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Waterfield Atlas Executive Athletic Holdall review

When I first learned of Waterfield’s recently released Atlas Executive Athletic Holdall, my first and only thought was…that bag is so me. I do my best to workout as often as I can, especially those days I’m in the office. Making lunch a mandatory exercise time not only makes me healthier but is an excellent break in my hectic day to refocus and destress. The Atlas is designed to (stylishly) enable the tech carrying, modern day fitness folks of the world the ability to transport everything they need in a single EDC bag from their laptop to their gym shoes. So let’s see if Waterfield Design hits the mark with their new Atlas Executive Athletic Holdall.

Typically I carry all my needed stuff into the office in a number of different bags: Colonel Littleton Navigator bag as my EDC tech bag, old nylon Air Force helmet bag for my workout gear, and reused plastic bags for lunch. Occasionally I even have to carry additional bags/containers if the office is having an event, definitely adding up to a very cumbersome commute. Being able to smartly consolidate all my cr@p into a single bag is definitely advantageous and desirable.

What is it?

The Atlas Executive Athletic Holdall is a combination briefcase, EDC/gear bag, and athletic duffle all in one, that transitions seamlessly from office to gym and back. The Atlas has a padded tech/laptop compartment for all your EDC gear, a separate space to hold clothes, and a collapsible, zippered area to store your shoes.

Design and features

The Atlas Executive Athletic Holdall is available in one size (16″ (L) x 10″ (H) x 8.5″ (W)) that is divided into two compartments: the Briefcase and the Athletic Workout sections. The bag is made in the USA from ballistic nylon (or waxed canvas), reenforced and trimmed in full grain leather.

The Briefcase section opens fully enabling the front face of the Holdall to lay flat allowing for easy access to its four slipper pockets. The tech portion of the bag has 2 padded pockets engineered to protect a laptop and a tablet plus two additional pockets for stashing power cords, pens, and other EDC gear. There is a dedicated pen slot between the two smaller pockets. The padded laptop slipper pocket fits up to 15” laptops and the tablet slipper pocket fits up to 13” tablets. The two vertical pockets are deep and large enough to hold a decent amount of stuff. The tablet space held my 12″ MacBook very nicely. You could also transport paperwork in this compartment as well.

The Athletic Workout compartment can fit a fair amount of workout gear, work clothes, towel, shaving kit, etc. Both interior compartments are lined in WaterField’s smooth, finely-woven bright gold fabric.

The separate, collapsible shoe pocket can hold a pair of gym shoes or work shoes…here you can see my size 13 running shoes fitting inside. This separation keeps any wetness or dirt from getting on your clothes or tech gear.

Specifications:

Materials:

  • 1050 Denier black Ballistic nylon or brown Waxed Canvas
  • Full-grain leather accents

Dimensions & Weight:

  • One size: 16″ (L) x 10″ (H) x 8.5″ (W)
  • Ballistic 3.1 lbs. / Waxed Canvas 3.4 lbs.

It can transport a lot of gear…

Even with all this gear, the Waterfield Altas Holdall can still accommodate my lunch & snacks.

Build and material quality:

The ballistic nylon, full grain leather, zippers, rivets, and stitching are all very well done and “built to last”. In addition to strength, the leather adds a nice look and style to the bag. All of the zippers are low profile, covered, and waterproof. The entire bag holds up to liquids very well, (as the story goes…) I accidentally spilled my coffee all over the bag and it cleaned up like new with a damp rag.

The main face of the Altas has a quick-access, zippered pocket engineered to hold smartphone, keys, business & misc cards, wallet, pocketknife, pens, etc. The inside of this exterior pocket has a dedicated, lined smartphone pocket and key fob for easy retrieval of your cell and/or keys.

The open-topped, end pocket can transport a large water bottle for convenient access.

The bottom of the Altas Holdall is completely covered in leather for greater resistance to wear and tear.

The Atlas Executive Athletic Holdall can be transported in several ways. Waterfield includes a removable suspension strap for carrying the bag over the shoulder or crossbody. The bag rides very comfortably over the shoulder, hanging at hip height.

The reenforced, built-in handle carries comfortably as well. The handle is wrapped in the same full grain leather as the rest of the Holdall, for a solid grip and greater durability. With all my gear, the Athletic Holdall is not all that heavy, especially considering it is approximately three pounds lighter than my all-leather Colonel Littleton Navigator & old helmet bag combo.

The back of the Altas has a pass-through slot for slipping onto wheeled suitcase handles.

