Focus gear reviews

20 reviews of single products. The comparison pages help while you are still choosing a category; these are for after you have chosen, when what you want is a reason not to buy.

Nothing here treats ADHD. Equipment supports strategies and it does not replace assessment, therapy or medication, and none of these pages should be read as medical advice. If focus, task initiation or restlessness are persistent difficulties, that is a conversation with your doctor or clinician. What these reviews can do is tell you which piece of kit actually addresses the problem you have, and which one does not.

Sound and focus

• Sony WH-1000XM6 review
  The best noise cancellation Sony has made, and an honest note about what noise cancellation cannot do.
• Sony WH-1000XM5 review
  Eight microphones and two processors, at a hundred and fifty dollars less than the current model.
• Bose QuietComfort Headphones review
  Two modes rather than twenty settings, which for a lot of people is the right amount of choice.
• Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds review
  CustomTune measures your ear canal and tunes cancellation to it, which is the reason in-ear works at all.
• Apple AirPods Pro 3 review
  Apple claims twice the cancellation of the previous generation, plus a heart rate sensor nobody asked for.

Desks and movement

• FLEXISPOT Comhar 48 inch review
  Four height presets, a built in drawer and a child lock, on a desk that arrives as one piece.
• FEZIBO 63 by 55 inch L-shaped standing desk review
  A reversible corner desk with three presets, and the most surface per dollar on this page.
• FLEXISPOT EN1 one-piece standing desk review
  A one piece top rated to 176 lb with four presets, at the price a desk converter costs.
• UREVO CyberPad walking pad review
  Fourteen percent auto incline and a brushless motor, and a noise problem no walking pad solves.
• TRAILVIBER walking pad with 12 percent auto incline review
  A reinforced steel frame rated to 450 lb, which is unusual in a machine this size.

Sitting comfortably

• Steelcase Series 1 review
  Contract grade ergonomics at the bottom of Steelcase's range, and a chair that fits a small room.
• Branch Ergonomic Chair Pro review
  Fourteen points of adjustment and 5D armrests, which is either the appeal or the problem.

Capture and planning

• reMarkable Paper Pure with Marker review
  A third generation display with more contrast, and the same refusal to run an app.
• reMarkable 2 with Marker Plus review
  No app store, no notifications, no social media, which is the entire product.
• Apple iPad 11-inch review
  The most capable device on this page, which is exactly the problem it creates.
• pmxboard 4 column magnetic Kanban board review
  Sixty four magnetic cards and four columns, on a flexible board that goes on a wall or a fridge.
• Birouwe 48 by 36 inch magnetic glass whiteboard review
  Tempered glass that does not ghost, frameless, and heavy enough that the mounting matters.

Light

• BenQ ScreenBar Halo 2 review
  An 18 degree anti glare front light plus a backlight, which is the pairing that actually reduces eye strain.
• BenQ ScreenBar Pro review
  Over 1000 lux on the desk and an ultrasonic motion sensor, for sixty dollars less than the Halo.
• Philips Hue smart light starter kit review
  A bridge and four colour bulbs, and the automations are the point rather than the colours.

The things worth knowing before you spend

Noise cancellation is excellent at steady hum and poor at speech, so if your distraction is a conversation, earplugs or a masking sound do more than four hundred dollars of headphones. Walking pads are quiet under the belt and loud through the floor, and they cost you typing accuracy. Blue light glasses have weak evidence behind them; managing screen contrast and taking breaks has better. And a device that physically cannot interrupt you is a different thing from a device where you have chosen to turn notifications off.

These reviews draw on published specifications, manufacturer figures and the consensus of verified owner reviews. We have not tested these products ourselves, and we say so rather than implying otherwise. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.