December review round-up

Hello all,

I wanted to share with you about a few of the products I have been using recently to review.

Duracell Ultra Power batteries - In my opinion nothing has ever taken over from Duracell as being the best batteries on the market but Duracell do not seem content to rest of their laurels and they keep coming out with longer and longer lasting batteries - brilliant. A couple of months back I was sent some AA Duracell Ultra Power batteries and we put them in one of our torches. As we now live in the middle of nowhere and street lights are a thing of the past our torch is getting used an awful lot and I'm glad to say our batteries are still going strong. I had real peace of mind when we were preparing for the bad storm last month to know my torches would work if we needed them in a power cut. It is also great that you get the Powercheck on the pack and you can easily see ow much life your battery still has left in it. These AA batteries cost about £4.80 per pack of 4 in all the major supermarkets but most of them seem to be doing a 2 for 1 offer at the moment, making them a great price. Nothing worse than being without batteries on Christmas morning so do remember to stock up for those kids toys and gadgets.

Andrex classic white toilet roll - When Andrex sent me an email to ask me if I would like to make my bathroom festive for our seasonal guests I did wonder what they were on about but as a satisfied Andrex customer of many years I thought I'd give it a go and I'm pleased I did. Look how nice my downstairs loo looks now it is ready for the season!

I'm happy to endorse Andrex products as growing up it was the only toilet roll my Dad would buy as he likes a quality roll. My personal favourite is the Aloe Vera but I tend to only get that when it is on special and it is the classic white that adorns my bathroom - the perfect balance of softness, strength and length.

Disclosure: these products were sent to me free of charge to review, I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Anyone For An iPhone? Duracell Toy Report 2010

Following on from my last post when I confirmed what you all knew already:  that I am a miserable cow and that I deprive my children of the latest 'must have' toys I was really interested to receive the 2010 toy report from Duracell (1000 kids and parents were polled in September 2010 for the survey).

Any idea what the top 5 must have toys were for Christmas 2010?  Let me enlighten you -

1. iPhone 4
2. iPod Touch
3. iPad  (can you see an emerging theme here?)
4. Kinect for Xbox
5. Zhu Zhu Pet Hamsters

Hooray for number 5.  A completely naff toy in my opinion but a toy, a real toy.  One that a kid can use their imagination with and make up a game rather than just sitting and interacting with technology.  Also, hooray for something that just costs a tenner rather than serious amounts of money.

I was completely shocked to read that traditional toys take just 3 spaces in the top 10 must have toys for this Xmas. It confirmed what I already knew, that many parents are suffering anxieties about how to pay for these high priced items and that about 70% of children find out about these must-haves from TV advertising.  of course part of the report focused on batteries, it was commissioned by Duracell after all and would you believe that the average household buys 15 batteries over the Christmas period?  I thought that was quite interesting, but then I might just be harbouring a geeky side! lol

There was a short survey where children had been asked about their favourite part of Christmas Day and the majority of children (67%) said opening presents was the best part.  This saddened me a little as it stunk of short-lived thrills and no substance. I asked JJ the questions and I was more pleased to hear his best part of the day is actually playing with the toys, this felt a bit better to me.

You may be wondering why I got sent this report? Well, I was asked to review some Duracell batteries and lets be honest, it is Christmas and they are always needed, so I said yes.  Also I like the PR lady who is working the account, you know there are just some people you get a good vibe from?

So I got sent 8 Duracell Ultra batteries (the ones with the cool little power checker on each battery) and I sort of wondered how you review batteries as you hope they will last a little longer than the week or so you normally test things for.  Luckily for me my alarm clock needed its batteries changing a few days ago and I realised that I had been road testing these Duracell Ultra batteries for a good couple of years as they were in my clock.  I can not even remember the last time I had to replace them, so there is my testimony that they last an age!  I think we all know really that Duracell are the best anyway and if you can get them for 'buy 1 get 1 free' in the supermarkets (which I always seem able to do) then they do not cost anymore than own brand batteries.

I think I got sold on the Duracell batteries years ago when I was a kid and all those pink bunnies used to play their drum for ages - what was it I was saying about TV adverts again?  I am living proof that they scarily do work.

You may have guessed!  This is a review post.  I received 8 free batteries from Duracell and also a boom box speaker which I could have used the batteries in.  We decided it was not for our family and it has made it's way to a local charity shop. I was not told what to write for this review and the opinions expressed are my honest own.