So this year I asked dh what he would like and quite flippantly with a smile he said he would like a peaceful lie-in on the morning as the girls were forever waking him at 6am when they get up and turn the TV on downstairs in the lounge, right under our bedroom.
I didn't give this much more thought until Aldi got in touch and showed me their gift selection for Fathers Day. Perfect, a portable DVD player!
For £49.99 you can have a 9" portable DVD player that also plays films from an SD card or USB stick and the girls can watch it in the kitchen away from our bedroom. We had a trial run this morning, I was already in the kitchen when Miss M came down and wanted to watch some TV to wake-up, so I popped Beethoven (the dog film, rather than anything more culturally sophisticated) in and she grabbed a seat. The best thing is that the DVD player has a sound limit and it is enough to hear it well but not enough to disturb us upstairs! Very soon her twin joined her and they sat there mesmerised for a good half hour before I needed to feed them.
I can see that on Fathers Day morning this will work a treat so daddy can have his lie-in and then when I come down and join them we can cook him a lovely fry-up to enjoy in bed.
I've been really impressed with the Maxtek portable DVD player that we have been sent, it comes with a 3 year warranty and has the after sales support number on the box in case you need help. There was no real set up to it, it is all intuitive and the remote control came with a battery in it ready for use, just remove the tag. There are full instructions and a quick set-up guide if you want to read them though.
As you can see in the picture above, it looks quite sleek, the only problem with that of course is that it shows all the finger marks but a quick polish with a tea towel worked a treat. The case does not feel too flimsy but it is definitely light enough that the kids can use it in the car with headphones. I can see my three kids having to work out a rota for long car journeys as already they are all saying they want it this weekend when we go to visit relatives.
I have been impressed with the built in lithium battery. I charged it when we received it and it has been used for about 90 minutes so far and still has charge, so it really will be good for the car and it also came with an in-car charger as well as a standard plug charger.
The screen swivels 180 degrees and can then fold back flat against the bottom of the case which means it is nice and sturdy. We did not have any jumping when we used it and the screen resolution is really good.Portable DVD players definitely seem to have improved in the five years since we last had one. It was super easy when I inserted a USB stick with a couple of films on it, I just pressed the USB button and a menu came up for me to choose which film we wished to watch. I haven't got a large SD card so I could not try that as all my other devices take micro SD cards.
I think this portable DVD player is a great buy and will be well used in our house.
You can purchase it from Aldi from the 5th June but be quick as it is available a limited time as with all the Aldi special buys. If you haven't shopped at Aldi before, I really would recommend a visit as it is quite different to a traditional British supermarket but once you get over the different layout and try out some products you will find the quality is exceptional and the prices superb. Those Germans really know how to create something good.
Disclosure: we received the portable DVD player and a pair of headphones for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest. Many thanks Aldi.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If you like what you have read and want to stay up-to-date then subscribe by email for free and receive blog posts directly to your in-box - just click the link Subscribe to Mummy From The Heart... by Email or perhaps you like to keep all your blog reading in one place, if that is the case you can follow me on BlogLovin too!