Product review: Blusmart 12MP HD Infrared Hunting Trail Game Camera

My expectations for this camera were very high because I own Blusmart ASIN: B00SM4DOPY and it had captured a lot of wild life, it runs for 1 week on one set of batteries, and it is fairly easy to set up. This camera is a bit cheaper so I expected some features to be missing at a lower price but overall I expected a similar experience. Turns out the cameras are very different and I found this camera to be disappointing.

Setting up the camera is very tricky because of the primitive user interface. It has no LCD screen to show what the camera is seeing or to display menus. Instead it has an LCD display which displays codes (see video for an example of what it looks like). After many attempts I was not able to set it up in a way that would trigger any videos. Fortunately, the camera has two pre-sets: "A" for time lapse photos and "B" for motion activated video. The pre-sets do work. The quality of the video is not as good as my old Blusmart. The worst thing is that the camera runs only 1 day on a set of eight new AA batteries. This is not a fluke, I have gone through three sets of new batteries to convince myself that this is just how it works. The camera shows the battery level on the front display.

SET UP
~~~~~~~
The mode is controlled by a slider inside the camera. The slide has 5 positions:
Left to right:
Set
Off
A
B
Manual

Set (left most switch) allows you to modify settings, including time and showing you were the camera is pointing by red laser beam. I had hard time switching into time changing mode until I turned off the camera while the setting was set to "Set" and then as I turned it on it immediately went into time change mode - blinking "T" which allowed me to change hours, minutes, months and year. I could not get Manual mode to work. "A" and "B" work fine. I mostly use "B" mode which records 10 second motion activated videos.

GENERAL NOTES
~~~~~~~~~~~
The video quality is highly dependent on lighting. To get decent video the lighting has to be perfect (not too bright, not too dark, sun should be behind the camera).
This camera is robust, brown in color, and blends in with the bark of tree fairly well.
The camera records video on SD card (up to 32G). The camera produces AVI and JPG output. It generates files under a standard directory structure DCIM then 100MEDIA then SYNP0001.JPG or SYNP0001.AVI.
In addition to the camera and the case, the package include USB cable, TV cable, strap for attaching the camera to objects (say a tree) and a user manual.

Attached is a video of the camera and the video taken by the camera to illustrate my review.

If you deciding between several Blusmart cameras we are much (much!) happier with this Blusmart camera. It takes much better videos and the batteries last much longer.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★☆☆☆

Product review: Polaroid Zip Instant Mobile Printer

This is a pretty neat printer. It does not need ink. The images appears by heating special Zink paper in different ways. No ink makes the printer small plus when the photo comes out it is totally dry, you cannot smudge it. The print feels thick and very glossy. Unlike regular glossy photo printer Zink paper does not show finger prints. Zink paper is pretty impressive.

The quality of the prints is good. The color is not rendered perfectly but acceptable for the type of usage I see for this little printer. At the end of my video I show the wall print I photographed and the print generated by Polaroid printer side by side. Even though you see slight different in colors the results are pretty decent. The printer comes with 10 sheets of paper, each one 2" x 3". Zink paper refills are available on Amazon at about 50 cents per sheet.

The printer's size is 4.5" x 2 3/4" x 7/8" and its weight 6.7 oz.

The printer easily paired with my phone. I loaded Polaroid Zip app which allows me to print pictures from the gallery or create name cards from my photos. There is also and option to do some primitive editing (brightness, contrast, crop, a few filters). This little camera can be a lot of fun at the party. I can see it also being useful to generate name cards/business cards when you need to give someone contact info.

The printer takes 10 paper sheets at a time, and you need to put the paper with the shiny print side of the paper up. Make sure that the printer is on as it turns off automatically.

The printer run on a rechargeable battery and it takes 2.5h for me to recharge it. The printer can be used while it is being charged.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Selens 168 LED Dimmable LED Light panel

I own several light panels and Selens has several features that made it the one I use most often.

The most useful feature to me is the ability to change the amount of light that the panel generates with a simple turn of the knob. This allows me to have perfect lighting in different situations. In the attached video you can see how easy it is to find perfect lighting.

The second thing that I find very useful is the two filters that are included with the panel. The one I use most is the yellow filter that give me warm light. I really like that the filters fit snugly and stay in even if you turn the light upside down. In my other light panel the filter can slide out of I tilt the light and I had to tape the filter so I don't drop it as I move the lights.

The light panel can run using several different types of batteries: six AA batteries, NP-550,LP-E6,EN-EL15. I am using it with rechargeable AA batteries. Another useful feature is a battery test button on the back - I can tell how much juice the batteries have. I can recharge the batteries in advance of a long photo session if needed.

The light panel generates continuous light. Once you turn it on the light panel stays on. This panel does not communicate with the camera like a flash. It can be mounted it on the camera shoe, but I use it mounted on tripod so I have more control of where the lighting goes and my camera is lighter for a steadier shot. In my video you see how I use this light on a small tripod for the table top photography.

The photo panel is 6" by 3.75" and 2" deep. The light weighs 1 poin 0.3 oz (with six AA batteries installed). It has 168 LED lights.

