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Reolink Argus Pro security camera review

REVIEW – I have several wireless security cameras in my home, but I don’t have any cameras set up to monitor my property outside of my home because I don’t want to deal with running wires for power or connectivity. When Reolink offered me the opportunity to review their Argus Pro camera, I was immediately interested because it uses WiFi and does not require any wiring as it can use a solar panel for power. Let’s take a look at it.

What is it?

The Reolink Argus Pro security camera is a WiFi 1080P camera that can be used outdoors as it’s weatherproof. It can also be powered with a solar panel.

Hardware specs

1080P, 130° Wide Viewing Angle, 33 feet of night vision
PIR Motion Sensor
2.4GHz WiFi
Weatherproof
microSD card slot supports up to 64GB card
Built-in alarm siren

What’s in the box?

Argus Pro camera
Solar Panel (depending on the package)
Battery pack
Outdoor mount
Hook and loop strap
Skin
Reset needle
Surveillance sign
Mounting Hole Template
Micro USB Cable
Pack of Screws
Quick Start Guide

Design and features

The camera has a white plastic shell with a black front where the lens and IR illuminators are located and on the side is a covered microSD slot (microSD card not included) which supports up to a 64GB microSD card.

The back of the camera is actually the 5200 mAh rechargeable battery which snaps in place. The battery recharges using a micro USB cable or a solar panel if you don’t want to worry about running cables to power outlets.


The solar panel is # x # and comes with a mount so you can attach it to a flat surface like a wall or a tree and then orient it to capture the sun’s rays to power the camera.

The solar panel has a cable with a weather-protected micro USB connector that plugs into the back of the Argus Pro.

The Argus Pro can be used indoors, but if you intend to use it outdoors, it’s best if you use the included skin for added protection from the weather. The skin is a thin rubber jacket with a hat-like brim above the camera lens.

Setup

I tested the WiFi signal on my front porch and a few other areas around my home but ended up setting up the camera temporarily on a rock pointing at the front of my house and the solar panel on the ground next to it. Both the camera’s mount and the solar panel’s mount allow for a more permanent installation by attaching the mounts to a wall or other surface with screws, but for testing purposes, this temp setup worked out fine for me.

Reolink app


The app is easy to use and is similar to other security camera apps which show a small live view and offer a way to arm and disarm motion detection. The PIR switch in the images above toggle motion detection. The app also shows the current battery charge status which is very handy if you use the solar panel. The app will tell you if the battery charge drops to 10% so you can do something about it.

The Reolink Argus Pro allows you to see a live view of the camera(s) any time you like but when motion has been detected, you’ll receive a push notification on your phone and an email if you opt to set up email notifications in the app. From there you can click on the notification and see a short video clip of the detected motion as long as you’ve inserted a microSD card in the card slot in the camera. It’s up to you to supply the card. The app will store the clips which can be set to 8, 15, or 30 seconds in length (8 seconds is the default). Reolink also offers a cloud service (currently in beta testing) that provides 10GB free cloud storage for motion clips for up to 15 days. Think of it a backup to the clips on the microSD card. However, this feature/service is only available in the US.

The Argus Pro has decent image and video quality and also offers 2-way audio, and a siren that can be set to go off when motion is detected.

What I like

  • Wireless
  • Solar charging feature
  • 2-way audio
  • Notifications can be emailed as well as pushed to mobile device

What needs to be improved

  • Doesn’t record 24/7 video to microSD card

Final thoughts

There’s a lot to like about the Reolink Argus Pro. My favorite features are that it is weatherproof and works with a solar panel so that it can be placed anywhere outdoors and not need special wiring to install it.

The camera has good picture quality and the app is easy to use. The only disappointment is that the camera only records motion clips to the microSD card instead of 24/7 footage. My guess is that Reolink could easily offer that feature in a future app update.

If you’re looking to add cameras to your property and want an easy no hassle install with no wiring needed, the Reolink Argus Pro is a good choice as long as you have solid WiFi coverage at the install locations.

Price: $154.99
Where to buy: Reolink and Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Reolink.

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Reolink Argus Pro security camera review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 1, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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EACHINE E58 RC Pocket Quadcopter Drone review

REVIEW – Drones are all the rage today, and they have become significantly more complex and feature-rich.  While high-end drones like the DJI Mavic Pro are capable of all sorts of aerobatics and videography, not everyone can afford one, so there is a large and growing market for less expensive drones that are still fun to fly and provide many of the features of their higher-end cousins.  One such product is the Eachine E58 RC Pocket Quadcopter Drone.  While it is basically a smaller version of the granddaddy Mavic Pro, it is still loaded with features while being significantly more affordable.  Let’s check it out!  Gadget on!

What is it?

The Eachine E85 Quadcopter Drone is a small, foldable, radio-controlled drone that is styled to be, in appearance and essential functions at least, a miniature version of the larger and much more expensive DJI Mavic Pro drone.  So it is basically a drone clone (see what I did there?).

