swemoney's stats
- Review count252
- Helpfulness votes175
- First reviewMay 14, 2016
- Last reviewJune 5, 2025
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating3.9
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- Answer count12
- Helpfulness votes10
- First answerJune 10, 2016
- Last answerApril 18, 2021
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- Best answers2
Elvie Stride Plus is a hands-free, hospital-grade electric breast pump with 3-in-1 carry bag that is made for mamas on the move. Finally, hospital-grade performance (a whopping -300 mmHg*) that’s portable, liberating you from sockets and wires. That way, you’re free to express efficiently wherever you pumping please— and all with peace of mind knowing your breast milk is being kept cool. Our breast pump offers powerful—yet comfortable—pumping, putting you in control. Go ahead, mama, milk it for all its worth. *in a single cup set
Customer Rating
4
Functionally on par with more expensive original
on March 30, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
Our old original Elvie pump was starting to show it's age after almost 3 years so I wanted to see how the cheaper model worked now days. For the most part, it functions similarly to the old pump. Not really getting better or worse pumps out of this one, but the added bulk and inconvenience of the tubes and the extra noise from the pump makes it more underwhelming. But for half the price (if you're looking at the double of the original pump), it might make more sense for a lot of people.
Setup is fairly easy. You pair the pump with the app if you want to (it's not required, but it will give you some added convenience). Connecting everything is easy enough. This pump comes with a small and medium size. My wife is on the upper end of the medium size so she enjoyed the old pump which also came with a large size (so she could pump twice between washes by switching the size). It would be nice if this included a large size as well to help all fits but it's not a huge deal.
Functionally, as stated, we're getting very similar pumps as our old pump. A lot of people have talked about the power being greater on this pump but it hasn't been super noticeable or produced better results. There's some added noise with the external pump but you can usually mask that by putting it in your pocket. The tubes are pretty easily hidden as well so you can still use these pretty discretely but it just takes a little more work than the 2 wireless cups on the old school Elvie. If you do connect your pump to the Elvie app, you're able to set up some settings up front and the pump will just kind of do everything for you automatically, which is nice. But it's also nice to not need the app at all if you don't want to.
The carry case is pretty nice and also much more necessary since there are more detachable components. But primarily, my wife uses the carry case to also store some bottles to transfer to after pumps. The old Elvie had the ability to just detach the resevoir and cap it so you could store it as is. You are not able to seal these pumps up for storage so having a bottle to transfer into is required unless you're very confident you can keep them standing upright until you're somewhere you can transfer. Battery power seemed pretty comparable to our old Elvie as well.
Overall, this pump is fine. It still slips in under your bra and can be used discretely. There's extra power over the original Elvie pump but we didn't notice a huge difference in practice as far as results. Most things that the original Elvie offered that this doesn't is convenience. The ability to store right in the pump reservoir is one things my wife misses the most. The extra size that came with the original was also nice. If you think these things are worth double the price, then look at the original Elvie. I think most people can get away with this version just fine though.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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This multi-angle stand is made of durable aluminum and can support a variety of items in addition to a laptop including tablets, books, etc. Its foldable design allows for easy storage or transport, while the viewing angles and heights can be adjusted to fit your needs and optimize your viewing experience. This versatile stand gives you the ability to create a more efficient workspace, whether you need extra space or a standing desk setup. The integrated USB-C mini dock features a 4K HDMI output, two USB 5Gbps Type-A ports, as well as a USB-C port that supports 5Gbps data transfer rate and up to 100W pass-through, providing all the connectivity you need for enhanced productivity and to connect your peripherals.
Customer Rating
4
A nice little dock for my mac
on December 15, 2022
Posted by: swemoney
I'm using this dock for my older MacBook Pro and so far it's working pretty well. The stand is built well and articulates into a lot of positions so I can move it where I need it pretty easily. I'm hoping that, since I've moved to using a desktop PC for most of my work and needs, using this dock with the same keyboard and mouse and monitor that I use for the rest of my work will help improve my productivity with my Mac work.
