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WORX 20″ 3-in-1 cordless lawnmower review

REVIEW – The last couple of springs I’ve been researching cordless electric lawnmowers because my trusty gas-powered model seemed to be on its last legs. Well, this spring it finally died. As luck would have it, I received a review offer for the WORX 20″ cordless lawnmower. Needless to say, I was very excited to see if an electric mower could perform as well as a gas-powered one.

What is it?

The WORX 20” 3-in-1 cordless electric lawnmower is a lawnmower that’s powered by 2-20V batteries instead of gas.

Hardware specs

  • Rated voltage – 40V
  • Deck width – 20”Cutting diameter – 19”
  • Cut height range – 1.5”-3.5″
  • Grass bag capacity  – 1.4 bushels
  • Machine weight – 66.8 lbs
  • Warranty – 3 years

What’s in the box?

  • Lawnmower
  • Grass bag
  • Mulching plug
  • Side discharge attachment
  • (2) 5.0 Ah 20V Power Share Batteries
  • HR dual charger

Design and features

The mower came pretty much pre-assembled in the box. The only thing I had to do was extend and tighten the handle and charge the batteries.

At first glance, the WORX 3-in-1 looks like a typical lawnmower minus the gas tank and oil dipstick. The battery compartment is located where you’d normally find the gas tank.

The mower is powered by 2-20V 5.0Ah Lithium-ion batteries giving the mower 40V of cutting power.

There’s a battery life indicator located just behind the battery compartment that allows you to check the battery life with the push of a button.

Charging the batteries is done by sliding them into the included dual charger. While charging, the indicator lights flash green. When the batteries are fully charged, the lights will remain solid. Fully charging the batteries takes about 2.5 hours.

The mowers batteries are also part of WORX Power Share. This means you can share the 20V batteries with other WORX garden and lawn tools.

The mowers outer housing and wheels are made of lightweight, durable plastic. The 20″ cutting deck is made of steel and gives the mower a cutting width of 19″. Steel is not only more durable, but it’s also more mulching friendly as grass slides off steel better than plastic or aluminum.

The handle is fully collapsible for compact and easy storage.

When folded you can stand the mower up on end so it can easily be placed up against a wall. I love this because it makes it easier to store in my shed where space is at a premium.

The ergonomic handle is also padded, making it more comfortable to maneuver while cutting.

One of my favorite features is the single lever height adjustment. It allows you to quickly adjust the cutting height from 11/4” to 4” using a single lever. Much easier than my gas powered mower which required each wheel to be adjusted individually. I can’t begin to tell you what a pain that was.

The mower offers 3 different cutting methods. You can mulch, bag, or side discharge. Mulching is done by installing the included mulching plug at the back of the mower. If you choose to bag your clippings as I do, you can use the included 1-bushel bag which easily installs at the back of the mower. Lastly, you can use side discharge by installing the side discharge attachment.

Performance and use

Using the mower couldn’t be easier, just drop the batteries into the battery compartment, and you’re ready to mow. To start it, insert the plastic safety key and hold down the start button while engaging the operating bail handle. For safety, the motor stops as soon as you let go of the operating bail handle.

This mower is amazingly quiet and lightweight compared to my gas-powered model. It sounds like you’re cutting the grass with a fan. You can actually have a normal conversation with someone without having to yell over a loud engine. And its light enough that my 74-year-old mother said that even she could cut the grass using it.

Performance wise it simply blew me away. It cut my lawn every bit as good as my old gas-powered mower. It powered through tall grass and damp grass without issue. And pushing it around was like a walk in the park. Below is a video showing how easy the mower is to start and use. 

I used the bagging function, and the bag was easy to take off and empty. It’s a smaller size (1 bushel) then I’m used to so I did have to empty it more often, but that wasn’t a big deal.

My lawn grows uneven, and some areas have taller grass, being able to adjust the cutting height with a single lever was easy and time-saving.

I was also remarkably impressed by the battery life. I was able to cut my front, side, and back lawn (approx. 6,000 square feet) and still had more than half of a charge left.

No gas, no oil, no maintenance… no brainer

Maybe the best thing about this mower is that it’s pretty much maintenance free. Especially compared to a gas-powered mower. No more buying gas, changing oil or replacing air filters. About the only thing you have to do is keep it clean and maintain the blade. Over time this mower will pay for itself with the money you save on gas and other maintenance.