Hardware specs

  • 2.4 GHz remote control
  • Glass lens FPV (First Person View) camera that can rotate from 0 to 90 degrees downward that includes the following functions:
    • 2MP still images camera
    • 720p HD video camera
  • WiFi control (with app) capable LED lamp with nightlight function
  • Gravity sensor
  • 6-axis gyroscope
  • Headless mode
  • One-key takeoff and landing
  • Trajectory Flight with mobile phone app
  • Three speed modes
  • Quadcopter includes 3.7V 500mAh rechargeable Lithium battery
  • One-key return
  • 360-degree roll
  • Micro SD card slot (card not included)
  • Controller requires (4) AA batteries (not included)
  • Time to full charge = 60-70 minutes
  • Flight time = 7-9 minutes
  • RC range = 80-100 meters
  • Dimensions:
    • 27 x 19.5 x 5cm (arms not folded)
    • 12.5 x 7.5 x 5cm (arms folded)

What’s in the package?

 

  • 1 x Eachine E58 RC Quadcopter drone
  • 1 x Transmitter
  • 1 x 3.7V 500mAh Lipo Battery
  • 1 x Micro USB Charging Cable
  • 4 x Prop Guards
  • 4 x Spare Blades (2 sets of 2)
  • 1 x Small Screwdriver
  • 1 x User Manual

Design and features

My first impression of the E58 was that is was very small and compact when folded down.  Smaller than I had imagined, actually, and because of this it seemed very portable and easy to take with you.

In fact, the E58 is small enough to almost fit in the palm of my hand, and is very lightweight.  However, even when folded down it actually feels fairly solid, like it isn’t going to just fall apart on you if you bump it against something, the way a lot of drones feel to me.  It would be easy enough to place it into a backpack or other bag for transport, but I think it might get banged up quite a bit if it were not put into some type of case first—do a Google search for “E58 drone case” and you may find some good options for this.

After folding out the E58’s four legs, my very next impression was that, in appearance, it is truly a clone of the DJI Mavic Pro quadcopter drone, which is one of the current granddaddies of high-end drones.  The E58 is basically a nearly exact copy in appearance but in miniature.  I don’t think this is a bad thing at all; I really like the low-profile, futuristic the styling of the Mavic Pro myself, and Eachine did a really solid job of mimicking the Mavic Pro’s Styling for their E58.

Above, another view of the E58 with its “arms” fully extended.

The E58’s four props are each basically hinged twin props. This allows them to be collapsible for transport and storage, but when spinning, centripetal acceleration will cause them to deploy outward, essentially forming a single prop blade at the end of each of the E58’s “arms.”

Each of the props is labeled “A” or  “B” and each must be installed on the correct legs of the E58, or the drone will not fly optimally (if at all).  In addition, the E58 includes four “bumpers” that can be attached to each leg to protect the props.  As a fairly new drone pilot, I installed these on the E58 before I took it out for its first test flight, as seen in the above image.  In fact, these bumpers saved the E58 from my flight control learning curve multiple times, as I seemed to repeatedly find items in my yard to collide with.

To me, the “front” of the E58 almost appears to be a “face” as seen above.  There are two lights on either side of a grille, with the E58’s camera mounted at the “chin” position.

The E58’s camera is mounted on pivot that, although it does not move side-to-side, can be manually positioned from zero degrees (straight forward) to 90 degrees (straight down) prior to flight, as shown above, and it slides smoothly along its track, not in discreet stopping points.  The camera has a glass lens for clarity and friction seems to hold its position in place once set, even during crashes.

Pressing the power button on the top of the E58 turns it on.  As seen in the image above, there is a column of three blue LED lights on the top of the E58’s fuselage that to me resemble the logo of the popular game “Destiny.”  (Probably a coincidence, but still fun.) In any event, these three LEDs are not battery power level indicators as you might expect; they merely indicate when the E58 is powered on.

As mentioned above, the E58 has a pair of white lights on the front that, when illuminated, appear to almost be headlights, as seen in the image above.  Having two headlights on the front can help with visually determining orientation of the E58 in lower-light flying conditions.

In addition to the “headlights” on the front, the rear of the E58 includes a single red light bar that resembled as car’s tail light, as seen in the image above.  Again, this light on the rear can help in visually determining the flight orientation of the E58.

Let’s take a look at the underside of the E58.   As seen in the image above, a small antenna that resembles a short length of fishing line protrudes from the back end of the drone.  Also, you can see some of the electronic innards of the E58, visible through the slats of a grille on its underbelly.  There are several sets of grilles and holes around and on the E58’s underside, presumably to allow heat to escape during flight, since I did notice that the E58 gets quite warm after only a few minutes of operation.