Setup is really simple. The actual "dock" part is a small box that fits into a couple grooves in the back of the stand. This makes is pretty to move around and adjust what's plugged in when setting things up without needing to move the entire stand around. There's labels on the unit that describe what plugs into where so it's hard to mess it up. Just plug the HDMI into your monitor and then connect the USB-C to your laptop via the included cable and you're all set up. There's an extra USB-C and two USB-A plugs for plugging in peripherals like a keyboard and mouse. I'm using a small USB switch so I can easily use the same mouse and keyboard I'm already using at my desktop with the MacBook Pro by just pressing a button but I also just plugged in an extra mouse and keyboard to start with and it worked great.
Usage.. Not much to write here. Just use your computer with a nice monitor now.
Overall, I've never seen a lot of value in docks in the past. If I wanted to use my computer at my desktop I'd just use my desktop. But with my MacBook being vital for some work I need to do, having the option to do that in a familiar workplace and setup is really useful. I'm a fan and I'm already seeing an increase in productivity.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Capture clear, beautiful audio whenever and wherever you shoot. Whether you're shooting interviews, outdoor street scenes, or just quick updates for social media, adding a high-quality audio track will bring your creative work to life. The ECM-G1 provides sophisticated audio-capture capabilities that are well matched to your moviemaking needs, plus convenient Multi Interface Shoe connectivity and a compact overall size.
Customer Rating
4
Excellent upgrade to your cameras built in mic..
on November 26, 2022
Posted by: swemoney
This microphone does one thing and it does it pretty well. When you compare this to your camera's built in microphone, it almost always handily bests it in terms of sound quality and clarity.
Setup works 2 ways and either of them are dead simple. It uses Sony's proprietary hot shoe so if you have a Sony camera with the MI hot shoe, you just plug this baby in there and you're off to the races. Everything is pretty automatic. But it also includes a super short 3.5mm cable you can connect to most other cameras with cold shoes or that aren't Sony but have a mic input. This is the route I took with my Sony ZV-1F since it only has a cold shoe.
Audio quality was noticeably better in all the tests that I did but I found that closer shots in a quieter room made less of a difference. You can still tell the difference in ambient room noise since the microphone is picking up a much more narrow wave in front of the microphone instead of picking up noise from all around the camera but the further away and in noisier environments, the more noticeable the difference was.
There's not much more to say. I'll definitely be using this microphone any time I'm using my camera since it always beats the built in microphone. Depending on your use case, the cost may be worth it since it is a little pricey. But it's a quality microphone so if it's in your budget, it may be worth it to you.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Sony ZV-1F Vlog camera for Content Creators and Vloggers, large 1-inch sensor with wide angle 20mm1 lens and packed with easy-to-use features, specifically designed for vloggers and online video creators.
Customer Rating
4
Really great entry level "real" camera..
on November 26, 2022
Posted by: swemoney
If you're using your phone's front camera for your vlogging shots or still using a cheap webcam for your streams, this is probably the best upgrade for your dollar out there. It has most of the "prosumer" features you're probably going to need at one of the most affordable price points for "real" cameras. You're giving up a few higher end features here like a hot shoe and interchangeable lenses but that's what keeps this affordable and you probably don't really NEED those things as much as they're just cool.
Setup is a piece of cake. It's a camera that's basically ready to go. Put a memory card in, install the battery and hit the power and you're ready to fiddle with all the settings and start taking pictures or recording video. There's a ton of settings if you're coming from a cheap digital camera or you're used to just your phone's camera. It was a little overwhelming from a non-photographer standpoint but I didn't mind playing around to get the best settings for what I was doing.
There's a lot of versatility for this camera as well. It's clear that it's made to be a selfie vlogging camera from the flip forward screen to the microphone windscreen (I had to look up what this fuzzy little thing was in the book but it's a great little addition). From selfie range, it's easy to get your frame right and the microphone doesn't sound really bad. You aren't going to get a ton of the low end from your voice but it does a decent job picking your up and sounding clear for just a flat spot on the camera picking up the sound.
