Summer and Christmas parties are all about backyard cricket, swimming, eating and drinking. But now instead of rushing to the servo for bags of ice or awkwardly trying to move a big screen TV to back patio to watch the test match … you can let technology do it all for you.
In Sunday’s tech segment with Jaynie Seal on Sky News Weekend edition we took a look at two 2023 products that I reckon make outdoor parties a lot easier and way cooler.
One of the biggest pains during Christmas is filling up the cooler with ice and hoping it will get you through a brutal summer’s day.
Having the EcoFlow Glacier means you can spend all day at home or at the beach without having to drive off for ice once. Launched earlier this year, the GLACIER, was the world’s first integrated 3-in-1 portable fridge, freezer, and Ice Maker.
Equipped with a powerful 120W compressor, it can make 18 solid ice cubes in 12 minutes. I actually found if you keep pressing the ice button after each cycle – you can make a gigantic block of ice. I’m not sure if you’re supposed to do this – but I had fun doing it. Because it’s also a freezer, you can accumulate all the ice you make during the day or the day before.
You can use it as a fridge/freezer or just a fridge or just a freezer. The temperature range is 5 degrees Celsius to minus 20 degrees Celsius.
It can be powered by mains electricity, car battery, solar panels or internal battery. My advice is to buy the plug-in battery with a capacity of 298Wh. You’ll get up to 40 hours of cooling on one charge but that will vary significantly, depending on your settings.
Now, there are many dual-zone portable fridges on the market that are a lot cheaper. But they don’t come close to the quality and features that you’ll get with the EcoFlow GLACIER.
You can also control the GLACIER via the EcoFlow app.
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY:
The GLACIER is available now from EcoFlow for A$1,399 or A$1,899 with plug-in battery.
Christmas and summer also means cricket. The best way to enjoy the Boxing Day Test while having fun at home or in the park is with a portable, battery-powered TV, like the LG StanbyME.
This 27-inch touchscreen TV is loaded with all the popular streaming app so as long as you’re online you can watch anywhere.
Thanks to 5 wheels hidden in the base and 3 hours of battery life, StanbyME is a roving TV that I’ve really enjoyed using inside and outside the house. You can also mirror your own content on screen and rotate it for vertical video – if you must.
It’s a 1080p matte display which cuts down massively on reflections outside. Make no mistake, this is not a TV with high picture quality, but it’s good enough for this scenario.
The stand is heavy and this is good. It means the likelihood of StanbyME toppling over is very low.
I’m sure LG’s plans were to have StanbyME used on nice flat surfaces but I managed to use it on pretty rough tiles and even near the pool. It’s no off-roader but you can always pick it up and carry it.
If you want to run it for more than three hours without mains power while outside, I’d recommend a portable power station, like EcoFlow DELTA mini. I really like EcoFlow stuff.
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY:
The LG StanbyME is available now from retailers like Harvey Norman for A$1995.