TechEnthusiast's stats
- Review count181
- Helpfulness votes842
- First reviewAugust 16, 2014
- Last reviewMay 10, 2024
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- Average rating4.1
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- Answer count13
- Helpfulness votes17
- First answerAugust 25, 2016
- Last answerJanuary 22, 2022
- Featured answers0
- Best answers2
Upgrade your listening experience with these JBL Everest wireless headphones. The Bluetooth connectivity lets you stream music from compatible devices, and the ergonomic design fits the unique contours of your ears. Its built-in battery on these JBL Everest wireless headphones provides 20 hours of playing time with only 2 hours of microUSB charging.
Customer Rating
5
I'm liking these headphones
on July 12, 2017
Posted by: TechEnthusiast
The headphones are comfortable. It doesn’t seem like it’s padded very much, but it was padded well enough for a comfortable extended listening experience. Overall, the headphones feel plasticky but are solidly built.
The headphones came with an awesome, molded hard shell case. They also come with a USB charging cable and an aux cable. The charging cable was bright orange like the JBL Harman logo on the box. Not my first choice in color, but it’s certainly eye catching.
Pairing was quick and seamless.
The headphones advertise 20 hours of use per charge. So far I’ve been using them infrequently for two days, and they haven’t required charging yet.
The sound is loud and crisp. Bass is good, and the sound was nice and full.
Overall, I’m liking these headphones.
My Best Buy number: 2115535767
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share this review:
+3points
3of 3voted this as helpful.
Work and play beautifully with this 13-inch 2-in-1 Dell XPS convertible laptop. Its InfinityEdge display and FHD resolution provide a portable home theater viewing experience, and it handles high-bandwidth multitasking thanks to its Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM. The 512GB solid-state drive of this Dell XPS convertible laptop secures stored applications and files. Learn more.
Customer Rating
5
A lot of laptop in a small package.
on July 10, 2017
Posted by: TechEnthusiast
This laptop brings a lot to the table in a surprisingly tiny package.
The laptop has a 13.3 inch screen, but the body is only a little bigger than a typical 11.6 inch laptop. This is accomplished by having teeny tiny bezels framing the screen. The end result is a laptop with lots of display and very little footprint.
The laptop has a 13.3 inch screen, but the body is only a little bigger than a typical 11.6 inch laptop. This is accomplished by having teeny tiny bezels framing the screen. The end result is a laptop with lots of display and very little footprint.
The laptop has two USB type-C ports and comes with a type-C to type-A adapter. One of the two type-C ports does support Thunderbolt. The only other ports on this device are a micro-SD card slot and a headphone jack. The laptop supports pen input, but it doesn't come with a stylus (unfortunately).
It's really hard to open the lid. You kind of have to pick it up and hold it like a book to pry it open. Trying it just lift the lid as it’s sitting flat on a table is an exercise in futility. The power button is a little hard to find by touch. It’s tiny and situated just up from the middle of the right side of the keyboard. As with anything this thin, it feels a little fragile. Premium build materials give it a fair degree of rigidity, but I’d still be careful when handling this screen as it doesn’t look like it could take too much abuse.
The keyboard is buttery smooth with a rubberized, soft touch feel to the keys. This feel continues on across the palm rest as well. The rubberized texture on keys feels nice, but I keep worrying that my fingernail is going to scratch it (and I have short fingernails). The keyboard is well spaced, and it has a nice satisfying key press. It does sit a little flat for my taste though. I absolutely hate the positioning of the arrow keys. I keep on hitting page down when I want to move my cursor within a document. Keyboard backlight is subtle. Settings are backlight completely off, faint backlight, and . . . really faint backlight. The touchpad glides very smoothly, but it does pick up a ton of fingerprints.
Speaking of fingerprints, the fingerprint unlock is a beautiful thing.
The battery indicator button doesn’t seem to do anything while the laptop is on and open. Battery life is a little hard to gauge. Battery life typically goes down as screen brightness goes up. The battery estimates from Windows for this laptop make no sense whatsoever. According to Windows, the estimated battery life at 40% brightness was 3.5 hours, Battery life at 60% brightness was 5.5 hours, and the battery life at 100% brightness varied between 7.5 and 10 hours and at one point dropped to 6 hours. At 60% brightness, you should be able to squeeze out around six to seven hours with moderate usage (word processing and music streaming in my experience).
Putting the screen flat back will NOT put it flush to the table top. There will be a good centimeter or so of space between it and the table. Pushing it back farther results in the screen sloping backward or the keyboard lifting up slightly. This is somewhat unfortunate for those of us who often work while standing and wouldn’t have minded using pen input on the touchscreen with the screen sitting flat and with the physical keyboard still accessible.
Screen quality is great at 1080p. Out of the box, the screen has a faint yellow / green cast to my eye. Calibration would probably go a long way to resolving this though. The laptop has a nice wide screen. Wide screens are great for media consumption, gaming, and graphic design work if you like to move your tools off of your work area. They are not ideal for working in tablet mode, eBook reading or web surfing (still perfectly adequate for these purposes though).
At the default 150% scaling, some of the fonts looked jagged and pixelated within application menus. My desktop and Microsoft Edge defaulted to 150% out of the box. I changed my desktop to 125% and Edge to 100% after playing with this for a while. Dropping down to 100% for the desktop made icons uncomfortably small. This also appears to have resolved some of the font scaling issues within applications. Icons and buttons in applications are small but usable at this scale.
The camera is unapologetically bad. I can honestly say that I will never ever use it. The angle is awkward and unflattering (up my nose or examining the bottom of my chin), and the quality is awful. If you don’t mind putting the laptop into tent mode (honestly, this mode puts my teeth on edge so I will never use it), the camera is then oriented in a position that isn’t too bad. That being said, you will lose access to the physical keyboard in this mode. Still, with wireless keyboard and mice and/or the touchscreen, this isn’t impossible to work around.
Overall operation of this laptop is smooth and enjoyable.
