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Nekteck 90w USB Type C Wall Charger review

REVIEW – Wall chargers, especially for laptops are a very necessary evil. It’s a pain to carry it with you from place to place, but if you make the choice to leave it behind, you’re almost guaranteed to run out of juice. Until recently, if you chose to run an Apple laptop of some variety, you were limited to using Apple manufactured wall chargers as well as a result of their proprietary magnetic connector. With the switch to USB-C on more recent laptops, there are now some excellent alternatives. Nekteck makes just such a product and as it would happen, sent one over for review.

What is it?

It’s a USB-C Wall charger for any device that needs up to 90w of power. That means the primary target is laptops, but USB-C devices of any kind should also be able to use this. If you’re thinking that was a long product name up in the title, it’s actually quite a bit longer. Here’s the full product name that I would guess is aimed at Google keywords…

Nekteck USB-IF Certified 90W Type C Wall Charger with Built-in Cable Power Delivery Compatible with MacBook/New MacBook Pro, Google Pixel 3/2/ XL, PixelBook, Galaxy S9 S9+ S8, Nintendo Switch, Black

How’s it work? Let’s move along.

Hardware specs

  • Input: 100V-240V/AC, 50/60Hz
  • Output: Type-C PD 90W Max
  • USB-C Output :5V/3A,9V/3A,15V/3A,20V/4.5A
  • Dimensions: 3.34 x 3.34 x 1.18 inch
  • Cable Length: 6ft
  • USB-IF,UL/CE/FCC/RoHS certified with 6 circuit design protection( Automatic Recovery, Over Voltage Protection, Over Current Protection, Short Circuit Protection, Safe Charging, Radiation Protection )

What’s in the box?

  • 1 90w USB Type C Wall Charger

Design and features

The square design is rather unassuming. The plastic enclosure features a textured matte surface with a polished gloss logo on the front face and along the perimeter on each side.

There are two key physical features of the design. Foldable US style prongs…

and a tethered USB Type-C cable with a well designed 90º strain relief at the connection to the charger.

Setup

Connect the wall adapter to a compatible outlet, and then the USB connector on the end of the cable to the USB-C or USB-C (PD) device that you need to charge.

Performance

There are some products that you just need to work every single time. A laptop wall charger is a perfect example of that. Like many of you, my day job requires a laptop. I need to go from my desk, to meetings, back to my desk, home and back again. A single wall charger can totally handle the job, but you’ll leave it behind sooner or later.

The Nekteck charger is straightforward in that the cable is permanently attached with the connector you need on the end. The 90º tethered end points down and flexes to either side depending on where your outlet’s location is to you. The prongs fold easily, but have enough over-center resistance that they aren’t folding on you every time you blindly try to plug it in the wall. The USB-C connector slides into my Mac easily and the last few millimeters of travel provide that satisfying “snap” sound that lets you know you’re properly connected. Side note: I only noticed in posting the below picture, how much more USB-C connectors get beat up over the older magnetic style.

The cable is similar in thickness to the cable that came with my Apple charger, but seems a bit less flexible which makes it a bit harder to wrap it up for carrying. Speaking of carrying, there’s no cable management for keeping it in the wrapped position. Apple doesn’t provide a solution for theirs either, and their cable is completely separate which arguably makes it worse. Luckily, I had something available to use for that purpose that works just fine.

I already have a power solution at my work desk, so with this new charger in hand I moved the Apple one to my home desk and placed the Nekteck in my pack for daily availability. Almost immediately, an extended China trip (real test) reared its head.

I’m happy to report that the Nekteck charger worked great and for that, I’m extremely thankful as I did not bring a backup. I was able to use it to repeatedly charge my 15″ MacBook Pro as well as a 10,000mAh portable power bank I travel with. Thanks to Nekteck’s ability to handle up to 240v input, it did so speedily and without fail in hotels, factories, and airports throughout my China trip without the use of any travel adaptors/converters and generally had no issues at all.

In fact, the only challenge I was faced with was a very common issue that plagues a lot of wall outlets over there; loose wall outlets. The Nekteck charger is not super lightweight, and its orientation needs some tension on the prongs to hold it in the outlet. The above photo is one of those, and it would stay there for about 15 seconds before rotating down and falling out. In those scenarios, I had to find something to prop up the bottom of the charger to keep it from falling out of the wall. This is 100% an outlet issue, but just wanted to mention it for any of you traveling internationally.

