It’s inescapable, impossible to miss: Amazon’s massive annual Prime Day sale is on right now. To help you save even more money while shopping the many Prime Day deals, we have $1,000 worth of Amazon gift cards to give away!
But you need to be quick: this giveaway is only open until Friday, so you have time to use the gift card during the Prime Day sale.
Returning for another big site-wide sale, Amazon Prime Day is on now, 7-13 July. Access to all the incredible deals is included with a Prime membership, priced at $9.99 per month.
This year’s sale includes hundreds of dollars of savings across all kinds of tech. From discounted AirPods, affordable security cameras, and big price drops on home appliances, Amazon has a lot of top-notch deals to peruse.
With so many great deals, this sale is something you don’t want to miss.
How to win an Amazon gift card for Prime Day
Thanks to the folks at Amazon, GadgetGuy is giving away 10 Amazon gift cards each valued at $100, bringing the total prize pool to $1,000. As if the big Prime Day savings weren’t enough, 10 lucky winners will be able to put $100 towards their next Amazon purchase. Note: this giveaway is open to Australian residents aged 18+.
For your chance to win one of these gift cards, read on for all the details.
Simply fill in the giveaway entry form below; the more entry methods you complete, the greater your chances of winning.
Remember, this giveaway ends very soon. Entries close on Friday, 10 July at 3:00 PM AEST, after which the winners will be sent their gift cards via email, ready to spend on the Prime Day sale.
Good luck to everyone who enters, and be sure to share the giveaway with any friends and family keen to make the most of their Amazon shopping.
Amazon’s first battery-powered doorbell to offer super-sharp 4K picture quality, the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) helps you keep a close eye on your doorstep.
Video doorbells have taken off in popularity over the last few years, with the likes of Google, Arlo, Eufy, Lorex, Tapo and Swann all chasing a slice of the action. There’s plenty of competition, yet Amazon-owned video doorbell pioneer Ring is still the heavyweight.
Ring’s video doorbell range is divided into slimline wired-only models that need to be connected to doorbell wiring with AC power, as well as more bulky models that offer a choice of running on AC power or a battery.
Battery video doorbells are easier to install, but the trade-off is that they need to be recharged every few months (although some now support solar panels).
The Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) further closes the gap with its wired brethren, the first to adopt the same slimline design and step up to 4K picture quality.
The faceplate pops off, so you can remove the battery and recharge it via USB-C (finally abandoning micro-USB). Australians have to settle for Deep Silver, while US customers can also choose from Polished Night Navy, Polished Mocha and Polished Sandstone. Amazon sells faceplates separately in Australia, but choose with care to ensure you don’t get one for the original Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (this Amazon link is correct).
The Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen)’s faceplate (left) is detachable so you can remove the battery (right) for charging. Image: Adam Turner.
It’s best to install the doorbell about 1.2 metres off the ground so you get a good view of people’s faces. Ring also includes a plastic wedge, in case you need to install the doorbell at an angle. This is useful if it’s in a corner or alcove and you want the camera looking to the side rather than straight ahead.
If you’re upgrading from a previous battery-powered model like the original Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro, you can’t do a straight swap onto your old wedge because the new doorbell is slightly thinner and taller. (Note: this model isn’t compatible with Ring’s old adhesive no-drill mount. There is a new no-drill mount for this doorbell; I’m waiting on more details from Amazon).
The new doorbell also relies on a different mounting system. No complaints here, as the old battery-model design relies on narrow and deep screw holes, making it very tricky to attach to your house.
Instead, you screw a simple bracket onto your house, with the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) clicking onto the bracket. If you need the camera at an angle, you screw the wedge to the wall and then screw on the bracket.
The Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) alongside the wedge and bracket. Image: Adam Turner.
This design makes it much easier to install the doorbell, and detach it when you want to get at the battery. Even so, there are traps for young players.
Pro tip one: don’t attempt to install the doorbell at night, so you’re not scrambling to find dropped screws in the dark.
Pro tip two: screw the wedge to the wall before you screw the bracket to the wedge. Otherwise, the bracket blocks you from screwing the bottom half of the wedge to the wall.
Pro tip three: triple-check that you’re attaching the bracket right-way-up to the wedge. Otherwise, the camera will end up tilted in the wrong direction.
