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Barrington Special Edition Watch Winder review

REVIEW – I have a small but growing collection of automatic watches which I love wearing. In the era of smartphones and smartwatches, many say that old school timepieces are a thing of the past. But I would argue that watches are one of the original gadgets, their style and use still having a place in today’s modern world. But that is a debate for another time… Unlike a battery powered quartz watch, automatic watches wind themselves as you wear them. So, if they sit more than a few days they need to be hand-wound and time reset. Watch winders are engineered to keep the power reserve of your watch full and timepiece ticking while not on your wrist. In this case, Barrington has send their Special Edition single watch winder to review.

What is it?

As the name states, the Barrington Special Edition Watch Winder is a device designed to wind your automatic timepiece so it is charged and good to go at all times. In addition to their quality internal components, Barrington uses fine hardwoods in the construction of their Special Edition series of watch winders. For this review, they send me their single winder in unvarnished American walnut.

Design and features

Barrington is a British company focused on fine watch accessories. They produce high quality watch winders, watch winder safes, and various other accessories to maintain and store your watches. As you can see, their Special Edition watch winder is designed to hold/wind a single watch at a time with a variable number of daily turns and multi-direction capability.

In the box:

  • Special Edition Barrington Single Watch Winder
  • Standard or Flex holder
  • US power adapter
  • Connecting power cable

Inside the watch winder is an ultra-quiet Japanese motor that you can barely hear when operating. The movement is very smooth and precise. The physical dimensions of the watch winder measures 4.5in/11.5cm (W) x 4.7in/12cm (H) x 6.3in/16cm (D). A good size for on top of an armoire or shelf of a closet.

The Barrington watch winder can accommodate their Standard or Flex cushions. Here you can see my watch on their Standard holder. The Standard is designed for watches with a strap/bracelet circumference of 19cm to 24cm. The Flex is suitable for watches with a strap/bracelet circumference of 14cm to 20cm. According to Barrington, their Standard cushion fits approx 70% of customers and the Flex “is preferred if wrist size is slightly smaller”. They sent me the Standard holder and while it fits my rubber strap watch just fine cause I can adjust it. I would need their Flex cushion to accommodate my timepieces with brackets due to my scrawny wrists.

As I have mentioned, the Barrington watch winder has multiple turns per day settings (650/750/850/1000/1950) and rotation directions. The movement is smooth and nearly silent but Barrington says it best:

This single watch winder operates on a basis of gentle rotation to wind watches. Older generation Watch Winders were programmed to be always on (i.e. rotating without a pause) in an effort to wind the watch as quickly as possible. This can lead to over-winding of a watch and potential damage to the main spring. Gentle rotation ensures a consistent movement over a longer period of time that won’t over-wind your watch.

When initially turned on the rotor turns for 1 minute before pausing. The length of the pause is determined by the Turns Per Day setting (a lower TPD setting will mean a longer pause and vice versa) and once it is completed the rotor turns again for just 1 minute. This cycle continues silently until the watch winder is turned off.

If the Direction setting is set to clockwise then the rotor will always rotate in a Clockwise manner; the same principle applies if the Direction setting is set to Anti-Clockwise. However, if the Direction setting is set to the third setting, Alternately Clockwise/Anti-Clockwise, the first 1 minute rotation will be Clockwise, the next 1 minute rotation will be Anti-Clockwise and so on, ensuring your watch gets a balanced, yet gentle, rotation.

This watch winder can be powered by standard AC power or a pair of AA batteries. For this review, I powered the winder on batteries that have lasted nearly two months of on & off operation with no sign of running out of juice. Barrington’s ‘Jump’ feature allows multiple winders to be connected together via the supplied connecting cable and powered from the AC power source…aka there are two power ports, in and out, so you can daisy chain multiple single watch winders together powering them with one AC adapter cord.

The Barrington Special Edition series is all about the hardwood enclosures. As a lifelong, part-time woodworker, the unvarnished American walnut is gorgeous. The exterior is nicely finished with excellent old world craftsmanship. The seams are perfect with ‘BARRINGTON’ routered into both sides of the wooden box.

