Anker’s huge capacity portable power station doesn’t skimp on juice

The 4WD industry has been a real boom in Australia over the last 10 years, with many people spending half as much again as they paid for a new car on accessories that, to be honest, they may use a few times a year.

One such improvement is a power system to run lights, a fridge or perhaps an induction stove. These power solutions can be expensive and, once integrated into your car, are not easily removable. It involves chargers, inverters, batteries, a control panel, and numerous wires, fuses, and plugs. Did I mention an expensive installation bill unless you are very tech-savvy and confident?

Why would you do this when you can have an Anker Solix F3000 all-in-one portable power station?

A big and versatile source of power

At an RRP of $4,999, the price may seem high, but consider that this battery is two-to-three times the size of other portable power stations and more cost-effective than a fixed custom solution in the long run.

Additionally, with a battery capacity of 3,072Wh (256Ah, 12V battery equivalent), it becomes value for money. This power solution will run a 190W home fridge for 42 hours or a 40W camping fridge for a week. You could charge your smartphone almost 200 times. These times may seem overkill, but when you factor in multiple devices you want to power while remote or during a blackout, you will be glad you have the extra power.

Image: Angus Jones.

Something you need to know about all power stations is that, even when not powering anything, they consume power and eventually drain the battery. They use even more power when the AC is on. Anker has minimised this drain compared to other brands, and in standby with the AC turned on, it will last for up to five days. Battery efficiency will also improve if you run 12-volt DC appliances rather than AC 240-volt appliances (e.g. a 12-volt fridge).

Those wanting more power, expansion batteries can be plugged in with an additional 3kWh capacity up to a total of 12kWh, which is equivalent to home solar battery solutions. The F3000 can also be used as an uninterrupted power supply: plug it into the mains, then connect your appliance to it. If mains power is lost, your appliance continues to run. This is useful for critical medical devices and computers.

Image: Anker.

Having the big battery means the F3000 weighs 41.5kg, so the unit includes wheels and a suitcase-style handle to move it wherever you need it. The power station will provide 240-volt AC and 12-volt DC power, as well as USB-C and USB-A ports. In addition to its size, the Solix F3000 delivers up to 3,600W of power simultaneously, allowing you to run a hair dryer and a toaster at the same time. This also means that on a job site, there is no standard power tool you cannot run, and you can even charge your EV to extend your range (using a granny charger).

30A Anderson socket and cig lighter socket. Image: Angus Jones.

Back to our hardcore four-wheel drivers, they will ask, “Does it have an Anderson plug?” For those who don’t know, an Anderson plug is a robust plug that will not disconnect on rough roads. A cigarette lighter plug will loosen. This is critical if you are running a fridge, as you don’t want to arrive at your destination to find your beer warm and your meat smelling. Yes, the Anker has a 30A Anderson plug, which is smaller than the industry standard 50A plug, but you can buy a conversion cable for $30 from Jaycar.

To charge the power station, you will need some solar panels, a mains supply or a car alternator charger. Anker also shows charging via an EV charging cable, but the cable is not currently available in Australia.

A feature I appreciate is that this power station supports two DC charging sources. If you have a car with an alternator charger and a mounted solar panel, you can plug both in, eliminating the need to switch cables between the two sources and enabling faster charging. Included in the box you receive a mains power cord and a solar charging cable.

Dual DC input. Image: Angus Jones.

Beyond a nice big display that monitors your battery capacity and power usage, a smartphone app allows you to monitor and control your power station from afar, even from your sleeping bag if you forgot to turn off the AC inverter.

I often promote a small portable power station as a good starting point for understanding the versatility of these products. In this case, the Anker Solix F3000 with its 3,000Wh battery, you go straight to the top and get all the power you might need now or in the future.

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Refreshingly cool, Shark’s wireless fan is incredibly convenient

I don’t really think I can overstate how handy the Shark FlexBreeze Pro Mist fan is, especially during these warmer months. I’ve spoken about its gentle water misting features before, but it’s just as good when used as a standard pedestal fan.

A big reason behind that is its wireless design. With the fan speed set to ‘low’, it’ll last up to 24 hours on a single battery charge. That means you can place it anywhere you like, without worrying about trip hazards or finding a nearby power outlet.

But if you forget to charge the fan, you can simply plug it in, just like any traditional appliance. Plus, if you’re outside, that nice misty water spray is pleasantly refreshing!

In Australia, you can grab the Shark FlexBreeze Pro Mist for $399.99 from Shark’s online store or major appliance retailers.

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Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max review: Pool cleaning convenience

8.4

Buy on Amazon

When you think of a quad-core processor, you don’t usually think about it at the bottom of a swimming pool. That’s exactly what powers the Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max robot pool cleaner.