What I like

  • Easy to use
  • Collapsible handle for easy upright storage
  • Incredibly quiet
  • Good battery life
  • One lever height adjustment
  • Low maintenance

What I’d change

  • Nothing

Final thoughts

The WORX 20” cordless lawnmower is the perfect choice for small to medium size yards, and it doesn’t cost much more than a high quality gas-powered mower. I like products that make everyday tasks we dread doing easier and in the case of the WORX cordless mower, a tad bit more enjoyable. Personally, I love using this lawnmower, and I’ll never go back to gas again.

Price: $349.99 currently marked down to $319.99 on the WORX site.
Where to buy: WORX and Home Depot
Source: The sample for this review was provided by WORX.

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WORX 20″ 3-in-1 cordless lawnmower review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 8, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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Glacier Tek Sports Cool Vest Review

REVIEW – Let’s have a show of hands. How many of you like to do yard work while the sun is bearing down? (crickets) I thought so—me neither. In fact, humid Central Florida summers (where I live) can be some of the worst anywhere. When oppressive heat is combined with thick wet air, temperatures can feel as much as 15° above the actual temperature. In fact, while standing outside and doing nothing, I still sweat like a pig during summer months. Which brings me to something that may help with the heat—the Glacier Tek Sports Cool Vest.

What is it?

The Glacier Tek Sports Cool Vest is just that—a vest made to help keep you cool while working outdoors for extended periods of time. Whether you’re a weekend yard worker, outdoor exerciser, or pro who has to work outdoors, the Glacier Tek vest can bring down your core body temperature helping you withstand the hottest days. That’s the goal, anyway. Does it work as advertised?

Hardware specs

  • Adjustable side straps
  • Self-contained and portable
  • One size fits all
  • PureTemp Cooling Packs
  • Maintains 59°F up to 2-3 hours in 100° heat

In the box

  • Sports Cool Vest
  • One set of eight cooling packs (four large, four small)
  • Mesh bag

Design and features

Before I get into the review of the Glacier Tek Sports Cool Vest, let’s understand the different kinds of cooling vests. There are circulatory cooling vests—a NASA-developed technology that cools the body by circulating chilled water through a network of tubing sewn inside the vest. Race car drivers use this method to help with the extreme heat inside a car. Evaporative cooling vests—made up of fabric that uses evaporation to provide cooling. The vest is soaked in water and then the dampness evaporates as its worn. This method works well in hot, dry climates—in other words, it will not work in Florida. Then there’s phase change cooling Vests. These are designed with phase change material (PCM)—a non-toxic liquid inside leak-proof packs that stay cool in high heat. The vest freezes at 58°F and stays at that temperature for about 2-3 hrs. This method works in all climates—dry and humid. The Glacier Tek Sports Cool Vest uses PCM technology.

The Glacier Tek Sports Cool Vest comes in four colors: Safety orange, Red, Gray and Blue. I requested and received the orange vest so my wife could easily see me working in the yard and be able to tell if I was vertical or horizontal. She worries. 

The vest comes in only one size, but four wide, removable velcro straps on the side make it easy to fit any body size or shape. The vest is machine washable and sewn together well with a sturdy front zipper. Packs easily fit into four hidden interior pockets. Both the large and/or smaller packs fit well. They can be used separately of doubled-up for a longer cooling effect. Because the packs are divided into sections, they remain flexible even when frozen. 

Packs can be placed in a freezer for one hour and “recharged” by dipping into a cooler filled with ice-water for 20-30 minutes. When placed into an included mesh bag, the packs don’t take up a lot of room in a freezer. It takes up about as much room as a small turkey.

So does the vest work or not? It does, but it also depends on what your expectations are. It’s like introducing a digital audio converter (DAC) to headphones or speakers—stay with me here, let me explain. DACs are designed to improve the audio quality of any headphone or speaker. When connected, the initial response is often one of disappointment and you may be thinking, “I don’t hear any improvement.” However, after using a few days, when you disconnect the DAC, you immediately notice how much worse the audio sounds!

It’s the same way with this vest. After using it once or twice, my initial reaction was like the Peggy Lee song, “Is That All There Is?” However, once it’s not used, the heat bothers me much more. 

When the Glacier Tek Sports Cool Vest is used, I still get hot. I fact, my t-shirt is still wet from sweat and my head and face still sweat as much as ever (I hate how sweat runs into my eyes). But here’s the important part: When I finish working in the Florida heat, I’m not as wiped out when using the vest as I am when not using it. Before using the vest, it would take me 2 hours to cool down my body. The Glacier Tek Sports Cool Vest helps prevent that. Now when I finish, I’m not as hot and I recover much more quickly. In Florida, that’s a win!

