Belts, we all have them, we use them and even abuse them at times. Like most men my age, I have owned my fair share of belts, leather, nylon, webbed, solid, and they all perform the same function, to keep my pants up. Now I won’t lie to you at this stage of my life (a little older and a little wider) I don’t wear belts that often, but I do find that when I do it is more often for casual outdoor experiences than for formal occasions. That’s why when Trayvax offered me a chance to try out their new Cinch belt I did.
Note: Images can be clicked to view a larger size.
You may recognize the Trayvax name from the many news articles and reviews we have done on their various products like the Trayvax Axis wallet that I reviewed in 2016. The Cinch belt is the newest product from Trayvax. It is a nylon web belt with a custom made aluminum belt buckle.
The Trayvax Cinch has the following features listed on their website:
Infinitely adjustable friction belt
Heavy-duty MIL-SPEC nylon webbing
Aerospace-grade tempered aluminum buckle
Anodized finish
Light brush grain pattern
High-tensile strength (2000 lbs)
Instant tensioning and hassle-free locking
Low-profile, minimalist design
Buckle bent to contour with shape of body
Interchangeable buckles
Compatible with concealed carry
Sourced and made in the USA
Lifetime warranty
As stated above, the Cinch buckle is made of anodized, tempered aerospace aluminum. It is designed to use friction to keep the belt secure around your waist. The buckle has a slight bend at the front and rear and has “TRAYVAX” on the front tip and “MADE IN THE USA” towards the rear. The writing looks like it is printed on. The buckles are available in three colors right now, blue, black and gray.
From the back of the Cinch buckle, you can see the cut outs and how the belt is held in place.
The nylon webbing for the Cinch is fairly stiff and is approximately 1 1/2 inches wide. The end is cut nicely to allow you to thread the end through the buckle. The belt sizes run in two size increments starting at 30-32 all the way up to 46-48. The only color available right now is black.
So, what’s my bottom line on the Trayvax Cinch? Simple, rugged, durable, like all things I want in my tools and I like it. While most people don’t think of their belt as a tool, it is for some. I have had experience with similar web type belts and the weak point for long-term use has always been buckle slippage. Buckle slippage is bad enough if you are trying to keep up your pants, but what if you have a pouch or are carrying a weapon on that belt? I did not experience any slippage from the buckle while wearing the Cinch. At 1 1/2 inches, the Cinch is fine for most applications, but you may have trouble fitting it into some dress pants (although a don’t think I have any anymore). For an overall utilitarian belt, I think the Cinch is a good choice. The buckle is contoured well against my body and was not too big as to become uncomfortable while sitting. The three colors available are nice and I understand they are working on more colors (let’s hope zombie green is one). The Trayvax Cinch is available from the Trayvax website starting at $26.99 and ranging to $34.99 depending on the size of the belt.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Trayvax. Visit their site for more info.
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I’ve been playing games for years, yet I’ve always used a pair of cheap Dell speakers for my PC. I never thought much of PC speakers for gaming, instead always using headsets, but when Creative offered their Sound BlasterX Kratos S5 gaming speakers to be reviewed, it piqued my curiosity, and I had to try them out. Would I enjoy gaming with speakers versus a headset? Let’s find out.
In the box you’ll find:
2 x Sound BlasterX Kratos S5 satellites
1 x Sound BlasterX Kratos S5 subwoofer
1 x Micro USB Cable (1.8M)
1 x power cord
1 Warranty and Technical Support Booklet
1 Quick Start Guide
1 Safety and regulatory leaflet
I had one hiccup when it came to setting up these speakers. My desk simply wasn’t built for them! My previous set of speakers sat above my head on the top of my hutch, but that’s not the optimum place for gaming. With the hutch, my monitors have to be smaller to accommodate, and therefore I have two monitors side by side, forcing me to use the top for my speakers. For game testing, I placed them surrounding a single monitor, but for day to day use, I had to set them behind each monitor.
