New Technology Reviews!.: Vogels

Vogel's RingO iPad mounting system: The versatile iPad 2 mount (Updated)

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Netherlands-based audio/video mount manufacturer Vogel's first introduced their iPad mounting solution in October of 2010. Now the company has brought its universal mounting system for the iPad 2 -- named RingO -- to American soil for the first time. I recently had an opportunity to try out the complete system, which consists of an iPad 2 holder, a wall mount, a car mount, and a table stand. How did RingO work as an all-around mount?</div>
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Design</h3>
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I tested the RingO All-In-One Pack for iPad 2 (US$119.99), consisting of the four parts mentioned above. The company sells RingO through Amazon.com in the U.S., and the street price is correspondingly lower -- about $82. The individual components are also available separately, with the iPad 2 holder and wall mount going for $59.99, a separate wall mount for $29.99, the car mount for $59.99, and a table stand or flip stand for $19.99 each. Vogel's is also set to release a Flex Mount ($59.99, on an extendable arm) and an adhesive-backed wall mount ($29.99) in September of 2011.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Update:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>According to a spokesperson for Vogel's, the only products currently available in the U.S. are the Starter Pack (wall mount and holder at $69.99) and the Car Pack ($99.99). The product is available in the physical and online Apple Stores today.</span></div>
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The most important part of this system is the iPad 2 holder, so I'll look at it in detail first. As befitting a European design firm, Vogel's provides a very IKEA-like set of diagrammatic instructions showing how to install and remove the holder. Unlike the HandStand case, which I needed to force onto my iPad 2 with a spudger and muscle, the Vogel's case snapped right on. It's also open on the left side of the iPad 2, so the Apple Smart Cover still works.</div>
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The holder is basically a hard plastic shell with cutouts for the various iPad controls and a circular cutout on the back where the various mounts click in. Let's talk about the functionality of those mounts.</div>
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<img alt="" mce_src="http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/9165/ringotuaw1thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/9165/ringotuaw1thumbnail.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /><a href="http://www.tuaw.com/photos/vogels-ringo-ipad-2-mounting-system/#4328909" mce_href="http://www.tuaw.com/photos/vogels-ringo-ipad-2-mounting-system/#4328909" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" mce_src="http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/6301/ringotuaw2thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/6301/ringotuaw2thumbnail.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a><img alt="" height="75" mce_src="http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9721/ringotuaw3thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9721/ringotuaw3thumbnail.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="75" /><img alt="" height="75" mce_src="http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/3950/ringotuaw4thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/3950/ringotuaw4thumbnail.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="75" /><img alt="" mce_src="http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5378/ringotuaw5thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5378/ringotuaw5thumbnail.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></div>
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Functionality</h3>
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The wall mount can be mounted anywhere that you can safely attach it to a surface with an included wood screw. It's a small aluminum and plastic cylinder -- pulling off the top of the cylinder reveals the hole for the screw. Once it's mounted on the wall, you put the top back on and there's just an unobtrusive aluminum fixture on the wall.</div>
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The car mount is incredibly useful and absolutely the best (and safest) iPad car mount I've seen so far. It consists of a two-part tough plastic molding that locks to the headrest uprights in a car. One part has a RingO mount on a combination swivel and pivot, while the other can be released with the push of a large button to install or remove the mount from the seat. When the RingO car mount is installed, the iPad is held very steady and there's no concern about it flopping about in case of sudden car movements.</div>
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Even if you're just in the market for a car mount, it would be worth it to buy the RingO Car Pack (about $70 on Amazon). The pack consists of a holder, the car mount, and the table stand. Seriously, this is an excellent car mount for iPad 2.</div>
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The final piece is the Table Stand, which is the most overpriced piece of the product line. It's basically a $20 piece of plastic that snaps into the RingO holder. The Table Stand is well-designed, working in either landscape or portrait orientation, but $20? C'mon, Vogel's.</div>
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Conclusion</h3>
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The Vogel's RingO mount system is incredibly well designed and manufactured. However, I have to wonder if the high price tag on the system compared to other stands and mounts might dampen the enthusiasm of some potential buyers.</div>
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I like the fact that the Vogel's RingO mount is a system that makes it easy to go from room to table to car without having to remove the iPad 2 holder. The system will grow in September with the addition of the Flex Mount and the adhesive-backed wall mount -- the latter will be great for those who live in leased space where putting screw holes into walls might be frowned upon.</div>
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As I noted before, the RingO Car Pack on its own would make an excellent solution for anyone who wants an easy-to-install and durable iPad car mount. Being able to install the mount securely in seconds is worth the cost.</div>
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Vogel's RingO iPad mounting system: The versatile iPad 2 mount (Updated)

Netherlands-based audio/video mount manufacturer Vogel's first introduced their iPad mounting solution in October of 2010. Now the ...