I should point out that the increased speed of PD (Power Delivery) is only available on devices that support PD. In general, the Nekteck will power an USB-C input device as fast as that device allows it to charge.

What I like

  • Price
  • Tethered, strain relieved cable
  • Foldable prongs
  • Black color

What needs to be improved

  • Cable management for travel

Final thoughts

There’s not much to find fault with here. Nekteck’s 90w charger works great. It’s a little more square, but at $69 for 61w and $79 for 87w for the comparable Apple chargers, you can buy 2 of these and have money left over. This one is staying in my pack.

Price: $29.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Nekteck.

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Nekteck 90w USB Type C Wall Charger review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 6, 2019 at 11:00 am.

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Reolink Go 4G LTE security camera review

REVIEW – I currently have five wireless cameras set up inside my home so that I can keep an eye on my house when I’m not there. But you’ll notice that I said the cameras were all inside the house. I’d love to have several cameras outside the house too, but running power cables, and/or network cables to various locations isn’t something I want to do. That’s why I was excited for the opportunity to review the 100% wireless Go camera from Reolink. Let’s take a look.

What is it?

The Reolink Go is a security camera that uses 4G LTE and 3G for communication and a solar panel to keep it powered. Other than the cable that runs from the solar panel to the camera, the Go camera is 100% wireless.

Hardware specs

Video Resolution 1080p HD at 15 frames/sec
Video Format H.264
Field of View Fixed lens, 110° diagonal
Night Vision Up to 10 m (33 ft)
Digital Zoom 6x digital zoom
Audio High-quality speaker and microphone
Frequency Bands Europe: LTE FDD: B1/B3/B5/B7/B8/B20, WCDMA: B1/B5/B8
Frequency Bands in the United States: LTE FDD: B2/B4/B12, WCDMA: B2/B4/B5
Battery 7800mAh rechargeable battery
Solar Can be powered by Reolink Solar Panel
DC Power Can be powered by 5V/2A power adaptor
Storage Local Storage Supports up to 64GB micro SD card
Working Environment Operating Temperature -10° to 55° C (14° to 131° F)
Weather Resistance IP65 certified weatherproof

What’s in the box?

  • Reolink Go camera
  • Battery
  • Weatherproof jacket
  • Adjustable mounting bracket
  • Bracket hardware
  • micro USB cable

Design and features

The Reolink Go is a security camera that’s shaped a bit like a bullet. It has a white and grey plastic housing with the Reolink logo in blue.

The lens is on the front of the camera and there is a large motion sensor below it with night vision IR sensors, and a status LED.

The “butt” of the camera has a threaded socket for the included mounting bracket.

The back (butt) of the camera twists off to reveal a large battery compartment along with a SIM card slot and a micro SD card slot.

The camera ships with a battery that slides into the camera. Just make sure you pay attention and orient the arrow on the battery compartment with the arrow on the battery before you try to push the battery in place. I say this from experience because I didn’t do this the first time and had a heck of a time removing the battery so I could insert it correctly (facepalm). Anyway, no harm was done… but lesson learned to pay more attention.

You’ll also want to insert your SIM card and micro SD card in their respective slots before you insert the battery. It should go without saying that a SIM card and a micro SD card is not included with the camera.

With the battery and cards in place, you should then put the weatherproof jacket on the camera. This will protect the camera from the weather but it’s kind of a pain to put it on and line up the hole for the mounting bracket.

Before you set up the camera outdoors, you should charge the battery by using a micro USB cable and a port on your computer or a USB AC adapter (not included).

Reolink also sent me their optional solar panel which will charge the Go’s battery from sunlight. The panel has a micro USB cable that plugs into the port on the bottom of the camera and has a protective sleeve that slides in place to keep the connection waterproof.

With the battery charged, cards inserted, and the mounting bracket attached, you can set up the camera outdoors and you’ll be ready to go.

I tested the Reolink Go in several places around the outside of my house. You can see that I’m a real DIYer with a complete with rock stabilization system. 😉

It should go without saying that it’s important that the location where you plan to install the camera has a good 4G or 3G signal. It’s also important to note that the Reolink Go camera does NOT work through WiFi. It only uses cellular. Here in the US, it only works with carriers that use T-Mobile like Freedompop, US Mobile, Ting, Cricket, Mint, Metro PCS, and Tracfone. I bought a pre-paid Mint SIM to test with this camera. Mint also uses T-Mobile. When I bought it, they were having a deal for $20 for 3 months of 5GB of data per month. I had to activate the SIM in a phone first, but then it worked perfectly in the camera.