Does such a processor make a difference when used in an appliance designed to keep your pool clean? Let’s take a look at one of Aiper’s top robots to see how it goes.

Table of contents

• Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max features
• Specifications and price
• Using the Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max
• Who is the Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max for?

Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max Pool Cleaning Robot, Pool Mapping, Adaptive Path, 32000LPH Power, Double Filtration, Smart Surface Parking, Pool Vacuum for All Inground Pools

Buy on Amazon

Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max features

The Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max is a cordless pool-cleaning robot that maps the floor, walls, and water surface, then cleans them.

What you get in the box. Image: Angus Jones.

The Max can map and clean a swimming pool with a volume of up to 300 square metres or about 30m long, which is more than three times the size of an Australian standard pool. Using 40 sensors and a quad-core processor, Aiper’s robot will map and navigate your pool in a set pattern, ensuring every centimetre is covered as efficiently as possible. The benefit is that this is not a random cycle, so cleaning is quicker and areas are not missed. For that matter, the Max knows if it has missed a section and will go back to that spot if it was missed as part of the cleaning pattern.

Nine brushless motors power the Aiper X1 Pro Max, which moves up to 32,000 litres of water an hour. This is almost 30 per cent more than Aiper’s next model in the range. More power equals better cleaning, especially on the scum lines on the walls at the water surface. This power means the Max can get higher out of the water on the side wall to clean as well as propel itself in a vibrating sideways motion, resulting in a better clean. The wall at the surface exposed to air, water, and sunlight is where most bacteria and algae will thrive.

Image: Aiper.

A 5-litre basket inside the Aiper collects everything from leaves to twigs, pebbles, sand, and even dust and algae. The basket is lined with a replaceable micromesh filter that captures particles down to 3µm (that’s fine enough to capture algae).  

The filter box can be used with or without a micromesh filter. Image: Aiper.

A downside of this robot is its weight at almost 15kg, which is fine when it is in the water, but the unit does need to be removed for recharging. A neat feature is that the Max will surface when cleaning is finished, or the battery drops to 15 per cent. You then lift the Max onto its included wireless charging station. Previous models required the unit to be retrieved from the pool floor with a hook attached to your pool pole. This model still comes with the hook accessory, just in case it’s needed.

The 262Wh battery takes four hours to charge from empty. The cleaner will run for up to 300 minutes on one charge. 

Using its sensors, the X1 Pro Max can determine how strong its suction needs to be based on cleaning requirements in its auto mode. Alternatively, you can set ‘eco’ to save power, or ‘max’ for the most powerful cleaning. You can also choose to clean all surfaces, clean the floor and walls, or skim the surface.

The Aiper app allows you to set schedules, download software updates, and change between the modes mentioned above. You can also change modes via buttons on the cleaner itself. The cleaners’ brush, tank treads, and mesh in the basket will need replacing periodically, and the app also tracks their use and recommends when to replace them. 

Aiper app.

Note that the app can only communicate with the robot when it is out of the water or on the surface. An optional $670 Hydrocomm Pro underwater communication station (also included in a bundle) will enable in-water relay communication. Incorporating a smart monitor enables chemical analysis of your pool, providing information to help you decide which chemicals to add to keep it pristine.

Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max specifications and price

Obstacle avoidance	Optical sensors
Battery life	5 hours
Basket capacity	5 Litres with 3μm Fine Filter Mesh
Dimensions	50 x 43 x 30 cm 14.7kg
Price (RRP)	$3,499.99
Website	Aiper Australia
Warranty	3 years

Using the Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max

The basket needs to be emptied regularly, and you can remove the fine filter and skip using it during every clean. You should rinse the basket in clean tap water after each emptying, which helps remove the collected finer particles. A full basket sensor seems to be a valuable omission.

Image: Angus Jones.

The Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max has been working hard in my friend Bernard’s pool for the last couple of months. His commentary is as follows:

“The Aiper pool robot is a comprehensive cleaning machine. Having an all-surfaces cleaner for pool floors, walls, and surfaces provides peace of mind that one device can do it all.”

“I was pretty impressed to see the smarts at work as the robot methodically adjusted its trajectory to climb the wall without leaving a gap.”

“The return-to-surface function is great, as the previous robot cleaner I was testing required you to fish it off the bottom of the pool to take it out.”

Image: Angus Jones.

“The app has clear alerts, you can monitor charging, and the cleaning setups are clear and easy to access.”

“The warnings on the app work well; I had forgotten to remove the sock with the stabiliser in it, and the cleaner sucked it in. Fortunately, the app sent an alert straight away, so I was able to go out and remove it.”

“It took a little while to learn all the functions available and get the settings right for my pool, but once I was sorted, it did a good job.”

