Product review: Portable Travelchair Slacker Chair

 Perfect after a simple fix!

After several surgeries on my back I have trouble walking for a long time without sitting down to release the stress on my back by sitting down for a few minutes. I purchased this chair so I would be able to walk without having to worry that I would have no place to sit down.

This chair is almost perfect. It has only one major flaw. Both the flaw and the solution to the problem are detailed in the second half of the review.

My review will be referencing several photo collages. Each photo is numbered 1 through 7.

The chair turned out to be more comfortable and more stable than I imagined from the photos. I sit on it as I would sit on a bicycle seat (see photo #6). Imagine that the top part of the photo is the pointy end of the bicycle seat, so my butt is on the wide part and it feels pretty comfortable. Not armchair comfortable but not unpleasant.

The slacker chair is pretty light. Photo #4 shows it on the postal scale, and you can see that it comes in at 1 pound 14.1 oz. Photos #5 shows the construction of the seat. Photos #7 show the feet. The feet generate pretty good friction and don't slide.

The chair is 24" long when folded. and when I wrap my measuring tape around its width the  circumference is 7". When it is open, the seat is 17" from the ground. I am short and I find that height very comfortable. My husband thinks it is a little too short but not bad (he said it was like sitting on a toilet).

So now, the big flaw. What makes this chair valuable to me is the ability to carry it around. I need it to be very comfortable to carry around. However the strap is so short to comfortably carry it over my shoulder even for small person like myself. And what I really wanted is carry it like a sling across my back. I want it rests on my back and be totally out of the way. 

Photo 1 through 4 show my solutions to this problem.

The strap before alternations is 21.5 inches long. The distance before anchors for the strap is 19". So you get only a couple of inches of slack. This lack of slack is the problem. To fix this problem, I cut the strap (see photo #1) and extended it with a regular black strap you can buy any craft store.

The key to working with these straps is to singe the edges of them so they don't unravel. The strapping material does not burn, it melts. This forms a protective coating on the edges so you don't need to worry about them coming apart. Also it allows you to connected the two straps with minimum bulk, you don't need to fold them under. You see a close-up of the treated edge in photo #2.

After singing all 4 ends I connected the two straps with my sewing machine. I made the strap long enough to be comfortable for both myself and my husband, which required doubling its original size. I can make the strap shorter by feeding the access strapping material into the buckle. I also attached an extra Velcro strip in case I wanted to tuck away the dangling strap while I am sitting in a chair and not bother with the buckle.

With this simple fix the slacker chair is absolutely perfect! I can now take long walks like I did before my back problems.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 Leather Folio Case for Tablet Black Cover Protector

Perfect Fit for Samsung Galaxy 7.7!

This black leather case is a perfect fit for my Samsung Galaxy 7.7 Tablet (see my review of the tablet).  It is made by Generic and I purchased it on Amazon for $16.99 plus $4.99 shipping. I was looking for a simple thin leather case which will protect the tablet and could be used as a stand. Overall, I am pleased with this case. It is good looking, simple, provides reasonable protection, works well as a stand in landscape position, however it is not a good stand in portrait orientation (very wobbly).

I am attaching a collage of 8 photos under customer photos to demonstrate various features of the case.

Photo #1 shows the case opened, and photo #8 show the tablet being slid into the open case. You can that is has a tab that folds and goes behind the tablet to hold it in place.
Photo #2 show the empty cased opened with the back side towards the camera, you can see the opening for the camera, the flat that holds the stand, and the texture of the leather. I am not sure if it is real leather or faux leather. It feels nice but has no leather smell. I think it is a good quality imitation leather.
Photo #3 shows the case closed with the tablet in the case. You see that it does not cover any of the buttons or holes. The case is held closed by magnets on the corners of the case. There are no fasteners.
Photo #4 shows the case as a stand in the landscape orientation. This is pretty much the one angle it has, but it is steady and comfortable.
Photo #5 and Photo #6 show the case as a stand in portrait orientation. As you see it is leaning and is wobbly. I will not be using it this way because I don't want to risk the tablet falling.
Photo #7 and Photo #8, where the case opened, show the round circles on the left hand side. Those are the magnets that hold the case closed.
Photo #7 shows the table in the case. It is pretty tight, but quite easy to slide in and out. A perfect fit!

I am very pleased with the case. It provides good protection for the glass without adding a lot of bulk or covering any portion of the screen. The textured leather provides good non-slippery surface to hold on to.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Samsung Galaxy 7.7 Tablet WiFi Only

Almost Perfect!