Reolink app

To view the camera’s live footage, you have to use the Reolink app for iOS or Android. I installed the app on my Pixel 2 XL.


The application is pretty easy to navigate. There’s the main screen that shows a thumbnail image of the camera with status icons for the 4G signal and battery level for the camera.

Tapping the camera thumbnail image takes you to the live view for that camera. This screen allows you to pause the camera, take a snapshot, record video, change from 1080P to Fluent resolution, color to black and white, and go full screen with the live view.




You can also listen to the built-in speaker, have a two-way conversation, and go into the playback/motion clip screen.

I was impressed with the image quality during the day and at night. As you can see from the images, the picture is sharp and clear.


When the camera detects motion using PIR (thermal motion sensing), it will send a push notification to your phone like you see above on the left. You can then go into the playback screen and view the captured clips. Note that the camera does not record video 27/4 even with a micro SD card installed. It just copies the motion clips to the card.

What I like

  • Good image quality
  • 4G capability
  • Can be used outdoors with a solar panel for complete wireless installation

What needs to be improved

  • Only works with T-mobile carriers
  • Needs WiFi capability in addition to cellular
  • Does not record all footage to micro SD card, only motion alert clips are saved
  • Expensive

Final thoughts

I reviewed the Reolink Argus Pro camera a couple months ago and my experience with the Reolink Go compared to the Argus Pro has been the same except that the Go camera uses 4G instead of WiFi. The ability to place the Reolink Go camera anywhere there is a cell signal for the carrier you’re using with it is a game changer. I have considered putting one in my mailbox and mounting the solar panel on the back of the box so that I’ll know when the mail person brings the mail since our mailbox is more than 500 feet away and completely out of sight. So far I’ve just used the camera around my house. Even with heavy rain and cold temperatures down in the 20’s, it’s been working like a champ although some mornings the picture has been a little foggy.

This camera is expensive at $275 for the camera with the solar panel. At that price, I think it should also include WiFi capability and record all footage to the micro SD card. Even without those features, this camera is useful for people who need to keep an eye on their property and don’t want to deal with running cables for networking and power. But obviously, the wireless cellular convenience comes with a price tag.

Price: $249.99 (1 camera), $274.98 (1 camera + solar panel)
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Reolink.

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Reolink Go 4G LTE security camera review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 6, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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Audeara A-01 Wireless Headphones review

REVIEW – Over-ear headphones have always been my favorite go to for immersive listening. Audeara reached out about reviewing their A-01 headphones and since I’ve been traveling quite a bit for my day job, the timing turned out perfect. A good set of noise-cancelling headphones are a must-have for long flights to help reduce fatigue or even just to be able to enjoy media in-between fitful bouts of sleep. The A-01s have a key feature for customizing the sound profile unique to your own hearing. Seeing as I turned half-ninety a couple of years ago and have been increasingly concerned that my hearing is not what it used to be, that was a feature I was most excited to check out.

What is it?

The A-01s are over-ear headphones that support both Bluetooth, 3.5 cable connections, active noise cancellation, and sound profile customization.

Hardware specs

• Connectivity: Bluetooth and 3.5mm wired
• Range: ≤10m (BT)
• ANC: Active Noise Cancellation
• Listening Time: ≤65 hours
• Drivers: 40mm Mylar
• Freq. Response: 20Hz-22kHz
• Impedance: 32 Ohm
• Charging: MicroUSB

What’s in the box?

• A-01 Headphones
• Charging cable – Micro USB to USB-A
• 3.5mm audio cable with microphone and single multi-function button
• Airline audio adapter
• 1/4 Phono plug adapter
• Microfiber pouch for cables and accessories
• Molded travel case
• Quickstart guide

Design and features

The overall design of the A-01s is a clean, traditional take on over-ear headphones. They’re a glorious matte black with understated graphics that are hard to object to. They are slightly heavier than I was expecting, but very much a positive as the construction is largely aluminum and feels very solid. Nothing about them feels cheap.

All the accessories are a notch up from what’s typically included with metal housings on the cables and tasteful Audeara branding across most of them. The molded EVA case holds all of it in a compact, fit-in-your-pack form.

