Reviews – Page 55

EZVIZ CTQ3W outdoor surveillance camera review

REVIEW – EZVIZ CTQ3W outdoor surveillance camera features full HD 1080-pixel resolution, two-way audio, and integrated strobe lights and sirens.

What is it?

A high quality, sensitive video camera with night vision and all sorts of bells and whistles to protect your home and property.

What’s in the box?

Camera, base and cord
Mounting hardware
Instruction manual

Hardware specs

1920 x 1080 pixel camera resolution
Lens:
- 2.8mm at F2.2 (horizontal angle: 103° and diagonal angle: 118°)
- 4mm at F2.0 (horizontal angle: 87° and diagonal angle: 104°)

Connection: WiFi 2.4GHz or wired/ethernet
Image sensor: 1/2.7″ progressive scan CMOS
Infrared night vision: 2*850nm IR LEDs up to 98 feet
Smart features: Smart motion detection, supports audio pickup within 16 feet
Storage: EZVIZ cloud service (first month free) or micro SD card (up to 128GB)
Operating condition: -22°F to 140°F; Humidity 95% or less (non-condensing)

Design and features

Setup

We used this with our home wifi, and it was quick to connect and running in minutes. We’ve toyed with the idea of hooking it up to the ethernet, which is another option, and we probably will use a wired connection once we come up with a permanent fixed location for the camera. But right now, it’s so easy to use with wifi and move around as we want to, that we don’t feel any rush to wire it.

Storage

Similarly, we haven’t used the proprietary cloud storage system, because we found it easy and convenient (and free) to use our own micro SD card for storage. However, if you’re interested in cloud storage, your first month is free, and after that camera owners can opt to subscribe to EXVIZ CloudPlay for $5.99/month or $59.99/year for 7-day playback and $10.99/month or $109.99/year for 30-day playback.

App

Two members of our family downloaded the EXVIZ app on their phones without issue. On the app you can elect to record 24/7 or only when motion is detected. Via the app, you can also control the sensitivity for notifications, the lights and siren.

The app also lets you view up to four cameras at a time, which would be nice for a complete view of your property. We only have one camera, so we couldn’t test out this feature but could see how it would be very handy.

Instead of or in addition to using the app for monitoring the camera, it also works with Alexa and can be controlled via Echo Show. Simply ask Alexa to show you anywhere you have an EZVIZ camera. (We don’t have Alexa, so we didn’t test this feature.)

Performance

You can choose your sensitivity level 1-6 to determine when you receive a notification, with 6 being the highest sensitivity. At 6, ours was constantly triggered. Even on lesser settings, shadows or just slight changes in brightness would set it off. Ultimately, for our purposes, the lowest sensitive setting of 1 worked the best.

Using the app, you can select if you want the light to go off each time motion is detected. Or you can simply push a button on the app in realtime to trigger the light, which is billed as a strobe light, but we thought it looked more just like a flashing light. That said, in the dark, it would certainly be enough to give a would-be intruder a jolt.

The sound setting is all controlled in real-time. I should note that you can easily switch from motion-only notifications to your live camera feed. So, for example, if you’re not home but see some funny business triggered by motion, you can go directly to the live camera and, if you want to, get right on the microphone (and trigger the lights and alarm, too!) to make it very clear that you’re watching and recording every move.

The image clarity and especially the night vision are very impressive. We’ve had security cameras before and this one is a world apart when it comes to image quality.

And even though it’s geared for outdoor use, and it’s weather-proofed accordingly, we used it indoors when our dog was having some separation anxiety, and it worked great there, too.

Our only suggestion for improvement, and it’s a very minor one, is that when you use the motion-detect notification system, the app shows you the video thumbnail starting before the action (so they all look the same, like my typical backyard) and you need to watch through each video to see if it was a shadow, rabbit, falling leave or scary burglar captured in the frame. My husband noted that he had dozens of 15-second videos to watch and most were just shadows. He noted that it would have been nice on the thumbnail to see the “action” frame, like the actual bunny or masked bad guy. That way, you could quickly prioritize which ones to watch. It’s a minor issue, but it would make this camera more user friendly.

