Get the extinguisher quick! (firebox.com)

Member Name: Slim Lee

Product:	firebox.com
Date:	12/02/01 (377 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Loads of gadgets

Disadvantages: Ummm ... they aren't that useful really

I stumbled across this site whilst mindlessly clicking around the net looking for something interesting to do. I’d been looking at a few other sites when I came across and advert for Firebox with the enticing line “Where men buy stuff” so, being adverse to the whole shopping experience myself I had to go have a peek at this to see what it was all about!

It is quite simply a gadget freak’s heaven. The range of weird and wonderful gizmos, games, and oddities is stunning. The site itself is very easy to navigate through, with handy sections at the top of the screen, a “Top 5” section on the left (bestsellers) and a “What’s Hot” section on the right (new stuff I guess). It also loads up fast too as there is only one banner advert on the home page.


The site is split up into the following sections:


Gadgets
*******

Supposedly showcasing the cutting edge in new tools and gadgets. Loads of shiny new gear such as the Sapphire Torch (shine up to a mile away?!), Mini Cameras (I-Zone camera), Projection Clock (shines the time on your ceiling) and Tiny Amplifiers (Smokey Amp the size of a cigarette packet?!).

Lots of details of the products and also customer reviews with some of them too. It looks like they aren’t filtering too many of these comments out either as there are some negative ones in there. That’s good to see (small dig at Amazon there).

Boys Toys
*********

A nice long vertical scrolling list of grown-up (?) toys! I’m tempted to get the Legendary Crossbow or the Popshotz Dart Gun for work but I think that would be the end of that job! This section really does bring out the big kid in you! One item I couldn’t resist though was the Sarcastic Prediction Ball … it was just made for me.


They’ve got other stuff such as Scalextric, Electronic Frisbees, Radio controlled flying saucers and Radio
controlled battle robots (that shoot each other with infra-red!).

Bachelor Pad
************

Weird ornaments for every single guy’s pad, from the Shot Glass Chess Set (the winner lose that one! Or ends up under the table) to the highly expensive Pool Table. Other delights include the Shot floaters, Lava and Mathmos(?) Lamps, Champagne buckets, Ice crushers and a Yard of Ale.

My personal favourite here has to be the Toastabags. Kiss goodbye to the oven and toast all your food (I’m just curious if it’ll work though!).

Games
*****

An odd variety of table top games (Ice Hockey) and newly dreamt up board and card games (Grass, Bladder), mixed in with more traditional board games (MahJong), with some retro ones (remember Operation or Hungry Hippos?). They have a selection of nine different Regional Monopoly boards, and even have some old Top Trump cards.

You can also get hold of some dice and playing cards used in casinos. They only use them for a short time on the casino floor and them sell them off (to avoid any unscrupulous people marking them).

Sport
*****

Dartboards, Micro Scooters and a Snowmobile … bit out off my price range that one. The big seller here is the Power Ball, which is supposed to build up the strength in your wrist and forearms. Seems to be selling like hot cakes though.

Books
*****

Mostly biographies and football books which you can pick up cheaper elsewhere.
I didn’t realise Evil Knievel had one out though!

Videos
******

Ditto with the Videos. Okay to look through to see what they are highlighting but I would buy them elsewhere.

Magazines
*********

This is just a link they have set up on their site to redirect you to emagazineshop.com who, in fairness, are offering a few reasonable deals on subscriptions to magazines such as FHM, Maxim, Stuff and T3.

Poster
s
*******

Not a particularly good range here (about 15 posters) covering films. They won’t get me interested when they are charging £4.95 a go either.

Tech
****

The items are the latest in technology, and are priced accordingly. Most are well know brand names so it is quite possible you can get these cheaper elsewhere. Still, it’s a good source of information on the products (as a starting point).

Expensive Stuff
***************

They weren’t kidding when they labelled this section EXPENSIVE. Ouch. I don’t think I’m going to be getting any of these unless my numbers come up this Saturday! The cheapest item is the Table Football at £999.95 (if only I had the room!). Check out the V24 Offshore Racing Powerboat (a radio controlled speedboat capable of 80mph. Yikes!), which is going for a paltry sum of £36,000.00 <drools>


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The items on Firebox are not going to be the cheapest you will find on the net or in offline shops. The flipside to this is the weird collection they have got together. They can probably get away with charging a couple of quid more on some items if they can keep adding to this range. Most of the smaller priced ones are competitively priced, it is the expensivce ones (pool tables etc...) that seem a bit steep.

Ordering from the site is fairly standard, you click on “the add to cart” button and it’s … err … added to your cart (Shopping trolley to us). When finished you proceed to the virtual checkout, key in a few details (name, address, card payment) and away you go. You can also claim Webrewards on your purchase her too (1 GBP spent is equal to 1 WR). They won’t give any Webrewards on purchases you make on the Magazines section though.

Once your order is confirmed by e-mail then they should be despatched within 24 hours. In theory you should get your order the next worki
ng day (maybe the day after if you live in Northern Ireland or the nether reaches of Scotland!). In practice however, you are far more likely to receive your order anywhere from two to four working days after placing it. I've received orders varying from 2 working days to 10 working days. The couriers they use can be a little unreliable at times.

One thing I didn't notice on ordering was the delivery charge. They are quite vague about it. The usual charge is £3.95 per order. A bit too much and it does put you off ordering some of the cheaper items from them. That puts you down to 3 stars firebox until you come to your senses on this!

If you still don’t feel comfortable ordering online then they also have a phoneline … 0870-2414289 … personally I feel more comfortable with ordering online than by telephone as you will only get verbal confirmation. You receive a prompt email if you order online and it is conducted over a secure line (note the gold padlock in the bottom corner of the screen).

Firebox.com is also recognised as a Which? Trader, giving you more confidence in getting a fair deal as they have to abide by a code of practice to display the mark.

Nothing on this site is essential of course, but it’s fun stuff to most blokes. You see we can’t get enough of gadgets and FireBox.com know this. They have found a smart way of getting the shop-a-phobic male to part with his hard earn dough.

Sneaky swines.

Summary: