Product review: HyLoft 00625 45-Inch by 45-Inch Overhead Storage System

I installed 45" x 45" HyLoft storage system in the unfinished basement. Hyloft consists of 4 steel poles attached to the rafters, 2 poles that connect them to form a support to 3 gridded shelves.

Since I have exposed beams I slightly modified how I attached the 4 steel poles to the rafters instead of bolting the to the bottom per instructions that worked with finished ceilings, I attached them to side of the rafters with a set of bolts I purchased separately. You can see my method in attached video.

What is nice about the system is that it gives you a bit of freedom of how to position the poles, as you can see in the video they do not have to be precisely in the corners of the shelves. I have some over hang as it allowed me to position the shelves in a way that will be easy to access them from all directions for loading and unloading. It also gives you a lot of control of how high from the floor you want to hang the shelves.

The system feels very secure although it flexes as you put things on and off. It is very roomy and allowed me to use previously dead space very effectively. I liked it so much that I also purchased a second smaller unit (27" x 36") to make use of the area above washer and dryer.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★

Product review: HeadRig 1 - Universal smartphone head mount for Hands Free Video Capturing byMoble L.L.C.

I do a lot of "how to" and review videos and recently someone asked my opinion on head rigs. I do NOT like them!  I am reposting a review I did in 2015 to show why I rated the head rig as 2 stars product even though it was well made and held the phone securily.

My initial excitement at the idea of hands free set-up dissipated after I saw the resulting video. It worked but not as well as I hoped. Here are my observations.

1. The best videos are steady without any shake. To keep the video totally steady in a head harness is very difficult.

2. For a good video the subject should be centered in the frame or at least not cut off. The issue with the harness is that it is hard to see the screen even though I positioned it as low as possible so I can peek at the screen of the smart phone which is facing me.

3. Operating the camera video app is difficult as the rig itself covers up important parts of the screen.

On the positive side, the rig held the phone very security. I was able to accommodate my phone which is 5 7/8" long. The size of my phone is about the maximum size the harness could fit. I had to remove one of the balls on the ends otherwise it did not open enough. The HeadRig can accommodate a phone 1/4" larger (with both balls removed) more but not any larger.

Because I extended the phone as far as possible and as low as possible from my head (so I can see as much of the screen as possible for better framing) the harness felt rather top heavy and I had to tighten the harness on my head very tightly otherwise it slid forward.

So what was the bottom line? It certainly was easier to do the demos when I did not have a tripod in front of me, but the final video with the tripod was better because it had zero shake and I could frame the shot better. In addition to the shake and framing the quality of the videos taken by the phone is not as good as one taken with a camera. In my videos taken with the harness I could see the focus go in and out and I did not find the resulting video acceptable.

At the end of my video review you can see a video I shot with the harness for another one of my reviews, I decided not to use that video because of the shake and the focus going in and out as my head moved slightly.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★☆☆☆

Product review: Bausch & Lomb Advanced Relief Eye Wash - 4 oz.

I have ordered Bausch and Lomb Advanced Eye Wash in the past.  Since I last ordered the changed the design of the cap and I like it less. The cap is now attached to the bottle and the dropper is to the side rather than in the middle of the bottle. I find it harder to control the flow to put it in my eye as the cover and off center position make it more difficult.  However the solution is as good as before.

This Amazon order was purchased in June 2017, the bottle I received expired in 2019. Pretty good!

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Ree&Bee Magnetic Edges Windshield Snow Cover

The windshield shade is made out of light weight nylon - one side is black to help melt snow in the winter, the other silver to reflect sun in the summer. Its size is 80" x 48" and it has strong six magents sewn into the edges. In attached video you can see it on my Honda CRV SUV. The windshield is covered fully side to side and top to bottom with enough material to have overlap dangle down so the doors can hold down the sides. The troublesome area for CRV is how snow packs under the windshield wipers (between the hood and the windshield), so even though the wipers could be used to hold the cover down, I like putting the cover on top so I can keep the snow away from that area between the hood and the window.

I like the magnet design to keep the windshield on top of the car. The magnets insure that the edges of the cover are not lifted by the wind, while the flaps tucked into the doors make sure that the entire cover does not fly away.

Overall, it does makes snow removal easier after a snow fall, and especially useful for the icy mix - no scraping is required!

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: B BRIGHT Zoomable USB Rechargeable IPX4 Waterproof Headlamp

This headlamp is very bright. It has three lamps and can operate in four modes: two small lamps, one powerful central lamp, or three lamps together, and finally it can be put in the strobe mode. In addition to the front light, it has a red light on the battery compartment which is useful for any nighttime outdoor activity as it makes the person visible from the back.  When the headlamp is in strobe mode both the front and the back lights flash.

The central lamp has a zoom. The ring on the central light can be rotated to change the size of the beam from small to large as I show in the video.

The straps on the headlamp are highly adjustable and fits both my relative small head and my husband's head.

The light is mounted on a bracket which can be racheted to angle down so it is can be aimed to point to the ground in front of the person.  The racheting mechanism is a little stiff but hopefully it will become smoother with more use.

The  headlamp runs on either one or two 18650 batteries. It has a built-in battery charger and a micro USB cord is included in the package. Also included is a AAA battery holder. Instead of using 18650 batteries, one could use the more common AAA batteries.

The  package also includes a bicycle bracket, so the headlamp can be used as a bike headlamp as well.


Overall, pretty good headlamp: the brightness of the light and light on the back are two things that made it my favote headlamp.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Side by side comparison of batteries for Arlo video camera / Energizer Photo Battery, Cell Size, 123

I am using four CR123A Lithium 3V batteries in Arlo wireless video camera.  I owned Arlo camera for a few years so I had a chance to compare longevity of several different batteries (Panasonic, Duracell, Energizer as well as off-brand rechargeable batteries).  Every time I change the battery I write down the date so I can compare the longevity from each set of batteries.  Arlo takes 4 batteries at a time.

Energizer batteries have performed the worst in my experience, on par with rechargeable batteries.

* Cold weather (i.e. spans winter): Panasonic 4 months, Duracell 2 months, Energizer 2 weeks.
* Warm weather: Panasonic 6 months,  Duracell 4 months

Another data point I have is comparison with rechargeable CR123A Lithium batteries.

* Cold weather: Panasonic  4 months, rechargeable 123A  2 weeks
* Warm weather: Panasonic 6 months, rechargeable 123A 1 month

A note on Panasonic batteries.  I have been burned when I bought Panasonic batteries from vendors other than Amazon, they appear to last significantly less (this happened twice).  It is possible that other vendors are selling older batteries.  So I always check the vendor and pay a buck or two more if necessary to get it directly from Amazon as it gets me several extra month of battery life.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★☆☆☆☆

Product review: CETIM Emergency Personal Alarm Keychain

This personal alarm is quite loud, my ears were not too happy while I tried it out indoors.  The documentation states that the loudness of the alarm is 130dB.

The alarm is fairly small in size about 2.75" long x 1.6" wide and 0.75" thick. It runs on three L4RR batteries.

The sound is initiated by pulling out a pin attached to the lanyard  from the side of the gadget.  The lanyard makes it easy to pull out.   To stop the sound you need to re-insert the pin back into the device.  Since the pin is totally separated from the alarm it might be possible to misplace it during emergency.  In that case it would be impossible to stop the sound until the battery runs out. 

The personal alarm also has a button in the center which turns on a small flashlight.  This small flashlight is not the strong point of the device, it is an extra feature to the main functionality of making a loud noise.  The light is not very bright but good enough in a emergency.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