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Survival Hax 6″ Fire Starter Flint Review

Do you know what the Ten Essentials for the Outdoors are?  From the Boy Scout Handbook, it includes a pocketknife, first aid kit, extra clothing, rain gear, water bottle, flashlight, trail food, matches/fire starters, sun protection and map/compass.  Let’s take a look at starting a fire with a flint.

What is it?

A 6″ fire-starting steel rod kit capable of producing a shower of hot sparks, despite weather conditions.

Hardware specs

Large 6” Ferrocerium rod will keep starting fires up to 30,000 strikes.

What’s in the box?

  • Emergency paracord and whistle
  • Multifunctional scraper tool
  • Tinder holder and cotton

Design and features

The6-inchh rod feels substantial. When I was a kid, I had a tiny keychain version that was no larger than a match. This thing is about as big as a Sharpie pen.

The metal scraper has a scale on both sides plus a bottle opener notch.

Inside the capsule is a wad of cotton tinder, in case you don’t have anything suitable to start a fire.

The orange bit is actually a whistle and snaps into the black part to form a paracord end.

Setup

After going through the Cub Scouts my son is now in his first year of Boy Scouting. I thought I’d let him take a crack at it. His 11 year-old muscles had a little trouble producing a shower of sparks, but with some patience and persistence…

Success!  “Woo hoo!” was his quote.

Performance

I discovered that with the included metal scraper tool, technique is key.  Scraping at a roughly 45 degree angle gave slightly better results.

Positives

  • Beefy 6″ rod will likely never run out in your lifetime
  • Everything you need for basic survival included (paracord, scraper, whistle, tinder capsule)

Negatives

  • You’ll need a little bit of grunt power to produce sparks of sufficient quantity.

Final thoughts

The SurvivalHax 6″ Fire Starter Flint totally beats my wimpy flint steel of yesteryear.  I like that it includes not just the steel, but a few other items that make this an no-brainer for one of the Ten Essentials for the Outdoors.

Price: $22.99
Where to buy: SurvivalHax.com or Amazon.
Source: The sample of this product was provided by SurvivalHax.

Wisenet SmartCam D1 video doorbell review

What is it?

Remember watching the Jetsons as a kid, with their video phone, video doorbell, and flying car? Well, of those three, the flying car is the only one that’s not already sitting on store shelves waiting for you to take one home. Anyone with a smartphone has a raft of video chat clients at hand. There are several video doorbells on the market. In fact, we were offered one from Wisenet, née Samsung Security. It’s called the SmartCam D1 and is installed in place of your existing wired doorbell. Follow along on my adventure to the future.

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

Hardware specs

System Requirements
  • Internet Connection: High Speed Internet, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
  • Mobile: iOS 8 or higher, Android OS 5.0 or higher
  • Requires an existing hard-wired doorbell
  • Requires wiring to a 16-24 VAC doorbell and transformer

What’s in the box?

  • SmartCam D1 Video Doorbell Camera
  • 3 Interchangeable Faceplates
  • Power Stabilizer Kit (For existing chimes)
  • Power Extension Kit
  • Screws and Anchors
  • Screw Driver
  • Quick Start Guide
  • Warranty Card

Design and features

This item had come into the queue and I had taken possession of it just around Halloween. I was procrastinating installing it, after skimming through the instructions. All it took was a break-in at our home two weeks before Thanksgiving to put it on the front burner. After getting into the specifics, it’s far easier than I was imagining.

Setup

The kit itself comes with everything you will need except a drill and a ladder, and the drill is optional. There is a power stabilizer that attaches onto your existing chime, and three trim rings (silver, black, and brass) to best match your door, and all manner of screws and terminal clips. Let’s take a look at how it worked.

According to the manual, the first thing is to cut power. With a light-enabled doorbell, this is pretty easy – have someone watch the doorbell light while you flip breakers until the light goes out. “That’s the one!”

The next step is to unhook two leads from your chime and connect the little harness for the power stabilizer. This is as simple as it sounds: disconnect two wires, connect them into single terminal blocks from the kit, and screw the other wire back to the chime terminals. It took me longer to compose and type out that sentence than it took to do it.


Next, disconnect the existing doorbell, and attach the SmartCam. Then, ask the person in the house who will care which trim ring they prefer. Acknowledge the importance of their contribution, and put the other two rings in the box. (This most likely applies only to those in a long-term, committed domestic partnership, but I do my best in that “ensure domestic tranquility” thing the Constitution talks about.)