What I like

  • Easy to freeze packs
  • Packs fit into vest well
  • Vest is easy to put on and remove 

What I’d change

  • Expensive

Final thoughts

The effectiveness of the Glacier Tek Sports Cool Vest grows on you with use. Don’t use it once or twice and give up. Use it a few times and you will begin to feel the benefits more by what does not happen (from the effects of extreme heat) than by what does happen.

Note: If the Sports Cool Vest isn’t your style, Glacier Tek makes other styles and kinds of vests that may be a better fit for your needs.

Price: $189 US
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Glacier Tek.

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Glacier Tek Sports Cool Vest Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 2, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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SANSI Stellar Cam Floodlight Camera review

REVIEW – Home security has emerged to be a very DIY sector of the home improvement market and along with our ADT monitored system, we have added cameras to the front, back and now side of the house with the SANSI Stellar Floodlight Camera. We had been wanting to add a camera on the side of the house but knew we would need some lighting as well with the way driveway runs along the side of the house.

What is it?

The SANSI Stellar Floodlight Camera is a hardwired, wifi-enabled security camera and floodlight with motion sensing and night vision capabilities.

What’s in the box?

  • Camera and Floodlight Unit
  • Instruction Book
  • Mounting Hardware

Design and features

The unit features a full HD camera, with adjustable motion sensing allowing you to choose the distance from the camera you want to have notifications for motion. The camera has a 270 degree viewing angle so it is ideal for an area where you desire a wide angle view. Internal 16gb memory allows for up to 70 hours of recording. The dual LED lights provide 3600lm of light that comes on either by physical command via the app or wall switch, or via motion detection. Additionally, this camera does allow you to talk back and forth through it with whoever is outside. We did test this a bit initially and while it does work, it is on about a 7 second delay so it’s not in real time. Finally, it has an alarm that we did not test as we didn’t want to frighten our neighbors but it is a setting that you can enable for added security.

Setup and Performance

This camera was very easy to physically install, if you’ve ever replaced a light fixture or ceiling fan in your home this isn’t much different. Simply flip the breaker, remove the old light, then follow the step by step instructions to connect the white, black and ground wires properly and mount to the plate included in the product.

The difficult part, however, is when you get to the app and connecting the camera up to your wifi. It was very finicky at first and we had to reset it once to get it to recognize our wifi signal – even then we had to make multiple attempts to get it to recognize and connect to the wifi. Then, it literally took us two weeks of fussing with the app before we were able to sync the time to our current time zone, and this only happened because there was an update to the camera software that was released (I believe). Previous to this, the time was so off sync that we had videos labeled as being in the middle of the night and it was full daylight – also we couldn’t access videos except if they were hours and hours old. But after the update to the camera software, the times synced up and all videos to the current were accessible.

The app itself isn’t the most user friendly, and gets a bit bug-y at times with allowing you to access and download videos. If you aren’t connected with a strong wifi signal, you’ll only get the first 5 seconds or so downloaded – we’ve found we need to be pretty close to it to get the videos to download reliably.

We were able to capture the below video of some vicious intruders into our yard – which, if they had been actual thugs meant to do harm, I believe would provide sufficient and great evidence capable to be turned over to police to help capture the criminal.

As far as storage, it is nice to have 70 hours of recording space on the internal memory, however, it would be nice to at least have the option to store video to the cloud. If you don’t catch it before it’s recorded over then you’ve lost the video forever. This could be a problem if you’re away for an extended period of time without a strong wifi signal to download any videos of interest.

You can set up the app to send notifications when motion is detected – and depending on how much you want to be bothered this can be a blessing or a curse as sometimes the camera picks up simple motions such as moving tree limb shadows and reports them as motion. But realistically, you’re wanting to get those notifications if you have concerns about the security of your home.

What I like

  • Bright lighting to deter thieves or intruders via motion detection
  • HD quality video is perfect for security footage
  • Easy physical install
  • 70 hours of recorded videos on internal memory
  • No subscription plan

What I’d change

  • Cloud access for storage
  • Better app/user interface – too many bugs and glitches and too difficult to make setting changes especially at initial install.
  • Would be nice to have more precise controls over notifications – as is, it’s basically on or off with some limited adjustments to the viewing distance/area.

Final thoughts

Overall, this product has become a welcome member of our home security – now being our 4th camera installed and third different brand. It measures up to the others in both video quality and reliability once we got the kinks out and were able to get the settings right. It definitely isn’t “ready to go” out of the box – so some tinkering and adjustments will need to be made to get it aligned to your needs. But in the end, I think most will be pretty happy with the footage, quality and sense of security it provides. Knowing it picks up even cats and raccoons really puts our mind at ease that if a person or persons were trying to be nefarious, we would not only have the footage to show the officials but we could talk through it or possibly sound an alarm as well to keep our home safe. However, I will say that if we had purchased this unit for install and had the trouble we did with it, I am not 100% certain we would have had the patience to see it through to the point where everything worked correctly. Be patient though, it’s worth the small annoyances in getting it to that point.

