Product review: Levin™ Sol-Wing 13W Ultra-slim Highest Efficiency Solar Panel Portable Solar Charger

This solar panel consists of two solar panel, each having a solar element which is 10.5" x 5". It has one USB port, which you can use with your own cords.

When the solar panel is fully open its size is 16" X 12.5" X .5", when folded it is 12" X 7" x 0.75". The panel has loops so you can hang it aimed at the sun, or attach to your backpack while hiking.

This solar panel does not have a battery to store the energy, it is purely a solar charger. It chargers the device only when the panel is the sun. Since in general it is not good for electronics to be exposed to sun this panel has a tri-fold design which allows you put the phone in pocket under the panel. The pocket is well designed: it is a mesh pocket with a double zipper which makes it easy to open and position your device. The pocket is 10" x 5", so most tablets will not fit into it but it works well for a smart phone.

I measured the performance of this solar panel with a current monitor. I could see how it delivered different amount of energy based on the sun condition (bright sun, dim sun due to clouds, angle of the sun to the panel).

The best reading I got for my Android phone is 1.04A and 4.85V (bright sun, solar panel had perpendicular angle to the sun). For comparison when the sun got a little dim because a thin cloud in the sky the reading dropped to 0.45A and 4.12V.

I thought the panel worked well and I liked the fairly large zipped pocket with a mesh design, which is better than my old solar panel which had a smaller pocket without a zipper.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Levin™ X-power Pro 10400mAh External Battery Backup Power Bank

Levin X-Power Pro is a large capacity external battery (10400mAh) in a compact body. Its size is 3.25"L x 3.5"W x 0.81"H, its weight is 8.8oz. The battery is rated as 10400 mAh. Since some power during charging is lost to inefficiencies (such as heat) it will provide approximately 7800 mAh. I was able charge my phone with 3800mAh extended battery from low levels to full twice.

The battery has a bright and clear charging indicator, each of the four segments indicates 25% charge. The indicator does not stay on when you charge, you can turn it back on for a few seconds by pressing the ON button.

This charger has 2 ports labelled 1A and 2.1A.

I tested this charger with Samsung Nexus phone and iPad Mini. This external battery worked with both devices, the speed of charging for iPad Mini was a bit below average, the charging rate for my phone was average. If you are interested in the details of the next I am including them below in the "test results" section.

Test results
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I use the current monitor and a 10 minute charging to test to test all my chargers, this gives me two data points to compare them to each other so I can tell which chargers perform well relative to their peers. For the 10 minute charging test I start each test at about the same level to account for non linear charging.

Samsung Nexus phone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Port 1A current monitor: 0.81A/4.93V
Port 1A - AC charging - 3% in 10 minutes

Port 2.1A current monitor: 0.77A/4.88V
Port 2.1A - AC charging - 6% in 10 minutes

iPad Mini tablet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Port 1A current monitor: 0.93A/4.89V
Port 1A - AC charging - 1% in 10 minutes

Port 2.1A current monitor: 1.25A/4.83V
Port 2.1A - AC charging - 2% in 10 minutes

Overall, nice capacity in a relatively small package.
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Poweradd™ Universal Dual USB Port Adapter Power Wall Charger

This charger worked well with my iPad Mini but did not work at all with my Android phone. It provided under half of 1 Amp when I charged my Android phone on both ports. It did not upcharge the phone at all in my 10 minute charging test. I have tested many wall chargers and have never seen such poor performance for this phone.

I run the same tests to test all my chargers and power banks. I started running these tests when my Android devices had HoneyComb operating system so I was able to observe the improvements in charging with different version of the Android OS. Before Android OS 4.21 I could only get fast charging on 1A port, and would get slower performance on 2.1A port (designed for Apple devices) on my Android devices. After upgrade to Jelly Bean 4.21 I see the same performance on 2A and 1A ports as Google figured out the Apple protocol and now my Android devices typically charge similar in speed on both ports ports. When I saw slow performance it still charged a few percent in 10 minutes. This charger showed 0% upcharge. I thought I just got a bad charger, but then it did extremely well charging my iPad Mini. I repeated charging my Android phone several times using different cables, but got the same results.

If you are interested in the details of the tests I am including them below for reference.

The Poweradd wall charger is 1.5" x 1.24" x 1.5" and has two charging ports.

TEST RESULTS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I use the current monitor and a 10 minute charging to test to test all my chargers, this gives me two data points to compare them to each other so I can tell which chargers perform well relative to their peers.