The instructions at this point say to put everything into place, but I opted to test before buttoning it all up. Your confidence in your ability to follow instructions will determine your path at this point.


Download the SmartHome software, create an account and get to the authentication screen. Flip the breaker back on, and make sure your doorbell is getting power, sign it into your WiFi, and test it. While this sounds simple, this is probably the most tedious part of the whole process.


Once everything is working as expected, screw the SmartCam over the place your old doorbell was and test again. There is a reset button to the upper left of the unit before you install the trim ring, so be sure everything is working before installing the trim ring. There is a small brass set screw that goes into the lower side of the SmartCam tightened with an Allen wrench that is the final piece. This finishes the doorbell and covers all the attachment points and reset buttons. The Allen screw is recessed, and a pain to get to, which is what you want in the link to bypassing your video security doorbell, right?
At this point, you can stick down the power stabilizer and put the cover back on the chime unit. This was the second hardest part to me, because while it’s the size of a book of matches, there isn’t a lot of spare space inside that chime box, and you have to allow the chimes to vibrate, so nothing can touch them.


Once it’s all installed, you can go into the settings and set the notification preferences, sounds, etc. You can also install it on the phones of your housemates, so that they can participate in the joy of remote door answerage. This is left as a challenge to the installer and their communication skill, as well as the depth of commitment in the earlier mentioned long-term domestic partnership…


So, the doorbell was installed, I freaked the dog out sufficiently by ringing the bell and talking to him through the SmartCam, and felt pretty good about it. Having previously been notified from test security camera systems by every single car that passed on the street, I was happy that there are multiple activity areas that can be set up, and thus am spared my neighbors leaving for work at 4 AM causing my alert to activate. The next day at work, however, I got an alert to a human activity at the door. I pulled up the SmartHome software and activated the live view, just in time to watch the UPS truck drive off.

The video record of the delivery showed the entire process, with the delivery person walking up while talking on their phone, placing the boxes on the porch, and trudging off through the leaves back to their truck. I now enjoy hearing that alert, knowing that something has been dropped off. Should a second alert sound, I can immediately check to see if it’s a second delivery, someone wanting to rake my yard, or someone snooping around my deliveries. And I can speak to them, just like Jane and George or the kids, and they don’t know if I’m inside or at Spacely Industries.
Now, about those flying cars….

Performance

I found that the performance is very fast. While raking the leaves last weekend, I finally had to turn off notifications before being vibrated to death. I have been in a neighbor’s yard, showing them the system, and could scream and activate the “human detection” signal. That’s pretty cool.

Positives

  • Much easier to do install and use than to read directions about
  • Everything is provided and explained in detail
  • Software is friendly, has many options, and works as expected

Negatives

  • There is a registration and on-going fee for video storage. Granted, this is fast becoming an expected thing, but it’s just one more “only $5 a month” service.

Once it was installed and I got a few notices at work, I found it fits into my lifestyle very easily. I get a message on my Apple Watch, check the video, and make sure it’s something I am expecting or need to handle, all without disengaging from a customer on the phone. If my Lovely Bride calls to ask, I am ready to let her know, after checking our expected deliveries and the doorbell video. I’m actually looking forward to salespeople coming by this spring, just so I can turn them away!

Oh, and one last fun thing. You start to really wonder about the attitude of delivery folks. I’ll leave these videos right here without further comment.

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

Instant Pot Ultra 6 Qt review

I prefer to cook my own food than eating in a restaurant because it’s cheaper to cook at home and I by cooking it myself, I know exactly what is in my food. But the biggest downside to eating at home is the time that it takes to cook a meal and cleaning up the mess afterward. I’m happy to tell you that I’ve found a wonderful solution to both of those problems; it’s the Instant Pot Ultra Qt.

What is it?

The Instant Pot Ultra 6 Qt is an all in one electric pressure cooker that speeds up cooking by 2-6 times and can be used as a slow cooker like a crock pot, rice cooker, yogurt maker, sauté/browning pan, steamer, and a warming pot.

What’s in the box?

Instant Pot Ultra 6 Qt
6 quart stainless steel pot
Power cord
Wire steam rack
Plastic tools
Condensation drip catcher
Instructions

Design and features

First all, you’re probably wondering how a glorified crockpot can be worthy of a Gadgeteer review. I’m here to tell you that this thing is life changing for me even if I only use it to cook a few different things.

At first glance, the Instant Pot does look like a crockpot except that the lid isn’t made of see-through glass like most crockpots. That’s because the Instant Pot is a pressure cooker.