The laptop ran hot enough to cook an egg when I first turned it on. I downloaded some updates and some additional drivers and that issue seems to have resolved itself nicely. The laptop now operates at a comfortably warm ambient temperature.
There are apparently known software issues with the integrated graphics. The issues caused an odd white dot to appear in the upper left-hand corner at times (smack dab in the middle of the recycle bin with the default desktop positioning). Updating the Intel graphics driver seems to fix this completely.
Dell’s support site was great. I ran an auto-diagnostic to update all drivers and scan for various issues. It needed very little input from me to run.
The laptop came with the usual assortment of Microsoft bloatware. It has icons for the usual Word, Excel, Note, and PowerPoint. It also has icons for Access, Outlook, and Publisher. None of this software appears to be pre-activated for any kind of promo period though. Oddly there are two different instances of Note with different icons in the start menu. The system has one icon for “Note” and another for “Note 2016.” Otherwise system is fairly light on bloatware.
As far as performance goes, it should be noted that this comes with an i7-Y processor and not an i7-U processor. Intel recently changed their naming conventions and rebranded their Core M chips as Y processors. The processor doesn't have quite as much raw power as its U counterpart, but it's more than adequate for daily tasks. The only time I noticed any dips in performance were when I tried doing some gaming and light video editing. It managed both tasks well enough, but performance was not up to what I would consider to be i7 standards. It should be noted though that this laptop isn't intended for either of these purposes.
Hooking up to an external graphics card enclosure using the included Thunderbolt port may dramatically improve performance for these two tasks in the future.
Overall, I'm very pleased with this laptop and would recommend purchasing it if you need a premium general duty laptop for word processing, light design work, and social media.
It's really hard to open the lid. You kind of have to pick it up and hold it like a book to pry it open. Trying it just lift the lid as it’s sitting flat on a table is an exercise in futility. The power button is a little hard to find by touch. It’s tiny and situated just up from the middle of the right side of the keyboard. As with anything this thin, it feels a little fragile. Premium build materials give it a fair degree of rigidity, but I’d still be careful when handling this screen as it doesn’t look like it could take too much abuse.
The keyboard is buttery smooth with a rubberized, soft touch feel to the keys. This feel continues on across the palm rest as well. The rubberized texture on keys feels nice, but I keep worrying that my fingernail is going to scratch it (and I have short fingernails). The keyboard is well spaced, and it has a nice satisfying key press. It does sit a little flat for my taste though. I absolutely hate the positioning of the arrow keys. I keep on hitting page down when I want to move my cursor within a document. Keyboard backlight is subtle. Settings are backlight completely off, faint backlight, and . . . really faint backlight. The touchpad glides very smoothly, but it does pick up a ton of fingerprints.
Speaking of fingerprints, the fingerprint unlock is a beautiful thing.
The battery indicator button doesn’t seem to do anything while the laptop is on and open. Battery life is a little hard to gauge. Battery life typically goes down as screen brightness goes up. The battery estimates from Windows for this laptop make no sense whatsoever. According to Windows, the estimated battery life at 40% brightness was 3.5 hours, Battery life at 60% brightness was 5.5 hours, and the battery life at 100% brightness varied between 7.5 and 10 hours and at one point dropped to 6 hours. At 60% brightness, you should be able to squeeze out around six to seven hours with moderate usage (word processing and music streaming in my experience).
Putting the screen flat back will NOT put it flush to the table top. There will be a good centimeter or so of space between it and the table. Pushing it back farther results in the screen sloping backward or the keyboard lifting up slightly. This is somewhat unfortunate for those of us who often work while standing and wouldn’t have minded using pen input on the touchscreen with the screen sitting flat and with the physical keyboard still accessible.
Screen quality is great at 1080p. Out of the box, the screen has a faint yellow / green cast to my eye. Calibration would probably go a long way to resolving this though. The laptop has a nice wide screen. Wide screens are great for media consumption, gaming, and graphic design work if you like to move your tools off of your work area. They are not ideal for working in tablet mode, eBook reading or web surfing (still perfectly adequate for these purposes though).
At the default 150% scaling, some of the fonts looked jagged and pixelated within application menus. My desktop and Microsoft Edge defaulted to 150% out of the box. I changed my desktop to 125% and Edge to 100% after playing with this for a while. Dropping down to 100% for the desktop made icons uncomfortably small. This also appears to have resolved some of the font scaling issues within applications. Icons and buttons in applications are small but usable at this scale.
The camera is unapologetically bad. I can honestly say that I will never ever use it. The angle is awkward and unflattering (up my nose or examining the bottom of my chin), and the quality is awful. If you don’t mind putting the laptop into tent mode (honestly, this mode puts my teeth on edge so I will never use it), the camera is then oriented in a position that isn’t too bad. That being said, you will lose access to the physical keyboard in this mode. Still, with wireless keyboard and mice and/or the touchscreen, this isn’t impossible to work around.
Overall operation of this laptop is smooth and enjoyable.
The laptop ran hot enough to cook an egg when I first turned it on. I downloaded some updates and some additional drivers and that issue seems to have resolved itself nicely. The laptop now operates at a comfortably warm ambient temperature.
There are apparently known software issues with the integrated graphics. The issues caused an odd white dot to appear in the upper left-hand corner at times (smack dab in the middle of the recycle bin with the default desktop positioning). Updating the Intel graphics driver seems to fix this completely.
Dell’s support site was great. I ran an auto-diagnostic to update all drivers and scan for various issues. It needed very little input from me to run.
The laptop came with the usual assortment of Microsoft bloatware. It has icons for the usual Word, Excel, Note, and PowerPoint. It also has icons for Access, Outlook, and Publisher. None of this software appears to be pre-activated for any kind of promo period though. Oddly there are two different instances of Note with different icons in the start menu. The system has one icon for “Note” and another for “Note 2016.” Otherwise system is fairly light on bloatware.