What I like

High-quality picture
Very easy to use

What needs to be improved

Video thumbnails could show peak action

Final thoughts

It’s a very impressive surveillance camera, with lots of options for wiring, storage and interactive features, making it useful for many different settings and situations.

Price: $89.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by EZVIZ.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: security camera

EZVIZ CTQ3W outdoor surveillance camera review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 17, 2019 at 10:00 am.

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Febote 1000 watt sous vide cooker review

REVIEW – There are a ton of different ways to cook. You can fry, air fry, grill, barbeque, boil, stir fry and so on. One of the trendiest cooking methods today is sous vide (pronounced soo-veed). Sous vide is French for under vacuum. Sous vide cooking places the food in vacuum bags that are immersed in a precisely temperature-controlled water bath. For years, this cooking method was primarily confined to high-end restaurants because it took costly, dedicated equipment to achieve the required temperature precision, and, it takes time. In recent years, that has changed as a number of affordable sous vide cookers have hit the market.

What is it?

The Febote 1000W sous vide cooker is a standalone cooker that clamps into your 5 – 6 gallon pot. It circulates and heats water to maintain a precise cooking temperature for a programmable amount of time.

What’s in the box?

Sous vide cooker
Instruction manual
Five cooking bags with vacuum port
Bag air removal pump
Bag clip (not visible)
Warranty and contact card

Hardware specs

Dimensions: 3.2 x 14 x 6.5 inches
Weight: 3.8 pounds
Cooking power: 1000 watts
Temperature range: 32° F – 203° F
Temperature accuracy: +/- 1° F
Minimum water depth: 2.6 inches
Maximum water depth: 5.0 inches
Pump speed: 7 – 8 liters per minute
Maximum recommended water tank capacity: 5 – 6 gallons
Input voltage: 100V to 120V AC
Power cord length: 39″

Design and features

The cooker comes with several accessories. The first is a set of five cooking bags.

The bags have a space to write the date the items were cooked and a note. This is great if you want to prep a bunch of food and freeze it. The blue circle is the air removal port. To remove the excess air from the bag, you place the included pump over the port and repeatedly pull the handle to suck out the air.

The cooker clips onto the side of your pot with the attached clamp with silicone pads.

The metal column has etched markings to identify the appropriate water level.

At the bottom of the column, we find several circulation ports where the water is pulled in, heated, and then expelled.

The control panel is located on the top and is shiny black with touch-sensitive buttons and multiple LED displays.

The buttons are used to turn the power on/off, enter the setup mode where you use the up/down arrows to raise or lower temperature and cook time and start cooking.

The LED displays show the current temp, set temp, cook (working) time, and a couple of LEDs that indicate whether the displayed temps are Fahrenheit or Celcius.

Performance

Plugging in the cooker, the current temp display comes on as does either the Celcius or Fahrenheit indicator LED.

Pressing the setup button takes you into the setting mode where you can set the cooking temperature and the cooking time. You use the up/down buttons to change the values and the setup button to cycle through temp/hours/minutes. The active field flashes to indicate you can set it. Holding the setup button for three seconds toggles the unit between Fahrenheit and Celsius.

Once you have everything set up for your specific cook, hit the start button and the cooker will start circulating and heating the water. If your water level is too high or too low, the display will show EOH or EOL and force you to power down and back up.

Once you have successfully started the cooker, it’s time to prep your food, since you have to wait for the water to reach cooking temperature. Place your food, along with any spices or other flavor enhancers into the cooking bags and press out as much air as possible. Then, use the pump to remove the rest.

Once the water reaches cooking temp, the cooker will sound a one-minute alarm to alert you. At this point, place the bags into the water and use the included clip to hold them in position so the food remains fully submerged. After that minute is over, the cooker will go into cooking mode and the cooking timer will begin counting down.