The light from the Aurora Reactive Lighting system looked really nice under the monitors, but of course, the sound suffered a bit by having them there. It wasn’t enough that I had to reconfigure my desk, however.
On the back of the subwoofer, you’ll find most of the ports, switches, and buttons for the speaker system. Starting from the top, there is an LED button that switches between five preset lighting combinations, a dial for the bass level, red and white audio in ports, ports for the satellite speakers, a 3.5 mm audio in port, the cord for the external audio control dial, Micro-USB port, auto standby switch, which when on, will turn off the lighting after 20 minutes of inactivity, and lastly, the AC port. Whew, that’s quite a bit!
The external audio dial has a 3.5 mm audio out port for your headset, a microphone in port, and the whole top is one big dial for adjusting the volume. I loved how smooth it was to adjust the volume controls, including the bass controls on the subwoofer.
So, let’s get down to the audio specs on these speakers:
Total Watts: 60 Watts(RMS)
Satellites: 2 x 12 Watts
Subwoofer: 36 Watts
Frequency Response: 55Hz – 20 kHz
Input Rating: 100-240V ~ 50/60Hz 1.3A
You can choose to just use hardware settings, or choose to install the Creative Sound Blaster Connect software to tweak and perfect the settings.
The Dashboard has general information about your settings and makes it easy to turn settings on or off. It also shows the sound experience settings, which can be a preset or user customized.
Under the Sound tab you’ll find the Equalizer, Acoustic Engine, and Scout Mode, which allows you to pick up footsteps and speech a little easier. I only used this mode in the game, and while I could pick up footsteps a tiny bit better than without it, a solid pair of headphones still worked better for the very detailed sounds.
Lastly, the Lighting tab allows you to customize the lights on the speakers to whatever color set you desire. You can also change up the presets to something new if you like. Make sure you plug in the Micro-USB cable if you want to change these settings.
Now that we have the technical information out of the way, let’s talk about what we really want to know. How good is the sound quality? Well, I tell you what, I use my PC sound system for everything from gaming, to videos, to music, and I was very impressed with the overall usability of this system. As you can see in the above pictures, my standard EQ settings have the bass only boosted a little bit, and if I add more, it is simply too much (and I love bass!) for my tastes. From Christmas music to pop music, the speakers sounded really good.
When it came to gaming, I had to get used to sitting in the center of the speakers. Once centered, it was pretty nice playing Overwatch and Battlefield 1. The explosions in Battlefield were far beyond the sound quality of my gaming headset, and overall, Battlefield 1 was a dream to play with these speakers. Overwatch was pretty good, as long as I wasn’t playing competitively. I preferred to play without my headset and use these speakers when just dropping in to play a game of Battlefield or a casual game of Overwatch.
I had to tweak a few settings to get these speakers to play nice with my usual headset, which plugs in via USB. I had to set my default communications device to my headset (since it did not plug into the speakers) and set the headset to be the default communications device. Switching back and forth between them was easy; I just clicked on the volume control and selected which one I wanted to use. Once I figured that out, everything went very smoothly. Using another gaming headset that plugged into the control dial via a standard 3.5mm port worked great, and the sound quality from them was just as good as if plugged directly into my computer, so non-USB played very well with this system.
Overall, I really liked the Creative Sound BlasterX Kratos S5 gaming speakers. Other than the short connecting wire between the satellite speakers and the sub-woofer (which is a minor complaint!), I had no complaints about it whatsoever. I feel the product is worth the price and my system has been significantly upgraded to the point where I used my headset only when competitively gaming. If you are looking to upgrade your PC speakers, I would highly recommend taking a look at the Creative Kratos S5 gaming speakers. There are a lot of 2.1 speakers on the market, and these ones are definitely worth looking at.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Creative. Please visit their site for more information and Amazon to order.
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Do you ever feel like you waste money on food each week because it spoils before you eat it? One solution is to shop for only what you need each day, but that can be too time-consuming. Another solution is to try a food storage system like the Vacuvita. They sent me their complete kitchen package that includes the Vacuvita Home Base, several containers, and bags. Let’s take a look.