Another feature located on the underside of the E58 is the Micro SD card slot, which is spring-loaded so the card “clicks” in place when pressed in and “clicks” back out when pressed again.  The E58’s video and still camera can record to this Micro SD card during flight.  The drone can record 720p onboard to this card.  Note that a Micro SD card is not included, you must supply your own.

The E58 is powered by a single, rechargeable 3.75V battery that slides into a slot in the back of the drone, as seen in the image above.

This battery is charged by simply plugging in the included micro USB cable, as seen in the image above.  When charging, a small red LED is illuminated, which turns off when the battery is fully charged, which is typically about an hour if it has been fully drained.

Next, let’s check out the E85’s controller.  As seen in the image above, it has two joysticks and multiple buttons that are all used to control various features of the E58 during flight.  It resembles the styling of the DJI Mavic Pro drone’s controller as well, which I suspect is not a coincidence.

The controller has two collapsible “antennae,” that appear to be for styling purposes only and not for any sort of actual function.  In addition, the controller has a hidden tray that slides out from the bottom and can be used to mount a smartphone (more on this below).

The controller’s smartphone tray held a phone as large as an iPhone 6 Plus, as shown above; however, this seemed to be putting quite a bit of strain on the tray and I wouldn’t recommend placing a phone quite this wide here.

The E58’s controller is powered by three (3) AA batteries, which are not included.  However, a small screwdriver is included, which facilitates removal of the tiny screw that holds the battery cover in place, as seen in the image above.  Just be sure not to lose that screw, or you’ll be screwed (pun intended).

Sliding the On/Off switch in the center of the E58’s controller powers it on, which is indicated by the illumination of a small blue LED, as seen in the image above.  As with the E58 drone itself, this LED appears to be in a bank of four that would seem to indicate the controller battery’s power level, but this does not seem to actually be the case; only the second LED from left is ever illuminated and this did not ever seem to change no matter the controller’s remaining power level.

Let’s take a look at the controls, starting with the front face of the controller.  The left joystick controls the throttle; forward on the stick is increased throttle, backward on the stick is decreased throttle.  Letting go of the stick allows it to center itself.   Pushing the stick right or left will rotate or “yaw” the drone about its vertical center axis in that direction.  Pushing the right joystick up or down controls the forward and reverse motion of the drone, while pushing the right side stick right or left “slides” the drone laterally in that direction.  One other feature of the joysticks is that the E58 can be calibrated by pushing both joysticks down and to the right.

The arrow buttons in the upper left and upper right of the controller are the fine tuning left and right controls.  The hollow up and down arrow buttons to the left of the on/off switch are the one-touch launch and one touch land buttons.  The one-touch launch button starts the motors and immediately launches the drone into the air, while the one-touch land button brings the drone down to the ground fairly gently, then kills the motors.  The solid up and down arrow buttons to the right of the on/off switch are the fine tuning forward and backward controls.

Next let’s look at the four buttons on top of the controller, as seen in the image above.  Starting from the left side, the button in the upper left, farthest from the front of the controller, operates the “Headless Mode” (a short press) and One-Key Return (a longer press).  The Headless Mode essentially make the drone fly as if the controller is its reference point; I found this mode to be difficult to adjust to.  The One-Key Return was a bit dodgy.  Because this is a lower-end drone without the GPS capability of the higher-end drones, this “return” function does not work as well as you might expect.  It basically turns the drone around to a heading that is pointing toward you, but you have to actually fly it back to your location yourself; it does not fly itself to you.  The button in the lower left, closest to the front of the controller, is the Photo/Video button, though this button never did seem to work; I had to control the still and video camera features with the app on an iPhone (see more on this below).  Moving to the right side, the button in the upper right, farthest from the front of the controller, operates the “360 Flip” (a short press) and Emergency Stop (a longer press).  The 360 Flip is fun; you press the button, then press the right joystick left or right to force the ED58 to flip in that direction.  Also, be very careful with the Emergency Stop—it kills all of the motors immediately and the drone drops to the ground like a rock, which could be very damaging if the drone is at high altitude and drops onto a hard surface (fortunately I only tried the E58 on grass).  The button in the lower right, closest to the front of the controller, is the Speed Switch.  This cycles the drone from 30% to 60% to 100% then back to 30% speed level with each press.  As a neophyte drone pilot, I kept the E58 in 30% most of the time while I acclimated to the controls, but I can tell you that the 60% and 100% speed rate settings are quite fast and experienced pilots will really like them.

Next, I tried controlling the E58 via app.  Eachine recommends an app called “JY UFO” which I downloaded for free from the iOS App Store.  Since the E85 has WiFi capability and essentially projects a mini Wi-Fi hotspot, I followed the instructions on the app and connected the drone to the iPhone by going to Setting on the iPhone, then Wi-Fi, then selected a signal called “WiFi-720P-DA616D,” seen above.  This essentially connected the iPhone to the E58 just as if it were a WiFi router; however, this is really only a link between the E58 and my iPhone, with no actual internet access and no data roaming, so you don’t need to be in range of an actual WiFi router to make this work.  I then re-launched the JY UFO app and started playing around with the controls.