As far as performance goes, it should be noted that this comes with an i7-Y processor and not an i7-U processor. Intel recently changed their naming conventions and rebranded their Core M chips as Y processors. The processor doesn't have quite as much raw power as its U counterpart, but it's more than adequate for daily tasks. The only time I noticed any dips in performance were when I tried doing some gaming and light video editing. It managed both tasks well enough, but performance was not up to what I would consider to be i7 standards. It should be noted though that this laptop isn't intended for either of these purposes.
Hooking up to an external graphics card enclosure using the included Thunderbolt port may dramatically improve performance for these two tasks in the future.
Overall, I'm very pleased with this laptop and would recommend purchasing it if you need a premium general duty laptop for word processing, light design work, and social media.
My Best Buy number: 2115535767
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share this review:
+26points
27of 28voted this as helpful.
Fill your space with rich surround sound by using this 7.1.2 channel Sony Dolby Atmos sound bar. Its S-Force PRO front surround and wavefront technology distribute dynamic, three-dimensional audio details via the included coaxial speakers. This Wi-Fi-enabled Sony Dolby Atmos sound bar supports high-definition A/V components with its four HDMI ports.
Customer Rating
4
More sound bar than I know what to do with.
on July 6, 2017
Posted by: TechEnthusiast
I’m not worthy.
This Sony Sound Bar is absolute overkill for my TV setup. I have a 43” 4K, Smart TV, and it doesn’t even feel close to being able to take full advantage of this device.
The sound bar arrived in an enormously heavy and awkwardly shaped box. Dragging it to the elevator to get it up to my top floor apartment was not a pleasant experience.
The sound bar extends a good five inches past the edge of my pedestal style TV stand. I opted for a pedestal style stand since I’m not comfortable hanging expensive electronics from my cheap plaster walls, but that proved to be a detriment with this sound bar (side note: the sound bar comes with a mounting guide and instructions to mount it if you’re more daring than myself). Placing the sound bar directly beneath my TV on the top of the pedestal ended up blocking the IR port for the remote on my TV. I ended up moving it to the shelf directly beneath that where it awkwardly extends beyond the edges of the pedestal and blasts sound into the support rails (producing a faint but noticeable buzz as the metal vibrates on heavy bass). I plan on eventually buying a new TV stand with an integrated riser to get around this problem.
The accompanying wireless subwoofer is huge. It’s actually larger than my home theater PC tower that I have sitting next to my TV stand. I’ll confess that I’m not even sure if the subwoofer is working. The light turned green indicating that it’s on and connected, and turning the subwoofer volume up and down using the included remote does indeed affect the total output volume. That being said, I am literally drowning in sound and can’t gauge the direction that all the sound is coming from. Suffice it to say, this sound bar makes for an immersive experience.
TIP: Make a note of where the HDMI input and output are BEFORE installing the sound bar somewhere awkward and hard to reach. The ports are positioned at an odd angle, and trying to wire the bar up with it wedged on a shelf and shoved up against a wall proved difficult. Also, make sure that you’re using the appropriate HDMI cable for your devices. HDMI standards have changed, and you now need a new 4K compliant cable if you’re switching from something like a 720p TV to 4K. Your devices should still work without the new cable, but you won’t be getting the best quality that your device is capable of. Fortunately, this sound bar came with a single 4K compliant HDMI cable.
Another side note: Your TV has to support HDMI ARK to take full advantage of this sound bar. If you don’t have HDMI ARK, then you can use an optical audio cable to get improved sound quality as well.
The user interface requires a display to setup and use. The sound bar has a small digital readout, but it really only tells you what menu you’re in. It doesn’t list the options themselves. The interface is quite intuitive and easy to operate.
The sound bar comes with both Chromecast Audio and Bluetooth. I do utilize both systems, but it seems a little redundant to have them both in the same device like this.
As far as web services go, this sound bar is compatible with Spotify Premium . . . the end. There is no support for Pandora, Google Music, or any other service at this time.
I have a media server for my movies, but the sound bar didn’t appear to even see it. This is probably because it only contains movies and not any compatible audio files. That being said, I didn’t test this extensively, and it’s entirely possible that additional setup was needed to access media from network storage. That being said, it did automatically identify my Blu-ray player as a network attached device.
This is a great sound bar, but I would recommend making sure that your setup is configured to work with it before taking the plunge.
Highlights:
- 43” TV too small for this.
- Pedestal style TV stand could prove problematic.
- Make sure to use 4K compliant HDMI cables, and make sure to note port positions before installing.
- HDMI ARK or optical audio are needed to get full quality with this sound bar.
This Sony Sound Bar is absolute overkill for my TV setup. I have a 43” 4K, Smart TV, and it doesn’t even feel close to being able to take full advantage of this device.
The sound bar arrived in an enormously heavy and awkwardly shaped box. Dragging it to the elevator to get it up to my top floor apartment was not a pleasant experience.
The sound bar extends a good five inches past the edge of my pedestal style TV stand. I opted for a pedestal style stand since I’m not comfortable hanging expensive electronics from my cheap plaster walls, but that proved to be a detriment with this sound bar (side note: the sound bar comes with a mounting guide and instructions to mount it if you’re more daring than myself). Placing the sound bar directly beneath my TV on the top of the pedestal ended up blocking the IR port for the remote on my TV. I ended up moving it to the shelf directly beneath that where it awkwardly extends beyond the edges of the pedestal and blasts sound into the support rails (producing a faint but noticeable buzz as the metal vibrates on heavy bass). I plan on eventually buying a new TV stand with an integrated riser to get around this problem.
The accompanying wireless subwoofer is huge. It’s actually larger than my home theater PC tower that I have sitting next to my TV stand. I’ll confess that I’m not even sure if the subwoofer is working. The light turned green indicating that it’s on and connected, and turning the subwoofer volume up and down using the included remote does indeed affect the total output volume. That being said, I am literally drowning in sound and can’t gauge the direction that all the sound is coming from. Suffice it to say, this sound bar makes for an immersive experience.