I purchased Samsung Galaxy 7.7 with Prepaid month-to-month data plan from Verizon. I plan to use the tablet as a WiFi only, but if I need I can activate broadband as needed with no activation fees or termination fees.

This was an expensive way to get this device ($699.99), compared to an international version with WiFi only which is currently $549.99. But Verizon unit is not grey market, has US warranty, and I do have an ability to get broadband if I need it. I have a personal deadline for the purchase due to a trip, and there is no information when the WiFi only unit (non-international) will be available.

A word of caution if you decide to purchase one at the Verizon store. Some sales staff is not aware that it is possible to buy a prepaid device without purchasing a contract. Even though I stated I was interested in WiFi only and purchased prepaid no-contract device, the sales clerk charged me both an activation fee and first month service (an additional $86 saying that I can cancel after one month without a cancellation fee). Both charges were a mistake on his part (pre-paid devices never have an activation fee, and I was not required to buy one month service). I was able to correct this problem by speaking to the manager, but it required me to know that he was in error and he was sounded very confident about both charges.

While making my purchasing decision I compared IPad 3, ASUS® Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201 10.1, Galaxy 10.1 Tab, Galaxy 7" Tab, Galaxy 7.7" Tab, and Amazon Fire.

I wanted a tablet for accessing internet while I am traveling, specifically I want to be able to sell on Ebay, access my email, use Google maps, use Open Table, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Priceline. Secondarily I want to be able to read Kindle books. Thirdly I want to develop apps for my pad.

Originally, I thought I'd buy Amazon Fire because I am big Amazon fan, have a lot of Kindle books, and the price of Amazon Fire is very attractive. However when I did hands-on experimentation with various devices, I realized that my internet needs were more important to me that my media needs and Amazon Fire browser was a bit slower than the others, and some of the apps did not run on it.

The 10.1 inch tablets felt a little large, I wanted something that I could easily fit in my purse. The Amazon Fire and the Galaxy 7" tab felt about the size I wanted. However, Galaxy 7" screen resolution made the keyboard cover most of the screen and data entry typing (which I will need to do quite a bit of) was difficult. But when I saw Galaxy 7.7" in a Verizon store it was a hands down winner. The screen is totally amazing, both the resolution and the colors. In side-by-side comparison with iPad 3, Galaxy's display was better. The tablet itself is very slim and weights 12 oz (see photo #2 in a collage of images I posted under customer photos).

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SCREEN:
The AMOLED screen is the best feature of this device. Sharp, crisp, bright. It was the best screen on all devices that I compared before this purchase. LCD Native Resolution: 1280 x 800 pixels.
Photo #1 in my image collage shows the screen, but does not give it full justice.

Capacitive touchscreen requires some getting used to (it is my first device with this type of interface). I am getting better and placing things where I want them, but sometimes it takes several attempts. I like the keyboard, it has a nice feedback and once I got used to the timing (you need to slightly pause between keystrokes) I am not making a lot of mistakes. The most difficult operation is to insert the letter in the middle of the text. Due to high resolution of the screen it is possible to use the keyboard in horizonal orientation and still see enough of the screen to make it usable (something I could not do well in my tests of Galaxy 7.0)

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SIZE:
I consider the tablet's size its second most important to me feature. Big enough not only to play but do some work, yet small enough to be portable.
Size (LWH): 7.74 inches, 5.2 inches, 0.31 inches
Weight: 12 ounces (photo #2 shows Galaxy on the postal scale)

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BATTERY LIFE:
Galaxy 7.7 has Li-Po 5100 mAh which is rated for 1200h of stand-by time.
After charging it over night, the next day I used it continuously in disconnected mode for 8 hours. This was 8 hours of heavy usage: installing, testing, and uninstalling apps. After 8 hours of non-stop use the battery went down to 20% (at which point it gave me a warning beep). I put it back into the charger and in 3 hours the battery was back up to 96%.

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STORAGE:
The unit came with 16GB and has microSD memory card slot which accepts up to 32GB.

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USB:
It has a regular USB connection. When attached my computer it appears as drive and I can access as any USB device for copying content. It can also be charged this way, but a slower rate than the dedicated charger.

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SPEAKERS:
The tablet has stereo speakers 3.5mm jack, and the sound it generates is very good. The volume with and without speakers has a large range. I enjoyed listening it to it with and without headphones.