The groove in the back of the doorbell clicks onto the notch on the top of the wall bracket. Image: Adam Turner.
If you’re not wiring the doorbell to an existing indoor chime, you’ll want to invest in Ring’s wireless indoor Chime or Chime Pro (you’ll get a discount if you buy it bundled with the doorbell). The Pro also extends your Wi-Fi signal to boost the network for all your Ring video doorbells and cameras.
Ring says the new 9400 mAh Li-ion battery supports faster charging but, if you don’t want to worry about charging the battery every few months, there’s a $79 solar charger and $89 solar panel. Based on Ring’s estimates, the panel needs three to four hours of direct sunlight each day to keep the doorbell running.
Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) specs & price
Dimensions
5.36 x 14.7 x 3.64cm with wall mount
Weight
320 g
Field of view
140° horizontal, 140° vertical
Video
Ring Retinal 4K (3,840 x 2,160-pixel) with 10x Digital Zoom
Night vision
Colour with Low-Light Sight
Audio
Two-way talk with Audio+
Motion detection
3D Motion Detection with Customisable Motion Zones
Wireless
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Dual-band 2.4 and 5 GHz
Battery
9400 mAh rechargeable Li-ion battery
AC Power
Standard doorbell system with 8-24 VAC, 40VA max, 50/60Hz doorbell transformer
Setting up the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) is very straightforward using Ring’s iOS or Android app. It’s a dual-band Wi-Fi device, connecting to 2.4 or 5 GHz networks, which makes life easier.
During setup, you can configure alerts, adjust motion detection sensitivity, create detection zones and set smart alerts for people, vehicles, packages and general motion. All of this reduces false alarms and conserves battery life.
I like to set Ring doorbells so that pressing the button sets off both the indoor chime and a smartphone alert, while motion detection only triggers a smartphone alert. That way, everyone in the house knows if someone rings the bell, plus I know if a courier has done a drop-and-run.
The faceplate-less Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) alongside the original Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro. Image: Adam Turner.
Like the original Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro, the 2nd Gen offers the benefit of 3D Motion Detection, underpinning the Bird’s Eye features previously limited to Ring’s wired cameras.
Bird’s Eye View provides a simulated top-down view of your front yard, overlaid on satellite imagery, so you can see how people are moving across your property. It also supports top-down Bird’s Eye Zones, limiting alerts to events that occur in a defined area.
Setting standard zones and Bird’s Eye Zones in the Ring app. Image: Adam Turner.
Bird’s Eye View is limited to a range of 9.5 metres, which is shorter than my driveway, so I initially disabled it. Instead, I relied on standard zones to draw the line at the end of the driveway. This way, I’m not disturbed by people walking down the street but catch them as soon as they come onto my property.
After some testing, I re-enabled Bird’s Eye View to try it out. This involves changing the settings in the Ring app, and even then the change wouldn’t take until I rebooted the camera. After this, it worked, although the 9.5 metre range means it takes longer to detect someone walking down my driveway.
Picture-in-Picture Bird’s Eye view revealing the path I took down the driveway, which doesn’t seem like useful information. Image: Adam Turner.
I still think Bird’s Eye view is a novelty, plus I don’t trust it. I found motion detection on the original Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro was never as reliable as its predecessors – occasionally failing to notice someone walking right past it. Bird’s Eye View was part of the problem; disabling it improved things, but the doorbell still had bad days.
For now, Bird’s Eye View can consider itself on probation and has performed well for a week. I updated my review of the original Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro several times to document its unreliability, and I’ll do the same here if I encounter similar problems with the Pro (2nd Gen).
When it comes to picture quality, the new Pro (2nd Gen) features decent 140-degree horizontal and vertical viewing angles to ensure it has a good view of your doorstep. It’s a slight reduction from the original Pro’s 150-degree angles, which means it can see slightly less to the sides and of the ground directly below the doorbell.
Looking at the comparison below, you can see the 4K doorbell on the left is much sharper, while the 1080p doorbell on the right has slightly wider viewing angles but also greater fisheye.
View from the 4K Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) (left) and 1080p original Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (right). Image: Adam Turner.