What is it?
You are probably familiar with other food storage systems like FoodSaver. We’ve used one for years to save leftovers in bags that we then store in the freezer. The Vacuvita food storage system can also vacuum pack food inside special bags, but in addition to that, it has a Home Base unit that sits on your counter to store food items that you need frequent access to and can vacuum pack food in containers that you can keep in the fridge or cabinet.
What comes with the complete kitchen package?
Vacuvita Home Base
AC adapter
1 large container
1 medium container
2 small containers
40 bags (20 large and 20 medium)
Vacuum adapter
Quick start guide
Manual
Design and features
The Home Base is a large storage chest that has been designed to be left out on the kitchen cabinet. You can buy it in a variety of colors from the green that you see here, to white, black and blue and orange.
The home base is 18.5 x 12 x 8.25 inches. That means you will need to devote significant space on your counter top for it and consider that it needs some clearance for the opening lid too.
Pressing the latch on the front of the Home Base will cause the lid to unlock and open by itself to reveal a roomy storage area.
The storage area inside the Home Base is about 16 x 7 x 6 inches which is large enough to hold a loaf of bread and other items. It can be used to store items that you want to access frequently like bread, crackers, chips, cookies, cereal, and other dry food items that don’t require refrigeration.
An easy to clean filter is located on the back wall of the Home Base. Sometimes you will need to remove the filter to clean it.
According to the manual, the liner of the Home Base can be removed and washed either by hand or in a dishwasher. But I wasn’t able to remove it from the unit and didn’t want to try prying it out with a screwdriver.
On the back of the Home Base is the socket for the vacuum adapter.
This is where you plug in the adapter and hose that are included with the system. The adapter is used to vacuum pack food in the Vacuvita bags and the Vacuvita containers.
The containers are made of microwave and dishwasher safe BPA and BPS free plastic.
Notice the QR code on the side of the container? If you like, you can use the Vacuvita app to keep track of the food that you store in the containers and the app will alert you before the food expires.
Scanning containers with your phone might sound a little goofy, but since the containers are not see-through (except for the tiny frosted window on the front), it’s going to be tough to remember what’s in each container unless you label them or open them, which of course breaks the vacuum seal.
The containers can be used to hold dry or wet food items and can even be stored in the freezer.
The only thing I didn’t like about the containers were the ribs on the lid and hump on the bottom of the container which made washing wet foods a little more work than if the lid and bottom of the container had a smooth surface.
When you plug in the Home Base, the latch will light up and the air inside will automatically be sucked out. The vacuum process can take from a few seconds to about 45 seconds if the container is mainly empty. The Home Base continuously checks the vacuum inside the unit and will suck out air as it needs to as time goes by. The vacuum process does make some noise, but it’s not terribly loud.
When the vacuum adapter is plugged into the socket on the back of the Home Base, a LED capacitive button appears on the lid.
Pressing the capacitive button will initiate the vacuum process through the adapter. You use the adapter with the Vacuvita containers and the bags.
A rubber flap in the container’s lid can be lifted to release the vacuum so that you can remove the lid.
Unlike FoodSaver bags, the Vacuvita bags have a zip seal the top and can be resealed and reused several times.
You can freeze the BPA free bags and even use them to do sous-vide cooking. With sous-vide cooking, you place the food (usually meat) in the bag with spices and marinade. Then you vacuum out the air which rapidly infuses the food with the flavor of the marinade. You then cook the food right in the bag by placing it in hot water.
The vacuum adapter removes air from the Vacuvita bags when you hold the adapter over the designated area on the bag and press the button on the home base to start the vacuum process.
Just like with the Home Base and the Vacuvita containers, the vacuum process will (should) automatically stop when all the air has been removed from the bag.
