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Black & Decker PowerCrush Digital Blender with Quiet Technology review


REVIEW – These days, there is a fast moving health and fitness movement that continues to gain momentum as many people look to better their health. A part of the healthier diet is a long list of healthy shakes and other healthy foods like vegetable liquid food replacements. This is no different in my household, and I welcomed the opportunity to test and review this personal blender. Here is my summary.

What is it?

The BLACK and DECKER PowerCrush Digital Blender with Quiet Technology uses a specifically designed blade that creates a vortex when spinning in order to crush and blend various types of ingredients including ice, vegetables,  fruit, etc. It can be used to make vegetable drinks and smoothies all in the included 18oz personal size cup. All of the parts that attach to the cup including the snap-on lid, the cup itself, and the blade and housing are dishwasher safe. The blender has 700 watts of maximum power and digital touch controls as its interface.

What’s in the box

1 x PowerCrush Digital Blender
1 x 4-tip stainless steel blending blade
1 x 18oz Personal Jar
1 x Snap-on travel lid
1 x Instruction/Recipe booklet

Design and features

Design Specs:

  • Quiet Technology: Blend without interrupting your life. This PowerCrush Blender is quieter* and maintains all the powerful blending performance you expect from BLACK+DECKER.
  • PowerCrush 4-Tip Blade Technology: The 4-tip stainless steel blending blade works with the shape of the jar to create a constant flow and vortex that leads ingredients directly to the blades for fast blending performance.
  • 700W Motor: The energetic motor delivers 700W at peak performance to easily crush and blend the toughest ingredients.
  • 2 Speeds + Pulse: From smooth blending to powerful ice crushing, two speeds and a pulse function handle any job with ease. Includes LED power indicator.
  • Personal Jar: Use the 18oz., BPA-free Tritan plastic jar for single-serving smoothies on the go. Snap-on travel lid included.

This personal blender is designed to crush ice and fruit and other similar types of ingredients to create personal drink mixes like shakes, blended drinks, etc. On the front, there are 4 buttons embedded into the stainless steel body. The buttons control the on/off function as well as the speed/rotation options that are low speed and high speed, and the pulse function.


The base of the blender has a receptacle that interfaces with the blade and housing as seen below. At the bottom of the blender, there are air vents and routing for the attached power cable.


The pictures below show the 4-tip blade and housing, the 18oz personal size cup, and the snap on lid.



Performance

Based on the understanding that noise levels or the perception of volume is individually subjective, I found this blender to be quite a bit quieter than I am used to and than I thought it would be. It was not as loud as another famous brand, and for my tests, it did a decent enough job of crushing/blending frozen fruit. I did find that the other famous brand blender was able to make an even smoother blend in the less time, but that blender is also more powerful. I also tried a variety of fruits like blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, bananas with ice and the resulting mixtures were great. Below are before and after pictures of one of the frozen fruit mixtures.



What do I like

  • I like the size and the functional design
  • The finished stainless steel look

What can be improved

  • Either the power of the blender or the blade design to be more effective at making an even smoother blend

Final thoughts

The PowerCrush Digital Blender with Quiet Technology is a nicely designed blender that has enough power and capability to blend most fruit and vegetable combinations to make a nice smoothie or vegetable drink. While it could use a bit more power or maybe some adjustment to the blade design to remove even the smallest of grains from things like small seeds, etc, it does make the blend smooth enough that in my opinion, is quite acceptable. Also, the ability to have a conversation while blending without having to scream at the other party is quite nice and non-disruptive. I personally like this blender, and for my needs and based on the price, I give it a thumbs up!!

Price: $32.88
Where to buy: Walmart
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Black & Decker.

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Black & Decker PowerCrush Digital Blender with Quiet Technology review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 16, 2018 at 3:08 pm.

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Renogy Outdoor Tactical Flashlight review

REVIEW – Open the case, my friend, and meet the tactical flashlight from Renogy. Not only does it look worthy of a spy movie, but it packs a lot of useful features in a budget-friendly package. Will it help you on your next mission? Let’s find out!

What is it?

It’s a portable tactical flashlight, with a beam that can be zoomed/focused. It comes with a rechargeable battery but can use regular batteries as well.

Hardware specs

  • CREE XML T6 LED emitting chip delivers maximum brightness of 600-1200 lumens.
  • Zoomable function, adjustable focus range up to 600 feet.
  • Aviation grade aluminum alloy, that’s water and shock resistant.
  • 5 light modes: high, medium, & low brightness, strobe and emergency SOS.
  • 5.4 inches long, 1.6 inches wide, about 9 ounces total weight (flashlight only).
  • Includes one 18650 lithium-ion rechargeable battery.
  • Also compatible with three AAA Batteries.