On the back of the lid is a steam release valve (large black knob shaped object), float valve (small silver object), and a stem release reset button (black comma shaped button).

The lid locks and unlocks with a twist to reveal the stainless steel interior.

You will notice the removable and replaceable silicon seal which keeps the pot pressurized.

In the bottom half of the Instant Pot is the dishwasher-safe stainless steel cooking pot which has marks inside to show fill levels for pressure cooked foods. Instant Pot sells different models of their cookers but the one they sent to me has a 6 quart pot.

The 6 quart stainless steel pot lifts out of the bottom of the Instant Pot to reveal the cooking element at the bottom. It should be common sense that you never put food in this area of the Instant Pot.

The front of the pot has a white on blue backlit display that lights up when the Instant Pot is plugged in. The Instant Pot has 16 cooking programs listed on the sides of the display: Soup/Broth, Meat/Stew, Bean/Chili, Cake, Egg, Slow Cook, Sauté/Searing, Rice, Multigrain, Porridge, Steam, Sterilize, Yogurt, Warm, Pressure Cook, and Ultra.

The program is selected by turning the knob below the display and pressing the knob to select the mode. In the image above, I’ve chosen the Saute mode. It’s also important to note that some of the modes like Saute have different temperature settings that can be customized by using the knob after the mode has been selected.

The Ultra mode is also available to give the cook full control of pressure, non-pressure cooking and time. There’s also a timer that you can use for up to a 24-hour cooking delay start time.

My first test of the Instant Pot Ultra 6 Qt was to cook beef stew. Although I was excited to try the Instant Pot, I wasn’t expecting to be wowed by my first try and definitely didn’t think I’d be wowed by cooking a beef stew in it.

We usually cook a beef stew in a crockpot all day and in all my years cooking one, I’ve probably never uttered the words YUM after taking my first bite. Beef roasts in the crockpot are usually kind of blah, but we use the meat for soups that we make with the leftovers, which always taste better than the original dish.

So in anticipation of cooking the beef stew in the Instant Pot, I googled a couple recipes and settled on this one from Nom Nom Paleo. I picked it because it included ingredients like fish sauce and coconut aminos that I’ve never used in a beef stew before and thought what the heck, let’s see what happens! I couldn’t find any coconut aminos at my local grocery store, so I used soy sauce instead.

The first thing I did was put a little olive oil in the bottom of the pot with rough chopped onions. I used the saute program to cook them for a few minutes.

Then I cut up the beef in big chunks and added the meat, and other ingredients into the pot along with some baby potatoes instead of mushrooms because I hate mushrooms.

I put the lid on top, chose the pressure cook mode for 35 minutes and walked away. Yes, 35 minutes. I was very skeptical that it would be done that quick.

As soon as you put the lid on top, you’ll hear a video game style tune to let you know that it’s starting to cook. Then at the bottom of the display, you can see a graph which shows the temperature/progress indicator. The indicator provides a visual on the cooking progress from preheating through to cooking and the Keep Warm mode which is activated by default.

Although the beef stew is only supposed to take 35 minutes to cook, that’s actually the pressure cooking time. The 35-minute countdown doesn’t begin until the pot is pressurized, which can take 10-15 minutes or so depending on the temperature of the ingredients.

But the great thing is that you can set the mode and time and then just go do something else. When the cooking is done, you’ll hear a beep. You can release the pressure by pressing the pressure release button and wait about 5 minutes till all the pressure is disappate dand you can open the pot, or you can allow the pressure to release on its own and the food will be kept warm for you.

When I opened the Instant Pot, I was greeted with a drool-worthy aroma, but I still wasn’t impressed until I took my first bite. I have to tell you, that the beef stew I made in the Instant Pot was the best beef stew I’ve EVER had in my life. And no, I’m not just saying that. I’m being 100% serious. The meat was perfectly cooked and tender and the potatoes were perfect too. Just thinking about it makes me want to make it again.

For Instant Pot cooking test #2, I decided to try using up some Thanksgiving leftovers by making some turkey noodle soup. This time I didn’t have a recipe to go by. I just used leftover turkey broth that Jeanne’s brother gave us from their Thanksgiving day turkey that we shared with them. I used a couple cups of leftover turkey meat cut up into bite-sized chunks.

But I started out adding mirepoix and some butter to the pan in saute mode to sweat the veggies. If you don’t know what mirepoix is, it’s just a fancy name for diced carrots, onions, and celery.

