSRP as the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE, which you can argue the RX 9070 is replacing. It's also coming in at the same price as the RTX 5070's MSRP, and as I'll get into in a bit, for gaming performance, the RX 9070 offers a better value at MSRP.

Given how the RTX 5070 can rarely be found at MSRP, the RX 9070 is in an even stronger position compared to its competition.

• Value: 4 / 5

AMD Radeon RX 9070: Specs

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• PCIe 5.0
• 16GB VRAM

• Specs & features: 4 / 5

AMD Radeon RX 9070: Design & features

• No AMD reference card
• Will be good for SFF cases

In terms of design, the RX 9070 doesn't have a reference card, so the card I reviewed is the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070.

This card, in particular, is fairly straightforward with few frills, but for those who don't want a whole lot of RGB lighting in their PC, this is more of a positive than a negative. RGB fans, however, will have to look at other AMD partner cards for their fix.

The card is a noticeably shorter dual-fan design compared to the longer triple-fan RX 9070 XT cards. That makes the RX 9070 a great option for small form factor PC cases.

• Design: 3.5 / 5

AMD Radeon RX 9070: Performance

• About 13% slower than RX 9070 XT
• Outstanding 1440p gaming performance
• Decent 4K performance

A note on my data

The charts shown below offer the most recent data I have for the cards tested for this review. They may change over time as more card results are added and cards are retested. The 'average of all cards tested' includes cards not shown in these charts for readability purposes.

When it comes down to performance, the RX 9070 is a very strong graphics card that is somewhat overshadowed by its beefier 9070 XT sibling, but goes toe-to-toe against the RTX 5070 where it counts for most users, which is gaming.

On the synthetic side, the RTX 9070 puts up some incredibly solid numbers, especially in pure rasterization workloads like 3DMark Steel Nomad, beating out the RTX 5070 by 13%. In ray tracing heavy workloads like 3DMark Speed Way, meanwhile, the RX 9070 manages to comes within 95% of the RTX 5070's performance.

As expected though, the RX 9070's creative performance isn't able to keep up with Nvidia's competing RTX 5070, especially in 3D modeling workloads like Blender. If you're looking for a cheap creative workstation GPU, you're going to want to go for the RTX 5070, no question.

But that's not really what this card is about. AMD cards are gaming cards through and through, and as you can see above, at 1440p, the RX 9070 goes blow for blow with Nvidia's midrange card so that the overall average FPS at 1440p is 114 against Nvidia's 115 FPS average (72 FPS to 76 FPS average minimums/1%, respectively).

Likewise, at 4K, the two cards are effectively tied, with the RX 9070 holding a slight 2 FPS edge over the RTX 5070, on average (50 FPS to 51 FPS minimum/1%, respectively).

Putting it all together, one thing in the Nvidia RTX 5070's favor is that it is able to tie things up with the RX 9070 at about 26 fewer watts under load (284W maximum power draw to the RTX 5070's 258W).

That's not the biggest difference, but even 26W extra power can mean the difference between needing to replace your PSU or sticking with the one you have.

Under normal conditions, I'd argue that this would swing things in favor of Nvidia's GPU, but the GPU market is hardly normal right now, and so what you really need to look at is how much you're being asked to pay for either of these cards. Chances are, you're going to be able to find an RX 9070 for a good bit cheaper than the RTX 5070, and so its value to you in the end is likely going to be higher.

• Performance: 4.5 / 5

Should you buy the AMD Radeon RX 9070?

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler) Buy the AMD Radeon RX 9070 if...

You want a fantastic 1440p graphics card
The RX 9070 absolutely chews through 1440p gaming with frame rates that can fully saturate most 1440p gaming monitors' refresh rates.

You don't want to spend a fortune on a midrange GPU
While the RX 9070 isn't cheap, necessarily, it's among the cheapest midrange cards you can get, even after factoring in scalping and price inflation.

Don't buy it if...

You want great creative performance
While the RX 9070 is a fantastic gaming graphics card, its creative performance (especially for 3D modeling work) lags behind Nvidia midrange cards.

Also consider

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
The RX 9070 XT is an absolute barnburner of a gaming GPU, offering excellent 4K performance and even better 1440p performance, especially if you can get it close to MSRP.

Read the full AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT review

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070
The RTX 5070 essentially ties the RX 9070 in gaming performance in 1440p and 4K gaming, but has better power efficiency and creative performance.

Read the full Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 review

How I tested the AMD Radeon RX 9070

• I spent about two weeks with the RX 9070
• I used my complete GPU testing suite to analyze the card's performance
• I tested the card in everyday, gaming, creative, and AI workload usage

Test System Specs

Here are the specs on the system I used for testing:

Motherboard: ASRock Z790i Lightning WiFi
CPU: Intel Core i9-14900K
CPU Cooler: Gigabyte Auros Waterforce II 360 ICE
RAM: Corsair Dominator DDR5-6600 (2 x 16GB)
SSD: Samsung 9100 Pro 4TB SSD
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower PF3 1050W Platinum
Case: Praxis Wetbench

I spent about two weeks with the AMD RX 9070, using it as my primary workstation GPU for creative work and gaming after hours.

I used my updated benchmarking process, which includes using built-in benchmarks on the latest PC games like Black Myth: Wukong, Cyberpunk 2077, and Civilization VII. I also used industry-standard benchmark tools like 3DMark for synthetic testing, while using tools like PugetBench for Creators and Blender Benchmark for creative workload testing.

I've reviewed more than three dozen graphics cards for TechRadar over the past three years, which has included hundreds of hours of dedicated GPU testing, so you can trust that I'm giving you the fullest picture of a graphics card's performance in my reviews.

• Originally reviewed May 2025

Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF: Two-minute review

(Image credit: Future / Ural Garrett)

Samsung’s Odyssey line of OLED gaming monitors provides some of the best displays in gaming, from the 32-inch G8 to the ultrawide monster that is the G9. For the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF, the South Korean electronics manufacturer delivers on its first 27-inch 4K OLED display by doing exactly what it does best when it comes to both image quality and sheer performance.

This begins with the overwhelmingly gorgeous display that offers an industry-leading 166 pixels per inch. On top of that, there’s HDR10+, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 and a panel with glare-free technology. This monitor can handle any tasks users will throw at it. From visually arresting single-player games to creative content making and everything else in between, the Odyssey OLED G81SF is something beautiful to look at. Having 1 billion max color support and 99% DCI coverage also makes this a fine choice for creatives as well.

Performance holds up just as impressively as image quality. The blistering 240Hz refresh rate delivers buttery smooth gameplay that’s ideal for competitive players, while the ultra-low 0.03ms response time ensures every action feels instantaneous. With support for FreeSync Premium Pro, the Odyssey OLED G81SF doesn’t just look incredible - it plays flawlessly too.

Together, these features set a new benchmark for what a high-end gaming monitor should be. Potential buyers with a suitable rig to play games like Marvel Rivals or Call of Duty Warzone at 4K/240 frames-per-second are going to find much to appreciate.

One of the main concerns for OLED gaming monitor owners is proper upkeep to preserve display longevity. That often means enduring long pixel refresh cycles or dealing with noisy fans meant to protect image quality. Thankfully, the Odyssey OLED G81SF takes a smarter approach with its Safeguard+ Dynamic Cooling System, which uses Pulsating Heat Pipe, which is said to cool five times faster than graphite.

Thermal Modulation also helps prevent overheating too. During my extended time with the monitor, I was impressed by how quiet it stayed and how I never had to interrupt gameplay for maintenance. When it comes to hassle-free upkeep, this is easily one of the best OLED gaming displays available.

Samsung’s cooling technology is packed into a fairly thin metal monitor that’s also good to look at when not in use. Bezels are small around the display while the back is fairly impressive. There are a nice amount of ports despite the lack of a USB-C port. That Odyssey’s classic light ring featuring CoreSync and CoreLighting+ in the back still looks nice. It’s also easy to set up.

All of that comes at a sizable $1,299 (£1,149 and AU $1,799) price point. That's a fairly steep cost of entry compared to similar gaming monitors in its class. Though there are some features like crosshair overlays, don’t expect more standard extras like KVM capability or speakers. Interestingly enough, unlike other displays in Samsung’s Odyssey line, it lacks Samsung Smart TV.

