JBL Tune 500 Wired ON Ear Headphones Black

I wanted to replace my old broken laptop headset with something affordable and wired as it is mostly to use plugged to my laptop. Besides, I've had other JBL products in the past and this is a brand that I trust.

GOOD
> I bought this almost half the original price on a lightning deal and that is a bargain, something that always makes me happy.
> Good looking. The set looks expensive.
> Good materials.
> Head band soft padding.
> Integrated cable with volume micro-button.
> Plug and play, no drivers or set up needed.
> Good quality sound with my computer. I haven' tried them with my mobile.
> Flat folding, which makes the set great for storage in drawers and for carrying in a medium sized bag.

SO SO
 > I agree with other reviewers say on the tight grip of the headband. I have a small head and this is nothing that I honestly feel is too much, unpleasant or uncomfortable. At the same time, I don't use these for long periods of  time.
 
NOT SO GOOD
> The leather-like sleeve covering the ear padding is paper thin. What's the point of making the rest really good quality and the most important part really subpar? I don't get the thinking behind this, to be honest.
> Length of the cable it's a bit short for my needs as I tend to twist and move a bit away from my desk/laptop and it unplugs itself.
 
OVERALL
A great wired headset at a very affordable price made of good quality materials. The only downsides are the headband being a bit tight on the head if worn for long periods of time, the ear-pod padding sleeve quality being not good, and the cable being not long enough for my needs. I will update this review in the future, if needed.

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Dell Wired Multimedia Keyboard, Black, 580-AHHG

I bought this in an emergency as part of my laptop keyboard stopped working. This is a great keyboard, lightweight, spacious and very pleasant to type on. I love it's wired as saves me from using batteries and the long cable allows me to position the board as far from my laptop as I want. Plug and use, no need to install anything. Drivers will self-install in a minute.  The board has a spacious layout and very pleasant soft keys, with all the functions that you expect from a complete work keyboard. Amazing value for money. 

UPDATE 3/5/24

I am still happy with this keyboard, but one of the keys started to malfunction and get stuck a few weeks after started using it. Gladly is just one of the numbers in the number keyboard, but I still can use it on the row above the main board area.

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KIYOSAKI Gooseneck Phone & Tablet Holder,

 This was, beforehand, what I was looking for to use my phone in bed at night as I've noticed that my hands and fingers get sore. The deal price was an incentive. I had read the reviews before purchase, so I knew that the 'cable' was sturdy and hard to maneuver, but it's way harder that expected and I had difficulty moving it around without making an effort. Inserting the ball into the holder head piece was also very difficult for me. 

The  product comes with minimal packaging and no instructions, and looks like a generic product. Nothing wrong with that!, but the lack of instruction leaflet makes  it unnecessarily difficult to set it up. In fact, the holder is easy to set up if you know what to do. Basically, you hold the clip on to you furniture and, to fasten it and/or adjust to the thickness of the edge you're attaching it to, you have to screw/unscrew the tubular body part (see my photo). The holder looks very small, but the lower edge is expandable, so you can adjust it to fit a quite large phablet like mine (see my photo). If used horizontally, I can easily fit a tablet.

I ended returning the product due to the fact that the holding clip is quite wide and cannot hold my narrow bedside table edge, so it falls off. So, my advise to you is to check the depth of your furniture edges before purchase.

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House of Marley Buffalo Soldier BT OE Headphone, Black

This is my second House of Marley headset, and I bought it because I had an awesome experience with my now-gone Positive Vibration  headset.
 
GOOD THINGS
> Great packaging bag and complimentary pouch.
 > Elegant looking  and genderless style.
> Made of good-quality sustainable materials.
> Great craftsmanship, all the finishing touches and features feel expensive.
> Easy to pair and recharge.
 > Decent quality sound for the price.
> Great for indoor use or areas that have limited background noise.
> Commands are simple and easy to use.  I love the retro-style volume wheel.
> Very comfortable padded pods.
> If feels very light on my head.
> It has a specific power on/off button.
> Long battery life.
> Affordable.