Price: $169.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by SANSI.

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SANSI Stellar Cam Floodlight Camera review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 28, 2019 at 12:23 pm.

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EGO 21″ Self-Propelled Peak Power electric lawn mower review

REVIEW – Since EGO sent me their Power+ 530 CFM blower, I’ve become a fan of EGO and more importantly, an advocate for clean battery-powered lawn equipment. I’m no tree hugger, but I do appreciate the advantages of yard tools that use no gas, have no fumes and are even quieter! You don’t appreciate the genius of cordless tools until you use one. EGO has now incorporated battery powered tech in the new EGO 21″ Self-Propelled mower with Peak Power. 

What is it?

The EGO 21″ Self-Propelled mower with Peak Power is a dual-battery mower that rivals any home gas powered mower. Its two batteries allow for longer run times with increased efficiency. It features push button starting, is self-propelled with speed control, uses any EGO battery and is water resistant if caught in the rain while mowing.

Specs

  • 21″ Deck
  • Brushless motor
  • Weather Resistant (ipx4)
  • LED Headlights
  • Mulching, bagging, side discharge functions
  • 3 position handle heights
  • One handed height adjustment
  • Maximum cutting height: 4 inches
  • Minimum cutting height: 1 ½ inches
  • Grass bag capacity: 2 bushels
  • Rear wheel size: 9 inches
  • 5 year warranty

Design and features

The EGO 21″ Self-Propelled mower’s lightweight outer shell may be made of plastic, but it’s high-grade, tough and water resistant. The handle folds down and the mower can be stored upright taking up less valuable garage space. 

The motor that drives the EGO mower is brushless. Why is this important? The oversimplified explanation is that brushed motors use carbon (which wears with age)  and brushless units use magnets to generate power resulting in less generated heat and more efficiency.

All wiring on the mower is protected by plastic tubing. My Honda doesn’t even have this feature. 

Three methods of grass discharge are available: Side, rear (with bag) and mulching. I only use rear bagging if I have a thick area of grass that leaves clumps. Otherwise, I always use the mulch setting. Attaching the rear bag is simple: just lift the rear flap and place the bag into the slots. Side discharge is technically rear discharge with a curved attachment directing grass to the side. It’s an awkward solution at best.

One cool feature on the EGO mower is useless to me: headlights! The lights come in handy if you get caught mowing as the sun sets and want to finish before dark. Unfortunately, this is useless where I live in Central Florida because dusk is when the bugs come out to feed on flesh.

Setting up the EGO mower could not have been easier. There’s really nothing to do except unfold and lock down the handles, plug the rear discharge with the included attachment (if using mulch mode) and insert the two included 56-Volt 5.0Ah batteries. That’s it. There are further adjustments to be made, but those are set after you’ve been mowing to see what works best.

You will want to adjust the mowing height. Again, it’s easy to do. The EGO mower has one lever that raises and lowers the mower. This is so much easier than adjusting each wheel independently as on my trusty Honda gas mower. The handle can be lowered and raised depending on your height. I’m average height and the regular setting works fine. There’s also a speed lever for determining how fast the self-propelled function will go. This setting is a bit touchy. Even though the lever covers a wide range of speed, the middle part alone can go from “too slow for my walking speed” to “ludicrous mode.” I would have preferred more fine-tuning over a wider range.

There’s another minor issue I have with the self-propelled function. The accelerator is a lever on the right side of the handle bar that’s controlled by your thumb or four fingers. You squeeze it sideways to operate. That’s easy to do (if a bit odd feeling), but when I come upon an obstacle and forget to let go of the accelerator, there is so much power in the wheels wanting to go, go, go, that the rear of the mower will start hopping until I let go of the lever. Granted, it’s me not doing it right, but I can’t help but feel that a better design might help this.

My lawn situation requires the need for the self-propelled function. I have a large back yard and I will never own a mower I have to manually push. The speed adjust lever can be used on-the-fly as you’re walking, but I found it works a bit better if the speed is adjusted as you stop for a turn before proceeding. I also have to continually play with the lever depending on grass thickness and if I am going uphill or mowing on flat ground. Note that the self-propel function will work without the mower even running—as long as a battery is inserted. This is very convenient if you need to take the mower to another part of the yard or over concrete and don’t want the mower blade spinning.