Some commentary here:

Sous vide is not fast. At all. If you’re looking for a quick meal, look elsewhere. Think of it like a low-and-slow smoker, but without the smoke. But, sacrificing speed gets you a pretty good and precise cook to your food. You absolutely cannot overcook. If your target temp is 160° F and your water bath is precisely maintained at 160° F, the food simply cannot cook beyond 160° F. It’s that simple. And, since your food is essentially vacuum sealed, it cannot dry out. That’s the attraction to sous vide – you can perfectly prepare food, but it takes a little longer. Once the cooking is done, most cooks then typically do a finishing sear on a hot cast iron pan, final broil, or other technique to finish the food.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled review…

The cook

We bought some nice sirloin strip steak and got to work. My wife marinated the steak for flavor for a few hours. I filled the pot to midway between the min/max markings.

As soon as you plug in the cooker, the display comes on with the water temp,

I set it for 1:30 cooking time and 135° cook temp and hit start. The cooker started softly whirring and the water started circulating.

One thing to note is that the power cord is about 39″ long. This means that you have to have a power outlet within that distance from wherever you plan to cook. Since the cooker generates all the heat, you don’t need to cook on the stove, so that shouldn’t pose an issue. Just place your pot on a hot pad or trivet near a power outlet.

While the water heated up, I pulled the steaks from the marinade, put salt and pepper on both sides and put them into the cooking bags with a little rosemary and thyme. Once in the bags, I put the vacuum pump over the blue valve and pulled out the remaining air.

A note here – there were no instructions on how to use the bags and pump included in the instruction manual. Granted, it isn’t exactly rocket science, but for those unfamiliar with things like this, putting it in writing would be nice.

The included bags and pump worked well, but you can use any zipper seal bag by using the immersion vacuum method. Partially seal the bag and slowly immerse the bag into a water bath. The water pressure will force out the air in the bag. When the bag is nearly submerged, finish sealing the bag and you’re good to go.

The cooker took about ten minutes to heat the water. Not too shabby. About five degrees before it hits temp, it beep-beeps for a minute to let you know the cooking time is about to begin. Personally, I think the beep is pretty soft and could use a little more volume to be able to be heard easily if you’re not right next to the stove.

I clipped the two bags on the pan to keep the meat submerged as the cooker started timing. Rather than a countdown, the timer is a count-up, so you have to remember how many minutes you set it to know how much more cooking time is left. I didn’t like this. In my opinion, it should count down to zero, not up to the cooking time.

Now, the ID-10-T error. If you’re not familiar with that error, read the error code without the dashes as all letters. I’ll swear the recipe said 145° for medium. Nope – it said 135°. Whoops. So, I hit the start button, hit setup and then changed the temp down to 135° and hit start again. Unfortunately, this restarted the cooking timer. Dang. But, there’s no way that in a few minutes the steaks were up to 145°. And, since you really can’t overcook via sous vide, we should be all good.

Just before the cooking time ended, I cranked up the cast iron fry pan on the stove and got it toasty hot with a nice layer of bacon grease bubbling away. Once the timer beeped, I pulled out the steaks, patted them dry and flopped them in the sizzling fry pan for a minute or so on each side and a few seconds on each end to give everything a good sear. After shutting off the burner, I tossed in some mushrooms and onions for a quick saute and placed the steaks on the plates to rest for a couple of minutes. This is an important step as it lets the fibers in the meat contract a bit to hold in the juices, keeping the meat moist. Here is the end result.

The steak’s color was uniform throughout the steak. It was very moist as well. I’d venture to say it was moister than a grilled or smoked steak. Overall, it was a nice meal.

One thing I don’t like about sous vide cooking is that since the food is in a sealed bag, there is no way to test the meat with an instant-read thermometer to verify that the desired temperature is reached. That isn’t a criticism of the Febote cooker – just a byproduct of the sous vide method. There are many websites devoted to sous vide cooking where you can get cooking time suggestions for a variety of food.

Speaking of sous vide websites…I spent a bunch of time there looking for cooking suggestions for the steaks. Why, you ask? Febote doesn’t include any recipes with the cooker. I think this is the first food prep kitchen appliance I have ever gotten without recipes. Air fryer? Yup. Food processor? Yup. Instant Pot? Yup. Blender? Yup. Febote sous vide? Big ol’ nope. And, for me, this was an issue, since this is a very different cooking method with different prep methods and cooking times.

