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I hold my hands up. I got this one wrong. In 2022, when Garmin announced the headline feature for the Garmin Fenix 7X was an LED flashlight, I might have had a bit of a chuckle to myself about it.
Since moving to multiple model sizes for its premium outdoor smartwatch, the largest ‘X’ models quickly came to represent the introduction of exciting, cutting-edge innovations that then start to filter down to the rest of the best Garmin watches. But I wasn;t convinced a multi-LED flashlight on the top of the watch case was something prospective Garmin watch owners should get excited about.
Garmin claimed it would be a “game-changer for sport, adventure and daily life”. In the early weeks of testing the 7X, that wasn’t my experience. I’d quite quickly written it off as rather gimmicky. The question I kept on asking myself was; ‘why would I choose it over reaching for the pretty good LED flashlight I have on my phone?’
It probably wasn’t until being out of that testing bubble of a month with the 7X and I started simply living with it, that my opinion began to change. I was using it more and more each week.
(Image credit: Future / Michael Sawh)It probably wasn’t until being out of that testing bubble of a month with the 7X and I started simply living with it, that my opinion began to change. I was using it more and more each week.
It started to become the flashlight I used when trying to quietly hunt out charging cables at night moving around my flat without turning on the main light and getting a telling-off. I didn’t need to be a further nuisance and look for my phone because I already had an exceptionally bright light on my wrist. Then it became the source of light on darker sections of my nighttime running routes or helping me to navigate my way back home from the gym. When I was dabbling in some DIY, it was less awkward to use than a phone to line up fixings.
I began to appreciate that Garmin didn’t just slap on a flashlight because it could. It wanted to show how useful a wrist-based source of light could be. I now also had a flashlight I could set to strobe or match my running cadence to improve visibility. It could also switch from white to red light for a still bright, yet less intrusive way to illuminate what lay ahead and around me.
As Garmin moved to share the flashlight love to other watches in its range, it also continued to evolve its abilities to become smarter. Now when I went out for a run or walk after sunset, the watch would display a prompt to turn on the strobe mode to make sure I was thinking about staying seen as day turned into night. There’s a distress mode that when set up from the Garmin Connect app, can display emergency contact information on screen while flashing an SOS light pattern.
It’s no big surprise that rival watchmakers thought it was a great idea too. Suunto, Coros, Amazfit and Polar now all have torch-toting smartwatches.
(Image credit: Future / Michael Sawh)Are there any downsides of having a flashlight on a smartwatch? Well, it does mean creating more space on the watch case for it. That’s likely why so far it’s mainly been included on larger more rugged watches like the Suunto Vertical 2, Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro and the Polar Street X, although Garmin has managed to plant it onto its slimmer Forerunner and Venu series watches.
Another consideration is battery life. Running a flashlight while also using GPS or any other onboard watch sensors will contribute to that battery drain, but unless you’re planning to keep it switched on continuously for hours, I’m not sure the type of battery life drop you’ll experience is going to be anything to be massively worried about.
How could it become even smarter? I think Garmin in particular has shown it can be more ingrained with your current environment or the time of day. Further integrating with safety features is an obvious one. Especially for anyone that goes on solo adventures. Could we get a UV mode or even be one strong enough to start a fire for that added outdoor appeal? As smartwatch makers focus on making brighter watch displays, should the same happen for the built-in flashlight?
When it feels like there’s more of a focus on breaking new health tracking ground or cramming our lives and screens with more metrics , it’s easy to forget about some of the simpler gadgets that makes a smartwatch a useful thing to own. I’d now put the LED flashlight in the bracket of things I hope to see on any new smartwatch. We’ve not seen one on an Apple Watch Ultra model yet, so maybe that’s to come. I’ve definitely seen the light and it’s in the form of a feature I thought had gimmick written all over it. How wrong I was.
For a budget business monitor in the Labor Day sales, the one that stands out to me is the Philips 24-inch 241V8LB, which is down to $75 (was 90) at Amazon.