Then I added the turkey broth, the turkey, some dry noodles I found in the cabinet that were probably 2 years old, ground pepper, and a hodgepodge of herbs. I gave all the items a quick stir, locked the lid, chose the soup mode and let the Instant Pot do its thing.

About 30 minutes later I opened the pot to another great meal.

With just those two dishes, I was already a huge fan of the Instant Pot, but then I also used it to cook some steel cut oats for breakfast one morning. They turned out decent but I need to tweak somethings before I use the Instant Pot to cook them from now one.

I also used the Instant Pot to make spaghetti using this recipe. I love pasta, but it’s a pain in the rear to pull out a frying pan to brown the hamburger, use a saucepan to heat up the tomato sauce, and use a big pot to cook and drain the spaghetti. With the Instant Pot, I only needed one pot for the whole meal.

You can brown the meat right in the Instant Pot using the saute mode. Then drain the fat (or if you use ground turkey like we do, you don’t even need to drain it), pour in the sauce, break up a pound of uncooked spaghetti noodles in half, pour in 1.5 jars of water, add some spices and herbs, shut the lid, pressure cook for 8 minutes and you’re done. It turned out perfectly yummy. Imagine a whole pot of spaghetti cooked in about 20 minutes with only one pot to wash (it can go in the dishwasher too). It’s truly a game changer in my house.

What I like

  • Fast cooking
  • One pot easy cleanup
  • Safety features prevent you from opening the lid if there is pressure in the pot

What needs to be improved

  • I seriously can’t think of anything

Final thoughts

I love the Instant Pot Ultra 6 Qt and know that I’ll be using it regularly from now on. I can’t wait to try making chili, steaming vegetables, and other recipes. If you like to cook or even if you don’t, you should really check out the Instant Pot. It makes cooking so easy, fast, and flavorful while making cleanup a breeze.

Price: $149.95
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Instant Pot.

HEAdesigns Wingman knife review

I have reviewed my fair share of finely crafted pocketknives made from some of the best materials available. But all of them were more or less of classic folder design. The HEAdesigns Wingman aspires to be different, specifically created with a “futuristic, next level design.” Let’s see how well it does achieving its objective.

What is it?

The Wingman is a Wharncliffe flip folder made from 6Al4V aircraft grade titanium and S35vn stainless steel. HEAdesigns took two years with fifty refinements in that time and over a dozen prototypes to perfect their vision. In addition to looking like it’s meant as a prop for the latest SciFi movie, the Wingman is engineered for serious speed and performance as well.

Design and features

The titanium handle is 4.8 inches in length. I received the green version highlighted with yellow/gold titanium hardware. This picture captures the 3D contouring and wrapped edges of the handle pretty well. The handle is nicely sized with an excellent textured, quality feel and overall weight to it.

Specifications:

Blade:

  • S35vn steel, 3.5in blade length flat ground from 1/8in stock w. 3 grinds per side
  • Two-tone sandblast and hand sand flat finish with full depth speed groove
  • This blade flies out faster than Dominic Toretto at a drag race

Handle:

  • 6Al4V Aircraft Grade Titanium starting at a .19in custom designed to angle taper down to .09in
  • 4.8in long by 1.12in wide with heavy interior scalloping for weight reduction
  • Machined lock relief, steel lock insert, over travel stop, ceramic bearings, and detent
  • Full cutouts through both handles with 3D contoured and wrapped edges unlike any other design

Hardware & Clip

  • 6Al4V Ti hardware and clip
  • Custom HEA pivot with mirrored AEH on back with torx accommodations
  • Blind screwed clip with design cues that make it feel right at home on the frames
  • Full-Length Ti backspacer with hidden hardware, secure screw tech, hidden lanyard hole, and speed milling down the entire piece

The Wingman is just over 8 inches long when extended and weighs in at a 4.2oz. The blade itself is 3.5 inches in length. The custom HEA pivot is very responsive and lightning fast deploying the blade. The pivot has a polished surface and HEA machined into it.

On the flip side, the pivot has a mirrored AEH on back with torx adjustment point. The right side of the handle has a titanium blind-screwed pocket-/beltclip with matching space-age design. The belt clip is stiff and does a solid job of keeping the knife securely on your belt or in your pocket. There are two cutouts through the entire width of the handle, with the lower one going thru the blade as well.

The top of the Wingman has a full-length titanium back spacer. There is a channel machined into the spine of the backspacer for feel and design.

There are ridges machined into the thumb ramp and blade flipper for added friction/grip when force is applied (aka flipping the blade open).