Overall, I like this light very much. It is easy to set up and easy to change the amount of light I get to fit any situation.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: UNU Ultrapak Tour 10000mAH External Battery Pack

This battery performed pretty well with my phone and iPadMini tablet (I am including a couple of test results below), however there is a couple of cons that made this battery pack not very convenient for me.

First, to charge the battery you need to use a large power adapter with a round connector. The battery cannot be recharged using an USB cable. The plug takes up more than one spot on the power strip, so I am finding hard to find a good place for it to be plugged in. It is also too large for travel. I prefer power packs that use standard USB cables so I can plug it into a regular USB adapter.

It has a nice easy to read digital display showing the capacity of the battery, however this read out appears not to be reliable. What I mean is that it goes from showing a decent amount if charge left to empty so quickly that it is not predictable.

The battery has two ports and a flashlight. The flashlight is quite small and very dim (see video). It is not useful.

Size: 5 3/8" x 2 3/4" x 3/4"
Weight: 9.3 oz
Capacity: 10,000 mAh
Charge through charging: yes (i.e. can charge while being charged)

To see how well different external batteries charge my mobile devices I use a Nexus phone and an iPadMini to test each of them. The current drawn on each port depends on each device using the charger. The port rated with a maximum capacity of 2A does not always deliver 2A, what is actually delivered is controlled by the device based on many factors such running apps, level of charge, and so forth. I always use the same two devices and I do my tests with the devices charged to the same level, running the same applications and using the same cables to keep everything the same. This allows me to do a relative comparison of various chargers and identify the ones that do not perform well. Note that these tests are not testing for the maximum current each device can draw on each port as I don't have a device that maxes out the output.

Both my devices did well. I am including the details of the tests below for those who like to see the technical details.

★ Test Results:
======================

✔ Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone
--------------------------
port 1: 0.99A / 5.01V (good)
port 2: 0.98A / 5.01V (good)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this phone is 1.00A/5V)

✔ iPadMini
--------------------------
port 1: 0.93A / 5.01V (typical for 1A port)
port 2: 1.36A / 5.01V (good for 2A port)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this tablet is 1.70A/5V)

Even though I am getting pretty reasonable charging out of this battery the cons I listed at the start of this review make it just an okay power pack in comparison to other battery packs I am using.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Product review: Outlite A100 (with Rechargeable 18650 Battery) LED flashlight

This is a very bright flashlight. My favorite feature is a variable focus. On its largest setting the spot light is quite large and still very bright. I show how variable focus works in my video - all you have to do is slide the barrell up or down. The flashlight is 5.25" long, made out of aluminium alloy, it feels sturdy weighing 6.5 oz. The flashlight is waterproof but should not be submerged in water (i,e, okay in rain only).

It runs on one 18650 Li-ion battery rechargeable battery and the package includes one lithium a battery and a charger. It can also run on three AAA batteries (which are not included). The flashlight includes jackets so either battery type has a good fit in the flashlight. It took me about 4 hours to fully recharge the battery. The lens of the flashlight is plastic,

The flashlight has 5 modes: bright, medium, low light as well as fast strobe and SOS. To change the brightness I need to press the button once, to get into strobe modes I need to press the button twice in a row.

Attached video shows the flashlight in use to give you a better idea of what to expect.
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: iPowerBuddy 10000mah Dual Port USB Portable Charger External Battery Pack

This is a 10,000 mAh external battery with two ports and a flashlight. The flashlight is fairly bright but generates a narrow beam (see video). The power pack has a very nice and clear charge level indicator - a digital display with the amount of remaining power. The charger performed well with my Android phone but charged iPad Mini at 1 amp rate on both ports including the port rated as 2.1 amps.

Size: 5 3/8" x 2 1/2" x 3/4"
Weight: 7.9 oz
Capacity: 10,000 mAh
Charge through charging: no (i.e. can charge while being charged)

To see how well different external batteries charge my mobile devices I use a Nexus phone and an iPadMini to test each of them. The current drawn on each port depends on each device using the charger. The port rated with a maximum capacity of 2A does not always deliver 2A, what is actually delivered is controlled by the device based on many factors such running apps, level of charge, and so forth. I always use the same two devices and I do my tests with the devices charged to the same level, running the same applications and using the same cables to keep everything the same. This allows me to do a relative comparison of various chargers and identify the ones that do not perform well. Note that these tests are not testing for the maximum current each device can draw on each port because I do not own devices that can max out the current draw.

I am including the details of the tests below for those who like to see the technical details.

★ Test Results:
======================

✔ Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone
--------------------------
port 1: 0.94A / 5.01V (good)
port 2: 1.04A / 5.01V (excellent)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this phone is 1.00A/5V)

✔ iPadMini
--------------------------
port 1: 0.93A / 5.01V (typical for 1A port)
port 2: 0.94A / 5.01V (typical for 1A port)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this tablet is 1.70A/5V)

★ Summary
------------------
This battery performed best with Android devices.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Handi-Bag Super Value Pack, 8gal

We purchased these trashbag for a 13.5"H x 11.5W" trash bin EasyPAG Round Wastebasket. Each trash bag is 24" tall and 21 3/4" wide. The stock photos seem to show an older version of these bags, the ones I got have flaps which are nice for tying up the bag (I show them in the video).

The bags are large enough to flap over the edges so I can put a large rubber band that holds the trash bag in place. They are a good fit for my 13.5" tall bin!

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★