This review is part of the 1 Pound Challenge – can you find a decent gadget in a pound shop?

There are a number of card readers on the market, but this one I particularly like. It’s only compatible with 4 card types but it’s the latter card that’s most interesting – MS, SD, Mini SD, Micro SD. Unlike other card readers which say they are Micro SD compatible, but they expect you to use a converter in the SD card slot, this has a slot for Micro SD cards.

The reader is really quite compact measuring just 7.5cm long, 2.5cm wide and 1.6cm deep. The top is see through plastic of different colours (mine is blue) and the rest of the device is sold white plastic. There is a long loop at one end, meaning that you can add this to a keyring if you wish. A 2cm captive USB cable tucks underneath.

Plug your memory card in and you’ll find the speeds are comparable with pretty much any other card reader (including those built into laptops).

Signalex has recently repackaged the product and it can be found on the Poundland website. It appears to be the same but they are promoting the fact that it is USB 2. I believe the current one is already USB 2 as the speeds it was reporting were higher than USB 1 would be able to produce.

Summary of Signalex Multislot USB Card Reader

Brilliant – compact, cheap and has it’s own very useful micro USB port. An essential for any PC user’s toolbag!

Reviewed by David Artiss on 3rd January 2012.

This review is part of the 1 Pound Challenge – can you find a decent gadget in a pound shop?

Yes, the keyboard is very mucky!

I’m not sure what to make of this one. It works well and seems excellent value, but I’m not sure what do use it for.

This is the Signalex USB LED light. It costs £1 from Poundland. It plugs into a USB port and has a flexible arm (and of good quality too), about 20cm long, on which is a cylindrical tube, just over 16cm long, containing 5 bright white LEDs. Plug it in and it lights up.

But light up what?

The cylinder appears to be stuffed with a curl of silver card so the LEDs bleed through to the back, meaning that if the lights are turned away from you, you can still see them. Besides, any laptop screen will reflect the light back. The arm isn’t long enough to have the lights reflecting down on the keyboard without it getting in the way of viewing the screen.

So what do you use it for?

I’ve found one use – my keyboard at work has a USB port in the back and plugged in there I can get it to illuminate my keyboard. However, light at work isn’t a problem so I’m unlikely to use it. But, I guess, it’s a start.

Summary of Signalex Ultra Bright USB 5 LED Light

It works. Very well. The lights are bright and the whole thing is of a reasonable quality – certainly worth £1. But what do you use it for? If you can think of something, then it’s worth the money.

Reviewed by David Artiss on 1st January 2012.

ReTrak, popular in the US, are now selling their range of products in the UK at retailers such as Dixons and Amazon.

You may have come across retractable cables before – often found on portable mice for laptops, they wind excess cable into real which is suspended half way along the cable length. What ReTrak have done is improved upon this, added other new technologies and then created a huge range of products. Basically, what you get are a range of electrical accessories that take up as little space as possible.

Their range includes computer, visual and audio cables along with power supplies, headphones, iPhone and eBook products, mice and even a retractable mouse mat with built-in USB hub!

I’ve now had the opportunity to review a number of ReTrak products and, I have to say, I’ve now find my personal favourite!

There are 2 variations of this product, with slightly different plug socket variations. Both, however, come with a retractable 1m cable with a male USB connector on one end and a micro USB connector on the other.  Alone this cable can be used for connecting various products to a computer’s USB port – many phones (inc. Blackberry, Android, etc.), MP3 players, cameras, Bluetooth headsets, the Amazon Kindle and even the Sony Ericsson LiveView. Use it to sync to or charge from the computer.

However, you also get a mains socket with a female USB connector. Plug the supplied USB cable into it and you now have a mains charger for the very same devices. It uses the same ThinPlug technology as their laptop chargers, which means that the earth pins folds down, leaving a flat plug – much more convenient for storage. An LED light lights up when the mains power is on – reminding you that power is in use even when you don’t have a USB socket connected to it. Power is 1000 mA, twice the power of many equivalent chargers, giving your device a quicker recharge time.

The two versions available are the UKM5GTHINW and the UKCHGWSCM5 – the former is a thinner, longer plug, which sticks out further from the socket. The latter sticks out less but is a lot rounder as a result.

Both  come with a 3 year warranty and will retail around the £19.99 mark.

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Summary of ReTrak Micro USB 3-in1 Wall Charge & Sync

Fast recharge, folds neatly up and a reasonable price too – this is a brilliant use of retractable cables and the ThinPlug technology. Well worth having.

Reviewed by David Artiss on 21st December 2011.