CAM3 - Test 4 - Part 2 (Listen and Read)

Good evening.

Tonight's show comes to you from the Good Home Exhibition in Duke's Court,

where we've been trying out some of the latest gadgets on show here

and getting our resident expert - Liz Shearer -

to tell us which ones are worth buying and which will die a death.

Well, hello.

Yes, John, I've been investigating four new household gadgets

and sorting out the advantages and disadvantages

and then really deciding what are 'Must buys',

what are 'Maybe buys' and what are 'Never buys'.

Let's start with this vacuum flask for keeping drinks hot.

I felt this had quite a lot going for it,

most of all is the fact that it contains no glass

and is therefore unbreakable to all intents and purposes.

It's made of stainless steel which is guaranteed for 20 years...

hope that's long enough...

and it's true what the manufacturer claims

that it does maintain heat for 18 hours.

So that's pretty good.

On the down side, it really works out to be quite expensive

and, much more surprisingly,

it unfortunately leaves a strange taste...

you know, when you've drunk from it...

so all in all, my recommendation would be it's got plenty of advantages,

but it is rather expensive so I'd say you should maybe buy it.

Moving on to a natty little device...

the Whistle Key Holder.

Basically this is where you whistle

and the key holder gives off a high pitched noise and flashes light

so you can find it.

One advantage of this model is that it also has a small light.

You press the button and this means you can find keyholes easily.

I also felt the small size was a real advantage.

On the weaker side, I did find the noise unpleasant.

Which I'm sure the designers could have done something about.

And I found that it didn't work through metal, so...

it's mainly used for finding in coat pockets, cushions, etc.

But taken as a whole I thought it was a masterpiece of design

and would highly recommend it.

The third gizmo is called the Army Flashlight

because it was developed initially for military use.

It works by squeezing the handle to generate the power.

Its advantages are that it can be used for outside activities,

and also... and, this is one of the surprising features...

it does work underwater.

My main objection to it though was, although it did work in these conditions,

this model gave off a weak light.

So my recommendation I'm afraid would have to be to avoid this one.

The decoy camera was last on my list.

This is a fake video camera which you fix to your wall to scare off burglars.

The advantage of this model is something which makes it look very realistic...

its flashing light.

On the down side, it was quite difficult to fix to the wall.

However, burglary is such a major problem these days that it is worth the effort, so...

this gets my strong recommendation.

Okay. Thanks for that, Liz.