NOT SO GOOD
-- Charging cable is too short.  
-- The headset cannot be fold, so isn't the best thing for traveling or to carry it around.
-- The head band is made of real leather but has no padding.
-- Instruction booklet is minuscule and the lettering is ditto.
-- It might be a bit too small for big people and too big for people with small heads, like me.
-- As the pods aren't concave but flat-ish, the pods don't hold on to my ears and the headset tends to slid down, forcing me to constantly adjust the headband. It might not be an issue for people with bigger heads and ears, but it is for me as the pods come off my ears often, so that affects the quality and volume of sound I get.
-- Not the best bass.   
-- Not good for outdoor activities. I use it for walking and, due to the fact that slides down and  to the fact that the sound quality is OK, the sound can be muffled by heavy traffic or noisy areas even when I have it at max volume.

OVERALL
Despite purchasing this after almost 5 years I bought my House of Marley's Positive Vibration headset, the Buffalo Soldier falls short for some of the things I loved my previous headset: The headband lack of padding, its lack of foldability, and poor noise insulation system. However, this is a great headset for indoor listening, made from sustainable materials and a decent sound system. It isn't the fanciest or best House of Marley's headset but it' s still good and good value for money.  

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Plugable USB Audio Adapter with 3.5mm Speaker-Headphone and Microphone Jack

Small USB adapter, color marked, so plugging the audio/microphone pins is hassle free. This is a Universal self-installable device so the only thing you have to do is plug it to your USB port.

I have tried it with my headset and sound quality is good, but it gives it a background zooming noise that affects the quality of the recordings. If you want it for personal use this does the job beautifully, but if you want it for professional use this might not be your item.

The item was dispatched and delivered at record times, despite the lock down, so I am very grateful for the service.

One person found this helpful

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Logitech HS-LOGI-H110 Stereo Headset with Mic, Black/Grey

The item took ages to be dispatched despite being in stock when I purchased it. Due to lock-down, it took forever to get it delivered. And when it was, the disappointment was enormous, as I wanted this item to do some freelance work and it is not usable for that.
 

The only photo available, conveniently, doesn't show the jacks, and this is a problem as they won't fit most computers unless they are old models where these 2 jacks were the standard. This being the case, you'll need to buy an adapter to fit it in. This being the case, the item ends being expensive for what it is - an average home-use headset. Also, the cable is a nuisance, as it is too long for a laptop. It might be good for a desktop computer, though.

You cannot control the volume via the headset cable but through the computer sound.

Quality of recorded sound is OK with regards to the recorded sound per se, but due to having to use an USB adapter there is background zoom noise that ruins a professional recording. Quality of sound when listening to a video-clip or watching a movie in my laptop is decent.

The headset is a bit tight on the head even for small heads like mine.

I am a fan of Logitech, but this model is prehistoric and not worth the money.

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OPPO VOOC Flash charger/sync 1M micro USB Cable, white

This is a replacement to a cable I had for my Oppo phone. The other one has lasted me about 5 years. This cable allows super-fast charge, it's sturdy yet flexible and very good quality. Very fast dispatch and delivery, something that I really appreciate during lock-down because the other cable was totally not working and waiting for a staple like this for more than 2 days would have been a hassle.

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JB Hi-Fi

I have bought a few things from JB, the last ones a travel notebook, a mouse, and a mp3 player as they were cheaper than elsewhere. They always have great discounts, so I tend to browse their website when I am looking for specific items.

Unlike other electronic shops where I pop up regularly to see what they have in store and browse around, JB Hi-fi  stores seem to be uninviting, sombre places, overcrowded with stuff or just the layout not well thought to favour movement and exhibition of products. They are also short of knowledgeable staff too often, and short of staff in general also often. 

Although along the years I have found nice staff at JBHF, the norm for me has been just finding the unhelpful, uninterested unfriendly staff, so nothing that invites me to visit any more than I strictly need and when their prices are cheaper than elsewhere. Some of the guys on the floor don't really know anything about anything they sell, others do, so if you are unlucky enough to get one of the baddies, they can easily mislead you. I have also seen patronising attitudes towards people of a certain age or women because, in their silliness, some of them think they know something, when in fact they don't. I have found the people at the cash out and managers usually lovely, friendly and very helpful.

The most annoying thing is that there aren't sample mice to use and test on the tables in the stores, so you cannot test them for size, heaviness and comfort, and have to buy them, go home and, if not a fit, return it, and do the same with other mouse until you find one that fits. If you are looking for a work mouse, choosing the right mouse for you might take you to test several mice, so I wonder what's the convenience of having to go three times to the store.

They have one of the worse branding ever. Unmistakable, that is good. Cheap looking, bordering tasteless, that is not good. 

In a nutshell --  They have good prices but outdated shops and bad service overall.

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Dick Smith (Online Retailer)

 

Online Shop

Dick Smith have plenty of just-online offers, like pro-rate expense discounts, or day specials, beyond what is in the catalogue, so I decided to try the online shop to buy two items I needed and take advantage of one of their special online weekend discounts. The prices were already fantastic, but I saved 30 extra bucks on the spot.  Their delivery fees were really cheap.  

The purchase online was very easy and I promptly received confirmation of the processing and shipping of my order. They provided me with a tracking link, which mentioned that I better  until after 7pm next day to get any info about my order. I did so on at the requested time to no avail, and the same next day in the morning without results. I called Dick Smith's Customer Service and they redirected me to the freight company. The lady on the phone was lovely but she could not track my parcel with the info I had been provided with and none of the numbers worked; she guessed that the parcel has not been dispatched yet and that was the reason.  Not even two hours later, the delivery guy showed up at my place! That was a day and a half after my purchase online, which is fantastic. 

They need to solve their tracking reference system because it could have happened that my parcel was late, or I was not at home, and it would have been an annoyance for all the parts involved. Nobody wants to be glued to their place to wait for a delivery that has no day or time on it. They just show up. So a working tracking link is necessary. 

Beyond that my experience online was very good.

Recommended. 

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Dick Smith (Murray Street Mall, Perth WA)

Shop 110, 166-170 Murray Stret Mall

Perth Western Australia 6000

(08) 9218 8074

Website

Hours:

   Mon- Thu: 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM

    Fri: 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM

    Sat 9:00- 5:00 PM

    Sun: 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM

This Dick Smith retailer is one of my favourite stops in the CBD to cater for my tech and gadget needs and replacements, which are quite needy. This small shop is located above the Woollies Supermarket and by the Red Dot Store, metres away form Myers and David Jones, a killer location that makes it a must stop is you work in Northbridge or happen to pass by.  

This shop is really small, with little space between aisles. Certainly, you won't find the variety of products and brands you find in the big store in the William St store. You don't come to this shop for fancy stuff, that is for sure. However, the shop caters for everything that is advertised in their catalogues, which is what attracts me to Dick Smith 99% of the times. They also have a good part of the shop devoted to those areas with  boring thingies that we all need: cables, switch boards, batteries, USBs, adaptors, gadgets sleeves, and other ugly trifle for your everyday needs. I find their selection of TV, laptops and phones decent for such a small shop.

I visit this shop more often that I would like to recognise. My experience has always been that it is  easier to find items from the catalogue here than in other shops, where a larger affluence of customers exhausts their stocks faster. It has happened to me several times going to the big store on William St, and being redirected here to find the last items of "whatever" available.

The staff have been hit and miss. I have found terrific guys,  who have advised me greatly when trying to purchase things, helping me to save a lot of money by just giving me the right advice. Other staff members, on the contrary, have ignored me, patronised me, being rude to me and misinformed me. The good thing is the staff changes a lot, so most of the time the people you find behind the counter are friendly and professional. Still, how much costs saying good morning or smiling to a customer? Am I from another planet?

