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Minger Govee Wireless Thermo-Hygrometer with WiFi Gateway Review

REVIEW – I have always been a weather nerd.  From my earliest memories, I remember watching the sky hoping and praying for a good thunderstorm to roll across the area.  I had even originally planned to be a meteorologist until I found out how many calculus classes were required for the degree!  That being said, the lack of a degree in meteorology never kept me from being fascinated by the weather and capturing the data associated with it. Hey, my real job is a data analyst so go figure!  When the Gadgeteer offered up the opportunity to review the Govee Wireless Thermo-Hygrometer with WiFi Gateway I jumped at the review.  Read on to see how well it worked out for me.

What is it?

The Govee Wireless Thermo-Hygrometer with WiFi Gateway is exactly what it says it is.  It comes with a wireless hub you plug into the wall and connect to your home’s WiFi.  Then you can attach multiple of their Thermo-Hygrometer units to the gateway and monitor the temperature and humidity in various places around your home.  You just need to be sure you place the sensors where a WiFi signal is available.  You can then install the Govee Home app on your IOS or Android device and see the values those sensors are returning anywhere your phone gets a cellular signal.

They mention monitoring a baby’s room or maybe a wine cellar for those who are lucky enough to have one.  Another good place to put one if there is enough room is a cigar humidor.  Basically put them anywhere you want to monitor the temperature and humidity.   I placed one on my back deck on a side rail (it did not blow off in 45 mph wind gusts the other day so I put it in a good spot) that was out of any direct sunlight but had good airflow.  The other I placed in my living room.

I have owned what I call a professional weather station and have learned a lot about where you should place temperature sensors outside.  Ideally, they should be 6 feet off the ground in a well ventilated spot not in direct sunlight.  Way back when I first got my original weather station I had the temperature sensor mounted under an eve on the side of my house.  Yes, it was in shade, but all the heat rose and was trapped under that eve so my temperature readings were a good 10 degrees or more than they should have been!

What is in the box?

The box was very plain and simple, but it may have been because I received this device for review and it was not the true public packaging.  That being said, there were only four things in the box.

  1. Two wireless temperature and humidity sensors.  They both had a pair of triple A batteries inside and I simply removed the cover and pulled a tab to make the batteries touch the contacts.
  2. One user manual
  3. One gateway hub that plugs into a standard US socket.  It only works with 2.4 GHz WiFi not 5 G.

Setup and Use

Setup for this set of sensors is pretty painless.  The first thing you do is to install the Govee Home app on your phone.  It is available for both Android and IOS.  The next series of screens will take you through the setup starting with the 4 screenshots above. When you first open the app you are presented with this screen.  I clicked on the top left blue badge titled ‘Become a Savvy User’.  It took me to the next screen explaining the benefits of becoming a Savvy User.  I like discounts and I like voicing my opinion (go figure!) so I joined.  The next page is the signup page where you enter in your email and pick a password.  The fourth screen shows me logged in and now a Savvy User.

The next four screens now show the steps I went through to set up the gateway and temp-humidity sensors.  I clicked on the home screen icon at the bottom of the page.  From the home screen, I then clicked on the plus sign on the top right hand of the screen to add a device.

The first screen above shows the plethora of devices they offer.  This particular screenshot is on the second page of products and I picked the Wi-Fi Smart Gateway.  The user product manual that came with it specified that I was to add the gateway first so that is why I picked it instead of the Wireless Thermo-Hygrometer.

Once I picked the gateway, I was presented with the second screen.  I followed the instructions after plugging in the device into an outlet that was in the same room as my router.  The third screen popped up quickly and I switched over to my phone’s WiFi connections and connected to the Govee Gateway.  I then went back to the app and saw the 4th screen above.  What you don’t see is the next screen where I had to enter in my WiFi password and connect the gateway to my router.  Now the gateway is on my WiFi network.

Immediately after I was connected to the network I was presented with the top left screen above.  I was happily surprised to see the Gateway found my two sensors and immediately connected to them.  The top one is the one outside and the bottom one is the one in my living room.  Note that I have since changed the name of both devices to something meaningful through the settings screen offered on each device.  You can see the main screen gives a nice overview of the current temp and humidity of each device.  If you click on any one of the devices you are presented with the second screen which is the hourly screen.

The detail screens (these are the ones you get when you click on a device from the main screen) all default to display the hourly screen.  From there you can pick day, week, month or year.  You can also see the settings icon on the top right of the page.  The second screenshot above shows the hourly screen.  The third and fourth screens show you the popup that happens when you touch one of the points on the screen.  I like how it pops up the detail to show the temp and time/date it happened.  This works for both temp and humidity.