EGO has managed to make mowing much easier. For instance, before using my Honda gas mower, I would have to check the gas level. Then I would check the oil dipstick (I once seized the motor of an almost new Toro mower by not checking the oil—lesson learned). Then I had to remove and shake out the air filter. Then I pulled the string hoping the motor would catch—it’s a Honda, so it usually did. Then I would have to press button 1, then button 2  and then pull the safety bar to get the blade to spin. Get the picture? 

With the EGO, I insert the batteries (if they aren’t already inserted). Then I pull the safety bar and push the big, green button. No gas. No oil. No filters. No carburetor. No fumes. It’s mind-blowing when you think about it. But wait, that’s not all. The EGO mower is much quieter than the Honda ever was. You can have a normal conversation while the EGO is running. Hearing protection is not needed while mowing. Actually, I still wear earphones while mowing, because I’m addicted to audio books, but I digress.

The Ego mower also feels as powerful as the Honda. It cuts through just about any grass—damp or dry—except when it doesn’t. Let me explain. While the mower seldom refuses to cut, I managed to cause it to shut down when mowing too-tall grass in the morning. In Florida’s humidity, grass is usually wet (not damp) in the morning hours. This wet grass would clump under the mower and causing it to stall. I would have to turn it on its side to clean it out before it would restart. There’s both bad and good news here. The bad news is that the EGO won’t plow through wet grass—to be fair, the Honda won’t either. The good news is that I can just turn the mower over and scrape it clean. Turn a gas mower on its side and you run the risk of flooding the engine or starting a fire if it’s too hot. Once the underside was scraped, the EGO started right up. No fuss, no muss.   

Mowing through “normal” grass with self-propelled activated is a breeze. The mower is light and easily maneuverable. My back yard is over an acre and I wanted to see if the extended range of having two batteries would allow me to mow the yard without the batteries dying. Sadly, the mower stopped before I could finish. However, my yard is much larger than a typical suburban yard, so this mower should mow most yards with power to spare. Also, the EGO mower came really close to finishing. I just had a small section left to do. It was impressive because I didn’t expect to get as far as I did. 

Note that the EGO 21″ Self-Propelled mower with Peak Power ships with two 56-Volt 5.0Ah batteries. If they had been EGO’s 56-Volt 7.5Ah batteries, I could have completed the yard with no recharging. 

I got about an hour and 20 minutes life from a single charge to both batteries. Battery life is dependent on different factors, like if the grass is high and thick, wet or dry or even how much the self-propelled mode is used. Unfortunately, there’s no battery life indicator on the batteries, so when mowing, the battery is lit green until it’s spent—then it turns red. Not very useful. However, EGO has a new battery available with a built-in fuel gauge. This newer battery did not ship with the mower.

Each included 5.0Ah battery completely recharges in about 40 minutes with EGO’s included rapid charger, which charges in half the time of EGO’s regular charger. A single recharged battery would have been enough for me to finish the back yard, so at most, I would have been delayed 40 minutes. Lemonade break, anyone?  

The EGO 21″ Self-Propelled mower with Peak Power is expensive. But when you consider EGO’s long warranty and factor in the cost of gas, oil, upkeep as well as the price of a good gas mower, EGO’s price looks more justified. 

What I like

  • Extremely easy to use
  • Mows as well as a gas mower
  • Long-life batteries
  • Quiet
  • Long warranty
  • Easy storage

What needs to be improved

  • Expensive 
  • Self-propelled setting could be fine-tuned
  • Side discharge is awkward

Final Thoughts

I could go on and on about how much fun it is to use the EGO mower, but I won’t because it’s not. Mowing is still mowing and in Florida’s summer heat and humidity, it’s still a chore. However … EGO has turned something I dread doing into almost—but not quite—a pleasure. To me, that’s a big, big win. 

Price: $749 US
Where to buy: Home Depot
Source: The samples for this product were provided by EGO.

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EGO 21″ Self-Propelled Peak Power electric lawn mower review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 19, 2019 at 1:04 pm.

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This swimsuit will definitely get you noticed

NEWS – If you’re tired of the same old bathing suit and want to turn some heads on your next beach visit, this one-piece women’s longsleeved swimsuit from Thenice will do the trick. Made of 89% polyester and 11% spandex, it features a realistic print of anatomically correct organs so it’s weird and educational at the same time!

If you don’t want to wear this suit to the beach, it can always double as a unique Halloween costume! The Thenice anatomically correct swimsuit is $16.99 on Amazon. Note that it only comes in one size, so be sure that you check the sizing info.

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This swimsuit will definitely get you noticed originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 18, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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