From a fit perspective, the ear cups pivot 90º inward just above the yokes which provide about 30º of vertical rotation to seal against your head very well. The clamping force of headphones are directly related to their weight and nailing that balance can be pretty tricky. Audeara opted to have the headband extend further out from the head to help strike that ratio. I think they got it right, but it does stick out a bit as you can see in this photo.

The headband is a very soft synthetic leather (guessing) with a subtly debossed Audeara logo and a padded air mesh that rests against your head.

The sizing adjustment uses a friction slide with detents for positioning. The detents are not super positive, but they also do not slip once set.

The ear cups are comfortable foam wrapped with a soft synthetic leather material and sport very large R and L indicators on the inside speaker covers that you cannot miss.

The majority of all the controls are on the left ear cup, where you’ll find…
• Volume Up, Multi-function (play/pause/skip), Volume Down
• Power on (bluetooth) and corresponding LED
• 3.5mm audio jack
• A small hole which I’m assuming is the microphone for ANC

Over on the right ear cup are the following…
• ANC switch and corresponding LED
• Micro-USB charging port

Setup

1. Insert the micro-USB charging cable and fully charge the headset. Allow up to 6 hours for a full charge. The LED will be red while charging and will turn blue when charging is complete.
2. Download the Audeara app from the Play store for Android devices or from the App Store for Apple devices.
3. Turn on your headphones with the switch on the left ear cup. It may help to put them on your head before you flip the switch as there are voice prompts. Press and hold the multifunction button (center of the three) for three seconds to put your headphones in pairing mode. You’ll hear “pairing” and/or see the LED flash blue/red. Go into Bluetooth settings on your device and select Audeara A-01 from the new device list. You can set up a second device repeating the same step with a limit of two connected devices.
4. Now you get to personalize your headphones. This is technically a setup step, but I’m going to move into performance because it’s so intricately linked.

Performance

As I mentioned earlier, I was excited to jump into the hearing profile test. Their App offers 3 levels of customization; 8, 16, or 32 bands which translate to a test that is either 3, 5 or 10 minutes of listening to beeps and adjusting sliders to show what you can and cannot hear. You can run the test for yourself or for others. It’s a cool process where you can increase the volume of each tone until you hear it (know what you’re listening for) and then back it down until you select ‘barely audible’ and move on to the next tone. You’ll need a quiet place to do this as the tones get really faint at the bottom of each adjustment. I left noise cancellation off for this step as I did notice some suppression.

Here’s what my 32 point graph look like after going through the steps and instructions on how to read them.

I have a list of songs that I like to use for checking out new headphones, but in this case I also wanted to have some visual cues for should I be hearing something. For this I used two different videos. One of them is one of my go-to songs Snarky Puppy – Lingus (We Like It Here) which has a great video. I also watched/listened to Dave Grohl’s Play. The track itself starts around the 8:15 mark. It’s a trippy video where Dave is playing all the different instruments for this epically long instrumental, but it’s cut in a way where you can see a lot of what you want to hear. It ended up being a great piece to test the A-01s as there are some sparse moments with clear notes, great percussion and then some heavy sections as well.

On a pure listening side, I ran through a ton of Tom Misch (thanks for the recommendation Satch!), Mike Shinoda’s new album (“Crossing a Line” is a great track) along with a bunch of my other favorites.

The App has personalization settings that let you set 0-100% personalization based on your hearing test which you can access through the saved user profiles. They suggest that you start your experience at 50% and work your way up to 100%. Each time you select a new percentage, you’ll need to hit the “Apply” button to have them take effect.

With a few different tracks, I started at 0% and then adjusted up. The difference was noticeable in a way I can’t quite describe. At 25% – 75% it kept sounding better in a way that was different than just messing with the typical EQ. Bouncing back down to 0% suddenly started sounding thin, almost like I was missing something. 100% sounded too polished? I don’t have the right word for it but would equate it to that ‘motion smoothing’ or ‘judder’ setting on your TV that makes things look too smooth.

I settled at 75% for my listening. My media all sounded great. Songs sounded clear and balanced. In tv shows, the quiet dialogue sections were much easier to hear without cranking up the volume only to have my ears blown out at the sudden explosion or whatever action happened next.

