Product review: Axis Power Cord Cable (45504)

I liked this extension cord so much that I bought two of them the first one in 2014 and another one more recently. The 2014 extension is still working very well. I use it on my desk for various devices I use on daily basis. What I like about these extension cord that they are very compact. They have three outlets (two on on side, one on the other). The outlets are polarized. The two outlets on one side are well spaced out, I am able to place two large plugs next to each The second extension cord is used on the floor to position a fan in the bedroom and the brown color blends well with the furniture. It also has a loop on the end that allows me to hang it.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: VIVOSUN 5-Pack 7 Gallon Plant Grow Bags with Handles (Size warning!)

Warning! Product description does not match the bags I received.  The table that shows the bag sizes is off by 2 inches in every dimension. I purchased 7 gallon bags specifically to get 12 inch tall bags as I thought smaller bags were to shallow.

The bags I received are 10" high (labeled 7 gallon bags so it is not a packing error).  I also expected 12 inch wide bags and purchased 14 inch saucers to hold a little water at the bottom to lesson for better water retention.  The bags I received are 14" wide which means the saucers are useless as the bags totally fill the saucer with no room to spare as I planned based on the description.

The product description size table has no bag which is 10" tall and 14" wide so this is just poor quality control!  I am very disappointed! I have a set of bags which I are more shallow than I wanted, and a set of sauces that are not useful (and cost more than these bags!).

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★☆☆☆☆

Product review: AVACRAFT 18/10 Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl set with Lids

This is a nice set of stainless steel bowls! The set includes three bowls and lids. Each bowl has a handle and beak for pouring. All three bowls have a silicone base (non-slip bottoms). They bowls fit into each other for storage.

Large bowl: 9.5" diameter x 5.5" deep
Medium bowl: 8" diameter x 4.75" deep
Small bowl: 6.5" diameter x 4" deep

Overall, nice set of size - good sizes, well made, I like them!

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: casa pura Sisal Cat Mat, Dark Brown (24" x 32")

This is a very simple scratching pad: one side is 100% sisal pad, the other side is backing. The pad is fairly large 31.5"L x 23"W. Our two cats often share it.

This pad is a big hit with out two cats. They like to lay on it, scratch it. No matter where we put they find it. 

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Ombar Gaming Wired RGB Backlit Optical Mouse

I spend almost the entire day with a mouse in my hand for work and play, so I am pretty sensitive to the shape of the mice I use.

This mouse has a very gentle slope, no pronounced hump which is the shape I found most comfortable. In addition to the standard left, right, and wheel, this mouse has two thumb buttons which are useful for gaming and can also be do page up and page down when doing regular computer work, like browsing.

The DPI swich allows me to switch between 1000-1500-2000-4000 DPI to change the speed witha click.

This is a wired mouse and its cord is 66 inches, plenty long enough to reach my computer.

I like its hefty feel (it weights 3.95 oz)

This mouse works both on Windows and Linux.  Neither one required any special drivers, it worked right out of the box.

What could be better?  I would have liked to have an option to control how the mouse glows: it would be nice to have an option to make the color steady on, or totally off, or fade in and out as it does by default.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Book review: Crochet For Beginners: Learn To Crochet Quickly & Easily by Kitty Moore

This book has diagrams to show basic stitches but no images of the completed projects.  It is hard to tell if I want to do the project because I don't know what it will look like.  What is worse the author provides links that promise images of completed products, but the link lead to advertising pages for the author's other books not images related to the products. 
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★☆☆☆

Product review: LUXULO Watercolor Brush Pens Set

I liked the rich colors and brush tip applicators of the pens in this set.  The pens are easy to control, and tip is precise in small areas. At the same time it is easy to cover large areas quickly.

I also liked the case the pens came with. The case has two snap closures, and inside the case there is a tray with indentations for each pen.  The pens are easy to take out and well organized for storage.

Very nice set overall!

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Eforgift 36 inch By 72 inch Eco-friendly PEVA Shower Curtain Liner

This curtain is made out of PEVA. I have a strong preference for PEVA shower curtains because they are totally scent free right out of the box.

The design of the shower curtain is very simple it is white semi-transparent shower curtain. It lets through light while providing a bit of privacy. It has a standard thickness for a liner.

