This review first appeared in issue 349 of PC Pro.
Where TP-Link’s Deco XE200 opposite takes a maximalist approach, the Asus ZenWiFi XD5 goes in the other direction. Rather than the fastest possible performance, it offers a decent Wi-Fi 6 network at an attractive price, via two or three boxy little stations that are small enough to hide away around your home.
That’s not to say the XD5 units are unpleasant to look at. The rounded cuboid design is clean and modern, with a subtle spiral pattern on top. The base of each station houses a multicolored status LED, although this can’t be seen from all angles as it’s unhelpfully tucked away below the main body.
Internally, the XD5 is a simple dual-band mesh, with a single 5GHz radio connection for both client and backhaul communications. It’s rated at a reasonable 2.4Gbits/sec, however, with 2x2 MIMO and support for 160MHz channels, so there’s a decent amount of bandwidth on hand. The 2.4GHz radio is rated at 574Mbits/sec, which should be fine for the types of device that still use the slower band.
I set up one station in the study of my home and the other in the adjoining bedroom. Asus suggests that two XD5 units will cover an area of up to 325m2, while adding a third extends claimed coverage to 465m2 – although performance will naturally depend on the layout and build of your home.
The stylish design gives the XD5 units a clean, modern look(Image credit: Future)
With my units in place, I took a laptop to various locations around the house, copied a selection of files to and from a NAS appliance connected to the primary XD5 unit via Ethernet, and measured the effective speeds. Despite the XD5’s small size and modest hardware, two stations proved ample to provide strong, consistent performance all around my home, with download rates between 34 and 40MB/sec. That’s nowhere near the speeds you’ll see from the most expensive meshes, but more than enough to handle Zoom calls, Disney Plus, web browsing and whatever else you’re likely to want to do, whether you’re relaxing on the sofa or running a business from home.
On the software side of things there’s no compromise at all: the ZenWiFi XD5 system uses the same full-fat firmware as found on Asus’ most expensive meshes and routers, with management via either the Asus Router mobile app or the traditional web portal. The two interfaces are completely different, which can be a little disorienting if you hop back and forth between them, but they’re both clear and accessible, considering the range of settings and features on offer. Those include not only extensive control over the basic configuration of your network, but a whole slew of advanced features, such as extensive traffic-management and QoS options, plus a configurable built-in firewall.
As if that weren’t enough, the XD5 also offers per-device parental controls, with customizable web filtering for kids’ devices, plus network security scanning powered by Trend Micro. These tools are all free to use forever – a great bonus, as most competing meshes demand an annual fee to fully unlock such capabilities.
(Image credit: Future)
Finally, it’s always good to see Asus’ trademark VPN module. As well as permitting secure inbound connections over the internet, this lets you configure up to 16 third-party outbound VPN servers and bind each one to any number of MAC addresses – enabling you to route your traffic all over the world, if you so desire.
The only thing that’s notably missing is USB support. Older, chunkier ZenWiFi models offered the ability to share USB storage devices and printers over the network, and even to plug in a 4G or 5G mobile internet adapter should your main broadband line go down. The smaller XD5 units don’t have USB ports, so all that’s off the table.
There are only two Ethernet sockets, and no USB ports(Image credit: Future)
It’s also worth mentioning that each ZenWiFi unit has only two Ethernet sockets, both limited to gigabit speeds. It’s a serviceable minimum, but if your network uses a mixture of wireless and wired connections you might prefer a mesh with a few more ports, and perhaps a multi-gigabit option. While the ZenWiFi XD5 is reasonably priced, there are certainly cheaper mesh options. The Huawei Mesh 3 can currently be had for £180 inc VAT, while the Mercusys Halo H80X costs only £135 for three units, or £95 for two. That’s an excellent deal, as the Mercusys mesh provides overall similar performance to the ZenWiFi XD5, with an extra boost for same-room connections. However, it’s a far more basic system, with none of the XD5’s sophisticated software features.
If you want more hands-on control, then, the Asus ZenWiFi XD5 is one of the most appealing meshes around. It doesn’t max out the performance of Wi-Fi 6, but it’s speedy enough that very few people will need to pay more – and its sheer versatility and configurability put cheaper systems to shame.
Like any decent work of art, the new Creative Pebble Nova will mean different things to different people. TechRadar's audio editor Becky Scarrott said they looked like Magic 8-Balls, or lawn bowls with audio credentials – and she meant that as high praise. My partner thought they looked like an overly-elaborate microphone set up. I saw them more as delightful flotsam from an alien spacecraft, which had found its way to my desk.
However you look at it, the Pebble Nova speakers are a novel-looking new audio set-up fitting to strut their way onto our list of the best desktop speakers (and possibly even the best stereo speakers) on fashion chops alone.
The proposition doesn't need to rely on its good looks to get by, though. These speakers sound great, with defined bass, a high max volume and selection of enhancement features that make a marked difference to the norm for the money. They're elevated from your desk to create a much more immersive surround-sound effect and use coaxial drivers to refine the audio they deliver.
You'll find, though, that they cost a fair amount of aforementioned money. As the newest in Creative's line of affordable Pebble computer speakers, you'd think they might adhere to the affordable end of the market, but they're fairly premium in price. Not bank-breaking, but definitely enough to think twice about.
Maybe not twice actually, perhaps thrice. The Pebble Nova take a fair amount of set-up, with Creative channeling its inner Ikea with how much construction is needed. They also require a fair bit of space due to their design, so you'll need to make sure your desk is relatively large and uncluttered for them.
All that said, if you do decide you have the space, money and patience for them, the Creative Pebble Nova are a great set of computer speakers, regardless of what kind of audio you need them to play.
Creative Pebble Nova review: Price and release date
(Image credit: Future)
Announced in December 2024
Mid-range at $279.99 / £239.99 / AU$499.95
The Creative Pebble Nova were released in December 2024, as the latest entry in Creative’s Pebble line-up of desktop speakers. They are, by a significant margin, the most expensive.
You can pick up the Creative Pebble Nova for $279.99 / £239.99 / AU$499.95 (although fair warning: they’re out of stock in several of the regions I checked). That ain’t cheap, especially when you consider that the next most expensive members of the Pebble family, the Pebble X, cost $89.99 / £84.99 / AU$169.95.
At that price, there’s no doubt that these are premium speakers. There are only a few entries on our list of the best computer speakers that cost more, although admittedly those cost a lot more, so if you want premium speakers but don’t want to hand over your life savings for them, these could be a good option.
As audiophiles will know, though, you can spend a lot more on high-spec speakers, up to ten times as much.
Creative Pebble Nova review: Specs
Creative Pebble Nova review: Features
(Image credit: Future)
USB, Bluetooth and AUX connections
Creative App brings ways to customize audio
Acoustic Engine brings some useful features
The Creative Pebble Nova offer three ways to connect to your chosen device. First up is with a 3.5mm jack, which will let you play music but won’t let you customize it via the Creative App (more on that later). Second is Bluetooth, with the Nova supporting Bluetooth 5.3 to various devices including phones, computers and games consoles. Thirdly is with USB, which is what I did for the majority of this review. In the box is a USB-C to USB-C cable but if, like me, your PC only has USB-A ports, you can buy cheap adaptors online.
If you connect via Bluetooth or USB, the Creative App (available on mobile and PC) is a no-brainer. It offers the ability to change the Nova’s LED lighting effects, an equalizer along with loads of presets, the ability to switch which of the speakers is the left and right one and the promisingly-titled Acoustic Engine.
Take my advice: when you first set up the Pebble Nova, go to the Acoustic Engine page and turn everything on. It includes features like audio upscaling, dialogue enhancement and virtual surround-sound, all of which have marked improvements on the way the speakers sound. I regret that I was already weeks into the testing process before I bothered to open this page!
Features score: 4.5/5
Creative Pebble Nova review: Design
(Image credit: Future)
Bowling balls on stalks
Takes up lots of space
Time-consuming set-up process
How do you describe the design of the Creative Pebble Nova? Are they eyeballs on stalks? Alien command consoles? Magic 8-Balls? If you’re able, check out the review pictures because they’ll do better justice to the odd look of the Nova than my Creative Writing degree ever could. If you can’t see them, then… they’re basically giant spheres, held up from a circular base by a thin dowel.
It’s certainly a unique look taking the spherical-ish looks of other Pebble devices and literally elevating it. But it has a second advantage: the speakers themselves are higher than computer speakers generally are, which means ‘surround sound’ audio actually does surround you, as it’s at ear level (with the 45-degree point of the speakers also helping).
You can pick the Novas up in black, as you see in the images, and in a chic white-and-bronze model too.
I can see this design being a bit divisive but I didn’t mind it (I also spent lots of the review period with them hidden by my second screen). However there are two issues too.