Here are a few things you’ll want to be aware of…

  • I was able to wear the headphones for good long stretches of 4 hours and beyond without issue. The headband did not ever feel heavy on the top of my head and my ears didn’t overheat the way they do with some much more common ANC headphones you might be familiar with.
  • The headphones must be powered on to use the personalization settings
  • The app requires cellular or wifi connectivity to function. (You should only need the app if you’re setting up or changing personalization)The audio test requires Bluetooth. It actually will connect to your phone with two separate BT connections. One for the test and one for general listening. It was a bit confusing to see in the settings panel of my phone, and more so, when I was obviously connected to audio, but the Audeara app was telling me I wasn’t. It wasn’t mentioned in the literature, or on the site, but their customer service team helped me understand what was going on. 
  • The hearing test can be a bit glitchy. I had no issues with the 8 tone test, but the 16 and 32 tone test got progressively harder to use. The tones started delaying and getting behind what I was doing. I had the best luck manually scrolling to the lowest tone to start the tests and then timing my responses after each beep. Took a bit more time, but ultimately you’re likely to only go through this process once or every so often. It was pretty frustrating, but the end result personalization was worth the trouble. (I was able to confirm that my review set had an as of yet unreleased FW version, so hoping they continue to work out the bugs.)
  • At the pivot locations and edges of the sliders, the corners are a bit on the sharp side. It’s not major, but you might feel one of them if hanging around your neck for any length of time.

The A-01s are super versatile. You can plug in the 3.5mm headphone cord and just start listening right away (and it looks like the audio cord takes priority over the Bluetooth connection). To get any of the custom profiles, you’ll need them powered on.  When you flip on the ANC, there’s a brief audio drop while the processing kicks in. No big deal, as you’re likely not toggling it on and off frequently. ANC is also optional which is great if you were to reach the end of your battery, at which point you can listen with the audio cable again (unpersonalized).

Speaking of the battery. I made sure I had a full charge before leaving on my trip. I hit about 40+ hours of plane, train, and long taxis before getting ready for my flight home where I charged them just to make sure I did not run out mid-flight. Audeara’s estimate of ≤65 hours looks to be pretty accurate.

The multifunction and volume buttons are super small. I was able to use my thumb instead of a thumbnail, but in the end, it was actually easier for me using my phone to make those adjustments as it was usually right in front of me.

[Sidebar/open question here, and aimed more at Bluetooth headphones as a category – Why are power and Bluetooth LEDs on the outside of headphones? One generally flips the on button and looks at the LED before putting them on their head, and you’re definitely not going to see that LED once you’re wearing them. Couldn’t all that flashing be inside the ear cup and not annoy your seatmate on the flight? Just a thought.]

What I like

• Build and aesthetic quality – solid, sturdy, clean
• Sound quality – clean and clear (w/ & w/o ANC)
• Custom sound profile based on your own hearing
• Rechargeable battery and its running time

What needs to be improved

• Hearing test app is glitchy
• Volume and multi-function buttons are really small
• Edges on each side of the sizing adjustment are a little sharp

Final thoughts

I’m really happy with these headphones. They’re not cheap, but they’re sitting in the same price zone as all the major players with some killer features that make them stand out. I have had multiple generations of Bose QCs over the years. I can confidently say that Audeara has nailed it with the A-01s. The headphones are built solidly, look great and then paired with sound profile customization that is fantastic. I’m looking forward to an official FW update that hopefully resolves some of  the test issues. Overall… very well done.

Price: $249.99
Where to buy: Audeara and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Audeara.

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Audeara A-01 Wireless Headphones review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 5, 2019 at 11:00 am.

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MSI Mystic Knight Gaming Backpack review

REVIEW – Carrying your EDC loadout for work is usually not that much stuff. Laptop, lunch, maybe your meds and a few cables. But if you’re a gamer, and have a full portable rig for setting up shop in another location, you need more space. MSI, a company that makes a lot of gaming gear like mice, laptops, and headphones, now has a way for you to carry those essentials from place to place: The Gaming Backpack. I was sent the Mystic Knight model to test.

Note: Photos may be tapped or clicked for a larger image.

What is it?

The Mystic Knight is a roll-top gaming backpack with a few interesting pocket combinations, reflective safety graphics, and a flexible strap system. You can easily grab your laptop from outside without having to undo the roll-top closure.

Design and features

The MSI Mystic Knight is a stealth black backpack that is water-resistant in fabric choices as well as zipper closures. There’s even a rain shell stored in a hidden pouch on the bottom of the pack if it gets to be more than a drizzle. For organization, there is a massive main compartment that can hold just about anything you can throw at it, short of a kitchen sink. Seriously, it will seal fully at 25” tall by 14” wide and 4.5” thick. The inside is a waterproof dark grey/grey-green camo pattern. The top can be rolled down for easier access if desired.