The doorbell also features improved two-way audio with echo reduction, so you can talk to your visitors via your smartphone or Alexa devices.
Of course, the Pro (2nd Gen)’s headline improvement is stepping up to 4K resolution so you get a much clearer view of what’s happening outside your front door and improved 10x zoom (I’m standing 6.5 metres from the doorbell in the shots below). Frustratingly, Australians still miss out on the facial recognition features available in the US, which would allow for smarter alerts. Amazon says “we don’t have any updates to share” when it comes to Australian availability.
Resolution and zoom capabilities on the 4K Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) (left) are a big improvement on the 1080p original Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (right). Image: Adam Turner.
One of Ring’s great features has always been the pre-roll. It shows several seconds leading up to an event, which can make the difference between seeing someone’s face or just catching the back of their shoulder as they pass by. Wired models support “Advanced Pre-Roll”, while battery models support “Standard Pre-Roll”, which is shorter and lower quality.
Ring has been very fickle when it comes to including Standard Pre-Roll on the last few battery models. It was included with the original Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro, but now it’s been removed with the Pro (2nd Gen). Ring claims it is to preserve battery life, but I’m not happy about it. The lack of pre-roll makes the doorbell less reliable, and I think users deserve the option to enable it with warnings that it will shorten the battery life (which is the way it treats some other advanced features).
To be fair, I think the Pro (2nd Gen) responds to events more quickly than its predecessor, so you’re less likely to miss important details, but removing pre-roll is still a major disappointment for no seemingly good reason.
Subscription
Like most smart home gear that uploads video to the cloud, you need a subscription to access many of the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen)’s advanced features.
A Ring Protect subscription includes smart alerts when the camera detects people, vehicles or parcels, along with features like video preview alerts and text descriptions. There’s also the option to let a doorbell press come through to your smartphone as a call – which I think is less practical than viewing the scene and then deciding if you need or want to speak to the person on the other end.
The doorbell comes with a 30-day free trial, after which it’s $4.95 p/m ($49.95 p/a) just to cover the doorbell with ‘Ring Solo’, or else $14.95 p/m ($149.95 p/a) to cover multiple Ring devices with ‘Ring Multi’.
Frustratingly, you’ll need to step up to the new $29.95 p/m ($299.95 p/a) for Ring Pro to take advantage of video descriptions, video search, single event alert (combining related events) and unusual event alert, the latter of which learns your habits and then only bothers you when it sees something out of the ordinary.
Be warned, the doorbell lacks onboard storage and doesn’t capture any recordings without a subscription, so there are no replays. At this point, it’s only really useful for receiving alerts and checking the door in real-time.
Also keep in mind that this is a very Amazon-centric device. It plays nicely with Echo speakers and screens, but doesn’t support Apple HomeKit or Google Assistant.
Quality
Put to the test, the 4K view from the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) is certainly much sharper than its predecessor, with the 10x digital zoom available during live view and when watching replays.
This makes it much easier to tell what’s happening in the distance, or to get a better view of important details like a person’s face or a car’s license plate. The improved picture quality also helps with night vision.
With Bird’s Eye view disabled, the doorbell didn’t fail to record events such as people, cars and other motion like animals. Enabling Bird’s Eye view didn’t see the camera’s reliability decrease, but I’ll report back if any of this changes over time.
Who is the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) for?
The Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen)’s step-up to 4K offers a big improvement in picture quality, although Bird’s Eye view still feels like a novelty. The slight drop from 150-degree to 140-degree viewing angles is disappointing, but not a deal-breaker. Losing pre-roll is more frustrating.
The doorbell is a great fit for Amazon-centric homes where it’s not practical to wire up a video doorbell. Even if you favour another smart home ecosystem, it’s still worth weighing up Ring’s doorbells against alternatives.
That said, the need for the even more expensive Ring Pro subscription to unlock all of the Pro (2nd Gen)’s features is a real slap in the face in these difficult economic times. Those extra features don’t seem worth the money, but you can always trial it for a month and decide for yourself.
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Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen)
With 4K picture quality but a slightly narrower field of view, the wired/wireless Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro (2nd Gen) lets you keep a close eye on your doorstep.