The above image depicts what I saw on the JY UFO app.  The background of the app is what the E58’s camera is “seeing” at any given moment.  The left and right joysticks, as well as other controls, are simulated on the app’s screen.  In addition, the app allows the E58 to be controlled in gyro mode, which bypassed the simulated joysticks on the screen and lets you control the flight attitude of the E58 by tilting and tipping it.  However, I found this to be quite challenging (I probably need a lot more practice on this).   Yet another method of controlling the E58 with the app is “Mission Planner” mode, in which you trace a trajectory on the app’s screen, then the app directs the E58 to fly in that trajectory.  I didn’t find this mode of controlling to be all that accurate or useful.

Of particular interest is that, as mentioned above, I could only control the still and video recording features using the app, not the controller.  Using the JY UFO app allowed me to record both images and video in 1280×720 resolution; the still images were stored in my iPhone’s Photos, while the video was stored on the Micro SD card.  The images had a bit of a “fisheye” effect, but the video footage did not.  Although I found the E58’s dedicated controller a but easier to learn, I liked having the flexibility to control it with the app instead; this way, if I wanted to leave the controller behind to save space, I always have my phone with me as a controller.

I flew it over my roof a bit.  I could envision using the E58 to check out how clogged my gutters are getting, or even to check for shingle damage after a severe storm; however, the resolution does not lend itself to a great deal of detail.

I even followed one of my pugs around the yard with it.  (FYI, she didn’t seem to pay much attention, unless I flew really close to her.)  I didn’t have the opportunity to fly the E58 in elevated wind conditions, but I did have a few breeze gusts here and there, and it stayed surprisingly stable in these conditions.

I was able to get about 8-10 minutes of flight time before the E58’s battery was drained, which it indicated by blinking its lights just before it fully died.  However, you could purchase multiple batteries and swap them out for longer flight sessions.

What I like

  • Very portable: small, compact size and lightweight
  • Styled like the DJI Mavic Pro Quadcopter Drone
  • Stable–can basically hover if you can get it set up right, which is great for photos and videos
  • Fairly easy to fly once you get the hang of it (but I still need some practice!)
  • Fairly robust to crashes despite having a fragile look and feel

What needs to be improved

  • Camera/video button on controller appears to be non-functional; these functions can only be controlled when using the smartphone app
  • The instruction book is very difficult to understand due to the broken English translation (presumably from Chinese)

Final thoughts

EACHINE E58 RC Pocket Quadcopter Drone is a small, lightweight, miniature drone that has a lot of features, is fairly easy to learn and quite fun to fly once you get the hang of it.  It can also record some decent photos and videos and has multiple options for controlling it.  Considering what you actually get with this drone and its “fun factor,” I think it is a pretty decent value for its price of $75.99.

Price: currently $64.99
Where to buy: Can be purchased directly from Eachine, from Amazon
Source: The product sample for this review was provided by Eachine.

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EACHINE E58 RC Pocket Quadcopter Drone review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 30, 2018 at 1:19 pm.

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Nebula Mars II DLP projector review

REVIEW – For years, friends and family have asked me to figure out how to do outside movie night in conjunction with our annual fire pit evening of BBQ, libations, and too much fun. Every year we invite a bunch of our friends and neighbors over for this Fall-time debauchery. The party is set near our barn where everyone sits around the fire eating, drinking, and socializing but several have requested a movie playing in the background on the side of the barn as a bit of added entertainment. Well, the Nebula Mars II is theoretically the ideal device for delivering high quality video without the need for cords or infrastructure of any kind (other than perhaps a screen or white background)…let’s see how it does.

Last year Mike reviewed the first generation Nebula Mars projector and I have to admit it I was a tiny bit jealous, knowing how well the “theater-grade portable cinema” would meet my needs. So, this year when the Mars II was introduced I quickly volunteered to give it a try.

What is it?

Like its predecessor, the Nebula Mars II is an Ultra-Portable Theater-Grade DLP projector, capable of producing high quality HD images and videos on virtually any flat surface. It projects images/videos up to 150″ diagonally with a 16:9 aspect ratio. It has dual 10 watt speakers and a rechargeable battery that delivers up to 4 hours of battery life. The Mars II runs on Android 7.1 and has built-in apps like YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix that can be streamed using the projector’s built-in WiFi. It can also project content via HDMI connected device, USB drive, and screen mirroring from your smart device.