This main compartment is divided from the laptop compartment by a lightly padded wall which is connected on three sides but is flexible enough to allow space-sharing between the areas. The laptop compartment is accessible from outside the bag through a full-length zipper that runs down the left side, as you’re wearing it. It will easily hold a 17” gaming laptop. Actually, anything smaller rattles around in the space. My 15” MacBook Pro Retina can almost fit in sideways. That’s my poor little 10.5″ iPad in there in the photo below.


On the opposite side of the divider is a single organizational slit pocket about 11” deep that would let you file a magazine, Dungeon Master’s Guide, full-sized keyboard, or tablet. (It’s directly below my fingers in the shot below.) In front of this is all the rest of the space in one large chamber. I use the Tom Bihn Freudian Slip for Medium Café bag for organization inside my bags, and this allows me to use this space well. A Cocoon Grid-it or another organizational tool would be a good investment. In addition, I have two other cases – one for dongles (2” x 3” x 8.5”) and one for my Apple Pencil and charger adapter along with a “real” pen (1” x 2.5” x 8”). I also put my hairbrush in here (8.5” x 1.5” x 1.5”). (Brush it while ya got it, right?) Across the top divider between the laptop sleeve and the main compartment is a headphone strap. This allows you to slip in a large set of headphones without them sinking to the bottom of the bag. The adjustable strap (5” long, doubled) is long enough to clip around really wide headphone bands, along with their cables. This keeps the cable untangled and the headphones from getting snarled into the detritus in the bottom of the bag. If you have a decent case for your headphones, it can hang there as well.

Moving up to the top of the bag is the gusseted rucksack roll-top closure. The two long pieces are reinforced with an internal flexible banding of some sort, and magnets are affixed at each end. This assures that the lip of the main compartment closes with a satisfyingly quiet thewp! You then can roll it down as many turns as you please and secure it with the single hook. Once hooked and cinched, I never had the closing slip or come undone in use. Also, it was very easy to pull the rear side of the clip up to relieve the pressure and unhook it.

On the outside of the bag, across the lower portion that faces out, is an angular silver and black pattern. (It’s reflective. See the shot further down in a darkened room with flash turned on.) On either side of this is a red rubber strip. The left strip is a weather-resistant zipper (detail below) that gives entry into a pocket that is about 75% the size of this entire rear panel. I can fit my 10.5 iPad in there and still have room for gloves, scarf, or a hat.

Across the very top of the graphic is a zipper that opens to reveal another weatherproofed pocket, which has a few organizational pockets added to the rear wall. There are 2 pen silos, a pocket that would hold a full deck of cards easily, and a netting pocket that would hold a gaming mouse or a wad of keys. Helpfully, there is a spring-loaded clip just above this to hold the ring to such a wad.

Moving around to the back of the pack, there is a 4” span haul loop sewn in the same seam as the strap for the main closure hook. It is made from rolled webbing and padding, and it’s comfortable to hold for any weight I was able to fill the bag with.

At this same level up the back is a slash pocket that runs the full width where you can stash the straps, should you wish. There is a snap closure on this, and the removal of the straps is a one-button click from each lower corner. Actually, you can unlock one lower strap, clip it into the opposite corner, and just stash away that other strap and make the bag a sling for either shoulder. The corner “ears” also have snap closures where the corner buckle can be hidden away when that strap is not in use. Across the center horizontally, sporting a silkscreened black-on-black MSI logo, is a trolley passthrough about 4.5” wide.

The straps themselves are 1.5” seatbelt-quality webbing, with pads stitched on after a few inches. The weight is borne by the pads, and there is an adjustable sternum strap, although it seemed to slide upwards during use, so it was always up to my chin after a few minutes. It did a good job of balancing the load, however. The adjustment buckles at the bottom of the strap kept their setting while being adjusted through changes in outerwear during a few weeks of Southern Winter, which ranged from full parka to shirt sleeves.

Above the corner strap connectors on each side is a hidden slash pocket, probably meant for drink bottles or small umbrellas. One is waterproofed.

What I Like

  • Weatherproof zippers and rain cover
  • Huge reflective design on back for safety
  • Dedicated headphone hanging strap

What needs to be improved

  • Little interior organization – maybe a panel insert?
  • Laptop compartment padding is a bit thin.