What’s in the box?

The Renogy Outdoor Tactical Flashlight comes in a foam-molded travel box. It includes the flashlight with a lanyard, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, a charging cradle & power brick fir the battery, and an adaptor for three AAA batteries. An instruction manual is also included in the kit.

Design and features

The Renogy Outdoor Tactical Flashlight is a tough little guy. It’s a small flashlight that’s easy to pack and carry, but it has a weighty, substantial feel in your hand. It’s built from aviation-grade aluminum alloy with a rock-solid build that’s meant to take drops and hard knocks. Given the size and durability, it’s ideal for outdoor use. It’s also got that all-black covert operations look if you’re into that sort of thing:

The plastic storage box uses molded foam inserts to keep all the bits and parts in one place. The box itself is 4-1/2″ by 8-1/4″ by 2″ deep, and will tuck nicely in a corner of your trunk or on your tool shelf. I hear the “Mission Impossible” theme in my head whenever I open it:

There’s a single rubberized on/off button on the butt-end of the flashlight for all operations. The business end uses a CREE XML T6 LED emitting chip delivers maximum brightness of 600-1200 lumens. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know all that much about flashlight bulb ratings, but I can tell you that it is surprisingly bright given it’s small size. 

You have 5 modes on this flashlight, activated by repeated pressing of the on/off button. The first three toggle through high/medium/low brightness with a steady beam. The fourth mode is strobe, with a continuing blinking beam. The is an “SOS” mode that blinks in a slow, repeating pattern that I assume indicates “SOS” (It’s been a while since my Cub Scout days). Cycling is engaged by repeatedly turning the flashlight on and off; it gets the jobs done, but it’s a tad inconvenient having to click away to get to the settings you want.

The flashlight also features a zoom/focus feature. The head of the flashlight slides like a telescope, as you can see in the pictures below. The total travel is about 1″ from fully compressed to fully extended:

In “normal” unextended mode, the light beam is opened wide. Here’s a shot of the beam in my garage at a distance of about 10 feet. It’s bright and powerful!

As you slide the head to zoom, it will focus and intensify the beam. The shots below were taken from the same distance with the same level of light power, changing the zoom:

The next pic shows the light at max focus. See how the beam now takes the shape of the square LED light chip? According to Renogy, this zoom level gives the beam a 600-foot range.

Not only is this flashlight powerful, but it is also rechargeable. The kit includes a 18650 lithium-ion rechargeable battery. The butt-end of the unit unscrews to insert the battery:

A charging dock and power brick are included in the package to recharge the unit. I’m doing some research into how long the battery will last under normal use, and I’m not having much luck. Given the LED chip light, however, I think it will go a long time between charges. I’ve had it for a month, and haven’t charged it once.

If you’re between rechargeable batteries at the moment, you also have a back-up system! The flashlight comes with an adaptor that will accept 3 AAA batteries, and can be loaded into the battery chamber in lieu of the lithium-ion option. That’s a nice feature in a pinch.

As far as general use goes, I took the Renogy Outdoor Tactical Flashlight on a camping trip back in August and it worked just fine. Plenty of powerful light in a small, compact package. The zoom feature was actually more useful than I thought, allowing us to focus the beam so that we didn’t irritate our neighbors on late-night trips to the camp washroom while enabling a wide beam mode when we needed it around our own site. The mode changing function is a but awkward, but a few quick clicks gets you to the setting you need.

If you choose to accept this mission, know that you’re getting a good price on the job! I am seeing this model going on Amazon Prime for under $20. That’s crazy good for a well-built flashlight that includes all of these components. It looks to me like a solid value.

What I like

  • Durable, solid build
  • Very powerful for a small flashlight
  • Includes all the accessories you might need
  • Convenient storage case for all the parts

What needs to be improved

  • Switching between lighting modes is a bit klunky, but manageable

Final thoughts

It’s hard to go wrong with a package like this. A well built LED flashlight that’s powerful, long-lasting and rechargeable is a good item. When it includes the lithium-ion battery and all the other accessories at a price point under $20, it’s a bargain. We’ll see how it does over long-term use, but I think it’s a good one.

Price: $19.49
Where to buy: Amazon.
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Renogy.

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Renogy Outdoor Tactical Flashlight review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 16, 2018 at 11:00 am.

