Reviews – Page 304

ECOXGEAR EcoBoulder Bluetooth speaker review

Grace Digital must have adopted the slogan, “Go big or go home,” because the EcoBoulder Waterproof Bluetooth speaker from their ECOXGEAR speaker line is, well—B.I.G. This thing is huge—and heavy. The EcoBoulder comes with a retractable handle and wheels. From a distance, it could easily be mistaken for a small travel suitcase. It also doubles as an AM/FM radio, P.A. system and most importantly, is affordable. In fact, the EcoBoulder is one of the more wallet-friendly large Bluetooth speakers available. With all that going for it how does it sound compared to other large portable Bluetooth speakers?

Let’s get this out of the way first—I’ve reviewed a couple of larger (but not this big) Bluetooth speakers and both are more refined and richer sounding with sharper bass than the EcoBoulder. However, both the Monster Blaster and Braven BRV-XXL cost a LOT more than this monster (pun intended). And what you get for your money with the EcoBoulder is quite impressive.

The all-black shell of the EcoBoulder is hard plastic all-around. I was hoping for metal speaker grills for better protection, but those are plastic, also. Two carrying handles are rubberized for easy grip, but the less you have to carry the EcoBoulder, the better. It’s just easier to wheel it around. The top of the speaker has a non-slip rubber mat for setting a smartphone on as well as a rear slot for holding up a tablet, however, it’s too small for the larger iPad Pro. Even with all this plastic, the EcoBulder looks and feels durable for wet and dirty outdoor use.

Let’s go over some specs: The EcoBoulder is 100% waterproof and dust proof. It’s rated IP67—that means that it can be dropped into a pool or lake with no worries. And even though it weighs 27 lbs., it floats. It sports a 100-watt amplifier driving a 3” tweeter, 8” full range and 8” passive rear woofer speakers. There is 10 hours of rechargeable battery life built in and can charge a smartphone and/or tablet via two USB ports (charging devices will shorten battery life). Recharge time is about 7-8 hours.

The EcoBoulder’s 4.1 Bluetooth is rated at a max distance of 100 ft. This is a better dependable range than I ever got with the more expensive Braven XXL. Here’s something to keep in mind: I noticed that if I ran Bluetooth from my iMac, it sounded much weaker than if it was wired directly to the headphone out port. However, Bluetooth from my iPhone 7 Plus was much stronger and clearer than hard-wired using the lighting port with Apple headphone adapter. I can only guess that the iPhone’s newer Bluetooth is more compatible with the EcoBoulder than my older iMac is. If you plan to use the EcoBoulder for outdoor parties, Bluetooth should work great. Note that there is a built-in water-sealed compartment complete with extra AUX input and USB charging output than can hold and protect any connected smartphone. Not only is the speaker waterproof, but now your phone can be too.

The other side of the EcoBoulder houses two separate water-sealed areas for the main power port and AUX/USB/Mic ports. Note that all sealed doors must be closed to keep the waterproof rating.

The AM/FM radio is a nice addition. Even though sound quality from radio doesn’t approach wired or Bluetooth, it’s handy to have for any sports, talk radio or other programming without using a smartphone’s battery. There’s also six digital presets for easy station switching.

Those radio presets—along with the rest of the EcoBoulder’s top buttons are backlit. That’s a good thing because it’s handy in the dark, plus there are a lot of buttons on this speaker: AM/FM switch, forward/reverse station search, backlit on/off, master volume toggle switch, source (Bluetooth, radio, AUX1, AUX2), Bluetooth pairing, master on/off, source pause/play and skip, and finally, a stereo button for pairing to a second EcoBoulder for true stereo Bluetooth (ECOXGEAR calls it EcoConnect).

Speaking of pairing for stereo Bluetooth—you can buy two EcoBoulder speakers for about the same price as one Braven XXL or Monster Blaster speaker. (Cosco price) That’s a lot of stereo boom for just a few bucks.

