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ROVA Flying Selfie drone review

When drones first started becoming popular, they were big bulky quad copters with large GoPro sized cameras and people mostly used them for cool landscape videos. People still use drones to shoot landscape shots, but a newer category of drones has been designed for taking a more personal type of photography – the selfie. Now you don’t need an extra friend to take your picture. Or at least that’s the idea. Let’s see if the ROVA Flying Selfie drone can take a picture and keep on hovering.

What is it?

The ROVA Flying Selfie drone is a small quad copter style drone with a built in 12MP camera. It’s controlled with an iOS or Android device and has been designed to shoot selfies.

Specs

12MP camera, HD video
Up to 64GB micro SD card capability
33ft (10m) max flight height from launch
≤ 98ft (≤ 30m ) Communication Range
Obstacle Avoidance using infrared sensors
Flight Stability and Positioning using barometer, accelerometer, optical flow and gyrometer

What’s in the box?

When you open a new gadget and find that it comes in its own zippered case, you immediately get the impression that this is going to be a great review experience.

Inside the case is:

ROVA Flying Selfie drone
2 rechargeable batteries
USB battery charger
micro USB cable

Also included are 4 bumpers, a carabiner for the case, a 16GB micro SD card, and a setup guide.

The ROVA is approximately 8.5 x 8.5 x 1.5 inch black plastic frame with four 3-blade propellers in each corner and a battery holder in the center.

You’ll also notice a red activation button on top as well as a warning sticker that instructs you not to put your fingers inside the frame when the propellers are spinning.

if you flip the ROVA drone over, you will see the 12MP camera with LEDs on either side and you will see the flip up landing gear (feet) in each corner.

The camera is designed to manually pivot to customize the video and image shooting angle.

On the side opposite the camera is the micro USB charging connector and the micro SD card slot.

Before you can fly the ROVA, you have to charge one of the included batteries in the included charger.

The battery easily snaps in the charger which plugs into a USB port on your computer or a USB charging adapter that you plug into an electrical outlet.

It takes about 30 mins to charge the battery which then provides up to 8 minutes of flight time.

The battery plugs into the slot in the center of the drone and as soon as you plug it in, the drone powers up and LEDs on either side of the camera begin to flash.

The ROVA Selfie Drone comes with 4 hard foam bumpers that you can snap over each corner.

Installing the bumpers is not mandatory, but are supposed to provide added protection while you learn to fly the drone. FYI, the drone with the bumpers does not fit in the zippered case.

In addition to charging the battery, you’ll also need to install the ROVA app on your iOS or Android device. I tested the ROVA with my iPhone 7 Plus.

The app has a basic interface as you can see from the image above. I felt like flying the ROVA would be a piece of cake compared to other drones I’ve tried.

When you first launch the app, it looks for the ROVA drone’s built in WiFi network. After you successfully connect to it and enter the password, you press and hold the red button on the ROVA for a few seconds. The button will flash (which is impossible to see in bright sunlight) and after it stops, the drone will beep and you’re ready to fly. Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to work…

Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to work… It took me quite a while to even figure out how to get the drone to spin up. The instructions that come with ROVA are really vague and pretty much useless. But once I figured out the steps to get the propellers to spin up, I thought I was all set.

It took me quite a while to even figure out how to get the drone to spin up. The instructions that come with ROVA are really vague and pretty much useless. But once I figured out the steps to get the propellers to spin up, I thought I was all set for flying and selfie snapping.

Yeah, no… To fly ROVA, you go through the steps I mentioned above and then when the propellers are spinning, you can press the up/down arrow icon in the lower left corner of the app. ROVA will lift off and hover in place until you use the onscreen joysticks to fly it up, down, left, and right.