What I like

Fast heating time
Super quiet operation
Vacuum bags and the vacuum pump worked well

What needs to be improved

The cooking time beep could be louder
The cooking timer would make more sense as a countdown
No recipes included
No instructions for the included vacuum bags and pump
No way to check food temp – an issue with sous vide cooking and not the cooker

Final thoughts

Sous vide is an interesting addition to our cooking repertoire. We already smoke/barbeque, pressure cook, air fry, and all the usual bake, broil, stir fry options. It will be interesting to try chicken breasts as they notoriously dry out on grill or smoker.

As far as this specific sous vide cooker goes, it was easy to use, and based on our cooking results, worked perfectly. If you’ve got the time to cook using sous vide, don’t mind the count-up timer, and are adept at finding your own recipes, the Febote sous vide cooker might be the right choice for you.

Price: $79.99 direct, or $72.99
Where to buy: Direct from Febote.com and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Febote.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Cooking, Food, Home and Kitchen

Febote 1000 watt sous vide cooker review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 17, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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Doogie S90 Modular Android smartphone review

REVIEW – If you have a job that requires you to be outdoors in the elements, or in harsh environments, a ruggedized smartphone is a necessity. Trouble is that there just doesn’t seem to be many rugged smartphones on the market these days. I do have one to show you today though and it’s built like a tank on steroids. It’s the Doogee S90. Let’s check it out.

What is it?

The Doogee S90 is a ruggedized Android smartphone that isn’t just built to withstand tough environments, it’s also designed to be modular so that the functionality can be expanded.

Hardware specs

Processor: MediaTek Helio P60 octa-core 2Ghz
GPU: Mali G72 MP3 graphics processor running at up to 800MHz.
OS: Android 8.1 Oreo
Display: 6.18″ 1080 x 2246 pixels
Memory: 6GB RAM 128GB storage
Camera: 16 MP (rear) 8 MP (front)
Protection: IP68, IP69K, and MIL-STD-810G
Qi charging capability
Battery: 5050mAh
Height: 3.8 in Width 1.99 in
Weight: 10.8 oz. alone, 15.6 oz. with the extended battery module attached

What’s in the box?

If you opt for the Super bundle, the S90 and modules come packaged in a zippered rigid suitcase which is a nice touch.

Doogee S90 smartphone
Extended 5000mAh battery module (installed on the camera in this photo)
Night vision camera
Walkie talkie module & antenna
USB-C to OTG adapter
USB-C to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter
USB-C cable
Power adapter (EU style)
SIM card removal tool

Doogee is also going to offer a gamepad module but one wasn’t included with my review sample.

Design and features

First of all, the Doogee S90 is probably not a phone that a typical person would want to buy because it’s quite heavy at about 11 ounces. The heft comes from the rugged housing. This phone is built like a tank. It has a raised metal frame around the display so that a fall on a flat surface won’t crack the screen.

The back of the S90 is designed to allow for a variety of modules to attach to the back of the phone by using magnets to securely hold the module in place. This feature reminds me of Motorola moto mods for their moto Z series of Android smartphones.

The back of the phone also has dual LEDs that turn the phone into a flashlight. Below the camera lenses is a fingerprint reader.

But the problem is that when you attach the extended battery module, the fingerprint reader is covered making it no longer accessible. This really didn’t bother me because, like many phones I’ve reviewed, the fingerprint reader didn’t work well for me.

By itself without any of the modules attached to the Doogee S90, the phone weighs 10.8 ounces, but add a module like the extended battery and oh boy, it becomes super heavy at 15.6 ounces which is practically a pound.

The left side of the phone has the SIM card and micro SD card tray. The tray is recessed which makes it harder to eject than traditional phones. Included with the phone is a special SIM ejection tool that has a little hook at the end that you can use to pull out the tray.

Be aware that the Doogee S90 is a GSM phone so it will only work with GSM carriers in the US like T-mobile and AT&T (sorry Verizon). I did all my testing with this phone on the T-mobile network.

In addition to the SIM tray on the left side of the phone, there’s a custom key that you can program to perform shortcuts or launch apps. The key can be programmed to do different things based on one press, a double press, or a long press. It’s handy, for example, to program a double press to toggle the flashlight on and off.