To me, this is the perfect display for anyone working from home, who doesn't need ultra high-resolutions or massive screens that take up half the desk.
Don't let the price fool you. It's not entirely feature-free. Budget monitors in this range usually cap out at 60Hz or 75Hz, so the jump to an above-average 100Hz with Adaptive Sync is a genuine step up for everyday use, whether that's office work, browsing, or even light gaming.
24-inch Computer Monitor: was $89.99 now $74.99
23.8-inch Full HD (1920x1080) VA panel with a 100Hz refresh rate, 4ms response time, and Adaptive Sync. Virtually frameless on three sides, with HDMI and VGA inputs and a 4-year advance replacement warranty.View Deal
At under $75, most competing monitors settle for a 60Hz or 75Hz panel. The 241V8LB's 100Hz refresh rate with Adaptive Sync makes everyday scrolling and window movement noticeably smoother, and it's enough of a step up that it's worth seeking out even for buyers who aren't gaming.
The VA panel trades some of the wide-angle color consistency of an IPS display for deeper blacks and stronger contrast, which suits office and productivity use well. Philips also backs the 241V8LB with a 4-year advance replacement warranty, longer than the 1 to 3 years typical of budget monitors in this price bracket.
The nearly frameless design on three sides is a small but useful touch for anyone running two or more of these side by side, keeping the visual gap between screens to a minimum.
Price Context & Historical ValueA $15 drop from $89.99 to $74.99 is a modest discount in percentage terms, around 17 percent off. It isn't a dramatic markdown, but the 241V8LB is already positioned as a budget monitor, so this price puts it firmly among the cheaper 24-inch 100Hz options available right now.
Should you buy it?✅ Buy the Philips 241V8LB if... you want an affordable 24-inch monitor for everyday office or home use, you'd like a 100Hz refresh rate and Adaptive Sync instead of a standard 60Hz panel, or you're setting up a multi-monitor desk and want a nearly frameless design.
❌ Skip the Philips 241V8LB if... you need an IPS panel for wide-angle color accuracy, you want a resolution higher than 1080p, or you need USB-C or DisplayPort inputs rather than HDMI and VGA.
The Catch: What to know before you buyThis is a 1080p VA panel, not an IPS display, so colors will shift somewhat at extreme viewing angles compared to pricier alternatives. Connectivity is limited to a single HDMI 1.4 port and VGA, with no USB-C or DisplayPort, so it's worth checking that fits your setup before buying.
Plug-in (or balcony) solar tech has been booming in Europe for a while now, but it seems as though the rest of the world is slowly catching on: these kits are now legal in the UK, while an increasing number of US states are approving them too.
The simplicity is the main appeal of these solar panels, which can be plugged straight into a standard outlet in your home, without any expensive roof mounting or time-consuming planning permission required. Any energy that you generate from free sunlight is used immediately for the appliances in your home, cutting down your electricity bill.
Now that the tech is legal in a growing number of places, we're seeing more and more certified kits and compatible batteries appear on sale. During our travels around the IFA 2026 tech expo in Berlin, the products below particularly caught our eye.
There's one big caveat here — in the UK and US, grid-tied plug-in batteries aren't currently a legal part of plug-in solar, so in those regions the products below will need professional installation (which slightly negates that 'plug-in' descriptor).
Still, there are hopes that plug-in batteries could soon be legalized in the UK and elsewhere, which means the bill-cutting products below could be a glimpse of our home energy future...
1. EcoFlow Stream 2 / Ocean 2(Image credit: Future)EcoFlow has been in the energy storage game for some time of course, and brings all of its expertise to bear on these two new products. Starting with the 3-5kWh Stream 2 home battery, we've got support for up to 5,000W of solar input and 3,000W of electricity output, so enough to power washing machines, dishwashers, and the like.
It's modular too, so you can stack these up like Lego bricks as your energy needs change, and the units offer four MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) inputs if you need to connect panels in different spots. There's also an AC version if you already have solar panels installed and just need somewhere to store the electricity.