Using the Vacuvita food storage system
Using the Vacuvita to store food in the Home Base, containers and bags is not difficult. But there were a few times when I had some issues with the vacuum adapter. The main issue that I had was either getting the vacuum process to automatically stop or actually suck the air out of a bag or container.
I also noticed that the vacuumed bags would not hold the vacuum for more than a day or so when leaving the bag out on the counter. But if I placed the bag in the freezer there was no problem. On the other hand, the containers seemed to hold the vacuum a lot longer than the bags.
Does the Vacuvita keep food fresh 5 times longer?
Does it keep frozen foods vacuum packed in the Vacuvita bags fresher 5 times longer than foods not in vacuum packed bags? I can’t say for sure because I’d need to check the foods in a few months, but since the bags feel similar to the FoodSaver bags that we’ve been using for years, I’m confident enough to say that yes, the bags do keep food fresh longer when you freeze them because the bags protect the foods from freezer burn.
Does the Vacuvita keep foods fresh longer in the bags when not frozen? From my limited testing, I would say no. The bags do not hold the vacuum longer than a day or so.
Does the Vacuvita keep dry foods fresh longer in the Home Base? Yes, from the limited amount of testing that I’ve done with loaves of bread, chips, cookies and even some fruits, I do believe that it does help keep those items fresh longer than when they are just sitting out on the counter.
Does the Vacuvita keep foods fresh longer in the containers either in the fridge or on the counter? Yes, I believe it does. I was able to store some deli meats, and homemade soup in the refrigerator longer than I typically would store them without using the Vacuvita. I was able to eat them days later than I ever would without the Vacuvita and since I’m still above ground, I didn’t succumb to food poisoning which is a good sign
See it in action
Final thoughts
The Vacuvita food storage system is well made and easy to use. If you don’t mind the price and the space that the Home Base requires on your counter, it is a handy way to keep food fresher for up to 5 times longer than normal.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Vacuvita. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.
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Who doesn’t need an extra power supply? The devices we use every day suck down energy almost as fast as we can replenish it. I’ve been testing these QQC Corp Q-Swap mobile power supplies for over a month, and really put them through their paces. How did they fare? Check this out.
This mobile power supply comes with a nice, velvety carrying case, two rechargeable batteries, a charging ‘ Q case’, and a USB charging cable. The dimensions (in the charging case) are: 1.8 x 0.7 x 3.7 inches. It’s very light, too, weighing in at just 5.1 ounces, which is about the weight of a deck of playing cards. For such a small size and weight, the power capabilities are pretty good. Each battery holds 5,200mAh, giving you a total of 10,400mAh of backup power. It is also legal to take these on planes, as the batteries are less than 100-watt hours (38.5, to be precise), which is in alignment with International Air Transport Association regulations. Here are the main features of the device:
Swap and Go. I rather like the design and creativity of these batteries. The Q-Case design allows you to hot-swap batteries with no issues at all. And the USB port allows you to charge the batteries, or power your devices with ease and convenience. The design also helps prevent cord bending and breaking, because you hold the cord against the case, making it much more stable.
Easy Read Display. If you touch the battery on the corner opposite the indicator light, it will give you a green, yellow, or red LED, which tells the remaining power level in the battery. There is a LED on each side of both batteries.
BAM! No waiting for recharges. You can use one battery to power your devices, while the charger and other battery are plugged it getting juiced up. Once one battery dies, just pop the other battery in, charge the dead one, and you’re back in business in about 10 seconds.
Convenience. As I mentioned before, the batteries are very lightweight and portable. You can always have extra power when you need it.
Scalability. Q Swap sells additional batteries separately, so you can add or subtract as many batteries as your day will require.
Easy swap. The batteries are slightly angled so that they will only fit in the Q case a certain way. This makes sure there are no mistakes or burn-outs when charging. The case also holds the battery in via little clips on each side, so you just pop them in and out. Also, the batteries are Panasonic, in case you were wondering.
Safety, reliability, security. The charger comes with a multi-protection circuit, and automatically detects the power needs of your device and charges them accordingly (works on 1-amp devices).