The opposite side of the phone has three buttons, the one on the left is a dedicated shutter button to snap a picture when the camera app is open. The middle button is the wake/power button, and the button on the right (which would be the top of the phone) is the up/down volume button.

The ports on the S90 are protected from dirt and dust with covers, like the USB-C port on the bottom edge of the phone. Note in the image above, the extended battery module is attached to the phone.

I find charging port covers to be annoying to use every time I want/need to charge the phone’s battery. Luckily, the S90 can also be charged wirelessly if you have a Qi wireless charger. Note, that you’ll need to remove the extended battery in order to charge the phone on a wireless charger.

Display

The S90’s display is bright, crisp, and has vivid colors. I had no issues with touchscreen sensitivity and I enjoyed watching video, reading text, etc while testing this phone. The display is very nice.

Audio quality

The S90’s speakers are located on the bottom part of the back of the phone. Even at full volume, audio sounds clear and crisp. I enjoyed listening to video using the built-in speakers. You might be wondering if the modules will block the speakers. I’m happy to report that the extended battery and the camera modules do not block the speakers. However, the walkie talkie module does cover them.

Camera

The Doogee’s camera does a respectable job and I was surprised by how nice the images turned out. I’m not going to trade the S90’s camera for the one in my Huawei P30 Pro, but the shots weren’t bad at all.

Modules

The walkie talkie module turns the phone into an app powered communicator that will let you listen and transmit on a frequency range from 409.75 mhz – 409.9875mhz.

I played around with the module and the app but all the testing was one sided since I didn’t have anyone to talk to.

The night vision module is pretty cool. It’s able to take pictures in total darkness without using a flash. Here are some before and after samples.

The images are super grainy but still cool none the less.

Software and user interface

The S90 runs on Android v8.1.0 (Oreo) so it doesn’t have the latest version of the OS and it’s also not promised that it ever will receive any OS updates or even security updates. That said, the interface is relatively the same as regular Android if you don’t mind the silver, bronze, and black theme / icons.

Using the Doogee S90 for phone calls

I can’t comment on how well the S90 works on other networks like AT&T, but I didn’t have any major issues making and receiving calls on the T-mobile network with this phone except when I’m in my office (basement) of my house. For some reason, this phone seems to have issues holding on to the cell signal down there and on several occasions, people have tried to call me and have gotten my voice mail.

As far as call audio quality, the volume level and clarity on both sides of conversations have been just fine.

Overall performance and battery life using the Doogee S90 for day to day tasks

During a typical day, I don’t do anything too crazy with my phone. I use it to make and receive calls. Make and receive text messages, play a rousing game of Words With Friends, check my email, send emails, read books, surf, and occasionally watch a video on YouTube. For all those tasks, the S90 performed flawlessly. Apps open quickly, webpages load quickly, everything works at the speed I’ve come to expect from a smartphone.

When it comes to battery life, the Doogee S90 feels like it never runs out of juice. This is especially through if you use are using the phone with the extended battery module which adds an extra 5000 mAh to the phone’s built-in 5050 mAh battery. The phone will stay on standby for days and days between charges.

What I like

Affordable
Rugged
Expandable with modules

What needs to be improved

Heavy
Allow the extended battery to charge wirelessly

Final thoughts

Should you buy the Doogee S90? That’s the $400 question. Why $400? That’s the price of this phone. Just going by price alone, the S90 is a decent deal. Especially when you consider how rugged the phone is and the great battery life when using the extended battery module. The issues with the phone come from not knowing if it will be supported with security and software updates. My guess is that it’s very doubtful it will ever get Android v9 (Pie). That means you’ll have to ask yourself if running the latest OS version is as important as an affordable rugged Android smartphone that comes with some interesting modules. I’ll be sticking with my Huawei P30 Pro and later in the year plan to get the latest Pixel. But that’s because I personally always want the latest and greatest. What about you? Would you consider a phone like the Doogee S90? Let us know in the comments below.

Price: $399.99
Where to buy: Doogee
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Doogee.

Filed in categories: Featured Items, Reviews

Tagged: Android, Smartphone

Doogie S90 Modular Android smartphone review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 16, 2019 at 10:00 am.

