Pros
-Extremely versatile
-Very robust
-Strong suction cup
Cons
-Heavy
-Sags with heavier tablets (over 600g)
Octa Tablettail: Monkey Kit
What is the Octa Tablettail: Monkey Kit?
Tablets are great devices to use but the lack of a dock or
stand often means you end up bodging ways to get them to sit just the way you
want it to so you can watch a movie or read a book. Some cases let you stand your
tablet upright but even then you need a reasonably flat surface - no good for a
duvet or any other awkward base.
For £50 the Octa Tablettail: Monkey Kit aims to resolve all
these issues by providing a versatile, but stable, stand for your tablet to rest
on.
How does the Octa Tablettail: Monkey Kit work?
A heavy-duty suction cup, called the vacuum dock, grips the
back of practically any smooth tablet. This then connects to a modular locking
mechanism that can lock on to a number of bases, in this case the MonkeyTail.
It’s clear where Octa got the inspiration for the name. The
tail flexes and bends just like a monkey’s would. It’s almost a meter long and
soft touch black silicon covers the bendy metal beneath. It’s a weighty and
solid piece of kit at 1.5kgs, which makes it a product for the home and the car,
rather than for the commute.
Bending the MonkeyTail requires a satisfying amount of
force, and once you get it into the right position it stays there. It does take
a little while to get the knack, though. Band it in one direction and it’s very
stable, bend it in the wrong direction and it quickly sags. We got to grips
with it after a few tries and you know by how much force you're applying as to
whether you’ve got it right.
The vacuum dock worried us initially. Can we trust the Octa
TabletTail to keep our expensive iPad upright and not just have it pop off and
fall to the floor? After a couple of weeks of use we can safely say that yes we
certainly can. The suction cup grips the tablet well enough, but a few quick
presses of chunky button on the dock expels any residual air and creates a very
solid vacuum seal.
We tried hard to get our iPad Air, Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire
HDX 8.9 to come off by
pulling it but had to give up before we ended up
snapping a tablet in half. Suffice to say the grip is excellent and you have to
lift a small tab to break the seal – something that can’t be done accidentally.
One slight issue we did was that the MonkeyTail ‘rests’ a
little when used with heavier tablets. While the iPad Air and other light
tablets stayed where we wanted them to our heavier iPad 3 and Nokia Lumia 2520
sagged a little. It wasn’t too much of a problem once you get to know how it
will come to rest, but it takes a little getting used to.
Octa Tablettail: Monkey Kit Applications
One of the best uses for the MonkeyTail is for using your
tablet in bed. You can wrap the tail around a headboard and have your tablet
float above or to the side of you. You can place half of it in the space
between the mattress and bed frame to create a viewing platform for some lazy
weekend watching of box-sets on Netflix or just wrap it round like Tigger’s
tail so it can sit on a lumpy mattress. The fact that it lifts the tablet way
above any case or cover does makes it feel like you’re holding the tablet and
means you can have it much closer to your head as opposed to resting on a
bedside cabinet.
The vacuum dock spins so you can easily switch from portrait
to landscape or get the angle right so the tablet is at eye level. It works
surprisingly well and we found the more we used it the more we found new
applications for it. In particular we liked it as a stand for using the tablet
as a monitor while typing with a Bluetooth keyboard. Because it lifts the
tablet so much higher than usual there is less need to crane your neck – it’s
more akin to using a desktop PC.
It also works great in the kitchen where you want your
tablet off a potentially wet and sticky countertop, but also in the car where
you can wrap it round a headrest to keep the wee nippers happy on a long drive.
In a workshop, on a wheelchair, at the gym – there are hundreds of uses for the
Octa MonkeyTail and we found the longer we had it for the more we used it. This
isn't one of those impulse buys that will sit in a drawer a week after
purchase.
Should I buy the Octa Tablettail: Monkey Kit?
Before we actually used the Octa MonkeyTail we would have
scoffed at the idea of it, but in use it is an extremely versatile and useful
tool. It’s chunky and heavy, though, so don’t expect to take it with you
everywhere. If you find yourself needing your hands for other things while you
use your tablet then you’ll find it very useful indeed.
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