The shop is usually quiet, but quite hectic at lunch time, with little staff to attend to so many people.

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Mobicity online shop (Australia)- REBRANDED YATANGO -COLLAPSED

http://www.mobicity.com.au/

The website is fantastic, very easy to navigate and to order. The photos are very goof quality, as well as the specifications. Ordering is super-easy, although you have to register and get account with the shop; this is really helpful to get some doubts sorted out or receive ticket supports from the staff. Moreover you have customers' reviews on some of the phones, which is always of great help when you don't know if the phone you fancy it is good enough. They range of mobiles could be better, but they have a good deal of beauties, cheap and super-expensive to choose from. The info on shipping and Faq is very good, too. The website is so professional, easy to navigate and well made that you just want to shop and trust them from the beginning.

I found their customer service just OK. It took them a day to contact me to verify my address and credit card data. My account with them had a support ticket mentioning that they had tried to ring me twice to verify my data. However, that it is difficult to believe as I gave them a mobile number as a contact, and no missing-call message was to be found. So I had to ring at my own expense to Queensland from WA, saving them some money.

The online chat is great, and the person behind was truthful and honest in her explanations. However, she seemed to be busy as sometimes took here quite a while to reply to my questions. It could just be that the chat system is slow or that she was attending to two things at the same time. The latter was my impression..

The delivery has been quite fast, but not within the time specified for capital cities, just a day over. Not good enough if you really need the phone. However, I ordered on a Tuesday and got it on a Monday. Which is still great.

Their rating system is requested just after ordering. The website is great and everybody is in a good mood after shopping, so your rating is going to be always high. That is a well known marketing strategy. However, it is impossible to leave your rating afterwards, once you have the phone -at least that is my case- as the rating system pops up automatically after you order. How can I rate a whole service just after ordering? Shouldn't they wait until the phone reach destination and the customer has been through the whole process? Otherwise, you are going to give them full marks. Then, if problem arise, you cannot change your vote. On the other hand, their rating site only shows their best reviews, and those who gave them 1, 2 or 3 stars are not displayed just mentioned/computed. Just those with 4 and 5 stars can be read. Of course, you can leave your review in the phone's page, but unless a consumer visits that specific page and you mention all your issues with Mobicity, the review is not going to be that useful. The general reviews page is the first thing I check in an online place, and Mobicity's needs to improve it and have more transparency.

The telephone I got, despite being unlocked and new, had been been locked to Telstra at the factory, and a good part of the menus, logos, and most configurations are pre-set for Telstra and, therefore, impossible to erase. The phone's cover case bears Telstra's logo, as well as the box and start-up images. That's extremely annoying, and disloyal on the part of Mobicity, which does not clearly state that in the mobile's page. If I had known, I would have bought my phone in WA, unlocked myself in an independent shop on the same day without having to pay the courier fees or wait a natural week to get it. An unlocked telephone -as the ones you can find in shops like Dick Smith for ex.- is a phone that is not only unlocked, but has never been locked to any phone carrier. I was expecting the same from Mobicity. This is reason enough to me to think twice before buying with Mobicity again.

Mobicity has a good service, but a few dodgy practices of which they should get rid of, if they want me to buy anything from them or to recommend them. Most people seem happy, but most unhappy people don't complain. 

UPDATE MARCH 2016
Mobicity rebranded to Yatango a few years ago and the browsing of the website and the operations of the company worsened. I bought my last camera through Yatango and there was a serious problem of communication between the Australian company and the warehouse in Hong Kong. Yet, they had great prices, so at the end all was worth it, even the long discussions on the phone, about the problems in the fulfillment of the product, which I received out of my "harassing" their customer service.

Since then, Yatango went downhill. The browsing in Australia was a pain (way better prices and browsing experience in Yatango NZ) with offshore chat sellers popping up every second asking if they could help you and offering discounts. 