TIP: Make a note of where the HDMI input and output are BEFORE installing the sound bar somewhere awkward and hard to reach. The ports are positioned at an odd angle, and trying to wire the bar up with it wedged on a shelf and shoved up against a wall proved difficult. Also, make sure that you’re using the appropriate HDMI cable for your devices. HDMI standards have changed, and you now need a new 4K compliant cable if you’re switching from something like a 720p TV to 4K. Your devices should still work without the new cable, but you won’t be getting the best quality that your device is capable of. Fortunately, this sound bar came with a single 4K compliant HDMI cable.
Another side note: Your TV has to support HDMI ARK to take full advantage of this sound bar. If you don’t have HDMI ARK, then you can use an optical audio cable to get improved sound quality as well.
The user interface requires a display to setup and use. The sound bar has a small digital readout, but it really only tells you what menu you’re in. It doesn’t list the options themselves. The interface is quite intuitive and easy to operate.
The sound bar comes with both Chromecast Audio and Bluetooth. I do utilize both systems, but it seems a little redundant to have them both in the same device like this.
As far as web services go, this sound bar is compatible with Spotify Premium . . . the end. There is no support for Pandora, Google Music, or any other service at this time.
I have a media server for my movies, but the sound bar didn’t appear to even see it. This is probably because it only contains movies and not any compatible audio files. That being said, I didn’t test this extensively, and it’s entirely possible that additional setup was needed to access media from network storage. That being said, it did automatically identify my Blu-ray player as a network attached device.
This is a great sound bar, but I would recommend making sure that your setup is configured to work with it before taking the plunge.
Highlights:
- 43” TV too small for this.
- Pedestal style TV stand could prove problematic.
- Make sure to use 4K compliant HDMI cables, and make sure to note port positions before installing.
- HDMI ARK or optical audio are needed to get full quality with this sound bar.
My Best Buy number: 2115535767
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share this review:
+5points
13of 21voted this as helpful.
Ensure maximum comfort from this Logitech mouse. The precise ergonomic design ensures you stay comfortable throughout the day even if you're a power user, and the additional side button lets you create a custom setup. Smooth gliding is assured from this Logitech mouse thanks to the low-resistance base that slips over any surface.
Customer Rating
5
This mouse is a joy to use.
on July 4, 2017
Posted by: TechEnthusiast
I absolutely love this mouse, but it kinda threw me for a loop when I first started using it.
I first started using this mouse while I was on a break at work. I didn’t have internet access at the time, so I just hooked up the mouse to my computer via Bluetooth and went to town with it.
I did some light graphic design work with it, and I marveled at the smoothness of the side scroll wheel and the comfortable ergonomics (Side note: this mouse is clearly designed for right-handed people. This is fortunate for me, but maybe not so much for you). At first I thought that the thumb pad wasn’t seated properly, but then I discovered that it was in fact another button. After about fifteen minutes of use, I was very impressed with the mouse.
I then went home to download the Logitech configuration software to try out flow and to see what options were available for remapping buttons.
This is where things got weird.
Upon connecting to the internet and downloading the software, my button mapping changed without notice. Suddenly, the side scroll button no longer performed a vertical scroll, it was strictly horizontal. The thumb pad button stopped performing an “alt+tab” application switcher and instead opened Windows 10’s task view (which to be fair, I greatly prefer).
After taking some time to re-acclimate myself to the mouse’s new default button mapping, I still love this mouse; but I have some caveats.
I’m not loving the top scroll wheel. The side scroll wheel has a wonderful oily smooth feel to it that makes for a very comfortable scroll. The top wheel has a “clicky” feel to it that reminds me of a playing card stuck between bicycle spokes. It isn’t terribly smooth, and if you scroll too fast; it feels like a ball bearing drops into place and the scrolling suddenly accelerates. I suspect that this was designed intentionally as a “feature” and is not a design flaw. I’m not loving it though. Ironically, you can’t remap the side scroll to scroll vertically after downloading the configuration software. This is a shame since (as counterintuitive as it may seem with it being on the side) it was by far the superior scrolling experience.
The thumb pad button is a really nice touch, but I don’t like how far up on the button you have to press to trigger a click. I get that this was probably done intentionally to prevent accidental clicks, but it makes pressing the button somewhat difficult. I do love Windows task view though, and I appreciate having a single button to trigger it.
The forward and back buttons are awkwardly positioned so that they overlap each other in a “yin / yang” style shape. It’s easy enough to feel along the button to determine where to press, but if you’re working quickly it seems like an unnecessary opportunity for a mis-click. I almost never use these buttons on a mouse, so it doesn’t really impact me all that much. I may still remap these buttons to work as volume control though.
The ergonomics are just awesome. This mouse is very comfortable in the hand. I love the larger size of the mouse, but I do have to acknowledge that this diminishes its portability quite a bit.
The mouse came with very sparse instructions (a single sticker on the mouse itself illustrating how to turn it on and how to switch between devices). The mouse can pair with up to three devices via Bluetooth or the included USB dongle. Pairing was triggered the moment that I turned the mouse on, and it was largely intuitive. That being said, I do worry some about being able to change out connected devices down the road (i.e. what’s the process for swapping out Bluetooth device number 2 while keeping 1 and 3?).
Logitech Flow is far more awesome than I’d expected. I’d thought it was just a nifty way to copy on one computer and paste on another. I had no idea that it integrated so seamlessly. Using Logitech Flow, you can set it up to automatically switch from one computer to another just by going to the edge of the screen. This is great if you want to pair a laptop and desktop together for a pseudo dual monitor display. They also claim that certain keyboards will automatically switch over when your mouse switches from one computer to another. Best of all, this works on both Mac and PC. If your workflow requires that you work on both platforms simultaneously, you no longer have to have two separate sets of mice and keyboards for each computer and you can copy and paste freely between each machine. I really wish I’d had this at work back when I was juggling two machines.
All in all, I am VERY impressed with this mouse. If you do any kind of design work, this mouse is a no brainer.