Review: Vogel's TwistDock

<P align=center><img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/TechRadar/Gadgets/twistdock%20pr-200-200.jpg"></P> <br /><P>The TwistDock is, put simply, a stand and controller charging port for your PlayStation 3. It's circular and twists around so you can reach the controllers, which sit hidden behind your PS3. It's designed to look good, feel premium, and keep things tidy.</P><br /><P>However, you'll definitely pay for that high-end feeling. The dock itself will cost around £80, with the USB Hub and Cable Set add-on packs both coming in at around £30. We had the full set to play with, so let's see if it's really worth £140.</P><br /><P>The basic TwistDock is a round stand with two controller holders in the back. To charge your controllers, you have to attach a little add-on to the top of them that slots into their USB port. This has some contacts on it that press against matching contacts on the TwistDock.</P><br /><P>We can guess why they didn't just put USB plugs on the TwistDock: because it's <EM>premium</EM>. But it would have been simpler. Two lights on the front of the dock tell you whether the controllers are charged (which is actually quite good).</P><br /><P>To charge your controllers. the TwistDock naturally needs some power. It comes with a European mains plug, which slots into a UK adaptor. The two really don't look like they've been designed to sit together. They're loose, wobbly and awkward, but didn't actually fall apart in our time using the dock, so escape total condemnation.</P><br /><P>There are two USB ports on the back of the TwistDock, so you could charge two more controllers or… um, your phone? These USB ports don't do anything other than power, so they're no good for PS3 accessories that send information to the console.</P><br /><P>The USB Hub pack, which adds data functionality (for more money!), actually comes with a new mains adaptor with more power than the TwistDock's original to give the necessary juice to the extra ports. Why didn't they just make the original stronger?</P><br /><P>The hub was an absolute pain to get slotted into its hole properly, but we eventually got it in and working. The PS3 had no trouble spotting any peripherals we attached.</P><br /><P>Now, the TwistDock's cunning plan to keep your PS3 tidy is to run all cables under the console, through the centre of the dock, under it and out the back. However, to make this really work, you'll need the TwistDock Cable Set, which includes an HDMI cable and a PS3 power cable, both with plugs at right angles.</P><br /><P>Your PS3's normal plugs, being straight, will cause the cables to loop quite far out before they come back under the dock to be hidden. "Why, that's not tidy at all!" the TwistDock people probably said. "Let's provide alternative cables that don't loop out thanks to their right-angled connectors, and charge more for them."</P><br /><P>There are two problems here. The first is that you have to pay more. Again. </P><br /><P>The second is that the provided power cable is the two-pin figure-eight kind used by the PS3 Slim. The old-style PS3 uses the chunky three-pin kettle lead, making 50 per cent of the Cable Set totally useless to any original-style PS3 owners.</P><br /><P>On the plus side, the HDMI cable is really well built, and works just fine. On the down side, jamming the kettle-lead cable through the whole in the TwistDock clearly meant for a smaller plug is a damn pain. Especially since the HDMI cable is so thick and covered that it takes up half the space itself.</P><br /><P>Apart from this oversight, the TwistDock does work well for both flavours of Sony's machine. And, yeah, it looks good. It's a convenient way to hide your controllers and charge them at the same time.</P><br /><P>It's also pretty expensive to begin with, and then you need to add two accessory packs if you want USB data functionality or cables that don't stick out.</P><br /><P>The TwistDock is easy on the eye and nice to have around, but it only stays interested in you if you keep spending money on it. As far as we're concerned, it's just too fiddly and awkward to really be the premium product it wants to be and justify how expensive it is.</P>

Review: Vogel's TwistDock

The TwistDock is, put simply, a stand and controller charging port for your PlayStation 3. It's circular and twists around so you can r...

Review: Vogel's THIN345

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/Home%20Cinema%20Choice/HCC%20189/HCC189.half.vogel-200-200.jpg"><br /><P>There's little point in wall-mounting an ultra-thin flatscreen TV if the bracket is so bulky it makes the set stand out from the wall; hence the demand for thin and flat wallmounts. </P><br /><P>Netherlands-based company, Vogel's, is a big name in furniture and supports for all kinds of LCD and plasma TVs, projectors and AV equipment, so it's no surprise that the company has turned its engineering skills to this application. </P><br /><P>The THIN345 Articulating Wall Bracket ticks most of the boxes; it's suitable for a screen sized from 32-52ins, of up to 40mm thick and weighing up to 25kg. And the bracket itself is only 35mm deep, so once your TV is mounted you can hardly get your fingers between it and the wall. </P><br /><P>Plus, for ultimate convenience, the bracket is articulated, so you can swing the TV out from the wall up to 63cm, turn it to 90° left or right, and tilt it through +/-20°. </P><br /><P>If you have basic DIY skills, fixing is straightforward, and the mounting holes for attaching the TV are arranged in standard configurations from 100 x 100 to 600x400mm. The bracket is virtually invisible once fitted. </P><br /><P>The Cable Inlay System hides cables, and fits with Vogel's' extended cable cover system.</P><br /><P>Sturdily engineered, the mount means that positioning the TV becomes something you can do easily and with confidence. </P><br /><P>Other than a drilling template there are no tools provided, so you'll need a drill, screwdrivers, spirit level and confidence to get the job done. </P><br /><P>The instructions are very diagrammatic, so it might take a bit of head-scratching to work out what all the arrows and symbols mean. </P><br /><P>It's not cheap, although it does have a lifetime guarantee.</P>

Review: Vogel's THIN345

There's little point in wall-mounting an ultra-thin flatscreen TV if the bracket is so bulky it makes the set stand out from the wall; h...