As for the Ocean 2, this is a fitted home battery, replacing the PowerOcean line. It does up to 30 kWh with a single inverter, and can provide backup power if the grid goes down with an instant switchover so you'll never even notice. Both require professional installation, but you can take the Stream 2 with you when you move.
2. Anker Solix Solarbank Max(Image credit: Future)On to the Anker Solix Solarbank Max, and this impressive-looking home battery brings with it 7 kWh of storage capacity, which should be enough to keep an entire home going overnight (assuming it hits the average figure for usage).
Unlike the AC version that's already on the market, this can connect directly to your solar panels, and it can take on 10,000W of solar input across three MPPTs. You can also expand the capacity up to 42 kWh with extra batteries.
You do need to get an electrician to fit this to your home power network, just to avoid anything blowing up, but Anker reckons you'll have saved on up front costs and be getting pure profit within 2.5 years — though your mileage may vary.
3. Zendure SolarFlow 2400 Pro / 4000 Mix Pro(Image credit: Future)The Zendure SolarFlow 2400 Pro and 4000 Mix Pro aren't entirely new, but they were shown off at IFA, and we're including them here. Again the emphasis is on simple, easy to manage solar energy storage: the SolarFlow 2400 Pro can take on 4,800W of solar input across four MPPTs, and offers 2,400W bi-directional AC power (hence the name).
With the SolarFlow 4000 Mix Pro, we've got capacity for 13,000W of solar input across two MPPTs, and you get (you've guessed it) up to 4,000W of bi-directional power, so it's a more heavy duty operator and larger unit.
Both these batteries can be connected to plug-in solar panels as well as retrofitted to panels that are already on your roof, though obviously the SolarFlow 4000 Mix Pro can handle more of them.
4. DJI Power 2000 and solar bundle(Image credit: Future)We were very impressed with the DJI Power 2000 portable power station when it launched last year, and at IFA 2026 it told us that it's going to turn this into a fully fledged balcony solar system — complete with its own solar panels and a microinverter for connecting to a standard power network.
Details are a bit thin on the ground though, as we don't know how much it's going to cost or exactly how it's going to work. Apparently the bundled kit is going to be sold in Germany first, with no word yet on an international expansion.
What we do know is that DJI has the technical experience and nous to put together one of the most compelling plug-in solar packages out there — and one which you can pick up and take camping with you. We'll be keeping a close eye on this.
5. Bluetti Balco 260 / Balco 500(Image credit: Future)While the kits were unveiled shortly before IFA 2026, we've been able to get a good look at the Balco 260 and Balco 500 at the expo. They offer 2,400W (through four MPPTs) and 4,300W (through a single MPPT) of solar input, respectively.
As with the Zendure models, they're basically an entry level and more advanced version of the same pack: They can be hooked up to balcony solar or rooftop solar as needed, and connected to the mains electricity network in your home.
We were at the launch of these units back in May, and there was a big emphasis on simplicity throughout. The aim here is to reduce as many barriers to entry as possible, which is helped through the changes in regulations now happening in the US and UK.
I saw a lot of fun things at IFA 2026, but among the many halls full of tech, one experience has stuck with me the most. It was the Strutt ev1c personal mobility vehicle, which basically mashes up tech from robot vacuums and self-driving cars to create a wheelchair/mobility scooter that can take you from room-to-room in your home without you touching the controls.
Equipped with cameras and LiDAR to sense the world around it, the ev1c really has two key sets of interesting features that come from these sensors: being able to fully self-drive within a known and mapped environment; and being able to offer automatic measures for safer use when you're out and under manual control.
Within the home, what it does at first is exactly what robovacs do: it takes a map of the whole area using LiDAR. The system is able to distinguish temporary, moving objects (people and pets) from static objects (walls and tables) — that's obviously important for mapping, but also means you can see what it 'sees' at all times on a little touchscreen on the armrest.