(Image credit: Future)
Firstly, these take up a lot of space. Said space is at a premium when it comes to the desk upon which I use my desktop computer, and I found it quite hard to accommodate the Pebble Nova given the dimensions of both the speakers and my London apartment – it’s why the images accompanying this review are of my laptop, because my desk was too cluttered with the Creatives on it!
The second thing to note is that the Pebble Nova take quite a bit of setting up: not only do you need to go through all the usual cable rigamarole of desktop speakers, but you also have to attach the dowels to the stands and those to the speakers. This was admittedly easier than your average Ikea project, but it still took a little while to accomplish (I should note, you don’t have to elevate the speakers if you don’t want, and can attach them straight to a stand).
On the primary– ‘orb’? – you get several ports: the USB-C power delivery port, another USB-C port to connect to your computer, and the 3.5mm headphone jack, as well as the cable which runs to the other speaker. You also get a range of buttons for volume, power, connection and more.
The speakers have LED lights which you can program using the app, although they’re not huge or bright and I didn’t really notice them during everyday PC use.
Design score: 4/5
Creative Pebble Nova review: Sound quality
(Image credit: Future)
1-inch driver + 3-inch woofer
Exuberant, clear bass and mids
Unnecessarily-high max volume
Each of the Creative Pebble Nova speakers packs both a 1-inch tweeter with a 3-inch woofer in a coaxial set-up.
I'm used to PC speakers being good for certain tasks and struggling with other ones (a set-up that's great for music might struggle for the range of sounds needed for gaming, or be poorly-tuned for YouTube videos, for example) but I was pleasantly surprised at how the Creative was a jack of all trades.
I say 'pleasantly surprised' because it wasn't necessarily expected. The presence of a woofer gives away that the Pebble Nova has a distinctly energetic sound profile, with plentiful bass. However these lower tones are well-defined and clear, instead of being overpowering and thumping like some bassy speakers can be.
This meant I could enjoy different kinds of music but then could listen to spoken-word audio without low voices having an unnatural rumble to them, an issue I've faced before.
(Image credit: Future)
Treble is a little less bright than it could be, but I quickly fixed this in the Creative App with some quick equalizer tweaking.
The Creative Pebble Nova is great for the kind of sound stage or surround-sound audio that really benefits immersive gaming. This is because the elevated height of the speaker poles, plus their being angled upwards at 45 degrees, means that audio is a lot closer to ear-level than your standard desktop speakers.
The result is a marked improvement in immersion: the tweeting of birds, the sound of wind in trees, the repeated taunting of a dangerous bandit I was unsuccessfully trying to run away from, all felt well-placed around me during gaming sessions. The effect was definitely more pronounced than on other desktop speakers I've tried, which sit lower than your ear level.
According to Creative, the Pebble Nova has a whopping 100W power output for high volumes. Since I have neighbors, I didn't test quite how loud it goes, but it definitely reached (and could easily exceed) my needs. Why you'd need incredibly-loud speakers for your desktop, presumably within half a meter of you, isn't quite clear, but it means that they can double as general party speakers if you prefer.
Sound quality: 4.5/5
Creative Pebble Nova review: Value
(Image credit: Future)
Not a viable option for people on a tight budget
Other Pebbles may appeal to money-conscious buyers
While the overall Pebble line of Creative desktop speakers is known for offering great value for money, that's naturally less true of the Nova, as premium equipment always offers incremental returns for the price.
The Nova are good, but you're paying for it, as they're not cheap (at least, by Creative standards, although you can easily find countless pricier alternatives). They're not poor value for money, but they're not as much an obvious bargain as other Pebbles. That said, if I had the expendable income, I'd buy them – so take from that what you will.
Value: 4/5
Should I buy the Creative Pebble Nova?
(Image credit: Future)
Buy them if…
You like the look of them Fan of the way the Novas look? Then you should go for them, as you'll be hard-pressed to find anything quite as distinctive.
You're particular about your audio The Creative app's equalizer, and Acoustic Engine options, will let picky listeners fine-tune the way the speakers sound more so than some rivals.
Don’t buy them if…
You think they look silly If you prefer your desktop speakers to speak only through the drivers instead of the fashion statement, you best check out other options.
You've got limited space I have a medium-sized desk and I had to remove some decorations to fit the Pebble Nova, so if you're short on desk real estate, these might not fit.
Creative Pebble Nova review: Also consider
Creative Pebble Plus There are plenty of cheaper Creative Pebble desktop speakers on the market including the Plus, which we said will give you "more than your money’s worth".
Vigilant Audio SwitchOne Of the two options in our best desktop speakers round-up that have a similar price to the Pebbles, the Vigilants are the most recent. They have a pretty 'standard' design but sound great to listen to.
The testing process of the Creative Pebble Nova was over a month.
For most of that time, I tested the Nova alongside my Windows desktop PC, with the speakers on my desk. I also tested it paired via Bluetooth to my phone and, for a short while, connected to my Windows laptop (as pictured).
I used my PC as normal during the month which includes my day job, various other types of work, watching TV shows and YouTube videos, streaming lots of music and playing video games.
I have over six years' experience testing gadgets for TechRadar which includes other desktop speakers, audio products (including from Creative) and other types of tech.
This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.
Despite its competitive price – the range starts at £649 inc VAT for a Core i3-1315U/8GB/256GB spec with Windows 11 Home – the E14 Gen 5 is everything a ThinkPad is expected to be. This graphite black laptop has the chrome ThinkPad logo on its aluminum lid, complete with the red-lit dotted “i” that gives it a hint of business elegance.
I tested the version with a polycarbonate/ABS cover, but you can choose aluminum. This adds nothing to the price and only 20g to the weight, and the latter is one of this laptop’s most attractive features: 1.4kg with the 47Wh battery, 1.5kg with the 57Wh option. However, with the bigger battery in place, the laptop only survived 7hrs 48mins in our web-surfing test. With this spec, we expected something over nine hours.
The power drain doesn’t come from Lenovo squeezing every last drop out of the supplied Core i7-1355U CPU. Although the E14 Gen 5 never missed a beat in my daily usage, the benchmarks don’t lie: Lenovo’s own ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 scored 8,979 in Geekbench 6.2’s multicore test to the E14’s 8,000. Similarly, in our Handbrake test, the E14 took 10mins 57secs to convert our sample 4K video to 1080p compared to 9mins 5secs for the X1.
(Image credit: Future)
Both machines have 16GB of RAM and, while the X1 has the advantage of LPDDR5 memory, it’s all soldered onto the motherboard. Here, 8GB is soldered on but there’s an 8GB DIMM that can be replaced by a 32GB module. You can also swap out the supplied 512GB SSD, a short but speedy M.2 2242 unit, or specify a 1TB model for an extra £60 when ordering.
The E14 continues Lenovo’s tradition of excellent keyboards, with snappy, deep-travel, chiclet-style keys, the trademark red TrackPoint and plenty of spacing. I loved typing on it and managed 91 words per minute in the 10FastFingers.com test with 97% accuracy, compared to my average of 88wpm with 91% accuracy. A smooth and centrally located touchpad adds to its attractions.
As ever with budget laptops, Lenovo has made a sacrifice with the screen. This is no wide-gamut affair, covering 65% of the sRGB space and 46% of DCI-P3. However, it’s strong in other areas: peak brightness of 374cd/m2 is actually 74cd/m2 more than Lenovo claims, while an average Delta E of 0.3 confirms excellent colour accuracy. It’s anti-glare, too, so great for office work, while a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution looks sharp over the 14in diagonal.
The excellent keyboard makes speedy typing for long periods a breeze(Image credit: Future)
A webcam perches above the screen, and it’s worth choosing the 1080p unit in my machine over the 720p option (at a cost of £20). It produced excellent video in good lighting, and even coped in low-light conditions. Autofocus and tracking were speedy, while using Windows Hello proved a breeze.
The dual mics did a fine job of focusing on my voice while keeping background noise to a minimum, and I was similarly pleased with the speakers.
Music emerged with discernible depth, mid-tones and highs. Take Megan Thee Stallion’s “Her”. The house music bassline hit hard, with no distortion even at the highest volume. Despite being lightweight and pretty slim – 19mm at the front, 22.7mm at the rear – Lenovo includes a generous number of ports. The left side packs two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB-A port, an HDMI out and a combo audio jack. The right features a USB-A port, gigabit Ethernet and a nano Kensington lock. The latter adds to an impressive roster of security features, with a physical cover on the webcam, a self-healing BIOS and the option of a fingerprint reader (£10) built into the power button.