The next screenshot above is the weekly screenshot.  We had a front come through early Sunday morning and you can see the drop in temperature and humidity.  The next two screenshots are the monthly displays.  The third one is how it pops up very compressed.  The app lets you use two fingers and expand the data points which is really cool.

The second screenshot is the month expanded.   Something else that is really cool for a data nerd like me is the export data button you can see on the bottom of the third screen.  If you click on that you get the fourth screen.  You can specify intervals down to the minute and then pick start and end times.  When you click the little paper airplane up top the app will send you a CSV file in the mail with all of the detail.  Very cool!!

This last screenshot shows you the devices settings page.  I have scrolled down a bit, but at the very top is where you can give the device a meaningful name. The rest of the screen is dedicated to alarm notifications.  You can set the min and max temp and humidity and if the device exceeds either one you will get a notification from the app.  This works exactly as it should.  I set the min temp for outside to 57 degrees and I started getting notifications the moment it dropped below that.  There are also calibration options which I also think is a nice feature.  If you have another thermometer that you trust implicitly, you could use it to calibrate the ones from Govee.

What I like

I love how easy the device is to use.  The app is very flexible allowing you to see temp and humidity values across any number of time periods.  I also find the ability to export the data into a CSV file a big plus.  Being able to set alarm notifications would also be a big plus for anyone putting these sensors in sensitive areas like a baby’s room, greenhouse or cigar humidor.  They also offer a fast return service.  If you ever experience a problem with the device, the app lets you put in your Amazon order number and they will send you a replacement right away with no need for you to send the old one back.  They have a two-year replacement warranty.  I personally never tried that feature, but it seems to be a cool option to have.

What needs to be improved

I cannot find anything that needs to be improved.  What can I say, I love this device.

Price: $79.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Minger.

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Minger Govee Wireless Thermo-Hygrometer with WiFi Gateway Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 26, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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Mophie Powerstation with Lightning connector review


REVIEW – Power. It fuels everything in our lives nowadays. When the Mophie Powerstation with Lightning connector portable battery review offer came along, I jumped at the opportunity to finally rid myself of that dreaded micro-USB cable.

What is it?

The Mophie Powerstation with Lightning connector portable battery is your typical portable battery for charging your USB devices – except that it charges with the Apple Lightning connector.

What’s in the box?

  • Mophie Powerstation portable battery
  • Quick Start Guide



 



Design and features

The Mophie Powerstation with Lightning connector portable battery features a 5,050mAh battery that charges via the Apple Lightning connector which lets you use the existing Lightning cable from your Apple device to recharge the powerstation. It provides up to +20 hours of battery life for an iPhone X, + 7 hours for iPad mini 4, or +4 hours for iPad 10.5 inch.

With two USB-A ports, the Mophie Powerstation can charge two USB devices at the same time. There is one 2.1A port and one 1.0A port.

The Mophie Powerstation also has a great feature called “Priority+ charging” which will charge the connected device first, then recharge the powerstation battery. This is a great feature that allows you to just plug both in, and when you’re ready to go both are charged and ready for your day.

The LED power indicator has four LED’s that indicate the charging status and the current battery life.

The battery is lighter than the 10,000mAh battery that I was previously using. Although it has a smaller capacity, it’s plenty of extra power for what I need. The device weighs just 4.8 oz (136g). It’s so light that I spent a good 10 minutes looking for it one day before I realized that it was in my cargo pants pocket, along with my phone. I was so used to the weight of the phone and didn’t even notice the extra weight of the battery.

The operation of the Mophie Powerstation is pretty simple, simply push the power button and plug in your device. While the device is charging your phone, pressing the power button again does not turn it off, so there’s no need to worry about it getting turned off before your phone is charged.

As I mentioned before, I don’t like the micro-USB connector type as it’s too small and fragile, and its directional so you always have to look at it to plug it in the correct way. The Apple Lightning connector plugs in much easier and there’s no need for an additional cord in my vehicles.

What I like

  • Small size – just 2.7 x 4.7 x 0.5 in (69 x 119 x 13 mm)
  • Lightning connector charging!

What needs to be improved

I consider the price is a little high for the mAh you get with this device, but the convenience factor offsets that a bit for me.

The only thing that I could think of that I would like to see improved is the LED status lights. Although nice, I would prefer to see an actual LED percentage read-out like one of my other batteries has. It’s difficult to know when 3 lights are on if it’s at 75% or 99%.

Final thoughts

Hasta la vista, micro-USB – Mophie has terminated my need for you!
Price: $49.95
Where to buy: Mophie.
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Mophie.

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Mophie Powerstation with Lightning connector review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 25, 2019 at 11:00 am.

