Today we have 5 updates from reviews as recent as this past summer and as far back as 2014. We like to revisit our past reviews to provide ongoing info about how well the products stand up over time. Click through to see a list of our recently updated reviews and then scroll to the bottom of each review to see the latest update.
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The Kia Stinger is a car that is practically 6 years in the making. It all started out as a Grand Turismo concept vehicle which evolved into a full-on passion project at Kia. The Stinger is actually Kia’s first high-performance focused vehicle, but you’d hardly believe it because they’ve managed to knock it out of the park the first time around.
The exterior of the Kia Stinger is so high-end looking that it almost had us mistaken for a Maserati the first time we saw it. Its design integrates Gran Turismo proportions with a fastback profile, long wheelbase, broad shoulders and a short front. The interior is equally impressive with hand-stitched components, an aircraft inspired cockpit, metal ringed gauges, and seats that can be customized with a choice of Napa leather (even in red) to compliment that high-end race car look and feel.
The interior is also very roomy – there is room to fit five comfortably. The driver seat is a 16 way driver seat, and the passenger a 12 way, so both driver and passenger alike will be able to attain that perfect driving position. And indeed that is the case, between all the position options and the longer wheelbase, the seats are superbly comfortable. There’s also plenty of room for cargo. The Stinger is actually a 5 door car with a wide sport-back hatch. You’ll be able to fit in 23.3 cubic feet with the seats up and 40.9 cubic feet with the seats down.
On the tech side, the Kia Stinger packs offers just about ever safety feature and tech amenity you can think off, including the likes of autonomous emergency breaking, dynamic bending headlights, a smart power trunk, power tilt and telescoping steering wheel, blind spot detection, rain sensor wipers, forward collision avoidance, lane departure warning, driver attention warning and high beam assist, and a head-up display that provides speed and turn by turn directions. The vehicle also comes with a large 8-inch touchscreen infotainment display (7-inch on the base model) with the latest versions of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay running on it. The built-in 720-watt Harman Kardon premium audio system packs in 15 speakers and it supports hi-res audio files. The audio system inside the Stinger is actually the best sounding speaker system we’ve ever listened to from all of Kia’s vehicles.
We took the Kia Stinger for a test drive around LA and it ended up being the most fun we’ve had on a test drive in a long time. That is because the Kia Stinger is simply a blast to drive and ride in. It truly drives like a sports car, especially in sports mode. The car is able to go from zero to sixty in 4.7 seconds, with a top speed of 167 mph. It offers the rush and “vroom” feeling you get from a typical race car, but with the welcome addition of lots of comfort and tech amenities.
The car handles curves so well, that it practically feels like you’re gliding along them. The steering control is excellent too. Personally, being prone to motion sickness, I often can’t handle riding in sports cars, but with the Kia Stinger I never once felt sick – not while driving on the highway, or even through the windy and very narrow Hollywood Hills. I also appreciated how quiet the interior is.
When you take a look at the Stinger’s competition, which includes the Audi A7 and the BMW 440i, the Stinger is actually faster. But what is really surprising is just how much more affordably priced the Stinger is in comparison to the competition. The base price for the lowest cost stinger model is $31,900. The Stinger comes standard as a rear wheel drive system, but it can be upgraded to an all wheel drive for an additional $2,200. The GT2 that we tested costs $49,200 and included pretty much all of the available upgrades. That is a pretty amazing deal when you consider that pricing for the competition starts at around $49k for their base models and typically rounds out to about $80k for what you can get from a $49k Kia Stinger.
Who is the Kia Stinger for? The Kia Stinger is as well-suited for the parent who always wanted a sports car, but needs room to fit the whole family, as it is for someone simply looking for a fun car to drive that won’t totally break the bank. One thing is for sure, the Kia Stinger might be the first high performance vehicle from Kia, yet they’ve managed to hit a home-run. To that effect, not only is the Kia an attractive and incredibly fun car to drive, it manages to undercut the competition with its pricing. Overall, the Kia Stinger has managed to be the newcomer that has impressed us the most in 2017, and we’re sure that it will impress you to.