Despite those issues, the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF stands out as one of the most impressive 27-inch gaming monitors to be released this year. It delivers a stunning visual experience with ultra-crisp 4K resolution, incredible color accuracy, and fluid motion that enhances everything from fast paced shooters to creative workflows. Add in near-silent operation, efficient thermal management, and a sleek design and it’s clear Samsung is looking to take the crown for this gaming monitor segment. Whether you're a competitive gamer or a visual creator, this monitor exceeds expectations in the ways that matter most.

Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? $1,299 (£1,149 and AU $1,799)
• When is it available? April 28th
• Where can you get it? US, UK, and Australia

The Samsung Odyssey will be available April 28th for $1,299 (£1,149 and AU $1,799) in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. Available through Samsung’s online store or other retailers like Newegg, this gaming monitor is definitely the upper crest of purchases when it comes to 27-inch 4K OLED displays. If a competitive advantage is of the upmost importance to you, then the high price makes this the best money can buy in its class. Anyone expecting a more robust feature set (more on that later), may leave disappointed.

Gamers who want a competitive edge while also dabbling in streaming may want to check out the MSI MPG 271QRX if they don’t mind having a 1440p resolution. Meanwhile, the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM 4K is nearly the same price as the Odyssey G81SF but offers KVM capabilities besides FreeSync Premium Pro and NVIDIA G-Sync compatibility. Though on the surface, it may sound better than Samsung’s offering, it lacks the forward design and level of maintenance options.

Value: 4 / 5

Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF: Specs Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF: Design

(Image credit: Future / Ural Garrett)

• Overall design is rightfully in line with Samsung’s Odyssey line of gaming monitors
• Easy to set-up and adjustability is high
• Lacks USB-C

Those familiar with Samsung’s Odyssey series of gaming monitors will immediately recognize the premium build quality and sleek design language the OLED G81SF gives. Crafted with a sturdy metal finish from the base to the neck and display, it delivers a clean, modern aesthetic.

The panel itself is impressively thin, with minimal bezels that enhance its futuristic look. At the back, Samsung’s signature RGB ring—powered by CoreSync and CoreLighting+ which adds a dynamic visual flair that fits perfectly with its top-tier price tag.

Assembly is quick and straightforward, with just a few screws to connect the base, neck, and display. Once set up, the monitor offers smooth height, swivel, and tilt adjustments to help you dial in the perfect viewing angle.

(Image credit: Future / Ural Garrett)

Power is delivered through a jack that connects an adapter while sitting next to two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort, one USB-B for upstreaming, two USB-A and one 3.5mm headphone jack. That’s good enough for multi-console gamers who want to play full screen or utlize the display’s picture-in-picture capabilities.

Unfortunately, there's no USB-C port, which is fairly disappointing considering it’s a fairly standard connection now. A thumbstick sits along those ports for various controls for in-display gaming and features. During our time, the thumbstick felt great and the UI felt pretty snappy as well.

Design: 4.5 / 5

Samsung Odyssey OLED G81S: Features

(Image credit: Future / Ural Garrett)

• Safeguard+ Dynamic Cooling System is a wonderful way of maintaining pixel quality without being intrusive
• Light gaming related features including a crosshair overlay
• Nothing much feature-wise outside of that

OLED gaming monitors often require periodic pixel refreshes to prevent burn-in, which can interrupt gameplay. The Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF sidesteps that issue with its advanced Safeguard+ Dynamic Cooling System. At the core is a pulsating heat pipe that actively releases coolant, offering more effective thermal management than traditional graphite sheets. This keeps internal temperatures in check while extending the life of the display.

Complementing the hardware is an intelligent Thermal Modulation System powered by algorithms that fine-tune brightness and heat levels in real-time. Features like Logo & Taskbar Detection also help minimize static image retention by subtly adjusting luminance in frequently displayed areas—all working together to maintain screen health without disrupting your experience. During my time with the Odyssey OLED G81S, I didn’t face one prompt to turn off my monitor - not once - during two weeks of usage.

There are some in-display options including the ability to choose a nice variety of crosshair overlays which are definitely helpful when playing shooters. Another highlight is the ability to do picture-in-picture with various other video inputs. Of course, users can change color options and the likes as well. Outside of that, don’t expect much in the feature set. Considering the price of the monitor, one would think KVM capabilities would be included but unfortunately, no. Then there’s the lack of other features like Samsung SmartTV which has been featured on other Odyssey monitors before. Just understand that the Odyssey OLED G81SF sticks to three important things; image quality, performance and maintaining both of them.

Features: 3.5 / 5

Samsung Odyssey OLED G81S: Performance

• Image quality is exceptional in SDR and HDR
• Magnificent performance with 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time

Just by image quality and performance alone, the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF is one of the best gaming monitors available at the moment, at least where 27-inch 4K options are concerned.

It starts by having the highest pixel density available in a display with 166 PPI. This goes an incredibly long way by making sure every detail is noticed when gaming, making graphics or video or typing documents. Colors are bold and gorgeous thanks to having one billion max color support at 1,000,000:1 contrast outside of 99% DCI coverage. There are various sliders for brightness, contrast, colors and the likes for those who want to fine tune their experience. Further than that, there are some pre-sets as well.

This means that it doesn’t matter if users are playing Assassin’s Creed: Shadows or creating social media graphics in Adobe Photoshop, color accuracy is tremendous. HDR+10 capabilities makes image quality even better with more defined lights and shadows. Thanks to VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400, blacks are deep and rich as well. Pulling that all together is an anti-reflection film that goes a long way in making sure images look great regardless of lighting conditions.

This is a gaming monitor for competitive gamers who want a premium experience and the performance is top notch too. 240Hz and 0.03ms response time mean that gameplay is smoother than velvet. Fans of Marvel Rivals, Call of Duty and Fortnite are going to have a nice experience on the Odyssey OLED G81SF. To make sure screen tears aren’t an issue, the display has variable refresh rate and supports AMD FreeSync Premium. Gameplay is superb in motion which is enhanced by the overall image quality.

Performance 5 / 5

Should I buy the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81S? Buy it if…

You require a 27-inch OLED gaming monitor with top-tier image quality and performance

This 27-inch OLED gaming display has some of the best image quality available thanks to features like 166 ppi, VESA Display HDR True Black 400 and anti-glare technology. Meanwhile, the 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time will provide a competitive edge.

You need some solid OLED display maintenance

Samsung’s OLED Safeguard+ technology has various ways to maintain monitor lifespan from its pulsating heat pipes, thermal modulation system and auto display adjustments among others.

You want a sleek yet functional design

This display is thin, has the same cool lighting that Samsung’s Odyssey series is known for and is pretty easy to set up.

Don’t buy it if…

You don’t want to pay over $1,000 for a 27-inch OLED Monitor

There are ways to get a quality 27-inch 4K OLED monitor without spending over a grand.

You’re more into streaming

Though this display has picture-in-picture mode for other outputs, lacking KVM at this price will be disappointing for streamers looking to use one monitor for two devices.

You require a more robust feature set

Outside of lacking KVM, there aren’t many extras like speakers, game assists beyond several aim overlay options and no USB-C port.

Also Consider

MSI MPG 271QRX

If comparable performance and feature set is important alongside a cheaper price, then the MSI MPG 271QRX does well with its 1440p native resolution alongside 360Hz refresh rate.

Read our full MSI MPG 271QRX review

Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM 4K

Anyone looking for a 27-inch 4K OLED that’s a bit more feature-rich should keep the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM, including KVM capabilities.

Read our full Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM 4K review

How I tested the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81S

• Tested over two weeks
• Games played included Marvel Rivals, Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Street Fighter 6
• Creative software used includes Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro

Over the course of two weeks with the Samsung Odyssey OLED G81SF, I put the monitor through a wide range of real-world use cases—from immersive gaming sessions to demanding creative workflows and everyday productivity.

To assess its performance with visually intense AAA titles, I started with Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Cyberpunk 2077, which helped me evaluate the display’s color accuracy, contrast, and overall image quality. I then shifted to faster-paced, competitive titles like Marvel Rivals, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and Fortnite to test responsiveness and input latency.