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PIQS Q1 LCD projector review

REVIEW – Technological advances and lower cost have helped make TVs bigger than ever. Even so, large projection screens provide an unmatched theatrical experience.  However, the noise of the projector cooling, A/V interface, low contrast, and trapezoid have always been detractors to casually using a projector – until the PIQS Q1. Read on to see what I think!

What is it?

The PIQS Q1 can best be described as an Android device with an extremely large screen. If it were just a mobile, the PIQS specifications would trend towards average; but the innovative features this is designed with set it apart as a projector. The two most significant technologies are the auto keystone correction and the Virtual Touch Remote controller. These features allow the projector to be effortlessly placed beside a couch or on a nightstand and allows all other interactions to occur with the remote. Since the projector has HDMI, USB, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, streaming from a mobile or directly from the cloud makes getting your images to the screen a piece of cake. Since it’s an Android-based item, applications compatible with lollipop and below (isn’t it funny how Google has taught us to rank candy?) will work on it natively. A custom UI which also includes an interactive whiteboard program enables effortless control with the included laser powered remote control.

What’s in the box?

PIQS Q1
Power Adapter
Virtual Touch Remote controller
Quick Start Guide
HDMI Cable
USB Charging cable for remote

Design and features

Specifications

 

  • Operating System: Android 5.1
  • CPU: Amolgic T968 Quad-Core, 1.8Ghz, Mali Quad-Core GPU, 2GB system on board
  • Internal Memory: 32GB
  • Projection System: DLP 0.45″ DMD
  • Native Resolution: Full HD 1200 x 800
  • Brightness: Up to 1000 Lumens in Bright mode
  • Contrast Ratio: 10000:1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16: 10 Native
  • Throw Ratio: 1.12 (100% off-set), 1m distance to 40” Screen Size
  • Light Source: 3LED (RGB)
  • Lamp Life: 30,000H
  • Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11ac/b/g/n , Bluetooth 4.1
  • Input Terminals: HDMI x 2, USB x 2
  • Audio jack (3.5mm) x 1
  • Remote Battery: 1000 mAh, Standby – up to 4 weeks, running up to 30 hrs

Unboxing

The projector and stand (if ordered) come well packaged in a large nondescript cardboard box.

The Projector is packaged in a foam-lined matte cardboard telescopic box.

The front of the box shows the projector in perspective and some of the core technologies, including Autofocus, 4D Auto Keystone, and LED lighting. The sides of the box have the PIQS logo and virtual touch projector printed on the sides. The base describes the package contents and more specific features. 

The projector sits above the bottom of the telescopic box.

A false bottom is observable upon removing the projector from the box.

Below the bottom are the power adapter, cables, and remote control. Also present in this area is the quick start guide, a thank you card from the manufacturer and the quality inspection tag.

The stand is packaged in a brown cardboard box with a hinged lid. The stand is nicely packaged within, disassembled, and placed in foam cutouts. Overall, the packaging of both the stand and the projector is superb.

 

 

Design and features

Hardware

The PIQS Q1 has a clean rustic Scandinavian aesthetic.

The projector is half wrapped in a wood texture (it is so good I’m unsure of the actual material) and half wrapped in white speaker cloth. The cloth and the wood come together like a half lap joint in carpentry; The wood covers the horizontal, the cloth covers the vertical, and each material covers an opposing side. The design is striking but balanced, and a welcome break from the cheap plastic, easily dented metals, black, gray and putty colors of just about every other projector on the market. The unit is perhaps a bit bigger than some alternatives but there are some good reasons for its size. The taller sides allow a larger speaker to be mounted to provide a higher volume. Since the speaker is mounted on the right-hand side sound may be improved if the unit is positioned to the left of the observer. The location of the air vents needed to cool the unit is also strategically placed. The inlet vent is placed on the bottom so that fan noise does not propagate through the holes in the structure.  A fine mesh screen is positioned behind the large vent cutouts to prevent dust from entering. The rear of the unit has well-labeled ports for USB 2.0, USB 3.0, HDMI and audio out.

An isolated power button is surrounded by an LED ring that glows red when in standby and blue when powered. The rear of the unit also contains a large heat vent. The lamp is cooled by a heat pipe system that radiates out the rear. Even after it has been running for some time the air leaving the back feels cool.

The projector lens and a camera lens are mounted in the front of the projector. The PIQS logo also adorns the front. The camera is used for autofocus, auto keystone correction, and for tracking the infrared laser. The PIQS system uses a visual system for autofocus rather than an ultrasonic system like some competitors. Autofocus is achieved with an adjustment to the focal length inside of the unit. The keystone correction displays a checkerboard pattern on the screen and then changes the output of the display so that the resulting image looks square. This is a picture of the display in a darkened room.

