REVIEW – Let me just say that I do NOT like winter weather. If the temperature outside is less than 50 degrees, I’m not a happy camper. This year it felt like we went from the dog days of summer directly into bone-chilling winter. Here in southern Indiana, we’ve already been “enjoying” temps in the 20’s F. So, I’ve been wearing a winter coat and gloves, but wearing gloves in the winter means that you can’t use your phone unless you take them off. Right? Nope, not if you are wearing a pair of magic touchscreen gloves like the ones I’m about to review from Mujjo. Let’s check them out.
What is it?
Mujjo’s latest touchscreen gloves aren’t really magic, but they are made of a stretch-knit fleece fabric interior with a top layer that is made of 3M Thinsulate.
Design and features
The gloves feature thin grippy strips on the palm and fingers that add a bit of security so you won’t drop your phone while wearing the gloves and your hands won’t slip on your steering wheel while driving, or door knobs.
The gloves are soft and warm without being too bulky. I like that the cuffs aren’t tight but still keep the cold air out.
Of course, the thing you really want to know about most is how do the Mujjo gloves work with your phone while you’re wearing them. I’m happy to report that you can interact perfectly with your phone while wearing the Mujjo touchscreen gloves. I was able to tap icons to launch apps, scroll through lists, make calls, answer calls, etc. I was also able to type messages and answer emails with no issues at all.
What I like
Accurate and responsive action with touchscreens
Comfortable and warm
Grippy
What needs to be improved
None
Final thoughts
I’ve been wearing Mujjo touchscreen gloves every winter for the past few years and I’ve found that this latest pair of touchscreen gloves are comfortable, warm, and work great with my phone so that I don’t have to remove the gloves to make or answer calls while I’m outside or in the car. I’ve been testing them for a couple of weeks and will continue to use them throughout the winter months. They save my fingers from getting frozen, so they get two gloved thumbs up from me.
Price: $47.43 Where to buy: Mujjo Source: The sample for this review was provided by Mujjo.
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ARTICLE – Call them geeks, call them techies, or call them nerds, but people who like gadgets, gear, and gizmos are sometimes the hardest people to buy for because there are so many products that fit in that niche that it’s hard to know what to pick. If you have techies on your holiday list this year, here are some gift ideas to help you out with your shopping tasks.
Cross X Liberty United Collector’s Edition Carbon Black Rollerball Pen
Available in the color you see above or grey, this rollerball pen not only looks sharp but it has a story. The Cross X Liberty United pens are made from recycled melted steel from confiscated guns that have been taken off the street of America by police officers. The pen features a slide and click open and close mechanism, a pocket clip with a serial number of a confiscated gun that was taken off the streets, and a lifetime Mechanical Guarantee.
Here’s a fun gift idea for any comic book or gaming nerds on your holiday gift giving list. They are called Pixel Pals and they are collectible pixel art versions of your favorite game and comic book characters. Besides the fact that they have a cool retro vibe, they also light up. Each one is around 6 inches tall and is powered by 2 AAA batteries.
Forget about coffee of the month or sausage of the month subscription clubs, that idea is played out. Instead, check out Watch Gang, a watch of the month club that ships a cool wrist watch to you each month. The watches are different styles and brands, but you get to choose the basic style that you like best upon sign up so you’ll be happy with the monthly selections. There are 3 tiers to the club that will send watches valued from $150 up to $1500 each depending on the tier. Club members are even in the running for weekly drawings for TAG and Rolex watches.