During work hours, I leaned on the G81 for creative tasks like designing graphics and editing video content using Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro. In between, I relied on it for general computing—browsing with Chrome, managing tasks in Asana, and streaming music via Tidal—giving me a full picture of the monitor’s versatility in day-to-day scenarios.

First reviewed April 2025

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro: One-minute review

The Arctis Nova Pro is yet another impressive headset from SteelSeries and absolutely one of the best wired gaming headsets money can buy right now. With a sleek design and the ability to plug it in and use it straight out of the box, there’s a lot to praise here.

If you’ve ever felt limited by the number of features on a standard wired gaming headset, like a single scroll wheel for volume, then the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro is a headset worth considering adding to your setup.

Even though the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro is by no means a budget-friendly headset, it’s well worth the money. Offering a comfortable listening experience alongside crystal clear audio, it’s hard to find a fault - even after hours upon hours of testing.

You can tailor your listening experience to your tastes through its desktop control panel, and the additional software available gives you the opportunity to take this further by opening the doors to adjusting your audio settings depending on which genre of game you're playing.

After using a wireless headset for some time (specifically the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro 7P), I was skeptical about going back to wireless. It took no time at all to adjust, and I felt like I had more control over my audio than ever before. I also appreciated not having to worry about battery life at any point. Everything was ready to go the second it was plugged in, so nothing could interrupt whatever I wanted to play.

(Image credit: Future/Kara Phillips) SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro: Price and availability

• $249.99 / £179.99 / AU$405
• A worthy upgrade if you’re willing to splash out
• Wired version only available in black

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro wired headset will set you back $249.99 / £249.99 / AU$405, which makes it far more expensive than even some of the best wired gaming headsets. But if you ask me, it justifies the price entirely through its performance and customization options.

If you’re in the market for an upgrade and you’re ready to invest in a product that won’t let you down and gives you the ability to alter your auditory experience entirely.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro: Specs

(Image credit: Future/Kara Phillips) SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro: Design and features

• Sleek, lightweight design
• One scroll wheel
• Control panel isn’t bulky

Straight out of the box, it’s easy to see and feel that the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro is a high-quality headset. Its sleek black design is lightweight, and there are few features on the earcups which keep things neat and tidy.

The microphone tucks into the left earcup, which is one of my favourite features, and there’s only one scroll wheel on the cup, which you use to adjust volume. In addition, the earcups are very padded, which guarantees no discomfort, no matter how long I used them for. The floating headband also helps make the entire experience as comfortable as possible.

You’ll also find a mute button for your microphone on the left cup, but apart from that, there’s no additional flourishes. So, nothing to fumble around with if you’re trying to adjust your settings. Most of your audio adjustments are made via the control panel, too, which matches this sleek aesthetic.

With a small LED screen and a dial to adjust the audio settings, the whole panel easily fits in the palm of your hand. Or more reasonably, anywhere on your desktop.

Inputs and outputs are clearly labelled on the back of the unit to make the setup even easier. When you have plugged everything in, this control panel will display instructions and details in white. Even when the screen dims after a period of no use, it’s still easy to read thanks to the font choice and color.

Having this control panel on my desk made me realise just how much I change my audio settings. If anything, I change them more so now I don’t have to fiddle around with scroll wheels to try and get the perfect sound.

When buttons and wheels are too close together on an ear cup, I always find myself changing the wrong one. So when all I have to do is turn the dial on the control panel, use voice chat, or even immersing myself in the game I’m playing has never been so easy.

(Image credit: Future/Kara Phillips) SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro: Performance

• Crystal clear audio
• Noise-cancelling microphone
• Easy to set up

When using the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro for gaming, it’s hard not to fully immerse yourself in whatever you’re playing, thanks to the stellar audio quality on display. It’s so clear, every single sound in a game is easily picked up.

From the gentlest footstep in the distance to feeling like a character is breathing down your neck in real time, there’s an impressive spectrum of sound on display at all times.

The microphone, which I already adore for tucking into the ear cup rather than folding against the cup and headband like the Turtle Beach Stealth 500, also offered impressive sound. It’s easy to adjust, so when I received feedback from a call saying my audio felt a bit harsh, it was easy to move the mic around to rectify this.

The headset also comes with a foam pop filter, which can be slipped over the mic, which I used on more than one occasion for gaming and general voice chats.

With that said, the control panel really feels like the star of the show here. I’m so used to relying on ear cup controls with gaming headsets, especially because so many of the products I’ve used in the past have been wireless, having the ability to adjust my audio settings in the palm of my hand definitely made me feel more in control.

You can have multiple USB connections to the panel, too, which is ideal for anyone constantly switching between platforms. This makes the transition between platforms seamless.

(Image credit: Future/Kara Phillips)

If I wanted to jump from PC to console, I could do so with the press of a button. There was no need to unplug wires, faff around a bit, and then plug them back in to my desired platform. It’s clear this feature has been designed with the player in mind, since the whole experience, from the audio capabilities to the ease of set up and seamless connection, just makes life easier.

The addition of SteelSeries GG is worth mentioning, too. I’m quick to overlook additional software when it comes to headsets since it never feels like a necessity, but the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro doesn’t give you a choice. The headset won’t play any audio if it needs a firmware update, and the only way you can fix that is through the app.

I was initially frustrated about that since you expect a headset built with convenience in mind to make this a little easier, but I ended up using the app a lot more than I thought I would.

Not only can you sort your updates out here, but you can take your audio slightly further by toggling on features like spatial surround sound. Having this app will also let your headset clip parts of your gameplay when you’ve had a particular reaction, ridding you of the pressure to capture you and your friends’ best bits. It’s basically like having your own compilation video ready and waiting at the end of a gaming session.

(Image credit: Future/Kara Phillips) Should you buy the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro? Buy it if...

You like having thorough control of your audio
You’re probably used to being able to control your audio through scroll wheels and buttons on the ear cups of a gaming headset. The control panel that comes with the Arctis Nova Pro is a breath of fresh air. You can alter volume, mic noise cancelling, and adjust your game audio vs mic audio from this single screen and dial.

You like a simpler design
SteelSeries no doubt knows how to make a sleek product. The Arctis Nova Pro is as simple as it comes in terms of design so you don’t have to worry about anything else bulking out the appearance.

Don't buy it if...

You appreciate the freedom of a wireless headset
If you’d rather not be tethered to your setup, be it a desk or a sofa, then a wired headset probably isn’t the best for you.

Also consider...

Still not sold on the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro wired gaming headset? Here’s how it stands against some similarly priced wired gaming headsets.

Razer Blackshark V2 Pro
The Razer Blackshark V2 Pro is a fantastic headset with a plethora of features on PC, but it’s taken a while for consoles to get the same treatment. If you want consistency across all platforms, then the Arctis Nova Pro takes the cake, but if you’re looking to spend less money than the Blackshark V2 Pro is still a worthy competitor to consider.

For more information, check out our full Razer Blackshark V2 Pro review

Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 3
A slightly more budget-friendly headset to consider, but with this price reduction, you’re also missing out on a lot of features. You won’t have such a customizable experience, and the audio quality isn’t as high, but you will be saving a significant amount of money.

For more information, check out our full Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 3 review

(Image credit: Future/Kara Phillips) How I tested the SteelSeries Arctis Arctis Nova Pro

• Test over multiple weeks
• Tried with both PC and console
• Explored the included software thoroughly

I spent two weeks with my Steelseries Arctis Nova Pro headset and spent hours upon hours each day using it for gaming, meetings, and music. Because of the wired setup, it was incredibly easy to plug in and use across platforms, but I predominantly used it with a gaming PC and Nintendo Switch.

To make the most out of its performance, I played a variety of games such as REPO and Content Warning to test the mic clarity within proximity chat, alongside Marvel Rivals and Overwatch 2 to test how large the spectrum of sound the headset picks up is.

For games where audio cues are so important, like The Outlast Trials and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro never failed to impress. This was also massively helped by the ability to customize every note through the GameDac Gen 2 panel and the audio presets available through SteelSeries GG.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed April 2025.

Nacon Revolution X Unlimited controller: one-minute review

(Image credit: Future)

The Nacon Revolution X Unlimited is the latest premium Xbox controller from the gaming brand, and I think it’s the company’s best effort yet. Essentially an upgrade over the PS5-compatible Revolution 5 Pro (though sadly, there’s no PlayStation compatibility to be had with this new gamepad), the Unlimited offers a similar experience with some notable new features.