Ethernet and plentiful USB ports make this a fine workhorse(Image credit: Future)
Our price includes all these options, including Windows 11 Pro, but one of the great things about Lenovo’s approach is that you can customize it. For example, switching to a Core i5-1335U saves £200. You might prefer to spend some of this to extend the one year of on-site cover to three years; this has a list price of £210, but Lenovo frequently offers generous discounts.
So while battery life disappoints and we have criticisms of the screen and its outright speed, the E14 Gen 5 adds up to a strong choice for businesses on a budget. And even if you do cut it down to its most basic specs, it will exude professionalism for years to come.
This review first appeared in issue 353 of PC Pro.
Despite its competitive price – the range starts at £649 inc VAT for a Core i3-1315U/8GB/256GB spec with Windows 11 Home – the E14 Gen 5 is everything a ThinkPad is expected to be. This graphite black laptop has the chrome ThinkPad logo on its aluminum lid, complete with the red-lit dotted “i” that gives it a hint of business elegance.
I tested the version with a polycarbonate/ABS cover, but you can choose aluminum. This adds nothing to the price and only 20g to the weight, and the latter is one of this laptop’s most attractive features: 1.4kg with the 47Wh battery, 1.5kg with the 57Wh option. However, with the bigger battery in place, the laptop only survived 7hrs 48mins in our web-surfing test. With this spec, we expected something over nine hours.
The power drain doesn’t come from Lenovo squeezing every last drop out of the supplied Core i7-1355U CPU. Although the E14 Gen 5 never missed a beat in my daily usage, the benchmarks don’t lie: Lenovo’s own ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 scored 8,979 in Geekbench 6.2’s multicore test to the E14’s 8,000. Similarly, in our Handbrake test, the E14 took 10mins 57secs to convert our sample 4K video to 1080p compared to 9mins 5secs for the X1.
(Image credit: Future)
Both machines have 16GB of RAM and, while the X1 has the advantage of LPDDR5 memory, it’s all soldered onto the motherboard. Here, 8GB is soldered on but there’s an 8GB DIMM that can be replaced by a 32GB module. You can also swap out the supplied 512GB SSD, a short but speedy M.2 2242 unit, or specify a 1TB model for an extra £60 when ordering.
The E14 continues Lenovo’s tradition of excellent keyboards, with snappy, deep-travel, chiclet-style keys, the trademark red TrackPoint and plenty of spacing. I loved typing on it and managed 91 words per minute in the 10FastFingers.com test with 97% accuracy, compared to my average of 88wpm with 91% accuracy. A smooth and centrally located touchpad adds to its attractions.
As ever with budget laptops, Lenovo has made a sacrifice with the screen. This is no wide-gamut affair, covering 65% of the sRGB space and 46% of DCI-P3. However, it’s strong in other areas: peak brightness of 374cd/m2 is actually 74cd/m2 more than Lenovo claims, while an average Delta E of 0.3 confirms excellent colour accuracy. It’s anti-glare, too, so great for office work, while a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution looks sharp over the 14in diagonal.
The excellent keyboard makes speedy typing for long periods a breeze(Image credit: Future)
A webcam perches above the screen, and it’s worth choosing the 1080p unit in my machine over the 720p option (at a cost of £20). It produced excellent video in good lighting, and even coped in low-light conditions. Autofocus and tracking were speedy, while using Windows Hello proved a breeze.
The dual mics did a fine job of focusing on my voice while keeping background noise to a minimum, and I was similarly pleased with the speakers.
Music emerged with discernible depth, mid-tones and highs. Take Megan Thee Stallion’s “Her”. The house music bassline hit hard, with no distortion even at the highest volume. Despite being lightweight and pretty slim – 19mm at the front, 22.7mm at the rear – Lenovo includes a generous number of ports. The left side packs two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB-A port, an HDMI out and a combo audio jack. The right features a USB-A port, gigabit Ethernet and a nano Kensington lock. The latter adds to an impressive roster of security features, with a physical cover on the webcam, a self-healing BIOS and the option of a fingerprint reader (£10) built into the power button.
Ethernet and plentiful USB ports make this a fine workhorse(Image credit: Future)
Our price includes all these options, including Windows 11 Pro, but one of the great things about Lenovo’s approach is that you can customize it. For example, switching to a Core i5-1335U saves £200. You might prefer to spend some of this to extend the one year of on-site cover to three years; this has a list price of £210, but Lenovo frequently offers generous discounts.
So while battery life disappoints and we have criticisms of the screen and its outright speed, the E14 Gen 5 adds up to a strong choice for businesses on a budget. And even if you do cut it down to its most basic specs, it will exude professionalism for years to come.
Cricut Maker 4 is an excellent addition to the impressive lineup of crafting machines from Cricut. If you want to craft at home and produce professional-level results, the Maker 4 can help you create decorations, gifts, jewelry, clothing, keepsakes, and much more. It isn’t the easiest tool to use – Maker 4 will help your crafting reach new heights, but it won’t make things for you – yet with some patience and practice, the results can be truly astonishing.
Cricut Maker 4 is the most capable Cricut machine you can buy. There is a larger, commercial-strength Cricut Venture machine, but the Maker 4 can cut a wider variety of materials. Every Cricut cutting machine can cut paper, cardstock, vinyl, and similar materials, but only the Cricut Maker series can cut thick materials like wood and leather. It’s strong enough to engrave aluminum sheets, but delicate enough to cut fine details into felt.
You don’t need to upgrade to the new Cricut Maker 4 if you have an earlier Cricut Maker machine, unless you are turning out huge volumes of projects and you want a machine that is much faster. Maker 4 is up to twice as fast as Cricut Maker 3, but that’s the key difference. Otherwise, the capabilities and even the design are essentially unchanged.
If you don’t have a Cricut machine yet, the good news is that the new Cricut Maker 4 starts at a lower price than before, and bundles are available that give you everything you need to jump into crafting on day one.
Cricut Maker 4 has space for a blade (right) and a pen (left) (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
If you’re totally new to Cricut, your first question will be what exactly is a Cricut machine? Cricut hates when people call its machines a printer, and it’s closer to a laser cutter than a printer. So imagine a printer, but instead of spraying ink on paper, it uses a blade (or a variety of blades) to cut.
You can cut designs into permanent stickers made of vinyl, and then apply the design to your favorite mug, your walls, even your car. You can buy iron-on material or heat-transferable ink that will stick to a shirt or hat and make your own souvenirs. And I’m just getting started, this is only the tip of the Cricut iceberg.
As a long-time Cricut user I’ve made t-shirts and hats, mugs and travel tumblers, and decorations for my house and my classroom back when I was a high school teacher. I’ve made simple labels for spice jars and tea containers, and I’ve made complex, multi-layered shadowbox designs with paper, felt, and faux leather that I hang on my wall.
My years of Cricut experience have been with a Cricut Explore and recently a Cricut Joy Xtra that I got from Cricut when that smaller machine launched. Those machines are great for my decorative needs, but Cricut Maker 4 can handle thicker materials like wood, leather, and aluminum. However, significant caveats apply.
I was very excited to try cutting new materials. Cricut Explore can use special tools, like the scoring wheel to create precise folds in cardstock, but it can’t cut wood or leather.
Cricut was nice enough to send me samples of felt, basswood, faux leather, and aluminum to try, along with a selection of cutting blades and cutting tips, like the embossing tip for aluminum and the rotary cutting tool that slices up fabric like a fishing line through water.
The results were mostly spectacular, with one sad exception. Cricut Maker 4 easily cut through faux leather, creating an intricate and detailed design, then it handled a sheet of soft felt with the same finesse. It took some time, but it’s cool to watch the machine chug along.
Cricut Maker 4 slices into basswood over and over (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Sadly, things came to a halt when I cut the basswood layer for my project. While Maker 4 can cut through wood, it requires 14 separate passes with the blade to cut all the way through. My Maker 4 failed during every attempt. It didn’t ruin the wood, it simply stopped cutting and gave me an error message. Cricut says there is a firmware fix coming that will fix the problem, and I’m excited to put Maker 4 to the test with tougher materials.
This brings me to my biggest complaint about Cricut Maker 4, and all of Cricut’s cutting machines. To use a Cricut machine, you must use Cricut Design Space on your desktop, phone or tablet. It works on Mac and PC, iPhone and Android. Unfortunately, it’s a bad piece of software, being buggy and difficult to use. The performance is so sluggish that I often wondered if it had registered my input at all. Options would appear and disappear, and it is hard to figure out how to make things work properly.
If you’ve used real design software like Photoshop or Illustrator, or even more basic layout tools like Apple Pages or Google Slides, you’ll be confounded by Cricut Design Space. Most of the problems I had in the month I’ve spent with Cricut Maker 4 came down to fighting the software and figuring out how to make it actually do what I assumed I’d asked it to do.