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CAMERA:
The cameras on the tablet are not the strong point of this tablet. It is okay in a pinch, but I don't see using either one of them much. However, I am serious photography amateur and have several fairly good cameras so I have a certain bias when evaluating this feature. I am attaching 2 photos taken by the tablet. One with a flash and one without a flash. As you see the one taken without a flash is a little soft.

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KINDLE READER:
Kindle reader app looks the same as the PC Kindle Reader. For usability, I actually prefer the Amazon Cloud reader, which also works by connecting to it from the browser.

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NEGATIVES:

Not much so far!

1. Galaxy 7.7 still runs on Honey Comb 3.2 but slated to upgrade to ICS (date unknown). So it is missing some capabilities that are available in ICS. So far the one that mattered to me is that Chrome browser is not available for Honey Comb, and there is no perfect tool for syncing your bookmarks at no additional cost. Chromemark light is not integrated with the browser. Xmarks and Chromemark commercial versions are the non-free alternatives.
2. The touch screen takes some getting used to. You need to learn to delay between keystroke when typing. Positioning on a specific letter to correct a spelling mistake is not that easy.
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COMPARISON of some basic features between Galaxy 7.7" and Galaxy 7" Tabs:
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7" Galaxy:
Size (LWH): 7.62 inches, 4.82 inches, 0.39 inches
Weight: 12.16 ounces
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7.7" Galaxy:
Size (LWH): 7.74 inches, 5.2 inches, 0.31 inches
Weight: 12 ounces
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7" Galaxy:
Honey Comb 3.2 plus TouchWiz
Dual Core 1.2 GHZ CPU
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7.7" Galaxy:
Honey Comb 3.2 plus TouchWiz (announced it will get ICS)
Dual-core 1.4 GHz CPU
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7" Galaxy:
LCD Native Resolution: 1024 x 600 pixels
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7.7" Galaxy:
LCD Native Resolution: 1280 x 800 pixels
Display Type Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen
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7" Galaxy:
3.0 MP rear camera, 2.0 MP front camera
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7.7" Galaxy:
3.15 MP rear camera, 2.0 MP front camera
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So far I am quite pleased with Galaxy 7.7, it is just the right size for my needs and the screen makes it a pleasure to work with even for my presbyopic eyes.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Links to reviews of other products I purchased for the 7.7 Galaxy tablet:
-  Leather Folio
-  Fold-Up Stand
-  Capacitive Stylus
-  Car charger that keeps up charging even while navigating

You can find reviews of mobile apps I use under Blog Label "Galaxy 7.7 Tablet" on the left navigation pane of the blog.

Product review: Pop-Up Umbrella Greenhouse

Pop up green house really works!

I have been grown tomatoes on my deck in pots for a number of years. For the first few years  I waited to plant my tomatoes plants until the end of May as cold frosty night we get kill tomatoes that are planted too early.

But a few years ago I began using a pop-up green house to see if can extend the growing season in the cold North East. Small plants were planted in the green house in early April.

My plants were watered by a drip irrigation system on a timer. I did not open the green house other than every two weeks to fertilize the plants. The plants grew rapidly and survived well through a number of frosty nights we had since early April. By the beginning of May my tomato plants had flower clusters.

I was concerned about pollination, since my plants were covered and no well meaning bee could get to the flowers. After doing a bit of research I found that either insects, wind or hand shaking of the flowers would carry the pollen from the anthers to the stigma. I found that some people use electric toothbrush placed near the blossoms to simulate buzzing bees. But I went with a simpler method: shaking the plant gently once a week for self-pollination. The tomato pollen is not in the exterior of the anthers like most flowers but is produced internally and then released thru pores in the anther. Motion is required to release the pollen, and the greatest quantity is released by sonication of the "correct" frequency. When you shake the plant by hand try to mimic the natural resonances of sonicating bee. Shaking should not be violent, just as close to the right frequency as possible. Note that using implement like a cue tip or a brush is not very effective because the tomato's pollen is not on the surface.

In the last week of May last year I noticed the first tomatoes on my plants which is pretty incredible for the cold North East! I felt like a proud mother since I pollinated the plants myself with a technique described above :-)

Last year I noticed my first green tomatoes on 5/21.  I live in the Northeast, close to New Hampshire/Massachusetts border.  The tomato plants were about 3 feet tall by 5/21 and have several flower clusters. A friend of mine and I bought the same variety of tomatoes on the same day, but he does not use a pop green house. I visited his house the same weekend and his tomatoes were still little dwarfs compared to mine! This pop-up greenhouse really works!

