Tag: deal

Deal Alert: Etymotic HF5 In-Ear-Monitors just $99

A set of Etymotic HF5 in-ear-monitors have graced my computer bag for the past few years. They are positively my favorite noise reducing headphones. The reasons are very simple; they reliably achieve a good seal in the ear canal, delivering relief from noisy surrounds. Further, they sound amazing.

Etymotic HF5 KitEtymotic headsets are based on a balanced armature design. Coming from an audiological background, this design is characterized by accurate reproduction. They’re notable for fast, crystalline mid- and high-frequency response.

I am told that some people may find the bass response lacking. Although, to my ears they sound awesome. The fact that they seal reliably ensures that the bass is fast and tight. There’s no sloppy boom-boom-boom here.

If you treasure both quiet and musical accuracy click on over to Massdrop who is offering HF5’s for $99 if a group of 10 people are interested. That’s down from MSRP of $149, while Amazon Prime has them for around $110.

P.S. – The HF5 are the model without a microphone, so they’re more about the iPod than the iPhone. You don’t need any pesky phone calls interrupting your groove anyway, right?

Deal Alert: Groupon Offering Nexus 7 For $149

Yesterday I received my third Nexus 7 (2013 edition) by way of a Groupon deal that ends later today. The offer is new, not refurbished, versions of the 16 GB model for $149.  That’s down from the $199 list price, which was an unbelievable bargain in the first place.

Nexus7-Groupon

There are dozens of cheap Android tablets to be had, but few that run Lollipop. In my case, my existing Nexus 7, which has a few scrapes and nicks, will be rotated into a utility role, very likely as a pseudo-Squeezebox.

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Deal Alert: Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch Ultrabook

Woot.com is today offering the Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch Ultrabook for $899 & $999. I own the prior model, which is not touch enabled. Even though it’s coming on two years old I still like it a lot. It was a LOT more expensive than this current deal.

The more costly model on offer is to my mind the better deal. It features 8 GB of memory, a high-resolution (QHD = 2560 x 1440 pixel) display  and a larger battery.

According to Woot they both have Displayport and HDMI outputs, where my earlier model had only DisplayPort. Both models include a 128 GB SSD.

In theory there remains an open mPCIe slot that would allow the addition a of a second SSD. This is what I planned to try if the 256 GB SSD I custom ordered in my X1C was too small for my needs

Deal Alert Revisited: Logitech H820e Cordless Headset

I don’t normally like to repeat myself, but you may recall that about ten days ago I tipped you to a deal on the Logitech H820e cordless DECT headset? That deal, which was $79, eventually expired. Today I see that the same reseller is making the offer again. This time it’s priced at just $69, with no shipping!

Again, these are “recertified” devices with a 90 day warranty. They are USB plug-and-play, HDVoice-capable, Microsoft® Lync™ and Cisco® compatible. They should work with any soft client. Logitech also claims up to 10 hours of talk time and 300 feet of walkabout range.

This time I could not resist. I ordered a couple. One for me to try and one to be gifted onward.

Deal Alert: Plantronics Voyager Pro HD For $29.95

This morning Daily Steals is offering the Plantronics Voyager Pro HD for a mere $29.95. That’s not bad for an HDVoice capable Bluetooth headset. It’s lists at $99 while I bought one a few months ago for the more common street price of $59.95.

I’ve used the Voyager Pro HD with my netbook, desktop, Nexus 7 tablet and Galaxy Nexus cell phone. It worked well with every device and handles wideband audio if the other ends also supports HDVoice.

In the past I’ve used the Voyager Pro HD with a Polycom VVX-500 desk phone. This was possible using the optional BT300 USB BT dongle from Plantronics. This worked well, but of course adds cost to the overall solution.

More recently I have used the Voyager Pro HD with the new Polycom VVX-600, which has a built in BT radio. In both cases the Voyager Pro HD provided long battery life, HDVoice and hook switch control.

HDVoice Deal Alert: Gigaset DE380IP-R Desk Phone

Some time ago the folks at Gigaset showed me their DE380-IP-R desk phone. It was about the time that they were just starting to ship their SIP/DECT products to the US. When they sent me some sample gear for evaluation a lone sample of this little desk phone came along for the ride.

I tried the DE380-IP-R for a short while but never really put it into service. I used it just long enough to confirm that it was truly wideband capable, supporting G.722.

The simple truth is that I found the phone to be just a little too quirky for my tastes. There are things about it that seem too Euro-centric in their design or implementation. Further, with a retail price of around $140 they were simply too odd when compared to the newly released Polycom Soundpoint IP335, which is also wideband capable.

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