Your eyes will immediately be drawn to the Unlimited’s built-in LCD display. Typically, I’m not a fan of these on gamepads, as I feel they can often overcomplicate the play experience. On the Unlimited, though, the display is very intuitive. It trims the fat, strictly offering options for button mapping, connected gaming headsets, wireless pairing, and battery saving. As such, I find this to be a direct upgrade over the Revolution 5 Pro.

The Revolution X Unlimited does pack a premium price tag, but to sweeten the deal, Nacon has included a selection of swappable parts as well as a charging dock for quick and easy battery top-up. Throw in a pair of sublimely smooth Hall effect thumbsticks, tactile micro-switch face buttons, trigger locks, and a set of four remappable buttons, and you have a premium suite that’s worth the investment.

There are, sadly, some drawbacks that keep it outside of contention for the premium spot in our best Xbox controllers and best PC controllers guides. For one, it’s quite a bulky controller, and an over-reliance on plastic means that build quality isn’t quite what you’d expect from a luxury pad.

But overall, if you’re in the market for a high-end Xbox controller or PC controller with tons of features and intuitive on-the-fly customization for your favorite games, I still highly recommend considering the Revolution X Unlimited.

Nacon Revolution X Unlimited controller review: Price and availability

As a premium pad, the Revolution X Unlimited commands a price tag of $199.99 / £179.99. You can purchase one for yourself at Nacon’s own website as well as Amazon in the US and Argos in the UK. This is similar to the Revolution 5 Pro which retails at $199.99 / £199.99, albeit the X Unlimited is £20 cheaper in the UK.

That price puts the Unlimited in the ballpark of other premium Xbox controllers such as the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro ($199.99 / £179.99), the Thrustmaster eSwap X2 ($169.99 / £149.99), and the official Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 ($179.99 / £159.99).

All offer similar feature sets, including swappable stick and button modules, remappable keys, and controller layout profile creation.

I think the Revolution X Unlimited has the edge over the eSwap X2 and Elite Series 2, thanks to its inclusion of Hall effect sticks (they’re sold separately for Thrustmaster’s pad) and that built-in display that I found genuinely useful here. However, I do prefer the near-perfect build quality offered by the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro.

Nacon Revolution X Unlimited controller review: specs

(Image credit: Future) Nacon Revolution X Unlimited controller: design and features

Aside from the controller itself, you’re getting quite a lot of goodies in the Revolution X Unlimited box. The pad is housed in a tidy carry case, where you’ll also find a charging dock, 2.4GHz USB dongle for wireless connectivity, a 3m USB-C cable, a thin dust cloth, and a small box that stores swappable accessories.

Said accessories include two D-pads (a four-way and an eight-way with the latter on the controller by default), six thumbstick caps (two concave, four convex of varying sizes), two metal stick rings for placing around the thumbsticks, and a set of six weights (two 0.35oz / 10g, two 0.49oz / 14g, and two 0.56oz / 16g) which can be slotted into the controller’s grips for some additional heft if you need the pad to rest in your hands a little more firmly.

The Unlimited itself has that recognizable Xbox Wireless Controller-esque silhouette, but it is ever so slightly wider and taller than Microsoft’s gamepad. This results in the Unlimited being better suited to players with larger hands.

Meanwhile, overall build quality certainly isn’t terrible, but I’ve never been a fan of the use of cheap-feeling plastic on Nacon’s controllers that’s also present here. I did get used to it, but it definitely feels less robust in the hands than my go-to Razer Wolverine V3 Pro.

The standout feature this time is undoubtedly the built-in LCD display. As mentioned, I’m typically not keen to see these on controllers like the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra or the Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot. They’re usually quite sluggish and aren’t particularly intuitive in a pinch.

Nacon has nailed it here, though. A quick press of a button found next to the left bumper activates the display’s menu. The UI is incredibly responsive and limits options to the essentials: audio for gaming headsets (including volume, mic monitoring, and a game/chat mixer), button mapping, and wireless pairing options.

(Image credit: Future) Nacon Revolution X Unlimited controller: performance

I’m seriously impressed with the Revolution X Unlimited when it comes to overall gaming performance and play experience. I’m glad that Nacon has opted for Hall effect sticks here, of course, but the sticks themselves are some of the smoothest in the business. If you’ve read my Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller impressions, it’s a similar story to that, where the sticks feel hyper-tuned for accuracy and responsiveness. Certainly, it’ll be a boon for the best FPS games where carefully-placed shots mean everything.

Micro-switch buttons are becoming increasingly common with contemporary gamepads, with even cheaper models like the GameSir T4 Kaleid offering them. They’re also present on the Revolution X Unlimited, and they’re satisfyingly tactile.

This is another element that positions the Unlimited as a competitive-focused controller. Don’t get me wrong, it’s wonderful for any kind of game, and I had a blast testing it with The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered on Xbox Series X as well as A Hat in Time and Final Fantasy 14 Online on PC. But it really comes alive with multiplayer-oriented games like Tekken 8 and Fortnite, thanks to those buttery smooth thumbsticks and rapid button actuation.

Battery life is a slight letdown as you’re only getting around 10 hours on a full charge. It does charge up fairly quickly in around two and a half hours with the included charging dock, but do expect to have to top up the controller regularly if you prefer wireless play.

(Image credit: Future) Should I buy the Nacon Revolution X Unlimited controller? Buy it if...

You want a full premium controller package
Additions like a charging dock, multiple thumbstick and D-pad configurations, and that built-in display all make for a comfortable and robust play experience.

You’re primarily an online multiplayer gamer
The Revolution X Unlimited’s slick performance - from its friction-free sticks to tactile micro-switch buttons and trigger locks - makes it an excellent choice for competitive players in fighting games or shooters.

Don't buy it if...

You’re on a budget
It may seem obvious, but the Unlimited is absolutely a ‘money no object’ purchase at $200 / £180. I can only really recommend it if you’ve got the cash to spend or if you’ve been saving for a pad like this.

You want more battery life
At around 10 hours, the Revolution X Unlimited’s battery life pales when compared to the likes of the Xbox Wireless Controller (around 20-30 hours) or similar built-in display pads like the Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot (22 hours).

Nacon Revolution X Unlimited controller review: Also consider

If the Revolution X Unlimited isn’t quite doing it for you, have a look at these Xbox and PC controller alternatives.

Razer Wolverine V3 Pro
Right now, the V3 Pro is the final say in premium Xbox and PC controllers, and has a price tag to match. But if you do take the plunge, you’ll find a gamepad that simply does not miss, with it featuring best-in-class build quality and Razer mouse-click tech allowing for speedy button actuation. An absolute stunner of a controller.

Read our Razer Wolverine V3 Pro review

Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot
One to consider if you’re looking for a feature-rich controller in a more mid-range-friendly price bracket. While certainly not as impressive as the Unlimited, it also features a built-in display, great build quality, and a novel module pivot feature that lets you swap button layouts on the controller itself.

Read our Turtle Beach Stealth Pivot review

How I tested the Nacon Revolution X Unlimited controller

• Tested for one week
• Tested across Xbox Series X Digital Edition and PC
• Compared directly to the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro

I tested the Revolution X Unlimited controller over the course of a week, playing both single and multiplayer games across Xbox and PC. On my Xbox Series X Digital Edition, I took the controller for a spin with The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered and Avowed. I went more multiplayer-focused on PC, with titles like Tekken 8, Final Fantasy 14 Online, and Street Fighter 6 filling up much of my playtime with the controller.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed April 2025

Content monitoring has risen in popularity in recent times - for both personal and business use. You may want to know when your favorite product is back in stock or when your job listing is updated. Similarly, businesses need a solution to monitor their competitors’ websites and execute compliance monitoring. Enter content monitoring tools like Visualping.

Visualping tracks the URLs you want and notifies you of any changes in the webpages. You even have the option to select a specific area to be tracked on the page. To top it all, there are AI features that summarize and analyze the changes for you, saving you a ton of time.

Read on as we explore Visualping, one of the best in the business, in more detail. We'll discuss its best features, pricing, interface, and customer support, as well as compare it with some of its top rivals.