Design and features

The Nebula Mars II casing is made from black plastic and is approximately the size of a box of tissues or small lunch pail with rounded corners. On top of the Mars II are the control buttons and a leather handle for easy transport. The device is engineered to be portable, measuring 7.01 x 4.8 x 5.43 inches and weighing four (4) pounds.

In the box:

  • Nebula Mars II
  • Power cables
  • Remote control

Specifications:

Display technology

  • Display Technology – 0.3″ DLP
  • Native Resolution – 1280 x 720 (HD)
  • Brightness – 300 ANSI lm
  • Lamp Life – 30,000 hours
  • Aspect Ratio – 16:9
  • Throw Ratio – 100 in at 10.1 ft; 80 in at 8 ft; 60 in at 5.7 ft; 40 in at 3.8 ft
  • Offset – 100%
  • Focus Adjustment – Automatic
  • Projection Mode – Front/Rear/Front Ceiling/ Rear Ceiling
  • Keystone Correction – Auto (vertical ±40°)

Interface

  • HDMI – HDMI 1.4
  • USB – USB 2.0
  • DC-IN – 19V, 3A DC-In
  • Control – Physical Buttons
  • IR Remote – D-pad mode/mouse mode
  • Dedicated App – Nebula Connect for Android & iOS

Hardware

  • CPU – Quad Core A7 Smartphone Chipset
  • GPU – Adreno 304
  • RAM – 1GB DDR3
  • ROM – 8GB eMMC
  • Battery – 12500mAh / 3.85v
  • Speaker – Dual 10W Speakers
  • Wi-Fi – 802.11a/b/g/n
  • Dual Frequency – 2.4/5GHz
  • Bluetooth – BT4.0 Dual Mode/A2DP
  • Fan – <32dB

A nice design feature of the Mars II is its built-in sliding lens cover. In addition to protecting the lens, the vertically sliding door also acts as an on/off switch. The device automatically turns on when the door is down and turns off when up/closed. The original Mars projector had to be manually focused, where the Mars II has single-second autofocus and angle adjustment that were spot on every time I used it. Other differences include, Nebula increasing the Mars II’s battery life by an hour but decreasing its overall brightness as compared to the original.

Another difference between the Mars and the Mars II, is that the original used JBL 10 watt stereo speakers while the second generation uses an unnamed/unlabeled set of speakers.

That said, the Mars II 10 watt speakers fire sideways just like the original Mars. The speakers have two bass reflectors, all together producing a full, rich experience that sounds great.

The upper third of the back has the DC power, HDMI, and USB ports, audio out jack, infrared receiver, and reset button. The rest of the back has vents for ventilation and cooling. In addition to the built-in apps, you can attach a BluRay player, Roku, Fire Stick, AppleTV, gaming console, etc via the HDMI port and stream whatever you wish. You can also play H.264, H.265, DivX, MPEG-4 and VP8 via the USB port/thumbdrive. Screen mirroring worked very nicely as well though the iOS apps were pretty locked down in just what was able to be wirelessly streamed from my iPhone.

As I mentioned, the top rear of the Mars II has control buttons that provide the same functionality as the wireless remote.

The wireless remote works as you would expect but I prefer the smartphone app for controlling the Mars II. The interface is intuitive and easy to use, very similar to a touchpad.

On the top near the front, the Nebula Mars II has four small battery power LED indicator lights.

The integrated leather handle makes for easy and secure transport.

In addition to the cooling/air vents, the bottom of the projector has a universal 1/4″ threaded tripod mount. I found attaching the Mar II to my tripod was the most stable and secure way to use the device but really nearly any flat surface should suffice.

Setting up the Mars II is quick and easy. The whole process took less than 5 minutes to get up and running, with the longest part being clicking in our WiFi password using the virtual keyboard to gain connectivity.

As I stated above, the Mars II is an Android device running a modified version of OS 7.1 Nougat. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Plex are the streaming apps Nebula preloads on the device. Shame ESPN+, HBO Go, Showtime, etc aren’t available as well like a majority of smart-televisions have these days. I grant you, these streaming services can be added by connecting various streaming devices via HDMI port but it would be nice out of the box, baked into the OS.

What I like

  • Well-thoughtout, compact, portable design
  • Up to 150 inch screen projection
  • 4 hrs of battery life
  • Can attach other devices for greater streaming options
  • Can stream a multitude of video formats

What needs to be improved

  • Needs a greater selection of streaming apps
  • Not as bright as its predecessor

Final thoughts

I really like the Nebula Mars II, it does an excellent job bring a “cinema quality” experience whenever, wherever you want it. The hardware is very well designed, portable, and can throw a bright, HD picture up nearly anywhere. The autofocus works as advertised, it quickly adjusts the video on a variety of surfaces and angles. The brightness, picture quality, sound, and battery life are all better than solid. Plenty nice enough for creating a media room from nothing but a sheet and a few lawn chairs. Its built-in apps (Netflix, Amazon Video, YouTube) are a good start but it is a shame you can’t download HBO Go, Showtime, ESPN+, etc. Though many streaming services and video content can be added via the HDMI, USB port, and screen mirroring from your smart device.