The two grey bands on the left and right define the sides of the rectangle displayed with keystone adjustment. The large trapezoid in the background is the unadjusted image.  in order to make the image look square after it hits the wall the projector actually processes the image to look like the image below so that once it hits the wall all the edges will be perpendicular. Pretty cool.

The remote control weighs 2.7 ounces and is 6 1/2″ long 1 1/2″ wide and ranges from about 1/2″ on the rear to 3/8″ on the front.

The remote looks fairly typical but has some unique features. The right-hand side has a micro USB port for charging the lithium battery which powers the remote.

When charging the status light glows red and when complete it glows blue. The rear of the remote has a laser emission warning for the near-infrared laser which is projected out the front. The laser mark is almost invisible to the naked eye but can be captured by cameras without an IR cut filter.

The laser is tracked by the camera on the front of the unit which allows for a much more precise use than achievable with a gyroscope controlled remote. The remote also has gyroscopic capabilities for games and uses where pointing at the screen isn’t the object. While the remote does have unique tracking abilities it falls short in one aspect: the offwhite remote has no contrasting symbols on the buttons to indicate what the functions of each button are. Therefore, when in the dark it is impossible to see each button and the labeled function. A backlight on the remote or some phosphorescent paint would be a very helpful improvement.

The optional stand included by PIQS for this review is a machined aluminum thing of beauty. The aluminum is finished in sandblast and the base is stamped with the PIQS logo. The stand attaches to the projector with a 1/4-20 thread. The pitch and yaw of the stand are held in place by a bushing held in place by friction. The only detractor is that the post that screws into the base tends to unscrew if the stand is rotated counter-clockwise. A bit of Locktite (or nail polish) will easily fix that problem.

The unit is powered by a 120 W power brick. Because of the power requirements, the brick is rather large. The adapter comes with a 38″ long grounded AC cord. The DC plug is attached at a right angle to the 72″ power cord, which allows the rear end of the unit to be very streamlined. The HDMI cable that the unit ships with is also very short and streamlined as if it is designed for portability. In fact, I have moved this cable to my EDC of cables so that if I ever need an HDMI cable I can use it. The unit also comes with a micro USB cord for charging the remote. 

Inside of the unit is a system on a chip (SOC) Amlogic T968. The chip includes a quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor clocked at up to 1.8 GHz and an Arm Mali-T830MP2 GPU. The architecture of the CPU is 64 bit Armv8-A.

Software

At the most basic level, the software runs in three modes. There is an HDMI mode, which permits the projector to run as an HDMI screen, while still retaining the autofocus and auto-keystone functions. The projector also has an audio mode, in which the projector can pair with a Bluetooth device and act as a Bluetooth Speaker. The most advanced state is the Android-powered control system, which operates the projector as if it is an Android tablet with a gigantic screen.

As an HDMI projector, the screen is able to scale from higher resolutions with finesse and provides an image that, while not as sharp, is true to the native image. Below is a picture of the displayed image showing the receiving resolution.

This shows the Microsoft powerpoint screen, which is a good surrogate for the type of colors and smallest scale information that is typically displayed in a well-designed presentation.

Although it can’t be enjoyed in this review, the projector also supports 3D. A set of Active Shutter Glasses for DLP- Link 3D Ready Projectors are required. I jerry-rigged the 3D Samsung glasses I have (by playing a 3d video on the Samsung TV) and was able to enjoy a little bit of the effect but the shutter was slightly out of phase.

In the HDMI mode volume, power (audio mode, standby, reboot, power) and the shortcut menu button still work. The “cursor” of the Virtual touch remote as well as the PIQS draw app allows annotation of the HDMI in real time. The PIQS Q1 comes with the PIQS draw app.  Several line types and effects are available and any color can be used. Multiple levels of undo are saved (but not redo) and the displayed image can be saved to a screenshot. This is useful for identifying the action in a movie during a presentation or fulfilling lifelong dreams of impersonating John Madden.

The HDMI mode starts and stops automatically when a signal is detected at the HDMI input. The image is clear and tracks motion very well, there is no indication of banding or other artifacts.

The audio mode turns the display off and announces that the projector is ready for an audio Bluetooth signal in a booming synthesized female voice. The dual 5W drivers do the best they can, but the sound is mostly midrange and lacks depth. The best I can describe it is a loud iPhone. Fortunately, this sound reproduction works well for movies and voice but the PIQS shouldn’t be the first choice for replacing a TV as well as a stereo. Also, the fan runs while the audio mode is on. I would think that the mass of the heat sink would be sufficient to cool the processor and that fan would only be needed for the lamp.

