Product review: GRDE LED Solar Security Motion Sensor Floodlight

The good news about this light is that the design is very flexible. The lights can be mounted quite a distance away from the solar panel, the angle of the lights can be adjusted many different ways, same goes for the motion sensor. The bad news about this light is that the light, the housing, and the adjustment knobs are made out of light duty plastic. The light does not feel solidly made, the screws that hold the lights do not tighten as snugly as I would have liked. I am worried about over-tightening them and breaking them so I did not tighten them as I normally would.

The lights are meant to be mounted on a vertical surface. You cannot mount on the horizontally surface casting the light down due to how the screw holes are oriented. The lights are reasonably bright (I would say equivalent to 40W incandescent bulb). They are spot lights and light up two distinct well defined areas. When mounted 5 feet high they light about an area about 4 feet across each. I am attaching a video as an illustration for this review.

In the configuration you see in the video the light is 7 inches tall (from the motion sensor to the top of the lights) and 9" wide (from outside of one light to the outside of the other light). The light weighs 10.15 oz. The solar panel is 6.5" x 5.5". The cord that connects the solar panel to the light is quite long, it is 193 inches.

The motion sensor works pretty reliably. The sensitivity can be adjusted from the minimum 6.5 feet to maximum of 16.5 feet. The duration of how long the light stays can be adjusted from 20 seconds to 60 seconds.

So what's the bottom line? It works, the design is very flexible, the knobs do not feel soldly made. I rate the design as 5 stars, I rate the materials as 3 stars, overall 4 stars. I will update this review on how it is holding up over time.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: CHEERLINK full HD 5 input HDMI switch

One of my TVs has only one HDMI ports and I got this switcher to allow me to hook up additional devices. This package includes just the switcher, you will need to provide your own HDMI cable to hook the switcher to the TV, and then an HDMI cable for each of your devices.

The switcher has five HDMI ports to attach up to five HDMI devices. So far I am using two of the five ports. Once you switch your TV to the HDMI input, you need to select which one of HDMI device attached to the splitter you want.

There are three ways to do it
❶ The switcher automatically selects a port (the device that was turned on last)
❷ You can select a port manually by pushing a button on the HDMI switch
❸ You can use the remote control that comes with switcher and to select 1-2-3-4-5

The front of the switch lights up the selected device in blue, and the devices that are attached but not selected in red.

AC adapter is included with the switch and the switch has to be plugged in to function. The remote runs on CR2025 3V Lithium battery.

I did not see any deterioration in signal and overall I am quite pleased. Is it the same as using HDMI inputs on the TV? No. There is a noticable pause of several seconds between pressing a button and seeing something on the screen. On the TV that has multiple HDMI output the switch between inputs is instant.

Overall, I am pleased with the switch but I would have found the configuration more convinient of the power cord plugged in the back.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Vinsic Classic 5000mah Power Bank

This is a slick and thin battery it is 3" x 4.5" x 7/16" and only 4.95 oz. Some of its 5000 mAh capacity is lost to inefficiencies such as heat so it is safe to assume that it provide about 3800 mAh power. It has a single 1A charging port. 1A is below optimal for Apple devices, but fine for Android.

This charger worked with both my Nexus phone and iPad Mini but it is not a fast charger. To tell how various battery packs perform I measure their performance with a current monitor. I use Samsung Nexus phone and iPad Mini for testing to give me a Android and an Apple mobile devices. I test all my chargers using the same charging cables and starting all tests at same charge level of the phone to account for non-linear charging. This allows me to compare different batteries to each other so I can rate the battery keeping everything else constant.

Samsung Nexus phone:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0.92/5.07V (close to optimal charging)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this phone is 1.00A/5V)

iPad Mini tablet:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0.93/5.07V (below optimal)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this tablet is 1.70A/5V)

Its nice thin shape makes it convenient to carry in a purse or pocket. This charger is not a work horse, but its shape is convenient to take it anywhere I go as a backup power for my Android phone.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Eco Touch TSH16 Tire Shine

Attached video contains "before" and "after" photos of my tires. This job did not take a lot of elbow grease, each tire took one to two minutes. I used Eco Touch applicator which is a very nicely designed sponge with an indentation for your fingers (keeps your fingers away while giving you a lot of control). I also liked that the solution was totally unscented. Eco Touch tire shine is a white creamy solution. I only needed a small dab of it per each tire to get a low-gloss shine on it.

Note that the bottle comes with a foil seal under the cap. It took me a few squeezes that produced nothing to look under the cap to see the reason for my problem.

Ingredients:
filtered water
cetyl esters (plant-based conditioning agent)
xantham gum
fragrance oil blend
preservative

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Lomui 5200mAh External Battery Power Pack

The Lomui 5200mAh charger is one of the smallest batteries of this capacity I have seen. It is easily fits in my purse or funny pack. With capacity 5200mAh it is not intended for a real heavy use, but it is good for portable emergency power. The battery is only 3.5"x1.75"x0.75" and its weight is only 4.10 ounces. It has one charging port (1A).

I noticed that the Amazon description has a couple of errors:
(1) this power pack has no built-in flashlight mentioned in the title
(2) this package came without a small bag mentioned in the description

Neither thing is a big deal for me but for completeness of the review I wanted to include this information.