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iMuto S5 Portable Solar Power Station review

REVIEW – Whenever I am out on a photo or video shoot, it is very important that I have a portable power source or power sources for my laptop, USB devices, and for charging and recharging numerous accessories. While there are many USB portable power packs available, many lack the versatility or the charge capacity to handle serving the power and charge needs for multiple devices and for extended periods of time. The iMuto S5 Portable Solar Power Station which just launched on Indiegogo looks like a possible solution and a game changer for me. Let’s see!!

What is it?

The iMuto S5 Portable Solar Power Station is a portable power solution that can power and recharge devices using common methods, such as an AC wall outlet, auto accessory power, or USB-C. It can also be charged and recharged via a solar panel using the power of the sun. It is lightweight and portable enough to be used for outdoor and indoor activities, and as standby emergency power in the case of a power outage or inaccessibility to a power source. Its features include 7 various power outlets for a total of 260W of power, all powered from its 50,000mAh built-in battery. It also has a built-in air cooling system that allows for safe charging, an intelligent Battery Management System to self-monitor, and built-in protection from overheating, overvoltage, and short circuits

What’s in the box

1 x iMuto S5 Portable Solar Power Station
1 x AC Power Supply
1 x USB-C Cable
1 x 12V DC Outlet
1 x 12 Volt Auto Cable
1 x Accessory Cable
1 x User Guide

Design and features

Specifications

On the front of the iMuto, there is the power button that turns on the LED display and all of the ports except for the AC port that has a dedicated switch.

On one side there are 3 ports. From left to right as shown below there is the DC in charging port, and 2 DC out ports.

On the 3rd side of the device, there is a USB-C input/output port and 3 USB output ports.

On the top of the iMuto, there is the AC port, with a switch and blue LED power indicator above it. There is also the carrying handle.

Below is a detailed picture of the device and its functional parts.

Performance

The first thing that I did when I took the iMuto out of the box was to plug it in to fully charge. While it did arrive with some amount of charge, I wanted it fully charged before I started my testing. Once it was fully charged, for my first test I decided to use it to power my Nebra AnyBeam portable projector which is another device that I am testing, along with a 4K Roku Stick with its power adapter plugged into the AC port. I also plugged in my smartphone to charge while binge-watching NCIS: Los Angeles via the projector. After about 6 hours of the three devices being connected to the iMuto, it seemed to have barely moved off of 100% charge. While it is easily noted that these devices do not require much power, it is exactly these types of devices that I would use this power supply for. I do not own a portable fridge nor would I likely use it for such a device. Rather, my use involves keeping 3 to 4 tablets charged, along with a couple of smartphones, a couple of camera batteries via their respective battery chargers, while powering things like my projector and Roku/Amazon sticks, etc. Occasionally, I would also need to plug in a laptop for extended use for editing or as a slideshow video source either directly connected to a TV or a projector. It may take me some time to really add a formidable stress load to “push” the capabilities of this power supply, but from initial impressions, this device is great.

The iMuto S5 is also very solidly built and is likely to withstand life inside of one of my gear bags. For my use, it is not the device that I would carry in my backpack unless I really had to. It does have some weight to it and would add too much more weight to my already heavy backpack. For this reason, a home in my gear bag will work better for me.

The picture below shows the LED display when the iMuto is fully charged and without any load plugged in. The second picture below shows all of the information that would be displayed depending on what is plugged into the iMuto.

On top of the power station, there is the AC plug and the switch that allows you to control power to it independently. There is also a Blue LED that lights when the switch is turned on.

The chart below provides some information on the approximated/expected charging/powering capabilities of this iMuto Power Station.

At the time when I received this device for testing, iMuto was not yet able to provide the complimentary solar panel for review and testing.

What I like

The build quality
The built-in battery capacity
The Solar Panel charging option
The types and number of outlets
The size

What can be improved

The solar panel should be included

Final thoughts

I have been lucky enough to test a few portable battery packs/devices like this one, and so far, this one is my favorite. The capacity of the built-in battery along with the types of power ports make it a really useful addition to my gear bag. I also love that I am able to plug in my small portable projector and my Roku or Amazon Stick and head outdoors or anywhere else without worrying about power or more importantly the longevity of my power source. The overall build quality is very solid and unlike others that I own that feel like plastic toys. I am giving this one two thumbs up!!