The PIQS runs Android 5.1.1 but does not include the Google play services. This was a concern of mine since the Fios TV app, which allows me to watch live TV, my DVR and on-demand content requires the Google services to run. I found that if I installed the Google Play Services and the Google Play Store from apkMirror then I could get Fios to work but it broke AirScreen. I decided that I would use Fios more and if I want to mirror my phone I can delete the Google apps and reinstall them later.

The particular install of Android comes with a custom GUI that is optimized for control by the remote.  Five tiles are displayed on the home screen: Business, Connections, Apps, Files, and Settings. Below are slots for 12 favorite apps.

The tiles can be selected just by pointing the Virtual Touch Remote at them and pressing the OK button. Since it is an android based system a third party launcher, such as Nova Launcher, could also be used.

The Business tile is powered by WPS office and so is compatible with the latest formats.

The UI searches the local drive and installed USB drives for compatible content and displays the count of each in the respective tile. I was able to connect my iGo Stowaway Ultra-slim keyboard with Bluetooth and use that to type, but hitting enter just brought the virtual keyboard up. I don’t see an option for changing the default keyboard to something besides the virtual included one. Perhaps a better option is to use the PIQS cast program for displaying office applications. This program runs on a mac or pc and mirrors the display-space of a computer on to the PIQS projector. The display space may include multiple displays. If mirroring one display is all that is desired then the computer display settings should be changed to output only to one monitor. Changing the resolution to close to 1280 x 800 may also improve performance.

The connections tile allows for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi access point, FTP access, HDMI, casting, and remote control operation of a computer.

The Wi-Fi hotspot allows for setting the SSID, security type and password. The FTP access, however, is not password protected, Casting is performed using the previously mentioned Airscreen app. Airscreen works well and shows a fluid movement of the mirrored screen without much latency. The app is installed as an ad-supported release but may be enjoyed free of adds with a $12.99 annual pass, a $3.49 30 day pass or a $1.49 monthly subscription. The PIQS Cast app mentioned above enables the Virtual Touch Remote controller to act as the mouse for an attached computer as well as presenting the screen wirelessly. An added feature is that if multiple users have the app installed on their computer the PIQS cast app makes it easy to switch the displayed screen.

The Apps tile contains a listing of all the installed apps.

Noticeably missing is the settings app. This projector does not have a profile for Google Play, so apps must be sideloaded from the web or USB. Since it’s an Android 5.1 system there is no guarantee all Apps downloaded are installable or usable. The apps tile permits rearranging, grouping into folders and deleting of apps.

The File tile has an assortment of other tiles that show counts of documents, videos,  pictures,  music, and .apk files, as well as the capacity and free space of each attached drive. So the total of the local storage plus each attached USB device will be shown. This does make it easy to find what you want.

One thing that I noticed while working with the UI is that there is no easy way to multitask. I downloaded tasker and this helps a bit.  Most of the time the projector is just a projector, but not having the ability to multitask on an Android-powered device seems strange to me.

The Settings tile shows tiles for focus, keystone, display settings, sound effects, clear cache, user manual, system upgrade, and advanced settings.

The sound effects include equalizer settings for music, movie, drama, and news. Some of the graphics from this review are from the user manual. The manual is a 40-page presentation about the PIQS Q1. The advanced settings include much of the same items as the settings, but also includes the ability to select what items are displayed on the shortcuts page, and includes the apps setting screen, which allows the cache clearing, memory dumping, stopping and uninstallation of the installed apps.

Available in each mode is the power menu which allows different power states or audio mode to be selected (the sleep will wake with the remote while the projector must be restarted with the power button if it is in power off mode.)

Also available in each mode is the shortcut menu, which has a lost of items which may be called upon at any time. The list is selectable in advanced settings and the list is scrollable to select items not displayed (even though there is no scroll bar).

Operation

I first wanted to demonstrate this on the best possible screen. I purchased a TaoTronics 120″ 1.2 gain high contrast 4k PVC movie screen. However, even after having the screen hang for a couple of weeks, some large creases still show on the screen. The image quality should be judged without penalizing the quality because of the display.

I also want to demonstrate this to a known comparison, so I set the display up next to a 55″ 4K TCL screen. I played Planet Earth II off of Amazon on both screens. The picture below is about the same shot on both screens and the diagonal size of both images is approximately equal. The first picture is shot with the lights off and provides the best view of the projected image.

You can see that a close-up shot of the mountain in the corner of the screen is very close to the image displayed by the projector. The first image is the projector and the second is the TV.

But who wants a projector to display an image the same size as a TV. Later on, I move the projector back to fill the screen. The size of the image changes based on the distance from the screen and the amount of keystone correction applied.