Features
9
Value for money
8
Performance
9
Ease of use
9
Design
9.5
Positives
4K resolution with 10x digital zoom
Wired or Wireless battery-powered connection
More elegant design
Improved mounting system
Tight Amazon ecosystem integration
Negatives
Expensive
Slight reduction in viewing angles
No pre-roll
Ring Pro subscription required to unlock all features
Doesn’t integrate with Apple HomeKit or Google Assistant
Samsung has locked in 22 July in July for its next Galaxy Unpacked event, where it will likely debut a new range of foldable devices.
Set to air at 11 PM AEST via Samsung’s online channels, the company’s event will include the “newest additions to the Galaxy portfolio”.
“Combining intelligent capabilities with innovative form factors, the next generation of Galaxy devices are set to deliver more personal and adaptive experiences and set a new standard for the AI era,” was the text accompanying Samsung’s newsroom post.
According to several industry reports, Samsung will still launch new conventional versions of its Galaxy Z Fold and Flip phones. Its redesigned foldable reportedly won’t replace any of the brand’s existing phones. Instead, it will be an alternative form factor for those who prefer a shorter phone.
Alongside the July 2026 Galaxy Unpacked announcement, a blog post attributed to Samsung CEO TM Roh detailed the company’s philosophy towards generative AI technology. Samsung has been one of the early adopters of AI, launching the Galaxy AI ecosystem alongside the Galaxy S24 phones in early 2024.
According to Roh, faster and more capable AI, including agentic AI that can take action on behalf of people, is only as good as the technology’s understanding of its users.
“The best intelligence in the world should reach people through their everyday devices,” Roh said. “But what makes it personal is understanding the user and keeping that understanding safe.”
Samsung’s CEO also hinted at integration being the determining factor of which company will come out on top of the AI stakes.
“The question that opens the next era is not who has the smartest AI, but who understands people best, and turns that understanding into experiences they can trust.”
The Telstra network has been down for much of Australia this morning, impacting consumers and businesses around the country. Although the network is slowly coming back online for some users, it has caused widespread disruption for a range of services, including public transport and payment infrastructure.
According to Telstra, as reported by The Guardian Australia, the outage began at roughly 4:30 AM, when the telco identified “a number of nodes” that were “not operating as expected”. Telstra hasn’t confirmed an exact cause yet, but claims that “just under 90 per cent of calls and data services at this point are now working correctly.”
There have been reports of the Telstra outage impacting regional train services across Victoria and New South Wales, in addition to EFTPOS terminals and some online payment systems.
Emergency services via triple zero remain operational, but some state services, including those in New South Wales and Western Australia, indicated that some Telstra users may have had issues connecting this morning.
At the time of the outage, a notice on Telstra’s website said that it’s “looking into an issue affecting some mobile calls and data connections”.
“If you’re having trouble connecting at first, try again as it may work on a retry.”
For those still impacted by the network outage, Telstra recommends using Wi-Fi where possible. There’s no precise timing on when the network will be fully restored, with Telstra CFO Michael Ackland explaining that it “will take time for [the network nodes] to reset across all the thousands of servers across the network.”
It’s a wet and windy winter school holidays this July, which makes going outside these school holidays pretty tricky. So, you’re going to need lots of ways to help your kids have a memorable school holiday without breaking the bank or braving the cold, cold sleet.
Here are some of my suggestions for tried-and-true toys, gadgets and other fun stuff to make sure everyone has a good time, for ages 2-12.
Screen-free tech
Tonies’ Bluey collaboration: from $35
Image: Tonies.
It’s no secret that, as a toddler mum, I love the Toniebox for the independence it allows my daughter. She can pick the music or story to soundtrack her imaginative play while I cook dinner, and there’s not a screen in sight.
Well, the inevitable Bluey collaboration has happened, and Bluey families are going to love it. There’s something for everyone with a Bluey Tonieplay Game – Bluey: Play All Day for the Toniebox 2, so kids can engage with the story and actively play with it, rather than just listen along, as well as a trio of Bluey Tonies with stories.
In addition to the Bluey Tonies, there’s also a range of accessories including the Bluey Listen and Go Bag, and a Bluey Toniebox 2 Sleeve.
