Cheap but useful gadgets - 8gb Key Shaped USB Drive

This cost me £4.20. An equivalent would have cost roughly £15. This was obviously an eBay special from hong kong. It's almost certainly USB 2.0 as the speed was fine when transferring big files.

I like to keep a few utile on mine such as xubuntu live and a disk wiper which will completely zero the hard drive and completely eradicate any sign of secure information or dodgy photos you may have on there. That is a must if you're selling a PC. You don't want a dodgy criminal stealing your identity.

Cheap but useful Gadgets - SIGNALEX Multislot USB Card Reader

This cost me £1 from "Everything's a Pound" in the town center. I was dubious as to whether it would work and after plugging it into my USB slot for the first time I got a failed to install drivers message. I unplugged and gave it another shot and this time it worked fine. No idea what happened there.

For a solitary pound this is fantastic. It reads MS, SD, Mini SD and Micro SD. Its USB 2 to boot, so no poor file transfer speeds associated with USB 1.

Cheap but useful gadgets - Watch Pin Remover

First things first, I need to apologise to the seller who I believed had scammed me. To my amazement the item was waiting for me when I got home yesterday. I feared the worst when I had seen they had deleted their account but all is well.

I gave it a quick go last night and my god it made the job a lot easier than using a drawing pin on a hard surface. Usually the drawing pin just bends. The handle on this thing is a nice size to get a good grip and twist to extend the pin which pushes the watch pin out the other side.

It will be just my look that their wont be any new watches this Xmas but at 99p it's certainly going to pay for itself with time saved eventually.

Scammed

So, the watch pin remover I ordered from Hong Kong has failed to show and the seller has removed their account. I've started a complaint with eBay to see if I can get my 99p back. It's the principle etc.

I really didn't expect to be scammed out of 99p. Thinking about it though, if a company offers 4 week delivery on say 100 items they lost at the same time. In that 4 weeks say maybe 20-30 people are enticed by the 99p and free delivery on the each item then that could be £2-3k they make before shutting down the account score people even realise they are not getting the item.

Oh well anyway, lesson learnt...or maybe not as I'm about to buy another watch pin remover for 99p from hong kong.

Cheap but useful gadgets - HDMI cables

Electronics stores charge a fortune for HDMI leads. They are nothing short of a rip off. For distances like 1 or 2 metres there is zero difference between a £50 HDMI lead and a Tesco Value £4.97 1m HDMI lead. So, save yourself £45 per lead and go to Tesco.

Cheap gadget on order - watch strap pin removal device

Every year just after Xmas legions of family and friends come to me their new watches they have received. They usually need resizing and it's always me they ask.

It's a pain in the arse trying to do it without the right tools so I've stumped up 99p for this little gadget. It's effectively a mini vice. You place the strap in the gap then turn the screw and it pushes the pin out the other side. It looks really simple and if it works then at 99p it's a bargain. I'll review it when it arrives, hopefully in the next week or so.

Cheap but useful gadgets - Travel Scales

These are essential when packing your suitcase when going away on holiday. I prefer analogue over digital as they are usually much easier to calibrate and I just trust them more. These are available for less than £5 on eBay or £7.50 on Amazon.

I also stick them in my hand luggage for the return flight. They are probably more useful for the return actually with all the gifts and other things you return from your holidays with. The last thing you want is excessive extra luggage charges or even worse, the embarrassment of having to empty things in the airport and bin them.

A few tips are just to buy cheap towels, toiletries, flip flops etc that you can leave in the hotel to save weight.