Positives

  • Excellent material quality and craftsmanship
  • Well designed/thought out
  • Stylish, professional design
  • Wheeled-suitcase handle pass-through
  • Relatively lightweight

Negatives

  • Expensive

The Waterfield Atlas Executive Athletic Holdall available in:

  • black ballistic nylon with chocolate leather
  • black ballistic nylon with black leather
  • brown waxed canvas with chocolate leather

The waxed canvas variant weighs in at 3.4 lbs and ballistic nylon ones, 3.1 lbs. The Altas Holdall meets most airline personal carry-on item size requirements and makes for an excellent overnight bag on the fly.

Waterfield Designs backs all of their products with a (limited) lifetime warranty.

Final thoughts

I really like the Atlas Executive Athletic Holdall from all points of view: quality, function, and design. Waterfield has done an excellent job engineering this bag for the athletic urban warrior, creating a professional looking EDC bag for all your tech and gym gear alike. This bag functions as advertised, a single solution to replace all your other bags…doing so in polished style. While admittedly expensive, the Altas Holdall not only gets the job done, it does so with the looks for both office and Club.

Price: $429
Where to buy: Waterfield Designs.
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Waterfield Designs.

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Waterfield Atlas Executive Athletic Holdall review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 11, 2018 at 11:00 am.

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JustMobile Shuttergrip review


Nowadays, I use my phone for nearly all of my photography needs. It is just so simple to use and it is always with me. I have a nice tripod that I’ve used for my big camera and have been recently wanting to use it for the phone as well, so I picked up a simple tripod phone mount. Less than a month later, JustMobile offered to send their Shuttergrip, which is an easy to use mount, but also can be used for holding your phone steady and has a detachable a Bluetooth remote.

What is it:

The JustMobile Shuttergrip is a remote shutter combined with a grip for photography that is used with smartphones. It allows someone to utilize the camera on their phone in a more ergonomic, efficient way.

What’s in the box:

In the box, you’ll find the Shuttergrip, a hand strap, battery (CR2032 type), and an instruction page.

Design and features:

Pairing the Shuttergrip to my phone was simple, and there were no problems connecting whatsoever. I did not have to charge it up first since it uses a watch style battery instead of a rechargeable battery. Once paired, I was ready to go!

Attaching it to the phone is easy and I could use it with my case, which is something my simple mount could not do. I could slide it on and off with ease but it was still very firmly attached to my phone. It also paired without me even knowing after the initial pairing. I was testing the grip a few days later and accidentally took a picture. There is no real way to turn off the camera button that I’ve found. Instead, it goes into idle mode after three minutes of inactivity.

When using it as a grip for taking pictures with the phone, it was comfortable and easier to use than the buttons on the phone. My pictures always turn out slightly blurry when using the volume buttons, but with the Shuttergrip, I did not have that problem.

It fit well on my tripod and using the remote made taking scenery pictures easy. If I felt the need to inject myself into the photo, I can easily hide the remote since it does not need line of sight. That is much more useful than the remote I have for my big camera, since finding creative ways to hide the remote is a challenge at times.

To test the range on the Shuttergrip, I set it up in my room and detached the remote, walking through the house and pushing the button five times total. All five photos took, which showed me the range was pretty good.

What I like:

  • Very easy to use
  • Pairs so quickly that it never feels like it turns off
  • Usable with multiple types of phones/cases

What needs to be improved:

  • Simplicity is best. The only thing I’d improve is adding a bag to put it in for storage.

Final thoughts:

I am looking forward to going on a trip and taking this with me. It will pack very easily and be so useful, both in my hand when walking around, and on my tripod for great scenery shots. For someone like me who takes tons of pictures when out and about, the Just Mobile Shuttergrip will come in handy. I would recommend it if you are in the market for something like this. It is a very nifty product, with a good design that is also very easy to use.

Price: $39.95
Where to buy: JustMobile Website
Source: The sample of this product was provided by JustMobile.

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JustMobile Shuttergrip review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 10, 2018 at 10:00 am.

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Sigma 105mm macro lens review

Photography professionals and enthusiasts are always looking for an opportunity to enhance their photography skills and to take better pictures. Those interested in macro photography seem to be involved in an ongoing search for the best lens to ultimately allow them to produce the most amazing pictures. Macro photography lenses have the ability to take really close-up photos with a nice depth of field and great bokeh (Bokeh is the blur produced in the parts of an image that are not in focus). I have a Canon EOS camera, and I recently purchased the Sigma 105mm Macro Lens for myself.

What is it?

The Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro Lens for Canon EOS Cameras is a mid-level lens specifically designed for macro photography (This lens is also available for Nikon, Sony and Sigma DSLR Cameras). Like many macro lenses, it is able to focus from infinity all the way into a 1:1 ratio which ensures a life-size reproduction of the image, from the lens to the sensor inside of the camera. This lens produces very clear images and its autofocus capability makes it much easier for even the entry-level photographer to take pictures that are sharp, in-focus and free of distortion.