VTech Kidi Guitar Superstar: $79.95
For kids who love the idea of playing guitar, but might be a bit too young to start understanding how to place their fingers on the strings, and what the different frets mean, this VTech Kidi Guitar is such a great place to start.
It’s a guide with strings to strum, and the tone is changed by pressing the buttons on the frets. Tuning happens by pressing a button to change the tone to higher or lower, and there are buttons to make it sound like an acoustic, clean electric, or distorted electric. There’s also a dial that makes it sound like a band, just like a guitar, play a game, or connect it to a Bluetooth device to jam along to your own music. The body is really durable, so you don’t have to worry like you might if you gave your real guitar to a little kid. It just seems like a really good stepping stone.
Image: VTech.
My only complaints are that I wish it didn’t light up and flash so much, and I hate that if the kid doesn’t touch anything for a little while, this voice comes from the guitar demanding that they press a button or try the whammy bar. It interrupts whatever thought the kid was having, or imaginative play they were engaging in, and demands their attention come back to engaging with the toy in the way the designers intended. I wish there was a way to turn that aspect off, because it would otherwise be perfect.
VTech Kidi Beats DJ Drum Set: $89
The joke is often that if you don’t like someone, give their kid a drum kit. However, as a drummer, I firmly say that if you love a kid who is interested in learning how music is made, and likes to tap out a beat, then give them a drum kit and start them on their musical journey. They might not end up in the rhythm section, but they’ll at least have more of an understanding of the foundation of music.
This VTech Kidi Beats DJ Drum Set isn’t quite shaped like a traditional drum kit, but it’s a good start to get the basics of a traditional electric drum kit. It’s got a variety of kit sounds in there, and there are backing tracks from different genres so kids can experiment. It also works on teaching kids letters, phonics and memory, and while I’m not sure how effective it is at those endeavours, I appreciate the attempt. If only it could help me teach a toddler how to do the various rudiments.
Again, like the guitar, I wish it wasn’t so insistent and would let kids play at their own pace.
VTech Karaoke Lights Mic: $49
For the kids who were born to sing and perform, but don’t want to have to do a lot of setup and pack down at gigs, there is this excellent karaoke mic. It’s got lights built in, so they can make their own light show.
You can connect it to a Bluetooth device to play music, and it has a setting to cut out the vocals from the backing track so the kid can take centre stage. If they’re feeling silly, then there are lots of voice distortion tools they can have fun with. They can even record snippets of their singing and play it back.
It’s the perfect gift for budding singers, and kids having their first sleepover.
Quality screen time entertainment and accessories
LeapFrog Magic Adventures Telescope: $179
Image: VTech.
This is the most gentle definition of screen time ever, to the point where I don’t even know if it counts as screen time (thanks, incredibly vague screen time regulations). But this is just such a great gift for kids who are interested in the universe. I am so impressed.
The LeapFrog Magic Adventures Telescope is a real telescope, with a 110x zoom, but instead of getting kids to put their eye directly to the telescope (which can be hard for younger kids to understand how to do), it has a digital screen so the whole family can see and engage with what’s going on.
If you see something in the sky and need an explainer from an expert, it has more than 100 built-in videos from NASA and the European Space Agency explaining the cosmos in an age-appropriate way, and with more detailed imagery than you can probably see natively on a cloudy night. It also means you have the option to navigate the Northern Hemisphere’s sky without having to jump on a plane.
Plus there are some built-in space-themed games, and in the box there are 20 cards with detailed pictures of space objects and facts about the universe.
LeapFrog Magic Adventure Globe: $139
For kids who want to explore a little closer to home, this LeapFrog Magic Adventures Globe is fantastic. It’s a nice, big 26cm globe that they can spin to see all the countries and oceans of Earth. But what makes it special is that it comes with a stylus and a 2.7-inch screen.
Kids can tap on any country and get a short video from the BBC about the culture, people, animals, and language of that country or region, with over 600 included videos. There are also interactive games, a quiz and more to encourage kids to learn more about the world.
Rhythm Paradise Groove for Nintendo Switch 2 – $59
Image: Nintendo.
If your child has a Nintendo Switch 2 and a relatively short attention span, then this Rhythm Paradise Groove rhythm game is a perfect way to engage them in a series of mini-games that are easy to understand but difficult to master.