Price: $499.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Nebula.

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Nebula Mars II DLP projector review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 30, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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MOS Pack Grande backpack review

REVIEW – A while back, I looked at the first iteration of the MOS pack. One of the things I thought needed improvement was the space allocated to each pocket. I think MOS is reading our posts, because they have just announced two new packs, the Grande and the BlackPack that each offer ways to get more room for your stuff, without compromising the other unique features they offer. I’ve been carrying both of these packs for a while (alternating, not at the same time!) Let’s look at the Grande first, comparing it with the original iteration, as well as the difference between these two.

Note: Photos may be tapped or clicked for a larger image.

What is it?

From the outside, the packs don’t appear to be changed, other than the Grande being larger until you start looking closely. The straps have been redesigned, and the outer pockets have been given a whole new interior. The side pockets and the top hard-shell pocket are pretty much the same, as is the haul loop/handle. The fabric of the Pack Grande is now available in several colors. I was sent a patterned cobalt blue-black, which I really like. The inside is where the huge changes have happened, though.

Hardware specs

(from the company website)

  • The laptop pocket is ~11.75” x 1.6“ x 16.25” to the top of the pocket or 17.25” to the top of pack at the corners
  • Water Bottle pocket can fit up to a 40 oz water bottle
  • Mounting for the REACH C and REACH+ power adapters
  • Large tablet pocket that will fit a 12″ MacBook
  • Water-resistant
  • Hard-shelled quick access pocket
  • Passport pocket
  • Cell phone pocket
  • Interior cable management
  • Breathable back panels
  • EVA foam straps
  • YKK Vislon zippers with Hypalon zipper pulls
  • 5-year warranty

What’s in the box?

  • Just the pack and info cards/tags

Design and features

The first thing you’ll notice inside is that all the sewn-in pockets have more space. Rather than squeezing in a naked iPad or laptop, you can carry a large gaming unit (up to 17” – Do folks still really carry these around?) and an iPad with a case, or even a second, normal-sized laptop. Both will slide easily into the padded sleeves together. My 12” Lenovo work laptop gets lost in the cavernous main laptop pocket. That’s my 10.5″ iPad Pro peeking out from the bottom in the photo above. The microfiber cloth is in the tablet pocket mounted onto that.

The power management pass-through is still incorporated in the left (as you carry it) side pocket, but the space is less tight when coiling the cable to store. (More on this later, as we discuss the new Reach-C power cable.)

The MOS Pack Grande expands from 21 liters to 40 liters with a simple expansion zipper. This space is all added to the front compartment (which is already roomier than either of the others). This added space means not only can you get in something other than the Nest organizer and a few magazines or odd and ends, but you can slip in a change of clothes, gym shoes, or any other items you wish.

The front pocket has much more room, both inside and in the “Napoleon pocket” across the front. This pocket can hold items several inches thick – like your bike’s U-lock, or an iPad mini, or a travel paint set. The larger pocket beneath can hold a raincoat or heavy gloves or your 3-1-1 goodie bag.

Performance

The Grande performs like a pro. It can hold enough for a full weekend with room for clothes, shoes, and all the extras. If your needs dictate, you can haul around a wealth of tech, plus enough room in the front pocket for your lunch, a sweater, and extras like chargers.


The straps have nicely cushioned areas where they hit the sides of your neck, which prevents them chaffing or cutting into you on long concourses. You can fit a 40 oz water bottle in the pocket, and it’s sealed from getting any liquid into the insides.
The charging features, while not included, are pretty awesome.

The new Reach-C has three USB-A charging ports and a USB-C port, as well as a removable power cord, so you don’t have to thread it through the side pocket. If you don’t (yet) need USB-C, the original Reach Plus, with only two USB and one AC 120 V port, or your third-party power bank can also fit in the straps. Actually, there’s room for several of these options! There’s room in the left side pocket for both plugs, if you need. The interior cable routing takes power cables from the elastic straps that hold these charging options in place to all corners and layers of the bag. It’s easy to have all your electronics connected to just one or two power plugs, and plug them in during a layover or your temporary workspace.

Extras

The Nest ($39.95, on sale for $29.95) is a smaller, internal sub-pack, and fits into the front pocket of the Grande. It’s relatively unchanged from the first iteration, but due to more space in the front pocket (and, with the expansion, a huge amount of extra space!), it’s much more usable. Still doesn’t fit a “normal” tablet, but your eReader or a novel from the airport bookshop will nestle in there along with your travel papers and snacks. It will then slip out and sit under your seat or in the seatback pocket in front of you, giving you more legroom while the rest of the bag stays in the rack.