My Best Buy number: 2115535767
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share this review:
+5points
7of 9voted this as helpful.
The Nunchuk controller and the accelerometer contained within help you do more in your favorite games. Enjoy immersive gameplay that lets you rely on natural motions for success.
Customer Rating
4
Great accessory
on June 16, 2017
Posted by: TechEnthusiast
Verified Purchase:Yes
I love this nunchuck. The 3rd party ones are all hit or miss. The OEM nunchuck is by far the best. I strongly recommend picking this up.
My Best Buy number: 2115535767
My Best Buy number: 2115535767
Mobile Submission: True
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share this review:
0points
0of 0voted this as helpful.
Prepare a wide variety of foods with this nonstick DeLonghi Livenza digital grill. It includes grill and griddle plates that can be switched out depending on the type of food being cooked. This 14.5-inch DeLonghi Livenza digital grill has a hinged top so you can make delicious panini, and it pairs with a digital cookbook app.
Customer Rating
5
Don't neglect the app!
on June 9, 2017
Posted by: TechEnthusiast
This DeLonghi Livenza Grill comes with an app (What doesn’t these days?). Not one for using apps with appliances, I opted to wing it without the app.
Oops.
That proved to be a mistake. This grill has a lot of options and settings, and without the app you may find yourself floundering some.
I later downloaded the app off the Google Play Store and installed it on my android phone. I found it a little worrisome that this app needed to know my identity and needed access to my photos. The app itself is useful though. You select the type of item that you’re looking to cook, answer a handful of questions about your specific piece (type of cut, size, etc . . .), and it gives you cooking instructions including temperatures and cooking times for that piece.
The grill comes with flat skillet plates and grill plates. The plates are well-constructed and remove and install easily. The plates and grease tray are both dishwasher safe, which is a huge bonus, in my mind.However, the plastic cleaning tool that comes with this grill is a joke. It’s a thin piece of poorly machined plastic with little plastic filaments coming off of it at the edges. Mine was already warped out of the box.
The instructions warn not to use this tool on the grill while the grill is hot as excessive heat may melt the tool. I would go further and add that this tool probably shouldn’t even be near the grill while it’s operational lest it melt into a puddle of plastic on your counter. I opted not to use the cleaning tool at all, and I let the grill cool completely and used a soft non-abrasive cloth to clean it instead. It took some vigorous scrubbing, but the grill seems to have cleaned off nicely.
The grill doesn’t come with any cooking utensils. The instructions clearly state not to use any metal tools with this grill (always a good rule of thumb with non-stick surfaces), so I opted to use a silicone spatula.
I don’t like cooking with oil because of the high fat and cholesterol content, and I was surprised that the instructions recommended liberally oiling various meats for best results. One of the big selling points of contact grilling has always been that it’s healthier and drains off more fats and oils than other cooking methods. This instruction seemed to fly in the face of that.
I used a modest amount of olive oil spray while cooking, and my food turned out okay. I’m relieved to report that the olive oil spray did not seem to have any negative impact on the grill plate. I’d had some concern about it burning in and leaving a permanent gunk stain on the plate the way some cooking sprays do.
I was surprised by the amount of moisture coming out of the front of this grill. I’d assumed that all of the drippings and the like would exhaust out of the back. That being said, I experienced a significant amount of condensation on the front of the grill. Given how cleanly it cleaned up, I suspect that this was just water vapor; but I thought it worth mentioning as it did catch me by surprise.
I’m fairly happy with this grill and the app that comes with it. I would recommend this grill to a friend.
Oops.
That proved to be a mistake. This grill has a lot of options and settings, and without the app you may find yourself floundering some.
I later downloaded the app off the Google Play Store and installed it on my android phone. I found it a little worrisome that this app needed to know my identity and needed access to my photos. The app itself is useful though. You select the type of item that you’re looking to cook, answer a handful of questions about your specific piece (type of cut, size, etc . . .), and it gives you cooking instructions including temperatures and cooking times for that piece.
The grill comes with flat skillet plates and grill plates. The plates are well-constructed and remove and install easily. The plates and grease tray are both dishwasher safe, which is a huge bonus, in my mind.However, the plastic cleaning tool that comes with this grill is a joke. It’s a thin piece of poorly machined plastic with little plastic filaments coming off of it at the edges. Mine was already warped out of the box.
The instructions warn not to use this tool on the grill while the grill is hot as excessive heat may melt the tool. I would go further and add that this tool probably shouldn’t even be near the grill while it’s operational lest it melt into a puddle of plastic on your counter. I opted not to use the cleaning tool at all, and I let the grill cool completely and used a soft non-abrasive cloth to clean it instead. It took some vigorous scrubbing, but the grill seems to have cleaned off nicely.
The grill doesn’t come with any cooking utensils. The instructions clearly state not to use any metal tools with this grill (always a good rule of thumb with non-stick surfaces), so I opted to use a silicone spatula.
I don’t like cooking with oil because of the high fat and cholesterol content, and I was surprised that the instructions recommended liberally oiling various meats for best results. One of the big selling points of contact grilling has always been that it’s healthier and drains off more fats and oils than other cooking methods. This instruction seemed to fly in the face of that.
I used a modest amount of olive oil spray while cooking, and my food turned out okay. I’m relieved to report that the olive oil spray did not seem to have any negative impact on the grill plate. I’d had some concern about it burning in and leaving a permanent gunk stain on the plate the way some cooking sprays do.
I was surprised by the amount of moisture coming out of the front of this grill. I’d assumed that all of the drippings and the like would exhaust out of the back. That being said, I experienced a significant amount of condensation on the front of the grill. Given how cleanly it cleaned up, I suspect that this was just water vapor; but I thought it worth mentioning as it did catch me by surprise.
I’m fairly happy with this grill and the app that comes with it. I would recommend this grill to a friend.