Price: $29 – $299 a month or a one time purchase of $29, $99, or $299 Where to buy: watchgang.com
Bluffworks travel wear
Andy Jacobs: BluffWorks might just be the best travel clothing company you’ve not yet heard of, and as an owner and wearer of a handful of BluffWorks items, I can attest to this. Their Chino Pants are outstanding: very comfortable with just the right amount of stretch, a slimming cut, and hidden security pockets. Their Travel Shirts are similar, with a bit of stretch, and almost impossible to wrinkle. But my favorite recent BluffWorks item is their Gramercy line of Blazers and Pants that can be worn separately or combined into the most comfortable suit I’ve ever owned, and hands-down the best for travel (both pieces are machine washable, too). As with all of BluffWork’s apparel, the Gramercy Suit has just a bit of stretch, but the fabric has a very classy look and feel, like a sporty suit would. The Blazer is also packed with extra pockets that make it even more perfect for travel.. If you have a traveler in your life, are a traveler yourself, or just like sharp-looking and functional men’s clothing, BluffWorks should be on your holiday gift list.
Price: varies depending on the garment Where to buy: Bluffworks
Leatherman Micra
If you’re looking for a small pocket-friendly multi-tool that includes a handy pair of scissors, a knife, screwdriver, and 7 other tools, the Leatherman Micra is a popular choice. Available in a variety of colors, this stainless steel tool is built to stand up to everyday wear and tear and will provide years of EDC use.
Flying a drone is fun, so building your own drone and then flying it has to take the fun to a whole new level right? Yes! But building a drone has to be difficult right? Nope. It’s not with the Circuit Scribe kit, which lets you build a drone by drawing the electrical circuits with a pen that has conductive ink. It might sound like tech sorcery, but it’s not. This kit provides everything you need to get your drone up and flying quickly. It even has a built in camera and you can control the drone with your phone.
When I was a kid, my sister and I would get burned to a crisp every summer when we’d spend the day at the lake house of a friend of my dad’s. We thought it was funny back then, but of course, that was back in the ’70s when coating your skin in baby oil and laying outside in the sun seemed like a perfectly great idea. Now we know better and this tiny clip-on UV sensor from La Roche-Posay measures and tracks your UV exposure and provides pollution, pollen, and humidity information based on your location all without needing to be charged. Just clip it your clothes or cap and it will do the rest through the iOS app (sorry, there’s no support for Android yet).
Our own Dave Rees loves these earbuds and said as much in his review this past spring:
The Elite 65t’s are Jabra’s second generation of truly wireless earbuds with improved sound quality, a better, more secure fit, and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. These lightweight earbuds are not only comfortable with a secure fit but engineered/optimized for listening to music, videos, and participating in calls.
…the Elite 65t’s have become my new goto headphones for the rest of the time. Their comfort, secure fit, sound quality, and overall design are excellent and really the truly wireless earbuds to beat.
Why cover up your snazzy looking iPhone with a boring plastic case that hides the Apple logo when you can add the head-turning unique protection of the Vapor-S Bumper Case from Element Case. The Vapor-S bumper is made of aluminum and polycarbonate that has mil-spec drop protection and a raised edge that makes sure the iPhone’s display and the camera lens stays above any table top that you set it on.
When you reach a certain age, your eyes change requiring you need progressive lenses in your existing glasses or you need a pair of reading glasses. If you’re in the latter group, consider a pair of ThinOptics which are…wait for it… thin! ThinOptics are available in a variety of fun styles, colors, and in strengths from +1.00 to + 2.50. But the really cool thing about ThinOptics is that they can be carried with you all the time. Either on a keychain, on the back of your phone case, or in your pocket.
I reviewed this touch screen computer kit back in October and absolutely loved it. It was a lot of fun to put together because it comes with easy to understand instructions and it doesn’t require any special tools. Although this kit is marketed for kids, adults that like to tinker will like it too especially if they have an interest in learning to program.
Protect your iPhone and some Samsung Galaxy smartphones with a variety of cases from Silk Smartish. They offer cases that not only protect the phone but offer additional features like the ability to leave your wallet home and carry your main credit cards right in the back of the phone case.