Price: Pledges start at $229 with rewards estimated to ship in August.
Where to buy: Indiegogo
Source: The sample for this review was provided by iMuto

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Crowdfunded, External power supply

iMuto S5 Portable Solar Power Station review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 16, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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GL.iNet GL-AR750S-EXT (Slate) and using a WISP repeater review

REVIEW – For some reason, in a very short time I’ve gone from zero travel routers to three travel routers. If you follow through my reviews, I initially purchased the TP-Link TL-WR802n, then to add further functionality I discovered the GL-iNet GL-300N-V2 and after reading my review, GL.iNet was kind enough to send me their latest model travel router, the GL-AR750S (Slate). It’s worth noting that the Slate was awarded a CES 2019 Innovation Award HONOREE in the Cybersecurity and Personal Privacy product category. As such I’m going to do a review of the AR750S, compare it to their MT300N and then demonstrate some of the advantages of using a travel router. Is this my last attempt to find the “ultimate” travel router? Read on…….

Once again I’m not going to go into all the technical details as you can get these at the GL-iNet GL-AR750S website.

The slate is nicely packaged in a plain black box with a slip off sleeve.

What’s in the box?

They include the router (funnily enough), a power 5V/2a power supply with appropriate country plug, a micro-USB cable and an ethernet cable, and some quick start guides. Personally while I love the packaging it’s just gonna go in a drawer.

On the front, there are three discrete LEDs; power, 2.4Ghz activity, and 5Ghz activity. They’re very discrete and you can only really see them when you’re looking straight on to them, not like some disco light LEDs on “full size” routers. The unit has 2 x 2 dBi non-detachable (though you can if you disassemble the unit) but fold up/down antennae for better performance.

On the back, there are 3 GB ports that are as standard configured as 1 WAN and 2 LAN but you can make it 3 LAN ports. This is currently the only travel size router that has GB ports, most of the rest only have 10/100. Gigabit ports might be overkill in a hotel/free WiFi situation however if you need to plug in wired devices and shift large files like at a trade show or something, they will be a bonus. There’s a USB 2 port for USB stick or USB 4G MiFi device, and finally a micro-USB port for power. Unlike the small Mango, the Slate takes 5V/2A compared with 5V/1A.

On the left-hand side is a micro-SD/Transflash slot which supports up to a 128GB card. Note you actually put the card in, what I consider, “upside down” (contacts on the top) and there’ s no indication on the unit as to which way to put it. The slot isn’t hot plug either, so if you insert a card you do have to reboot your router. Again note the folding antennas.

On the right-hand side, there’s a switch which can be programmed (normally for VPN on/off) and a reset switch. A short press will attempt to “repair” your network and a long press will reset the router to factory default.

Slate versus Mango:

The Slate is 100mm X 68mm X 24mm and weighs in at 86g compared with the 39g of the Mango. While it’s bigger than the Mango it’s still small enough to throw into your gadget bag or even your pocket. The Slate has the following major differences over the Mango:

Better processor (useful especially when using OpenVPN)
Micro SD slot
2.4Ghz and 5Ghz band
External Antennas
Gigabit ports

Setting up a WISP repeater session:

So here’s a (very non-technical) diagram of what WISP mode does. You connect to a WiFi network via WiFi on your mobile router and it creates a LAN on the other side with a firewall in between and clients on a different subnet. Your client devices are now on their own LAN segment and on a completely different subnet ( 192.168.8.x) from the source WiFi network (10.0.0.x). Only traffic destined for my own LAN will traverse the firewall on the AR750s. You can load things onto the travel router like perhaps an OpenVPN or Wireguard VPN service so all devices go through it, a global ad blocker, share a USB stick of music, movies or photos. Only people attached to the WiFi LAN will have access, especially important if you’re on “free” hotel wifi or similar.