The charging status is indicated by a tiny LED indicator. It is blue when a mobile device is being, and red when the battery is being charged. There is no indication of how much charge is left in the battery.

This charger worked with both my Android Nexus phone and iPad Mini tablet. iPad Mini needs more than 1A for optimal charging speed so with 1A port below optimal speed of charging is an expected outcome.

To tell how various battery packs perform I measure their performance with a current monitor. I use Samsung Nexus phone and iPad Mini for testing to give me a Android and an Apple mobile devices. I test all my chargers using the same charging cables and starting all tests at same charge level of the phone to account for non-linear charging. This allows me to compare different batteries to each other so I can rate the battery keeping everything else constant.

Samsung Nexus phone:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lomui: ___ 0.90/5.03V (somewhat below optimal)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this phone is 1.00A/5V)

iPad Mini tablet:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lomui:___ 0.93/5.02V (below optimal)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this tablet is 1.70A/5V)

I like the shape and size of this battery. It comes in very attractive colors. It is good for emergency power on the go.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: OnlyTM Innovative Car Cover all weather car cover S-Series for Sedan

There are two things about OnlyTM covers that make them easier to put on the car than other covers we have used. First, the cover has two stiff poles at the front and at the back of the cover, which increases the leverage one has when putting the cover on. Second, the cover has straps that Veclro to the carpet inside the car's trunk. This means the cover does not slip off the car as you put it on. If you ever tried putting a regular car cover on a car, you probably familiar with need to make several passes over the car as it slips off of one end while you are working on covering other. This cover locks in, so it works as if you have a second pair of hands helping you.

This our second OnlyTM cover. The first cover was for my SUV. My SUV was a little harder to cover than my husband's sedan. My SUV is tall and has a 12" antenna, so it what worked well for SUV is to work front to back so I could use the leverage the poles gave to swing the cover over the the antenna is same direction the antenna is leaning. This means I do not use the straps.

My husbands car has a knob antenna, so he found that locking the straps in the trunk and working back to front works best on his car, because he can take advantage of both unique features of this cover. He can cover the car in about 2 minutes, much faster than his old cover.

Some other notes from my experience with both cars covers:

1. This cover is designed to hang on the bumper when not in use. Neither one of us are using this feature. Both of our cars have backup sensors on the car bumper (I circled them in the video). On both cars we were not able to find a position in which the cover would avoid covering the backup sensors. Therefore carrying the cover hanging off the bumper as designed is not an option for either of our cars.

2. Neither one of us was able to fit the cover back into its original bag, we just could not make the bundle small enough in a reasonable amount of time. We are using plastic tubs to store the covers, this ways we don't need to worry about being neat when the cover is put way.

3. Both my husband and I rate putting the cover on and removing it as "easy" (a huge improvement over my feelings about regular car covers).

My video includes a number of images of the cover and my husband's sedan. His car is using S-52 cover. For reference the dimensions of his car are:
Body Length.......196.80 " (16.4 fee)
Body width........74.10 " (6.175 feet)
Body height.......58.40 " (4.8 feet)

The quality of the fabric looks good. It is silver on one side, white on the other side. The thickness is heavier than I imaged from the photo and it feels fairly sturdy. However only time will tell how it will hold up in New England winter. We am planning to use both covers in the snow and will post an update after I know how they handle the winter.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Polaris V8 Portable Bluetooth Wireless Speaker with FM Radio, NFC, AUX Jack, TF Card Slot

Polaris speaker can operate as a bluetooth speaker, wired speaker, as FM radio and as an MP3 player. MP3 player uses a TF memory slot. TF memory slot is used for reading regular micro SD memory cards.

In the attached video I show FN radio, streaming music from a micro SD memory card as well as streaming music via bluetooth from my iPad Mini.

♦ The bluetooth speaker works quite well. The sound is crisp and clear. Even bass sounded good for a speaker of this size. To help me evaluate and compare different speakers I always use the same piece of music I can different speakers to each other. As a stress test for the bass I use Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Polaris speaker handled the most challenging part of the Bach's Fugue well. A lot of small speakers crackle in two spots of the Fugue, but this speaker handled it well.

♦ The speaker runs on removable and rechargeable 18650 lithium battery. This is a standard battery which is available on Amazon. This battery can be recharged in the speaker using a standard USB/micro USB cable. The speaker can be used to stream music while it is recharging.

♦ The speaker arrived with a clear plastic tab inserted between the battery contacts and the speaker to prevent the battery from discharging. The tab is under the battery and is hard to see if you just remove the cover. If you lift up the battery you will see it. Initially, I thought the battery was dead but eventually I found the tab.

♦ When the battery level drops low you hear a voice prompt "battery low" and the speaker volume level will drop around 40% to save the battery power. From that point on the speaker continues to work for another 30 minutes until the battery is completely drained.

♦ FM radio reception was not bad. I got quite a few stations. Some of them were a little hissy but Polaris performed better than many other small FM radios I have tried.

♦ It works well as an MP3 player that I can listen to without earphones.

♦ The speaker can be made quite loud. Volume control buttons are on the top of the speaker.

♦ The speaker weights 23.30 oz. Its dimension are 7.5"L x 2.25"W x 2.75"H

Overall, I thought it produced good sound plus I its versatility of being both an MP3 player and a bluetooth speaker.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★