I always wanted a Soda Stream. None of my mates had one so I’ve never actually used one but at the time, I thought they’d be way better than a hypercolor t-shirt, transformer or a Rainbow Brite lunch box. But I guess I should be glad because they’ve unfortunately been placed at number four on the Top 20 most useless household gadgets of all time. Unbelievable!!

Reevoo commissioned a survey of 4,500 Brits to find out what gadgets should be sent to the giant gadget tip in the sky. I have to agree with their top three: Electric nail files, laser guided scissors and electric candles.

Quite frankly, I don’t have the slightest interest in nails so paying over £200 pounds for something that I could quite happily do for free with my teeth, seems absurd.

Laser guided scissors would take all the fun out of cutting and sticking jobs for me and I can’t quite see
them working for people with twitching or unsteady hand problems.

And battery operated candles?? Is that not just a glorified torch? You can get wind-up torches these days. Much better for the environment. You can even buy ones now that have a mobile phone charger attached.

So, all in all, pretty useless stuff. Here’s the full list:

1.     Electric nail files

2.     Laser guided scissors

3.     Electric candles

4.     Soda stream

5.     Foot spas

6.     Fondue set

7.     Hair crimpers

8.     Egg boiler

9.     Electric fluff remover

10.  Electric carving knife

11.  Trouser press

12.  Face steamers

13.  Teas made

14.  Mini disk player

15.  Facial tanners

16.  Egg slicer

17.  Electric tin openers

18.  Yoghurt makers

19.  Towel warmer

20.  Back scratcher

Do you walk around on your mobile wishing that people couldn’t hear your most secret and important phone calls? Are you on the lookout for an umbrella that you don’t have to hold? Do you just fancy carrying a big box around on your back? If you answered yes to any of those and even if you didn’t, you’ll love this gadget…even if it is just to point at the silly man sporting it. The portable cell phone booth by Nick Rodriguez is not only a genius way to talk in private, I’ve also decided that it’s a great rain shelter. Maybe the next model could come with windscreen wipers as standard?

Although I jest, this isn’t really supposed to be a gadget. Nick is a sculptor that wanted to prove a point and says that "The Portable Cellular Phone Booth provides a visual image of social
sacrifices and opportunities to interact with one another lost due to
our own self-involvement."…hmmmm, before we get all deep and meaningful, check out this amusing video of Nick doing the rounds in his invention.

Last week’s Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) awards gave Nikon chiefs something to celebrate. They nabbed the most sort after awards with the D3 model coming top in the ‘Best DSLR – Expert’ category and the D300 receiving the ‘Best DSLR – Professional’ prize.

If you have problems with low light performance, pick up the D3. Judges were very impressed with the results, even when used at  ISO 6400. The D300 is one for those of you that like your equipment to keep up with your adventures - It was commended for its “solid design, excellent handing and robust build quality” and its speedy autofocus system.

Canon did pip Nikon to the post with their new EOS 450D which picked up the ‘Best DSLR – Advanced’ award and the Panasonic LUMIX FX-500 topped the ‘Best Compact Digital Camera’ category.

I’ve checked out the camera reviews on Reevoo and at the moment, the top rated DSLR is the Panasonic FZ50 Black with 9.1/10 from 43 impartial reviews and the top rated compact digital camera is the Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z1200 with 9.2/10 from 55 impartial reviews.   

You can check out more SLR reviews and compact digital camera reviews from Reevoo. As it’s nearly summer hols time, I’ll be doing a Top 5 digi camera post soon. Until then, you can see reviews for lots of photography equipment here.

If you’re weighing up a new television, and you don’t have bags of money to spend, you’re often left with a choice between two different high definition formats: 720p and 1080i.

1080i offers the benefits of more pixels (the screens are 1080 pixels tall), but the tradeoff is that the pixels are displayed ‘interlaced’: only 50% of the screen is refreshed per cycle, in alternating lines of pixels.

720p refreshes all the pixels at the same time, giving a higher quality image, but with only 720 pixels, so detail is lower. (The ‘p’ stands for progressive.)

To make life easier, industry body Digital Television Group (DTG) have decided to resolve the issue, saying that 720p is "better than 1080i".

Interlaced pictures lose out most to progressive pictures when compression is used, common in television broadcasts. Additionally, on many average sized (32") televisions, the difference in detail the higher resolution 1080i provides is not really noticeable from across a living room.

Of course, if you can afford it the best picture quality ought to come from Full HD or 1080p sets, but if you read the reviews on our televisions section on Reevoo, you’ll know that isn’t always the case!

With over 25,000 products on Reevoo, we do uncover some weird and wonderful things from time to time. So it is with great pleasure that I can share with you the Borat Mankini Swimsuit that has been reviewed by no fewer than 52 shoppers.

An astounding 97% of reviewers would recommend the Mankini to a friend. Comments centre around how much fun the product has generated, with it being given variously as a secret santa, wind-up gift and something to take on holiday to scare the kids with. My favourite review was from Richard in Scotland who got right into the Borat moment with the comment “Niiice, very niiice”

If like me (and most of the Reevoo office) you were not designed for mornings, this gadget could well be life-changing. The Flying Alarm Clock is almost certainly a revolution in bedroom wake-up calls - and reviewers seem to like it too.

At the prescribed hour, the top of the alarm clock takes off into the air, and you have a limited time to return it to the clock’s base - before it emits an almighty submarine-worthy wake up call!

The alarm clock has been variously described in genuine customer reviews as “Louder than loud”, “Really good at waking me UP” and the sounds it emits as “wooo wooo wooo wooo” (thanks to Barbara from Bromley for that one).