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Four or five years ago my wife was introduced to essential oils by a friend who was selling them as a side business. She quickly became hooked and honestly, I kind of rolled my eyes at the idea of the incredible power of oils to “cure what ails ya”. Now, I don’t want to say that I have been fully converted to the point of thinking that the only medicine I need is the oil of an orange peel or a peppermint leaf but I have really come around to some of the homeopathic qualities of some of these oils.
Have I lost some of you already? Do you think that I’m a Colorado hippy trying to cure serious disease with crystals and positive thoughts? I’m not.
My background is biochemistry and chemical engineering so I have taken a lot of classes concerning neurological and musculoskeletal chemical pathways and how the triggering of certain neurotransmitters or other natural chemicals in your body and although I don’t know exactly how each of these oils work on things like mood, stomach aches, sore muscles, etc. I have seen the results. I will pause again for the rest of you who think I’m crazy to think of another topic you would like to find to read about on our site.
……ho hum……just waiting…….
If you have read this far you might be in the same camp as I am or maybe even some serious oil users. Or maybe you are just amazed that I think some of this stuff works. Either way, you are still with me so let’s press on. I have a pretty decent collection of oils that are in my office that either I have wanted to have or my loving wife has sent with me to help me with any of a number of things I battle regularly like bad moods, stress, tense muscles, allergies and acid reflux.
At home, we have a much much larger collection of them that I have no idea what they are for and cant pronounce about 20% of them. I have a diffuser that has sat on my desk for the last couple of years and I use it daily. I also apply oils directly to my skin. People always come into my office and ask “why does it smell so good in here?” or “what is that smell? I love it!”. I am not trying to fill the halls of my office building with the magical healing power of lavender oil but I enjoy it and I think it helps me, if for nothing more than having a pleasant scent that occupies one sense while I am hard at work.
We also have diffusers throughout our home that my wife puts different oils in to add a nice scent to the house but also to serve a purpose. Mixing lemon, lavender and peppermint are great for seasonal allergies so we often have that going in the living room in the spring when the kids are running in and out of the house and the doors are open and you can see the pollen from the pine trees falling like snow.
My favorite oil is by far frankincense. I put a little on my neck a couple times a day and just the smell of it makes me feel good. After months of using it and going through a couple bottles, I finally asked my wife “what is frankincense supposed to be used for? I just love the smell and it makes me happy.”. She replied, “its main use is for depression, mood and stress”. Okay, that was a pretty good blind study for the scientist in me.
I also use lavender to help me turn off my brain and get to sleep, peppermint to ease sore muscles (just like Icy Hot) and upset stomach, and different blends for stress and allergies. Don’t get me wrong, I still take my medications for my migraines, and eat an antacid if I had too much red wine and pasta sauce, but I have seen a real benefit to these oils. Anyone out there had the same experience? Is anyone still reading at this point?
Anyways, I wanted to take a break from the tech product reviews for a second to tell you about my experience but I really want to hear from you all and your experiences and/or thoughts good, bad or indifferent. Tell us about your experiences in the comment section of this article. Thank you for indulging me.
All of the oils and diffuser were purchased with my own funds.
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Would you believe me if I told you that you can have a home security camera that is priced at only $19.99 per camera AND there are no monthly subscription or cloud storage fees required? Yes, I’m serious. Let’s check out WyzeCam.
What is it?
WyzeCam is a small 1080p home security camera that’s crazy inexpensive but still has all the features of the big guys like Nest and even some features they don’t have, all for only $20 per camera.
What’s in the box?
WyzeCam
Steel disk w/3M adhesive
USB cable (5.5-foot in length)
AC adapter
Hardware specs
2.8mm focal length
110 degrees wide angle lens
1920 x 1080 resolution
8x digital zoom
10fps recording
Night vision
2-way audio
Design and features
The WyzeCam is a small 2-inch white plastic cube with a grey base and a camera lens and IR sensor on the front.
On the back of the camera is a speaker, a Type A USB connector, and a micro USB connector.