Amazon FreeTime Unlimited is a service that gives your kids great content for their devices. Content includes digital books, movies, TV shows, educational apps, and games, in both English and Spanish, each hand-selected for quality and age-appropriateness by the Amazon FreeTime team. For just $2.99/month for Prime members or $4.99/month for customers who are not yet Prime Members (one-year pre-paid plans are available, too). Another easy option: every new Fire Kids Edition tablet and Echo Dot Kids Edition comes with a one-year subscription to FreeTime Unlimited.
Price: $2.99/month for Prime members or $4.99/month for customers who are not yet Prime Members Where to buy: amazon.com/freetime
HP Sprocket Printer
From my review: I’ve reviewed a couple other printers very similar to the HP Sprocket, so I wasn’t expecting the resulting prints to be much if any different than ones I’ve been using for years. But I actually was surprised. The prints from the HP Sprocket look a bit crisper and have more vibrant colors than prints from Polaroid and Panasonic ZINK printers which have always looked a bit washed out to me. The HP Sprocket app is a bit more polished as well compared to the other printer apps. If I was in the market for a pocket-sized photo printer today, my first choice would be the HP Sprocket portable photo printer. It’s a keeper.
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NEWS – Stand out from the crowd at your next concert or party with Inlighten color-changing apparel and accessories. These hi-tech hand washable garments have built-in fiber optic technology that lights it up in any color you like using the mobile app. Just pair the Inlighten garment with your phone and become the light of the party. You can also put the garment into sound reactive mode and it will use the music around you to change the colors to the beat. Blare your favorite dance tunes or even your favorite holiday music and give the crowd (and yourself!) a cool light show. Inlighten offers hoodie vests, bomber jackets, bikini tops, ties, masks, and more. Prices start at $79 and go up to $329 for the bomber jacket. Head over to Inlighten for more info and to order.
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I’m a big fan of comfy clothes and that extends to my outerwear. Hoodies and other short jackets are my preferred type of jacket when the weather is cool. Of course, any old hoodie just won’t do when you’re the Gadgeteer, so I want my hoodies to have extra features over and beyond a hood and two handwarmer pockets. I heard about BauBax almost 3 years ago when we told you about their crowdfunding campaign. Recently they offered to send me one of their original women’s sweatshirt jackets which I’ve been trying out for the past few weeks. Let’s check it out.
What is it?
Designed in the USA, the BauBax Women’s Sweatshirt is a 60% cotton 40% polyester, machine washable hoodie style zippered jacket that comes in three colors (charcoal, black, and blue) and in men’s and women’s sizes XS up to XXXL for men and XS up to XXL for women.
Design and features
At first glance, the BauBax Women’s Sweatshirt looks like a traditional hoodie jacket that most of us already own. But when you take a closer look at it, you’ll discover several extra features.
First of all, the jacket has two open handwarmer pockets like most hoodies. But the jacket also has two additional zippered pockets on the front. There’s a horizontal pocket on the upper right chest and a vertical pocket on the left chest.
The right pocket is the drink pocket and it has been designed to be large enough to hold a regular sized soda can or bottle of water. The vertical pocket has been designed to be large enough to hold a passport. I was too lazy to find my passport for the photo above, so I substituted a Field Notes sized notebook which fits great.
If you need something to write with or a stylus, BauBax has you covered because they include a telescoping combo pen/stylus that clips on to the jacket. They also include 3 extra ink refills for the pen.
If we flip the jacket over and look at the back, we don’t find anything special, but you can see that the cuffed sleeves look longer than is typical.
That’s because the sleeves have built-in slidegloves that you can use to keep your hands a bit warmer than with no gloves at all, and it helps to keep the sleeves from sliding up your arms.
When you unzip the jacket, you’ll find a black lining and additional pockets. First about that lining. I do wish that they had used either a satin lining or regular fleece lining because the lining is a lint magnet. Since it’s black, you can see every little piece of lint, every cat hair, etc. It’s also thin and stretchy so I don’t know how it will wear over time.
