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Alto iPhone 7 Plus Metro leather case review

When I think high-end luxury leather phone cases, a couple brands come to mind like Vaja and Orbino. So how is that I’ve never heard of or seen the leather cases from Alto? If you’ve never seen them either, let me introduce you to what might be your next favorite iPhone 7 Plus case.

What is it?

The Alto iPhone 7 Plus Metro leather case is a thin but protective snap-on cover for the back of your iPhone 7 or 7 Plus.


The Metro case that was sent to me is made of Italian full grain black and caramel stained leather that covers the outside of a hard case that has a black micro fiber lining on the interior. Other color combos of this case are also available.

The back of the case might look like it’s two toned with the brown and black, but the look hides a card slot that can hold 1-2 plastic credit cards or a couple folded bills.


An iPhone 7 Plus snaps into the case with little effort and can be removed with slightly more effort.

The sides of the Metro case are raised slightly higher than the top of the iPhone to protect the display if you lay it upside down.

The left side of the case has an open cutout for unrestricted access to the mute switch and volume buttons.

The opposite side of the case has an open cut out for the power button.

The top edge of the case (not pictured) is completely covered, while the bottom edge is open to reveal the speakers and lightning port.

If you flip the case over, you’ll see a large opening for the camera and LED flash.

The card slot on the back of the case is ideal if you want to leave your wallet at home and just carry your driver’s license and a credit card. The card slot is a snug fit so you don’t have to worry about your cards accidentally slipping out if you hold the phone upside down.

Everything about the Metro case is perfect, from the design and materials to the craftsmanship. I have zero complaints.

If you prefer a phone holder case instead of a case that snaps on the back of the phone, Alto has that covered to.

Their zippered wallet case is equally nice and can hold the phone, credit cards, cash, and more.

Final thoughts

If you’ve been searching for a quality iPhone 7 Plus case that looks great, doesn’t add too much bulk, but allows you to ditch your wallet, then you need to check out the Metro leather iPhone case from Alto. It’s my new favorite case.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Alto. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.

 

Product Information

Price: $72.00
Manufacturer: Alto
Retailer: Amazon
Pros:
  • Great craftsmanship
  • Doesn't add much bulk
  • Built in card slot
Cons:
  • None

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Alto iPhone 7 Plus Metro leather case review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 16, 2017 at 1:54 pm.

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Mpow Bluetooth Selfie Stick review

“Selfie Sticks” were all the rage a few years back. And although the craze has dwindled a bit, they are still in use and can definitely still be useful, especially in certain situations. Our family had tried a selfie stick a few years back, but we were very unimpressed with it—it had a cable that connected to the phone to control the phone’s shutter, which was a bit cumbersome, and its quality was low for the cost. When Julie provided the chance to try out the MPow Bluetooth Selfie Stick, its Bluetooth connectivity and some of its other features looked appealing. Let’s check it out! Gadget on!

Options

The Mpow Bluetooth Selfie Stick is available in the following colors.  Note that the pricing on Amazon fluctuates a bit, so the prices listed below are as of the writing of this review:

  • Rose Pink (reviewed here) – $22.49
  • Gold – $21.94

Specs

Below are listed the technical specs of the MPow Bluetooth Selfie Stick:

  • Built-in Bluetooth remote shutter control
  • 270-degree pivoting adjustable head
  • 360-degree fill light with 3 levels
  • Mirror
  • 1500 mAh battery for 72 hours of fill light time, 30 hours of Bluetooth time or 3 years standby with full charging time of 2.5 hours
  • Weight 181 grams
  • Telescoping length is 7.3 inches at shortest position and 34.3 inches at longest position
  • Holder accommodates phones 1.8-3.3 inches wide 

Packaging

The MPow Bluetooth Selfie Stick arrived in some fairly standard packaging, which consisted of a white cardboard box with a few photographs showing the product.  Inside, the Selfie Stick was inside its storage pouch, which was enclosed in a bubble-wrap bag for protection.