“The charging dock is great, really convenient, unlike the previous robot cleaner I used, which you had to fiddle around with the cap that protected the socket and plug in at the bottom of the device. Aiper’s robot is simple: put it in the dock and away it goes, charging up for the next clean.”

Wireless charging stand. Image: Angus Jones.

“The robot is pretty heavy, so it’s not really a device you want the kids to handle.”

Bernard also recently tested the Aiper Surfer S2 pool skimmer and commented that the dedicated skimmer does a much better job at skimming the pool than the X1 Pro Max. The Pro Max will do it all, but both will do it better.

Is a pool cleaner worth the money?

If you have a 10-metre pool and clean it three times a week in summer over the three months, you will save up to 53 hours of manual labour by using a robot cleaner. According to the ABS, Australia’s median hourly wage is $42.90. If you assume pool owners earn more, say $50 per hour, that’s $2,650 worth of labour you’ve saved.

At the time of writing, the Aiper X1 Pro Max was on special for $2,700. In other words, it’d almost pay for itself, in terms of hours saved, after just one summer.

Who is the Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max for?

If pool cleaning is your therapy, then don’t buy a robot pool cleaner. However, if it is a chore, this top-of-the-line Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max can pay for itself in one summer, thanks to the hours of manual work it will save you. If you buy directly from Aiper, they offer a 45-day return, which allows you to test the unit out.

Paying top dollar gets you handy features that help protect your back and make recharging easier. You also get a robot cleaner that can clean the surface of your pool.

We all dreamt of smart robots helping in our homes, and it turns out they are already here, making our lives easier.

GadgetGuy occasionally uses affiliate links and may receive a small commission from purchased products.

Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max

The Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max makes cleaning the pool easier and more ergonomic, saving you hours of maintenance.

Features

9

Value for money

7

Perormance

9

Ease of use

9

Design

8

Positives

Return to surface function

Skims pool in addition to cleaning floor and walls

Superior wall water level cleaning

Negatives

No indication of a full waste basket

8.4

Buy on Amazon

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RGB lights aren’t enough, this gaming PC has holograms

As if gaming PCs weren’t flashy enough, ROG went ahead and put three holograms in its G1000 desktop PC at CES 2026.

It’s not uncommon to see programmable RGB lights — which this PC has — but built-in holograms take things to another level. Within the tower are three holographic fans: a large one on the side, and two smaller fans on the front. You can program them to show your own text and images, so you could really turn the PC into a true Cyberpunk 2077 machine.

On the inside, the ROG G1000 will include up to an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU, an Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics card, and 64GB of RAM. That’s a powerful gaming rig. We’re waiting on Australian release details, but we can enjoy the flashy lights for now.

Valens Quinn attended CES 2026 as a guest of Samsung, LG, Hisense, Belkin, Ecovacs, Asus, TP-Link, Reolink, Roborock, and Aiper.

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Tech’s biggest safety feature is largely ignored, but it shouldn’t be

Keeping children safe online is a complex topic. Australia’s contentious social media ban is seen as one piece of the puzzle, but it only scratches the surface of protecting children’s digital lives. Alarmingly, parental controls, one of the biggest tools dedicated entirely to that mission, remain vastly underused.

Countless apps and devices provide parental controls in some form, allowing families to curate age-appropriate experiences across different platforms. Managing screen time limits, blocking access to inappropriate content, and disabling unknown contacts are among the common settings housed under the parental controls banner.

However, research shows that many parents don’t use these tools. A 2025 study commissioned by Snapchat found that 57 per cent of Australian parents don’t use in-app or online parental controls.

Similarly, only 51 per cent of US parents use parental controls on tablets, dropping to 47 per cent on smartphones, according to the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI). FOSI’s data also shows that the adoption rate of parental controls reduces further across PCs, TVs, and video game consoles.

The eSafety Commissioner’s 2022 Mind the Gap report found that 59 per cent of parents set rules about when children can go online, but only 43 per cent use parental controls to filter online content.

These statistics beg the question: why is the use of parental control features so low? A perception of difficulty is a big one, according to Dr Joanne Orlando, an author and researcher in digital wellbeing.

“A lot of parents think it’s in the way too hard basket, ‘there’s too many steps’, ‘I don’t really understand’, it’s that kind of thing,” Dr Orlando said. “And family life is so busy that, amongst that, the idea of taking what they probably think is two hours to read the manual is too hard.”

Dr Joanne Orlando presented at a recent Apple briefing. Image: Supplied.

Making parental controls easier

“Not a huge proportion” of parents use the family safety settings on offer, Dr Orlando added, agreeing with the existing research.

“There is an uptake, but I think if we can make [parental controls] really simple, two or three steps, and then they get that protection that they need.”

Some tech companies are trying to make it easier to make child-friendly experiences during the setup, reinforcing Dr Orlando’s belief that using parental controls is “not as complicated as you might think”.

