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eBenz Venture mountain bike, $2395
If you thought your mountain biking days were over because of age or injury, think again. eBenz director Neil Cubis says the Venture electric mountain bike has given a new lease of life to mountain bikers aged 55 and over. “I commonly see husband and wife teams where the wife buys an electric bike, and the husband comes back to the store to buy one because he can’t keep up with her,” he says. Neil says the discerning electric bike shopper should look out for models like the Venture that include a throttle which allows the rider to allocate power when they need it. The Venture is extremely light at 21kg and sports an in-frame battery hidden from sight, so your competitors won’t know what flew past them. It has up to 80km in range and takes four to six hours to charge. Neil says he will personally demonstrate any of his electric bikes in-home to residents in Warkworth and surrounds upon request, and he delivers for free in the North Island.
Bose Frames audio sunglasses, $350
Bose boldly claims that Bluetooth sunglasses are what your life has been missing. It’s patented ‘acoustic chambers’ are said to provide rich sound to the wearer, but are not audible to others nearby. The glasses connect to a companion app to stream music or information such as navigation. They have 3.5 hours of playback and charge within two hours. The frames come in two designs – angular or round.
NETGEAR PowerLINE 1000 + WiFi, $205 – $280
The PowerLINE 1000 allows households to extend the range of their wifi from one end of the house to the other without the need for long cables. The innovative device makes use of the copper power cables within your walls to create a network throughout the house. The PowerLINE comes with two units. One plugs into a modem router and a nearby power socket. The other unit can be plugged into the wall anywhere else in the house to provide high strength WiFi in that location. Rodney Broadband director Darrel McNab says they are so popular it can sometimes be hard to get hold of them. “The technology has come a long way in recent years and they are now very reliable,” he says. “They don’t even have to be on the same circuit, as long as they are on the same power board. Often they will even be able to connect a standalone garage.”
Smart Water Wireless Tank Level System, $599
This year’s update to the Smart Water Wireless gauge includes a companion smart phone app that allows the user to check their tank level from anywhere in the world. Aqua Filter Rodney master & commander Steve Reynolds says its perfect for keeping bach owners out of strife and for farm owners with far flung tanks across their properties. It is also suitable for elderly who may have trouble physically checking their tank levels. Steve says he’s already had two customers this year who have fallen into water tanks trying to lift heavy lids. The app also connects to compatible pumps and will provide an alert if the pump malfunctions. “It should prevent some of those Friday afternoon after-hours calls from people who have found their pump isn’t working and are faced with spending the weekend without water.”
Samsung Galaxy Fold, $3400
Flip phones might be a thing of the past but Samsung says that the future is foldable. As if our attentions weren’t already split enough, the Galaxy Fold promises to make multi-tasking easier than ever with its two screens. It is Samsung’s largest smartphone screen yet with 7.3 inches of finger-smudging real estate. With 12GB of RAM, it claims PC-like performance. It has speakers on either side for stereo sound while watching videos. It has three cameras, including a 10MP self cam, a 10MP dual lens front camera and triple lens 16MP rear camera.
