Archeer has a plethora of their products at special pricing for the holidays. This Tsumbay Ionic Air Purifier removes smoke, pollen, and bad smells from your car. It’s $18.99 at Amazon.
Thorfire camping lantern, rechargeable by USB or solar, $15.99 at Amazon.
Tsumbay Mini Stereo Amplifier can be used at home or in vehicles. Available for $14.29 at Amazon.
MECO DT9205A auto-ranging digital multi-meter, $17.95 at Amazon.
Stay hydrated with this stainless steel water bottle that features double wall insulation to keep cold liquid cold and hot liquid hot. It’s priced at $11.19 which 63% off until Nov 26, 2017 12:35 PM PST at Amazon.
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The Stair-Rover from Allsport is a uniquely designed skateboard that will allow riders to skate down a flight of stairs with no effort. Traditional skateboards have only 4 wheels, but the Stair-rover has twice as many. The eight wheels and built-in shock absorbers allow this maple wood longboard to go where regular skateboard riders would typically avoid. Skate your whole city, from stairs to curbs and more with the Allrover StairRover. For more info about this skateboard, visit allrover.com and to buy one for $280, skate over to the Grommet and Amazon.
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It is amazing how capable and feature-rich personal drones are these days. They have become much easier to control, more fun to fly, and a better bang for the buck. For years, drones have been tempting me but I have never really been interested in the cheap ones and the high end ones were just too expensive for me to justify. But as with most/all technologies, as time progresses devices get better, cheaper, and more capable. In this case, Aerix has recently released a new all-in-one, brushless, GPS and FPV live streaming enabled UAV, the DaVinci racing drone.
The Aerix DaVinci features four brushless motors, dual GPS, 5.8ghz FPV, 15 minute flight time, in addition to easy flight operation and built-in safety functions. Considering it’s relatively small size, the DaVinci is very capable with a solid list of helpful tricks under its belt. It has a matte black rubber exterior over hardened plastic giving it a very stealthy, futuristic look.
Package Contents:
Drone
Controller
4.3-inch FPV Monitor
Drone Battery
Controller Battery
Blades
Landing skids
Charger
Charging cables
Tools
Getting the DaVinci setup and in the air:
Setup of the DaVinci wasn’t the most intuitive thing I have ever done… Being a first-time drone flier, making the DaVinci operational and flight worthy did involve a fair amount of consultation with the manual. Though the manual did a decent job helping me thru the process. The total time before getting up in the air was approximately 10-15 minutes.
In retrospect, I wish I had checked out this video Aerix put together before getting started. But overall, setting up the DaVinci wasn’t that complicated or difficult.
The Aerix DaVinci drone is well constructed with quality parts and a durable design.
As mentioned above, the DaVinci features four small but powerful brushless motors that can propel the drone up to 30 miles per hour with a safety altitude set to 300 feet.
The two front motors are standard/upright and the two rear ones are inverted a very interesting design. According to Aerix this engineering allows “for the perfect blend of torque, thrust and lift.”
The landing gear is removable and made of similar tough plastic as the rest of the drone. But unlike the matte finish of the main body and wings, the skids have a high gloss finish. They’re pretty resilient and put up with a few pretty rough (think Navy pilot landing on a carrier) landings.
Functions:
One Touch Take-off
One Touch Landing
GPS Altitude Hold
GPS Position Hold
One Touch Return to GPS Home Point
On Screen Display: Height, Number of Satellites, Flying Direction, Horizontal Speed, Vertical Speed and Power in Real-Time
Low Voltage Warning with Return to Home and Auto Landing
5.8ghz FPV for Low Latency Live Streaming Video
Flight:
When I described my first few flights with the DaVinci to my niece, she sent me this pic. I thought it very funny cause she was spot-on about my experience of learning how to fly the very zippy drone. I was cautious and AR during my first few flights but was still out of control more often than I’d like to admit.
I got better at flying the little drone relatively quickly. This is my fourth or fifth flight and I have things pretty well under control. The real key is learning how to use the DaVinci’s built-in flight assist (auto takeoffs and landings, hold position/altitude, return home, etc) and safety functions allowing for better controlled flight.
Though I found visual flight much easier to control than using the feed from the attached color FPV screen. In addition to video, the screen also displays: height, number of GPS satellites, flying direction, horizontal speed, vertical speed, and battery power level. I hope to get better at controlling the DaVinci via nose-camera and video link cause that will enable me to fly the drone higher and further than with just visual flight. I’m also considering acquiring an FPV enabled headset to get a cockpit vantage point.