Apple prompts users during the setup stage of its devices to input an age range, which automatically provides some out-of-the-box protections for children. Likewise, Google also supports child accounts on Android devices, providing a similar level of protection.

Image: Apple.

There’s also a myth encountered by researchers that parental controls are only useful for young children, that they quickly outgrow the limitations placed upon them. But that’s not what the experts say.

“What [parental controls] can do is they’re this amazing space that you can actually teach your children about safety,” Dr Orlando said.

The researcher — who previously argued for social media literacy education, as opposed to an outright ban — suggested that parents use device settings as a prompt to teach kids about digital safety. Instead of setting blocks and limits and walking away, she recommends explaining to children why the limitations are in place.

Shedding the “terrible guilt”

With how quickly technology changes, there’s also an element of parents feeling guilty about not knowing how to protect their children’s digital lives.

“A lot of parents always feel like ‘I’m not doing enough, I don’t know what to do’,” Dr Orlando said. “We have this terrible guilt that we’re not doing enough.”

Aside from the settings and instructions from tech companies, families can access resources, including those from the eSafety Commissioner, to stay informed about digital safety.

As long as parents acknowledge that “no one’s ever going to be 100 per cent up to date” with every technology and every risk, Dr Orlando believes that regularly checking in with children is a good place to start.

“If you keep your reading, keep trying to keep up to date a little bit, but having lots of conversations with your kids, just trying to see what they’re seeing that they think might be dangerous, start with those points and have a conversation.”

Chris Button attended a briefing with flights provided by Apple Australia.

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Huge 100TB hard drive is set to arrive by 2029

I remember using a 128MB USB drive in school and thinking that was a lot of data. Now, there’s talk of 100TB hard drives arriving before the end of the decade.

That lofty target came from Western Digital’s ‘Innovation Day 2026’, where the data storage company outlined its long-term plans. It’s on the verge of releasing a 40TB UltraSMR ePMR HDD, which will be used to keep up with the increasing demands placed on data centres by AI technologies.

But WD isn’t stopping there. By 2029, it plans to produce 100TB hard drive technology by using what’s called “HAMR”. Short for heat-assisted magnetic recording, HAMR uses a precise laser to heat the precise location of a drive that’s being written to, which is part of a process to help increase storage density.

WD’s blog on the technology goes deep into the science, most of which goes over my head. All I can think of is how much would fit on a 100TB hard drive. Sure, such technology is only meant for enterprise-level use, but it’s fun to think about what one could do with 100TB on hand.

Using Netflix’s data rate guidelines, you could store more than 34,000 hours of high-definition video, or roughly 14,600 hours of 4K footage. Based on the recommended 80GB of storage required for Battlefield 6, you could have 1,280 copies of the game saved at the same time.

Again, that’s not what this storage would be used for, but it gives you an idea of how big 100TB is. At the moment, WD sells data centre hard drives reaching 32TB of storage. To more than triple that in just a few years is quite the feat.

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Sleek Logitech G325 doesn’t look like a typical gaming headset

Gaming headsets usually have one feature in common: a boom mic for clear audio. Some mics are retractable, while others are fixed, but they’re pretty much synonymous with gaming headsets. Not the Logitech G325, a new mid-range wireless headset that abandons the boom altogether.

Instead of a mic that protrudes outward, Logitech’s $199.95 headset uses a beamforming microphone that’s built into the earcup. While the idea of a boom mic is to get close to the mouth so it can isolate audio, a beamforming mic uses software trickery to achieve the same effect.

Logitech advertises the G325 as using built-in AI software to cut out background noise, placing the focus on your voice. In theory, your online teammates shouldn’t hear loud keyboards or the fan of a PC tower.

If it weren’t for the colourful flourishes, you might not be able to pick this as a gaming headset. Image: Logitech.

Without the visible mic arm, the Logitech G325 doesn’t look like a traditional gaming headset, much like how the Jabra Evolve3 doesn’t look like a call centre headset without a boom mic. As a result, the G325 looks like it could be used in public without attracting too many stares from passersby.

It’s a very light headset, weighing a svelte 212 grams, with a battery life rated to last more than 24 hours at a time. It uses Logitech’s proprietary Lightspeed wireless technology and Bluetooth, making it compatible with nearly any gaming platform. However, unlike some headsets, the G325 does not support both Lightspeed and Bluetooth simultaneously.

In terms of audio, Logitech says the G325 uses 32mm drivers, supporting 24-bit audio. It’s designed to have a relatively flat EQ out of the box, but Logitech’s G Hub software supports customised audio profiles.

Available in lilac, black, and white colours, Logitech’s newest wireless gaming headset is available to order this month.

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