Moving to London for work from Miami, FL - Gadgets to bring?

[element6]

I'm moving in April from Miami, FL to take a position in London. Likely, our office will be in Canary Wharf so I may be living somewhere close by to there. Probably moving on a tier 2 general or tier 2 ICT visa since the job is with my current employer.

I'm trying to take advantage of my initial move and the cargo space I will have since they are covering most costs. I'm literally moving over with my clothing, a laptop, and a synology diskstation (home NAS). Not much beyond that. I am selling off the vast majority of the contents of my house before moving.

So what would be good to bring in terms of gadgets, computer hardware, etc?

Speaking in terms of things that would be good for me to bring for myself to arrive prepared, but also any devices to bring along to sell off in used condition or the like. I've seen that Apple devices have a tremendous markup, but since the only apple device I personally use is my iPhone, I'll have to wait to get there to purchase a UK/EU market 4g iPhone.. probably going to use ee for a service provider since I'll be in London.

Thanks for any info

[Kapenta]

Erm

Nothing that is rated for 110v with a built in power-supply, unless it is dual-voltage rated.

I am sure that you will have fun trying to keep warm here, though, coming from Miami.

[megaphone]

Apple kit is a bit more expensive over here, we have 20% VAT which does not help, but as you don't have any Apple stuff that's not an issue! Other than that, as suggested, check the power supplies of anything you bring, make sure they'll run on 230v.

Enjoy London, it's a great city!

[mcflurry]

Why not use your existing iphone over here?
You can get a 30 day UK contract from giffgaff (or similar), until the next model is out

[element6]

Thanks kindly for the replies.

I am originally from Northeastern Pennsylvania. Typically, it stays around -4 at this time of year up there. Kind of getting tired of the constant 27 degree weather in SFL combined with the humidity as hard as that might be to believe.

As far as bringing things with, I have no plans to bring anything with a US power supply.. I am actually going to purchase UK DC chargers for the battery operated devices i'll be bringing such as my laptop, jambox, and a few other tiny things. Trying to come over with very little baggage. Essentially selling everything in my house at the moment to accomplish that.

Was wondering mainly if there were any gadgets that I can more easily get my hands on in the US and bring over to resell for a small profit. Even if I bring them over used and such. I figure there must be something that we have over here that is much more difficult or expensive to find over there. I'm sure I'll go back and forth after I arrive, but it won't be often. The main thing I can't wrap my head around is the cost of clothing there compared to here.. yikes

mcflurry said:

Why not use your existing iphone over here?
You can get a 30 day UK contract from giffgaff (or similar), until the next model is out

Well, I was comparing my options and for work and such I'm always more concerned with coverage and quality of service. I saw that ee had the best overall coverage for voice throughout the UK as well as the best 4G coverage in London. I'd much rather have a reliable phone with an inexpensive contract. So, since I currently have a Verizon iPhone 5S in the US (ME347LL/A), I'd like to just sell this phone here, buy an EU 4G compatible iPhone 5S or 6 outright (really don't like the shape of the 6 but meh), and start a 5GB month to month with ee.

Just for giggles, my 3GB/month unlimited talk/text contract with Verizon (nothing special) costs me about 80GBP here in the US and I own my iPhone 5S outright. That's an inexpensive contract here.

[TEKNOPUG]

A spare liver. They like a drink in that part of the world.

[Mr Pointy]

Bose noise cancelling headsets always sell well on ebay & seem to be cheaper in the US, depending on local taxes.

Avoid anything with a keyboard as it will be US layout, not UK (for selling on, that is).

[scubadude]

element6 said:

Just for giggles, my 3GB/month unlimited talk/text contract with Verizon (nothing special) costs me about 80GBP here in the US and I own my iPhone 5S outright. That's an inexpensive contract here.

In my experience mobile coverage in the UK is alot better than the US (it might have improved since I was there last)

Many people here haven't bothered with 4G as Wifi coverage in city and town centres in so dense, I haven't bothered as live on the coast and we have blanket 3G and Wifi, so much so I just downgraded my contract to 300mb data and limitless minutes and text (costs £9/month) from a full unlimited tarif with 4G that was £30, if you want a basic SIM here its £3/month or so.

Phones are expensive but access is cheap as chips.

Here you would need to buy a new iphone 6+ on a fat contract to get over £60/month!

[NNH]

I also moved from the US to London. Almost all my electronics were dual voltage, so I just needed plug adaptors. My laser printer and a very few other 110V only items live next to a 240:110V transformer I got at Maplin.

One potential issue is that US HD TVs may expect a 60Hz signal through the HDMI cable. My TV was relatively new so I bought a 60:50 converter on Ebay.

[z4RRSchris99]

save your money for the hookers and booze.

[bingybongy]

The best thing to bring would be pocket calculators, Psion handhelds, Commodore PCs and Atari games consoles, after all we can't get hold of all the awesome gadgets sold in the USA, subsequently we're 30 years behind the times.
Best of luck moving to London working with all us backward peasants.

[anonymous-user]

If you want a decent cell signal in Canary wharf you need to be with vodafone mainly as they have the majority of corporate contracts and thus have a great service, If I use my work vodafone It never drops calls even in the basement , however my EE personal phone drops calls all the time.

[element6]

bingybongy said:

The best thing to bring would be pocket calculators, Psion handhelds, Commodore PCs and Atari games consoles, after all we can't get hold of all the awesome gadgets sold in the USA, subsequently we're 30 years behind the times.
Best of luck moving to London working with all us backward peasants.

I think you are reading between the lines. I didn't mean it in that way. I only meant that there must be certain things sold here in the US that have a high demand in the UK but either cost too much there or are not sold there in the first place.

Just like I cant go to my local VW dealer and buy a Scirocco R
And just like you can't go to a Chevy dealer and buy a right hand drive C7 Z06 Corvette.

But I'll bring my atari 2600 for you if you want it..

[element6]

Vandenberg said:

If you want a decent cell signal in Canary wharf you need to be with vodafone mainly as they have the majority of corporate contracts and thus have a great service, If I use my work vodafone It never drops calls even in the basement , however my EE personal phone drops calls all the time.

Very good to know. Thanks!

[FourWheelDrift]

Only if you can grab some of the ET games they dug up over there.

[Oakey]

From Miami to London? Wow, who did you ps off and how?

[element6]

FourWheelDrift said:

Only if you can grab some of the ET games they dug up over there.

I will exhume them if necessary.. Any takers?
I can get Beat em and Eat em too..


I'm not quite sure who I pissed off, but glad I did. A few years in Europe on the company dollar can't hurt

[EK993]

I did the reverse and moved from London to US 5 years ago (cold NE and not Miami unfortunately). I really can't think of anything over here you could take there and make a profit on - maybe some Apple stuff?

[mikef]

element6 said:

I only meant that there must be certain things sold here in the US that have a high demand in the UK but either cost too much there or are not sold there in the first place.

Yes - V8 cars and trucks

[element6]

mikef said:

Yes - V8 cars and trucks

I made a separate thread inquiring about that stuff.. actually, that was my first concern. I am more of a car enthusiast, the gadgets and computers come in as a strong 2nd hobby Only grow bored of them because I work with datacenter equipment all day for work.