Product review: J&S Dental Lab Professional Grade Custom Made Soft Night Guard Upper for Light Teeth Grinding

My dentist told me that I am a mild tooth grinder. This is my first night guard. I was told that most people who grind their teeth usually prefer wearing upper night guard especially for those who wear it for the first time.

First, I received the impression kit. The kit comes with three trays from small to large and two patty bags that need to be mixed before taking an impression. The instruction were simple and clearly explain what I needed to do. I had to select the tray that fit my mouth best, then mix the putty (taking no more than 30 seconds to do it), then put it my mouth, push it up with my fingers holding in that position for 3-4 minutes.

When I initially put the tray in my mouth there was a bit of a gag reflex which quickly settled. Since you cannot swallow for 4 minutes you will drool so have a towel handy. Getting the mold out was a little hard, but it came out cleanly not leaving any gunk on my teeth.

The original box came with a pre-paid return box that I used to ship back the impression. I mailed mine on May 19, received the guard back on May 30, and has been using it for three weeks prior to writing this review.

It takes a while to get used to wearing a night guard. The first time I put it in I had a strong gag reflex. The same thing happened the second time. On the third time I could wear it for a few minutes and then had to take it out. It took a good week of every day "practice" before I could tolerate the night guard enough to actually wear it to bed.

Because the night guard is made from the impression of my teeth it fits me very well, I feel it but it is not tight and it does not fall out. I am still aware of the night guard being there, but I no longer gag every time I put it in.

I keep the night guard clean by rinsing it every morning and periodically brushing it with a toothbrush and toothpaste.

This night guard is provided by JS Dental. Note that JS Dental told me that they do not do upper guards for people who have missing or loose teeth in the upper, for those people they recommend lower night guards or none at all. When there is a missing or loose tooth the night guard fitting is compromised and it might do more harm than produce benefits.

Night guards are not fun, but if you grind your teeth they can to prevent tooth damage. If you need a night guard this one fits well.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Ouddy Steel Can Opener

This is a surprisingly heavy can opener, it weights 11.6 oz.

Its construction is different from my other mechanical can openers. It opens flat as you can see in the video. This has its pluses and minuses. The positive is that it is very easy to clean well. The negative is that it is harder to position correctly on the can, and when I use I sometimes have to reposition it several time which generates an uneven edge. My other mechanical can openers hang on to the edge of the can better when I rotate the spindle.

The teeth of the can opener is made out of stainless steel, the rest is made out steel alloy. This can opener is not magnetic, so it is probably steel/nickel alloy. As you see in the video the teeth of the can opener are pretty sharp and once you have it in position it cuts easily. It is not as comfortable in my hand as my Kitchen Aid mechanical can opener.

Cleaning the can opener is super easy. Because it opens flat it is very easy to use a brush to clean the the teeth of the can opener that catch food remnants. Since this can opener is not made entirely out of stainless steel I wash it by hand and dry immediately.

Overall, best feature is how it opens up for cleaning, weakest feature is weight distribution. I wish the handles were longer. The can opener feels top heavy when I use it and longer handles would have made it more comfortable to hold.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Product review: Satechi RideMate USB Rechargeable Bicycle Taillight

My bike's tail light is a reflector. I decided that will be a nice safety upgrade and it is!

This taillight has three modes bright steady red light, dim steady red light, and flashing red light.

♦ Bright steady light functions three hours on one charge
♦ Dim steady light functions six hours on one charge
♦ Flashing light functions six hours on one charge

The taillight recharges in 2.5 hours. When you plug it in the red light turns on and when it is fully charged the red light turns off. The charging cable is a little difficult to insert as the bracket for mounting makes it a bit difficult to insert the cable straight down, so just make sure that the red light charging indicator turns on to indicate that proper contact has been made.

The mounting bracket is made out of rubber and it is easy to mount and get a good fit. Since it is rubber it is not going to scratch the bike finish.

This taillight is bright and very noticable. A good safety feature!


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Zeetron Ultra Compact Emergency Keychain Usb Cable

This gizmo is pretty neat! It is very compact (1 7/8" x 1 1/4" x 1/4") plastic case which can be threaded on your keychain. It gives you 3.25" USB cord.

Sure, it is small and cute, but does it work well as a micro USB cable? Yes.

I used the current monitor to see how well this cable chargers my Samsung Nexus phone. This cable provided 0.96A and 5.10V.

I test all my chargers and cables with the current monitor, running the tests starting with the same charge level of the phone to account for non-linear charging. My favorite charging cables using the same phone and the same charger gives me 0.98A - 1.02A. So this little cable comes very close to being as good as my best cables.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Satechi RideMate 2500mAh Portable Energy Station 500 lumen Bicycle Light

This is a bright light with 4 different light modes. It is designed to work a forward facing bike light. But the stand is removable and it can be used a powerful hand held flash light as well. It also works as an external power bank when needed.

