Product review: SEREE S2-BL Ultra HD 4.0K 360 Degree Action Waterproof Panoramic Sport DV Camera

The camera has a fisheye lens which produces 360 degree video. Overall, the video quality is pretty good under many conditions but not all. It overexposes video when the camera is shooting in very sunny conditions and it does not compensate well when you move from shadow to the sun (like when you come out from under the bridge into the full sun). I show small clips which show the camera at its worst and at its best in attached video. Under good lighting the color rendition is good and true to life. It also takes pretty decent night time video. The camera microphone is worse than other sports cameras I have used. You will hear sound distortions in my video. Keep in mind that Amazon compresses video, so it is best to watch it as postage format so the compression effects are not visible.

The camera user interface is menu driven, but you can only see two lines. The documentation is not detailed and not good, so I am finding myself fumbling with the keys a bit as I navigate through menus even after several weeks of using the camera. The navigation and keys are not obvious in many cases. All buttons are overloaded with several functions depending on what mode the camera is in.

This camera support WIFI mode where live video can be see on the smart phone. The app for live product is called "XDV360°" (by Shenzhen Pisoftware Technology). The app is not great, but at least it is available from Googplay and the manufacturer did not ask me to load the app from an untrusted site. Downloading software from untrusted site is not safe and I never down load apps from manufacturer web site unless it is a well known trusted company.

The camera supports micro SD cards up to 32GB (the micro SD card is NOT included). To recharge the camera takes about 2 hours from empty, I am getting about 2 hours of video on one charge.

The package includes a large number of clamps and holders as well as a waterproof case. Windshield suction cup mount is not included, and because of the shape of the camera none of my old window suction cup mounts fit the camera facing forward.

The manual is very sparse. The manual is very small and only has a few basic operations. It does not have instructions for every button. Plan on doing some experimentation to figure out controls.

I really like the fisheye lens. The video quality is very good under many conditions, but not all. The sound recording is not good. The user interface is not as user friendly as some other sports cameras. Overall rating OK.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Food review: Cha Wu Grade A Dragon Ball Jasmine Pearls Tea

This Jasmine tea comes as pearls - tightly rolled pea size balls.  It has a very lovely Jasmine flavor.  I have tried a number of different Jasmine teas in the past and this one tasted a little different to me - the taste is more round and sligtly sweet.  It leaves a very pleasant taste in my mouse once I swallow.

I like drinking it cold with lemon on hot days. It is probably not the traditional way to drink it, but it is very refreshing this way.


There is no one world wide standard system for grading tea, the grading system used for this tea is called Cha Wu Grading and it ranges from D (lowest quality) to SS (highest quality).  This is the order from low to high: D, C, B, A, AA, S, SS.  I got the Grade A.

This loose teas come in vacuum packed foil lined bag with a lock at the top (similar to coffee pack bags).  I use an electric kettle that lets me select the temperature and I use 90℃ (slight below boiling) and steep for several minutes. The resulting tea has a light golden color as you see in the attached photos.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: BlueDriver Bluetooth Professional OBDII Scan Tool for iPhone, iPad & Android

I originally purchased BlueDriver in 2015 and was not particularly happy with the app.  However by January 2016 the app had several revisions and have become excellent.

The original review was fairly critical giving 5 stars to the hardware and 2 stars to the BlueDriver app. For a number of months I had to use an alternate free app (Torque) because BlueDriver just did not stay connected long enough to be useful. However, after a number of updates the app is now excellent and provides a lot of information that the free app does not. It provides clear readout for engine light on (I am including an example from EGR Valve problem). It also correctly showed a recall for the air bag before the manufacture notified me in a letter many months later.

Because of the dramatic improves I felt compelled to replace the critical review with this 5 star review.

The scanner is simple to install and simple to use. A lot simpler than I expected, frankly. All cars and light trucks built and sold in the United States after January 1, 1996 were required to be OBD II equipped. Once I looked up what the OBD-II connector looked like it was easy to locate it. The connector is very distinctive looking, I am including a picture of it in my video for reference. In my car the connector was located under my dash, slightly to the right of the steering wheel.