Photos come out pretty good as well. Nothing to write home about if you already use your recently released phone's rear camera to be honest but they're good photos. If you want to carry a dedicated photo camera, this will get your some good pictures with settings your can't play around with on your phone so with some effort and experience you can probably get even better pictures but for me, the convenience of taking pictures with my phone can't be trumped. Especially with all the work that phones do in post processing now a days. I'll probably use this for photos and videos when I'm going to an event that I know I'm going to just be taking pictures non-stop, though.
Video quality looks really good as well. You can only get 30fps for your 4K shots if that's what you're taking but you can go up to 120fps with 1080p shots. Again, things are very comparable to my iPhone 13 Pro Max's rear camera but blow away the front camera. If you have the skills, I'm sure there are amazing tweaks and settings you can do to get things to look perfect for every scenario. But from a non-professional standpoint, I find the picture quality to be great with most of the default settings.
One thing that I think is overlooked for a camera like this is streaming on services like Twitch and YouTube. I replaced my $180 webcam with this camera (and bought a cheap quick-release thing to let me unmount it whenever I want to take it out of my setup) and the difference is night and day. The amount of control is fantastic when you're coming from not so cheap webcam. The most disappointing aspect of using this camera for streaming is that it's capped at 720p30 for streaming over USB-C. I'm not sure why this limitation needs to exist or if maybe they can bump that up to a solid 1080p60 with a firmware update in the future but it was sad to see when I tried it out. You CAN still use it with a micro-HDMI cable and an HDMI capture device, though. You'll get the full output that way. There's a setting to eliminate any of the UI elements on the HDMI output so you get a fully clear HDMI. The best part of using this as a webcam replacement is the flip forward screen that you can use to make sure you're in frame and everything looks good while you're streaming.
My list of negatives is pretty short and they do focus around using the camera as a high quality streaming camrea for Twitch. The 720p output over USB-C is disappointing and means you'll need an additional cable as well as an HDMI capture device if you're looking to get more than 720p to your stream. Another thing that could be better is having more (all?) controls on the screen without needing to use the control wheel on the back. This downside also exists when taking vlog videos because you're probably looking at the screen flipped towards you and not the back of the camera. With my stream setup, the camera is fairly close to the wall and accessing the back of the camera is not super easy to do. So it's impossible to tweak every setting while looking at the frame I need to look at without using my phone to connect to the camera. There is a "button" on the screen that toggles the ability to touch certain controls on the screen to modify them but the controls available are limited (for instance, there's no manual/auto focus control on the screen). Having another control on the screen that basically just opens up the full menu would be amazing here.
Speaking of controlling the camera with my phone, that's a thing you can do too! The setup is a little clunky and the performance could be better. I'm not 100% certain but I have to assume it's using 2.4Ghz wifi instead of 5Ghz so interference is an issue here but it might work fine for you. The most annoying part of the whole thing is how long it takes to control the camera from your phone. You need to launch the app, hit the "control camera" button and then connect and wait for it to connect to bluetooth and then disconnect you from your own wifi and connect directly to your camrea's wifi and then probably fail once and try again. So it's almost like a solid minute between deciding I need to tweak a setting and actually getting things going on my phone. When it's running on the phone, the video performance is pretty choppy but I've never used the phone to really look at the shot, I more care about being able to control some of the things I can't control from the screen without the control wheel. I understand having the phone connect directly to the camera since you'll probably be using this a lot when you're not on your home wifi, it's just a small annoyance and it pretty consistently fails with my iPhone on the first attempt but usually doesn't have an issue the second time. Overall, though, the phone connection is a saving grace to allowing me to control the phone when the back controls are not accessible and I can deal with the clunkiness for that ability.