Visualping: Plans and pricing

Visualping offers two pricing tiers: Personal and Business. The Personal plan priced at $50 per month can support up to 10K checks in a month limited to a maximum of 200 pages. However, there are cheaper plans, too. For instance, if you only want 1K monthly checks of 25 pages, you’ll have to shell out just $10/month.

There’s also a free Personal plan that lets you run 150 checks a month limited to 5 pages – good enough for personal needs.

The Business plans start at $100/month and allow up to 20K checks of around 500 pages. You can scale all the way up to the $250/month plan that offers 50K checks covering 1,500 pages in a month.

Business plans also come with a host of features not offered on the Personal plans. For instance, you can get alerts via Slack, Teams and Google Sheets. However, on the Personal plan, messages are your only alert option. Likewise, you can add up to 5 users on the Business plans as compared to just 1 on Personal.

Visualping: Features

Visualping offers a ton of handy features that make content monitoring easy. For starters, it's one of the few platforms that use AI to detect website changes. The Visualping AI saves you a ton of time through summaries, smart alerts, and mind reader features.

You can read AI-generated summaries of all the changes observed instead of skimming through them manually. The platform uses advanced AI algorithms to understand the context of the webpage. This helps to avoid meaningless changes and content shifts and generate alerts only based on contextual changes.

(Image credit: Visualping)

Visualping also offers a lot of integrations so that you can build your own business workflows. For instance, you can connect Visualping with Slack so that you don’t have to keep returning to Visualping every time there’s an alert - you can get them on Slack itself. The same goes for Microsoft Teams, Discord, and Google Sheets as well.

Plus, if you do not find an integration for your need, you can use the Visualping API to build a custom integration for your business.

Now, if you’re a website owner, you also have the option of adding a Visualping button on your webpage to notify your users of crucial changes. This can come in pretty handy for small businesses that can notify users of price drops or sale offers. Similarly, government bodies, universities, and corporations can use it to intimate users regarding important notification uploads.

(Image credit: Visualping)

All Business accounts have a central location called Workspace where you can invite your team members to manage the changes. Teams can use labels, folders, and various filtering options to organize the observed changes.

However, Workspaces need to be purchased separately – you can do so for a specific project, team, or client. Although a handy feature for large businesses, it can quickly add up to your total subscription cost.

Visualping: Interface and in use

Visualping is extremely easy to use – even beginners can track websites effortlessly. You only have to enter the URL of the website and select a specific area on the webpage you want to track.

(Image credit: Visualping)

The dashboard is clean and easy to understand. You can see all your active jobs on the left side and the changes detected on the right. To make it easier for you, there’s a Visualping Chrome extension, which you can add to your browser. This way, you won’t have to manually add links on the dashboard – simply deploy the extension on the webpage you want to monitor.

Visualping: Support

Visualping's support options are minimal. You only get basic email support irrespective of the plan you're on – dedicated support, however, is available on the Business plans, but at an extra cost.

The Basic Support add-on costs a whopping $600/year, followed by the Advanced plan at $1,200/year and the Dedicated Support at $3,000/year. That's borderline nerve-wracking.

However, paid support executives take care of everything for you – from setting up your account to monitoring pages and guaranteed response times. Your own team can also benefit from dedicated training on how to get the best out of Visualping.

Although beneficial, the dedicated support can make your overall Visualping bundle very expensive, which may not be ideal for small businesses.

Visualping: The competition

Let's see how Visualping stacks up against the competition.

Distill.io is a more advanced and complicated content monitoring tool ideal for large businesses. You can define your tracking selections with CSS, XPATH and regular expressions. Plus, you can even automate workflows with JavaScript.

Its free plan is also more generous than Visualping – you can run 1,000 monthly checks with 25 monitors. Even its most expensive plan costs $80/month, which is much cheaper than Visualping’s Business plans.

Change Tower is yet another affordable option starting at just $9/month for 1,500 checks. You even get 2 months free subscription with the annual plan. Users can check as many as 500 URLs with this plan without any daily check limits. Its Enterprise plan can run checks every 3 minutes and monitor 2,000+ dynamic URLs.

With that said, Visualping's premium pricing is justified, seeing as it offers a handful of unique features. This includes its game-changing AI checker and a nifty Visualping button.

Visualping: Final verdict Visualping: Final verdict

Visualping is hands down one of the best content monitoring tools out there. One of the highlights is its ease of use; all you have to do is enter the target website's URL and select the area on the webpage you want to track.

Plus, it's one of the few monitoring tools that use AI to enhance monitoring results – you benefit from AI summarizing and analysis.

For businesses, Visualping offers a dedicated button to send content updates to their users. Plus, there are a lot of integrations with platforms like Slack, Teams, and Google Sheets. You can even make your custom alert software through the Visualping API.

Visualping also offers a free plan with 150 checks a month for up to 5 pages, which can be handy for personal and non-commercial use. Its paid plans start from $10/month and go all the way up to $250/month – you can pick one as per your needs.

All in all, Visualping is an excellent content monitoring tool good for both personal and business use. That said, it can be a touch expensive, especially if you wish to get the add-on for dedicated support.

FAQs What can I use Visualping for?

Visualping is a content monitoring website that notifies you of changes on webpages. Now, this can have a lot of personal and business use cases. For instance, you may be waiting for product prices to drop while shopping online.

Instead of manually checking every now and then, you can add the URL on Visualping, and it will notify you if any changes are made to the listing. The same goes for job hunting, house hunting, reservations, and so on. Businesses can also use Visualping for competitor monitoring, SEO compliance, and regression monitoring.

Can I use Visualping for free?

Visualping does offer a completely free plan with 150 checks per month limited to 5 pages. Each search takes place every 60 minutes. However, it's always best to upgrade to a paid plan to get the most out of the platform, especially considering that Visualping starts as low as $10/month. Plus, there's also a 14-day free trial on all paid plans, so you can even try the service out risk-free before committing.

Check out the best website defacement monitoring services.

Website monitoring has become an essential tool in the current business landscape. You can’t afford for your website to go down. As per a study, 9% of visitors never return to a website if they find it’s not working. That’s a risk you cannot afford to take.

HostTracker is a solution that helps you track and detect downtimes swiftly and take action before it affects your business. Besides basic uptime tests, you can even run advanced transaction checks and API checks to ensure all parts of your website are up and running.

With 500k+ websites monitored, companies like Microsoft, Panasonic, and Worldmate trust HostTracker to monitor their web pages. Read on as we’ll explore HostTracker in detail, including its features, pricing, and interface experience, explaining why it's among the best website monitoring software. We’ll also give you a couple of alternatives in case HostTracker doesn’t suit your needs.

HostTracker: Plans and pricing

HostTracker offers three paid plans, and they're nicely spread out, meaning the solution is ideal for businesses of all sizes. The first plan (Webmaster) costs $9.9/month and allows you to check 10 websites with a monitoring interval of 5 minutes. You can add more websites to this plan for just $0.70/site.

We like the fact that you get database monitoring right from the first plan. Then there's also daily and weekly reports, SSL and domain checks, and maintenance scheduling. You can also get notifications for up to 10 contacts, making the plan ideal for small teams.

The next plan, Business, costs $18/month and comes with 25 website checks at an interval of just 1 minute. Adding additional sites will only cost you $0.50/site/month.

Besides everything in the Webmasters plan, you can also undertake speed tests at 30-minute intervals, execute task cron scheduling, set up API monitoring, access detailed logs, and run 2 transaction checks.

Feature-wise, this plan has everything HostTracker has to offer except SNMP monitoring. You also get multi-user access options, making it a good pick for small and mid-sized businesses. The value for money is superb as well.

The last tier is the Enterprise plan at $75/month, meant for large businesses. You can run 150+ website checks, unlimited web risk monitoring, 10 transaction checks, and page speed tests at 15-minute intervals. You can upgrade to this plan if you’re a really large organization with more frequent check needs.

HostTracker: Features

You can get started with various availability checks such as HTTPS, Ping, SMTP, and TCP port from various locations and intervals, depending on the plan you choose.

One of the most impressive features of HostTracker is database checks – something that not many website monitors offer. This checks your databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft SQL Server) for parameters like connection stability, query execution speed, and overall performance and ensures they are available when you need them.