As I said earlier, the EcoBoulder resembles a small suitcase. Its wheels and retractable handle make it easy to take just about anywhere you want, especially since it’s heavy to carry.

Because the EcoBulder is designed for outdoor use, audio quality isn’t as good as some more expensive Bluetooth speakers. But let’s be fair: The EcoBoulder sounds absolutely fine for its purpose. What it lacks in sound quality, it makes up for in volume—perfect for outdoor parties and get-togethers. Understand that any audio nuances are lost in the open outdoors anyway, so why quibble about it? What you want is for everyone to be able to hear the music and that’s where the EcoBoulder’s 100 watts of audio power shines.

While 100 watts of volume will carry over a long distance, bass will suffer. Up close, the EcoBoulder has plenty of thump, but walk a few yards away and bass drops off significantly. That’s not the speaker’s fault—it’s physics. Lower frequencies need things to bounce off of to achieve that “bass” sound. When outdoors, audio has nothing to reflect its sound waves, so it just keeps going and going until it dies out.

With the EcoBoulder, ECOXGEAR has made a speaker perfect for its intended use. They didn’t try to fight the laws of physics with expensive gear or digital trickery that can compromise audio in a bad way. They just made a durable speaker that sounds good and loud for whatever excuse you can come up with to play music outdoors.

Think about it: here’s a good sounding speaker that’s weatherproof, will keep your Spotify enabled smartphone dry and charge it at the same time so the party can go on just about forever. Why try to do more?

Source: The sample for this review was provided by ECOXGEAR. It sells for $249.99. It’s available for Costco members for $179.99. Please visit their site for more information and check their Amazon store for other ECOXGEAR speakers.

Product Information

Price:	$249.99 ($179.99 at Costco)
Manufacturer:	ECOXGEAR
Retailer:	Costco
Pros:	Inexpensive (from Costco) Big and loud Has retractable handle and wheels Included AM/FM radio Waterproof
Cons:	Bass not great over distance (but sounds good close up) Plastic speaker grills Heavy Max volume can be harsh sounding

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV, Bluetooth Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Bluetooth speaker

ECOXGEAR EcoBoulder Bluetooth speaker review originally appeared on on March 21, 2017 at 8:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

ADATA AI910 Card Reader Plus review

I have a lot of devices. There, I said it. Each has a purpose, but all share one common need for data, whether that is supplying it in the form of pictures (my Nikon S220 camera) or consuming it as video (my iPad and Android tablet). The problem is that each has a different connector and a different way of getting data on or off the device. This has required a variety of solutions to move data directly without using a single device as a central hub (like my MacBook Pro or my Surface Pro). That is until I was introduced to the ADATA AI910 card reader. The packaging says that it works with iOS, Android, and Windows. Conspicuously absent from that list is macOS. Let’s see whether this reader lives up to the claim.

The device

The reader can handle both standard SD cards as well as microSD. That should cover most device needs. Note, though, that the reader cannot simultaneously access both types – if you insert both an SD card along with a microSD, the default for the device is to use the SD card. The same rule applies to external connections. If you try to connect the reader to multiple devices (say, your Windows laptop and your iPad), the reader will default to the Lightning connector and ignore any other connections. That behavior is expected, so nothing unusual there. Just interesting to note in that you can’t use this device as a pass-through data transfer unit.

Somewhere between the 2 card slots, there is a blue LED that lets you know the device is being accessed. If you have an SD card in the slot and that card is facing up, then the device oddly is upside down – that is, the logo is now down, which in turn makes the light less visible. The next picture illustrates this – the device itself is what I would consider to be “top side up” and as you can see, the SD card label is facing down. This would allow you to see the LED flashing, though. Just seems a little like an odd orientation.

Looking at the front of the device, the Lightning connector is hard-wired into the top. There is a micro USB port on the left side, and a supplied cable plugs into either a standard USB type A connector or another micro USB port. It is kind of ingenious how they have built the device end of this cable – instead of 2 device cables, the top of the USB type A lifts to reveal the micro USB plug.

