great stuff - many thanks

You may have to change the bulbs for halogens, but I think the actual socket type is universal. Regular light bulbs on the other hand are screw in type here, rather than bayonette.

I have just had a look and I am pretty sure it is either a halogen g4 or g9 fitting. it looks like they are readily available in Canada at the lower voltage so I'm hoping the fitting will be ok. Many thanks for your help on this

What an interesting post, many thanks. We were planning on taking power tools, with a converter. Maybe 'everyone' should have a mental 'move' to Canada, and be forced to open that big corner cupboard where the George Foreman grill hangs out, in happy exile with the mandolin chopper and the youghurt maker! I promised I'd never clutter my house again ten years ago when I moved here, and I have eight days to produce that 'goods to follow' list and realise that I definitely broke that promise. Thank you for letting us know about the lights, we have a couple of really nice lamps that I didn't want to say goodbye to, and shall now list as 'to follow'.

I'll take the mandolin off your hands, I'm sick of imprecise potato slices.

Had an old (15 years) UK TV with Wi Xbox Xbox360 video player DVD player runing off a transformer in Canada for over 2 years now. There don't seem to be problems with them. The marginal cost of shipping these items was virtually zero so it was worth bringing them and buying a transformer to save the cost of replacements.

roughly how much would a transformer cost Jim?

I was going to bring the TV and DVD player as they are multi region and multi voltage but wasn;t so sure on the stereo equipment, Wii and Dyson. Obviously I'd rather bring them then sell it and buy new when we arrive? Thanks

This site http://www.voltageconverters.com/vol...onverters.html gives you a good idea of pricing.

Bring the TV, DVD and Wii.

Ditch the Dyson - stuff with motors and/or heaters tends not to work well through a transformer: motors because of the change from 50Hz to 60Hz; heaters because they draw a lot of power and therefore need a big, expensive transformer.

For the stereo, if it's high-end and reasoanbly valuable, bring it (but remember, if there's a turntable it will need adjusting - either with a replacement capstan or through a switch if it has one - to deal with the change in frequency). If it's a run-of-the-mill unit it's probably not worth the hassle and expense of running lossy transformers. If you're bringing a container full of stuff anyway, my advice would be to throw it in and work it out when you get here. Think on this: If it's worth enough to contemplate selling second-hand in the UK, it's probably worth keeping. If not, chucking it out here will be no greater loss than chucking it out there.

Our Dyson works just fine on a regular 3kw transformer (cost $129 for the transformer - and we use it for lots of different things). A Dyson over here costs about $500!

I have no idea if it is working efficiently or to full capacity, but the carpets are as clean after using it as when we used it in the UK. The only thing I haven't been able to get working is a 15 ish year old little stereo out of my old office. All my other amps and even music equipment works just fine (with a transformer).