What’s in the box?

In the box, there is a very nice lens case and carrying strap. The case is well padded and will very likely protect the lens in the event that it is dropped a few feet. Sigma also includes a lens hood, a hood extension for cameras with APS-C sensors, and protective lens caps for both sides of the lens. Of course, the warranty brochure and an instruction leaflet are included as well. This lens comes with a limited 1-year warranty for North and South America and a 3-year extended warranty if it remains within the USA.

Design and features

As with all macro lenses, this Sigma lens is quite heavy for its size. This is due to the additional glass inside that is necessary for the lens to be able to take macro images. The body is metal and it feels very solid overall. With an Aperture of f/2.8, this lens is capable of taking great pictures in low light conditions. The aperture and focus rings are nice and smooth and rotate freely without any binding. On the side of the lens, there are switches to select manual or auto focus, 2 types of Optical stabilization and a distance switch which is helpful with autofocus, by pre-defining the distance range between the subject and the lens. The Optical Stabilization is Sigma’s proprietary stabilization feature and does a great job at stabilizing when shooting hand-held. The “focus-Free” mechanical design creates a separation between the autofocus function and the mechanical focus ring which is great, since it allows you to hold the focus ring for support and still utilize autofocus without affecting the function. The lens can focus as close as 12.2” away from the subject and with the dual focus capability is easy to use without a tripod. The Hyper Sonic Motor makes focusing very fast and is relatively quiet.

What I like

After using the lens for a week or so, I can truly say that I am enjoying it. I like the build quality and how solid it feels. I also like the sharpness of the pictures it produces and the versatility of being able to use it for macro photography as well as portrait photography, and always get sharp photos with a great depth of field. The Bokeh it produces for my macro shots is very good, and my friends seem to love the photos.

What needs to be improved?

While this is obviously a great lens, I do think that there are a couple of things that can be improved. Despite its nice Hyper Sonic Motor, it is not as quiet as some of the other lens I have used. This would not usually be a problem for photography, but would be for videography, and would require the use of an external audio recorder for clean audio. I would also like to see 62mm ring adapters included with the lens, which is the size that is required for use with any lens filter or a ring flash. This size of ring adapter is not normally a part of most ring adapter kits, and must be purchased separately.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Sigma 105mm macro lens does a very good job of producing clean and clear images, and has the versatility to do so both for macro and portrait photography. It can also be used for other types of photography as along as the distance to the subject can be managed.  In my opinion, when compared to a revered lens like the Canon 100mm macro lens, the Sigma comes in at a very close second. If overall quality and price are the main considerations, it would be a better purchase than the Canon, since it is now available at a newly discounted price.

Price: $569
Where to buy: bhphotovideo.com and Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was purchased with my own funds.

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Sigma 105mm macro lens review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 9, 2018 at 11:00 am.

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iLive Voice Activated Amazon Alexa Portable Wireless Fabric Speaker Review

As smartphones have become more prevalent, people have become used to having all of their information and entertainment with them 24/7. That growth has sparked a surge in portable wireless speakers. I always found these wireless speakers to be a bit too “single use”. If I’m going to haul around a device, I prefer to have it able to do more than just one thing. The iLive Voice Activated Amazon Alexa Portable Wireless Fabric Speaker is just such a device.

What is it?

The iLive Voice Activated Amazon Alexa Portable Wireless Fabric Speaker is a wireless speaker that implements Amazon Alexa and several other streaming services to provide a very well rounded listening experience. The rechargeable battery allows for portability at home or on-the-go.

What’s in the box?

  • Concierge Speaker
  • Micro-USB to USB cable
  • 3.5mm Audio cable
  • User’s Guide

Design and features

One of the main features of this speaker is that it can connect to your the internet via WiFi. The free iLive app is then used to control the device over WiFi instead of using Bluetooth, which provides for much more range than Bluetooth.

The iLive Voice Activated Amazon Alexa Portable Wireless Fabric Speaker can also play music from your phone music library and also has a 3.5mm auxiliary audio input jack that can play audio from just about any source.

If you are away from home or don’t have access to WiFi, the speaker can connect to your devices via Bluetooth.

The iLive Voice Activated Amazon Alexa Portable Wireless Fabric Speaker looks and feels like a quality product. It features a nice tweed speaker grill over much of the speaker, indicator LED’s and ring, as well as well understood rubberized buttons and a non-slip foam base.