If you need to justify it to yourself as having educational value, it will improve hand-eye coordination, and teach kids about rhythm and the importance of not swinging a beat (unless the genre calls for it). It also has a multiplayer mode that’s either co-op or PvP, so you can get all the siblings playing on the one console. It’s also just really fun, and you can play it once they go to bed.
Switch 2 accessories from Belkin: from $49.95
Image: Belkin.
One of the biggest complaints about the Nintendo Switch 2 is that it can be really uncomfortable to play handheld, because it’s so thin. It also doesn’t have enough battery life if you’re going on a really long car trip or a flight.
These new accessories from Belkin solve those problems. The Gaming Grip makes the Joy-Con more ergonomic, and it adds a kickstand to the body of the Switch 2, without compromising the ability to detach the Joy-Con, or forcing you to remove the grip before placing it in the dock. If you need more battery life, there is also a version of the grip that comes with a battery pack that magnetically attaches to the back of the grip, more than doubling the battery life of the console.
Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark (Xbox, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2): $99
Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark is one of the best Lego games ever, and is a must-have for gaming fans of the DC universe. Perfect for ages 7 and up.
Apple Arcade subscription: $10 a month
If your kid already has an iPad for school, then Apple Arcade is the best and cheapest way to give them access to a large library of games that don’t have ads or in-app purchases. There are games for all age groups from Play-Doh World and Crayola Adventures for very little kids, to Lego Star Wars: Castaways and NBA 2K26 Arcade Edition for bigger kids.
Image: 2K Games.
There are even popular games that would normally be free-to-play with ads and in-app purchases, like Bloons TD 6+ and Kingdom Rush, so they can play the same games as their friends without the constant bombardment of requests to spend more money. The subscription is Apple Family-compatible, so one monthly payment covers up to six users.
Old-school fun
Lego Duplo Bluey’s Family House with Memory Game: $99
This Bluey Duplo set is a perfect gift for Bluey fans, but also just for kids who want a house to play with. My daughter really loves opening all the doors and windows and moving around the bricks with the pictures of food. She hasn’t seen Bluey before, but she loves dogs, and so this works for both Bluey fans and those who are too young for TV time.
Image: Lego.
What’s great is that this set grows with your kid – it can be a memory board game, too, extending the fun.
Lego Duplo Interactive Adventure Train: $129.99
For kids just entering their train phase, this Duplo Interactive Adventure Train set is brilliant. The train engine itself is powered, so it can drive itself around the track, but there’s also an unpowered carriage if kids want to drive their own train. As the train goes around the tracks, there are little coloured tags you can put down that will get the train to turn on its lights, play a sound, or stop, allowing for extra play loops.
This set is for ages 2+, so the track in the box is relatively simple. But there are extra tracks that you can buy separately with bridges and tunnels. The track has the same gauge as many of the Duplo cars, and it can be lots of fun to play with the F1 cars, taking them around a circuit. Overall, it’s an investment, but it opens up a lot of play opportunities that’ll last years.
Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty: $16.95
This thinking putty is such a great toy and tool. You can get it with beautiful glitter running through it, or with little bits you can pick out, or just in a variety of fun colours, with themes to suit every kid. It ties in with kids who are on board with the slime trend, but it’s also a useful tool for neurodivergent kids who need a fidget toy to settle their thoughts.
Pokemon turns 30 in 2026, and that sound you hear is Millennials turning to dust and complaining about their lower back pain. These little figures are so cute, shimmery, and sparkly.
Image: Jazwares.
For the adults, it’s a nice memento of the game so popular that cards were banned from primary schools across the country. For kids, they’re fun figures that are just the right size to tell stories and allow them to continue to play in the video game world they love, away from the screen.
While these toys are for ages 4+, my 2-year-old loves taking this little Pikachu everywhere – in the bath, to the zoo to show it to all the animals, out to the aquarium. It’s the perfect size for her little hands, where her bigger Pikachu plush just doesn’t fit as well.
