OPINION: Welcome to yet another edition of Trusted Recommends, where we go through all the top-scoring products we’ve reviewed over the past fortnight.
Despite the interruption of CES at the start of the year, there have been plenty of products that have made their way through our test rooms, and the following represent the products we’ve thought are good enough to be awarded recommended badges.
Without further ado, here are the best products we’ve reviewed in recent weeks.
Denon DHT-S517
This affordable Atmos soundbar from Denon has plenty to recommend with its understated but fashionable looks and very good sound, though the competition around this price point is tough and the integration of the subwoofer within the frequency range could be smoother.
Score: 4/5
Aeno Premium Eco Smart Heater
The Aeno Premium Eco Smart Heater is an infrared panel heater that efficiently produces warmth with no smell and without drying out the air. Able to be positioned horizontally, vertically via a wall mount or standing on the floor, it’s a very flexible panel heater, with the only major drawback that it doesn’t have physical controls except for an on/off switch.
Score: 4.5/5
Fire Emblem Engage
A game that feels like a love letter to loyal fans of the series, Fire Emblem Engage offers a deeper combat system that builds upon the franchise’s already solid foundations. However, for those looking to get into the series, this doesn’t serve as the best entry point.
Score: 4/5
Lenovo Legion Slim 7 (2022)
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 offers more than enough power to play modern games, and while it’s not the most powerful gaming laptop on the market, it more than makes up for that with its slim design and high-resolution display.
Score: 4/5
Samsung HW-S800B
Samsung’s slim-profile soundbar offers plenty of sonic fireworks, especially with Dolby Atmos soundtracks, but it annoyingly doesn’t come with a mini-HDMI cable which it needs to be connected to a TV, and the LED indicators on its fascia are awkwardly implemented.
Score: 4/5
Fujifilm X-H2S
The Fujifilm X-H2S is a versatile camera with a speedy burst mode, updated subject detection algorithm and support for 6K video. However, it’s not as high-resolution as the X-H2 nor as visually appealing as the X-T5, both of which can be found for less money.
Score: 4.5/5
Audiovector QR-1
This is a fine stereo standmount speaker from Audiovector that’s compact in size, well-made, relaxed about where it’s positioned within a room and delivers a confident, articulate performance. A little more assertiveness with its bass levels would make the product even better.
Score: 4.5/5
Amazon Fire TV Cube (2022)
The 3rd gen Amazon Fire TV Cube improves on its predecessor in a number of ways, offering fast performance, a HDMI input and excellent Alexa integration, but its interface is too busy and could use a rethink to make it more accessible for users.
Score: 4.5/5
Fujifilm X-H2
Our one five-star review for this week goes to Fujifilm for its ground-breaking APC-S camera. It’s well-constructed, weatherproof and lightweight, with a fantastic articulated screen, and a large and bright OLED viewfinder plus a control layout that few will have problems getting to grips with. This is one of the best cameras around.
Score: 5/5
LG TrueSteam QuadWash DF455HMS Freestanding Dishwasher
This dishwasher from LG can handle the toughest stains without the need to rinse thanks to its powerful jets and steam, making it a hassle-free dishwasher to operate. It can be expensive to run at its maximum setting but if you want a dishwasher with the best cleaning power, this is it.
Score: 4.5/5
Bose Smart Soundbar 600
Bose’s challenger to Sonos comes in the Smart Soundbar 600, which emits a big Dolby Atmos sound from its compact dimensions. It lacks a little conviction with non-Atmos content however, and the market at this price is very tough in terms of the competition.
Score: 4.5/5
Sky Stream
Sky Stream is the British broadcaster’s entry-point into its streaming offering, and it offers a slick, accessible interface with a library of content that’s both huge and broad. It is a premium streamer though, and quite expensive when add-on bundles are taken into account.
Score: 4.5/5
The Sky Stream is now available from £24 per month at Sky
Huawei Watch D
While the Watch D from Huawei doesn’t have the sleekest design, and the Harmony OS interface isn’t as fast as some rivals, it offers a convenient way of tracking blood pressure. If you’re hoping it will offer the features and smarts of Huawei’s other smartwatches, that’s sadly not the case.
Score: 4/5
Hotpoint ActiveCare NDD8636DAUK
With its A-rated wash cycle, the Hotpoint ActiveCare NDD8636DAUK is one of the cheapest washer-dryers to run for washing. While its tumble drying skills aren’t quite as efficient, it’s still good as far as all-in-one machines go, and as a washing machine this puts in an excellent performance.
Score: 4.5/5
Hisense 65A9HTUK
The A9H is Hisense’s flagship OLED TV and it delivers a vibrant picture quality and excellent sound for a flatscreen TV. Though its picture processing can be a tad heavy handed, especially in its Dolby Vision IQ mode, it’s a consistently bright performer with HDR content, and it boasts good gaming skills too.
Score: 4/5
Samsung QE55S95B
This is the 55-inch version of Samsung’s QD-OLED TV and it delivers rich colours and fabulous levels of brightness for HDR content that make it a good choice for bright room viewing, though we did find the S95B’s performance with games a little too unsubtle with regards to its picture quality.
Score: 4.5/5
ShiftCam SnapGrip
Even though it’s definitely overpriced and could do with a few more features to justify said expense, the ShiftCam SnapGrip makes smartphone photography fun and engaging. The fact that it doubles as a stand and a MagSafe charger when needed adds to the SnapGrip’s charm.
Score: 4/5
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