The image below is about 120″ diagonal. The two images aren’t exactly synchronized but you can see that the larger image still has accurate color but suffers in some detail.

Again with the lights dimmed. The TV has assumed a darker appearance because the image has been paused. 

This image shows full strength lighting and a dimmed TV image. The actual viewing conditions weren’t as washed out as displayed in the photo, but as the brightness increases the camera has trouble capturing an image with the correct amount of contrast. Obviously the darker the better.

The projector DLP engine uses rhombuses on edge to display the image, which seems to provide less obvious pixelation than if the image was displayed with pixels that run in a horizontal and vertical dimension. Heres a close up of the cursor. You can see the arrangement of the pixels in this image.

This shows the Firefox browser on the projector displaying a page of the the-gadgeteer site. Everything is readable even at about 10 feet away.

Finally, I’ll demonstrate the beauty of marrying an Android tablet, a projector, and a virtual touch remote.

Yes, I’m playing full-scale fruit ninja and loving every slice and dice.

What I like

  • Easy Setup
  • Autofocus and Auto Keystone
  • intuitive remote
  • good image reproduction
  • quiet fan

What needs to be improved

  • Backlight, phosphorescent or higher contrast remote
  • Audio Fidelity
  • Android settings (for the input method, for instance)

Final thoughts

Some of the best gadgets are convergence devices. The PIQS Q1 demonstrates this to be true. By combining a computer, projector and laser-powered remote control, PIQS has created a gadget that redefines the convenience, quality, and capabilities of the typical projector.

Price: $649 as tested
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by PIQS.

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PIQS Q1 LCD projector review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 25, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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Audew HD Vehicle DVR review

REVIEW – In an effort to find a reasonably priced dash cam that does not have a bunch of extra stuff that I do not need AND performs well, I volunteered to review the Audew HD Vehicle DVR.  Audew is a Chinese manufacturer that makes quite a few products across many product lines and sells them all on Amazon.  I reviewed their car vacuum cleaner last year on this website back in March of last year and found it adequate for the price you pay.  Let’s see how their version of the car dash cam works out.

What is it?

The Audew HD Vehicle DVR is a car dash cam that advertises to provide several features:

  • Clear night vision
  • 1080P HD at 30 FPS resolution in JPG format for pictures and MOV format for video
  • 320MAH battery for parking monitor capabilities
  • 3.7 inch LCD
  • Wide-Angle view coverage with a 150 degree angle of view.
  • Emergency and Loop recording
  • Built in G-Sensor for the emergency recording
  • Parking Monitor
  • Motion Detection
  • Auto Power Off and burst photo mode
  • Dimension: 89 x 52 x 31 mm

What’s in the box?

The above picture shows what came in the nicely packaged box.  Everything was wrapped in its own individual plastic wrapping and packaged to keep it from damage.  Starting at the top left we have the camera itself, followed by the suction cup mount and car power adapter.  The next row has the instruction book, power cord and a card requesting any comments you may have about their product.  Note that there is no micro SD card included with the camera.  You will have to purchase that separately.  Audew recommends a class 6 or above card and to not exceed 32 GB.

Setup and Use

The next few screenshots starting with the two above all show the menu system of the camera.  Starting with the left picture you will see the following options:

  • Video – Options are 1080p at 30fps, 720p at 30 fps, WVGA 848 x 480 and VGA 640 x 480  – I kept mine set at the 1080p option.
  • Image Quality – Fine, Normal and Economy.  I kept mine at Fine
  • Loop Recording – This indicates how long each video it makes will be.  The options are 1,3 and 5 minutes, and I kept mine at 5 minutes.
  • Audio Recording – this is an on/off switch to indicate if audio is to be recorded.  I set it to off.  No need to record my cussing as an accident is about to happen!
  • Stamp – This setting has two check boxes:  date and car plate.  If they are checked the date/time and your car license plate will be added to each video.  I only had the date option checked.
  • Anti-Flicker – this has options for 60 Hz or 50 Hz – I set it to 60
  • WDR – this is an on/off setting and I had this option turned on.  It is supposed to give you a wide dynamic range though honestly, I could not tell a difference with it on or off.
  • Exposure – this has options to set your exposure from a + 2 to a -2.  I started off at 0 and as you can see I was set at a -1 and eventually put it at a -2 in order to try and capture nighttime license plates.