One thing you should know that this shower curtain does not have magnets at the bottom of the shower curtain, which are useful for adding a bit of weight at the bottom which in turn keeps the shower curtain inside the tub. So make sure you get the length that goes all the way down to the tub to help keep it from slipping out.

I like that the hook holes that are re-enforced with metal grommets. They are not going to tear even if the curtain gets snugged on something.

What is missing? I already mentioned the metal weights at the bottom. It also does not have suction cups on the sides. My favorite shower curtains have small suction cups on the sides so the water does not splatter from the sides.

Also included are 12 white plastic hooks, I did not think they looked particularly attractive and I am not using them for the shower curtain. However I am using it them on my trellis to hold my cucumber plants - they function similar to the trellis clips - they hold the stems with out squeezing them.

Ali Julia review

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Book review: Chicken Recipes To Die For

Overall, I thought the recipes were good. However there were several things about the cookbook can be improved.

1) The book is not aimed at American audience - it uses metric measures.

2) I liked that the recipes have pictures.  I would have liked the pictures to be large and to show the entire plate, not just a portion of it. 

3) I prefer the recipes that fit on two pages, so while I cook I did not need to touch my tablet to flip pages. This book does not start each new recipe on a new page and allows some recipes to span 3 pages. Some recipes spill over by just a few lines while the ingredients are double spaced, so with a bit more work the recipe layout could have been organized better. 

4) The book has no information on the overall time it takes to prepare the dish or caloric information.

5)  I liked that the book has a table of content but when I click on recipe name navigation takes me to the copyright page, not the recipe itself.  It worked correctly only for a couple of recipes. 

This cookbook contains 52 chicken recipes.  It has soup recipes (like chicken soup and cream of chicken) as well as main entries from different cultures (for example chicken korma, chicken fajitas, chicken gumbo, Moroccan chicken).

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Product review: Shemagh Scarf Cotton Wrap by Mohavy

This scarf is 52.5" square made out of thin cotton.  I like that the blue design is not printed on the material but is embroided on top of it (I show a close up in my video).  The scarf is light and large and it can be worn in a large variety of ways.  I noticed that after I washed it the material became softer and I like how it feels.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product: Encrypted Men's Premium Fleece Jogger Pants

This sweatpants turned out to be better than I expected. They a bit fancier than your typical sweatpants. I selected charcoal color. They are charcoal with blank trim - the top of waist band and the bottom of cuff on the pants have a black trim. The sides have reflective stripes which are attached in a way that makes them fit into the design of the pant not just slapped on top. There are three pockets - two on the sides and one on the back.

The pants are true to size and have a good amount of stretch, quite good for stretching exercises or just doing chores around the house.

The thing that I like most and that I did not expect from the stock photo is that the pant legs are cuffed, so when I am jogging or walking in the rain the bottom of the sweats stays dry. Overall, they are better than I expected.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Wisdom House WiFi Smart Outlet Timer and Energy Monitor links with phones, Amazon Alexa and Google Home

The smart works well, it was easy to pair with the phone and it has not failed to turn on or off the plug since I got it. I used it both within the house using WI FI as well as while being away from home using an external network.

The smart power plug requires no hub, it has a built-in hot spot that can be paired with a phone or devices like Alexa and Google Home.  Once the plug is paired one can turn the power strip on and off using the phone, as well as set up a schedule and count down timer for when the outlet will be turn on  and turn off.  It also shows power consumption of the device plugged into the outlet.

The app is called Smart Life and is available from Google Play.  There is also a version for an iPhone.  The app is simple and intuitive to use.  The only thing that I thought could be made better is that the password only accepts letters and numbers, it does not allow any special characters.

The plug is fairly wide, but narrow, so it can be placed next to other regular sized plugs.  I show the smart plug on 1/2" grid in the photos.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: AGPtek 5V 21W 1Ax4 USB Ports 110V-220V Input Portable Power Strip

The AGPtek travel extension cord is aimed at the international travellers visiting USA. It takes appliances which have different international plugs and allows them to work in American outlets.  Since the outlet on the plug is American it is not the right plug for traveling abroad as you would need another converter.



The strip also has 4 USB outlets. However when I measured them with a current monitor I discovered that they are delivering only the USB rate of current (which is half as slow as the AC rate).