The LiDAR map on the ev1c — the black parts are solid objects that don't move; the blue areas just below where it says "ipad" and "Kitchen" represent me taking this photo and Strutt's guide standing behind me, respectively. (Image credit: Future)Once the map is created, you can then choose different areas to set as "Waypoints", basically giving you a menu of places you want it to self-drive you between. So you can use the touchscreen or the connected phone app to select a waypoint, and the chair just starts driving you, no controls necessary from there.
You can also trigger waypoints using voice, so you can tell the app "Take me to my bed" and as long as you have a waypoint called "my bed", it'll take you there.
This also means that if you're someone who doesn't need the vehicle all the time, though you may sometimes need it suddenly. You can use the app to have the ev1c bring itself to you, even if you'd left it on the other side of the house.
There's another feature that the team is testing right now for people who only need the vehicle intermittently, which is a "Follow me" mode — so you can start walking, and the ev1c will just trundle along behind you. If you need it, there it is, ready to go.
I tried that out at Strutt's booth, and while it was buggy at this stage, it did work — and would probably take some getting used to, because having something quietly following right behind you is pretty unnerving.
The chair steers itself pretty slickly around the demo area (Image credit: Future)However, the self-driving side of the tech is ready to go, and when I tried that side out as well, I was truly impressed. The chair can be a little jerky when it's turning around in a small space, but that's really the only issue I could take from it, from my admittedly limited demo.
Starting at one end of the fake 'living space' in Strutt's booth, it steered me around a dining table, through a narrow gap towards a doorway, through the doorway, and then up to the couch. It finished with me facing the couch, for convenience, and it didn't touch a single thing along the way — no brushing a dining chair or clipping wheels against the door. I went across a rug as well as a hard floor, and that made no difference.
I also tried it in its more manual modes, with the 'Co-Pilot' feature switched on. This is the 'smart' system for when you're driving it yourself, and the key thing it adds is object avoidance. The simplest benefit is that the system won't let you crash into anything — Strutt's team told me to drive towards them at full speed, so I did, and the vehicle just stopped as we got a few inches away. It wasn't like slamming on the brakes — it just ramped down and left me stationary.
These are the general controls — the big joystick is at the bottom, and then you can trigger various smart options using the buttons above (Image credit: Future)Other handy features for when you're in manual control include a reversing camera (with a line of your steering trajectory) and a 'cruise control' mode so you can just set it to go in a straight line at a set speed, and you can relax your hand.
But there is also a 'Co-Pilot+' more advanced assistive mode, and the interesting feature the team showed me here was an alternative to the auto-stop, in which the system will look for space and actually steer around the blockage, rather than just braking when you get too close.
Perhaps more useful in the day-to-day use of the chair, is that this mode will just finesse your driving, so if you're at risk of clipping the door in your home it'll automatically adjust the steering to make sure it doesn't happen — it's like the steering assist in Mario Kart.
I tried the same demo of driving into someone, but this time the ev1c steered in an arc around them, then returned me to my original position on the path and carried on forward — but my hand had just stayed on pushing the controls forward the whole time, I didn't contribute any motion to the steering.
There's a big rear light, and below that is the battery unit, which is easily removable when needed (Image credit: Future)As for the vehicle's general specs, it's capable of going up to 8mph, with a range of around 20 miles on its battery, depending on the terrain. It can handle grass and gravel, as well as inclines of up to 13° (23%) and two-inch curb heights, all powered by a four-wheel drive system.
The ev1c breaks down into five pieces for packing into car, and Strutt told me that it's looking into offering a backup battery bag, so you can hot-swap when away from home if you want support for longer distances.
It's officially priced at $7,499 / £5,995 / AU$9,999, though the actual price you pay might be affected by local schemes to make mobility vehicles more affordable.