My Best Buy number: 2115535767
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Get high-fidelity audio with these wireless Audio-Technica headphones. Mic and volume switches are built into the earcup for convenient control, and its NFC functionality enables touch pairing to connect with your favorite Bluetooth wireless devices. Memory foam earpads on these over-ear Audio-Technica headphones offer sound isolation and a comfortable fit.
Customer Rating
4
Stylish and well constructed. Sound is adequate.
on May 26, 2017
Posted by: TechEnthusiast
The Audio-Technica headphones are stylish, well constructed, and comfortable. The volume range isn’t terribly impressive, but the sound clarity is quite nice.
The headphones came beautifully packaged in a cloth lined box. The headphones come with a faux leather carrying case, an aux cable with mic, and a micro-USB charging cable.
The instruction manual is quite literally a small book. I’m not one to use instruction manuals (preferring to just start pressing buttons and figuring it out myself), but you may want to actually use this one. The pairing process was simple but somewhat unintuitive. The headphones have what appears to be a 3-stage power button. The icons show “off,” “Bluetooth,” and “on.” This is a lie. The button is only 2-stage with off and on functionality. Bluetooth pairing was triggered automatically upon first turning the headphones on. One complaint that I have is that you don’t hear any kind of notification from the headphones when the headphones have successfully paired. Aside from a little blast of music when you first turn them on, the headphones are silent except for when in use.
The headphones are well constructed and definitely have a premium look to them. The headphones are unbelievably comfortable. The ear pieces and top are thickly padded, and the headband is adjustable. I could easily spend several hours wearing these comfortably. The controls are a little difficult to find by touch.
The volume range is somewhat disappointing. The headphones reach a “conversational” volume at best. I understand that the range was probably limited for safety sake, but I would personally like to have had the ability to liquefy my brain if I felt like it. Still, the volume is adequate, and I had no trouble hearing the video that I was watching while using these in a crowded coffee shop.
I would recommend this product to a friend.
My Best Buy number: 2115535767
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Take your jams anywhere, rain or shine, with this LifeProof AQUAPHONICS speaker. Bluetooth connectivity provides wireless performance over up to eight devices, and this durable sound device conveniently attaches to a backpack or belt with the built-in carabiner. This LifeProof AQUAPHONICS speaker is waterproof and resistant to dirt and drops.
Customer Rating
2
Design needs some work
on May 15, 2017
Posted by: TechEnthusiast
The Lifeproof AQ9 portable speaker works fairly well . . . when you can get it to work.
I had the worst time trying to get this device to pair with anything. It took me six attempts across two days to get this to pair with my Android smartphone (a relatively recent model running Bluetooth 4.0). The first four attempts my smartphone couldn’t even see the speaker. The fifth attempt (the next day) it saw the speaker, but I got an error about an invalid pin. The sixth attempt, I got an error about an invalid pin; but it suddenly connected anyway.
It took me two attempts to get this to pair with my older Android tablet (with the pin error on my first attempt and no error on my second).
The difficulties that I faced are ironic given the fact that the device touts itself as being able to connect to up to 8 devices. Once connected, my devices don’t seem to have any problem finding the speaker again.
Sound quality is “meh.” The volume is fair, but the sound seems to be missing quite a bit in the mid ranges. For the most part, music sound tinny. But when you get to a part of a song with a lot of bass, the bass kicks in pretty strongly (just for the duration of that part though). There is no middle ground. The bass is either going strong or not at all.
Connection range is good. I had my phone at the opposite end of my one bedroom apartment, and the speaker played without buffering or distortion.
The clip is a nice touch, but the speaker’s size renders it somewhat awkward. It’s too big to casually stuff into a pocket or have dangling from a backpack (in my opinion). It’s just a little smaller than a handheld cassette player from the ‘80s-‘90s. If you're in a dorm room or camping, and space is an issue, this speaker could be a good fit for you as a compact desktop speaker. For my needs though, its size hampers its portability.
The device may be water and shock resistant, but you should expect it to show wear. The exterior is (mostly) a hard stiff plastic that looks like it will scuff fairly easily. Individual elements like the charging port cover and buttons are rubberized and will likely hold up better.
All in all, I’m afraid that I wasn’t terribly impressed with this speaker. With a little more work to refine the design and fix the connectivity issues, this could be a good concept. As it stands, it's not quite ready yet.
My Best Buy number: 2115535767
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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Panasonic Nanoe Hair Dryer: Achieve your perfect style with this versatile blow dryer's 2 speeds, 3 heat settings and 3 included nozzles. Nanoe technology adds volume and infuses moisture for dry hair that won't dry out.
Customer Rating
4
It's a quirky and fun blowdryer
on May 9, 2017
Posted by: TechEnthusiast
The Panasonic Nanoe Hair Dryer is a truly unique device.
Beyond just being a basic hair dryer, the Nanoe claims to use a unique technology to charge the water droplets in your hair in such a way to promote drying without frizzing. The manual is nice enough to include a very scientific explanation for how this works (which I didn't really understand at all). I didn't personally experience it, but the manual warns that this process may result in water discharging out of the back of the device. I got a good chuckle out of that.
The unit is fairly hefty and comes with three different nozzle attachments. It has a styling head, a diffuser head, and a "quick dry" head. It also comes with three different temperature settings (cool, warm, and hot), and it has a "quick-shot" cool air button that can give a quick burst of cool air while operating on the warm or hot settings.
Honestly, I noticed very little difference between the "quick dry" head and operating the device without a nozzle attachment. But to be fair, my hair is fairly short and tends to blowdry rather quickly as it is. The diffuser attachment did a great job of drying my hair without disturbing my hair style. That being said, this attachment is huge (almost as large as my head itself), and I'm sure it was a comical site watching me dry my hair with it.
I like the versatility of this blowdryer, and the range of options it provides. I'm not exactly a connoisseur of hair dryers or other hair care products, but I would recommend this to a friend.
Beyond just being a basic hair dryer, the Nanoe claims to use a unique technology to charge the water droplets in your hair in such a way to promote drying without frizzing. The manual is nice enough to include a very scientific explanation for how this works (which I didn't really understand at all). I didn't personally experience it, but the manual warns that this process may result in water discharging out of the back of the device. I got a good chuckle out of that.