 

Contents

  • Mpow Bluetooth Selfie Stick
  • Drawstring carrying bag
  • USB to micro USB charging cable
  • Lanyard
  • Instruction sheet

Features & Functions

Let’s dive in, starting with the included drawstring pouch, which the Selfie Stick had been placed in for shipping.  The pouch is made of a quality mate al, and feels like it may be fairly water-resistant.  The pouch will accommodate the Selfie Stick itself, with room to spare for the USB charging cable.

After removing the Selfie Stick from its pouch, the first thing I notice about it was that it certainly appeared to be feature-rich.  In fact, I was a bit intimidated by it at first.  How the heck was I going to figure out how to use this thing?  The reality is that it is a fairly easy-to-use device, which you will see below.

The Selfie Stick fit into my hand quite nicely, and overall it is not excessively large to handle and operate.

Additionally, the handgrip has some minor contouring, as see above, to fit your fingers and help prevent you from dropping it during use.The Selife Stick has a polycarbonate plastic body with an appealing metallic appearance.  Despite its impressive feature set, it’s fairly compact.  It folds down to just 7.3 inches in overall length.  It’s a bit large to fit in your pants or shorts pocket (unless you are wearing ones with seriously deep cargo pockets), but will fairly easily fit into most purses or just about any backpack.In the photo above, I’ve started to “unfold” the Selfie Stick into operating position by pivoting the head away from the main body.

The telescoping stainless steel rod, shown above, extends out to over 34 inches, so you can get your whole family (and maybe event some photo-bombers) in the photo.

Another handy feature is a “wing-nut” that can be tightened down to fix the Selfie Stick’s head in place. However, I found that I didn’t have to use this much, since the head would actually stay in place quite well on its own without using this.

This Selfie Stick also includes a small mirror on the “back” side of the clamp mechanism.  This could be used to check your hair or your makeup, or the angle of your shot, before shooting the perfect selfie.

The Selfie Stick has a small, coiled Micro-USB cable attached to its side.  This cable is NOT for charging the device.  Instead, it provides power to the fill light.  In order for the fill light to work, the micro-USB cable must be plugged into the micro-USB port on the side of the bracket that holds the light.  I found this a bit strange; I’m not sure why the power to the Fill Light couldn’t have been directly incorporated into the body of the Selfie Stick.  It means an extra setup step.  Still, it’s not all that difficult to do.
Another interesting feature of the Mpow Bluetooth Selfie Stick is the fill light, which sits atop the clamp mechanism, as seen in the image above.  The Fill Light has a build-in diffuser, to soften the light’s intensity and reduce the “harshness” or glare from it.  The light level can be fine-tuned by rotating its barrel shape from fully open, as seen above…

…to partially closed, as seen above…

…to fully closed, as seen seen above.  The fill light can spin 360 degrees for the ultimate in fine-tuning.

The fill light has three levels that can be used, the brightest of which is shown illuminated above.

Above you can see the clamping mechanism that holds your phone. The clamp consists of two pivoting jaws with soft silicone grips that hold your phone securely.  The jaws can be folded down, as shown above, when not in use.

When in use, the clamp’s jaws are folded outward, as shown above.  The gray silicone grips on the insides of the clamps are visible in the photo above as well.

Above, a closeup of the top clamp jaw’s gray silicone grip.

An iPhone 6 Plus will fit into the clamp mechanism, but it is a tight fit, and I had to pry the jaws apart a bit to get the iPhone to fit, but not excessively so.  However, if this iPhone 6 Plus has been in a case, it would have been questionable whether it would have fit.  Phones smaller than an iPhone 6 Plus should fit with no issues (my daughter used her iPhone 6 with it and the fit was perfect, even with the iPhone 6 in a case).

Above you can see how far apart the clamp mechanism’s jaws will stretch to accommodate a phone.  The clamp is spring-loaded, so it will firmly grip your phone.  It can accommodate phones from 1.8 to 3.3 inches in width.