Final thoughts

As a commuting backpack, this is overkill, yet it can hold everything tightly and doesn’t look like it’s the voluminous pack it is. Carrying my personal iPad and 12” work laptop, headphones, plus my other personal gear rarely makes a dent in the total capacity of this bag. I could add a weekend’s worth of clothes into this, and it wouldn’t look any different. So, if you’re running away from home to join the circus, skipping out of town for a secret weekend, or just heading out to attend an eSports Con, this bag should – um – have your back. (Sorry.) The only thing I’d recommend for MSI is to maybe add a removable organizational panel for the main compartment. Even gamers need cables, USB sticks, sunglasses, and breath mints.

Price: $146.98
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by MSI.

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MSI Mystic Knight Gaming Backpack review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 5, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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Baltic Domini Men’s Orange Leather Briefcase review

REVIEW – Sweet, sweet Italian craftsmanship. That’s what you’re getting with the Baltic Domini Men’s Orange Leather Briefcase. It’s a beauty, my friends, made for dominating the board room. Grab your best business suit, ‘cause we’re about to get fancy. To the review!

What is it?

It’s a double gusset (or two compartment) Italian leather briefcase that includes a shoulder strap.

Hardware specs

  • Full grain vegetable tanned leather
  • 11” by 4.3” by 15.7”
  • Shoulder strap drop length: 18.5″ to 22.4″
  • 3.5 pounds

What’s in the box?

The briefcase is the show here and includes a detachable leather shoulder strap. Baltic Domini also includes a nice cotton dust bag, to keep your leather protected when it is in storage. The ukulele is not included (that’s mine), but I dropped it in to give you a color reference for the leather:

Design and features

The form factor of the Baltic Domini is a classic two gusset briefcase with a flap closure. The design is all business, focused on carrying your office essentials while looking good on the job. Let’s walk through the details!

Materials and Construction

The leather on this bag is simply delicious. This is real-deal Italian vegetable tanned leather that takes on an orange tone as a result of the all-natural dying process. Check out the natural grain and shiny glow:

Ain’t it a beauty? I’m getting a 2 mm thickness on the caliper, which puts it at about 5 oz leather… a good thickness for durability, while still maintaining that supple flexibility. It feels amazing when you handle it. Here’s a shot of the suede backside on the main flap. The internal components use an untreated leather that you’ll see in the other pics.

The hardware is right in line with the quality of the leather. Heavy brass hardware is used throughout with additional reinforcement at all the critical wear points. Here’s a close up of the shoulder strap attachment to give you a sense of the beefy gear. Good leather, backed by reinforced stitching and heavy pegs make for a solid build:

Here’s a different angle. See those little brass clips next to my finger? Not only do those finish the edging in a classy way, but they provide “bumpers” that absorb scrapes and bumps as you put stuff in your bag, protecting the seams. Simple, but effective.

A pair of thick pegs rotate to lock in & secure the main flap. Not only is this great for providing a secure seal, but it’s ideal for long term durability:

Here’s a closeup of the carry handle. Note the multiple layers of leather and brass pegs to back up the hardware. I don’t see this as a potential fail point, either.

The shoulder strap is roughly 46″ long and 3/4″ wide, with a generous drop length of 18.5″ to 22.4″.  The strap pad is is 5-12/” by 1-1/2″. Both are well constructed with two layers of leather, but I wish the strap pad was a bit wider & longer for more comfort when the bag is fully loaded. I dig the little slogan on the pad:

Baltic Domini proudly sports the “Made In Italy” tag in multiple places on the bag including the strap pad, zipper pulls, pocket linings, and this cool tag on the inside of the bag. It’s a bit excessive with all those reminders, but it is subtle enough that it doesn’t detract from the bag’s overall look. And I respect the pride in their heritage.

Design and Layout

The Baltic Domini Orange Leather Briefcase is built for the office. The lean profile is made for carrying the thin square stuff like your laptop and documents, with multiple pockets for the essential accessories.

Starting on the exterior, you’ll find a cotton-lined external pocket on the back face of the bag that’s 7″ by 12″. You can *just* get a standard iPad tablet in there, but I think this pocket is better suited for smaller tablets, a notebook, or travel documents. I can’t figure out who makes the zipper, but it feels substantial and features a nice chunky zipper pull.

Open up the main flap, and the front face features three pockets for small items. The zip pocket mirrors the one on the exterior, and works for a small notebook or assorted small items. It’s got a nice rugged zipper and zipper pull that match the setup on the exterior pocket.