The unit is fairly hefty and comes with three different nozzle attachments. It has a styling head, a diffuser head, and a "quick dry" head. It also comes with three different temperature settings (cool, warm, and hot), and it has a "quick-shot" cool air button that can give a quick burst of cool air while operating on the warm or hot settings.
Honestly, I noticed very little difference between the "quick dry" head and operating the device without a nozzle attachment. But to be fair, my hair is fairly short and tends to blowdry rather quickly as it is. The diffuser attachment did a great job of drying my hair without disturbing my hair style. That being said, this attachment is huge (almost as large as my head itself), and I'm sure it was a comical site watching me dry my hair with it.
I like the versatility of this blowdryer, and the range of options it provides. I'm not exactly a connoisseur of hair dryers or other hair care products, but I would recommend this to a friend.
My Best Buy number: 2115535767
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Experience immersive entertainment options with this Sony 4K Blu-ray player. Its Ultra HD resolution provides exceptionally detailed screen images with increased brightness and more realistic color, and its support of Dolby Atmos and DTS:X provides cinema-quality sound. This Sony 4K Blu-ray player supports high-resolution audio formats for more accurate music reproduction.
Customer Rating
3
Good Blu-Ray player, but a weak media streamer
on May 7, 2017
Posted by: TechEnthusiast
The Sony UBP-X800 is a fine Blu-Ray player, but it’s a rather disappointing media streamer.
The first thing you’ll notice upon unboxing the Sony UBP-X800 is that it’s big. It’s a surprisingly large device with a fair amount of heft to it. Even the remote is surprisingly big. While the face of the remote is fairly short and slim, the body of the remote is a good half inch thick, slab of plastic.
Setup was simple enough. Plug in an HDMI cable, plug the unit into a surge protector (or the wall if you’re feeling adventurous), and follow the on-screen setup guide. Factoring in an immediate software update, the device took about twenty minutes for me to setup.
The built-in streaming options are . . . underwhelming.
The device comes pre-loaded with a Pandora App, a Netflix App, a YouTube App, the Opera Channel Store, and a handful of other assorted apps that aren’t terribly memorable and that you’ll likely never have cause to use. There is no web browser included. The Opera Channel Store feels very cheap and unpolished. The app selection is sparse and not terribly appealing. The major networks and cable providers aren’t represented at all.
Using the YouTube app started out okay, but I quickly had some problems with it. I was watching a video when suddenly the action on the screen froze. Audio continued out of sync for a couple seconds before it stopped too. A second or two of a loading screen later, the video resumed. This happened several times. At one point, the player locked up completely and the loading screen froze up. After five minutes of poking at the remote and the machine’s power button, I finally opted to unplug it and plug it back in to try and get past this. It should be noted that I have an AC router, a mid-tier cable internet plan, and the player is maybe three feet away from the router. I don’t believe that the problem is my internet connection. It should also be noted that performance did improve some on subsequent uses with the stutters occurring much less frequently.
I was pleasantly surprised that the player was able to see my media server on the same network. Despite a menu option for viewing items by folder, the device didn’t appear to recognize my folder setup (sorted by genre). It listed the folders themselves correctly, but the contents it listed inside of the folders were not at all accurate. It was able to view all of the files on my server though in file list view, and it played them without a hitch.
I played a couple Blu-Ray disc without issue. There wasn’t anything particularly remarkable or noteworthy about the Blu-Ray playback. I inserted the disc, and it played the disc without issue. Image quality was incredible, video playback was smooth, audio was crisp and loud, and menus were quick to respond.
The device touts that it supports miracast. This isn’t a standard that any of my other devices currently use, but it’s a nice feature that I may take advantage of at some point in the future. Given my experiences with the performance of the YouTube app though, I do have some reservations about this device and potential latency issues.
Given its rather underwhelming performance as a media streamer, I'm sorry to say that I probably wouldn’t recommend this device to a friend. It’s a nice enough Blu-Ray player, but there are probably better ways to watch YouTube and Netflix.
My Best Buy number: 2115535767
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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The Ninja Foodi Dual Heat Air Fry Oven gives you versatility in the kitchen with 11-in-1 functionality from Air Fry and Sear Crisp to Rapid Bake and Toast. With Dual Heat Technology, unlock up to 500°F cyclonic air and a directly heated SearPlate, which allow for fast cooking and restaurant-worthy results. Cook up your favorites and then flip the oven up and away to reclaim your counter space.
What settings do you use to reheat on this? It seems to be missing the reheat and dehydrate functions. Are there manual work arounds for each?
Not all models include the reheat and dehydrate functions (though all models get the same instruction manual which causes some confusion).
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any manual workarounds for this.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any manual workarounds for this.
2 years, 3 months ago
by
TechEnthusiast
SoloCam L40 2K is a completely standalone security cam that you can access via your app. No need for a Homebase, or wires, as SoloCam is completely wire-free and battery-powered, so you don't have to mess with anything. Every eufy Security product is engineered to ensure your security data is kept private. Have peace of mind that you will have a secure record of everything that happens around your home. Adjust the brightness and color temperature of the spotlight in case you don’t want to wake the neighbors. Takes just minutes to install the mount using a drill and the included pack of screws. No wires or cords needed. Chat to anyone passing by—invited or not—and hear their response up to 8 meters away in real-time via SoloCam L40’s two-way audio. Connect SoloCam L40 to the Google Assistant or Alexa for complete hands-free control of your home security. Designed to protect your home as well as your wallet, SoloCam L40 is a one-time purchase that combines security with convenience. Only receive the alerts which matter. Customize the area in which detection takes place to suit your home.
Up to what distance it will detect Human detection only?
I don't know the "official" answer to this, but I have it aimed down a rather long driveway, and it only detects people about a 1/3 of the way down it. Past that, it doesn't trigger any notifications at all.