Above, the Selfie Stick with my wife’s iPhone 6 Plus loaded into its clamp mechanism.  The spring-loaded clamp with its silicone grips helps provide a stable platform for your phone, and I didn’t worry about it accidentally falling out on its own.

The Selfie Stick has two buttons on the handle: Light (top) and Camera (bottom).  To pair the Selfie Stick with your phone, press and hold the Camera button for 3 seconds.

Once in Pairing Mode, a tiny blue LED light begins to blink off and on.

Next, activate Bluetooth on your phone and search for devices (Full Disclosure: I used my wife’s iPhone 6 Plus for this).  In the device list, you should see “ADYSS-A6.”  Select this and Boom!  You’re done.  Once fully paired, the blue LED on the handle will stop blinking and you are cleared to start shooting.  Pics, that is. To turn off the Selfie Stick, press and hold the Camera button again for 3 seconds.
Above, a shot of me pushing the Light button and as you can see, the Fill Light is illuminated atop the phone.

An optional accessory included with the Selfie Stick was a wrist lanyard, as shown above.  In theory, this should be easy to install, but in practice, I found it very difficult—I couldn’t get that thin cord down into the hole and out the other side!  I ended up not using the lanyard, but it would probably be a good idea to use it, especially if you trying to take pics in a crowded area, and so forth.

The Mpow Bluetooth Selfie Stick runs on battery power, but not standard AA or AAA cells, it has its own internal, rechargable battery that can be charged using the included USB to micro USB cable, shown above plugged into the side of the Selfie Stick.  The battery powers the Bluetooth connection as well as the Fill Light.

To use the Selfie stick, press the Camera button once to activate the shutter on your phone’s camera.  It’s just that easy.  Above, a pic of me taking a selfie.  I know, mind-blowing, right?
Above, a selfie I took of…well…myself…with the Mpow Bluetooth Selfie Stick.  Of course, using the iPhone’s front-facing camera, the quality of the pic will be a bit lower than if it had been taking with the rear-facing camera, but the Selfie Stick allows easy orientation and quick pic snapping.  Above, another selfie at a bit further range, where I’ve extended the telescoping stick out a bit further.Lastly, I wanted to check out the Fill Light.  Above and below, I took a couple of selfies inside my house, where the lighting was not as good as the outdoor selfies I took above.  The pic above was taken without the Fill Light.  The pic above was taken with the Fill Light at full illumination. It does look a bit brighter, and its built-in diffuser prevented glare, but admittedly indoor photos in lower light with the iPhone’s front-facing camera do look a bit rough.

We took the Mpow Bluetooth Selfie Stick on our most recent family vacation to the East Coast this summer.  It came in handy when we wanted to get some family pics in front of several landmarks and other touristy sites, including the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston (above).  I delegated control of the Selfie Stick to my teenage daughter, who has an iPhone 6, and it worked very well; however, it did drop the Bluetooth connection once unexpectedly, it for some reason it was difficult to get it reconnected, but that was a rare occurrence.  (The above pic was taken from the Statue of Liberty Island; New Jersey can be seen on the left and lower Manhattan, NYC on the right.  Please ignore the dude in the blue shirt—he wouldn’t get out of way.)

Conclusion

I like the Mpow Bluetooth Selfie Stick.  It has a lot of nice features, and it was easy to use.  For starters, it was very easy to Bluetooth pair with my Phone 6 Plus, and easy to use once paired.  The adjustable Fill Light with built-in diffuser feature is handy, but probably most useful for indoor or nighttime outdoor selfies.  Still, it’s a nice feature to have handy.  The 34-inch telescoping shaft extends quite far, which helped with getting lots of peeps into the pics for group selfies.  Additionally, it can be charged with a micro USB cable, which means you don’t have to lug batteries around (but you do have to remember to charge it). Overall, I think the MPow Bluetooth Selfie Stick is a great value for its price.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Mpow. For more info or to order, visit Amazon.