My only concern with this is simply that cables get lost, and small, essential cables even more so. I searched the Internet briefly and could not find a USB micro to micro cable, so hopefully, if you lose this ADATA will sell you another – otherwise, you would lose the ability to connect the reader to any micro USB host (like most Android phones or tablets). Also, ADATA does not appear to have a USB type C solution. At the moment, that is not as big a problem as it would seem – it affects only a smallish segment of users like late model MacBook and MacBook Pro users or Google Nexus/Pixel owners. Still, something to keep in mind if you own a device with the latest USB type C connector.

Windows

To test the card reader, I used an ADATA supplied and branded 32GB Class 10 SD card. According to the label on the card, this should be capable of 95 MB/s reads and 45 MB/s writes. Of course, the ability to achieve those speeds is not always within reach as a lot will depend on the type of port you will plug in to, the number of other devices competing for bandwidth on that channel and on. For this test, I plugged the card into an Amazon Basics USB 3 10 port hub with 6 other devices simultaneously connected, ranging from a Logitech web cam to a Dymo LabelWriter. The hub was connected to a Microsoft Surface Dock which in turn was connected to a Surface Pro 4 via the proprietary (and also under the hood, USB) connector. The card was formatted as FAT32 and not exFAT just because I really wanted to cripple this test.

All of that to say this setup should bring the card reader to its knees in terms of read and write speeds. I used the free SpeedOut utility to benchmark. I was surprised by the results – approximately 31 MB/s reading and 26 MB/s writing. Not stunning performance, but honestly better than expected given the circumstances. The following is the average of 6 tests – once I managed to get reads up to 46 MB/s, but for the most part this is what I saw.

The verdict? It should be fast enough for all but the most demanding of people – like, perhaps, professional photographers who are pushing 256GB worth of images at a time. The device shows up as a standard external drive in Windows 10 – no special drivers to load. Checkmark in the Windows column.

macOS

The packaging does not specifically name macOS as a supported operating system, but I didn’t see any reason why this would not work. Using my MacBook Pro (early 2015 running Sierra), I plugged the device directly into the laptop, and within a second or so, the card mounted and was visible. I did not benchmark on macOS, but the card reader felt snappy and responsive. I copied a 2.5GB 1080p MKV video of The Hunt for Red October from a network share to the SD card in a little under 3 minutes. Not bad at all, and a checkmark in the macOS column (the virtual one since ADATA did not say it would work).

Remember, though: my MacBook Pro is not the 2016 model. I have USB type A ports where the newer model has only type C.

Android

Next, I plugged the card into my Nikon camera and took about 20 pictures of my dogs. What can I say – Steve and Edie are cute.

My Nikon S220 does not have built-in wifi or pretty much any native way to get images from the camera to the cloud. Long ago I lost the special data cable (see what I mean about external cables?), so every time I want to get images from the camera to Google Photos, for example, I use the tried and true “sneaker-net” – remove the card and follow a set of steps with my laptop to get the images into the cloud. This meant I would have to wait until I got back to my laptop and that I had Internet connectivity.

I removed the card from the camera, plugged it into the ADATA reader and then using the extended data cable I plugged the reader into my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. The device was recognized as an OTG (or On The Go) device type and in a couple of seconds, the card was mounted as external storage on the phone without the need for any special drivers or applications. I opened Google Photos, and within another second or so, my images were on the way to the cloud directly from the reader. Nice. I also copied a video from my phone’s storage to the card.

Checkmark in the Android column.

iOS

Things are a little different in the iOS world, but not overly cumbersome. In order for the reader to work on an iPhone, iPod or iPad, you must first load ADATA’s special reader application called i-Memory. No, I don’t know why it is called that, either. Regardless, a quick download and install from the app store and iOS was ready for the reader.

After plugging the reader into my iPad Air 2 via the Lightning connector and running the i-Memory app, the card mounted as external storage. The app gives you the option of backing up your camera roll to storage or copying items to the tablet’s internal storage. Instead of doing either, I opened the video player app and played the video I copied from my network under Windows. It was apparent the player buffered the video by the delay starting it, but once playing it was smooth and glitch-free.