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This extension cord makes charging your device easier while on the go

NEWS – Needing to charge up your phone or computer while you are away from home or the office can be tricky.  First you have to find an available outlet in the coffee shop or airport waiting area and hope there’s a chair close enough to allow you to plug in your sometimes woefully-short charging cable without having to sit in the floor while you get charged.  That won’t be such a worry if you keep an EasyLife 6.5ft Extension Cord in your gear bag.

With the 125V EasyLife, you have a 6.5ft cord that can plug into the wall and stretch over to your chair or table so you can work comfortably as your devices charge.  There are two models of the EasyLife cord: one with an AC socket and one with a 2-outlet USB charger.

The AC power plug version is 1.6″ thick and 4.5″ in diameter and weighs 0.55 pounds.  You can plug up your computer or any other device.  This is your most versatile version, because it could work with any single charger.

The USB charger version is 1.6″ thick and 3.5″ in diameter and weighs 0.75 pounds.  It has two 5V, 2.1A USB outlets, so you can charge a phone and a tablet simultaneously, for example.

Both devices have a silicone sleeve that allows you to roll up the extension cable around the charger to keep everything in a neat puck shape.  The outlet model is $16.95, while the USB charger version is $22.95.  Both are available at The Grommet.

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This extension cord makes charging your device easier while on the go originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 16, 2018 at 10:00 am.

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Peak Design 45 Liter Travel Backpack Review

REVIEW – Finding the correct travel bag has always been difficult for me.  I have found out over time that a one size fits all type bag will usually not work.  They are either all way too big or too small for the trip and what I need to bring along.  Too many bags would have just a single large compartment and maybe a zipper or two for small things but no real easy way to organize my packing.  I also find that the larger the bag is, the heavier it will be.  When Peak Design offered up their new 45 liter travel backpack for review I jumped on it because it seemed to be an organized packer’s mecca.  Let’s see how it worked out for me.

What’s in the box?

I received the 45 liter Travel backpack along with some additional accessories.  You will see full detail pictures of everything below.  In addition to the backpack I received the following:

  • Wash pouch – complete with hook for hanging up in the bathroom!  It comes in sage or black and I received the sage.  Dimensions are 26 cm x 11 cm x 15 cm 2.5  liters
  • Tech pouch  – used to organize and store all your tech cables, batteries and charging adapters.  It comes in sage or black and I received the black.  Dimensions are 24 cm x 10 cm x 15 cm 2 liters
  • Medium packing cube – Dimensions 32 cm x 17 cm x 32 cm 18 liters
  • Small packing cube – Dimensions 32 cm x 8 cm x 17 cm 9 liters

Design and Features

OK, be ready for a plethora of pictures.  This backpack has a ton of features allowing you to pack and organize your travel gear in many ways.  The first picture below shows the backpack that is fully compressed but does have inside all of the travel pouches and cubes.  The first thing I noticed and loved was how the backpack will stand on its own.  You can see that I received the sage color.  The backpack itself is able to compress itself to multiple sizes.  The ‘normal’ size is 35 liters which allows it to be a carry on bag for airlines.  You can compress it down to 30 liters by simply pressing down the top part of the bag where you see the zipper and it will fold into itself.   On the other end of the spectrum you can expand it to a full 45 liters with the side expansion zippers I will show later.  The bag has dimensions of 56 cm tall and 33 cm wide.  It can be expanded from 23 cm up to 29 cm in depth.  On the front of the bag there are 6 external carry strap attachment points with three on the left and 3 on the right side of the bag.  On top of the bag there are 4 external carry strap attachments and 2 more on the bottom.  You can literally have everything and the kitchen sink hanging off this bag if you wish.  The second picture shows you how deep the top pocket of the bag goes.  My hand is not very large, but it will easily fit my Samsung S9  and I believe it would also hold a phone as large as a Note or the large iPhone easily.  The pocket is heavily lined so that even if the bag where to fall on its face I do not think anything would be damaged inside.

The pack itself is made from 400 d for the shell and 900 d on the bottom both of which are made from recycled plastics.  It has a weatherproof construction and waterproof zippers.

The next three pictures show the back of the bag.  At the top, you will see a handle.  It appears to be made of the same type of material as the seat belt in your car.  It is well stitched and made of several layers to give it a nice cushion.  The handle does not cut into my hand at all even when fully loaded.  There are two fully adjustable backpack straps that are well padded and sit comfortably on the back.  The straps both have two external seatbelt-like material where you can also attach hanging things.    The bag also comes with a very nice chest strap.  Both ends of the strap have metal hooks that are in the middle picture.  You simply hook the metal hook over the middle part of the back strap and it is held in place.  There are 4 points on the strap where you can hook the chest strap depending on how you like to carry the bag.  If you don’t want the chest strap at all, you simply can unhook both sides and store it away.  I really like how no plastic buckles are used.  Those always seem to be a point of failure.  You can also notice that the strap itself is made out of the same seatbelt-like material.  It is very soft and strong feeling.  I did note that on my trip I could also use that back handle as a pass through on my husband’s rollable luggage handle.