Overall, this camera is going to be my stream camera for a long time to come. The quality is top notch and with a quick release foot, it's easy to pop out and in and take the camera with me when I want to film something else or take some pictures of the kids. At it's price point, you can't really get much better than this. Sacrificing a couple of the bells and whistles that you get with a much more expensive professional entry (along with much more expensive lenses) is nothing because you probably won't need of those things anyways for what this camera is made to do. Make content better than using the front facing camera on your phone. The quality will rival the back facing camera on your phone as well so it's nice to have a dedicated piece of hardware that you can just use for all of your filming needs. Get this camera is you're looking for an upgrade.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Soundcore Sleep A10 Earbuds are your perfect companion for a peaceful night's sleep. They’re designed around an exclusive 4-Point Noise Masking system to keep night-time disturbances under your radar. Enhanced passive noise canceling combines with an advanced active noise masking algorithm, and soothing sleep sounds to block out up to 35dB of unwanted noise and deliver the ideal sleep environment. Sleep A10 earbuds are tiny and lightweight so they stay comfortably in your ears, all night long. Slim profile and pressure-free fit means even heavy side-sleepers can rest the entire night without discomfort or fatigue.
Customer Rating
2
Overall clunky to use and not super effective
on November 11, 2022
Posted by: swemoney
I have issues sleeping when there's a lot of noise around. My schedule is not very normal so I find myself trying to sleep at strange times when there's probably going to be other things happening in the house. My solution has just been a cheapish jar of ear plugs that lasts me quite a while. They work pretty good at blocking out most of the noise in the house and I only experience some slight discomfort at times but nothing major that removing and replacing them doesn't usually resolve. It's a low tech solution and I've been thinking of finding some way to play music or noise that won't disturb the wife when she's sleeping at the same time as me and I was excited to try these out. My experience was pretty lack-luster.
Setup was easy enough. Just pair them with your phone, download the app, firmware update and they were ready to go. The case came with about half a charge and both earbuds were fully charged.
Comfort is pretty good as well. They're easy to put in and I like how they go in. Align the little handles straight up and then twist them towards the back of your ear and they kind of "lock" in place. It's not full proof. Sometimes it takes a couple tries but for the most part they go in fine. They're also somewhat comfortable. I had a really slight discomfort like they were pushing against the side of my ear canal too much the first night I used them but that was really brief and didn't happen any of the other nights I used them. I'm a side-sleeper and I was able to sleep with these in my ears for my whole sleep and they really didn't feel bad. The only complaint is the seal and pressure they make in your ear gives you that floating in space sound whenever you breath or cough. You just hear any noise your head makes amplified in your ears. I wasn't a huge fan as the ear plugs I use don't give me this feel at all.
The app and overall usage of these are where things start to fall flat. I wouldn't even say the app is terrible. I've seen much worse for connected products before. But the overall flow is just not that great. You need to load a sound (which takes about a minute) onto the earbuds for your "sleep mode" sound. So it takes time if you feel like listening to a different sound in your ear non-stop during your sleep. I'm a fan of rain sounds and the rain and thunderstorm sounds were.. fine. They were nothing to write home about but they were ok. The issue is just listening to the same short clip over and over in my ear. And that's when they were working. More than a couple times, one bud would just disconnect and I'd either need to open the case again to reconnect it or take it out and put it back in. Sometimes even that wouldn't work and I'd have to place them back in the case to get them to work again.
There's also sleep tracking in the app which I was pretty excited about because I'm a fan of statistics and used to track my sleep all the time. I figured if I was going to wear these every night for sleep, that would be a perfect opportunity to start tracking again if they just did it for free. But, like the other functions, it just seems to work sporadically and inconsistently. I don't think it recorded a single full sleep. The first time, the right ear bud just stopped working when I got up to go to the bathroom and then sleep tracking decided that was enough. It just seemed very inconsistent and sort of tacked on. You can't even view your sleep tracking information without connecting the earbuds to the app again which proved immediately annoying and I have no idea how that got through any sort of quality control without someone mentioning it.
Just every bit of the app flow feels like no one actually used these for sleep and just made them comfortable enough to sleep with but only tested them as regular headphones. Luckily, you don't NEED to use the app. You lose some features like the "smart volume control" but I didn't really like that feature anyways. It's supposed to adjust the volume after it detects that you fell asleep to adapt to the noise level. I guess if it works while I'm asleep, there's a chance I never noticed it actually working but I feel like I can recall the sound in the headphones just completely changing at some point. If you don't use the app except to upload a new sound onto the headphones, then you can just double tap the left ear to switch between sleep and music modes and double tap the right ear to play/pause. Easy enough. Music more works just like a normal pair of bluetooth headphones which is probably what I'll use these for if I want to listen to a podcast as I fall asleep or something.
