By Jeffrey Mizrahi
Recently, Logitech held a fancy Holiday Preview event out in SoHo. Here are my thoughts on which Logitech products you should, and shouldn’t, pick up this summer — and beyond.
Wonderboom Portable Bluetooth Speaker
My favorite tech item of the bunch is the UE Wonderboom Portable Bluetooth Speaker. This waterproof, ball-shaped speaker rocks a 10-hour battery life making it perfect for the beach or shower. While the sound doesn’t get as loud as its taller brother, the UE Boom 2, I think the Wonderboom is still loud enough considering its size. You can also connect two Wonderboom’s together to deliver a truer surround sound experience. With two huge ‘plus’ and ‘minus’ volume buttons on its face, this speaker is extremely simple to use. At $100 it is a little pricey, but the speaker is super durable and will last you several summers of rough use.
Logitech G433 Gaming Headset
The Logitech G433 Gaming Headset is touted as a “7.1 Surround Gaming Headset”, but the 7.1 surround is only available through a PC. When plugged into your PS4, Xbox One, even your Mac, the only option is stereo. The sound quality is really great on PC. Icing on the cake is its comfort. Personally, I found that the included microfiber ear pads felt much better than the pads that came attached to the headset out of the box. While some headsets start to hurt my ears after long play sessions, the snug G433’s still felt great after several hours, never squeezing too hard on my head.
My main hangup with the headset comes with its barely passable detachable microphone. Testing it against my cheaper and older Plantronics Gamecom 780’s mic, recordings with the G433’s mic sounded muffled and hard to hear. While it may get the job done for casual team chat, I would not recommend using this mic even to the most amateur of streamers. Overall at $100, the Logitech G433 Gaming Headset offers very solid sound quality for PC an awesome fit. Just watch out for that subpar mic.
Jaybird X3 Wireless Sports Headphones
Next up is the Jaybird X3 wireless sports headphones. The X2’s were one of my favorite headphones ever, until I upgraded to the sleeker Jaybird Freedoms. So I was excited to check out the X3’s. Offering a smaller design than the X2’s, yet bigger than the Freedom’s, these in ear buds stick out your ears way less than the previous model did. So they allow you to comfortably wear helmets or even beanies over them. At 8 hours of battery life, I was able to go on several morning bikes rides without having to worry about charging. These babies are also sweat proof which makes them great for any type of workout you can think of, except maybe swimming. I asked a Logitech representative which has better sound quality, the X3’s or the Freedom’s, and I was surprised to hear that they actually have the same drivers in both headphones, which is comforting if you aren’t up to splurge the extra money for the smaller model. At $130, the Jaybird X3’s are competitively priced with similar offerings on the market — absolutely worth it.
Harmony Hub
While I have had this little black box controlling my living room’s entertainment setup for a while, it wasn’t until this event that I learned it also has Alexa integration. Having my audio mixer, PS4, cable box, Apple TV, and Google Chromecast all hooked up through the Harmony Hub truly makes my life easier. Not having to cycle between several different remotes to change inputs, control devices, and adjust volume is a genuine time saver. The Hub can be controlled through a smartphone app and has customizable commands such as “Turn on sports” that automatically switch the inputs to the cable box, and turn the channel to ESPN with a single press. The optional universal remote is very simple to use and feels great in your hand, but that’ll cost you an extra $50. If you have over three devices hooked up to your TV and hate having to look for several different remotes or controllers, the Harmony Hub is a perfect fit for your entertainment setup.
Summing Up The Logitech Event
There you have it, my impressions on what Logitech showed off at its recent Manhattan event. I highly recommend not sleeping on either the UE Wonderboom or the Jaybird X3’s, and giving a pass on the G433 headset, particularly if you need 7.1 surround sound on your consoles.