Pokemon Battle Disc Showdown Game: $29
Continuing the Pokemon theme, these showdown battle arenas are just so much fun. The box comes with everything you need to build a perimeter around these Pokemon, who will then shoot discs at each other. If you combine two packs, you can have up to four players get in on the action, but one pack is enough for two kids to shoot discs at each other’s Pokemon to their heart’s content. When you get a direct hit on the red target, the little figure flies off in a really satisfying way. It’s a good time.
Pokemon Sleeping Plush 46cm – Vaporeon: $39
This range of sleeping Pokemon is so cute, and the current release is the Eeveelutions of Vaporeon, Flareon and Jolteon. They’re so big and soft, and perfect for a big kid to hug, or a toddler to snuggle up on. My daughter likes to snuggle up on hers with her head resting on the body next to Vaporeon’s head, and the tail wrapped around her. It’s cuteness overload.
Lots of people are creating content these days, and there’s nothing worse than crappy sound to ruin an otherwise good video. The DJI Mic Mini 2 is aimed squarely at creators who want to lift their audio game without spending too much or wrestling with controls they don’t need. It’s small, it’s cheap, and it’s easy – and at $149 in Australia for the full two-transmitter kit, it’s priced to move.
I wanted to know what version 2 adds over the Mic Mini 1, and whether it’s worth the upgrade, so I started shooting some videos with it.
Everything that you need to level up your audio! Image: Valens Quinn.
The mics
The transmitters are nice and small – about 11g each – and I like that the clip is also a magnet, so you can pull it off, put it on the inside of a shirt, and rely on the magnet to hold it in place. No fiddling with a separate magnet that’s otherwise very easy to lose. The snap-on colour covers are a genuinely nice touch too; there’s nothing worse than an ugly mic clipped to your collar on camera. Good that there’s a range of colours, and I like that they’re held on magnetically.
The magnetic clip can be rotated by 90-degree increments or taken off completely to be placed under a shirt. Images: Valens Quinn.
My ongoing gripe: the Mic Mini 2’s transmitters have built-in mics only, so you still can’t run a lavalier from them, so what you see is what you get. (If you want to run a lav from the transmitters, you’ll need to go for the fully-fledged DJI Mic 2s, but this capability is gone on the Mic 3s.) At least the units are small, but it would be better if the colourful covers didn’t have DJI’s logo on them. Thankfully, however, the little transmitters are not decked out like a Christmas tree with a myriad of flashing red, blue and green LEDs.
Lots of colours available to match your subject’s clothes! Images: Valens Quinn.
The case
The compact charging case is a highlight. Everything you need is included, right down to a handy spot to tuck the 3.5mm cable. I like that there are charge-indicator lights on the case, unlike some other brands that make it harder to know the charge state at a glance. The case itself is robust and offers decent protection, and it’s what gets you to that quoted 48 hours of total runtime.
The DJI Mic Mini 2’s charging case keeps everything protected and charged, and there’s a battery indicator on the front. Image: Valens Quinn.
Connectivity
There’s a good spread of connection options here. You can go direct to a phone over Bluetooth, plug the receiver into a camera, or use the USB-C attachment for phones, and the receiver will connect to a PC or Mac over USB-C as well. It’s flexible enough for most workflows.
A couple of small gripes about the receiver’s design are that there is a small cover on the bottom that you remove to attach the USB-C adaptor, and this is very easy to lose. Also, the hinged cold-shoe attachment is made from thin plastic and could be prone to breaking over time.
(Left) The green LED indicators on the receiver indicate a good connection with the two transmitters. (Right) The USB-C adaptor attached; just don’t lose the cover! Images: Valens Quinn.
Unlike the Mic 3, there’s no on-device screen – you get a dial and buttons, and you can adjust settings like voice tone and noise cancelling on the hardware, but finer settings like audio limiting will need to be made in the DJI app.
The 2.4GHz link is fine over longer distances (DJI quotes up to 400m line-of-sight), but it won’t be robust enough for super RF-noisy places like a busy trade show, a media scrum, or anywhere there’s a lot of electronics going on. And there’s no internal backup recording on the transmitters, so there’s no safety net if the wireless link drops.
In use
(Left) The Mic Mini 2 in the cold-shoe mount on our video camera and connected via the 3.5mm audio cable. (Right) There’s a handy pouch too to take everything with you. Images: Valens Quinn.