Once you go through the steps I mentioned above and the propellers are spinning, you can press the up/down arrow icon in the lower left corner of the app. ROVA will lift off and hover in place until you use the onscreen joysticks to fly it up, down, left, and right. That’s what is supposed to happen, but what happened every time I tried it was that the drone would lift off the ground about 3-4 feet, and then on its own, it would start trailing off left or right a few feet and land. At that point, I would try to fly again but the app would freeze. I would have to kill the app, pop out the battery on the drone, pop it back in and try the whole connection sequence again. I did these same steps over and over again over the course of several days with no positive results. I tried using the other battery, making sure the batteries were freshly charged, uninstalled, reinstalled the app on the iPhone, etc. No joy.

In the handful of super short flight sessions that I had, I was able to catch one video that at least shows the image quality.

See it in action (sorta)

It’s a shame this little drone doesn’t work because the image quality is actually pretty decent.

I sent 2 emails to the PR person who sent me the ROVA for review and I have yet to receive a response after days of waiting.

I looked for more info on ROVA’s own website but their FAQ page brings up a 404 page not found message. I also went to the ROVA page on Amazon and read a few reviews there that mentioned some of the same frustrations that I had.

Final thoughts

My final thoughts can be summed up in 3 words: Don’t Buy It.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by ROVA. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.

 

Product Information

Price: $199.00
Manufacturer: ROVA
Retailer: Amazon
Pros:
  • Comes with a zippered case
  • 16GB micro SD flash card is included
Cons:
  • Won't fly more than 3 – 4 feet above ground if you're lucky enough to get it to fly at all
  • App has to be restarted with each flight
  • Have to put in drone's WiFi password almost every time you use it

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ROVA Flying Selfie drone review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 15, 2017 at 4:21 pm.

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This video will make you smile instead of cringe

Instead of watching current events videos that are depressing and anxiety inducing, I’m going to start sharing videos with you that you can watch without stressing out. Don’t worry, they will always have some tech element to them, so I’m not going to share cat videos unless the cats have laser beams for eyes and robotic whiskers. Then, of course, I’ll be compelled to share them. Click through to see today’s video.

This video is from the 2016 AICP (Association of Independent Commercial Producers) awards and it is so cool. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen before and has inspired me to share more videos going forward.

2016 AICP Sponsor Reel – Dir Cut from Method Studios on Vimeo.

Thanks to William Ray Jr for sharing the link!

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This video will make you smile instead of cringe originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 15, 2017 at 9:00 am.

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Cambond X-Bass Adjustable Bass Bluetooth speaker review

When it comes to speakers, the saying goes: the louder the better. But sometimes loud isn’t good enough. Sometimes you want that bass to hit, or better yet, feel the rumbling lows that we don’t typically get from ordinary speakers. Of course, our typical everyday speakers can achieve the high tones in the music but most Bluetooth speakers can’t produce those punchy mids or thumping low bass. With the Cambond X-Bass Adjustable Bass Bluetooth speaker, getting that hard hitting and rumbling bass might be easier than you think.

The Cambond X-Bass Adjustable Bass speaker is a portable Bluetooth 4.0 stereo speaker that boasts a 15-watt subwoofer combined with dual 5-watt drivers which equal to 25 watts of powerful driving sound for your ears. This speaker has 4 bass levels that you can adjust accordingly. The Bass button is located on the left top side of the speaker. On the same top portion of this speaker unit are the buttons for the Previous/Next Track, Play/Pause, Talk button, Volume Up/Down, and Power.

Phone calls on these speakers are what you would expect. It sounds like a hands-free conversation. If you had the bass up prior to the phone call, the person’s voice will sound deep and bassy. If that bothers you then you will just have to turn down the bass level to bring their voice to a more normal tone. On the other end of the line, calls sounded like you were talking from a speaker. There was a slight delay but nothing bad and definitely not a deal breaker. 9 times out of 10, when talking on a speaker, you will sound like you are on a speaker anyways and this is no different. But this speaker really isn’t for phone calls, it’s for listening to music.