Here are some more pictures of the actual batteries and the Q case. You can see the USB charging port, the charging connectors, the little clips/divots that hold the batteries in place while in the charging unit, and the LED lights on the batteries.
The packaging is clear and easy to understand.
It’s elegantly designed, with simple, informative graphics and instructions.
This picture highlights the trapezoidal shape of the battery.
And this one shows how the Easy Read Display operates, where to touch, and what the colors of the LED mean.
You can see below that the device fits very well into your hand. The first picture demonstrates part of the safety functions of the device: The USB cord plugs into the Q case very close to the case itself, so any downward or inward force on the connector is well-mitigated. You can also see that the USB cable has a thicker, flexible end towards the plug. This helps the cable withstand bending and breaking better. The cable also conveniently wraps around the device while in your hand so the cable is held securely against the Q case, making breaks less likely.
You can see below, that the Q-Swap mobile power device has completely charged my Samsung Galaxy S5 (yeah, it’s time to upgrade). Also, please take this shot for granted. It was not easy getting the battery and phone to stay upright like that! Sure, it would have been simpler to take ‘looking down’ shot… but you guys deserve the best! And I’m here to give it to you.
And yes, it can charge large devices, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.1″. Can you tell whether I like oceans or not? Well, I like them NOW. Until I was four years old, I was SEVERELY allergic to drowning. Hehe.
OK, blah blah blah. How well does it WORK? So I’ve been using these batteries for about 45 days. I mainly used them on my Galaxy S5, but also used them a few times on my Galaxy Tab S. Typically, I would let my S5 run down to about 15% power remaining in its own battery, then I would start recharging with the Q-Swap batteries. On average, the Q-Swap battery would fully recharge my S5 from 15% to 100% in an hour and a half. Pretty sweet! Comparable to having it plugged into an AC power source! The quickest I got it from 15 to 100% was an hour and 23 minutes. The longest it took was an hour and 38 minutes. I estimate that this was caused by variance(s) in the level of “15%” juice left in my phone battery. By the way, this was with the screen OFF for the vast majority of the time. I was pretty happy with these batteries for the S5 phone.
Regarding my Galaxy Tab S 10.1 tablet, though…it has always had more staying power than my phone. It has a physically HUGE battery – I’ve replaced it, so I know. How did the Q-Swap’s handle the needs of the tablet? Again, I started at 15% battery power remaining in the Tab S. After two-and-a-half hours, one of the Q-Swaps charged it from 15% to 57%. That’s the nice thing about having TWO instantly swappable batteries. I popped the fully charged new battery into the Q-Case, and continued charging – again, with the screen off. After 3 hours and 5 minutes, the second Q-Swap battery tuckered out, but it had charged my Tab S to 99%. So, all-in-all, it took roughly five-and-a-half hours to charge the tablet from 15% to 99%, and two Q-Swaps did the job. It’s good that the Q-Swaps get charged from an USB port faster than they can charge a device. That way, you’re sure to always have that 2nd battery ready to go.
My overall impression of the QQC Corp Q-SWAP mobile power units is mostly positive. I would recommend giving them a try. They’re not “mega batteries”, like a 32,000mAh portable power supply (together, these are 10,400mAh), BUT, they’re also not as bulky either. Here’s a picture so you can see for yourself. Slightly smaller in width and length, but 1/8″ thicker than the deck of cards.
These would easily fit in your pocket(s) and satisfy most of your charging needs between the two. They charge impressively fast (in my opinion) for what you get back from them. Once one is done discharging, the other one is ready for a 3-second replacement swap. Super easy. Great for on-the-go power, very convenient, and you can always add additional batteries. It has 22 reviews on Amazon, ALL of which are 5-stars. Give them a try! “Swap” your old portable battery supply.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by QQC Corp, and can be purchased on Amazon.