As for the pockets, there are 5 interior pockets (not including the hood, but more on that later). There’s an open-topped sunglasses pocket on the upper right lapel that holds an elastic tethered eyeglass cleaning or screen cleaning cloth.
Below the sunglasses pocket is a long vertical zipped pocket that is large enough to hold a tablet. It’s just big enough to hold a Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 shown here.
On the left inside lapel, there is a vertical zippered satin lined pocket for your phone and along the waistband area, there are two open-topped pockets. One is for the optional blanket and the other is for a power bank.
The hood of the BauBax Women’s Sweatshirt jacket had a built-in eye-mask. There’s also a built-in pocket that holds the inflatable neck pillow and you’ll notice in the image above that there are elastic loops that you can use to route your earbud wires.
The inflatable pillow stores in the hood. To remove it you can just unbutton the hood’s pocket and pull it out.
The pillow has a soft plush cover and a zipper reveals the air valve. The cool thing about the port is that it takes barely any air or effort to inflate the pillow. Just place your mouth over the valve and blow a few puffs of air to inflate it. You don’t even have to quickly plug the valve because as soon as you stop blowing, it automatically closes on its own.
To deflate, you just press your finger in the air valve to open it and press out the air. It’s quick and simple.
How does it fit?
I originally asked for the jacket in small, but it felt too tight, so I traded for a medium which is a perfect fit for my 5ft 6in 130 pound frame.
The jacket is soft and comfortable. The only part of the jacket that I didn’t like was the pillow stowed in the hood because it caused the hood to tug on my neck from the weight and bulk.
Oh look, I’m Mr. Robot. You can click the images for a larger view. The hood with the built-in eye mask is actually useful when you’re not trying to sleep as it gives your head a bit more protection if it’s raining.
Accessories
The BauBax Women’s Sweatshirt jacket comes with the combo pen/stylus, but if you want the 55x37inch 100% Polyester pocket blanket, it’s an optional purchase with a price tag of $25. You can also get a collapsible BPA free bottle that runs $10. I think both of these accessories should be included with the jacket.
What I like
Comfortable like a traditional hoodie
9 pockets
Hood has a built-in eyemask and can hold a neck pillow
What needs to be improved
Expensive
Blanket and bottle should be included with the jacket
The lining is thin and attracts lint.
Final thoughts
When it comes down to it, I think the BauBax Sweatshirt is too pricey compared to my favorite hoodie (the SCOTTeVEST Cotton Hoodie). That said, I do like the little extras that come with the BauBax, like the combo stylus/pen and pillow, but I think asking people to pay an extra $35 for the blanket and bottle is too much considering that the jacket already costs $150.
When it comes to clothing, personal style is a huge part of the selection process. Some people aren’t “hoodie people”. But if you are a hoodie person and would like to have a jacket that offers more ways to carry your gear besides the two handwarmer pockets, the BauBax Sweatshirt jacket for men and women is one option to consider.
Price: $149.99 Where to buy: BauBax and Amazon Source: The sample for this review was provided by BauBax.
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SCOTTeVEST wants to celebrate Spring with a 30% off sale that runs from today March 19 through the 23rd. You can save 30% on everything (except for the RFID Travel Vests, SCOTTeVEST Jackets, Travel Underwear, and Outlet items). Some items that you can apply the 30% savings to include SCOTTeVEST’s new products like:
The Ozark Shirt for men: a comfortable and stylish long-sleeve button-down shirt that features 5 pockets to hold small and midsize essentials.
The Homestead Shirt for men: a cool and comfortable short-sleeve button-down shirt featuring 6 pockets for warm weather adventures.
Take advantage of SCOTTeVEST’s Spring sale while supplies last. Just head over to SCOTTeVEST.com and use the coupon code VE2018 save 30% on almost everything.
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You can click the images for a larger view. The hood with the built-in eye mask is actually useful when you’re not trying to sleep as it gives your head a bit more protection if it’s raining.