The biggest problem I have with these are just that they don't do a fantastic job of eliminating external noise for my needs. They don't have any sort of active noise canceling (which is baffling to me but I suppose there are probably challenges in fitting the ANC stuff in such a small earbud) so they only work with the seal to your ear and by producing sound to distract you from the noise around you. The seal is pretty good (floating in space feel in your head and all) but it just doesn't cut down on the noise around you. The sound the earbuds produce is a pretty nice distraction but without an effort to focus on it, I can still hear things like my wife snoring or the kids on the other side of the house during the day. They basically function as just a pair of headphones you can wear while you sleep but I don't think they should be marketed as a way to help you fall asleep faster or as "noise blocking".
Audio quality in the earbuds is fine. You're sleeping with them so I'm not trying to be blown away. Quite the opposite. So the audio quality is what I'd want out of a pair of these. Like I said, I'll probably continue to use these as a pair of headphones I can wear as I'm falling asleep sometimes when I don't have to worry about a lot of extra noise because they ARE comfortable to wear even as a side sleeper. But for any of my day time sleeps or when I have to block out snores or other noise around me, it's back to the ear plugs.
Bottom line, an inconsistent and clunky app experience with these make them hard to justify for their price. If you're just looking for a pair of headphones to wear while you sleep, these might work fine for you. I haven't done enough research on other pairs to know if these are worth the price just for that though. If you're looking for a real sleep aid, I would look elsewhere unless you're fine with just a simple short looping sound in your ear all night. Comfortable with a decent sound but that's where the features end. There's not much in the way of sleep features in my eyes here.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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Get a healthier, brighter smile with the Philips Sonicare 9000 Special Edition. This toothbrush features a pressure sensor, 4 brushing modes, 3 intensities and smart brush head mode pairing technology. The Philips Sonicare 9000 Special Edition will look beautiful in your bathroom, with elegant charging glass and premium finishings. Track your brushing within the Sonicare App to ensure you're reaching your oral health care goals.
Customer Rating
5
Still a great premium toothbrush
on November 9, 2022
Posted by: swemoney
I haven't been able to go back since the day I started using an electric toothbrush. It was a Sonicare way back in the day too. My toothbrush before this one is very similar to this and is going to move into the second bathroom because it's still going strong after more than 5 years now. These are premium toothbrushes that last.
Setup is a breeze. The battery light was flashing when I first took it out of the box but it still got through a full brushing. Plug in the base and the glass holder just fits on top where you sit your toothbrush on top of to charge. The one thing I wish this toothbrush had that my older one does is the cup. The charger is still induction and I thought the cup was much more premium feeling than the small puck that you place your toothbrush in and stand it straight up. I decided to use my old cup to charge this toothbrush and use the new puck to charge my old toothbrush in the other bathroom. They both work the same so it's not a big deal but I did like the cup more than this new puck.
Usage is pretty easy. Put the toothbrush on top and press the start button. The instructions has a lot of information on each of the modes and what they're for and how long they last. They tell you which section of teeth you should stick to for each section of the session too. Highly recommended you review that part of the instruction book. We usually stick to a single mode that my wife and I both like but you'll want to try them all and maybe switch it up if you're aiming to tackle a trouble area for yourself. Lots of options.
If you're coming from a standard manual toothbrush, you'll probably be blown away by this toothbrush. I can't get my teeth to feel clean with a standard toothbrush anymore. I'll never go back. It's easy. The toothbrush guides you to keep things consistent and my teeth just feel so much more clean with these toothbrushes. Given that my old toothbrush is over 5 years old now, I wouldn't look at this as a high cost toothbrush. I'd look at it as a quality, premium toothbrush. You can get electric toothbrushes for a lot cheaper, sure, but I can't vouch for how long those last and how well they work.
