Product review: Toddy Gear 5 x 7 Inch Premium Microfiber Smart Cloth

This cleaning cloth is generously sized 6 7/8" on one side and 5" on the other side. You get one cleaning cloth in the package. One side is terri-cloth like micro fiber, the other side is satiny cloth. It is machine washable.

Toddy cleaning cloths comes in many colorful designs. The design appears only on the satiny slipery side, the micro fiber side has a solid color.

I am attaching a photo collage which shows both sides, as well as in use cleaning glasses for relative size. The photo can be located by following 'customer photo' link under the main photo.

I received a sample cleaning cloth from the manufacture to share my opinion with it whether positive or negative.

Is it better than other less expensive micro-fiber cleaning cloth? No. But one side has a colorful print and you are paying premium price for the colorful design.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Product review: Ferry-Morse Annual Flower Seeds 1009 Annual Cut Flower Mixture 600 Milligram Packet

This was a disappointing purchase in several aspects.

First, the amount of seeds you get in the package is quite small. I am attaching a photo which shows the entire content of the package on a white sheet of paper (placed on 1 inch gridded mat for size reference).
My local nurseries sell this amount of seeds for around $1.

Second, three weeks after I planted the seeds, watered them daily, I have practically zero germination rate. I planted another bag of seeds in another flower bed at the same time and it has quite a few seedlings. Both areas were watered at the same time and are located in the same sunny area.

I am attaching a photo collage containing four photos (1) the seeds contained in this package (2) the back of the packet which shows different planting zones (3) Flower bed with Ferry Morse Flower Mix, you can see one tiny seedling in the middle of the flower bed (4) Another seed package planted at the same time totally brimming with seedlings of various size.

I can't recommend this flower seeds mix.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★☆☆☆☆

Product review: Norpro 1059DB Norpro Garlic Peeler

This is as simple as a kitchen gadget gets. But it works! I am attaching a short video which shows the garlic peeler at work.

You need to roll a garlic clove inside the garlic peeler and then roll it with a palm of your hand. If you push a little harder you can smash the garlic as well as peel it. The garlic clove is peeled quickly and your hands are left clean and ordor free. I use a paper towel to clean the peeler between the cloves when needed so it is not slippery.

I also use this garlic peeler to open sticky bottle caps. Its textures surface grips very well and it is a little thicker than the other gripper cloth I have for opening caps, so I find that the garlic peeler gives my hands a slightly better protection.

The size of the peeler is 5" x 5".

I received this garlic peeler from the manufacture for testing and sharing my experience with it (good or bad) with other potential buyers. I hope the video gives you a good idea of what to expect.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Poweradd™ Pilot E2 12000mAh High Capacity Dual USB External Battery Pack

I tested Poweradd 12000mAh External Battery Pack with Samsung Galaxy 7.7 Tablet (running ICS 4.0.4) and iPad Mini.

I received this power bank from the manufacture for an honest review be it positive or negative. Top reviewers are often asked to review battery packs and one of the benefits of being asked to test different power banks is that it gives me an opportunity to compare them to each other using the same charging test, so I can compare them using "apples to apples" comparison. This set of tests allows me to provide unbiased results as the numbers speak for the performance of each unit. Based on these tests I rate this power bank as good - it is not the fastest but it has good capacity and performed equally well for both my Android and Apple mobile devices.

My methodology is to charge each mobile device on each port of the unit for 10 minutes and measuring how much each unit was charge in that 10 minute period. In addition I tested charging two mobile devices at the same time. Each line in the table below represents a separate 10 minute test.

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.

➨ General features:
======================

Poweradd 12000mAh external battery weighs 9.3 oz. Its size is 4.375" x 2.75" x 0.875". The pack has two USB output ports labelled 1A and 2.1A.

The external battery comes with coiled charging cable which is 7" when coiled and 4 connector tips (USB, micro USB, Apple, and one other which documentation does not identify and I don't recognize).

The power pack does not have auto power off. I left turned on and not attached to any device, 45 minutes later it was still on. Holding the button down for several seconds turns it off.

➨ Test Results:
======================

✔ Samsung Galaxy 7.7 tablet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Port 1A ~~~~ AC ~~~~~ 3% change in charge in 10 minutes
Port 2.1A ~~ AC ~~~~~ 4% change in charge in 10 minutes

✔ iPad Mini tablet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Port 1A ~~~~ AC ~~~~~ 2% change in charge in 10 minutes
Port 2.1A ~~ AC ~~~~~ 3% change in charge in 10 minutes

✔ Samsung Galaxy 7.7 tablet and iPad Mini tablet at the same time
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Port 1A ~~~~ AC ~~~~~ 3% change in charge in 10 minutes (Galaxy Tablet)
Port 2.1A ~~ AC ~~~~~ 2% change in charge in 10 minutes (iPad Mini)

Port 1A ~~~~ AC ~~~~~ 2% change in charge in 10 minutes (iPad Mini)
Port 2.1A ~~ AC ~~~~~ 3% change in charge in 10 minutes (Galaxy Tablet)

➨ Key finding:
======================
✔ This power pack performance falls in the middle of the power packs I have tested for both Galaxy 7.7 Tablet and iPad Mini. It is a good all purposes power pack that can handle both Android and Apple devices.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Metrokane Wine Rabbit Corkscrew with Houdini Aerating Pourer

After a couple of back surgeries my hand strength is pretty bad. When Metrokane asked me to test and review their Rabbit Corkscrew I eagerly agreed knowing I will be one of their weakling testers. I hoped for a magically easy bottle opener. I found that the initial push needed to pull the cork required more strength than I was able to provide and I was not able to do it. I decided that given my weak hands this was not a fair test of the Rabbit Corkscrew and I took it to a party where I asked a friend to open a bottle of wine using Rabbit Corkscrew while I recorded it.