 

Product Information

Price: $21.94 (Gold), $22.49 (Rose Pink)
Manufacturer: Mpow
Retailer: Amazon
Requirements:
  • Fits phones from 1.8 to 3.3 inches wide.
  • Bluetooth connection needed.
Pros:
  • + Easy Bluetooth pairing and use
  • + Compacts down to 7.3 inches for easy storage
  • + Lots of features for the price
  • + USB charing
Cons:
  • – None

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Mpow Bluetooth Selfie Stick review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 16, 2017 at 9:00 am.

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ROVA Flying Selfie drone review

When drones first started becoming popular, they were big bulky quad copters with large GoPro sized cameras and people mostly used them for cool landscape videos. People still use drones to shoot landscape shots, but a newer category of drones has been designed for taking a more personal type of photography – the selfie. Now you don’t need an extra friend to take your picture. Or at least that’s the idea. Let’s see if the ROVA Flying Selfie drone can take a picture and keep on hovering.

What is it?

The ROVA Flying Selfie drone is a small quad copter style drone with a built in 12MP camera. It’s controlled with an iOS or Android device and has been designed to shoot selfies.

Specs

12MP camera, HD video
Up to 64GB micro SD card capability
33ft (10m) max flight height from launch
≤ 98ft (≤ 30m ) Communication Range
Obstacle Avoidance using infrared sensors
Flight Stability and Positioning using barometer, accelerometer, optical flow and gyrometer

What’s in the box?

When you open a new gadget and find that it comes in its own zippered case, you immediately get the impression that this is going to be a great review experience.

Inside the case is:

ROVA Flying Selfie drone
2 rechargeable batteries
USB battery charger
micro USB cable

Also included are 4 bumpers, a carabiner for the case, a 16GB micro SD card, and a setup guide.

The ROVA is approximately 8.5 x 8.5 x 1.5 inch black plastic frame with four 3-blade propellers in each corner and a battery holder in the center.

You’ll also notice a red activation button on top as well as a warning sticker that instructs you not to put your fingers inside the frame when the propellers are spinning.

if you flip the ROVA drone over, you will see the 12MP camera with LEDs on either side and you will see the flip up landing gear (feet) in each corner.

The camera is designed to manually pivot to customize the video and image shooting angle.

On the side opposite the camera is the micro USB charging connector and the micro SD card slot.

Before you can fly the ROVA, you have to charge one of the included batteries in the included charger.

The battery easily snaps in the charger which plugs into a USB port on your computer or a USB charging adapter that you plug into an electrical outlet.

It takes about 30 mins to charge the battery which then provides up to 8 minutes of flight time.

The battery plugs into the slot in the center of the drone and as soon as you plug it in, the drone powers up and LEDs on either side of the camera begin to flash.

The ROVA Selfie Drone comes with 4 hard foam bumpers that you can snap over each corner.

Installing the bumpers is not mandatory, but are supposed to provide added protection while you learn to fly the drone. FYI, the drone with the bumpers does not fit in the zippered case.

In addition to charging the battery, you’ll also need to install the ROVA app on your iOS or Android device. I tested the ROVA with my iPhone 7 Plus.

The app has a basic interface as you can see from the image above. I felt like flying the ROVA would be a piece of cake compared to other drones I’ve tried.

When you first launch the app, it looks for the ROVA drone’s built in WiFi network. After you successfully connect to it and enter the password, you press and hold the red button on the ROVA for a few seconds. The button will flash (which is impossible to see in bright sunlight) and after it stops, the drone will beep and you’re ready to fly. Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to work…

Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to work… It took me quite a while to even figure out how to get the drone to spin up. The instructions that come with ROVA are really vague and pretty much useless. But once I figured out the steps to get the propellers to spin up, I thought I was all set.