The button closest to the rider is is the on/off button, the button closest to the light head changes the mode from bright to low to flashing light. To turn on the light you need to press the Power button first then press the Function button to turn on the LEDs. This is because the Power button powers both the LED and power bank. The power bank is operational after the initial Power button push.

Four lighting modes:
♦ High powered beam lasts 2 hours on one charge
♦ Medium powered beam lasts 4 hours on one charge
♦ Low powered beam lasts 8 hours on one charge
♦ Flash mode lasts 120 hours on one charge
♦ The beam has upper cut-off so it does not blind on-coming traffic

The light is water resistant when the charging ports cap is closed. It is not water resistant when the light is being charged or when the light is used as an emergency charger. As a charger it provides 1A of current, which works well for MP3 player and Android phones, but a underpowered for Apple devices (this means it will charger them slowly).

The light is easy to mount, its bracket adjust to bar from 1" to 1.25". The light feels high quality. The mounting bracket is plastic. It feels solid, but plastics gets britle in the sun so if the bicycle is left in the sun when not in use, I remove the bracket when taking the unit to get re-charge. It is easy to reinstall and not leaving it the sun I hope will prolong its life.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Rocketek LED Illuminated Backlight Keyboard - Programmable Gaming Keyboard

My computer desk has a keyboard tray so the physical size of the keyboard is very important for me to have a good fit next to the mouse pad, so I will start with dimensions:

Rocketek keyboard is 19 inches wide, 9 inches front to back, 1 inches thick at the tallest part (in the back). It weights 2 pound and 10.5 oz. This is a wired keyboard with a 60" cloth covered cord.

In the attached video I show this keyboard next to a regular sized DELL keyboard. DELL is 1 inch wider, and 2 inches shorter front to back.

Rocketek keyboard has a large number of programmable keys and a big knob at the keyboard that can control keyboard illumination. The light comes from between the keys and it can be totally turned off. The video includes the keyboard with the light at its maximum and turned way down (but not totally off).

The keyboard has a nice heavy feel. The keyboard feedback felt a little spongy to me, but I like the feedback of an old mechanical keyboard that's why I keep using my old DELL keyboard. It has built-in wrist rests which I did not particularly liked, but they don't interfere with typing just take up a bit of extra room.

The description of this keyboard says it is Windows compatible, but I am using it with Linux without any problems, including setting up programming of the special M function keys.

To program M function keys:
♦ To start definition of the key hit "Mr" key on the left
♦ Hit the M key want to program, say M1, the special <-> on the left hand start will blink slowly indicating you are in the recording mode
♦ Enter the sequence of keys you want to be played out next time you hit M (stands for Macro) key
♦ Hit Mr key again
♦ <-> light will blink quickly several time and turn off
♦ Hit your newly defined key, M1, and you will see the sequence of keystrokes played out

Overall, pretty good keyboard with a standard key layout. All special keys are above so they don't interfere with anything I do as a touch typist.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Jumbl Multi-Purpose Steam Cleaner

The first steam cleaner I received did not work. By reading other reviews I saw that I needed to push on/off button on the side which the manual does not mention and then use the steam button on the handle, but on the first model the on/off button had no effect. The replacement unit I received works fine. By comparison when I pushed the on/off button on the second unit it immediately began making noise indicating that the steamer is doing something.

As I mentioned earlier the instructions are not clear on how to turn on the unit. The instructions refers to the button on the side as "calcium removal button", but it is also an on/off button. It needs to be pressed in order for the steam button on the handle to work. Once the button on the side is pushed then you need to slide the steam button located on the handle. The on/off button can be also pumped on/off on/off to remove calcium build up.

Jumbl steamer generates quite a bit of steam. It takes it a few seconds to get going but when it does the steam is stronger than my old hand held steamer. It should be noted that the steam continues to blow for about 5-6 seconds after I turned off the steam button. Be careful not to burn yourself and give the steam time to escape. This long steam action caught me by surprised the first time I used the steamer.

The steamer comes with with several nozzle heads: steam nozzle, ironing nozzle with a brush, round brush nozzle, and fiber cloth cover. A small squeegee is also included in the package. This squeegee does not attach to the steamer but can be used together with the steam for glass cleaning. The steam cleaner has a fairly long (114 inches) cord that gives me a good range for cleaning without moving the plug.

In attached video I included cleaning of bathroom sink with 1 week worth of mess in it, including dried up toothpaste. Everything came off with steam, no cleaning solution was needed.

I rate this steamer as "okay". The second steam cleaner works well, it was easy to assemble, the steam flow is strong, a long cord makes it easy to use without needing to move the plug. On the negative, the first steamer was defective and I don't like how long the steam continues to blow after the steam button is turned off.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