Samsung Nexus phone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Port 1 - USB charging - 0% in 10 minutes (no change)
Port 1 current monitor: 0.45A/5.08V

Port 2 - USB charging - 0% in 10 minutes (no change)
Port 2 current monitor: 0.44A/5.09V

iPad Mini tablet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Port 1 - AC charging - 5% in 10 minutes
Port 1 current monitor: 1.79A/5.02V

Port 2 - AC charging - 5% in 10 minutes
Port 2 current monitor: 1.63A/5.04V

If you only own Apple devices this wall charger does a fine job. However I use both Apple and Android mobile devices, so having a charger that can do just one of them is not good for me..

[You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★☆☆☆

Product review: Amzdeal® Moving Life - A1 8000mAh Ultra-Slim Portable Power Bank

Amzdeal® Moving Life 8000mAh a medium capacity battery in slim body size (5.75"L x 2.75"W x 0.375"H). It weighs 6.1 oz. The battery is rated as 8000 mAh. Since some power during charging is lost to inefficiencies (such as heat) it will provide approximately 6000 mAh. This battery has just one port. I tested the ports using the current monitor and they appear to be 1A. The package includes a flat micro USB charging cable.

The charging level indicator is bright so it is easy to see. There are 4 lights each one representing 25% of the remaining power.

I tested Amzdeal battery with Samsung Nexus Phone and iPad Mini tablet. For those who are interested in the bottom was battery was able to charge both devices, but very slowly for iPad Mini. It performed at average speed for the Android phone. The enclosed charging cable performed well, it was as good or better than my own charging cable.

★ Test Results:
======================
To help me compare different batteries to each other I use the same two tests on every port: a current monitor and a 10 minute charging test. This gives me specific numbers which allow me to compare different devices to each other, as well as see how different devices behave when operating system changes releases. I started running these tests when my Android devices had HoneyComb operating system so I was able to observe the improvements in charging with different version of the Android OS. Before 4.21 I could only get fast charging on 1A port, and would get bad performance on 2.1A port on my Android devices. After upgrade to Jelly Bean 4.21 I see the same performance on 2A and 1A ports as it is controlled by the device negotiating the protocol with the charger. Google reverse engineered the Apple protocol and now my Android devices typically charge similar in speed on both ports of a good charger. This is not true for Apple devices. They do better on ports designed for Apple (2.1A ports).

✔ iPad Mini Tablet
--------------------------
AC charging rate ----- 1% change in charge in 10 minutes
current monitor: ~~~~~ 0.93A and 4.95V

✔ Samsung Nexus Phone (my own cable)
--------------------------
AC charging rate ----- 4% change in charge in 10 minutes
current monitor: ~~~~~ 0.81A and 5.02V

✔ Samsung Nexus Phone (included micro USB cable)
--------------------------
AC charging rate ----- 5% change in charge in 10 minutes
current monitor: ~~~~~ 0.87A and 5.00V

★ Summary
------------------
In my tests this battery performed better with my Android device than my Apple device. If you have iPad Mini I would not recommend this external battery, if you have an Android phone this battery has a fairly large capacity in thin body.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Digital Sound Noise Level Meter Tester Decibel 40-130db

This sound meter works quite well measuring the sounds from 40 to 130 dB. Handy device whether you want to check which motor is the loudest when you shopping for an appliance or want to document how loudly the neighbours dogs are barking. This meter does not record the noise leveljust shows the level of the noise. However you can make a video or take photos with a time stamp which will record a time stamped information that you can use as evidence of the noise.

The sound meter is 7"L x 3"W x 1"H. The unit runs on one 9V battery which is included.

Note on battery replacement: The documentation says "use a screwdriver to unscrew the battery compartment cover". I was able to pop out the battery cover without the screwdriver, there is no screw that holds the battery cover down.

In my experienced it worked well. I hope the video gives you a better idea of what to expect.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Pawtec 2600mAh 2-Pack Portable Power Stick Power banks lipstick size

I like mini power banks, I always have one in my purse and on charging. It is nice to have a bit of emergency power if the phone runs out of power. I also use them with my MP3 player which has built-in battery, using it with a power packs means I don't have to stop listening when I need to recharge the non-removable battery.

This package has two Pawtec 2600mAh power packs. Each one is 3 7/8" and weighs 2.5 oz.

The only negative thing I can say about the power packs I can say that the charge indicator does not stay on all the time and when it is on it is hard to see. To take a photo of it I had to turn down the lights, otherwise it was not showing up in the photograph.