It took me quite a while to even figure out how to get the drone to spin up. The instructions that come with ROVA are really vague and pretty much useless. But once I figured out the steps to get the propellers to spin up, I thought I was all set for flying and selfie snapping.

Yeah, no… To fly ROVA, you go through the steps I mentioned above and then when the propellers are spinning, you can press the up/down arrow icon in the lower left corner of the app. ROVA will lift off and hover in place until you use the onscreen joysticks to fly it up, down, left, and right.

Once you go through the steps I mentioned above and the propellers are spinning, you can press the up/down arrow icon in the lower left corner of the app. ROVA will lift off and hover in place until you use the onscreen joysticks to fly it up, down, left, and right. That’s what is supposed to happen, but what happened every time I tried it was that the drone would lift off the ground about 3-4 feet, and then on its own, it would start trailing off left or right a few feet and land. At that point, I would try to fly again but the app would freeze. I would have to kill the app, pop out the battery on the drone, pop it back in and try the whole connection sequence again. I did these same steps over and over again over the course of several days with no positive results. I tried using the other battery, making sure the batteries were freshly charged, uninstalled, reinstalled the app on the iPhone, etc. No joy.

In the handful of super short flight sessions that I had, I was able to catch one video that at least shows the image quality.

See it in action (sorta)

It’s a shame this little drone doesn’t work because the image quality is actually pretty decent.

I sent 2 emails to the PR person who sent me the ROVA for review and I have yet to receive a response after days of waiting.

I looked for more info on ROVA’s own website but their FAQ page brings up a 404 page not found message. I also went to the ROVA page on Amazon and read a few reviews there that mentioned some of the same frustrations that I had.

Final thoughts

My final thoughts can be summed up in 3 words: Don’t Buy It.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by ROVA. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.

 

Product Information

Price: $199.00
Manufacturer: ROVA
Retailer: Amazon
Pros:
  • Comes with a zippered case
  • 16GB micro SD flash card is included
Cons:
  • Won't fly more than 3 – 4 feet above ground if you're lucky enough to get it to fly at all
  • App has to be restarted with each flight
  • Have to put in drone's WiFi password almost every time you use it

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ROVA Flying Selfie drone review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 15, 2017 at 4:21 pm.

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Cambond X-Bass Adjustable Bass Bluetooth speaker review

When it comes to speakers, the saying goes: the louder the better. But sometimes loud isn’t good enough. Sometimes you want that bass to hit, or better yet, feel the rumbling lows that we don’t typically get from ordinary speakers. Of course, our typical everyday speakers can achieve the high tones in the music but most Bluetooth speakers can’t produce those punchy mids or thumping low bass. With the Cambond X-Bass Adjustable Bass Bluetooth speaker, getting that hard hitting and rumbling bass might be easier than you think.

The Cambond X-Bass Adjustable Bass speaker is a portable Bluetooth 4.0 stereo speaker that boasts a 15-watt subwoofer combined with dual 5-watt drivers which equal to 25 watts of powerful driving sound for your ears. This speaker has 4 bass levels that you can adjust accordingly. The Bass button is located on the left top side of the speaker. On the same top portion of this speaker unit are the buttons for the Previous/Next Track, Play/Pause, Talk button, Volume Up/Down, and Power.

Phone calls on these speakers are what you would expect. It sounds like a hands-free conversation. If you had the bass up prior to the phone call, the person’s voice will sound deep and bassy. If that bothers you then you will just have to turn down the bass level to bring their voice to a more normal tone. On the other end of the line, calls sounded like you were talking from a speaker. There was a slight delay but nothing bad and definitely not a deal breaker. 9 times out of 10, when talking on a speaker, you will sound like you are on a speaker anyways and this is no different. But this speaker really isn’t for phone calls, it’s for listening to music.