If I had to guess, I'd estimate that its range is somewhere around 15-20 feet.
If I had to guess, I'd estimate that its range is somewhere around 15-20 feet.
2 years, 7 months ago
by
TechEnthusiast
Harness your PC's potential with the 980. Whether you need a boost for gaming or a seamless workflow for heavy graphics, the 980 is a smart choice for outstanding SSD performance — and it's all backed by an NVMe* interface and PCIe 3.0 technology.
Is this compatible with Acer nitro 5 gaming laptop?
I have one of the earliest models of the Nitro 5, and it installed in mine just fine. Couple warnings though: If you want to refresh your operating system after installing it (recommended to avoid hardware glitches), you'll need to remove any additional hard drives (otherwise it errors out). Another thing: after refreshing the operating system, it will only recognize the SSD until you install all of the Windows updates. After installing the updates, any secondary drives will show up again.
3 years ago
by
TechEnthusiast
Pixel 4a with 5G is the budget-friendly, super fast phone from Google. It has the helpful stuff you need in a phone, with an extra boost of 5G speed.*
Does this model support Dual SIM?
No. Unfortunately, this model only has a single SIM slot.
3 years, 5 months ago
by
TechEnthusiast
Pair Surface Go Type Cover with Surface Go* for a full keyboard experience anywhere. Ultra-compact, yet it includes a complete mechanical keyset, backlit keys, and extra-large trackpad. Plus, three colors are covered in rich Alcantara material¹ for an added touch of luxury and comfort.
What is the power source for the Microsoft Surface Go type cover?
The tablet itself powers the keyboard. The keyboard connects to the Surface Go via tiny pogo pins on the bottom of the tablet. These pins transmit both power and data. Because of this, the keyboard doesn't require any additional power source; and you don't have to play with Bluetooth settings or anything to pair the keyboard to the tablet.
3 years, 10 months ago
by
TechEnthusiast
Your perfect everyday companion. Surface Go 2 is perfect for keeping up and winding down - delivering tablet portability with laptop versatility, long battery life, a stunning touchscreen, and Windows security for the whole family. Browse, shop, and manage email with ease, relax with your favorite TV shows, and much more.
Can this unit be connected to Verizon?
No. This particular version of the Surface Go 2 tablet doesn't have a SIM card slot for LTE connectivity.
3 years, 10 months ago
by
TechEnthusiast
Enjoy hours of reliability and speed with this HP Pavilion desktop. Its AMD Ryzen 5 processor and 12GB of RAM let you accomplish multiple tasks at the same time, and its 1TB hard drive provides plenty of space for file storage. This HP Pavilion desktop comes with a wired keyboard and mouse for interacting with Windows 10 Home.
Does this computer burn CDs.
Yes. This computer has a disc drive for burning CDs and DVDs.
5 years, 9 months ago
by
TechEnthusiast
Garmin Speak™ Plus with Amazon Alexa is what you love about Amazon Alexa, now in your vehicle. Use voice control for hands-free access to music, news, navigation and more. Plus, a built-in dash cam gives you forward collision and lane departure warnings.
How can dash cam footage be accessed? Is there cloud storage for the dashcam footage? If there's cloud storage, how much data/hour would the dashcam footage use? Alternatively, can video quality be adjusted to lower bandwidth usage?
Footage is stored on the micro-SD card inserted in the camera itself.
It can be accessed from the Speak app after you download the VIRB app. Note that while you need the VIRB app to access the footage, you can't view the photos directly from the VIRB app. You instead go back to the Speak app so that it can open the VIRB app and display the photos and videos (I know, it's an incredibly silly process).
If you try to open the VIRB app directly, it will tell you that it can't locate your camera.
It can be accessed from the Speak app after you download the VIRB app. Note that while you need the VIRB app to access the footage, you can't view the photos directly from the VIRB app. You instead go back to the Speak app so that it can open the VIRB app and display the photos and videos (I know, it's an incredibly silly process).
If you try to open the VIRB app directly, it will tell you that it can't locate your camera.
6 years, 2 months ago
by
TechEnthusiast
Only at Best BuyFind your favorite songs with the simple sound of your voice with this Insignia voice-activated wireless speaker. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity let you pair with compatible devices for more enjoyment, and Google Assistant is included to answer questions or search the internet. This Insignia voice-activated wireless speaker features a compact footprint and brilliant display.
Now that Google has released the ability to make calls can this model make calls also?
Not yet. Apparently it can make your phone ring if you misplace it and ask it to call your own phone, but it can't make domestic calls yet. Hopefully they'll add this functionality soon.
6 years, 3 months ago
by
TechEnthusiast
Only at Best Buy Dell Inspiron Convertible 2-in-1 Laptop: Enjoy the convenience of a tablet or the functionality of a computer with this Dell Inspiron Starlord laptop. The 15-inch touch screen makes viewing the small details on websites simple, and the Intel Core processor keeps the computer running commands quickly. This Dell Inspiron Starlord laptop has a backlit keyboard so you can type in the dark.
Just got this. During initial setup it asked to update Windows so I did, and it said something on the laptop wasn't compatible with Windows so it couldn't update. Is that normal for a brand new laptop? Also it gets VERY hot in 10 minutes of just Facebook.
I had the same problem with heat when I first got this laptop. If you go to the Dell support site for this laptop, they have an automated system check and driver update that works wonders. I'll warn you that you will have to hunt a little on the site to find it. I'm afraid that Best Buy won't allow me to send you a link to the page.
After running it, my heat issue was fixed completely; and the laptop runs at a nice ambient temperature now.
I'm not sure why you got an error about something not being compatible with Windows update, but you might want to try running Dell's system check first and then try it again.
After running it, my heat issue was fixed completely; and the laptop runs at a nice ambient temperature now.
I'm not sure why you got an error about something not being compatible with Windows update, but you might want to try running Dell's system check first and then try it again.
6 years, 10 months ago
by
TechEnthusiast