The X-Bass feels solid in its construction all around. It has a metal grill on the front and back, plastic top, rubber base, and the top buttons felt tight and responsive. These rectangular speakers have a dimension of 3.94″ x 9.06″ x 3.1″ inches.  The X-Bass weighs in at 2.32 lbs. so this speaker has some weight to it as compared to other similar sized Bluetooth speakers. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not super heavy but once you pick it up you will notice its weight. However, the X-Bass is still light enough and portable to throw in your backpack, messenger bag, beach bag, purse, or any other bag you want to stuff the speaker in. I like that it has small rubber feet on the bottom of the speaker to help protect the speaker from sliding around and scratching any surface you put it on.

The Cambond X-Bass speaker is powered by 6700mAh Lithium-ion batteries and according to Cambond’s website, the batteries can last 8 hours at 50% volume. I have to confess, I never really kept the volume halfway. I had the volume high.  I listened to these speakers with the volume cranked up. When you use these speakers, you will be inclined to use them the way they were intended to be; and that’s to be loud. At least that’s the way I used these speakers.

There is a 9V DC port on the bottom left side of the speaker to charge the battery or and can provide constant power to the speaker while in use. Above the DC port is a MicroUSB port which you can use as well to charge the speaker’s batteries so you have a couple of options on charging the batteries which is nice. Just in case you don’t have the 9V plug adapter with you at the time, you would be able to charge the battery via the MicroUSB port. A great thing about having the MicroUSB port is that you can plug in a portable charger just in case you are somewhere that doesn’t have a wall outlet such as at a beach, at a picnic, or sitting poolside.

When the Cambond X-Bass runs out of battery, the X-Bass will constantly beep twice every 5 minutes to remind you that the batteries need recharging. And once the battery is full, the red charging light will turn off to let you know that charging is done. It takes up to 3 hours for the battery to reach full capacity.

Although this is a Bluetooth speaker, there is an AUX IN port available. This is useful for when your music device is non-Bluetooth or isn’t Bluetooth enabled. Just connect the included 3.5 audio cable into the device’s headphone jack and the other end of the audio cable into the AUX In port on the Cambond speaker. NFC, or Near Field Communication, is also available as another form of connection to the Cambond X-Bass. Along with the 3.5 audio cable, the X-Bass comes with a MicroUSB cable, a 1A/9V adapter plug, a warranty card, and a manual.

I found the sound of X-Bass Bluetooth speakers to be loud and produced great overall sound. I really enjoyed the bass that it pumped through its speakers. Trust me, I cranked these speakers up and they really hit for the size that they are. Keep in mind that to get the best sound out of these speakers, or any other speaker, the music you are playing is the best quality recording so that the frequencies are right in order to get the full effect of hearing and feeling the bass from the speakers.

I played several type and styles of music and had different recordings from many of the songs, and they each sounded full thanks to the punchy mids and rumbling low bass. What a difference it makes listening to the full range of music coming out of portable speakers. It makes you really enjoy a song a whole lot more when the music is boosted up. And since these are portable speakers, you can enjoy the X-Bass speakers from Cambond anywhere you can bring them.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Cambond. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.

 

Product Information

Price: $69.99
Manufacturer: Cambond
Retailer: Amazon
Pros:
  • Loud adjustable bass.
  • Solid construction.
  • NFC capable.
  • Has a 3.5mm audio AUX IN port.
  • MicroUSB and 9V DC charging ports.
Cons:
  • Slightly heavier than most speakers its size.
  • Average handsfree call quality.
  • Slight delay in speaker phone response.

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Cambond X-Bass Adjustable Bass Bluetooth speaker review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 15, 2017 at 8:03 am.

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biēm butter sprayer review

How often have you tried to spread butter on toast, a baked potato, bread, etc, only to find out that it’s just too cold and hard to spread? Yeah, I know, first world problems. But it is a real problem that could use a solution. One company invented the biēm butter sprayer to solve this issue. Let’s see if it works and if it’s worth it’s $129 price tag.

What is it?

The biēm butter sprayer (pronounced as “beam”) is battery powered butter heating and spraying device that uses no chemicals or propellants.

How does it work?

As butter is loaded into the biēm, it travels down from the product’s middle carriage into a reservoir. There, the biēm has layers of ultra-thin heaters that melt the butter. Once melted, butter moves up from the reservoir to spray.