In addition to American walnut, the Special Edition watch winders are available in: santos rosewood, gray koto, oak, zebrano, and ebony Macassar hardwoods. For those of you not tempted by their Special Edition winders, Barrington’s standard single watch winders are available in: crimson red, glacier white, midnight blue, electric yellow, shadow black, racing green, and burnt amber for a fraction of the cost.

What I like

  • Well made with quality materials
  • Old world craftsmanship
  • Keeps your watch wound and ready for use
  • Variable turn and directions suitable for nearly any watch
  • Capable of daisy chaining multiple winders

What needs to be improved

  • Expensive

Final thoughts

The Barrington Special Edition Watch Winder is the first watch winder I have ever tried and the convince is obvious. Historically when I switch watches, 99% of the time I have to wind and set it but now that all-be-it minor hassle is a thing of the past. The Special Edition’s wooden enclose is beautiful and mechanism within nearly silent. You can definitely find cheaper watch winders or you could take the time and effort whenever the need arises to do it yourself. But the Barrington SE watch winder is a luxury accessory for your old school timepieces that alleviates that task and looks great while doing it.

Price: $395.00
Where to buy: Barrington
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Barrington.

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Barrington Special Edition Watch Winder review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 30, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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The new LG 8K OLED TV is 33,177,600 pixels beautiful

NEWS – At IFA 2018,  LG introduced the world’s first 8K (7680 x 4320) OLED TV. The 88-inch class 8K model demonstrates the unmatched contrast ratio and true blacks that have made OLED TV’s sought after in lower resolutions. LG was the first to mass produce large-screen OLED TVs and is committed to supporting the market for these premium units as market share and demand grow. Brian Kwon, president of LG Home Entertainment Company, explained, “LG’s first 8K OLED TV is the pinnacle of technological achievement and the next evolutionary step in display technology…4K OLED played a major role in reshaping TV industry and LG is confident that 8K OLED will do the same.” Although no information is on the LG website, more information is forthcoming.

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The new LG 8K OLED TV is 33,177,600 pixels beautiful originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 30, 2018 at 8:00 am.

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Turn your tennis shoes into slip-ons with Laceezs

NEWS – Shoe laces are a great way to adjust shoes to better fit your foot, but they aren’t for everyone.  People with dexterity problems can have a hard time with laces.  Young children can have problems with shoes with laces for a few reasons – either they can’t put them on themselves because they haven’t learned to tie them, or they won’t leave them on because it so much fun to untie them.  Velcro shoes aren’t always available in a style you like.  Why not skip all the negatives of shoe laces by replacing them with Laceez no-tie shoe laces?

Laceez are made of  50% spandex and 50% hi-stretch nylon.  They work best with shoes with 4-5 holes, but you can make them work for other shoes by buying shorter or longer Laceez.  You simply thread them through the holes like regular shoe laces, then secure the aglet at the top two holes.  They are available in sizes for kid’s shoes, women’s shoes, or men’s shoes.

The Grommet has white or black Laceez in four sizes for women’s shoes for $11.95 a pair.  The Laceez’s website has them in white or black for men’s or women’s shoes for $9.95 a pair or in a variety of colors for kid’s shoes for $7.95 a pair.

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Turn your tennis shoes into slip-ons with Laceezs originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 29, 2018 at 3:40 pm.

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Wondershare Fotophire Image Editing Software review

REVIEW – Photo editing can be drudgery unless you were raised as a graphic designer using Photohsop (like me). Even then, it can be tedious. Today we’re checking out the Wondershare Fotophire Image Editing Software, which combines a whole bunch of image editing features in one package. It’s simple to use, automates a bunch of the work for you, and has a ton of features that don’t require deep graphic experience to execute. Let’s learn more. To the review!

What is it?

It’s a set of tools that allow you to edit & manipulate your photos including filter effects, image enhancements, color correction, background removal, cropping, and the ability to remove unwanted objects.