Having an integrated charger really rocks on those long layovers when you’re trying to keep up with email, online documents, and all your Slack channels. There are now two versions of the Reach travel charging solution. The original Reach+ ($19.95) still has one 110V outlet and 2 USB charging outlets with a captive 3 foot cable.

The Reach C, however, gives you three USB-A charging ports as well as a USB-C charging port.  The Reach C also has a removable four-foot power cable, which means it’s easier to thread through the opening. And since there’s no AC, you don’t need the heavy-duty power cable. The Reach C is such a handy charger, it fits easily into other “charge-ready” bags, so look closely at bags you may have at hand and consider how it could fit in.

Reach C specs

  • USB-C Output: 5/9/12/15/20V, 3A
  • USB-C Power Delivery: PD 2.0
  • USB-A Output: 5V 2.4A
  • Cable Length: 4ft.

What I Like

  • Enormous inside!
  • Safety orange interior lets you see everything easily
  • Integrated power and cable management
  • An outside front pocket you can use
  • Hard-shell top pocket for fragile items
  • Expandable

What needs to be improved

  • Some of the interior straps are a bit fiddly
  • The Nest expansion still is tight, unless you have the expansion open.

Final thoughts

MOS has gone from a niche player in the tech accessory marketplace, to being a full-scale design shop. They still build innovative little items (like the Kick, a phone tripod attachment that fits in your coin pocket), but they also have several interesting options for power management, as well as their packs. All of their full-sized packs can fit both the Nest as well as either of the Reach power cords, making them fantastic for those who travel with technology – and isn’t that everyone nowadays?

Price: $139.00
Where to buy: MOS website and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by MOS.

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MOS Pack Grande backpack review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 29, 2018 at 8:00 am.

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Chamberlain Ultimate Security Bundle smart garage opener review


REVIEW – Did the box grab your attention? Hope so. Garage door openers are challenging to shoot for headline photos. Do you need a new garage door opener? You might given how much they’ve improved in the last few years.

What is it?

Chamberlain’s Ultimate Security Bundle is a garage door opener with app connectivity, safety sensors, a backup battery, an internal deadbolt, two car remotes, and an external keypad.

Hardware specs

What’s in the box?

  • Items covered in the next section

Design and features

Design of a garage door opener is all about functionality. It has to work. Chamberlain has clearly done that here, and when installed it looks pretty good too.

The key features here are…

  • Wifi connectivity with App control and status updates
  • Belt drive which makes it quite a bit quieter
  • Back up battery so you can operate the door without power
  • Remotes! – Wall mounted remote, two car remotes, external keypad, App control and Homelink compatibility
  • Safety sensors to avoid accidents
  • Deadbolt for extra security

Setup

The bulk of the review here is actually the install. It took me about 4 hours, with some self-imposed trouble. Here goes…

Installation starts by assembling the track that that will run along the ceiling by connecting the different sections.

Use a screwdriver to anchor the trolley (during assembly) that will eventually lift and lower your garage door.

Insert the mount for the opener into the end of the track.

Bolt the motor onto the mount with the two black bolts shown in the below photo.

Starting to come together.

Bend up this little tab to act as a physical stop for the trolley.

Attach one end of the belt to the trolley with a sideways insert with a 90º twist.

Feed the belt through the slot, then install the pulley.

Wrap the belt around the gear on the top of the motor.

Connect the other end of the belt to the threaded rod with the bicycle style chainlink.

Slide the threaded rod through the trolley and anchor by threading the spring nut on hand tight, then follow the instructions for snapping the ring nut against the trolley.

Install the gear cover with the provided screws.

At this point, it’s ready to install, so that means removing the current garage door opener. Incidentally, mine was also a Chamberlain although I’m unclear as to how old. It was starting to get quirky and would reverse direction about a foot before closing 3 out of 5 times. You can see from the photo below that my ceiling is unfinished dark wood. My garage door has a huge coil spring across the top of the door to assist in lifting and lowering which fortunately did not need to be messed with.

Here’s the old motor unit to be replaced. It had a front facing light which didn’t help visibility towards the back of the garage.

A lot of the hardware was similar or the same, but I reinstalled almost all of it. This anchor for the track I moved closer to centerline of the door to correct some of the issues I was having with the old one suddenly reversing. Mount the track to the anchor with the pin and lock ring. This step makes lifting the heavy motor end of the system much easier.

These mount joists are the previous ones, but I did move them up a bit to make sure everything was level. They mount to the side rails on the motor with anchor bolts.

Install the light bulb onto each side.

You now need the door in the up position after installing the lift bracket which has this bent shape to help make the turn. My garage is low enough that I later cut up a tennis ball to mount on that bend as I did manage to crack my head on it once during install.

The straight arm mounts to the trolley with a similar cotter pin at which point you both the two sides together.

Next you need to run the power lines for the door control. I used the lines that were already there. The mounted panel is shown here.