I’ve asked Cricut on numerous occasions if there is any major update coming and they have no plans for any big fix.
The cool design on the Cricut Maker 4 lid (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The good news is that it is easy to get help. There is a huge community of crafty people who share tips and offer advice. If you buy a Cricut machine, or if you’re even considering a Cricut, I would start watching YouTube video tutorials now. Read the Reddit subgroups, or join a group for Cricut beginners on Facebook. You’ll find help, and you’ll find people meeting the same obstacles.
Because Cricut Maker 4 is an amazing tool, and it makes precise and delicate cuts at an astonishing speed, resulting in a final product that looks professionally produced – if you know what you are doing. Maker 4 won’t make the projects for you.
This isn’t a turnkey solution where you insert materials at one end and out pops a completed project. This is a tool that will get you from point A through points B, C, and D with more precision than you imagined. But there is still plenty of work for you to do.
Cricut Maker 4 review: price and bundles
Starts at $399 / £399 / AU$699 with basic materials and tools
Cricut's bundle is better when you buy a month of Cricut Access
Cricut Maker 4 looks a lot like a printer, but it's totally not a printer (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Cricut Maker 4 starts at $399.99 in the US, which is a bit less than the Maker 3’s $429.99 starting price; in Britain you'll pay£399 and AU$699 in Australia.
The Maker 4 comes with more accessories and tools than before, enough to actually start crafting a few projects and get the hang of the machine, but you’ll need a lot more once you really get into crafting with Cricut. There is an Everything bundle that includes many more necessary tools for $459 / £469.99, currently discounted for the launch of Maker 4.
Another cost to consider is Cricut Access, a monthly subscription service through the Cricut Design Space app. Cricut Access provides a massive supply of stock images and patterns that you can use, as well as a library of fonts. If you don’t subscribe, you can use your own system fonts, which are not designed to look good on crafts, and you can supply your own images.
When I’m feeling crafty, I usually subscribe for a couple of months and then cancel until I want to make stuff again. Cricut Access costs $9.99 per month or $95.88 for a full year (scroll down for UK and Australia bundle prices). With the subscription, you also get a discount on Cricut supplies and machines, and a discount if you buy licensed images and fonts from Cricut Design Space, like Star Wars characters or recognizable Disney-branded fonts.
Frankly, buying a Cricut machine opens a Pandora's box of buying. If you want to make hats, you’ll want a Cricut Hat Press. If you want to make mugs, the Cricut Mug Press is essential. If you are simply making shirts and or pressing vinyl only fabric, you’ll want a good hot press to use instead of a clothes iron. I’ve used all of these accessories from Cricut and they all work remarkably well, making the crafting process as easy as possible with app controls and timers.
You’ll also need materials like permanent vinyl sheets and iron-ons. I’ve purchased cheap brands from Amazon and also the good stuff from Cricut. Both options work, but Cricut-brand materials have a much higher success rate for me – and thankfully you can always find some Cricut material on sale either at Cricut.com or at stores like Michael’s in the States.
What comes with the Cricut Maker 4?
Cricut Maker 4 machine
Fine-Point Blade
Light Grip Mat (12 in x 12 in)
Fine Point Pen (0.4mm)
Mini Weeder tool
Materials for practice crafting
What more do you get with the Cricut Everything Bundle?
Card Mart (13 in x 16.25 in)
24 insert cards
Scoring Stylus
Scraper
Spatula
Weeder tool
Portable Trimmer
Fine Point Pen in Magenta
2 rolls + 6 sheets Smart Iron-On
2 rolls + 6 sheets Smart Vinyl - permanent
12 sheets printable vinyl
24 sheets cardstock
1 roll + 5 sheets transfer tape (for vinyl projects)
1 Tote Bag
Subscription to Cricut Access Standard (1 month included)
Cricut Maker 4 review: What can you make?
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(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
A mug created with heat-infusible ink and a drawing of my dog
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(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
A shadowbox using layers of cardstock paper cut precisely
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(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Faux leather cut into a pattern that still needs bits weeded away
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(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
A layer of felt on top of a layer of faux leather
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(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
A birthday card cut-out
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(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The basswood project is still going...
Cricut Maker 4 starts with a small blade attachment, so you can make anything that starts with cutting. You can also insert a pen to draw on your projects with the same precision. You can cut paper, vinyl stickers, iron-on vinyl (heat transfer vinyl), cardstock, and other thin materials to make interior decorations, small crafts, cards, and clothing decorations.
There are many different blades and attachments available separately for Cricut Maker 4 that extend its capabilities significantly. There are deep cutting blades for thicker materials, or rolling blades for soft materials and fine, continuous cuts. There are tools that score cardstock and paper for perfect folds and creases, tools for engraving in metal and debossing leather, and tools to create perforations to tear later. There are also a wide variety of pens you can use alongside the blades.
The variety of blades and tools available is what sets Cricut Maker 4 apart from Cricut Explore 4 and the other Cricut machines. For instance, you can use the rotary blade with Cricut Maker 4, but not with Explore. I tried cutting felt with the add-on rotary blade and with the included fine blade and the results were much better with the rotary blade. The pattern was cut perfectly and much easier to lift from the mat without tearing or weeding too much excess.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The real time you spend crafting will come after Cricut Maker 4 finishes its work. A Cricut machine almost never leaves you with the finished project. You’ll need to weed out all the scraps and bits you don’t want, and attach different pieces together. This requires time and patience, as well as proper tools for weeding and dealing with lots of sticky trash. Cricut Maker 4 comes with a very simple weeding tool – you’ll want to buy more tools before your first project.
The Cricut Design Space software offers a rotating set of suggested projects, with new ideas popping up as the seasons change. There is a community of contributors who post new ideas almost daily - from home decorations to drinkware to clothing to container labels and much more.
You could definitely use Cricut Maker 4 as the foundation for a small crafting business, like a souvenir shop or an Etsy store. My favorite use for my Cricut so far has been making t-shirts for inside jokes. When somebody makes a good joke one day, I’ll put it on a shirt that night and come to work the next day wearing what they said. I also love the quality of Cricut Mugs, but my cabinet is full so I’ll need to accidentally break some before I can make more.
Cricut Maker 4 review: Design
Wider than a printer and needs space in front and behind
Convenient storage for tools, pens, and blades
Cricut Maker 4 needs room in front and behind to move the mat around (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Cricut Maker 4 looks a lot like a very wide printer. It is a squat box that opens to reveal a headliner and a tray for your materials or a cutting mat. If you don’t use Cricut Smart Material rolls, you’ll need a cutting mat to hold your material while the Cricut blade slices. The machine comes with a light grip mat that is appropriate for paper and vinyl, but you’ll need a stronger grip for thicker materials.
Cricut Maker 4 needs plenty of room in front and behind when it's working, but it closes up to be much more compact. The machine can handle cutting mats up to 12 inches wide, and it can cut projects that are very long if it uses Smart Materials.
The machine has convenient storage space for some Cricut tools built in. I was able to store a number of extra cutting blades, as well as my weeding tools, all inside the Cricut’s storage compartment. It couldn’t hold everything – the brayer tool for pushing materials flat is too large, for instance – but it’s a convenient use of device space.
My Cricut Maker 4 sample came in the seashell color, which is a lovely, light pink. However, I was jealous to learn that Michael’s has an exclusive sage color available. The capabilities are the same, I just like exclusives.
Cricut Maker 4 can connect to your computer via Bluetooth, but it will need to connect via USB at least once for a firmware update and initial setup. It comes with a very long USB-C to USB-B cable, as well as a power adapter.
Cricut Maker 4 review: Setup and ease of use
Setup requires a USB connection (cable included)
Use requires Cricut Design Space app for desktop or mobile
The blade engaged on Cricut Maker 4 (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Cricut Maker 4 is easy to set up with Cricut Design Space. It won’t work with any other software, but there is a Cricut app available for MacOS, Windows, Android and iOS, so whatever device you use, you’ll be covered, with the exception of Chromebooks. There is no web-based setup option.
For basic projects, Cricut Maker 4 can be very easy to use, but not without frustration or effort. Once your project is cut, weeding the scraps takes precision and patience, and this is where most of my projects failed when I accidentally ripped out something I wanted to keep. Having a good, bright light helps, as well as sharp eyesight. Cricut crafting is how I realized I needed to start wearing reading glasses.
The worst part of Cricut crafting by far is Cricut Design Space. The more I use the software, the more I hope that Cricut takes a sledgehammer to the current build and starts from scratch. It is simply a difficult, buggy, poorly designed piece of software, and unfortunately it's the gatekeeper for all Cricut crafting. You must use Design Space to use Cricut Maker 4.