Software specs

There are three tools included in the Fotophire editing toolkit:

  • The Photo Editor provides basic editing (like cropping, flipping), 200+ filter effects, focus blurs & vignettes, color correction, and more.
  • The Photo Cutter enables you to remove or replace backgrounds in pictures with a set of smart tools that automate the process.
  • The Photo Eraser automates the process of removing unwanted objects from your photos, including watermarks and date stamps.

I’m testing the Windows-based version of the package, but an Apple OS version is also available.

Design and features

The Wondershare Fotophire Image Editing Software kit provides a suite of tools that allow you to manipulate your photos for professional quality results using a series of easy to use, intuitive interfaces that don’t require extensive graphics experience to master. You’ll start by firing up the toolkit launcher, which gives one-click access to each tool:

The first tool is the Photo Editor, which offers a HUGE range of filters and effects. Your photo is presented in an interface that uses a combination of intuitive icons, menus, and excellent help tools guide you through their use:

The effects menu provides over 200 canned filters you can apply for different photo treatments. I chose a random effect to give the whole photo a purple filter here:

The cropping function, available from all three tools, provides a set of pre-packaged sizing/aspect ratio options, which can then be dialed in with on-screen controls:

If you want to do your own color adjustments, you can forego the pre-selected filters and create your own. There’s a whole subset of tools to adjust color balance, tone, contrast, color saturation, etc. You can save these preferences for future use, and even apply them for batch processing later.

Blurs and vignettes enable you to create focus areas in your image. I added a creative blur here, setting the radius and depth of the filter with my mouse to focus on the parrot and blur the rest of the image. As with other effects tools in the package, everything works with friendly and self-explanatory sliders and onscreen tools that are quick and easy to master.

After making those adjustments, I added a frame from another preset menu of options, and then applied a texture to the whole picture.

These samples only scratch the surface of what the Image Editor can do. Color management and tone controls are really deep. You can add text, flip photos, add blends, and more. You can also set the view mode to arrange the desktop with before and after previews if you like, and save your settings for future use or batch processes. It’s an impressive set of features compared to many photo editing apps out there. And the speed is excellent. I ran my tests on an older Windows 10 machine, and saw virtually no lag from application to execution of any of the effects.

The Photo Cutter tool employs a simple, user-friendly automated feature to remove background elements from your photos for isolating the main subject matter. There’s a handy tutorial that takes you through the process the first time.

To use the tool, you’ll start by drawing lines on your image through the areas you want to remove. As you add these lines (shown in red below), the preview shows you what areas are being eliminated from the photo. If you lose too much of the key image, you can go back and highlight areas to include in the finished piece (shown in green). Adjustment sliders allow you to refine the selection process to accommodate the depth and complexity of the original image.

Once you are happy with the preview, press the “erase” button and the background just… disappears.

The finished art is rendered on a separate layer, and you can add in a different background if you like:

In my previous life I spent many, many late nights doing detailed image cropping and background removal in Photoshop… I can tell you that I would buy this package just for this tool. The automation is really good. You will always have challenges with images that have very similar tones, but most of my testing was spot-on in one or two attempts. And the speed is, once again, excellent for a complex task like this.

The Photo Eraser is the final tool in the package. Basically, it acts like an automated “clone” tool used in other photo editing programs to remove unwanted objects. The “Erase” tool lets you set the size of spots on the screen (in red below), and the software will basically blend the surroundings to eliminate the image in the spots. Like so:

You can also do your own cloning, basically copying an area of the image to another to blend out unwanted objects. I removed the buildings behind the monument hereby extending the foliage in the picture. I exaggerated it a bit so that you can get an idea for how it works:

Of the three tool sets in the Wondershare Fotophire package, this is probably the weakest one in my opinion. The interface is great and responsive, but I found that the automated cloning feature is not always as accurate. It’s nice to have in the package, but doesn’t need to stand on its own… this tool could probably be worked into the Image Editor as opposed to standing as its own app.