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Fiskars 9418 Ultra Light Kneelers Knee Pads

I do a lot of my gardening on my knees as I find it easier on my bad back. Until I purchased Fiskars Kneelers Knee Pads I used a pad that knelt on. The problem with the pad of course is that you have to get up before moving to a new spot. It is much easier to garden with the knee pads attached to your legs. I am very pleased with this purchase.

I am attaching a photo under customer photos that I will be referencing in this review.

The photo shows both sides of the knee pads. The top image shows the outer shell of the pad that touches the ground. It is made out of thick (slight under 1/2 inch) rubberized material which provides cushioning and protection from moisture.

The bottom image show the inside part of the knee pad, which is made with soft black non-slippery material. The cavity of the knee pad is 4.75 inches wide, and 7 inches long. It can be made more narrow by tightening the knee straps or wider by pressing on it with the knee because it flexes.

Each knee pad has a rubber band which holds the knee pad to the leg. Each band is 20 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. At each end of the rubber band there is 3.5 inches of Velcro so you can adjust the pad based on the size of your leg. If your legs are particularly skinny you can sew in additional Velcro strip so you can close it tighter. If your legs are thicker you can add another piece of rubber band with more Velcro. I consider myself an average size woman and I got a perfect fit with and without long pants on.

The knee pads are easy to clean by washing them with a hose. They are solidly made and feel like a good quality item.

Fiskars offers lifetime warranty for the knee pads. Even if when I don't plan on using a warranty replacement, it always makes me feel good about a product when the company shows the confidence in the product by offering such long warranty. For warranty service, email warranty@fiskars.com or call 1-866-348-5661 or contact Fiskars Brands, Inc. 2537 Daniels Street, Madison, WI 53718.

I am really enjoying my knee pads, in particular because I can move so much easier with them than a knee pad I used before. I recommend this product.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Whirlpool Beverage and Wine Rack

Not ideal for wine bottles! But I have a solution that is!

We like deserts wines.  One distinctive characteristic of packing for most of these wines is that they come in tall thin half bottles. Because they are tall and thin I had to re-arrange the shelves in my refrigerator to fit them, and that left me with some quite narrow shelves.  In addition because of their small base they are not very stable and have been knocked down a few time by people using the refrigerator to get something else.

So I was looking for an alternative way to store an opened bottle of a desert wine.  The Whirlpool beverage and wine rack looked like something that would work well. On the positive side it fits any refrigerator that has a space between the shelve edge and the wall of the refrigerator.  My refrigerator is not Whirlpool and it worked.  But it had two major draw backs:
1.  To accommodate large Coke bottles the width of this shelve is about 6 inches.  Wine bottle is 2 inches.  It was not a good fit. About half of one shelve space in height was lost for not enough benefit.
2.  It is better to store an already opened bottle of wine not totally flat but with the cork slightly up to avoid any leakage.

These thoughts led me to the following solution, which I hope someone else will find useful.
I am attaching a 4 photo collage under customer photos that I will be referencing below.

1. Photos labeled #1 and #2: I used foam installation which came as packaging of one of my recent purchases (a piece that protected a monitor edge). The hard foam is about 4 inches wide and had a 2 inch slit down the middle. I made the slit slight wider at one end so it would fit the body of the bottle. As you can see in the photos its length is about half of the bottle. This allows me to rest the bottle on its side, with its neck cradled in the foam.  It prevents the bottle from rolling side to side, and provides a slight elevation to the top of the bottle so that even when it is almost full the wine cannot leak out.

2. Photos labeled #3 and #4: These photos show the "wine cradle" in the refrigerator.  It takes up little room, keeps the bottle steady and out of the way.

I am very pleased with this solution.  It is very functional and the price is right!  Hope someone else will be able to use this method for storage of wine bottles.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Product review: Duro-Med Adjustable Multi-Color Small Base Quad Cane

Stability : Wide side away from the body

I purchased a small base quad cane after back surgery to help me walk up the stairs. If you need a cane for walking up the stairs it is very important to get the cane with a small base so all four legs will fit onto a step.

I was taught how to use this cane in a rehabilitation facility. The cane is unstable if you use it the wrong way. The four leg base is not symmetrical. On one side two legs are spaced a little close together, on the other side a little more wide apart. It is very important to have the wide part AWAY from the body. The base can be switched based on whether you want to use right handed or left handed. This positioning makes a huge difference.

When the cane came from the factory it was set for the wrong hand, and if I did not have my lesson on stability I probably would have used it as is and would have been unhappy with stability of the cane. I hope this helps someone else!

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★