The full feature list is well rounded:

  • Wireless speaker
  • Voice-activated Amazon Alexa
  • Bluetooth wireless
  • Built-in Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct & multi-room play
  • Multi-user capable
  • Aux in (3.5mm audio input)
  • Stream from iHeartRadio, TIDAL, or audio stored directly on your device
  • Built-in microphone
  • Micro-USB port for battery recharge
  • Play/pause/pairing button
  • On/off switch
  • Digital volume control
  • LED light ring
  • LED function indicator
  • Charge indicator
  • Wireless range: Bluetooth – 33 feet, Wi-Fi – 98 feet
  • Cloth speaker grill
  • DC battery power: built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery
  • Battery life using WiFi: ~1-2 hours at 50% volume
  • Battery life using Bluetooth: ~5 hours at 50% volume

The Amazon Alexa service is voice controlled, and all of the other services are controlled through the iLive app on your smartphone, however, Amazon Alexa does play the music on your phone.

As a software developer, I’m pretty particular when it comes to apps. If there’s one thing I can do that would be finding bugs and user interface discrepancies in apps. I’ve been writing commercial software for over 20 years so I have seen my share of bad software. This is where the iLive app really impressed me. Starting from the step-by-step setup all the way through to the main operation of the app, the iLive app was easy to use and understand.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing features of this speaker is the ability to pair up to 6 of these speakers together and have them all play simultaneously and synchronized. However, when they are paired only the primary speaker can be used to control Amazon Alexa. To add or pair more speakers you simply slide left to reveal the Device List tab, then tap the plus icon and follow the on-screen prompts, just like setting up a device for the first time.

Once the device is added it can be controlled separately, or you can simply drag the device in the list onto another device to pair it. Once it is paired you can select which speaker is the left channel, right channel, or have each speaker play the same. If you don’t remember how to do this, simple tap the “How to switch between solo and multi mode?” text and you’ll get an instruction screen.


I really like the fact that the iLive app also has the ability to update the firmware in the speaker – wirelessly. Normally most devices require you to use a USB connection with a desktop computer to update the firmware.

Initially, Amazon Alexa had an almost unbearable 8-second delay in providing answers or responding, which was quite a bit more than other Amazon Alexa devices, but an update for the iLive speaker firmware fixed that so it’s now only about 2 seconds or less which is right on par with Amazon’s own devices.

Verbal requests to Amazon Alexa are handled seamlessly, muting what ever audio is playing while Alexa responds to your requests.

Another thing that really impressed me was that the specifications state 1 to 2 hours of battery life on WiFi, but I found that it operated much longer than that. For example, after four and half  hours of streaming music and podcasts via WiFi at 50% volume the app showed that the battery level was still at 64% – wow!

What I like

  • Excellent Printed Quick Start Manual
  • Surprisingly good smartphone app
  • Very nice FAQ guide
  • Rechargeable battery, I can carry the speaker to another room with me and not have to pause music or miss what I’m listening to on live radio.
  • Longer than advertised battery life.
  • Built-in services within the iLive App: Amazon Alexa, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, TIDAL, plus all of the music on your phone.
  • You can search for stuff in the other services (like TuneIn) while your previous audio continues to play.
  • Responsive customer support. I contacted iLive with a question in the late afternoon about the different models and received an e-mail response in less than 20 hours.
  • The Bluetooth mode is extremely useful for playing audio through the speaker while watching video on my phone. I often find myself in a room other than my office watching and listening to a video while doing something else and the phone speaker is not loud enough. This speaker is definitely loud enough.


What needs to be improved

  • Although not a big issue, it would be nice if there was a desktop version of the app.
  • Audiophiles may not like the quality of the sound on the device. For me, it sounds good enough, although it could use a little more bass. It’s extremely good for listening to podcasts and talk radio.
  • There’s a device tab in the app, but there’s no indicator that it’s there. Swiping left reveals the Device List, which shows all of your devices (speakers) and for each one you can see what’s playing, pause, play, pause all, play all, and access the settings for that device as well as view the battery level. If you have multiple devices, this is where you can select the device then go to the services list and choose audio to play on it.

Final thoughts

I’ve seen many devices in my time that were great on the hardware side but severely lacking on the software side of things. This iLive speaker excels at providing a great app that makes operating the device simply a joy.

Price: $65.00
Where to buy: iLive Electronics and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by iLive Electronics.