(Image credit: HostTracker)

Transaction monitoring is another notable feature, as it helps you test the flow of online processes on your website. For example, if you run an e-commerce business, it is important to ensure that all parts of the customer journey are working smoothly.

Say, if customers face issues adding products to a cart, you’ll notice higher bounce rates. Transaction checks help you set up and monitor custom parts of a website, such as submitting a form, page redirects, cart functions, and final payment. Its detailed logs and reports can help businesses identify the bottlenecks before they affect revenues.

A similar feature is the API check. Complex business websites often have embedded APIs on their websites (say for completing payments). An API check keeps an eye on whether these APIs are functional and how quickly and reliably they’re responding. This too helps you improve the overall customer experience on your website.

Now, if you’re running a global business, it may so happen that your website may be blacklisted at some locations for spam or legal reasons. HostTracker’s IP DNS blacklist checker scans DNSBL databases to identify these instances so that you can take quick remedial actions.

Similarly, HostTracker also constantly checks if your website is included in Google's unsafe websites list through Google's Web Risk API. This 24/7 automated monitoring helps you get your websites off the risk list and uphold your reputation.

HostTracker: Interface and in use

Using HostTracker feels like juggling with an early 2000s tech product. The interface isn’t as clean or appealing as some of its competitors, but it gets the job done. Despite its non-modern interface, HostTracker is easy to use. Much like other tools, you can access all features from the left panel.

(Image credit: HostTracker)

Adding a scan is simple – just add the URL and fill in a pre-designed form. You also get certain advanced options where you can choose the location of the check, the timeout period, and add tags for categorization.

We also liked how HostTracker turns reports into skimmable charts, making it easy for admins to understand website performance at a glance. There are also a lot of guides to help you understand various functions. The learning curve isn’t steep – play around with the interface for a couple of days to get the hang of it.

HostTracker: Support

HostTracker offers a couple of support options. You can either send them an email at h2tsupport@HostTracker.com or use the live chat option at the bottom-right of your screen. Much like StatusCake, this chat isn’t 24/7, and you might have to wait for a response.

Apart from this, you can take the help of various ‘how to’ articles and blogs on the website, which may resolve a lot of operational queries.

HostTracker: The competition

If you’re looking for something more affordable, UptimeRobot can be a good choice. Besides 50 free monitors, its paid plans start at just $7/month with a monitoring interval of 60 seconds. You get 8 different monitoring options, including ping monitoring, cron job monitoring, and port monitoring.

Unlike HostTracker, you can design customizable public status pages to keep your viewers informed during outages. However, it lacks advanced functions like transaction and Real User Monitoring (RUM).

Uptime.com is a more enterprise-level solution with premium features like RUM, cloud status checks, API and transaction checks, and group checks. Its synthetic transaction monitoring even supports advanced web applications like MFA sites.

Besides this, you get 30 basic check types and 3 free tools to check website speeds and uptime. You can set up a hierarchy of escalations to solve major downtime issues promptly. That said, it can be an expensive option, with its best-valued plan costing $67/month.

HostTracker: Final verdict

From basic HTTPS, SMTP, ping, and TCP port checks to advanced database checks, there’s a lot you can do with HostTracker. It's also one of the few monitors that come with robust API and transaction monitoring, which can be crucial for businesses that rely on their website sales.

Add to this features like blacklist monitoring, WebRisk monitoring, and SSL and domain monitoring, and it's easy to see why we consider HostTracker a comprehensive website monitoring solution. Although the interface may seem a bit archaic, the platform is easy to use with almost no learning curve.

The plans start at just $9.9/month, making it an affordable pick for small businesses. Even its most popular plan costs just $18/month. That said, it lacks real user monitoring and status pages, which is why you may consider alternatives like Uptime.com.

FAQs Who is HostTracker best for?

HostTracker is ideal for businesses of all sizes, owing to its well-priced plans. If you’re a small business or startup, you can choose the Business plan, which comes with almost all the features HostTracker has to offer, including transaction checks and API monitoring.

The best thing is that you won’t need to upgrade to a higher plan just because you want to monitor more websites. You can simply add additional sites at just $0.50. The Enterprise plan, on the other hand, is ideal for large businesses that need to monitor more than 150 websites.

What is a website monitoring solution?

A website monitoring tool monitors all your websites to ensure they stay live at all times and notifies you instantly if there are any unexpected outages. This helps you cut down on losses you’d have to face due to downtimes, maintain your brand image, and improve overall customer experience. A robust tool like HostTracker can check uptimes from various locations along with advanced API checks.

We've listed the best website defacement monitoring services.

Website monitoring is an essential business solution that helps you ensure your web addresses stay live at all times. Downtimes may happen, though, which is why it's important to have a website monitoring tool that instantly notifies you in these situations, identifies the issues, and fixes them promptly.

StatusCake is a popular website monitoring solution trusted by the likes of Netflix, Verizon, UNICEF, Accenture, and IBM, among others. It offers 8 types of basic uptime monitors, SSL and domain monitoring, and customizable dashboards. Its beginner-friendly approach makes it a less complex tool than most other website monitors.

Hang around till the end as we explore in more detail everything there is to know about StatusCake. From its best features, pricing, and interface to support options and best alternatives, there’s a lot to uncover.

StatusCake: Plans and pricing

StatusCake offers two paid plans in addition to a free forever plan. We found the free plan pretty bare-bones, as it comes with only 10 uptime monitors, checking at an interval of 5 minutes. Still, it can come in handy for personal projects or occasional checks.

If and when you need more, consider upgrading to its Superior plan at $20.41/month. Here, you’ll get up to 100 uptime monitors with a check interval of 1 minute. You also get page speed monitoring and server and domain monitoring on this plan.

That said, the Superior plan is admittedly a bit on the expensive side, especially considering the set of features it offers. For instance, Host Tracker offers database monitoring, detailed logs, transaction monitoring, maintenance scheduling, and customizable reports at just $18/month.

The highest-tier StatusCake plan is the Business plan priced at $66.66/month, offering 300 monitors with a check interval of just 30 seconds. This is ideal for businesses that need to constantly monitor their web addresses.

It's worth noting that this plan also offers multi-user access, which makes it a good choice for team-oriented businesses. You also get a detailed dashboard and the option to customize email alerts as per your brand voice.

StatusCake: Features

As mentioned earlier, StatusCake offers 8 types of website checks: HTTP, HEAD, TCP, DNS, SMTP, SSH, PING, and PUSH. The monitor can check at an interval as low as 30 seconds – you can even choose to monitor constantly without any specified interval. StatusCake can run checks from as many as 28 locations, and you have the option to choose up to 3 servers while setting up a new monitor.

If you have a lot of web addresses to monitor, you can choose to add the URLs in bulk instead of creating each monitor manually. This bulk monitor supports three types of tests: HTTP, HEAD, and PING.

(Image credit: StatusCake)

Besides these checks, you can even run speed test checks for various web addresses from as many as 12 locations. While this may not be much, it covers almost all major business hubs, like Singapore, Japan, and the UK.

What we liked the most about StatusCake is its ability to send notifications to an entire group of contacts at once. You can easily create a new contact list by adding the email addresses and phone numbers of the recipients.

Choose this group while setting up a new monitor, and StatusCake will send all alerts and notifications to all members in that group. This will benefit businesses that have a dedicated IT team for monitoring their web pages. The monitor offers 12 integrations to get alerts on, including Telegram, Discord, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.

Besides basic uptime monitoring, StatusCake also keeps a check on your SSL certificates and notifies you before they expire. The same is true for domain expiry. You can also set up a custom maintenance window during which the tests will be paused, preventing any negative impact on your uptime percentage and alerts.

A rather hidden feature of StatusCake is keyword monitoring. You can add specific keyword triggers while setting up monitors. For instance, if you’re monitoring a competitor’s website, you can choose to be notified only when words like ‘sale’ or ‘discount’ pop up.

StatusCake: Interface and in use

StatusCake’s interface is pretty simple and easy to use. All the steps for adding a new monitor are pretty self-explanatory. Simply add the URL and choose the monitoring frequency and contact group. Then, select the number of servers you want the check to run on and set keyword alerts, if any.