Checkmark in the iOS column.

Final Thoughts

The ADATA Card Reader Plus is a solid performer that works well with every platform it says it will and with one it doesn’t even mention. At $49.95 retail, it is a little more expensive than other options, but then most of those options do not offer the cross-platform capabilities this reader does. Other than the possible loss of the external data connection cable, there no real downsides to this device. And if you have a need to transfer files between a variety of devices, the AI910 is a great choice.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by ADATA. For more info visit their site and Amazon to price check.

Product Information

Price:	$49.95
Manufacturer:	ADATA
Retailer:	Amazon
Pros:	Solid performer Compact size Reads the 2 most common card types Works with macOS even though it is not specifically named
Cons:	Connector cable for Windows and Android easy to lose

Filed in categories: Android, iOS, Reviews

Tagged: Memory Card Reader

ADATA AI910 Card Reader Plus review originally appeared on on March 20, 2017 at 10:08 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Folditflat Unitensil 3-in-1 reusable and foldable eating utensil review

If you’ve ever found yourself in a situation where you have some food, but no spoon, fork, or knife to help you eat it, you might want to consider adding the Unitensil from Folditflat to your arsenal of EDC tools.

What is it?

The Folditflat Unitensil is a 3-in-1 reusable and foldable eating utensil that has a spoon, fork and a knife all in one piece of cutlery.

Design and features

The Unitensil (I don’t even want to try to say that three times fast), is a lightweight alternative to the spork. It offers the same features as a spork, with a spoon, fork, and knife, but it folds up into a handy flat package that can be easily carried in a pocket or gear bag.

The Unitensil is made of food grade polypropylene which is BPA phthalate and lead-free. It’s also recyclable (#5) and dishwasher safe.

Using the Unitensel

To use the Unitensil, you just remove it from the protective sleeve, unfold it, and snap the center together. The snap closure is very strong and will not unsnap on its own.

Once it’s snapped, all that’s left to do is eat!

I tested the Unitensil with a variety of foods like my morning steel cut oats that you see above.

This eating utensil worked fine as a spoon. It wasn’t as “comfortable” as using a regular spoon due to the way you have to hold it, but that wasn’t a big deal.

Sometimes the oatmeal would get wedged in the slot near the snap, which was a little hard to dislodge without some tongue contortions.

I also tested the Unitensil as a fork with a pasta, broccoli and chicken dish. The fork worked fine at spearing the soft noodles and broccoli. I had a little trouble with the chicken though, especially cutting larger pieces using the serrated edge of the fork because it’s really awkward to try to cut a piece of meat with just a knife when nothing is holding the meat.

I realized immediately that the Unitensil is for right handed people. I’m left handed. When I went to try to cut a piece of chicken, The serrated edge of the knife was along the top edge of the fork instead of the bottom edge. So I had to switch to holding the Unitensil in my right hand which made cutting even more awkward.

I also tested the Unitensil’s spoon eating soup. It worked fine with thick soups, but for thin soups, the broth could travel backward down the handle under the snap to the other end of the utensil when I would lift the soup to my mouth if I wasn’t careful.

Final thoughts

I think the Folditflat Unitensil works pretty well as a travel spoon and fork. Is it perfect? Nope. But you’re not going to care if you’re hungry and need a tool to get food in your belly. And although I’d probably prefer using a spork, the Unitensil is lighter weight and smaller than a spork, so it’s a slightly easier to add to your EDC. I’ve added the Unitensil to my EDC for my next oops-I-need-a-spoon moment.