The company collapsed in November 2015 both in their mobile carrier area and in the selling area. No surprise. It is surprised that it didn't fall earlier on.
News about collapse    

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Officeworks Online Shop (Australia)

  Website

I recently ordered some Microsoft Software online from Officeworks, as the store in Perth city did not have it, and it was taking ages to get it from Sydney. I cancelled my order with the store and I put my order online, using their website, with great results and satisfaction.

The website is very easy to browse and to add items to your shopping cart. However, you have to register to be able to purchase, which is something that could easily be avoided if they had a "purchase as a guest" option; this also would certainly generate more business for them, as many people are put off by online registrations. Nevertheless, I am surprised at how serious they are, and the fact that you can customise your account so you don't receive any promotional mail/email. That is always a guarantee of seriousness to me. The only down is the tracking area, which does not show activity beyond the "order received". I don't call this a tracking device, but an "order received" device. A tracking device not only shows the receipt of the order, but also the dispatch of the parcels and the different transit spots of the same; this was never the case when I checked my account. That could be certainly improved; if you don't live in a city area or you put your order on a Friday evening, is takes about 4 days for your parcel to arrive, and you want to know if the parcel has been dispatched.

The website states that the delivery is done in the next two working days for free in city areas by courier if your over is over $55. I thought that, like in many other websites, the statement was a declaration of intentions, but they were actually right and serious about their commitment, and I got my items delivered on the same day. This has happened every time I have ordered. I am most impressed.

Officeworks offer some of the best prices for the office and school supplies in Australia, with frequent specials, clearings, and regular discount catalogues. What is more important, they offer a super-easy to shop online and get your order at home in time record. 

Actually, after my experience with the real store, I prefer their online service. That is a lot to say.

The only thing I don't like about the online store is their idiotic patronising censorship on reviews. No wonder most items don't have any.

Most recommended!

UPDATE JANUARY 2015

I still love Officeworks and I buy a good deal of staff online from them. The people on the phone at Customer Service are usually lovely, but there are a few issues that you have to beware of:
> You can be waiting for your call to be taken by a representative about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, you are bombarded with Officworks self-promotion. What happened to the right music being used? Or, "your call has progressed in the cue message"? Or the minimum period wait is X sort of message?  
> Customer Service can give you contradictory replies to the same question.
> They don't tell you aproximate time of delivery.
> They cannot contact the driver to tell you an approximate time of delivery either, or if they are going to be in the morning or afternoon. So you cannot leave your place unless you want your purchase to be leaved at your door and trust the Universe that nobody will take it.
> The delivery on the same day tick box is not  on view any longer. It used to be clearly visible. Now, the next business day delivery is used as a default, so bear that in mind.
> The track your order in your account is completely worthless and inaccurate. What is the point in having a tracking system that does not do just that?

UPDATE 3/12/2019

I've been buying from Officeworks for years having different local stores as home store where the supplies would be dispatched.

POSITIVES
> They free delivery minimum expenditure is low and easy to achieve.
> You can get your items delivered on the next day if you order a day ahead or that day before 11. I've done that multiple times and received my parcels in less than 24 hours.
> Pricing of products online is the same as products in store.
> Huge selection of items.
> Great return policies.
> Friendly delivery guys.
> Customer service operators on the phone have always been extremely kind and helpful.

NEGATIVES
> The main downside is that, depending on the store you set as your default, you will get a better or worse service. However, you can manually change that. I have done as one of the stores I used to provide me with supplies for my last relocation were sending wrong numbers or not sending them or double sending then. I changed the store, and problem solved.
> Office chairs used to be part of the next day delivery for free. However, that's not the case these days, and you have to pay 30+ bucks for being considered a bulky item, and next day delivery isn't guaranteed.
> There are online and local retailers selling some of the products they sell at cheaper prices, printer cartridges among them.

My experience is very positive overall.

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