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iLive Voice Activated Amazon Alexa Portable Wireless Fabric Speaker Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 9, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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Sonoff S31 WiFi socket and Slampher RF bulb adapter review

Turning your home into a smart home is a whole lot easier if you add the home automation tech during the building phase instead of waiting years later to retrofit tech into an existing home. Although that’s great advice, it won’t help you if you want to get into the home automation game with an older home like mine. My home was built in the 1970’s and the smartest thing about it when I bought it was… ok there was nothing smart about my home when I bought it, but I’ve slowly been adding smart home gadgets over the years to raise its IQ.

Today I want to show you the Sonoff S31 WiFi Socket with Power Consumption Detection and the Slampher RF adapter. These devices provide an easy way to turn almost any plug-in device into a smart device and a light bulb adapter that turns dumb bulbs into smart ones that you can control with your smartphone. Let’s take a look.

What is it?

The Sonoff S31 is a WiFi enabled smart switch that you can control with your smartphone, Alexa enabled speakers, Google Home, and Google Assistant.

The Slampher RF adapter is a WiFi enabled adapter that will turn a regular light bulb into a smart light bulb that can be controlled by your phone, Alexa, Google Home, and Google Assistant.

What’s in the box?

Each of these adapters is sold separately and do not come with any special parts or accessories. The small keychain remote is also sold separately.

Design and features

Sonoff S31

The S31 is compact size 1 gang US standard wifi smart plug with energy monitoring that turns a “dumb” device into a “smart” device that can be controlled via WiFi with an iOS or Android device or voice assistant from Amazon and Google.

The adapter is made of white and black plastic with two status LEDs on the front.

On one side is a power button that you can use to manually toggle power to the outlet.

The Sonoff S31 WiFi Socket has a horizontal layout that keeps it from blocking the other outlet on a standard wall outlet.

I used the S31 adapter with an IR heater in my basement. With the S31’s socket powered on, the heater performed normally, but with the eWeLink app, I could control it in real time or with timers and schedules.  The app also provides info on usage and power consumption. More on the app in a sec.

Sonoff Slampher RF


In addition to smart WiFi enabled socket adapters, Sonoff also sells adapters that will turn a regular light bulb into a smart light bulb that can be controlled by your mobile device. These adapters are bulky and might not fit in certain lamps because they add extra height to the bulb.

Sonoff even sells a wireless controller that can be used to toggle power to their N and W series RF switches and adapters like the Slampher RF. However, I was never able to get it to work because it didn’t come with any instructions and everything I tried (instructions with the Slampher RF light bulb adapter) did not work. The product page for the remote has quite a few comments from customers who also are unable to get it to work.

Let’s make our home smarter!

Setting up and configuring the Sonoff WiFi Socket and Slampher RF light bulb adapter is quick and easy using the eWeLink app for Android and iOS.


The app walks you through adding a new device and once added, it shows up on the main screen like you see above on the left. Power to the Slampher RF adapter can be toggled by tapping it on this screen. Controlling the S31 socket requires that you go into the detail view for that device and then tap the power toggle.

The detail view of the S31 shows a real-time reading of how much current and voltage it’s drawing if it’s powered on.


The app allows you to set a timer to record power consumption during a specific time frame. It also tracks historical usage whenever the switch is in use and keeps a log of the last 100 days with the ability to export it as a CSV file.

You can also customize the data by plugging in your electric company’s rates. Every power company is different and my company (Duke Energy) uses three different rates:

First 300 kWh $0.092945 per kWh
Next 700kWh $0.054178 per kWh
Over 1000 kWh $0.044464 per kWh



The eWeLink app can be used to schedule times when the switch will be powered on/off and info for overload protection.

One way you could use the schedule feature is for charging your phone during the night. Instead of having it trickle charging all night which can cause your battery to age prematurely, you can set the S31 to turn off after 3 hours.

If controlling your smart switches by your phone is too much trouble, you can also control them with your voice assistant. I set up the Sonoff switches with Alexa and it worked great. I could say “Alexa, turn off the heater” and bada boom bada bing, the switch would turn off.

What I like

  • Easy to use and install
  • Can track power consumption and cost

What needs to be improved

  • Slampher RF adapter didn’t want to work with CFL and LED light bulbs
  • Couldn’t get the wireless remote to work with the Slampher RF adapter
  • Slampher adapter is bulky and adds height to the bulb.

Final thoughts

Sonoff makes easy to use products that can help you turn your non-smart home into a better smarter version without a lot of hassle and expense. I liked the S31 WiFi socket quite a bit but wasn’t impressed with the Slampher RF adapter. I’d rather just buy an inexpensive WiFi enabled smart bulb.

Price:$18.90 for the S31 socket, $16.09 for the Slampher RF
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by ITEAD.

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Sonoff S31 WiFi socket and Slampher RF bulb adapter review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 8, 2018 at 1:00 pm.

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