Fear not, because help is available from the community. I have joined Cricut fans on Reddit and Facebook and found plenty of friendly help, and there are tons of YouTubers and bloggers who are crafting with Cricut and ready to offer instructions and advice.
Still, this isn't a do-it-all-for-you crafting machine. This is a precise tool that will elevate your crafts to a new level of precision and refinement. You’ll be able to create items that look as good as products you’d buy in a store, but you’ll need to spend more time than you expect getting it right. I failed many times on my complex crafting projects, and I’ve put some even more advanced projects aside while I practice my technique on easier crafts.
Cricut Maker 4 review: Should I buy Cricut Maker 4?
If you are patient, craft-centric and interested in making incredible projects that will impress, go ahead and buy Cricut Maker 4. The results are stunning, and once you get the hang of your favorite type of projects, you’ll be able to crank out new items with ease. After a dozen t-shirts or so, I could easily whip up a fresh design and have it ready to wear in a couple of hours or less.
If you’re a teacher, what are you waiting for?! Buy this now! or have your school buy one, or tell your friends on Facebook that they need to support their local teacher with a Cricut Maker 4. It’s an invaluable tool for educators – I was able to decorate every inch of my room, from the walls to the windows to the desks, at a tiny fraction of the normal cost.
Actually, forget the normal cost because I never decorated as thoroughly before I had my own Cricut machine. I redecorated for every new lesson unit. Once you get the hang of basic decorations, you’ll start using Cricut to create useful class materials, and then it will really prove its worth.
Do you need Cricut Maker 4 over Cricut Explore 4? Most people will probably be able to create everything they want with an Explore 4, though the flexibility and precision of Maker 4 is nice if you may someday want to incorporate felt or leather into your crafts. Cricut’s faux leather is an awesome material and it cuts beautifully into complex shapes.
On the other hand, if wood is your thing, I’d look elsewhere. Cricut hasn’t fixed the firmware issue that caused my basswood projects to fail, and besides, it takes hours and hours to cut a wood project. Woodcrafters might want to consider a laser cutter, even though they are twice as expensive as Cricut Maker 4 for even a basic machine.
I’d strongly recommend getting a Cricut bundle as well. The larger weeding tools and scraping tools are essential, and it’s nice to have a selection of materials on hand when you first get the new machine to try some projects before you settle into your creative groove.
Buy it if...
You’re a teacher who decorates often You could spend hundreds every year on letters and shapes, holiday designs and more, or buy a Cricut and make it yourself for a fraction of the cost with exponentially more creativity.
You want to craft precisely but lack a steady hand I can’t cut straight lines or draw neat figures, but Cricut Maker 4 produces laser-sharp results that make my crafts look artistic and professional.
Don't buy it if...
You want to cut complex materials like wood and metal Cricut Maker 4 can cut wood and some metal, but if you craft with those materials often, a laser cutter will get the job done much faster and more reliably.
You don’t want to cut anything besides paper and decorations Most of what I make is paper and vinyl, so a Cricut Explore or even a Cricut Joy Xtra would get the job done for most of my projects… until I decide to get fancy.
The EcoFlow River 3 is the latest entry-level portable power station from EcoFlow's River series. It offers a compact design, fast charging, and app integration utilizing Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The River 3 is an ideal travel-friendly power solution for campers, digital nomads, emergency backup needs, and power on the go.
Unlike some of the best portable power stations I've tested, the EcoFlow River 3 offers advanced GaN technology and a compact form with an integrated handle, standard IEC cable charging, and all of the output ports on the front of the unit for ease of use. A digital screen also shows key information that pairs beautifully with the companion app.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)
EcoFlow River 3: Price and Availability
The EcoFlow River 3 has a base price of $239 (currently discounted to $179 at time of review) and is available in a couple of bundle options. You can grab just the power station or the River 3 with a 45W Solar panel for $219. While you can find the EcoFlow River 3 on the EcoFlow website, you can also find it at major retailers like Walmart, BestBuy, Amazon, Home Depot, and more.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)
EcoFlow River 3: Unboxing & first impressions
The EcoFlow River 3 is not my first EcoFlow Power station. I've reviewed quite a bit from EcoFlow over the years. I just reviewed one of my all-time favorite power stations from EcoFlow, the Delta 3 Plus. However, what's incredible about the River line-up is the portability, lightweight design, and charging speeds.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)
Even at first unboxing, I was shocked at how light this power station is, especially while it still has 245Wh and a solid port offering. The River 3 is 10 x 8.3 x 4.4 inches and just under 8 lbs. With its comfortable integrated handle and great shape, this power station is easy to move around and work with. It's so easy and comfortable to carry around; my 5-year-old son helped me with some of my testing and moving it around. Further, River 3 is also IP54-rated dust and water-resistant; it has a fire-retardant casing and a drop resistance of up to 1.5 meters.
In the box are the River 3 Portable Power Station, an AC power cable, a car charger cable, and the user guide. I opted for the basic unit without the solar panel bundle, though you could add those quickly.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)
EcoFlow River 3: Design & build quality
Specs
Capacity: 245Wh
Battery: LiFePO4 (LFP), 3000+ cycles to 80%
Output:
AC: 300W (600W X-Boost)
USB: 2 x USB-A (12W), 1 x USB-C (100W)
DC: 12V Car Port (126W max)
Charging Options:
AC (320W): 0-100% in 60 minutes
Solar (110W): 3 hours in full sun
Car (100W): 2.8 hours full charge
UPS Mode: <20ms switch time
As mentioned, the EcoFlow River 3 is highly compact and portable, especially compared to similarly rated and spec'd power stations. EcoFlow boasts that this unit is 30% smaller than the industry average and has put great focus on ensuring that this is very easy to carry around, so much so that they built an easy-carry handle.
To see how compact this unit is, I tested some spots where I could put it. It fits in the back tray on the rear of my Jeep Cherokee, it fits in the bottom of a standard backpack, it fits in the cabinet of my storage space, it can fit in the storage space in a boat, in a carrier on a four-wheeler, or even in a portable tech cart like I currently have mine -- but more on this later.
On the front of the River 3 is an LED display, two AC outlets (one three-prong, one two-prong), a USB-C with 100W PD charging, two USB-A ports, and a DC car port. The two power-in ports are on the right side.
(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)
EcoFlow River 3: In use
As I mentioned, I have tried this power station out with a few use cases. While this has been great in many areas, the use case that I have come to rely on this power station for is in a portable work cart that I utilize several days a week. One of the many roles I fill in my week is as Systems Director at a large church. In this role, I need a plethora of gear when I am on-site, and when I am on-site, I can be in any number of places throughout the campus. So, to solve this issue, I built a cart with all the cables, gear, adapters, and materials I may need for any project. The last missing piece was a way to power it, allowing me to charge my everyday carry gear in my backpack (I fit quite a bit in my Nomatic Backpack) while working throughout the building, all while also being able to power any number of computers or other technology that I may need to plug in at any given time. I solved all of these issues with the EcoFlow River 3.
The 100W USB-C power output has been fantastic for charging any of my gear (especially since 90% of what I carry daily is all USB-C to start with). I have connected two power strips to the two AC ports, granting a ton of ports for when I need to be able to plug whatever gear I need to charge. Plus, since there is then an internal battery with the River 3, I can run this setup without needing to plug in all the time, and then when the battery gets low, I can plug it in quickly and watch it recharge ridiculously fast, even when there is a load on the battery (of course, if I am putting a ton of strain on the battery with a ton of gear, it would take a little longer to recharge). So far, I have noticed that the battery within the River 3 will last for around three recharges for my MacBook Pro while also pushing a portable display from Sotsu (review coming soon).
While I don't utilize solar or car input, I could see grabbing this power station in a moment of need if we had a power outage or if I were going camping simply because of how portable and comfortable it is to use this power station. I'm also aware that my use case for this power station is unique, but I hope it shows just how versatile it is.
EcoFlow River 3: Final verdict
The EcoFlow River 3 is an ultra-portable power station for light-duty use with fast charging, UPS support, and a compact design, making it a perfect choice for travel, backing up a smaller device at home, emergency preparedness, or powering a portable workstation. It won't run high-wattage appliances, nor will it charge a Tesla or keep my house powered for hours. However, its efficiency, reliability, and portability make it a power station worth keeping and stand out in its class.
This review first appeared in issue 357 of PC Pro.
The ColorEdge CG2700X stands out from other monitors in this group test for many reasons. First, this is a monitor absolutely and unapologetically designed for creative professionals. Second, and tied to that, its huge top bezel contains a built-in calibrator (more on that in a moment). Third, its price, which is six times that of the BenQ PD2706U – which is also a 4K 27in monitor with its eye on the creative market.