Because of this speed limitation I don't see this power strip being used by people who already have appliances that have US plugs. The cord is useful for international travelers in USA so they can use their devices that otherwise would not work in American outlets. I don't see this strip being useful to Americans as it is easy to find USB converters that perform better.

Here are the current monitor rates for those who like the technical details for Nexus Phone, Android OS.
port 1: current monitor ~~~~~ 0.42A and 4.95V
port 2: current monitor ~~~~~ 0.42A and 4.95V
port 3: current monitor ~~~~~ 0.42A and 4.95V
port 4: current monitor ~~~~~ 0.42A and 4.95V
(for comparison a good charging monitor result for this phone are 1.00A/5V)

I would pass on this power strip for the US-based buyers, but it is useful for international visitors.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★☆☆☆

Product review: KMASHI 20000mah External Battery QC3.0 Quick Charge

This is a review for Kmashi MP828 20000mAh Lightning Fast Charging Dual USB 2Amp Input External Battery Backup Pack Power Bank.

♦ size: 6.25" x 2.25" x 1.25"
♦ weight: 14/6 oz
♦ number of ports: 2
♦ flashlight: no
♦ pass through charging: no (i.e. the battery can charge while being charged itself)
♦ cables: 1 charging cable and 1 AC cable

The external battery performed very well charging both my Android and Apple devices. The test results showed it to be at the top of ratings for both devices on both ports.

To see how well different chargers and external batteries charge my mobile devices I use a Nexus phone and an iPadMini to test each of them. The current drawn from the battery depends on each device using the battery. The port rated with maximum capacity of 2A does not always deliver 2A, what is actually delivered is controlled by the device based on many factors such running apps, level of charge, and so forth. I always use the same two devices and I do my tests with the devices charged to the same level, running the same applications and using the same cables to keep everything the same. This allows me to do a relative comparison of each battery and identify the ones that do not perform well. Note that these tests are not testing for the maximum current each device can draw on each port as neither of my devices can max out the port.

I also tested to see if the battery supports pass-through charging (i.e. whether the battery can charge mobile devices while it is being charged). This battery does NOT supports charge through charging. It can not charge while being charged.

Finally, I check if the cable that came with the battery is a charging cable (i.e. capable of charging at full AC rate) or a data cable (charging the battery at USB rate). This is easy to tell using the current monitor, and this package includes a charging cable.

Samsung Nexus phone:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
port 1: 1.02A/5.06V (excellent comparing the performance of the same device with other chargers)
port 2: 1.00A/5.06V (excellent comparing the performance of the same device with other chargers)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this phone is 1.00A/5V)

As noted above these tests are not designed to test the maximum capacity of the port, so 2A port not showing 2A is not an indication of a problem

iPad Mini tablet:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
port 1: 1.31A / 5.08V (average for 1A port for the same device with other chargers)
port 2: 1.40A / 5.10V (good comparing the performance of the same device with other chargers)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this tablet is 1.70A/5V)

The battery has a nice capacity and fast charging rate both both Android and Apple devices. I have been using this battery pack for the past two weeks and have been pleased with it. During a 3 day heat wave I used it to power a USB powered fan and got three days on one charge.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

(Warning: I noticed that this seller has a history of re-using the same ASIN number for multiple products as it allows him to have a large number of reviews for new products, so be careful reading reviews to make sure they refer to the product you are interested in. Amazon adds a small title under each review which matches the product the reviewer reviewed)

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Outlite A100 High Powered Handheld Flashlight

This is a very bright flashlight. My favorite feature is a variable focus. On its largest setting the spot light is quite large and still very bright. I show how variable focus works in my video - all you have to do is slide the barrel up or down. The flashlight is 5.25" long, made out of aluminum alloy, it feels sturdy weighing 6.5 oz. The lens of the flashlight is plastic.  The flashlight is waterproof but should not be submerged in water (i.e. okay in rain).

It runs on one 18650 Li-ion battery rechargeable battery and the package includes one lithium a battery and a charger. It can also run on three AAA batteries (which are not included). The flashlight includes AAA battery holder so either battery type has a good fit in the flashlight. It took me about 4 hours to fully recharge the 18650 battery.

The flashlight has 5 modes: bright, medium, low light as well as fast strobe and SOS. To change the brightness I need to press the button once, to get into strobe modes I need to press the button twice in a row.

Attached video shows the flashlight in use to give you a better idea of what to expect.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★