While the Wondershare Fotophire package isn’t as robust as a fully-functional commercial image editing tool like Photoshop, I think it ticks off just about all the boxes if you are actively publishing photos online on a regular basis. It does each job very efficiently, and it doesn’t require a steep learning curve to produce professional-looking results.

What I like

  • Simple, well designed, intuitive interfaces
  • Snappy performance
  • Excellent help and tutorial support
  • Robust feature set for a photo editing package

What needs to be improved

  • The Photo Eraser tool could be improved, or even integrated in the Photo Editor tool for simplicity

Final thoughts

I think the Wondershare Fotophire is a good value for what you’re getting. A lot of photo editing tools are extremely limited in scope and capability, requiring you to buy a combination of tools to get what you need if you are frequently posting images. The Fotophire package gives you just about everything you need for essential image manipulation in one package, and you don’t need deep graphics experience to use it.

Price: 1 year license for $49.99, lifetime license for $79.99
Where to buy: Download the demo and purchase at the Wondershare Fotophire web page.
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Wondershare

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Wondershare Fotophire Image Editing Software review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 29, 2018 at 11:00 am.

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Where ergonomics is paramount, X marks the spot

NEWS – Here’s a question for you: Have you been sitting all day? How good does your back feel right now? How are your legs doing? If you (like me) regularly have aches and pains after working all day sitting in a less-than-perfect chair while staring at a monitor, there may be hope. Sometimes, all it takes is the right chair—and a company called X-Chair thinks they have the answer.

The X-Chair is an ergonomic wonder. It comes with 10 adjustments that can help the X-Chair fit your body like a glove. Fine-tune the arms, seat, back, headrest, and lumbar until you’re comfortable. SciFloat Infinite Recline, DVL Support, Tilt Lock, and Flex Mesh technologies make what X-Chair says is the most technologically ergonomic chair available. There are color and material options available to help create an individualized environment.

Here are the 10 adjustments:

  1. Dynamic Variable Lumbar (DVL): This support adjusts itself to your body every time you move. It responds to weight, height, position, and the amount of pressure placed on it.
  2. SciFloat Infinite Recline: Created specifically for X-Chair, SciFloat facilitates motion throughout your day. Movement increases circulation, concentration, and energy levels boosting both comfort and productivity.
  3. Tilt Tension & Lock: Adjust the tilt tension to change the amount of resistance as you recline, whether you like a little or a lot of resistance.
  4. Height-Adjustable Backrest: The X-Chair’s independently adjustable backrest lets you raise the variable lumbar support to fit the curve of your back.
  5. Adjustable Seat Height: Easily adjust the seat height so feet rest flat on the ground and knees are at a 90⁰ angle.
  6. Adjustable Seat Depth: An improper seat depth puts undue pressure on the veins and lymph nodes behind your knee, and can lead to poor circulation and leg cramps.
  7. Adjustable Headrest Height: In addition to adjustable seat height and backrest height, the X-Chair’s headrest is height adjustable, so no matter your proportions—you get to adjust the whole chair to fit you.
  8. Adjustable Headrest Angle: Easily adjust the angle of the X-Chair’s headrest to find comfort no matter what position you’re sitting in.
  9. 4-Dimensional Arms: No one keeps their arms in the same position all day, and the X-Chair is ready to move with you with forward/back, side-to-side, up/down, and pivot adjustments.
  10. Premium Mesh & Leather: The X-Chair’s fabric suspension system disperses weight evenly across the chair to helping relieve sensitive pressure points. This improves circulation and keeps you comfortable throughout the day. 

X1 comes with Flex Mesh Technology, a breathable and durable mesh. X2 has K-Sport material, which features a tighter weave for a softer feel. X3 incorporates the same design and ergonomics as the X2 Advanced Tensile Recovery fabric provides enhanced support and comfort getting inspiration from modern material designs. X4 is covered in premium leather. Each fabric is available in your choice of color.

The X-Chair comes with a 15-year warranty. Prices range from $659.99 – $1099.99 US. Visit xchair.com for more information.

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Where ergonomics is paramount, X marks the spot originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 29, 2018 at 10:00 am.

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