In a standard setup, you would connect the included micro USB cable into the micro USB port on the camera and then connect the other end into the included AC adapter. The Type A USB connector allows you to daisy chain the cameras so that they can share one power connection. To do this, you would connect one WyzeCam the standard way and then connect the included USB cable with a 2nd WyzeCam into the back of the first WyzeCam.
The base of the WyzeCam has a QR code that is used during setup.
The base unfolds so that you can customize the viewing angle of the camera.
The base of the WyzeCam is magnetic, so you can attach the camera to any steel surface or you can use the included disk to mount the WyzeCam on a wall.
When you unfold the base, it also reveals the micro SD card slot that you’ll use if you want the camera to capture video 24/7. Note that you have to supply your own micro SD card. There’s also a button on the bottom of the camera that is used during the setup procedure.
Setup
The Wyze camera is one of the easiest security cameras that I’ve ever installed. All you do is install the mobile app, add a camera, power up the camera, and follow the screen and voice prompts. I had the first camera up and running within 2 minutes which I think is a record. Adding additional cameras is just as easy.
The WyzeCam app is similar to most other security camera apps. It gives you the ability to see a live view of the camera and customize settings.
The WyzeCam can notify you via your phone when it detects motion, sound, and even a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm in your home.
This camera can also record motion detection clips locally on a micro SD card (not included), or you can set it to continuously record to the card.
When motion is detected, the camera will save a short clip to the cloud which you can view through the app from anywhere in the world. These clips are saved for 14 days on the WzyCam servers and you’re not charged anything for that service.
The camera’s image quality is very good, as is the viewing angle.
You can record action manually or snap an image by clicking the onscreen buttons in the live view window. You can also listen in on what is happening and have a two-way conversation using the built-in microphone and speaker.
However, night vision is a little fuzzy compared to other security cameras that I’ve tested. but it’s not bad enough to be a deal breaker.
In addition to watching a live stream from the cameras from a remote location, you can also watch past events if you insert a micro SD card into the camera. The WyzeCam even has a time-lapse feature that you can use to condense an entire day down to a few minutes. This is a feature that you have to schedule and you can only view the time lapse when you’re on the same network as the camera.
Time-lapse video example
What I like
There’s not much that I don’t like about this camera. It’s small, the price is affordable for anyone, it has good image quality, alerts you when it detects motion, sound, smoke alarms, CO alarms, provides two-way conversation feature, and is simple to set up.
What needs improvement
There are only two main things that stand out for me that Wyze needs to improve. One is that the application is a little flakey. When I launch the app, 7 times out of 10, it will freeze or not connect to the camera until I kill the app and restart it.
The other improvement that I’d like to see is with motion detection. Sensitivity even when set to the lowest setting is pretty high resulting in motion alerts for things like tree limbs moving or shadows from the sun. I would also like to see a motion trigger zone feature.
And one more that really isn’t an improvement as much as it’s a wish… It would be great if they come out with a water and weather-resistant camera for outdoor use.
Final thoughts
WyzeCam security cameras are an inexpensive way to outfit your home with live streaming cameras that will alert you to motion, sound, smoke, and CO alarms. For only $20 a camera, it’s an obvious choice to go with WyzeCam over other security camera brands that cost 10x as much and lock you into a monthly fee to use their cloud services.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Wyze. Please visit their site for more info. Amazon also sells them, but for some reason, they are more expensive than buying them right through Wyze.
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There are many ways to control your Hue WiFi-connected lighting system – smart Hue Switches, apps for mobile devices or computers, Alexa voice commands, IFTTT – but those are limited in various ways. Perhaps there are some areas, like a dark hallway or stairs, where you would like a hands-free way of turning on the lights. Philips has introduced a battery-powered motion sensor, so you don’t need a nearby power outlet to use it. You will need a Hue Bridge to connect it to your system, and you’ll program it using the Hue app. Once connected, it turns on the programmed lights when it senses motion and turns them back off after a period of no motion. It comes with its first set of AAA alkaline batteries and a magnet or screws for mounting. The Philips Hue Motion Sensor is available at Best Buy for $39.99.
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