(Image credit: StatusCake)

A rather noteworthy positive of StatusCake is that you can add tags to each of your monitors for better organization. For example, all uptime tests in the US (or any other region for that matter) can be clubbed together.

StatusCake also does a good job with its dashboard, allowing you to build customizable ones quickly. These dashboards give you a live view of any website errors so that you can always stay on top of your website performance.

StatusCake: Support

We found StatusCake’s support a little less prompt than some other website monitoring solutions. It offers a live chat option, which you can access from the bottom right of your screen. However, it's not 24/7. You’ll have to wait for the support team to be online to get a reply. Moreover, there are no options to contact them directly, either.

That said, there’s a rich collection of articles and blogs explaining various features. This helps you get started and explore each feature in more detail. There are also a lot of podcasts to keep you abreast of the best monitoring practices.

StatusCake: The competition

Although StatusCake is a good monitoring solution, it may not be ideal for all businesses, especially large ones. Here are some alternatives you can consider.

Uptime.com is a comprehensive monitoring solution that offers more than 30 types of basic checks and advanced transaction monitoring, API checks, and real user monitoring (RUM). RUM checks are essential to gauge various website parameters like bounce rates and load times as it fetches data from real user interaction.

API checks help you check if all embedded APIs on your website are working perfectly or not. Similarly, using transaction checks, you can set up custom element checks on your website, such as clicking a button, adding products to your cart, checking out, and so on. That said, Uptime.com can be a tad expensive, with plans costing as high as $285/month.

Host Tracker can be a more affordable solution with plans starting at just $9.90/month. Here as well, you get the luxury of transaction and API monitors, as well as database monitoring, task cron scheduling, and maintenance scheduling. However, you won’t get RUM monitoring with Host Tracker.

StatusCake: Final verdict

StatusCake is a decent website monitoring tool with almost every single essential feature, including various types of uptime monitors, SSL and domain monitoring, speed tests, and customizable dashboards. Plus, you can set up public reporting pages and schedule downtime maintenance to manage your uptime better.

Setting up and using a monitor is pretty straightforward, too, making StatusCake a beginner-friendly choice. You can choose various locations to run tests from and form a contact group to send notifications to an entire team. Handy for businesses with dedicated departments. What’s more, you can also choose to receive these notifications on platforms like Slack, Telegram, and Discord thanks to a useful bunch of integrations.

StatusCake comes with a free plan and scales up gradually as per your needs. The paid plans start at $20.41/month, which may not be the most value-for-money option. Also, StatusCake lacks features like transaction monitoring and real user monitoring, making alternatives like Uptime.com and Uptrends a better choice.

FAQs Who is StatusCake best for?

StatusCake is an excellent choice for small, team-oriented businesses. It offers basic uptime monitoring, speed tests, and SSL and domain checks. Plus, you can add various members of your team to a contact group who will then receive alerts simultaneously. The platform is also very easy to use, making it ideal for small businesses that may not have dedicated IT teams.

What is the difference between website monitoring and content monitoring?

A website monitor helps you keep an eye on your website and sends you alerts if it notices any downtime. This makes sure your websites stay live at all times, and you do not lose business due to random outages.

A content monitoring tool, on the other hand, notifies you whenever there’s any change in the content of a website. This comes in handy for competitor monitoring, regulatory compliance, SEO optimization, and analyzing customer sentiments.

We list the best website defacement monitoring services.

iFi iDSD Valkyrie: Two-minute review

iFi is a company that seldom goes anything other than ‘all-in’ – and with the new iDSD Valkyrie headphone amp/DAC it’s decided to try and make the best ‘portable’ headphone amp/DAC it possibly can.

‘Portable’ is a relative term, of course, and not only is the Valkyrie’s portability debatable when considering including it in our roundup of the best portable DACs, but the idea that you’d want to carry around a device you’ve spent £1699 (or equivalent) on is perhaps an odd one too. But for desktop or full system use, this iFi has an awful lot going for it.

And that’s the case no matter if you’re talking about design, build quality, the standard of finish or the way it sounds. It’s an individual looker, for sure, and it is unquestionably built to last. And when it’s working on your raw digital audio files, the results can be almost humbling – this is an extraordinarily detailed, precise and yet entertaining listen. It’s real ‘iron fist in velvet glove’ stuff the Valkyrie trades in – it’s controlled, energetic, insightful and, above all, musical. And that last word especially is by no means a given, even if you’re spending an arm and a leg.

For some, the seemingly limitless options to fiddle with the filtering, upscaling and processing of digital audio information might seem a bit daunting. For others, the idea that iFi is leaving the end user to have such a big say in the ultimate sound will seem like an admission that it doesn’t quite know what ‘best’ sounds like. For the rest of us, though, the iDSD Valkyrie will be a source of endless fascination as well as of enjoyment.

iFi iDSD Valkyrie review: Price and release date

(Image credit: Future)

• Released of March 25, 2025
• Priced $1,699 / £1,699 / AU$2,999 (approx.)

The iFi iDSD Valkyrie launched on March 25, 2025, and it costs the same £1699 now as it did then. In the United States it will set you back a slightly more palatable $1699, while in Australia it goes for AU$2999 or something very like it.

I don’t think I will be startling anyone when I observe that this is quite a lot of money for a portable (or, as iFi prefers, ‘transportable’) DAC/headphone amp. Really, the only alternative of any profile that’s contesting the same area of the market is Chord’s equally wilfully named Hugo 2 - which means the Valkyrie is competing against at least one hugely accomplished rival…

iFi iDSD Valkyrie review: Features

(Image credit: Future)

• Quad Burr-Brown PCM1793 DACs
• Numerous processing options
• 20000mAh battery power for 18 hours of constant operation

Yes, there are three headlines as regards ‘features’ just above here – but in all honesty I could have chosen from quite a few others. ‘A trowel’ is too small an implement to indicate what iFi has used to lay it on with here.

I have to start somewhere, though, so I may as well start with battery power. There are four batteries fitted to the Valkyrie which means it will run quite happily for as much as 18 hours before it needs charging – and its quick-charge facility means it can be brimmed inside three hours.

Getting digital information into the Valkyrie and decoded analogue information out again can be achieved in quite a number of different ways, but what happens to it in between is subject to quite a lot of user-defined variation. Fundamentally, digital audio stuff is given the once-over by a quartet of Burr-Brown PCM1793 DACs, but they’re operating in conjunction with an FPGA (field programmable gate array) that allows a bewildering number of processing, filtering and upscaling options to be brought to bear if you so desire.

There are six filtering options, from the light-touch ‘bit perfect’ to the heavy-handed ‘apodising’ and points in between – upsampling to resolutions way beyond the native resolution of the incoming signal can be facilitated this way. PCM and DSD files can be upsampled to DSD512 or a colossal DSD1024, which means incoming content can have its sample rate adjusted in quite a few ways.

And not for the first time where one of its more upmarket products are concerned, iFi has included JVC Kenwood’s ‘K2’ processing that was originally developed back when 16bit/44.1kHz compact disc standard ruled the roost – it intends to help restore information that might have disappeared during the original remastering from analogue to digital. And naturally enough the upgraded ‘K2HD’ that reflects the more recent move to hi-res content is included too.

As well as the physical digital and analogue inputs, the Valkyrie is fitted with Bluetooth 5.4 wireless connectivity – and it’s compatible with top-of-the-shop, state-of-the-art aptX Lossless codec compatibility too. iFi has been demonstrating its impeccable facility with Bluetooth for quite some time now, and the implementation of the as-good-as-it-gets standard bodes very well indeed.

Features score: 5 / 5

iFi iDSD Valkyrie review: Sound quality

(Image credit: Future)

• Lavishly detailed and insightful
• Open, spacious and well-defined
• Your favourite sonic balance is in there somewhere…

I’m going to have to assume you’ve taken your investment seriously, and have spent as long as it takes to find the sonic balance within the Valkyrie’s endless permutations that suits you best. During this journey you'll have discovered that it’s possible to make the iFi sound overprocessed and unnatural – but, of course, this is what ‘trial and error’ is all about.

Once you get where you want to be, though, there’s very little that’s erroneous about the way the Valkyrie deals with your digital audio information. It’s only slightly perturbed by very compressed, low-resolution content, and it doesn’t at all mind about the type of music you like to listen to. It’s forgiving of partnering equipment, no matter if it’s headphones or a full-on system. And it is capable of peering into a recording on a forensic level and returning with an absolute stack of relevant information that it is only too willing to impart.