It’s nice to have a few voice tone presets – Regular, Rich and Bright. They’re fairly subtle, and you can choose to do this kind of shaping in your editing app instead, but they’re handy for anyone who wants to sound ‘bright’ straight out of the box and not dial it in later. I like that you can set the tone mode separately on each transmitter, just in case your on-mic talent need their own voice adjustments.
Fine-tune your settings with the DJI Mimo app, including 3 Voice Tones (Left) and 2 Noise Cancellation levels (Right). Images: Valens Quinn.
Personally, I’d still rather make my audio adjustments and noise reduction in my editing software, where I have more control, but the people this mic is aimed at probably won’t want to, and for them the on-board processing does the job nicely.
The two-level noise cancellation is genuinely useful: it gives you a heavier option in really noisy places, and I found it effective without that horrible ‘tinny’ processed sound. Battery life was great, and I didn’t come close to running it flat, with a solid day’s worth of shooting.
So tiny! Especially without the magnetic clips. Images: Valens Quinn.
The DJI Mimo app is well designed and easy to navigate, allowing me to check the individual battery levels on the mics and receiver, as well as update the firmware.
There’s an option too for a safety track recording if you want to be completely sure there will be no audio clipping in very dynamic or noisy environments.
How it compares
DJI Mic Mini 2
DJI Mic Mini (v1)
Rode Wireless Micro
TX weight
~11g
~10g
Ultra-light
Max SPL
120dB
120dB
135dB
Equivalent noise
~24dBA
~24dBA
21dBA
Voice tone presets
Yes
No
No
Range
Up to 400m
Up to 400m
Over 100m
Battery w/ case
~48h
~48h
~21h
Internal recording
No
No
No
Price (AU, kit)
$149
From $63
~$170
The obvious rival is Rode’s Wireless Micro, which is a touch cleaner on paper (higher max SPL, slightly lower noise floor) and comes with Rode’s polished app and a five-year warranty. However, the Rode is simpler, with shorter battery life and no on-device tone presets. Hollyland’s Lark M2 is the other budget option worth a look. Step up to the DJI Mic 3 or Rode Wireless PRO, and you get 32-bit float and internal recording, but you’ll pay a lot more for the privilege.
Lots of case colours to choose from! Image: Valens Quinn.
Against the original Mic Mini, the upgrades are real but modest: the voice-tone presets, the swappable magnetic colour covers and a new mobile charging-case option. Everything else, including the 11g weight, 400m range, 48-hour case, two-level noise cancelling and OsmoAudio direct connection, carries over.
Who is the DJI Mic Mini 2 for?
The Mic Mini 2 is great for what it sets out to do, but it’s not a massive upgrade over the Mic Mini v1, as most of what’s new sits in the ‘nice to have’ column. If you already own the original, there’s little reason to jump. But for a first-time buyer, this is an easy, affordable, great-sounding little kit. I’d recommend going for the charging-case bundle, so you’ve got everything you need in one package – and at $149, that seems very reasonable.
How much does the DJI Mic Mini 2 cost in Australia?
AUD $149 for the 2 TX + 1 RX + charging case kit. Single-transmitter kits start lower, from $49 for a transmitter and $89 for a 1 TX + 1 RX set.
Is the DJI Mic Mini 2 a big upgrade over the original Mic Mini?
Not really. The main additions are voice-tone presets, swappable magnetic covers and a mobile charging case, while core performance stays much the same.
Can you use a lavalier mic with the DJI Mic Mini 2?
No. The Mic Mini 2 transmitters have built-in mics only, with no external lavalier input.
Does the DJI Mic Mini 2 record internally as a backup?
No. There is no on-board recording, so there is no safety track if the wireless link drops.
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DJI Mic Mini 2
The DJI Mic Mini 2 offers some handy quality of life improvement over its predecessor including voice tones and better noise cancellation, plus colourful skins, and is a good value mic system for creators.
Features
8
Performance
8.5
Design
8
Ease of Use
8.2
Value
9
Positives
Tiny, well-designed transmitters with magnetic clips
Excellent two-level noise cancelling
Robust charging case with clear indicator lights
Flexible connectivity across cameras, phones and computers