It's a lot of money, though I assumed it was going to be even more expensive than that. I'm not someone who uses a personal mobility vehicle, so all my opinions here need to be taken in that context, but I was really impressed with how the chair works in practice, how it's been designed and built, and what it can do — it even picked up one of our 'IFA 2026 Best in Show' awards.
- Man City vs Coventry: Saturday, September 5 at 3pm BST / 10am ET / 12am AEST (September 5)
- Streams: USA Network via Fubo (US)
- Outside the UK? Use NordVPN to unblock your streaming account
Watch Man City vs Coventry in the Premier League 2026/27 season, as Enzo Maresca looks to maintain his 100 per cent record in the top flight following his appointment at the Etihad.
After a disappointing Community Shield defeat, City have enjoyed a smooth start to the Premier League campaign. They had to do things the hard way against Bournemouth, coming from behind to win 2-1 late on, but flexed their muscles in a 4-1 victory over Crystal Palace last time out and have a shiny new toy to play with in the form of Maresca disciple Enzo Fernandez.
Coventry have found things tougher. A 3-0 loss to Arsenal on the opening night was to be expected, but a 1-0 home defeat by fellow promoted side Hull was a blow. Frank Lampard's side will be keen to get their first point on the board as soon as possible, but the Sky Blues are huge underdogs.
It's hard to see Coventry keeping City out. Rayan Cherki has started the season in explosive form, while Erling Haaland looked sharp against Palace. Coventry's best hope is to keep things tight and nick a goal on the break or from a set-piece via new man Taiwo Awoniyi. Their recent experience at Arsenal will serve them well, but knowing what to expect is not the same as being able to stop it.
Here's how to watch Man City vs Coventry in the 2026/27 Premier League from anywhere in the world.
Man City vs Coventry team newsMan City XI: Donnarumma; Khusanov, Dias, Guehi, Gvardiol; Cherki, Anderson, O'Reilly; Semenyo, Haaland, Ndiaye.
Coventry XI: Rushworth; Van Ewijk,
How to watch Man City vs Coventry from anywhereA VPN is handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual service. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and you can get our exclusive deal too...
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Soccer fans in the US can watch Man City vs Coventry in the Premier League on USA Network.
There is no dedicated streaming platform for USA Network, but it is available on cord-cutters like YouTube TV, Hulu+Live TV, Sling (select markets), Fubo or DirecTV, many of which carry free trials.
Outside of the US? Use a VPN whilst you're traveling away from home to unlock your stream. We like NordVPN best.
Can I watch a Man City vs Coventry live stream in the UK?(Image credit: Future)Unfortunately, Man City vs Coventry is not being broadcast in the UK this weekend.
That's because of the country's TV blackout rules, which prohibit the broadcast of any 3pm kick-offs on Saturday.
If you're currently in the UK but you're usually based overseas, explore the VPN route to access your streaming accounts from back home. NordVPN is our top pick.
How to watch Man City vs Coventry live streams in CanadaFubo is the Premier League's broadcast partner in Canada and it has live coverage of Man City vs Coventry.
Prices start from CA$31.49 per month for Fubo's Sports Monthly package. However, the best option right now is the Quarterly Package which costs just CA$27.99 CA$14.99 for each of the first three months. You can also watch Fubo's content if you have a select DAZN subscription in Canada.
Not in Canada? Use NordVPN if you're away from home, in order to tap into your preferred coverage from anywhere.
How to watch Man City vs Coventry live streams in Australia(Image credit: free)A Man City vs Coventry live stream is available in Australia on Stan Sport.
You can pick up a Stan Sport subscription for as little as AU$29.99 per month for the basic plan containing adds. That price consists of the AU$9.99 Stan subscription fee plus the Sport add-on for AU$20.
Outside of Oz? You can use a VPN to access your usual Premier League coverage. We recommend NordVPN.
What is the Man City vs Coventry start time?Man City vs Coventry kicks off at 3pm BST / 10am ET / 7am PT on Saturday, 5 September.
If you are in Australia, the game will be broadcast at 12am AEST on Sunday, 6 September.
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