A recording like Nick Drake’s Which Will that’s stored as a 24bit/96kHz FLAC file illustrates a lot of what is so enjoyable and so impressive about the Valkyrie. Its midrange fidelity is, quite frankly, stunning. There’s an immediacy about the vocal performance here, an utterly natural tonality, that makes every aspect of the singer’s performance – attitude, emotional state, character, phrasing, breath-management, you name it – completely apparent. And, what’s more, makes it sound natural, unforced and alive.

The spare instrumentation of the recording is equally alive – the tonal balance the iFi strikes is convincing, and the stage on which this performance occurs is confidently defined. Frequency response is smooth and even, attention to harmonic detail is fanatical, and there’s the sort of unity and togetherness of presentation that I more readily associated with the vinyl format.

A 24bit/48kHz FLAC file of James Holden’s Common Land allows the Valkyrie to demonstrate martial low-frequency control and an unequivocal way with rhythmic expression. Bass sounds are rapid, loaded with variation, dynamic as can be, and with the sort of straight-edged attack that means the tune just snaps. At the opposite end there’s substance to treble information that nicely balances out the bite and crunch the iFi brings, and again the Valkyrie observes the attack, the onset, of top-end sounds with complete attention.

I get the strong impression that the Valkyrie is able to bring the best from any partnering equipment no matter if it’s a system or a pair of headphones, and no matter how much or how little this equipment costs. Even if the digital audio information is getting into the machine via Bluetooth, the output is never less than coherent and convincing. Naturally if you decide you want to upsample a 320kbps MP3 file of The Roots’ Dynamite! to DSD1024 it’s possible to discern a process at work behind the actual sound you’re hearing - but you’ll appreciate that I’m taking things to extremes here.

Sound quality: 4.5 / 5

iFi iDSD Valkyrie review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

• Arrives in a large wooden box
• As winged as the name demands
• Superb standard of build and finish

You can’t suggest iFi hasn’t put the hard yards in where the design of the iDSD Valkyrie is concerned. This is a product that’s been designed to within an inch of its life. In some ways this ‘designing at all costs’ impacts on outright usability (as we shall see), but never let it be said iFi doesn’t offer a bit of visual drama to go along with all that performance.

So the Valkyrie arrives in a substantial wooden box that stretches the definition of the word ‘transportable’ more than somewhat. Inside is the device itself (a not insignificant 30 x 160 x 172mm [HxWxD] and 882g) along with a necessarily large (and unarguably beige) carry case, a selection of connection cables and adapters to cover every eventuality, and a mains adapter.

The device itself is dramatically angular in a manner, says iFi, that evokes "the majestic wings of a Valkyrie's horse" – which is ambitious, no two ways about it. And let’s face it, only by comparing it to a horse does the iDSD Valkyrie seem anything other than very large. I’ve been using the equally special iFI i DSD Diablo 2 as my reference headphone amp/DAC for a while now, and I used to think it was quite big. Not any more.

There’s no arguing with the standard of build and finish here, mind you. The fit is even, the panel gaps are very tight indeed, and there’s even a suggestion of tactility about the casework. Used as a system device in a domestic setting or on a desktop it’s a singular and diverting looker.

Design score: 4.5 / 5

iFi iDSD Valkyrie review: Usability and setup

• Multi-function sockets and buttons
• Lilliputian labelling for these sockets and buttons
• Almost too much user input into setup

So yes, as I said: this determination to ensure the iDSD Valkyrie is Fully Designed has led to some compromises where usability is concerned. It has a fair few sockets and buttons on both sides and both ends – but in all honesty it could do with a few more, because too many of them are fulfilling more than one function.

For instance, on the rear panel there’s a USB-C socket for charging that quartet of batteries and another for data transfer. Then there’s a hybrid optical/coaxial 3.5mm digital input, and a pair of stereo RCA analogue outputs. After that there are two analogue connections – one is an unbalanced 3.5mm socket and the other a balanced 4.4mm alternative - and both of them function as both inputs and outputs.

Up front there’s another 4.4mm balanced analogue output – this one doubles as an output for MEMS headphones. There’s also another 3.5mm unbalanced analogue output, with a (relatively) large volume/mute control-cum-power on/off dial in the centre. A button that allows you to cycle through your numerous filter options and to initiate upsampling to DSD (512 or 1024) is adjacent to a button that deals both with input selection and turns K2 or K2HD processing on or off.

On the bottom of the chassis there’s the usual iFi ‘iEMatch’ switch for finessing output relative to the demands of your headphones, and on the top there are two little buttons dealing with available audio modes. One switches the ‘XSpace’ mode (designed to improve imaging) on or off, and also governs the three different types of power output levels, while the other gives access to ‘XPresence’ mode (for extra midrange grunt) and ‘XBass II’ mode (take a wild guess). It also allows you to access menus on the little screen on the top of the device, turning the volume control into a turn/push dial to navigate them.

When I suggested many of the sockets and buttons on the Valkyrie are overburdened, I really wasn’t joking.

And if you’ve read the ‘features’ section, then you’ll know that as the end user you have plenty of legwork to do before the Valkyrie is set up to your satisfaction in purely sonic terms. All of the sound modes, in conjunction with all of the filter options, allied to all of the processing and upsampling possibilities, mean it will take time and effort to get the point you deem optimal.

Usability and setup score: 3 / 5

iFi iDSD Valkyrie review: Value

Like almost everything that gets reviewed at techradar.com, the ‘value’ the iFi iDSD Valkyrie represents is subjective.

Is it ten times better than one of iFi’s own admirable little USB DACs that cost a tenth of the price or less. Of course it isn’t; gains at the very top of the food chain have always been incremental. But if you want what is approaching ‘ultimate’ where a product of this type is concerned, well, it’s going to cost you.

And don’t be in any doubt, the results here are profoundly impressive.

Value score: 4.5 / 5

Should I buy the iFi iDSD Valkyrie? Buy it if...

You’re after a uncompromised headphone amp/DAC experience
When it comes to flexibility and – most of all – performance, there are very few alternative products around that can get close to the Valkyrie

You enjoy design for design’s sake
Does the Valkyrie have to look like this? No, it doesn’t - but the fact that a company has decided to make a product look as interesting as it sounds is to be applauded

You fancy a lot of say in the way your headphone amp/DAC sounds
So many options, so many combinations… it’s almost like being wholly in charge of the sound you get to experience

Don't buy it if...

You’re short of time
So many options, so many combinations… this is not a plug-and-play device by any means

You’re short of space on your desktop
I’m quite tidy when it comes to my work station, and yet I had to move things, straighten things and tidy things away to make space for the Valkyrie View Deal

You don’t see all that well
The word I’m going with to describe the labelling of inputs, outputs and controls on the Valkyrie is ‘miniscule’View Deal

iFi iDSD Valkyrie review: Also consider

The obvious rival to the iFi iDSD Valkyrie, and the reigning ‘madly expensive and oversized headphone amp/DAC’ champion is the Chord Hugo 2 – which can be found for around the same fee as the Valkyrie these days (but launched at £1,800 / $2,175 / AU$4,500). In its own way it’s just as oddball a product as the iFi – it’s been eight years since it launched, and I’m no closer to understanding what each of the color combinations that constitute a user interface actually mean. But it’s a staggeringly accomplished performer nonetheless.

How I tested the iFi iDSD Valkyrie

I connected the iDSD Valkyrie to a MacBook Pro (running Colibri software) via its USB-C socket, and I also connected it via its digital optical input to a Rega Apollo CD player.

I connected a FiiO M15S digital audio player wirelessly using the LDAC codec. I used a pair of Sennheiser IE900 in-ear headphones via their 4.4mm balanced connection as an output, along with a pair of Bowers & Wilkins Px8 via the 3.5mm unbalanced output – and I also connected the Valkyrie to a main reference system (Naim amplification, Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers) using its RCA outputs. And then I fed it a lot of music, of different file types and sizes, and of different genres, in an effort to find something the iFi doesn’t excel at.

And then I had to accept that ‘excel’ is simply what the iFi iDSD Valkyrie does.

• First reviewed: May 2025
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