The options on the next two settings screens are as follows:

  • Headlight  Alert – Honestly I am not quite sure what this is used for.  I believe it is used with the Park Mode in order to make it sense vehicles coming your way.
  • Motion Detection – Used with park mode.  Detects movement in front of the camera.  If park mode is on and this button is on, if someone walks in front of your vehicle it will record it.
  • Park Mode – on/off switch to enable/disable the parking mode.  It should be noted that the camera is using its small backup battery in park mode and is not pulling any power from your car vehicle.  If a lot of motion is happening around your card and it is parked for a long time, it is likely the camera will eventually lose power.  I personally used park mode one day and got tired of the multiple recordings being made of me getting in and out of the vehicle.  I keep my car parked in a secure garage at work and in a garage at home.  If I were to live in an apartment where my vehicle was exposed to more people I would probably keep this on.  It is a nice option to have and the loop recording feature would just overwrite older video.
  • G Sensor – Options are Off, Low, Medium and High.  The default is Medium which is where I have kept it.  This is the sensor that will detect the need to make an emergency recording.  When I had park mode turned on, it was recording my getting in and out of the truck into the emergency folder.
  • Language – Options were English, Spanish, Italian, Chinese,  French and Dutch
  • Date & Time – this is where you set your current date and time
  • Car Plate Stamp – Here is where you would enter your vehicle’s license plate number
  • Auto Power off – Options are None, 1, 3 and 5 minutes.

The last 2 screen’s options are:

  • LCD Auto Off – It will come on automatically when the car starts.  This says how long it will stay on.  Options are 5 min, 3 min, 30 sec and always on.
  • Beep Sound – Low, Medium, High and mute – this is the sound the buttons make when going through the settings
  • Storage Information – displays statistics on your memory card, Total Storage, Amount Free and Amount used
  • Format – will format  your storage card
  • Default Setting – if you go into this setting and then click ok, all settings will revert to factory default
  • Version – displays the version number of the camera software.

The picture above shows how I mounted it in my Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.  On a side note, you may see to the right of the dash cam a mount for a GoPro camera.  Apparently, some if not all newer Tacomas come with this mount as a standard accessory.  I know that I did not pay extra for it.  You can see I mounted it right behind the rear view mirror.  When I am sitting in the driver’s seat I do not even notice the camera.  I can hear the little chime it makes when I turn on the truck.  I also hear the chime it makes when I turn the vehicle off.  It turns off right at that 30 second option I set in the settings.  I have the wire running under the headliner and down the passenger side post.  It then runs under the glove compartment and into the accessory socket.  All in all, it is very unobtrusive and I do not notice it.  What is even better is that it just continues to work and I do not have to think about it.

The next two links below show records at day and at night with the exposure set at zero which means I used the default settings for the recording.  Daytime looks great, but at night license plates are not even visible because they are so overexposed with just the license plate light.

The next two videos show nighttime recordings with the one on the left having a negative 1 exposure setting and the second one having a -2 exposure setting.

This last recording is a daytime recording at the -2 exposure.  It is really just a bit too dark for daytime for my liking.

What I like

I love the price of this camera and I also love that its setup is really simple.  The menu system is very easy to understand.  Mounting with the suction cup is very easy and the locking mechanism on the cup gives me a good feeling about how well it will stay up there.  We shall see how this handles the mid-summer Texas heat later on in the year.  The cord was more than long enough for me to mount it where I wanted to.  I think even larger pickup trucks with more cab space should not have an issue with the power cord length.  The parking feature along with the motion detection and G Force sensor are really nice features.

What needs to be improved

My biggest complaint is the lack of clarity on license plates in the dark.  You can certainly see well enough around you and definitely tell who would be at fault in an accident with this camera, but the car really has to be in the right place to be able to get a good read on the license plate.  It was better at a negative 2 exposure, but then I felt it made the daylight recording a bit too dark.  It would also be nice if they included a micro SD card with the camera.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking for a reasonably priced camera to capture what is going on in front of your vehicle, provide parking lot capabilities and don’t need WiFi capabilities or GPS capabilities, I feel this camera is a pretty good bang for the buck.  If other folks have used dash cams that have these same features for this price please let me know.  If they could just fix the exposure issue at night time it would be an awesome camera.

Price:  $49.99
Where to Buy: Amazon
Source:  The sample for this review was provided by Audew

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Audew HD Vehicle DVR review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 24, 2019 at 11:00 am.

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Pad & Quill Oxford Leather iPad Pro case review

REVIEW – I have used many Pad & Quill products over the years, all created to last decades by artisans with high quality materials and old world craftsmanship. An excellent example of their rugged durability is the P&Q Field bag I reviewed years ago. My wife has used it daily and believe you me, she beats the cr@p out of it with it taking everything she throws at it in stride. For this review, Pad & Quill has sent me their new case for the latest generation of iPad Pros. So, let’s see if the Oxford Leather 11″ iPad Pro case lives up to the Pad & Quill reputation and pedigree.

What is it?