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Most of us need to stay connected to their iPhones when we exercise. You shouldn’t take calls and texts on the gym floor (except in emergencies), but music and workout apps are essential to many of our fitness regimens. The Wonderful Things Factory (WTFactory for short) has designed an iPhone case that’s a unique alternative to the arm bands and waist packs that you see around the gym, track, or trail. They claim that it is the world’s thinnest clip case for active lifestyles, and I have been testing SlimClip V4 Steady iPhone case for a month to see how it works in real-world situations.
Let’s go get sweaty!
Design and Build
The SlimClip Case V4 boasts a simple and rugged design, made specifically for the iPhone 6/6S/7 and Plus models. It’s a snap-on style sleeve made from a shock-proof, rubber coated plastic to provide impact protection during physical activities. The case is a bumper-style cover that wraps the back, corners, and sides of the phone. The rim of the bumper is raised to provide additional protection from drops & bumps. The base of the phone is open to allow full access to your audio and lightning ports, with enlarged openings for your camera lens and access to the iPhone silencer switch. Overall the build is tight and precise, with no stray bits of plastic or loose components. The cover snaps firmly into place when installed, and I haven’t noticed any loosening after several weeks of taking the phone in and out of the case.
The SlimClip is a fitness accessory, and here is where its unique design features come into play. It is super thin, adding only 3mm to the overall depth of the phone. Even though it’s thin, the shockproof material adds enough protection to survive bumps and drops (as I have found out in the gym, as you’ll see below). The back panel is cut in such a way that it slides onto your waistband or pocket… kind of like a paper clip. When in place, the phone hangs upside down with the media plug is at the top, which makes it easier to manage your headphones. It makes for a very streamlined packaged that adds very little bulk or weight to your phone.
To the Gym!
I usually hit the gym 5-6 times a week for weight training, cardio, and isometric workouts. While I am not a runner, I am a daily dog-walker. After a month of putting the SlimClip through its paces, I think it does a good job of delivering on its intended purpose. It’s minimalist, super-slim, and does a good job protecting your phone from accidental drops and bumps.
Where you attach the phone is important. There’s no additional grip to the SlimClip to help it stay in place once attached, so it can come loose if you whack it during your workout. After bouncing my phone off the gym floor several times, I learned that it’s a good idea to position it away from my elbows. I think this is really an adjustment issue because I am not used to this style of phone. Fortunately, the case does a good job of protecting the phone if it hits the ground.
There are a few usability issues that I discovered during extended use. Attaching the phone to your waistband is a two-handed exercise, which isn’t as convenient as gator-style or raised clips you’ll find on other cases. It’s not too bad if you are attaching it at the hip, but takes some contortions if you want to clip it at the small of your back. Depending on how you wish to clip your phone (and how flexible you are) this may be a consideration.
As with most fixed-position clips, there’s no easy way to access the phone controls without stopping, removing the phone, doing your thing, and re-clipping. It’s a minor annoyance in practice that became more apparent over time, especially if I accidentally activated the voice controls in the middle of an exercise (I really wish Apple would give us a way to disable that!). This is a common issue with clip-style phones, however. If you are comfortable using voice controls to manage your phone or don’t access your phone at all during workouts, I suspect that you’ll never notice this.
>For outdoor use, you should know that the SlimClip does not provide any protection from the elements, nor is your screen protected. It’s something to consider if you do a lot of rough outdoor activity or like to run when the weather turns nasty.
Conclusions and Pricing
After making some adjustments to the design, I’m very happy with the performance of the SlimClip Case. It’s ridiculously thin, offers good protection, and stays out of the way during most fitness activities. If you are looking for a streamlined alternative to bulky armbands or waist packs, this may be a good choice for you if you don’t need the additional protection for weather or really rough outdoor activities. I’ve also found it to be a great day-to-day phone case that slips easily into your pocket, yet offers the additional convenience to attach to your front pocket if needed.
The WTFactory SlimClip V4 Steady iPhone case retails for between $20 and $40 depending on the model. For more information, visit SlimClipCase.com.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by WTFactory. Visit their site for more info.
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