Polar FA20 £94.50 January is the busiest time of year in gyms all over the country as those of us that were found face down in the Quality Street over Christmas try to get fit again.  I have to be honest but I hate going to the gym so I am always looking for gadgets that make getting fit easier.  This year I have been testing a new fitness device from the nice people at Polar which looks like a neat watch but is in fact my conscience.

The Babyliss Eco Dry is a lightweight hair dryer that saves you half the energy of a normal 2000W hair dryer. I love being impressed by the products I review - and much to my surprise this one did.  Whilst you might normally associate a powerful hair dryer with weight, this one is incredibly light.  I was equally surprised by just how much power comes out of this neat hair dryer with quite a blast.

I have used battery, corded and rechargeable units with both two and three heads. My normal regime would be two wet shaves a week and the rest with the electric razor. This Philips system is 15cm long and a maximum of five cm wide and deep at the head end. It sits nicely in hand and has two buttons on/off and to transfer some of the supplied Nivea lotion through two of the three heads.

I've never met a Kenwood product I didn't like (not so far anyway).  The latest product we've tried is the Kenwood Smoothie 2Go. We've tried Kenwood smoothie makers before and this one is just as easy and effective to use.   So what is the difference?  Well mainly it's down to size and a few neat little features which make the smoothie easy to take out with you on picnics.

While Philips "Sense & Simplicity" event held towards the end of last year was more concerned with technology aimed at the future, there was a sprinkling of current products on show.  One of them was the latest in Philips range of Sonicare rechargeable toothbrushes.  This was the Sonicare FlexCare, the third Sonicare generation toothbrush, which combines teeth and brush head cleaning features.

I can remember my paternal grandfather shaving with a cut-throat razor. This was not a task that I ever contemplated undertaking myself. That is using a cut-throat razor and not the actual shaving part which occurred naturally with the passing of time. Starting with a safety razor (sometimes referred to as a "wet shave"), I have progressed through several electric shavers from various manufacturers.

Pelargonium I could just about spell this plant, but not being a gardener I would be unlikely to recognise it. However I heard about it while I had a stinking cold. The box states that you should take one tablet three times a day for ten days (30 in the box) but not if you are pregnant or breast feeding. By day six my cold was almost over but I completed the course.

In common with other similar devices the Suunto gives you two elements - the watch itself and a separate heart rate monitor that straps around your chest for when you train. The monitored heart rate is wirelessly communicated with the watch, which provides the user interface. The basics The watch comes with an 'interesting' strap arrangement.

Judging by various reports in the popular press, and backed up by the experiences of a couple of my relatives, access to a dentist as a National Health Service (NHS) patient has become increasingly difficult of late.  More and more dentists seem to be closing their doors to new NHS patients or even going completely over to the private sector.

During that time I've switched periodically between electric razors and wet shaving. By far the best result is always from a good wet shave, albeit often with the effect tarnished a little by the odd nick by one of the ever increasing number of blades. I've recently been offered the chance to put the new Remington Titanium MS 5800 electric shaver through it's paces.

I've been a fan of electric toothbrushes for a number of years now, but have been generally let down by the quality of the product, which often fails after a few months. Although not expensive in money terms - the sheer waste gets to me. Each of those (and I won't mention names) probably cost between £10 and £20 - often on special offer. The Orab-B Triumph is in a different class.

When I received four different hair straighteners I wondered what could be different about each. Most straighteners these days have ceramic plates, held to be better for your hair, and swivel leads to stop the wire from tangling up (a good invention).

Boots are a firm favourite with shoppers at Christmas so we asked Boots for a selection of their gadgets for the girls this Christmas.  They sent us some of their popular products: The Boots Compact Epilator, Lee's Box of Tricks and the No 7 Rechargeable Manicure Set. We also received the Mini-Massager on the Go, by Homedics, which you can also buy from Boots. For girls who want smooth legs for Christmas and New Year - a nice little epilator - affordable and simple to understand.

It is easily small enough to fit in the hand and I used it regularly for over four hours and even longer with only switching to standby mode on a single charge. It is 8.5x6x2 cm and weights only slightly over 100grams. The base has an earbud socket and mini USB - for charging - as well as a neck/wrist strap anchor point. The left side has 'M' menu button.

Health is an issue that should concern us all.  This is especially true when it comes to the personal aspect of our own body and how best to ensure it remains at the proscribed level of efficiency.  Diet and exercise are just two elements of health control we can influence and indeed should do so.  Figures put the number of deaths in England that can be linked to obesity at over 30,000.

The business end of the product consists of a cuff suitable for a 9 to 13 inch upper arm and a device that provides the air to inflate the cuff and measure the pressures as well as your pulse. These are stored in the unit. Of course after a while seeing three sets of figures on an LCD screen become only a mess of figures.

Like many others, I am required to take a cocktail of tablets (all for purely medical reasons I hasten to add) at various times of the day. Even though this regime of tablet-taking has changed little over the last two years, I often find that any other changes in my regular schedule can result in a memory lapse with regards to taking the prescribed tablets at the appropriate time.

  My latest gadget acquisition is a fantastic piece of kit - the . Garmin Forerunner 201   This is a 'watch' that works as a virtual training partner using GPS technology to plot and monitor speed/distance/time. It is designed for cyclists/runners and enables accurate plotting of distances and times.

OK so at the risk of appearing 'over-gay' (Sky One trash tv expression) i bought at the weekend a new electric razor/hair clipper combo and it's great! i bought a Scherna 3 in 1 cordless gizmo. It comes with a power handle that you attach one of three heads to for either shaving (a double foil) currting hair (a diamond sharpened clipper) or trimming a beard/moustache (trimmer).

Ease of use? 6 out of 10 About a year ago my I started 'getting fit' - one of those things I've observed that people seem to do as the big 4-0 approaches.