A 10-bit panel sits at this monitor’s foundation. As we mentioned in the buyer’s guide (in PC Pro), this means it can cover 1.07 billion colors without the use of FRC, and it’s one of the indicators of professional-level quality here. Years ago, you would have needed a pro-quality graphics card to supply a 10-bit signal, but the rising quality of consumer graphics cards (and Nvidia’s Studio driver) means this is no longer the case.
However, the ColorEdge still needs to be part of a color-managed system if you want to maximize your investment. Eizo’s ColorNavigator 7 software is here to help, as it not only helps end users set up an individual monitor but also means a company can ensure all the ColorEdge monitors, in all their offices, will display the same colors.
It enables them to control the brightness, too, and Eizo is keen to promote the sustainability of its ranges. A big part of that is power consumption, and while this monitor can push all the way up to 545cd/m2it still looks great at 200cd/m2(and, unusually, you can push it right down to 40cd/m2, while the OSD even tells you how bright it is). Using the supplied monitor hood helps to control the appearance of colors.
The ColorEdge CG2700X is as color-accurate as you’d expect for the price(Image credit: Future)
Eizo promises that this monitor will be up and running, producing accurate colors, after three minutes rather than the 30 minutes creatives are used to waiting, which will help if you need to set it up on shoots.
Then there’s its most unique feature: the built-in calibration tool.
You can set this to swing down automatically after a set number of hours (50 to 500) or at regular times – this could be daily, weekly, monthly or even annually. You can even keep working as it performs the calibration. The other brilliant feature for designers is that you can so easily jump between pre-calibrated color spaces. These include the expected sRGB, Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 gamuts to those favored by video editors: BT.2020 and BT.709. If you’re using a BT.2020 clip, it can even warn you that it can’t be reproduced in BT.709 and can show you how it will look to audiences who have more standard TVs.
Anyone who needs to edit HDR footage will also appreciate its support for hybrid log-gamma (HLG) and the perceptual quantization (PQ) curve, and you’ll even see a warning if areas of an image – think extreme whites – can’t be accurately displayed as they go beyond the peak brightness of the monitor itself.
Eizo’s monitor is the pinnacle of quality(Image credit: Future)
Eizo is also notorious for its attention to detail, and that extends to its support for 100W when powering devices over the USB-C connection. Power equals heat, and that affects colors unless you dissipate it fast. And that’s why there are two metal grilles at the rear of the monitor: not merely to look good, but to allow any excess heat to be removed without recourse to noisy fans.
We also love the OSD. It’s by far the most informative on test, and it’s packed with options that allow you to switch to different gamuts, gamma settings, ICC profiles and color temperatures within seconds. You can also prioritize contrast deviation.
Alternatively, so long as you have a USB connection, you can use ColorNavigator 7. The rear offers a USB-B port next to the RJ45 connector (vital if you want to manage this monitor across a network), plus DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 2.0 inputs. Over on the left-hand side you’ll find four USB-A ports, with two in blue supporting the faster USB 3.2 Gen 1 standard, but note the lack of a second USB-C port. The only other missing feature is a pair of speakers.
Two of the four USB-A ports support USB 3.2 Gen 1(Image credit: Future)
We’ve covered a lot of technical detail, but ultimately what Eizo is offering is trust. Trust in the colours you see, but also that this monitor will keep on delivering the goods for years. That’s reflected in the build quality of the monitor and in the five-year on-site warranty, where Eizo will come and replace the faulty unit.
Clearly, you’re paying for this in the up-front price, and many creative companies will get more value out of six BenQ PD2706U screens instead. Ultimately, though, the CG2700X is the pinnacle of quality and, so long as you support it with the right hardware and color management system, it’s worth the investment.
Oupes' new Mega 2 portable power station, with a 2048Wh battery capacity and 2500W AC power inverter, brings affordable rechargeable power to the masses.
Specifications
Battery chemistry: LiFePo4
Battery capacity: 2048Wh
Number of charge cycles: Over 3500 before 20% drop
AC output power: 2500W, surge 5400W
Number of AC outlets: 4
Number of USB sockets: 4 Type A, 2 Type C
Number of 12V sockets: 1 Anderson, 1 Cigar lighter, 2 DC 5521
AC inverter efficiency: 86%
Number of power inputs: 2
Fastest charge time: 1 hour
Additional features: Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity
Weight: 22kg
Based on the proven LiFePo4 Lithium chemistry, the station will provide over 3500 charge cycles before experiencing a 20% drop in battery capacity. The design allows for future battery expansion, enabling up to two additional power packs for a total capacity of over 10kWh.
The unit can fast charge at 1600W, resulting in a full charge in less than two hours. Charging through solar panels yields an even higher rate at 2100W. The Mega 2 has fifteen low-power outputs to accommodate many home uses, and a TT30 socket is an excellent addition for road trips. A snappy mobile app available for Apple and Android allows complete control of the unit while providing helpful insight into output power consumption and the overall health of the station.
(Image credit: Future)
Oupes Mega 2: Pricing and Availability
Oupes’ Mega 2 has an MSRP of $1500 and is available at a special price of $1039 for a limited time, about 2WHr per dollar. Oupes also offers other stations with smaller and larger power capacities. The Mega 3 and 5 offer 3000Wh and 5000Wh, respectively, although they cost more, at $2240 and $3500. The Mega 1, the smallest in the family, offers only a 1kWh battery for $700.
Oupes Mega 2: Design
The Mega 2 ships with four Anderson cables, allowing the station to be used on the road or with solar panels, one AC charging cable, and a user manual. It measures 46cm x 27cm x 31cm and weighs 22kg. The plastic case has two handles on each side, allowing the unit to be moved rapidly from one place to another. Two large fans on the left bring decent airflow to the battery charger and AC inverter.
The Oupes Mega 2 has a powerful battery charger that supports up to 2100W through the solar DC input. With a maximum voltage of 150V, the unit can connect to ten 200W 12V panels, completing a charge cycle in less than two hours. The same input is used to charge the battery with the supplied car cable, but it will take much longer since the power is limited to 100W.
Like other power stations, the front panel hosts a large display and buttons to control the outputs. The LCD is bright and shows the percentage of the battery remaining. Input and output power are also shown but in smaller characters. Protections when the output power exceeds the maximum allowed also appear on the display.
The Mega 2 offers plenty of output options to the user. The low-voltage DC sockets include 12V outputs and the ubiquitous USB Type-A and Type-C. Both USB sockets support quick charge through a higher power profile. The Type-C can output a maximum of 100W, while the Type-A can only output 18W. Two 12V high-power outputs are also available, one supporting an Anderson connector that can output 360W, while the other is a cigar plug capable of 120W.
(Image credit: Future)
Oupes Mega 2: In Use
The AC output is more than capable of powering even the most demanding of household appliances. Rated at 2500W with short bursts of 5400W, the Mega 2 can give 120V at 1500W off four regular AC sockets. A fifth socket provides 2500W of power in a TT30 format, which is convenient on road trips to power a trailer's main electrical outlets.
Oupes has been generous with the charging options available in the Mega 2. Surprisingly, with its 1600W input power, the AC input is not the fastest way. The Anderson DC input supports 2100W and, with appropriate solar panels, can recharge the batteries in less than one hour. The DC input tolerates up to 150V, conveniently accepting ten 12V solar panels in series. The Mega 2 has an extra DC port, which can take an additional 2kWh battery.
Oupes’ mobile app replicates the power station's display functionality. The app initially pairs with a smartphone over Bluetooth and requires entering a QR code. The Mega 2 also includes a Wi-Fi interface, eventually becoming the main communication channel once the Bluetooth step is over. This means user data are transferred to Oupes’ cloud services, and the power station becomes accessible worldwide.
The Mega 2 features several protection mechanisms to prevent battery failures and damage to the station or connected equipment. Over ten error codes can be displayed on the front screen, each with a clear description in the user manual. As with any device that generates a lot of heat, it is recommended that the Mega 2 be kept in a well-ventilated area. With an efficiency of 86%, the unit is in the ballpark for this class of power stations.
Oupes Mega 2: The competition
Oupes' Mega 2 falls into the medium-sized power station with combined output power, AC, and DC, approaching 3kW. The 2kWh LiFePo4 battery brings it to the same level as the Bluetti and Ecoflow flagships. The volume taken by the station is about 26L, a smaller amount compared to the Mega 2’s two main competitors. Similar products have fast charging capabilities, which the Mega 2 excels at with its 2100W DC charge.