Camera, pics, and video:
The front-facing camera records both still pictures and color video. The camera itself is manually adjustable (vertically). Activating either is done via a dedicated button on the remote control.
The camera records to a microSD card that is inserted into the underside of the DaVinci. Seems like it should be more protected and secured…one bad crash and that card could potentially be lost forever.
Here is a still picture captured while moving forward.
This nose-camera video was taken after a few days of practice…more or less in control the whole flight.
The tail of the DaVinci has an embedded array of LEDs that do a pretty good job of communicating connection and power status of the drone. Basically when its green everything is good and when its red something needs to be addressed (aka no connection or batteries need charging).
Man down…
If you can’t tell from the pic above, the DaVinci is on its back after a pretty rough landing where it bounced, flipped, and came to a stop. This traumatic incident happened during its maiden voyage (aka initial battery charge worth of flight). One of many actually, including hitting a tree AND several 30 foot falls. As I have mentioned, it has taken me a while to get the hang of flying the DaVinci. That said, I can testify how not only zippy and agile this tiny drone is but how tough it is as well. I was doing my best to be careful but stuff happens. Nice to know the DaVinci survived me being a drone noob.
Overall I have truly enjoyed my time with the Aerix DaVinci drone. Probably the most fun I have had reviewing a product in years…and that says a lot. The DaVinci has been available for pre-order for a while with initial shipments happening in mid-November and new orders arriving in December. Considering its build quality, features, and price point, I highly recommend the Aerix DaVinci to (or a holiday gift for) anyone who has been considering buying a drone.
Source: The samples for this review were provided by AERIX Drones. Please visit their site for more information and to order.
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I hope everyone survived their food comas on Thursday and yesterday’s Black Friday shopping adventures. Now it’s time to relax and catch up on all the news, articles, and reviews that we posted this week.
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Here are 7 gift ideas for the most popular smartwatch on the planet (at least for the time being) and the people who own one or might be getting one for Christmas.
The Ultimate Cuff Apple Watch band
There are many watchbands for the Apple Watch on the market, but most of the non-Apple bands tend to just be 3rd-party clones of the Apple bands. If you’re looking for something different, The Ultimate Cuff bands will add a stylish metal band. The bands are available in a variety of colors and styles.
Because Apple Watch Bands are so easy to change without special jeweler’s tools, I’ve bought 10 or so bands since I got my first Apple Watch Sport on release day. One of my favorite bands is this JETech Apple Watch Band made of buffalo leather. I got mine about 1.5 years ago, and the price has dropped to less than half what I paid for it. I hope that doesn’t mean the quality has degraded because my red band for my 38mm Watch is richly colored and very supple. The metal clasp is flat and doesn’t feel uncomfortable on my wrist when I’m typing. Even at the $25 I paid, I felt that this band is a very worthy competitor for Apple bands at a fraction of the cost of their leather bands.
Price: $5.99 for black; $9.98 for red Where you can buy one: Amazon
Xuan Tai Paracord Apple Watch Band
Most Apple Watch Bands allow you to change the appearance of the Watch, but the Xuan Tai Paracord band adds some survival functions to it. If you ever find yourself in a situation where it’s needed, you can quickly unravel the 7-strand, 550 paracord material. The clasp has a compass, flint fire starter kit, whistle, and knife blade. It’s available in a few color choices and in 38mm or 42mm sizes; it comes with the Apple-style band lugs to attach to the Watch.
If space on your nightstand or work desk is at a premium, you’ll benefit from the Belkin Valet’s whole-lotta-functionality in a small footprint. The Valet Charge Dock for Apple Watch + iPhone works with all iPhones with a Lightning connector and with all versions and series of the Apple Watch. The Watch charger is wireless, but the iPhone charger is not. The height of the Lightning connector can be adjusted for use with many cases. The watch charger can be used with any bands, and it even comes with a form to support watchbands that do not open, like the Milanese. Both chargers are powered by a single power cord, saving space on your surge protector, too. The Belkin Valet is available in silver, rose gold, and black.
Ever grabbed your Apple Watch in the morning only to find it had slipped off the charging puck’s sweet spot and hadn’t charged at all? Save yourself from that disappointment with the Timeframe charger from Ten One Design. You slide your Watch into the Timeframe, so it’s hugged into place. It comes in both 38mm and 42mm sizes, ensuring the charger makes perfect contact with the Watch. It works both with bands that open flat and loop bands. Timeframe even lets you use the Watch in Nightstand mode.
If you know someone who would love an Apple Watch but they don’t like wearing a watch on their wrist, you might want to consider turning the Apple Watch into a pocket watch with a cover from Bucardo.
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