The X-Bass feels solid in its construction all around. It has a metal grill on the front and back, plastic top, rubber base, and the top buttons felt tight and responsive. These rectangular speakers have a dimension of 3.94″ x 9.06″ x 3.1″ inches.  The X-Bass weighs in at 2.32 lbs. so this speaker has some weight to it as compared to other similar sized Bluetooth speakers. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not super heavy but once you pick it up you will notice its weight. However, the X-Bass is still light enough and portable to throw in your backpack, messenger bag, beach bag, purse, or any other bag you want to stuff the speaker in. I like that it has small rubber feet on the bottom of the speaker to help protect the speaker from sliding around and scratching any surface you put it on.

The Cambond X-Bass speaker is powered by 6700mAh Lithium-ion batteries and according to Cambond’s website, the batteries can last 8 hours at 50% volume. I have to confess, I never really kept the volume halfway. I had the volume high.  I listened to these speakers with the volume cranked up. When you use these speakers, you will be inclined to use them the way they were intended to be; and that’s to be loud. At least that’s the way I used these speakers.

There is a 9V DC port on the bottom left side of the speaker to charge the battery or and can provide constant power to the speaker while in use. Above the DC port is a MicroUSB port which you can use as well to charge the speaker’s batteries so you have a couple of options on charging the batteries which is nice. Just in case you don’t have the 9V plug adapter with you at the time, you would be able to charge the battery via the MicroUSB port. A great thing about having the MicroUSB port is that you can plug in a portable charger just in case you are somewhere that doesn’t have a wall outlet such as at a beach, at a picnic, or sitting poolside.

When the Cambond X-Bass runs out of battery, the X-Bass will constantly beep twice every 5 minutes to remind you that the batteries need recharging. And once the battery is full, the red charging light will turn off to let you know that charging is done. It takes up to 3 hours for the battery to reach full capacity.

Although this is a Bluetooth speaker, there is an AUX IN port available. This is useful for when your music device is non-Bluetooth or isn’t Bluetooth enabled. Just connect the included 3.5 audio cable into the device’s headphone jack and the other end of the audio cable into the AUX In port on the Cambond speaker. NFC, or Near Field Communication, is also available as another form of connection to the Cambond X-Bass. Along with the 3.5 audio cable, the X-Bass comes with a MicroUSB cable, a 1A/9V adapter plug, a warranty card, and a manual.

I found the sound of X-Bass Bluetooth speakers to be loud and produced great overall sound. I really enjoyed the bass that it pumped through its speakers. Trust me, I cranked these speakers up and they really hit for the size that they are. Keep in mind that to get the best sound out of these speakers, or any other speaker, the music you are playing is the best quality recording so that the frequencies are right in order to get the full effect of hearing and feeling the bass from the speakers.

I played several type and styles of music and had different recordings from many of the songs, and they each sounded full thanks to the punchy mids and rumbling low bass. What a difference it makes listening to the full range of music coming out of portable speakers. It makes you really enjoy a song a whole lot more when the music is boosted up. And since these are portable speakers, you can enjoy the X-Bass speakers from Cambond anywhere you can bring them.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Cambond. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.

 

Product Information

Price: $69.99
Manufacturer: Cambond
Retailer: Amazon
Pros:
  • Loud adjustable bass.
  • Solid construction.
  • NFC capable.
  • Has a 3.5mm audio AUX IN port.
  • MicroUSB and 9V DC charging ports.
Cons:
  • Slightly heavier than most speakers its size.
  • Average handsfree call quality.
  • Slight delay in speaker phone response.

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Cambond X-Bass Adjustable Bass Bluetooth speaker review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 15, 2017 at 8:03 am.

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biēm butter sprayer review

How often have you tried to spread butter on toast, a baked potato, bread, etc, only to find out that it’s just too cold and hard to spread? Yeah, I know, first world problems. But it is a real problem that could use a solution. One company invented the biēm butter sprayer to solve this issue. Let’s see if it works and if it’s worth it’s $129 price tag.

What is it?

The biēm butter sprayer (pronounced as “beam”) is battery powered butter heating and spraying device that uses no chemicals or propellants.