The left pocket is 6″ by 5″ with a button snap closure, and bellows a bit. It’s not quite deep enough for a MacBook power brick, but will happily accept accessories like your USB accessories and a wireless mouse.

The right pocket is 5″ by 5″ and doesn’t expand. You could drop a standard-sized smartphone in here, but my iPhone XS Max won’t fit comfortable fit in that slot. Three business card slots are attached to the front of the pocket.

The front compartment is 2″ deep with a raw leather lining. This is where you’ll stash your bigger items like a power brick, a thick notebook, or other chunky accessories. The rear face of this compartment has an 4″ by 5″ pocket that expands a bit (my iPhone fits here, as does a Magic Mouse), another card slot, and three pen slots:

The rear compartment is identically sized at 2″ deep, made for carrying up to a 15″ laptop, a tablet, and documents. My 13″ MacBook Pro fits nicely in here with room to spare:

You’ll find another 7″ by 12″ zip pocket on the rear face of this compartment that matches the other zip pockets. The zipper is a little less substantial than the others, but that’s OK given that it’s deep in the bag.

Finally, we have a button-snap leather loop on the back side of the compartment. This is ideal for hanging your keys, or you could use it as an attachment point for other items. I should note that this setup could have your keys scratching up against your laptop if you’ve got a bigger device in there. I don’t have this issue with my 13″ MacBook, but I would have preferred if this loop was attached in the front compartment.

Performance

For the businessperson looking to add a whole heap of style to your daily carry, the Baltic Domini Orange Leather Briefcase is a treat. It looks amazing and the leather is fantastic. While it maintains a classic look, there are plenty of pockets for accessories and tech that you typically don’t find in traditional briefcases. At a total weight of 3.5 pounds, it also won’t crush your shoulder when you’re loaded up with your work gear. It works equally well if you carry it by the handle or over the shoulder, and the generous drop length on the shoulder strap also allows for messenger-style carry if you’re on the run.

As with most traditional briefcases, the slim, double-gusset form factor does have pros and cons. While the leather does give you some flexibility, chunkier items simply won’t fit in the bag and allow for proper closure of the front flap. You won’t be able to stash a standard travel mug or hydration bottle in there, for example. On the flip side, you can load up your documents, folders, and notebooks without fear of the dreaded crushed corners.

For smaller and thinner items, the abundance of pockets is ideal. The assorted slip pockets and three different 7″ by 12″ zip pockets give you a bunch of versatility for organizing dongles, cables, small notebooks, travel documents, and the like while keeping the two main compartments clutter-free. At first, I thought that the three zip pockets were overkill, but I’m realizing that I don’t need to add the accessory pouches you usually need with these types of bags. It makes for tidy and well-organized daily carry, and those pockets are slim enough that they don’t get in the way of storage if you don’t need them.

I also like the rotating peg locks on the flaps. No clips to fumble with, or peg/loop arrangements that can come undone at the most inopportune times. Lock it, and it stays put. The flap design also provides a tight seal on the open compartments, which means stuff won’t spill out if the bag ends up on its side. You’ll appreciate that if you have to go through a TSA checkpoint.

It makes for a very comfortable carry no matter how you haul it. The handle features of soft pad under that leather with is really nice for handling. While I mentioned that I’d like a slightly beefier shoulder pad, it’s fine given the overall weight of the bag unless you are really overloaded.

What I like

  • Beautiful leather
  • Excellent craftsmanship
  • Lots of pockets for accessories, tech, and general organization

What needs to be improved

  • Key loop would be better if it wasn’t placed in the laptop compartment
  • Would like to see a slightly larger shoulder pad
  • Could dial back on the “Made in Italy” slogans everywhere on the bag

Final thoughts

The Baltic Domini Men’s Orange Leather Briefcase is a beautiful, well-designed piece of Italian craftsmanship. And I wouldn’t peg this as just a men’s bag; I think the style works well for any business person looking to upgrade their office style. In my opinion, it’s also a great value. The bag normally retails for $225 which is great for a nice leather briefcase, but Baltic Domini currently has it on sale for under $200. If you’re doing some post-holiday shopping, this one is worth a look.

Price: $225 retail, but on sale for $190 as of 12/27/18.
Where to buy: You’ll find it at the Baltic Domini product page.
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Baltic Domini

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Baltic Domini Men’s Orange Leather Briefcase review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 4, 2019 at 11:00 am.

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