It’s mounted with a screw that you find by lifting the door actuator button.

On the back side are the two contact screws you need to connect the wires to.

The safety sensors are there to make sure the door doesn’t close on objects or people (or for you to kick a foot at as you realize that one thing you forgot to grab as you left). These can be mounted directly onto the garage door rails or onto the wall next to them. For this part of the install, I reran all the wires and decided to get crafty with my staple gun. I clearly went to fast and pierced the cable a few times and had to pull one of them completely down and replace with the old wire to finally get it working. What’s the saying? “Measure twice, cut once?”

Pair up the leads from the two sensors and twist them into the corresponding pairs before inserting into the proper terminal on the opener.

Here you can see those wires in the right two positions next to the ones previously run for the door opener. You can also see the controls you’ll use to set the final open and closed positions of the door.

On the other side of the opener, install the large backup battery and connect those terminals. You’ll run a quick test to verify that the opener can now run on auxiliary battery power.

Back on the door opener you’ll connect to wifi and complete the connectivity setup.

Once that’s done you can use the same menu to set up the pairing for the keypad remote shown here. The two car remotes are already paired and ready to go.

The system also comes with a deadbolt which I haven’t seen on a garage door before. It wires up similarly and mounts to one of the rails to basically deadbolt your door from lifting. Only a quick 3/4″ hole to drill. There was a pretty big disclaimer in the instructions that you must have an entry door to use this feature. My garage does not, so I didn’t feel comfortable testing this out. I actually have an externally mounted quick release key from Chamberlain installed from getting locked out before when we lost the only visor remote shortly after moving in. It’s basically a removable key core that yanks a cable connected to the manual release on the trolley. Pretty handy unless you lose that key.

Okay. The App is as simple as downloading and creating a login. I’ll show some screenshots in the next section. Let’s move on to how it works.

Performance

In short. Huge improvement over the old Chamberlain model I replaced. That one was definitely installed a bit crooked, but I wouldn’t have figured that out without installing a new one. My old model was a chain drive. This belt drive model is significantly quieter, and smoother. It closes completely and in the fully open position, it’s completely out of the doorway. The dual lights are brighter than what I had before which is a huge help in my dark garage.

As for reliability, garage doors are something you don’t really think about until they aren’t working properly or break entirely. I’ve been using this for a full month and it’s doing exactly what it’s supposed to do and then some. The wall mounted opener has the time and the temperature which while not necessary is actually pretty handy.

The App allows me to check if I closed the door, and then actually do it without needing to trudge out to the garage. Here’s what the app looks like, and yes I named my garage Sesame.

Chamberlain partners with Nest, Wink, Xfinity Home, Google Assistant, IFTTT, Alpine, Clare Controls and Eve Connect for Tesla. I paired mine up with Nest to find the reverse of what I was looking for. Instead of being able to see and control the status of my garage from within the Nest App (which I’m in with some regularity) I can control my garage and see my Nest devices in the Chamberlain app which I’m not sure why I need to do.

Hmmm. I haven’t played around with IFTTT, but that’s likely next.

We recently got a new car and the plan was to actually park a car in the garage, something that we have not done previously. The new car has Homelink functionality and I was able to train it easily using the visor remote. The car has the ability to auto open and close the garage at a set distance. This seemed amazing and actually was for most instances. I’d open the garage, get in the car, back out and the garage door would close as I pulled away. On returning the garage door would open right as I pulled up. Great, right?

After leaving one morning, we turned around realizing we had forgotten a couple items. Pulled into the driveway and the door started opening, so I stopped it and closed it from the car controls. As we pulled away, we crossed that distance threshold and the door started opening. It’s then I figured out that it was just toggling the open/close and had no knowledge of which position the door was in. Needless to say I turned it off as it’s not to hard to hit the button when you need to. I do think this is an issue on the car side of the equation as the Chamberlain App definitely knows if the door is up or down.

What I like

  • Relatively easy install (clear instructions!)
  • Quiet and smooth operation
  • App integration – Status awareness
  • Automation partnerships

What needs to be improved

  • Nest integration should be bi-directional
  • Bundle option without the deadbolt?

Final thoughts

I’m very happy with Chamberlain’s product here. The instructions were very well written and easy to follow. As long as you aren’t installing a whole garage door for the first time, it’s a pretty easy task to take on. I would feel comfortable telling most people that they could handle the install themselves. As I mentioned previously, this is one of those products that just hangs in the background and does its job. Chamberlain has added some useful additional features and created a product that worth upgrading to. For me, the peace of mind of knowing I can get into the garage if the power is out, and even just knowing the garage door is down is well worth it.

Price: $348
Where to buy: Chamberlain.com and Amazon.
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Chamberlain.

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Chamberlain Ultimate Security Bundle smart garage opener review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 28, 2018 at 11:00 am.

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