The OBD II scanner is fairly small: 1.75" wide, 1.74" tall, and 0.875" wide.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Food Review: Cha Wu Grade A and Grade B Fruity Tieguanyin Oolong Tea

The taste of Oolong ranges hugely among various sub-varieties.  It can be sweet and fruity, or woody and thick with roasted aromas, or green and fresh, all depending on the horticulture and style of production.

I got Tie Guan Yin of two variety Grade A and Grade B. There is no one world wide standard system for grading tea, the grading system used for this tea is called Cha Wu Grading and it ranges from D (lowest quality) to SS (highest quality).  This is the order from low to high: D, C, B, A, AA, S, SS.


I like both teas but definitely can taste the difference between the two teas, which is especially pronounced when I drink the tea cold. Both teas feel very refreshing.   Grade A has a sweet flavor, no bitter after taste.  I thought it tasted similar to the teas in a Chinese restaurants, but a little less astringent.  After I swallow there is a pleasant after glow taste in my mouth. 

Grade B had a unique flavor, I have not been exposed to it before. It has a slight more tart and slightly bitter taste and the tea was slightly deeper color (I seeped them from the the pot and for the same amount of time). The flavor dissipated faster than the Grade A tea.

These loose teas come in foil lined bags with a lock at the top (similar to coffee pack bags).

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: ZELITE INFINITY Santoku Knife 7 Inch. Japanese VG10 Super Steel

This is a terrific knife. This a general purpose knife for dicing, slicing and mincing. The name translates from Japanese to mean "well-balanced" and is designed with the weights of the blade and the handle to be equally balanced. This balance in combination with the rounded design of the handle makes cutting and dicing with it quick and easy. It is very sharp, everything I cut feels as easy as cutting soft butter.

The Santoku has a limited "rocking" travel in comparison to a Western-style chef's knife. When the blade rests on the cutting plane there is very little clearance above the cutting plane from heel to the tip. The Santoku design is shorter, lighter, thinner, and more hardened (to compensate for thinness) than a traditional Western chef's knife.

The "scalloped" sides that give this knife its unique look create small air pockets between the blade and the material being sliced and reduce cutting friction. The higher quality of Japanese knives use laminated steel which has a beautiful pattern. This knife has this laminated finish. The use of laminated steel improves the strength and rust resistance of the blade (and it looks beautiful).

It can be washed in a dishwasher, but I prefer to wash it by hand so it will last longer and there's no risk of them cutting the plastic coating on the appliance racks.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: 4 Way Hose Splitter - KMASHI Garden Hose Connector with long handles

I like that most of this hose splitter are the long shut-off handles.  They are very easy to open and close. The splitter is made out of metal encased in rubber. The quick connects are plastic, but the other fittings are zinc alloy and give me a tight seal.

On the negative side the water outlets are tightly packed. This comes into play if you are using timers. A timer on this splitter covers up two outlets. Some four way splitters have connectors that are angled and they allow an outlet next to the timer to be accessible. For my gardening needs I have multiple timers as well as hoses, so I could not use this splitter in the back of the house. However, in the front I am using one timer on this splitter which means I had to give up one of the outlets as it is blocked.

The package includes 10 additional washers (plus one more is already in the hose splitter).

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Rosewill VALENS-700M Modular Design 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V Active-PFC Power Supply

This is a nice power supply with enough for any personal computer. Its capacity of 700w and a large number of connectors (total of 5 connectors plus 3 hard-wired plugs). This power supplies provides a lot of room for growth.

Alens 700 is 5 5/8" x 3.5" x 6". It uses ribbon cables, which are more flexible than round cables.

Connectors:

--> One 20 +4 Main plug, hard-wired
It can handle motherboards with both 20 pin or 24 pin connectors.
--> One EPS12V CPU plug, hard-wired
The power supply supports one CPUs. It is designed for desktop use only, as servers often have more than one CPU.
--> One PCIe plug, hard-wired
--> One PCIe plug, modular
Supports two SLI graphics cards
--> Three SATA or Molex plugs
2 SATA cables, each with 3 plugs, total of 6 SATA devices
1 Molex cable, four Molex plugs and one floppy plug

I measured the power supply with a power supply tester and all votages are within tolerance. The attached video includes several screen shots that show the power supply tester output. The top number for each rail shows the expected results, the number below (in a slightly larger font) shows the actual reading. 0.5V is the acceptable tolerance. All readings are well within the tolerance. Its a good one!


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★