What’s in the box?

biēm butter sprayer
Battery charger
Battery pack
Quick start guide

At first glance, you might mistake the biēm butter sprayer for a stainless steel water bottle or a fancy electric pepper mill. The biēm butter sprayer stands about 10.75 inches tall and has a stainless steel

The biēm butter sprayer stands about 10.75 inches tall and the back side has a brushed stainless steel cover with a diamond shaped power button and an LED above it.

The sprayer side has a soft touch plastic covering with a hand grip and a knurled trigger in the center of the sprayer. At the top is the nozzle with an LED light above it.

The bottom of the biēm butter sprayer slides off to reveal the battery compartment where the V shaped rechargeable battery is stored.

The top of the sprayer twists off to access the butter reservoir.

Before you use the biēm butter sprayer for the first time, you need to load a charged battery and clean the butter reservoir. To clean the sprayer, you remove the top of the sprayer, fill it with warm water and a drop of dishwashing liquid. Then you put the cap back on, press the diamond shaped power button to turn it on. Then you hold down the button for 5 seconds to enter cleaning mode. You can then press the trigger to spray out the warm water for 10 seconds. Then you remove the lid, dump out the remaining water and repeat the sequence without adding soap this time.

Let’s melt some butter!

After you’ve cleaned the sprayer, it’s time to load a stick of butter. The biēm butter sprayer holds US sized sticks of butter like the one shown above.

Loading the stick into the sprayer is as easy as removing the wrapper and dropping it in the chamber.

There’s the butter, all cozy and ready to be melted.

The next step is to press the power button which has an LED around it that pulses in blue. When the light stops pulsing and is solid blue, you know that the butter is ready to spray.

To spray the butter, you grab the biēm butter sprayer in either hand and press the trigger above the curved grip.

Finding the trigger isn’t easy and I think a more obvious button would be a welcome change.

Once you figure where the trigger is, you aim and spray.

See it in action

What isn’t shown in the quick video demo is that a little bit of butter continues spray from the nozzle after you let go of the button. So if you let go and lift the sprayer to set it back down on the counter, the butter will spray on whatever is near by. You kind of have to train yourself not to move the sprayer until it stops spraying.

As you saw in the video, it took awhile to melt the butter that first time I put a brand new stick of cold butter in the chamber. I hoped that this was just a one time wait and that subsequent wait times would be significantly less. Unfortunately, even after leaving the biēm on the counter in a 73-74 degree house, each time I would use the sprayer, I’d have to wait 30-50 seconds before it was ready to spray.

I also didn’t like that I had no idea how much butter I was putting on my foods. According to the info on the biēm website, each second of spray time = .4g of butter. Yeah, that doesn’t mean anything to me either…

Final thoughts

When it’s all said and done, the biēm butter sprayer is a cool idea, but in my opinion, it’s just not worth the $129 price tag. If it instantly sprayed melted butter with no wait time and was priced around $50, I’d be more likely to want to buy one. But as it is, I think I’ll stick to sitting the cold dish of butter out on the cabinet an hour or so before I plan to use it and save the cash for another gadget.

I also read a lot of negative comments on the biēm butter sprayer Kickstarter campaign page, which also makes me leery of buying one.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Brevda inc. Please visit their site for more info.

 

Product Information

Price: $129.00
Manufacturer: Brevda inc.
Pros:
  • Sprays melted button in about a minute
  • Has a light to help you see where you're spraying
Cons:
  • Have to wait up to a minute even when the sprayer has been sitting out on the counter for days
  • Continues to spray after you let go of the button
  • Expensive

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biēm butter sprayer review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 14, 2017 at 5:50 pm.

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Paq convertible travel bag, Waylens 360 degree dashcam, and more – Notable crowdfunding campaigns

Do you have some extra cash burning a hole in your pocket? Then consider funding one of this week’s notable crowdfunding campaigns. Click through to see this week’s list of projects.