The Bluetti AC200L has battery capacity and output power similar to the Mega 2. The Bluetti and Ecoflow brands carry an MSRP higher than an Oupes station since they were the first to use LiFePo4 and have an established brand. Compared to the AC200L, the Mega 2 is also 25% smaller and weighs 22kg compared to the AC200L’s 28kg.
(Image credit: Future)
Oupes Mega 2: Final verdict
The Mega 2 power station from Oupes offers solid competition to Ecoflow and Bluetti products in terms of output power and battery capacity. Being a cheaper solution with similar battery technology, the Mega 2 is a more compact and lighter unit that packs as many, if not more, power outlets. It offers a battery expansion that can reach 10 kWh and is remotely controlled through a mobile app. What is missing is the brand recognition and community support the more well-known brands enjoy.
Buy the Mega 2 if ...
you need a powerful station but have a limited budget.View Deal
Don’t buy if ...
you are looking for the most efficient station around.View Deal
If you’re looking for a way to replicate that classic arcade experience at home, then the Evercade Alpha is very easy to recommend. This bite-sized countertop arcade cabinet comes in two flavors, each with its own set of classic Capcom arcade titles. There are also two slots for existing Evercade cartridges - all of which are compatible with the Alpha in addition to the Evercade EXP and Evercade VS consoles.
The cabinet itself is awash with delightful design flourishes, from the swappable marquee cards up top to the official artwork which wraps around the central 8-inch IPS screen. Said screen is simply gorgeous, too; its 8-inch size and 4:3 aspect ratio proved to be perfect for most of the games I tested. Controls are also responsive, whether that be via the onboard arcade stick and buttons or through a third-party controller via the two USB ports on the unit.
It does err on the expensive side, though, making the Evercade Alpha a bit tougher to recommend for folks who aren’t enthusiasts for this kind of thing or don’t already have a decently-sized Evercade cartridge collection. It’s also worth mentioning that most of these games lack any kind of difficulty options, which especially makes fighting games exceptionally hard to clear. You do of course have infinite continues via free play, but this will be irksome to players after a quick, casual arcade session.
Even still, the Evercade Alpha is one of the best retro games console units released this year, and I highly recommend it to anyone chasing a nostalgic arcade experience. Especially with all its quality-of-life additions.
(Image credit: Future)
Evercade Alpha: price and availability
$229.99 / £199.99 pre-order price
Will be $249.99 / £229.99 after launch
Available from November 28, 2024
The Evercade Alpha launches on November 28, 2024, coming in at a retail price of $249.99 / £229.99. However, those who pre-order the unit will be able to get it at the discounted price of $229.99 / £199.99. You can purchase one from a variety of big box retailers including Amazon and Best Buy in the US as well as Funstock, Argos, and Game in the UK.
An Evercade Alpha Deluxe Edition will also be available exclusively at Funstock in the UK. Coming in at £249.99, this version features industry-leading Sanwa arcade buttons, an Evercade Alpha controller, and various goodies including a certificate of authenticity, a poster, and five marquee cards.
You’ve got the choice of two separate units for the Evercade Alpha. The Street Fighter model includes Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition, Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo. Meanwhile, the Mega Man model packs in Mega Man: The Power Battle, Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, Carrier Air Wing, Final Fight, Knights of the Round, and Strider.
(Image credit: Future)
Evercade Alpha: specs
Evercade Alpha: design and features
Exceptional cabinet-like build
Has options for controller play and a headphone jack
Small enough to fit on a countertop
If you’ve ever laid eyes on a traditional arcade cabinet at any point in your life, then you roughly know what to expect from the Evercade Alpha. The unit replicates that angular silhouette, albeit small enough to comfortably fit on top of a counter or a decently-sized gaming desk.
There are lots of lovely design flourishes on the Evercade Alpha. The power switch (situated between the two Evercade cartridge slots at the base of the unit) is shaped like an arcade cabinet coin slot. The marquee card at the top can be swapped out with the extra ones included in the package and, when the unit is switched on, a backlight illuminates the marquee. My review unit is the Street Fighter Edition, and it’s great to see classic arcade unit character artwork wrapped around the central IPS display.
Below the screen are the Evercade Alpha’s on-board controls. This is a six-button setup that’s ideal for fighting games alongside an eight-way octagonal gate stick and three buttons used for starting games, inserting coins for play, and accessing the unit’s built-in menu.
Two side-firing speakers are situated on either side of the unit, and at the bottom below those cartridge slots are a pair of USB ports for controllers, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a switch for adjusting volume. All in all, it’s a rich yet no-nonsense feature set that’s cleverly implemented into the bite-sized arcade machine design.
(Image credit: Future)
Evercade Alpha: performance
Accurate and faithful play experience
No difficulty options means games can be very hard
Super effective CRT filters included
The overall play experience on Evercade Alpha is pretty strong. Controls were responsive across all games tested here, both with the on-board arcade stick controls and more standard controller options via USB. In that regard, I tested the Xbox Wireless Controller, DualSense Wireless Controller, and the 8BitDo Ultimate with the Evercade Alpha, and all worked with the unit after diving into the settings and mapping the controls for each.
The games themselves are of course the stars of the show. Just like with the Evercade EXP and VS consoles, the games feel decently accurate and responsive in comparison to their arcade counterparts. The arcade stick and buttons did take some getting used to, admittedly, though this isn’t the fault of the Alpha itself. Your mileage may vary here, of course, if you’re used to using some of the best fight sticks on the market. But more casual players may need some time before they can reliably throw out Sonic Booms and Shoryukens in Street Fighter 2 Turbo.
One gripe I do have is that these Evercade versions don’t have options for difficulty, neither within the ROMs themselves nor within Evercade’s own operating system. That’s definitely a bummer - difficulty levels are typically available via arcade machine dip switch menus, and these have been emulated on similar devices. It makes many titles pretty difficult to play at a casual level. Hopefully, this is something Blaze Entertainment can implement in a future firmware update for the Alpha.
On the plus side, I was pleasantly surprised by the CRT filter options available on the Evercade Alpha. You can choose a subtle or a strong filter (or turn it off entirely) via the Evercade Alpha menu. This applies to all games, too, so there’s no need to keep reapplying the filter as you cycle through titles. I found the subtle mode to add a good bit of depth to the scene and avoid feeling intrusive or overdone, as is the case with many a CRT filter in old game compilations.
(Image credit: Future)
Should I buy the Evercade Alpha?
Buy it if...
You want an authentic arcade experience at home Beautiful cabinet design, decently compact size, and a wide selection of games without needing to constantly pop in quarters? The Evercade Alpha is a fantastic and accessible arcade experience from the comfort of your own home.
You already have a decently sized Evercade collection All of those Evercade cartridges also work on the Evercade Alpha, and they look fantastic on the unit’s phenomenal 8-inch IPS screen.
Don't buy it if...
You don’t have much space While certainly small compared to a real arcade cabinet, the Evercade Alpha still takes up a good chunk of room in any gaming setup.
You’re on a budget The Evercade Alpha is expensive, even in its pre-order phase. On top of that, you’ll have to buy any other Evercade cartridges separately and that can add up. I’d only recommend picking one up if you’re planning on starting an Evercade collection.
Also consider...
If the Evercade Alpha doesn’t quite have what you’re looking for, be sure to check out a couple of other Evercade devices that are a bit more budget-friendly.
Evercade EXP The Evercade EXP is the brand’s portable console. While it does have some games built-in, it’s also compatible with all Evercade cartridges, making this a cost-effective and portable retro gaming solution.
Evercade VS The Evercade VS is a dedicated home console for use with your TV at home via HDMI. It’s definitely better suited to smaller screens due to the low-res nature of most Evercade-compatible games, but it’s a solid option if you’re after a cheaper way to build an Evercade collection at home.
Used onboard controls and some controllers via USB
Played a wide variety of arcade games
I tested the Evercade Alpha Street Fighter Edition over the course of around two weeks. I played games both built-in and via a handful of Evercade cartridges both in my collection and supplied by Blaze Entertainment, including the Toaplan Arcade Collection 3 and the Data East Arcade Collection 2.
While I primarily used the onboard arcade stick controls during testing, I also tried playing games on the Evercade Alpha with a variety of controllers including the DualSense, Xbox Wireless Controller, and the 8BitDo Ultimate.
Capacities available: 480GB, 1TB, 2TB and 4TB Size: 12mm x 76 mm x 52 mm Weight: 85g Enclosure material: Aluminum Connector: USB 3.2 Gen 2 Technology: OWC Aura Pro III PCIe 3.0 NVMe M.2 2242 Solid-State Drive Warranty (in years): 3 Year OWC Limited Warranty Rated R/W speeds (MB/s): upto 1011MB/s depends on system Software bundle: OWC Innergize for Mac and Windows
The OWC Envoy Pro Elektron joins the company's range of compact portable storage solutions designed for creatives.