The Pad & Quill Oxford Leather case is a book cover style cover engineered to hold and protect your 11″ or 12.9″ iPad Pro. The Oxford is a relatively simplistic cover made from a single piece of gorgeous fine-grain bridle leather.

Design and features

The Oxford Leather case is nicely fitted for the iPad Pro. The interior of the book cover style cover is lined with a very soft leather. The left side of the case has a slipper pocket meant to hold a bit of paperwork. The right side of the case is where the iPad Pro is held in place.

Features:

  • Perfectly fits the all-new 2018 11″ iPad Pro
  • Smart Keyboard Folio Compatible, though we recommend pairing with Magic Keyboard
  • Apple Pencil 2 charges perfectly inside of the case
  • Crafted from a single piece of American Full-Grain Bridle Leather
  • Strong and Durable Slim Profile
  • Interior Pocket for documents
  • Elastic Strap Closure
  • New Secure Locking Adhesive Technology from 3M, Residue Free
  • Self-propping iPad Pro Horizontal Viewing Stand built-in
  • UV-resistant, marine-grade nylon stitching
  • Smart cover with magnetic on/off feature
  • Ultra soft American leather interior
  • Signature of the artisan subtly placed in every case!
  • 25-Year Warranty & 30-Day Money Back Promise

The iPad Pro is held in place by two pieces of “Secure Locking Adhesive Technology” double sided tape from 3M. These strips are residue-free and do a great job holding the iPad in place. That said, while effective at holding a the iPad, no matter how high-tech/fancy…double sided tape is so very 10 years ago. Apple engineers embedded 100+ magnets into the iPad Pro meant to hold accessories securely in place. Pad & Quill’s decision to use tape versus magnets to hold the iPad within the Oxford case is just lazy/poor design.

The case uses an elastic strap closure system to keep the Oxford secured closed. The strap acts as a large rubber band that is well made and appears durable enough to last years of use.

Each end of the elastic band are attached and reenforced into the back of the case. The leather and workmanship on this case are excellent. The fine-grained bridle leather is very well finished, feels great in the hand, and smells wonderful. The stitching is done with a UV-resistant, marine-grade nylon that is nicely done as well.

Each Oxford case is individually initialed by the artisan who created it. The initials are located behind the iPad Pro.

On the back of the Oxford case, there is a cutout for the iPad Pro’s camera assembly. Like the rest of the cover/case, the cutout is perfectly sized and nicely finished.

The Oxford is engineered to hold the iPad Pro upright at approximately a 60 degree angle. As the case has broken in, the range of angle it can hold the iPad has grown. Currently that range is approximately 20-30 degrees, so it can stand between 40-70 degrees.

The front cover of the Oxford can be folded backwards out of the way to hold it vertically more comfortably. That too has broken in and is easier to fold as time has passed.

The Oxford is Smart Keyboard Folio Compatible, though “we recommend pairing with Magic Keyboard.” I would agree using this case in conjunction with the Apple Keyboard cover would be cumbersome.

The Oxford is a smart cover with magnetic on/off feature that automatically turns the iPad’s screen off when closed. As you can see, this case more than doubles the thickness of the 11″ iPad Pro.

The case also doubles the weight of the iPad Pro making it the same weight as the 12″ MacBook.

What I like

  • Old-World craftsmanship
  • Made from gorgeous bridle leather
  • Excellent build quality
  • Feels great to hold

What needs to be improved

  • Uses tape to adhere iPad Pro to case
  • Doubles the weight and volume of the iPad Pro

The Oxford Leather iPad Pro case is available in Whiskey, Chestnut, and All-New Galloper Black. Pad & Quill backs all of their products with a 25-year leather warranty. Though I would assume the tape and elastic band are not.

Final thoughts

Alright, I’m definitely conflicted about this iPad case… I want to dismiss this leather cover as not meeting my need/desire for easy and repeated installation and removal. The issue is, I love the quality of the leather, old world craftsmanship, and overall feel of the Pad & Quill Oxford iPad Pro case. I am totally OK with the added weight and volume it brings to my sleek & slim tablet. But I need to remove my iPad on occasion whether to attach my keyboard case, use my iPad naked, or review a different case. And sadly, I am certain the double sided 3M tape will lose its stickiness used in this manner. And it would SUCK for it to fail and my iPad Pro come crashing to the ground. That said, I have been using this case for three weeks now and am dragging my feet removing my 11″ Pro until I have no choice. So the bottom line is if you can live with this case’s only real flaw it is definitely worth considering but if you need more flexibility you should look elsewhere.

Price: $129.95 (11″) / $149.95 (12.9″)
Where to buy: Available at Pad & Quill.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Pad & Quill.

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Pad & Quill Oxford Leather iPad Pro case review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 24, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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