✔ My friend was able to open the bottle of wine with a synthetic cork. As you see in the video it took a bit of work for the initial push and then was easy
✔ Releasing the cork from the corkscrew was easy by repeating the same motion as was used to open the bottle
✔ The foil remover got rave reviews - it was quick and easy and my friend asked me where she can get one of these
✔ The pourer/aerator was easy to use but not being wine connoisseurs our taste volunteers were not able to detect the difference between wine poured with it and without it
✔ The package comes with a spare worm, so if the original wears out or gets bent you have another one without having to buy it

Rabbit Corkscrew comes with a 10 year warranty. The warranty applies if Rabbit Corkscrew pull fails within 10 years of purchase. It can be returned for repair or replacement to Metrokane using the following address:

Metrokane
150 East 58th Street
New York, NY 10155

I hope the video gives you a good idea of what expect.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Epica Emergency Solar Hand Crank AM/FM/NOAA Digital Radio, Flashlight, Cell Phone Charger

I live in a tree dense area and lose power often during various storms. In the last few years I have been without power for 3 to 6 days several times. At times like that this emergency radio/flashlight would have been very handy.

This unit is unique because it has three sources of energy:

✔ USB which can be used to quickly recharge it
✔ Solar which can recharge it when there is sun
✔ Manual crank, where 1 minute of cranking will provide 30 minutes of light or 20 minutes of radio power

In the attached video I show various features of this emergency radio/flashlight. I was impressed that it gets fairly decent reception.

The Epica unit in addition to being a radio with FM/AM/WB bands also a flash light and can serve as an external power bank for brief charging of a cell phone (i.e. it will not fully recharge it, but will give it enough juice to make an emergency phone call). The radio has auto-tune capability. When you press and briefly hold ">" button it will scan until it finds the next adequate radio signal.

The radio is 5" by 3" by 1.75" in size, weighs 8.4 oz.

It has a handy handle so you can hold it on clip it as needed. It is water resistant and can be used in the rain or in a water craft, but it should not be submerged in water. Maintenance recommendation from the manufacture is to crank the handle for a few moments and turn on the flashlight for 5 seconds every 60 to 90 days if the unit is stored without use for several months. Manufacture states that battery life expectancy is more than 3 years and more than 5000 charging cycles (with 3 hours of daily use).

Overall, I am impressed with the radio reception I got. The flashlight is not the brightest flashlight I own but it is adequate. Cranking is not hard, and true to advertising 1 minute of cranking gave me about 30 minutes of light. I am feeling better about the next long power outage, and would recommend this unit to others. I hope my video gives you a good idea of what to expect.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Palm Pearl PowerBank - The Portable Power Source 4000mAh

There are many external packs on the market, many of them are very similar to each other. This power pack has several unique features.

✔ It is all-in-one charger, meaning it has built-in cables. You don't need to worry that you forget to bring a charging cable when you travel, and you don't need to deal with a table of wires.

✔ On the negative side if these cables are not the right cables for your device, you are stuck as there is no option to plug in your own cable.
The charger has three built-in charging cables one for micro USB, mini USB, and iPad. It has no lightning connector for iPad Mini, it has no Galaxy tab connector.
It has no outlets to attach a charging cable of your own or change connector tips.

✔ The charging cables are very short. Three of the 4 cables are 1/2" long (3 USB cables), and iPad cable is 1.25". The cables cannot be expanded.
I found them a bit cumbersome to work with due to short length.

✔ Palm charger has a unique shape with nicely sloped edges, it reminds me of a flying saucer shape. The charger is fairly small in size in size (2.5" by 3.5") and weights only 4.1 oz.

✔ Finally, the charging speed of this external power is very slow, it can only provide USB level of charge, none of my devices were able to get AC level which is the case with almost every other external power brick I have tested.
I tested this power pack with 5 mobile devices we own: Nexus 7 Tablet, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Pyle Tablet, Samsung Galaxy 7.7 tablet, and iPad Mini tablet. This test shows that this external power pack performed below average compared to other power packs I have tested. Results of my tests are below.

Top reviewers are often asked to review battery packs and one of the benefits of being asked to test different power banks is that it gives me an opportunity to compare them to each other using the same charging test, so I can compare them to each other using "apples to apples" comparison. My methodology is to charge each mobile device on each port of the unit for 10 minutes and measuring how much each unit was charge in that 10 minute period. In addition I tested charging two mobile devices at the same time. Each line in the table below represents a separate 10 minute test. 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:
======================

✔ Nexus 7 Tablet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
➨ USB level of charge.......+1 % charge in 10 minutes

✔ Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
➨ USB level of charge.......0 % charge in 10 minutes (+1% charge in 20 minutes)

✔ Pyle Tablet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
➨ USB level of charge.......0 % charge in 10 minutes (-1% charge in 20 minutes)

✔ Samsung Galaxy 7.7 tablet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
➨ Not supported

✔ iPad Mini tablet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
➨ Not supported

For comparison, the fastest chargers in my tests provide 5-6% in a 10 minute. 3%-4% up charge in 10 minute is fairly common.

I received this power bank from the manufacture for an honest review be it positive or negative. In fact, they specifically interested in what could be improved in the next version of the product.
Here is my wish list:

✔ I would like the charger to provide AC level of charging.
✔ I would like to see a change to replaceable charging tip so the charger can be used with a larger variety of devices.
✔ I would like to see the cable be retractable, so they can be made longer during use and retracted for storage.

I am attaching a collage of 3 photos which shows the charger on 1" gridded mat for size reference. Photo #1 shows the charger with cables extended and cover closed, photo #2 shows the charger with cables extended and cover open, photo #3 shows the charger during one of the tests. The photos can be located by following 'customer photos' link under the main photo.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