Also on the back of the bag, you will find another carrying handle strap that will allow you to carry the backpack from the back of the bag.  I personally found this very handy when pulling the back out of the trunk of a car.  Another really great feature for a backpack that can get heavy if fully loaded are the included waist straps.  They are cleverly tucked into side panels under the padding in the back of the pack.  The second picture shows how one side comes out of its handy slot.  The third picture is showing how the waist belt is connected to the front of your waste.  It has a metal hook that you simply slide into the opposite loop from the other belt.  Once again no plastic buckles that will easily break.  You can also see that the buckle is adjustable and made of that same seat belt material.  The fourth picture is a picture of a top and bottom magnet on the flaps hiding the waist belt.  Each side of the back of the bag has 4 magnets keeping the waist belt tucked away if you do not need it.  I would also like to mention there is a very small zippered pouch that is on the left waistband.  You could stick a small wallet in that pouch if need be.

On both sides of the bag, you will find additional carry handles.  This makes for a grand total of five carry handles.  One on top, one on the bottom, one on the back and one on each side.  As mentioned earlier, the top and back carry handles are made of seatbelt-like material.  The side and bottom handles are made of the same type of material as the rest of the bag.  Both sides of the bag also have small zippered pockets.  It is an unusual shape for a pocket because the top has the angle you can see by the side carrying handle.  It will however also hold my Galaxy S9 phone.  You could easily store plane tickets or your passport in there.  The third picture shows the heavy duty waterproof zippers that give you access to the main compartment of the bag.

To access the main compartment of the bag, you unzip the two zippers from the third picture above.  This causes the back part of the pack with the chest straps to open.  The first picture shows you the main compartment.  The top flap is a laptop storage area that I will get into more detail later.  The main compartment is a huge open space.  There are 8 black seat belt material external tie downs inside this compartment.  Three on each side and two on top.  There are two storage compartments on the bottom.  One is mesh and the other is made of the same material as the bag.  I found those ideal for storing flat things like jewelry.  Keeping things like that there puts them essentially in the middle of the bag where they will not get lost.

The next two pictures show the laptop carrying area in more detail.  This space carried my Dell 15 inch XPS with no problems at all.   It is well padded all the way around.  It has a separate storage slot that closes with Velcro where you could pack cables or the Microsoft mouse that stores flat fits perfectly here.  The main laptop area closes with Velcro as you can see in the second picture.

The next two pictures show the front part of the bag opened up.  The top flap has two storage compartment areas.  The top part is a plastic mesh type area and the bottom part has a flat storage area made of the same material as the bag.  The second picture shows you the separate storage slots that are built into that top flap area.  Since this is on the front of the bag, it would be very easy to just open that front zipper and get access to this pocket where you could store things like pens, keys or your wallet.  The first picture also shows the bottom part of the front of the bag.  It has one zippered mesh area like the bottom of the bag and also has a zipper in the middle that allows you access to the main compartment.   So you can lay the bag down on the chest straps, open the top of the bag and with one zipper pull get access to the main compartment at the back of the bag.

The next six pictures are showing the medium and small storage cubes.  Both cubes are made of an ultralight 40 D nylon shell that is made from 100% recycled plastic.  These bags weigh next to nothing but really do allow for some organized packing.  Both cubes have expansion zippers that will allow you to increase or decrease your storage capacity as needed.   They both also come with a handy carry handle made of seat belt material.  The first picture is the medium storage cube.  The second picture shows it halfway open.  It actually unzips almost completely around giving you full access to the top area of the bag.  The third picture shows a zippered compartment area at the back of the bag.  The first picture on the second row shows the medium bag (expansion zipper is closed so it is at its smallest size) loaded with 6 t-shirts, and 4 pairs of shorts.  The third picture is the fully loaded medium cube and the unpacked small cube.  Like the medium cube, this back also has a main compartment zipper that almost opens up the full back and a back compartment zipper.  The last picture shows both bags fully loaded but not expanded.

