Embrace a brave new world of high-tech but highly useful household appliances
Here’s just one gleaming handful of innovative, new household helpers to consider for 2015.
Launched 10 years after Dyson scrapped plans for a clunky DC06 robot, Sir James has unveiled another wonder of domestic engineering, the Dyson 360 Eye robot vacuum.
Cake tin-meets-R2D2 — the 360 Eye does not rely on wander-and-bump infra-red sensors, but features an ‘observing and interpreting’ eye which assimilates a highly accurate plan of the room.
The Vision System takes a series of photographs from a 45-degree angle, fixing three ‘landmarks’ and triangulating the best route.
Crucially, the cleaner has the electronic smarts to know where it has already been. Developed in partnership with the Imperial College London, some of the air has been taken out of this highly anticipated little sucker by its lack of battery life — a wispy 20 minutes before the Eye blinks for help and hurtles back to its docking station for an hour and half hit.
This contrasts with the less powerful but determined wide-awake hours of service from something like the iRobot Roomba (from €480) or the Miele Scout (€599).
Dyson argues that the power of the digital V2 engine, plus its ability to systematically map the room and even improve on its last outing, will ensure those minutes are well spent.
The Eye is a tough wee fellow with tank style tracks that can rumble from hard to soft flooring and its full length carbon-fibre brushes is said to offer real edge-edge cleaning.
It has virtually no controls, relying instead on an IOS or android App. If you’re out and suddenly find the cranky mother-in-law hot footing over for a spot check, you can run the Eye 360 remotely out for a clean-up from your phone.
Not even allowing for any curious massage upward when it fords the beaches of Ireland, expect to pay in the area of €1,000-€1,200 for this new piece of kit.
* Register for an alert of the Dyson Eye’s arrival in Ireland at https://www.dyson360eye.com/
Sealed up over the winter, we’re often choking to open a window but loathe sacrificing the heat. Freshening the air in the kitchen or family room previously meant one thing- a ducted cooker hood or ducted mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) system that removed stale air and toxins as well as handling the heavy humidity burden.
If it’s air quality more than ventilation that’s at issue, (bacteria, viruses, dust mites, pollen, spores, odours, cigarette smoke), there is another way.
Falmec have combined a charcoal and zeolite microcrystal filter in their E-ion extractors, which can passively exchange the air in the room as many as 25 times a day — no duct needed.
Volatile organic compounds are seamlessly transformed into CO2 and water, bacteria are punctured and allergens neutralised in perfect silence and all with no running costs.
This is a considerable capital investment (around €1,800 for our illustrated Twister model) but with no maintenance and three years per filter change, well worth considering to improve that indoor environment, saturating it with uplifting negative ions.
* Falmec.com represented in Ireland by Showtime Essential Kitchen Products. Sho.ie.
Washing machines are becoming so obliging you really might expect them to clump upstairs and actually collect the clothes. The latest fuzzy-logic tweak comes from Siemens IQ i-Sensoric models which throw in another talent to their network of sensor controlled technology with what is termed iDos.
Just imagine — every month you simply feed the large detergent and softener drawer and the machine takes down what it needs for the next four weeks (or 20 washes). No more fidgeting around with plastic measures or heaving the powder box off the shelves.
Liquid detergent causes less caustic ‘pitting’ on fabric, dissolving completely where powder can leave a residue. More to the point, sensor intelligence, which can include weighing the load, detecting the level of filth, and shortening or lengthening the cycle by fabric type, treats every load individually, potentially saving power and water.
Whatever brand you choose take the help where it’s offered. iSensoric and iDos is standard for 2015 in all IQ700 series Siemens machines.
From around €1,200. Miele’s new closely-worded TwinDos feature, is quite different and offers dedicated detergent inserts for specific fabrics such as silk, probably appealing to the pod coffee brigade but I personally find it all a bit baffling and unnecessary.
We really love when manufacturers respond to real life pressures rather than simply styling their way to something new. Bauknecht’s induction hobs have a slider to vary the power to individual areas of the stove, termed Flexicook, and have tailored their behaviour even further with a truly useful Pause button that brings the whole stove top down to a warm safe level if you have to answer the phone, save the baby, or harangue the teenager. Each zone on the hob has an individual timer too, great forgcoming home to a cooked meal with various inclusions. Thank you Germany.
* POA from Kitchen Accessories Ltd. www.KAL.ie
Sharp, the first to bring us turntable microwaves, have their finger on our living, breathing pulses too — and focus on health with their Steamwave AX1110SLM real steam oven.
A 900W multi-purpose oven, it performs the role of an 1100W grill, a standard microwave and above all a steamer which preserves nutrients and flavour for low fat dishes.
There’s 18 pre-programmed menus if you haven’t got a clue to bring, say, chicken with wedges and mixed vegetables to perfection using pumped steam, first and every time.A great space saver, stand alone (chuck it in the car for the holiday home) and well priced at €449 from Sharp stockists.
* On sale through Amazon at the moment at £145 — around €190. www.amazon.co.uk
The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada is a global trade event for all things weird, wonderful and very likely in the last stages of development before hitting the high street in the coming year. Here are my picks of the domestic line-up:
* LG has uncloaked the Styler Clothes Care System, a rather Space 1999 concept wardrobe which refreshes your clothes of dirt, wrinkles and bacteria using hot steam spray.
Racing through an old fashioned wash and spin? The Korean company has also developing a Twin Wash machine with a large drum and separate wash drawer inside the pedestal for smaller more delicate loads that run simultaneously. Lg.com
* Televisions took a curve in the last couple of years and sets are now being offered (at an eye watering price), to bend as far from flat to concave as required.
The American CES show featured a Samsung 267cm/105” bendable at a lively $120,000 (more than €101,000), and without doubt some wealthy surviving Celt cat is bound to want a monstrous television that warps on command. Samsung.com
* Can’t be at home to congratulate your dog for devouring the sofa? The Pet Cube is a baby monitor for household pets.
Now they can hear your soothing tones day long and chase a laser light moved by you on your mobile phone or other portable device. You can take pictures of the lonely pals and share them on your favourite social network. €194 including shipping. Petcube.com.
* Expect to see all your Wi-Fi devices merge in the next five years giving you mastery of a whole house cordless network controlled from your home or car. Stalking, protecting? You decide.
The Netatmo Welcome is a security camera with facial recognition that informs you when a robber, family members or tenants are home, sending streaming video to your iOS or Android. Enabled with ‘tags’ it can even tell you when drawers or doors have been opened.
With 130° field of view and night vision, you won’t escape Mammy’s wrath at 2am. Netatmo.com
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