Welcome to Epic Tech Under $100. First up, we’re taking a look at something to clean up your smartphone recordings. Meet Rode’s VideoMic Me. This little mic is perfect for creating content on-the-go and it’s all about capturing cleaner audio than your smartphone’s internal microphone. I mean what’s the point in shooting awesome 4K video when your audio sounds like poop…
The VideoMic Me is primarily designed for iOS devices and features a directional microphone that is meant to be focused on the subject and less of the noise surrounding you. Because it’s directional, it’s a much better alternative over the omni-directional mic found in your smartphone. It even includes a universal mounting system to keep it compatible with multiple iOS devices with front and rear camera support.
It also features an all-metal body, which has held up pretty nice for me and even a headphone jack for audio playthrough. And for those windy days, there’s even a pretty sweet furry windshield included as well to keep the noise to a minimum. If you want to find out more about Rode’s VideoMic Me, you can pick it up for $59.
Logitech
Next up, we’re taking a look at a couple of things for the living room. Logitech’s K830 keyboard is the perfect media center companion. This is one of the best living room keyboards you can get right now. It features bright backlit keys that ensure visibility in any situation, dedicated brightness control, and even has built-in power control so the keys will light up as soon as you start typing. Along with that, it features media controls, and offers 10 day battery life with a quick 3 hour charge.
The K830 also features a built-in trackpad for easy navigation on either a PC or a compatible smart TV. Along with that, it packs Bluetooth for connectivity or you can use the unifying receiver that will power the connection and allow you to connect up to 6 Logitech devices to it, so no more wasted USB ports. It’s compatible with Windows 7 through 10, Android Lollipop or later, Chrome OS, select smart TVs, like my LG TV with WebOS, and even OS X and if you want to pick one up for yourself, it’s available for $75 right now.
VIZIO Soundbar
While we’re on the topic of living room tech, if you’re looking for a bang-for-your-buck sound bar, there’s no better place to start than Vizio’s new 38-inch sound bar. This thing is straight up impressive for the price. It doesn’t come along with a subwoofer, but it plenty loud and clean for most any situation.
It features RCA, auxiliary, digital, optical, and USB inputs on the back as well as a sub output in case you’d like to expand your system at a later date. It also features built-in Bluetooth connectivity and can be used as a giant speaker if that’s what you’re looking for and there’s even a remote to control everything with. It delivers up to 100 decibels of crispy audio and I highly recommend this thing. For just $98, this is an absolute monster of a deal.
LG Soundbard
But if you want so upgrade to something a little bit better, you can opt for LG’s 300W 2.1 channel system, that includes a wireless subwoofer that definitely packs some bass. The look of LG’s sound bar is slightly better as well with an open speaker design, which I happen to prefer. It also features Bluetoot h connectivity, which is great, but actually has less inputs than the Vizio sound bar with only optical and 3.5mm auxiliary available, but there’s an included remote as well.
I’m a big fan of the design with this sound bar and having a wireless subwoofer is pretty great for putting some rumble behind your couch, but there are some sacrifices over the less expensive Vizio model. At the end of the day though, for just $40 more you can get a wireless sub here, a cleaner design, and ultimately better sound and sound distribution.
Hue Go
Next up, we’re looking at a way to spice up the living room mood. This is Hue Go from Philips. It’s a connected smartphone-controllable light that works with your existing Philips Hue system. If you have Philips Hue already, this is a great addition. Mainly because Hue Go, doesn’t need to be powered by an outlet. It’s actually rechargeable and can be moved to any location in your house to set the mood regardless of what room you’re in.
It features millions of colors and a 300 lumen output, up to 3 hours of battery life and some special effects built-in for any of you mood settings noobs out there. It’s pretty simple to control within the Hue app and if you have the newer Philips Hue Bridge with Homekit support, you can even control it with Siri. With Android and iOS compatibility Hue Go is pretty epic at $98, but like I said you’ll need the Hue Starter Kit to get up and running as well.
Corsair Scimitar RGB Gaming Mouse
Finally, we’re checking out Corsair’s Scimitar RGB gaming mouse. I recently picked this up for my ultimate PC build Black Ice and if you want to check out that video, you can find it here.
This mouse is one of my favorites right now, with 12 optimized mechanical buttons that live on a sliding panel so you can adjust it back and forth for maximum comfort. It features a 12,000 DPI optical sensor for ultra precision and even four independent multi-color RGB lighting zones for near unlimited combinations.
It’s super comfortable for use over long periods of time. There’s a nice long braided cable as well and at the end of the day, it’s a mouse, but it’s one of the best out there. It’s compatible with Windows 7, 8, and 10 and can be fully customized through Corsair’s software. For just $79, it’s a pretty good deal for what you’re getting here.
So that about wraps it up for Epic Tech Under $100. Links to everything are in the description, but let me know which is your favorite in the comments section below.