The next two pictures show the wash pouch.  This pouch is made of a weatherproof nylon canvas that is made from 100% recycled plastic.  It has silicone-coated mesh pockets, a stow-able metal hook for hanging, an external razor pocket that is sealed with a waterproof zipper along with the main zipper also being waterproof.  The bag will always sit upright which is really nice.  The first picture shows the interior.  The middle section that seems ‘fluffy’ is actually a magnetically closed holder for your toothbrush.  There are 7 total individual pouches for holding things.  You can see it fully loaded up with my stuff in the second picture.  You can also see the metal hook showing where I pulled it out of its storage pouch on the side of the bag.  It should be noted that the Kickstarter page mentions that the liner can be pulled out and is easy to rinse.  The bag I received did not have any kind of pull out liner in it.  The bag also has a nice carry handle on the top to make it easy to pull out of the backpack and carry to the bathroom.

The next picture on the left shows the back part of the bag fully loaded with the medium and small packing cubes plus the wash pouch.  It all fit perfectly in the bag.  The second picture shows the side zippers unzipped and allowing the backpack to be fully expanded.

The next three pictures below show the tech pouch.  Like the wash pouch, it is made of weatherproof nylon canvas made from 100% recycled plastic.   It has dual grab handles made of the same material on either side of the bottom of the bag.  It has a beefy #8 waterproof zipper and will sit upright on its own.  It has a total of 21 individual storage pockets.  It has external loops that allow it to work with Peak Design carrying straps if you want to carry this over your shoulder separately.  This bag is an organized packer’s dream with a slot for virtually everything you can think of.  It even has a small pass-through slot for a charging cable so it can go from the external battery you have stored in the main pouch to the phone you may have stored in the outside zippered pocket on the back of the bag.  The final picture on the right shows the tech pouch along with a pair of flip-flops fitting nicely into the area on the front of the backpack that has its expansion zippers opened.

The final three pictures below show me wearing the backpack.  I am 5′ 7″ tall with a 32-inch inseam.  The pack is fully loaded but the expansion zippers are in compressed mode.  I have both the chest and waist straps on.  The pack is very comfortable and with the waist strap in place, I do not feel much weight at all in my shoulders.  My only complaint would be that this pack would get hot if I were hiking around in the heat.  It is not anything like an external frame backpack that allows air circulation between the pack and your back.

What I like

This is an extremely well-designed backpack.  There is literally a spot for everything and it provides a multiple of ways for you to carry it.  There are additional items you can buy separately that I did not get a chance to review.  They sell a separate shoe pouch along with three different sizes of camera cubes if you wanted to turn this into a camera backpack.  They also sell a rain cover for the bag that stores in its own pouch by tucking into itself.  It is lightweight for what you can carry.  The backpack, all the straps, the medium and small packing cubes, the wash pouch and the tech pouch all weighed right at 6.4 pounds according to my luggage scale.  I love how it is easy to get access to the front or back storage areas through either side of the bag.  The straps make carrying a heavy load easy to do allowing for weight distribution to your waist.

What can be improved

I honestly can’t think of anything that can be improved.  I am very happy with this bag.  Short of finding some really expensive lightweight materials to make it lighter there really is not anything you can do to this bag to improve it.  I would happily recommend this bag to anyone who does not feel they have to be able to roll a bag on wheels.  Adding wheels and handle to this bag would just add unnecessary weight in my opinion.  I would think this is the perfect bag for a person who wants to backpack through Europe.

Price: $235 for the backpack 45L, $399 for backpack 45L + small and medium packing cube, tech pouch, wash pouch, shoe pouch, and rain fly
Where to buy: Kickstarter – hurry the project ends on 9/20/18.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Peak Design.

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Peak Design 45 Liter Travel Backpack Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 16, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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Don’t settle for flat waffles!

NEWS – Breakfasts and desserts will take on a new dimension with the waffle bowls you will make with the Presto Belgian Waffle Bowl Maker.  Use your normal Belgian waffle recipe or prepared mix with the Presto.  The interior of the waffle maker is non-stick, so you’ll be able to easily remove the cooked bowl.  Unlike the hard waffle bowls you can buy at the grocery store, these are will be soft.

For breakfast, you can fill the waffle bowl with fruit and yogurt, eggs and bacon, or just add some butter and syrup.  For lunch or dinner, throw in some fried chicken.  For dessert, use it as the bowl for your ice cream sundae.  You’re only limited by your imagination.

The Presto Belgian Waffle Bowl Maker 03500 is $24.90 from both Walmart and Amazon.

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Don’t settle for flat waffles! originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 16, 2018 at 8:01 am.

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