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

Product Information

Price:	$21 for a package of 6 which includes shipping
Manufacturer:	Folditflat
Pros:	Lightweight Small enough for a pocket or bag Easy to use
Cons:	Not great for thin soups Not optimal for lefties when using the knife

Filed in categories: Reviews, Travel Gear

Tagged: Cutlery

Folditflat Unitensil 3-in-1 reusable and foldable eating utensil review originally appeared on on March 20, 2017 at 7:28 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

ec-bc luggage, Apple iPads, iPods, and more – Review updates

This batch of review updates covers some devices that are almost 10 years old! How’s that for long-term use info? That’s actually the whole point of these regular review updates. It’s a way to let you know how well a product stands the test of time. Click through to see a list of the reviews that have been updated and then find the update at the bottom of each review.

ec-bc Sparrow II Wheeled Garment Bag review by Bill Henderson

Flosstime automated floss dispenser review by Julie Strietelmeier

mStation Orb 2.1 Stereo iPod Speaker review by Julie Strietelmeier

Apple iPod Classic 6th generation review by Julie Strietelmeier

Apple iPad 2 Review by Janet Cloninger

Apple iPad (3rd Generation) Review by Julie Strietelmeier, Janet Cloninger and David Rees

Product Information

Price:

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: review updates

ec-bc luggage, Apple iPads, iPods, and more – Review updates originally appeared on on March 19, 2017 at 11:01 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

SCOTTeVEST OTG Jacket review

Clothing isn’t a topic that normally comes to mind when you think about technology and gadgets, but one particular brand of clothing has made a name for itself in exactly that niche. SCOTTeVEST products have been well known for years for one main reason… pockets! Their jackets, vests, shirts, pants and other garments have been designed with pockets that hold all of your gear while you’re on the go. The newest SeV product that I’ve had the opportunity to review is their women’s OTG jacket. Let’s take a look.

What is it?

The OTG (“Off the Grid”) jacket is an insulated jacket that is available for both men and women. The men’s version of the OTG jacket is available in black or midnight blue and in sizes S to XXXL. The women’s version of the OTG is available in black and plum and in sizes XS up to XXL. Both jackets have 29 different pockets.

Design and features

I was sent the women’s version of the OTG jacket in plum in size medium. The jacket is made of 100% ripstop nylon and features an attractive diamond quilted pattern with a flattering tapered fit. The jacket is machine washable and has been treated for water and stain resistance.

Unlike some of SCOTTeVESTs previous garments, the OTG’s branding is not in your face. The branding is very subtle, with a SeV pocket logo embroidered on the back of the collar. There’s also a small metal logo badge sewed to the left sleeve in the shoulder area and some labels on the inside of the jacket.

The OTG jacket has a 3.5-inch tall collar that has a microfiber-style soft lining.

The collar can be zipped completely to the top and there’s a “hood” that covers the edges for comfort.

So many pockets!

Pockets accessed from the exterior

The OTG jacket has 29 pockets. Let’s see if I can list them all.

There are two Rapid Access Panels on either side that are accessed through vertical zippers that have a 1.5-inch long metal zipper pulls.

Running pocket count: 2

Inside each Rapid Access Panel is a second vertical zipper that opens into one large pocket that is big enough to hold a small laptop, tablet, a magazine, etc.

I tried to put my 13 inch MacBook Pro into the laptop pocket, but it was a little too large to fit. But my Dell XPS 13 fit just fine as well as tablets like the iPad mini and the Samsung Galaxy S Tab 10.5.

Running pocket count: 4

Inside the other section of the Rapid Access Panel on each side is a large open topped pocket with two smaller open topped pockets on top of it. The larger pocket is wide enough to hold an iPad mini and the two smaller pockets on top are large enough to each hold a Nexus 6P. The outside top edge of these three pockets

The outside top edge of the three pockets has a strip of Velcro (fuzzy) side and there’s a large elastic band inside the right side Rapid Access Panel pocket that can be used to hold a water bottle.

Running pocket count: 10

The OTG jacket has microfiber lined zippered hand warmer pockets on both sides. Inside these pockets is a small key-sized pocket that with a Velcro secured top.

The right hand warmer pocket has a removable key clip on a coiled cord.