How does it work?

As butter is loaded into the biēm, it travels down from the product’s middle carriage into a reservoir. There, the biēm has layers of ultra-thin heaters that melt the butter. Once melted, butter moves up from the reservoir to spray.

What’s in the box?

biēm butter sprayer
Battery charger
Battery pack
Quick start guide

At first glance, you might mistake the biēm butter sprayer for a stainless steel water bottle or a fancy electric pepper mill. The biēm butter sprayer stands about 10.75 inches tall and has a stainless steel

The biēm butter sprayer stands about 10.75 inches tall and the back side has a brushed stainless steel cover with a diamond shaped power button and an LED above it.

The sprayer side has a soft touch plastic covering with a hand grip and a knurled trigger in the center of the sprayer. At the top is the nozzle with an LED light above it.

The bottom of the biēm butter sprayer slides off to reveal the battery compartment where the V shaped rechargeable battery is stored.

The top of the sprayer twists off to access the butter reservoir.

Before you use the biēm butter sprayer for the first time, you need to load a charged battery and clean the butter reservoir. To clean the sprayer, you remove the top of the sprayer, fill it with warm water and a drop of dishwashing liquid. Then you put the cap back on, press the diamond shaped power button to turn it on. Then you hold down the button for 5 seconds to enter cleaning mode. You can then press the trigger to spray out the warm water for 10 seconds. Then you remove the lid, dump out the remaining water and repeat the sequence without adding soap this time.

Let’s melt some butter!

After you’ve cleaned the sprayer, it’s time to load a stick of butter. The biēm butter sprayer holds US sized sticks of butter like the one shown above.

Loading the stick into the sprayer is as easy as removing the wrapper and dropping it in the chamber.

There’s the butter, all cozy and ready to be melted.

The next step is to press the power button which has an LED around it that pulses in blue. When the light stops pulsing and is solid blue, you know that the butter is ready to spray.

To spray the butter, you grab the biēm butter sprayer in either hand and press the trigger above the curved grip.

Finding the trigger isn’t easy and I think a more obvious button would be a welcome change.

Once you figure where the trigger is, you aim and spray.

See it in action

What isn’t shown in the quick video demo is that a little bit of butter continues spray from the nozzle after you let go of the button. So if you let go and lift the sprayer to set it back down on the counter, the butter will spray on whatever is near by. You kind of have to train yourself not to move the sprayer until it stops spraying.

As you saw in the video, it took awhile to melt the butter that first time I put a brand new stick of cold butter in the chamber. I hoped that this was just a one time wait and that subsequent wait times would be significantly less. Unfortunately, even after leaving the biēm on the counter in a 73-74 degree house, each time I would use the sprayer, I’d have to wait 30-50 seconds before it was ready to spray.

I also didn’t like that I had no idea how much butter I was putting on my foods. According to the info on the biēm website, each second of spray time = .4g of butter. Yeah, that doesn’t mean anything to me either…

Final thoughts

When it’s all said and done, the biēm butter sprayer is a cool idea, but in my opinion, it’s just not worth the $129 price tag. If it instantly sprayed melted butter with no wait time and was priced around $50, I’d be more likely to want to buy one. But as it is, I think I’ll stick to sitting the cold dish of butter out on the cabinet an hour or so before I plan to use it and save the cash for another gadget.

I also read a lot of negative comments on the biēm butter sprayer Kickstarter campaign page, which also makes me leery of buying one.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Brevda inc. Please visit their site for more info.

 

Product Information

Price: $129.00
Manufacturer: Brevda inc.
Pros:
  • Sprays melted button in about a minute
  • Has a light to help you see where you're spraying
Cons:
  • Have to wait up to a minute even when the sprayer has been sitting out on the counter for days
  • Continues to spray after you let go of the button
  • Expensive

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biēm butter sprayer review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 14, 2017 at 5:50 pm.

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