A couple of reviewers commented that it isn’t entirely the most practical alarm clock in the world. But then surely that’s not really the point!

If you think this gadget might be a bit more trouble than it’s worth then there’s plenty more fun gadgets to see on Reevoo’s website.

This week seems to have flown by, here are some reviews that have  brightened it up for us:

"It’s internal clock is about as accurate as an elephant playing darts" Packard Bell MZ36 T015

"I’ve had it for five months and still can’t suss the timer…the instructions are aimed at nuclear physicists" Toshiba RDXV47

"you need to measure pizza before buying one" Samsung RSH1DBMH

"it looks a bit like a handbag…… but who cares"  Harman Kardon HKGO Play

"It does it’s wirey business very efficiently" Logik HDWTH FR EADAP

To make up for the fact that we’ve been a bit overly ‘techy’ the past couple of weeks, I’ve decided to take a look at the top five food processors out there for all you foodies. I’ve looked at mixers with over ten reviews on Reevoo.

Coming out on top is the Magimix 16457 with  9/10 from 12 impartial reviews. It scored very highly for performance and design. Sue from Hebden Bridge says "Quiet powerful motor,quick effecient performance.  Excellent grating, mixing capability.  Makes pastry in a flash".

Just pushed into second place is the Kenwood FP920 with 8.9/10 from 29 impartial reviews. Again, another high scorer on performance and also scores well in the features category. Denise from Kent loves the product "It has so many gadgets I haven’t had a chance to use them all yet. It
is easy to use. Easy to clean. Does an excellent job. Very pleased". Some people did have a few issues putting the parts together and storing all of the gadgets that come with the mixer.

In third place is the Kenwood FP487. This machine scored 8.5/10 from 23 impartial reviews with a high score in the value for money category. People really like the fact that it’s easy to use and clean although, like the Kenwood in second place, a couple of people did have problems with storage.

In at four is the last Kenwood of the bunch, the Kenwood FP580 with a score of 8.2/10 from 16 impartial reviews. Unlike its brothers and sisters, this Kenwood lost marks in the build quality and features categories although a couple of people did praise its safety features.

In fifth place is the Magimix 3100/12326. It scored 8.3/10 from 22 impartial reviews, scoring highly for deign and performance but it loses marks on features. Quite a few people agreed with Rachel from Loughborough who said that "It’s extremely heavy".

If you can’t see the mixer you’ve been eyeing up for a while or if none of these take your fancy, have a gander at all the other food processor reviews. Mmmm, thank goodness it’s nearly lunch time…

You’ve probably all seen the Tefal ad with the super kettle that produces hot water in 3 seconds? Always on the look-out for useful, greener products, this week’s Green Piece takes a look at the mixed reviews the Tefal Quick Cup has got from purchasers on Reevoo.

According to the spec, this mean machine can heat water up to 90 degrees in three seconds and only use one third of the amount of energy of a standard kettle - that’s a 65% saving that will equate to about £30 a year. Not bad. So what do people who have bought it think?

The Tefal Quick Cup scores 7.1/10 from 204 reviews. Let’s see how that breaks down:

Not too great on design and performance, two key areas you’d want to have top marks in a kettle but good marks for ease of use.

Comments vary. Lots of people are very happy with the product. One reviewer says "Very convenient first thing in the morning for that quick cuppa after
you woke up late for work again!…would definatly recommend this to anyone who has a ‘faulty’
alarm clock!". People were also impressed by it’s energy-saving qualities.

However, a few people mention that the water doesn’t get hot enough and that it doesn’t stay hot very long. The noise it makes also seems to be an issue and a lot of people agree with Sharon from the West Midlands, who says "the filters have to be ordered and are more expensive then other filters".

So if you can down a brew, want to save the planet and you live in a soft water area, go check out the Tefal Quick Cup reviews for yourselves.

Travel writers making up stories and writing reviews about where they haven’t been?? Whatever next? Former Lonely Planet writer Thomas Kohnstamm confessed to writing about Columbia without ever traveling there in his book, Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? After complaining that Lonely Planet "didn’t pay me enough to go to Colombia," he then went on to admit "I wrote the book in San Francisco. I got the information from a chick I was dating who was an intern in the Colombian consulate" A publicity stunt? Maybe – he is launching his new book after all.

Thomas certainly isn’t the first person to get caught out writing reviews that aren’t entirely genuine. Last year The Times named and shamed fake reviewers who wrote on websites such as Amazon and TripAdvisor to promote their own businesses. This has become an increasingly popular way to cut corners and bring in business with a number of agencies set up to pose as thousands of customers and spam forums on behalf of companies. It’s becoming more and more difficult to trust what you read online. What began as a way for the consumer to have a voice and give his or her own opinions and recommendations has become a minefield of deceptive posts, fraudulent claims and dishonest shenanigans.

There was much talk of the Government cracking down on this kind of behaviour, with their delightfully titled “Unfair Commercial Practices Directive”, which was laid before Parliament this February. The directive makes it unlawful to ‘pass off as a consumer’ but stopped short of specifically mentioning fake reviews (lucky old Mr Kohnstamm).

Websites that guarantee only genuine shoppers have written the reviews are few and far between. Thankfully, all reviews on www.reevoo.com are from people who have bought the products online, through one of our 50-plus retail partners and been asked to complete a review for us. No fraudsters in this camp! Let’s hope that the new regulations are enough to put a stop to all this nonsense and restore faith in the consumer voice once more.