Setting up in WISP mode is easy as…

Login
Go to “Repeater” and hit “Scan”
The router will go off and scan for any available WiFi networks
You can then choose whichever network you need to connect to (note there’s a 5G network as well)

Put in the password to the network you want to connect to
Click “Join”

And away you go.

If there’s a login screen to validate your usage like many hotels or coffee shops have you should only have to do this once with your first attached device. After that, all your attached devices should just attach no problem (including things like Chromecasts, Fire Sticks etc).

Once again, it’s the same overlay over OpenWRT as the Mango, so if you’ve got one GL-Inet device you can easily work out others.

The other nice thing is there’s an option which I didn’t refer to in my last GL-iNet review, to remember your WISP networks, so if you bounce between regularly used ones you shouldn’t have to set up again. Personally, I would only be saving those that you do use frequently and that are a bit more “trustworthy” like at work or home. No need to rescan and set up all the time.

WISP Mode speed:

So what’s the advantage of a dual-band router when traveling and using in WISP repeater mode? In a single band router, you attach to your WISP source and your bandwidth is shared between repeating the source signal and transmitting your LAN. People indicate that you’ll probably lose half your bandwidth to the repeater however, in reality, I’ve seen about 1/3 bandwidth loss. Below are some Speedtest figures that show the advantage of using a dual-band router where you repeat on one band and transmit your LAN on the other.

So here’s my speed connected with my phone directly to the source WiFi router and standing right next to it on the 2.4Ghz band.

Here’s my speed in a remote area of the house connected to directly to the source router on 2.4Ghz. There’s a few walls and doors between the device and the base router and you can see the effect it’s having on my speed.

In the remote area I’ve used a WISP repeater connection to router on the 2.4Ghz band and then connected to the 2.4Ghz LAN network. You’ll see there’s a drop in speed compared with connecting directly to the base router. Remember the 2.4Ghz on the AR750s is now not only servicing my WiFi LAN connection but also “bridging” between the two routers. I normally see about a 1/3 drop in speed approximately. This is around the same speeds I’d expect from the Mango as this only supports the 2.4Ghz band. So the speed might not be there, in fact we’ve taken a drop, but the security as described above is.

So what if you want speed AND security? I’m in the same remote area of the house above however here I’ve got the WISP repeater attached on the 2.4Ghz band and I am attached to my LAN on the 5Ghz bandwidth. The 2.4Ghz WiFi LAN network is turned off. Here the 2.4Ghz band isn’t doing anything except bridging between the two routers. This is the big advantage of a dual-band router when using WISP repeater mode; one band for bridging, the other band for LAN.

Summary:

I’m really impressed by the GL-AR750S. It’s a faster processor, external antennae, micro-SD slot, and dual-band makes this not only useful for traveling but also at home. In fact currently, I’m house sitting and been moving houses quite a bit. The GL-AR750s has been great for this as rather than having to connect all my devices to the house network each time we move I just connect my devices to the GL-AR750s and then WISP to the house network. That way I don’t have to change anything except linking the Slate once to the house network. Between my wife and I that’s probably 8-10 different devices including things like a Chromecast and an Android TV media box. When we move, we just connect the GL-AR750s once to the new house network and away we go. Additionally, I’m using the micro-SD to operate as an SMB media server and ad-blocking all connections on the router itself.

And my Mango? Still a great functional little travel router. It will remain my EDC travel router that’s left in my gadget bag when I’m out and about. It’s smaller size and lower power consumption means it’s easier to carry and will last longer on my powerbank or when attached to the USB port of my Surface Pro. If I’m going on holidays though I’ll be taking the AR750s even though it’s bigger for its added micro-SD slot and better performance.

In my opinion, the Slate (GL-AR750s) is highly recommended especially as a travel router but is also useful for home use either as an access point or repeater or bridge or VPN Server or media server or even as the main router. It’s definitely very flexible and packs functions and features that punch well above its size.

I don’t think I’ll be looking for any more travel routers in the near future, think I might already have my “Goldilocks” pair

Price: $69.99
Where to buy: The GL-AR750S is available direct from GL-iNet and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by GL-iNet

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Routers

GL.iNet GL-AR750S-EXT (Slate) and using a WISP repeater review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 16, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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