We've tested the best portable SSDs but this one really caught our eye. The overall look and style are minimalistic, with the small design easily slipping into a jacket or kit bag pocket without adding much weight or bulk. The exterior is simple, featuring an all-metal build with a status light on the front, a USB Type-C port at the back, and a logo on top. On the base are two rubber strips along with a model info label.
The simplicity of the design also reflects the toughness of the drive. As soon as you lift it from the desk you can feel the additional weight afforded by that reinforced case. It's not heavy, but it's heavier than you'd expect for such a small device. This extra weight comes from the thick metal casing that is not just designed to protect the drive from minor knocks, but to survive being run over, thrown, and generally subjected to conditions that would ordinarily destroy a drive of this type.
That robust build continues throughout the design with the USB Type-C port, which, despite being open to the elements and without a protective rubber cap, still enables the drive to be IP67 certified. The drive is essentially built like a tank and able to survive being crushed (though perhaps not by an actual tank) as well as being submerged in water. Sure enough, in testing, the drive withstood more than most, and even after being run over and submerged, it continued to function without issue.
While the drive's strength is its main feature, speed is another important consideration. Inside is an NVMe SSD, enabling ultra-fast transfer rates. While it doesn't feature the latest connection technology, its data transfer speeds are still impressive and more than enough for HD and 4K video editing, image manipulation, and audio editing.
If you need a drive that can withstand the elements and rough handling while providing ample storage capacity and speed, the OWC Envoy Pro Elektron is an excellent choice—and one of the few with this level of protection.
OWC Envoy Pro Elektron: Price & availability
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
The OWC Envoy Pro Elektron is available in multiple storage capacities, typically ranging from 4800GB to 4TB. Pricing for the drive varies depending on the capacity, starting around £129 ($129 USD) for the 4800GB model and going up to approximately £529 ($529 USD) for the 4TB version. Availability is through major online retailers, including OWC's website, Amazon, and other electronics and computer accessory stores.
Score: 4/5
OWC Envoy Pro Elektron: Design & build
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
The OWC Envoy Pro Elektron has been designed to be small and compact at 12mm x 76mm x 52mm, making it ideal for slipping into a jacket or kit bag pocket, taking up minimal space. While small and extremely simple in design, the all-metal aluminium casing adds a bit of weight at 85g, more than you'd expect from a device of this size but reassuring in terms of durability. With an IP67 rating, this is up there with the best rugged hard drives we've reviewed - a happy middle-ground for who need a robust, portable SSD.
The drive connects via a single cable that handles both data transfer and bus power, which is common for compact external drives. A nice touch from OWC is the inclusion of a USB Type-C cable with a Type-A adapter to maximise compatibility across different machines. On the exterior, there's a status light at the front that glows bright blue when the device is connected and flashes during transfers to indicate that the drive is in use—standard but useful features.
Aside from the single USB Type-C 3.2 port at the back and the status light, there are no other buttons or ports, keeping the exterior sleek and minimalistic. Another nice addition and finishing touch are the two rubber strips on the base, these provide better grip when the drive is placed on a desk or other surfaces, preventing it from sliding around during use.
Design & build: 5/5
OWC Envoy Pro Elektron: Features
OWC is an interesting company, very much driven by the real-world use of its products. It's not difficult to find professionals who swear by OWC gear. The Envoy Pro Elektron is designed as a compact, go-anywhere portable SSD that's simple in design yet capable of quickly transferring and storing large quantities of data, all while withstanding extreme conditions.
Starting with speed, which is usually the headline feature of any external SSD, OWC quotes several different transfer rates for the drive. The blister pack states transfer rates of up to 1011MB/s, while the website cites 996MB/s in real-world tests, highlighting similar benchmarking software to what we use here at techradar.com.
The drive is also USB 3.2 Type-C, offering up to 10GB/s transfer rates via the single bus-powered cable connection. It's great to see OWC opting for the most common generation of USB 3.2, ensuring that on almost every modern system, you'll likely achieve the quoted speeds. This contrasts with many manufacturers that produce drives using USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, which is often throttled back to slower speeds for machines that aren't equiped with that exact connection type.
This connection also means the drive is fully compatible with a wide range of devices, including Macs, PCs, iPad Pros, and Chromebooks.
The standout feature of the drive, as mentioned earlier, is its durability. It is crushproof, dustproof, and waterproof to IP67, meaning it can survive being submerged in water up to 1 metre deep for 30 minutes. The durable, aircraft-grade aluminium casing is impressive and helps dissipate heat when the drive is working hard. As the drive is solid-state, there are no fans, so cooling is entirely passive through the case—this reduces potential points of failure and ensures the drive operates completely silently
Due to its design and connection type, the drive can launch apps on a Mac, which is handy if you have a Mac with a smaller internal SSD and need to offload larger or less frequently used apps to external storage.
It's also worth mentioning that the drive is Innergize enabled, software from OWC. This software enables you to monitor and manage the drive's health and performance and apply firmware updates as they become available
The small Envoy Pro Elektron's size and simplicity means that it hardly adds any weight or bulk to you kit bag. Although the drive feels heavier than expected at first glance, it's still extremely light at 85g—lighter than most larger external hard drives with similar capacity.
The drive includes a 38cm USB Type-C cable, which comes with a handy USB Type-A adapter. Together, they make for a neat package that can easily slip into any small side pocket.
In use the drive connected quickly and for the first test, it was formatted to APFS for use with Mac systems. Upon first connection, the software guides you through the formatting and system compatibility setup, in just a couple of simple clicks you're done and the drive is ready to use. We ran several tests running some of the best video editing software and best audio editors for performance.
Used with Logic and Final Cut Pro X, the drive performed as expected, handling work as a fast, reliable drive with transfer speeds more than sufficient for most 4K ProRes edits. During long editing sessions, the 1TB capacity was slightly limiting, but with 2TB and 4TB versions available, there is greater flexibility. Speed and performance remained consistent throughout, with the drive becoming warm but never hot. Notably, there was no noise from the drive, although the Mac's fans spun up occasionally as the M1 Max processor was pushed.
When switching to a PC, the drive required reformatting to ExFat. In Premiere Pro and Audition, the drive again performed well, handling data transfer demands without issue and becoming warm but again not hot.
In real-world tests, the drive provided the storage and transfer speeds required by the applications. While the 1TB capacity may be limiting for video, it's a good size for audio and image work.
Benchmark testing showed the drive performed exceptionally well, with varying results depending on the application used. Read and write speeds were fast across the board, confirming the drive is an ideal companion for most content creators.
Beyond performance testing, the IP67 rating called for a durability check. The first test was to run over the drive, and aside from a few scratches and some dirt, it survived. Plugged back into the Mac, it was instantly recognised, and performance matched the speeds recorded prior to the test.
Next, the drive was submerged in water for 30 minutes. After drying and clearing water from the port, it was plugged in again and mounted without issue.
After these tests, the drive's exterior showed marks and scratches as expected from such handling, but it continued to perform exceptionally well despite the tough conditions.
Performance: 5/5
Should you buy the OWC Envoy Pro Elektron?
If you need a fast, high-capacity portable SSD, the OWC Envoy Pro Elektron is a great choice on many levels, although you are paying extra for its robust build.
As a portable SSD, its compact size and light weight are appealing. With a range of capacities, it caters to a variety of users—from musicians and photographers to videographers and general content creators. The transfer rates make it an ideal solution for anyone needing a fast working drive capable of handling high-definition multi-track audio and 4K video editing.
What really sets this drive apart is its toughness and small size. You can easily pack it into any bag or jacket pocket without adding noticeable weight. Unlike other SSDs, you don't need to worry about the drive if it gets wet or bashed around in transit—this drive will survive, making it a great choice for those on the road or travelling.
The speed will meet most creative demands for a wide range of users, but the rugged build and IP67 rating will particularly appeal to broadcast industry professionals, content creators, and musicians. The OWC Envoy Pro Elektron serves as a reliable on-the-go storage solution.
(Image credit: Alastair Jennings)
Buy it if...
You need a durable, portable SSD.
The OWC Envoy Pro Elektron is designed to withstand tough conditions while delivering fast, reliable storage for on-the-go professionals
You want fast transfer speeds for content creation.
With NVMe SSD and USB 3.2, this drive offers excellent transfer speeds for tasks like 4K video editing, music production, and image manipulation.
Don't buy it if...
You're looking for the latest USB technology.
This drive uses USB 3.2, which is fast but lacks the latest Gen 2x2 speeds found in some competitors.
You need a budget-friendly SSD.
The OWC Envoy Pro Elektron's rugged design and advanced features come at a higher price, which might not be ideal for casual users.