The precision frame-lock secures the blade into the open position with zero blade movement and little chance of the blade accidentally closing. To close the blade, simply press the frame lock aside and the blade smoothly rotates back into the closed position. The Wingman does not have a closed lock that keeps the blade from accidentally opening. Though this is unlikely under normal circumstance, the blade seats firmly within the handle and doesn’t deploy without a good amount of force.

The two-tone blade is razor sharp as you would expect, created with six grinds to achieve its unique style and shape.

The spacer has a hidden lanyard hole built into the rear of the handle…a nice touch.

The Wingman is available in gray, green, gold, blue, and bronze.

Sam Abdelrahman is the founder, president, and lead designer of HEAdesigns, creating bold, futuristic knives. He brings a decade of engineering experience, the highest quality materials, and excellent craftsmanship to all HEAdesigns products. His goal for the Wingman specifically was to create the perfect midsize flipper “that looked like it could move at the speed of light”.

Positives

  • Unique, futuristic design
  • Made from high-quality materials
  • Excellent engineering
  • Lightening fast blade deployment
  • Rock solid, wiggle-free frame-lock
  • Nice contoured feel to the handle

Negatives

  • The space age design might be too much for some

Final thoughts

HEAdesigns had a vision of designing a pocketknife that pushed the limits on style and design while striving for the highest quality of materials and craftsmanship. The Wingman hits the mark on all those counts. Functionally this midsize flipper/folder is fast, well sized/weighted and ideal as a high-end EDC.

Price: $329.00
Where to buy: HEAdesigns.
Source: The sample of this product was provided by HEAdesigns.

TiBag review

The Gadgeteer will turn 21 years old this summer and that means that we’ve reviewed a LOT of products over the last 2 decades. One of our favorite products to review are bags, and we’ve sure reviewed a lot of them. A few weeks ago I was asked if I might like to review the TiBag. The brand sounded familiar to me so I used the site’s search feature to search on the name and sure enough, we had reviewed the original TiBag back in 2002, over 15 years ago. I look a little different than I did back then, but how has the TiBag changed? Let’s find out.

What is it?

The TiBag is a shoulder bag made of Polyester canvas material that has been designed to hold your laptop or tablet.

Design and features

The TiBag is a vertical oriented shoulder bag that is available in a color that goes with anything – Black.

The bag has a flap with a built in zippered pocket on the exterior that is large enough to hold magazines and other flat items. The only branding on the bag is the TiBag logo on the flap. The logo is not bad looking, but it is kind of large. I’d rather see the logo under the flap instead of on the outside.

The flap is held closed with a large strip of Velcro. When opened, you will see a small zippered pocket with 3 pen slots next to it, an open-topped pocket behind them, another large zippered pocket behind them, an open-topped pocket behind that one and finally the main compartment. This bag has quite a few pockets, which means it can hold a lot of gear.

To give you some idea of the size of the pockets, you can see that a typical 3.5 x 5-inch notebook fits in the open pocket behind the pen/pencil slot organization panel.

Speaking of the pen slots, I noticed that they are pretty short, which means that some pen clips barely clip to the edge. This might be an issue if you carry your favorite pens with you and don’t want to chance losing one.

Here you see my 12″ MacBook in the large zippered pocket. Although this pocket isn’t meant to hold your laptop, it can easily hold other gear. The front of this pocket is padded, but the back of the pocket is not.

The open-topped pocket behind the zippered pocket is also very large and easily swallows magazines (the magazine in the image above is pulled out just to show it, but the pocket is much deeper) and is meant to be used as a sleeve for laptops and tablets.

The main open compartment is padded on the back, sides, and bottom, and is very roomy. It can hold even large 15-inch and maybe even 17-inch laptops, but if you use this compartment for your laptop instead of the TiBag’s built-in sleeve, you will probably want to put the laptop in another protective case since the main compartment is large and your other gear might rub against the laptop when you’re mobile.

Here I am carrying the bag. For reference, I am 5’6″ and weigh about 129 lbs.

Positives

  • Inexpensive
  • Plenty of room for gear
  • Removable shoulder strap

Negatives

  • No grab handle
  • Pen slots too shallow

Final thoughts

There isn’t much to fault with the TiBag. It’s made well, has a simple design and enough pockets to carry all your gear. I do wish it had a grab handle to make it easier to move into and out of a vehicle, but for less than $40, it’s a bargain for someone looking for a good deal on a basic shoulder bag to carry their laptop and everyday gear.

Price: $34.95
Where to buy: tibag.co
Source: The sample for this review was provided by TiBag.