The microfiber lined pockets are warm, but I am not a fan of this type of lining because my hands get dry during the winter months and they snag on the lining when I insert my hands in the pockets. This doesn’t hurt the lining, it just feels icky.

Running pocket count: 14

Pockets accessed from the interior

More pockets can be found when you unzip the jacket. Each side has a similar set of pockets that include a see-thru, touch-thru smartphone pocket that is large enough to comfortably hold a Nexus 6P.

Running pocket count: 16

On the zippered edge of both sides is a pen pocket that is large enough to hold one to two pens each.

Running pocket count: 18

If you look closely, you’ll see embroidered icons that tell you what each of the pockets has been designed to hold.

You will also notice the gray plastic clip in the image above. That’s part of the jacket’s PAN (Personal Area Network) system that allows you to wire headphone and power cables through specially-designed channels that prevent cables from tangling and looking sloppy.

There are also two small earbud holder pockets at neck level on both sides.

Running pocket count: 20

Below the see-thru, touch-thru pocket on the left side of the jacket are two horizontal zipped pockets. The top one is a large 10 x 10 inch sized pocket with a small lip balm sized vertical pocket with a Velcro closed top.

Running pocket count: 22

The zippered pocket below the 10 x 10 inch zippered pocket is a 10 x 6 inch mesh pocket with an ID pocket sewed to it.

Running pocket count: 24

Inside the mesh pocket is a removable RFID blocking pocket with a Velcro flap.

Running pocket count: 25

On the opposite side of the jacket is a vertically zippered pocket with a glass cleaning cloth attached to an elastic cord.

Below that is a horizontally zippered pocket that has two sections and another lip balm sized pocket inside it.

Another surprise I found in one of the pockets was a stack of SCOTTeVEST “trading cards” each featuring a geek hero like Steve Wozniak, Leo LaPorte and more.

Running pocket count: 29! I found all the pockets. Yay me!

The SeV OTG jacket has a few other nice features like cinch waist adjusters.

And elastic cuffs on the sleeves.

Here I am wearing the SCOTTeVEST OTG jacket sized medium. For reference, I’m 5’6″ and weigh 128 lbs. I could probably wear size small but I don’t like jackets that are too tight because I like to wear sweaters in the colder months.

Speaking of cold weather, I’ve worn this jacket almost every day for the past month. This winter has been pretty mild, but we’ve still had plenty of sub 30F days. The OTG jacket has kept me warm enough during my walks into and out of my day job office building to and from the parking lot which is about a 2 block walk give or take.

The images above are without any gear in the jacket.

I decided to load up the OTG jacket with most of the items that I normally carry in my Peak Designs Everyday Messenger bag. If you want a full description of my EDC, check out my recent EDC Update post.

And here I am with all the gear stowed away in the jacket. Did it feel bulky carrying everything? Yes, a little. The Leuchtturm1917 A5 notebook was the most noticeable item and it made sitting down feel a little awkward with it in one of the Rapid Access Panel pockets. That said, it was liberating to ditch my everyday gear bag and just throw on the jacket. I don’t see myself completely ditching a bag since I take my breakfast and lunch to work with me Monday through Friday and there’s no room in the jacket for containers of oatmeal.

Final thoughts

SCOTTeVEST has another winning jacket with the OTG. It looks nice, well made, is comfortable to wear, and offers 29 pockets to carry your EDC without needing a separate bag.

I think this jacket is great for travel or equally nice for everyday use. Either way, the SeV OTG jacket might demote your favorite gear bag to the closet.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by SCOTTeVEST. Please visit their site for more info and you can find them on Amazon too.

Product Information

Price:	$215.00
Manufacturer:	SCOTTeVEST
Retailer:	Amazon
Pros:	Pockets, pockets, pockets! Well made Warm but lightweight
Cons:	Can get bulky if you take advantage of all the pockets to carry gear

Filed in categories: Gear, Reviews

Tagged: tech clothing

SCOTTeVEST OTG Jacket review originally appeared on on March 18, 2017 at 11:41 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.