To test how well the power packs charged my devices I always run these test so I can compare different chargers to each other based on the results of the same tests. This gives me an unbiased way of measuring how each external battery performs.

If you are interested in the details of the tests I am including them below. Summarizing the results I can say that the power stick worked both with my Nexus Phone and iPad mini. It charged the phone and the tablet on par with other external power packs on similar size.

➨ How I tested this battery pack:
======================

To test this battery pack I used a current monitor. In addition to the current monitor I also used a 10 minute charging test which is less abstract than the measurements of current and voltage.

The 10 minutes test consists of charging each mobile device on each port of the battery pack for 10 minutes and measure how much each unit was charge in that 10 minute period. Since the charging speed is non-linear I start charging each device from approximately the same charge level. I use Battery App by Elvison to determine how each device recognized the charging source. 'AC' status means the charging is at full charging rate. 'USB' status indicates charging at a lower charging rate. 'Discharging' status means that the charging rate is below the power that the device is consuming so it slows down the discharge rate but does not re-charge.

➨ Test Results:
======================
✔ Galaxy Nexus Phone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Charge at AC rate ~~~~~~ 4% change in charge in 10 minutes (silver power pack)
Current monitor: ~~~ 0.60A, 4.85V

Charge at AC rate ~~~~~~ 4% change in charge in 10 minutes (black power pack)
Current monitor: ~~~ 0.60A, 4.84V

✔ iPad Mini
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Current monitor: ~~~ 0.93A, 4.81V (silver power pack)
Current monitor: ~~~ 0.93A, 4.82V (black power pack)

I found these power sticks to perform well and I like their size. The only thing I wished was different is a more clear charging status indicator.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Soaiy Lastest Bluetooth 4.0 Car Hands Free Visor Speakerphone

The best thing about this speaker is the clip that allows to place the speaker on a visor, which makes it very convenient to control and answer phone calls. The speaker performed well when making phone calls.  The sound was clear and loud for voices. The positioning on the visor was very convenient. The speaker works to stream music from the phone but Soaiy speaker does not have a lot of range, so the music did not sound as good as with some other small speakers.  My video includes small snippets of both a music clip and making a phone call. 

The worst thing about the speaker is the charger that comes with it.  There are many things in the car that I want to charge and I want to have one charger that is cable of charging the phone or a GPS or a speaker.  This charger is not cable of charging anything but the speaker.  The charger kept the phone from discharging but did not charge it up. I performed the two tests I use to test all chargers - a current monitor and a 10 minute test. A 10 minute charging test showed 0% charging.  The current monitor showed 0.57A/4.64V reading, which is about half of what is needed to charge my Android mobile phone.  I repeated the test with my own charging cable in case the cable that came with the charger was a data cable (data cable provide lower speed of charging), but got exactly the same results. When I took the charger out of the car port after two  10 minute tests I smelled a slight electrical burning smell and the charger was warm.  I would not recommend using this charger to recharge anything but the speaker. If you want to have one charger in the car that charges both the speaker and the phone look for another car charger.

Soaiy S-31 bluetooth speaker mounts on the visor and 5" wide, 1.875" high and 0.75" thick (without the clip) and 1.65" with the clip.  It comes with a 47" charging cable. The car plug is 3" and has a 1 port.

The front of the speaker has volume up and down buttons as well as a big answer button. The microphone is located right under the phone icon on the answer button. This speaker support Bluetooth 4.0 which has lower power consumption.  According to documentation the built-in battery can last up to 30 days on a single charge when it is in a standby mode.  It can support connections to two phones.  Bluetooth turns off automatically to save power when it is not in use.  To pair the speaker with the phone turn on the device and it will flash blue and red LED to indicate that it is in a pairing mode.  To connect two phones, pair the first phone then hold the bluetooth button for 5 second pair the second phone.  At this point the first phone becomes disconnected but can be connected again by tapping on connect on the phone.  This will result in both phones being connected to the speaker. When the speaker is connected to a device the battery status indicator will be displayed on the phone. When the battery is low a red indicator on the speaker will flash quickly three times every 3 seconds. When call comes in the speaker generates an alert and it will be pick up the call if you hit the answer button.  To disconnect the call you need to hit the answer button again.  If the switch on the bottom of the speaker is in 'off' position, the speaker will not generate alerts for incoming calls.

To summarize, The highlight for me is that it can be placed on the visor and that it works well for phone calls. On the strength of that feature I rate it 4 stars. The weakest point is the charger and I threw it away and use the speaker with another charger.  The overall star rating for both is 3 stars as I give more weight to the good speaker.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