The Paq Carry On Travel Bag

What is it?
The Paq Carry On Travel Bag is a bag that can be worn like a backpack or as a shoulder bag.

Why do I like it?
I like the Paq Carry On Travel Bag because it’s a versatile travel bag that can convert from backpack to a duffel bag that you can wear over your shoulder. Their cool rotating strap buckle design makes the conversion easy and fast.

This is a LARGE bag that can carry all your gear for a weekend or longer. Although it’s large, it will fit in most airline overhead bins.

They sent me a prototype to check out and I was very impressed by the materials, workmanship and all the extra little features that seasoned travelers will appreciate.

Where can I find more info?
With 18 days left in the campaign, the Paq Carry On Travel Bag campaign is still working towards their funding goal of $25,000. You can pre-order a Paq Carry On Travel Bag starting at $178. After the Paq Carry On Travel Bag campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in December 2017. Visit their Indiegogo page for all the details.

Yaket Ice – High Performance Ice Packs

What is it?
An upgrade to the classic, scalloped ice pack drink holder for your cooler. Optimized to cool your drinks faster and keep them cool longer.

Why do I like it?
As a product development engineer myself, I really appreciate the idea of taking a product that has been in use for years, or even decades, and thoughtfully re-engineering it to make it even better, thus moving the state of the art of that type of product forward. In many cases, the changes to a product might be subtle, but still very effective, and I think that might just be the case with the Yaket Ice ice pack. Compared to a typical ice pack of this type, the Yacket Ice is larger, heavier, and colder and includes a silicone band to hold your drinks tightly against it. Again, these may appear to be minor improvements, but I think could add up to a more effective ice pack. Also, the Yacket Ice campaign was created by brothers Brian and Dan Conti. Although this is their first campaign together, I’ve backed several Kickstarter projects run by Brian Conti, and I have been very happy with the results, so I have trust in the Conti Brothers to run a good campaign and deliver a great product.

Where can I find more info?
The Kickstarter campaign is in full swing and will end August 31, so there is still time to become a backer. It’s worth noting that the campaign has already met its minimum funding goal of $2,500 with over $6,300 in pledges and 148 backers as of this writing. Pledge package pricing starts at $29 for the Early Bird package and combo packages are available. Estimated delivery is September 2017 for early backer pledges. Visit the Yacket Ice Kickstarter campaign page for more details.

Waylens Secure360 with 4G – Automotive Security Camera

What is it?
The Waylens Secure360 is a 360-degree dash camera that keeps an eye on everything inside and around your car and alerts you via 4G if there’s an issue.

Why do I like it?
I like the Waylens Secure360 because it’s an interesting evolution of the dash cam. It doesn’t just capture what goes on in front of your vehicle, it records everything inside and around the car and will let you live stream when you’re not nearby with the built-in 4G-LTE connection.

Where can I find more info?
With 25 days left in the campaign, the Waylens Secure360 campaign has already driven past their funding goal of $60,000. You can pre-order the 4G LTE version of the Waylens Secure360 dash cam starting at $249. After the Waylens Secure360 campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in March 2018. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.

PolarSeal Heated Tops

What is it?
PolarSeal tops are lightweight knit shirts that warm up with the touch of a button.

Why do I like it?
I wear a light weight sweater all year round both at home and my day job because I’m pretty cold natured. I feel like my internal thermostat has been broken since my whole cancer adventure. The slightest breeze can make me break out in goosebumps. So a long sleeve shirt that can instantly ward off chills sounds like something I would buy.

The shirts feature three heating levels and two heating zones. One zone is on the upper back and the other one is on the lower back. The rechargeable battery pack will allow for up to 8 hours of warming.

Where can I find more info?
With 21 days left in the campaign, the PolarSeal Tops campaign has already burned past their funding goal of $49,868. You can pre-order a PolarSeal top starting at $139. After the PolarSeal tops campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in November 2017. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.

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Paq convertible travel bag, Waylens 360 degree dashcam, and more – Notable crowdfunding campaigns originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 14, 2017 at 11:46 am.

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