Bottom line, when the only bad thing I can say about this product is it doesn't contain the same cup for charging as my old toothbrush had, it's a pretty great toothbrush. If you're coming from a manual toothbrush, take the plunge and invest in the premium product if you're able. If not, just invest in another electric toothbrush. I don't advocate manual brushing for anyone but small children at this point. This is a premium product that will last you a long time so spend the money if you're able on an item that will get used 3-5 times per day and still feel like new 5+ years later.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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The Shark ION Robot is designed with a Tri-Brush System, combining side brushes, channel brushes, and a multi-surface brushroll to handle debris on carpets and hardfloors Use the SharkClean app or voice control with Alexa or Google Assistant to start cleaning from anywhere
Customer Rating
3
Fairly bare-bones robot. Decent job cleaning.
on October 13, 2022
Posted by: swemoney
I've been a fan of Shark (and Ninja) products for a while now and got this extra robot for our smaller living room. I've already got a shark mop/vac and have really liked it but I didn't think I'd need all of the extra AI features. I'm not 100% convinced that I don't anymore. If this was my first robot vacuum, I'd probably think it was cool and be fine with it but after spending years with a vacuum that has so many more features (by the same brand), I think I was just shocked at how much of a step backwards this guy was.
Setup was fine depending on how you want to use it. If you don't want to connect it to your phone, just plug it in, let it charge and then press one of the buttons on top and let it do it's thing. It doesn't have any AI and doesn't make a map of your room or anything so it's all pretty basic. If you want to connect it to your phone and set up a schedule or anything, it should work fine. The setup process is simple enough. I had some issues that eventually got straightened out by their support after a bit of back and forth. After that was resolved everything worked fine.
The performance of this bot isn't terrible but since it's not a smart robot, it can miss spots and/or it takes much longer to do it's job than a robot that'll learn and create maps of your room. This bot just works by running into something, turning and driving until it runs into something else. Rinse and repeat. It's a brute force method that mostly works but I did notice a spot or two that the bot had missed. There were a few more spots up against walls that were missed as well. I'm pretty sure a smarter robot would have been able to get these spots (they weren't in corners) but since the bot doesn't do a great job of hugging edges (since it doesn't know where edges are), it just has to happen across these spots with one of it's many passes.
The time it takes to clean is also a lot more exaggerated since it doesn't have a map it can just trace over to make sure it got everything. The first room I did took over an hour to complete without being a super large or complicated room. The smaller room that the robot is living in takes a little less time but, again, I'm just used to my 2+ year old shark robot that uses a map to clean much more efficiently so it's probably more pronounced for me.
I don't think I'll be getting any more "dumb" robots that just brute force the job by bumping and turning. It does a fairly good job cleaning (my carpets were quite dirty when I did my tests) but you're relying on the bot to just happen to clean everything. I wish there was a map that could be pieced together by just tracing the path the robot took but for the time being, all that's available in the app is a timeline of when the bot was activated, paused, docked, etc. That being said, Shark has always been really good about updating their app and providing extra features to my old AI robot over time so maybe it's something they can add to this bot in the future if the hardware is there to track it's path.
If a more sophisticated robot with lasers and AI and mapping is out of your budget, this is a good starter bot. But if you're used to anything with a little more tech inside, this guy is going to get the job done.. usually.. and you'll probably be a little disappointed. This bot is a bit more affordable so it might work out perfect for you.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Explore the art of espresso made right, effortlessly, with the refined features of La Specialista Arte from De'Longhi. Created for the hands-on home barista, this compact and stylishly designed machine empowers you to craft custom espresso drinks with ease and precision. From start to finish, unlock all the aromatic flavors of the beans for results that perfectly match your palette. Full control is at your fingertips with exclusive features like a conical burr grinder boasting 8 precise settings developed to expertly grind all bean varieties in a single or double dose. Use the complete barista kit, including a tamper, dosing funnel, and more, to prepare your fresh grounds in either a single or double dose in the single wall filter basket. Next, 3 active infusion water temperature levels adapt to your beans and roasting level for optimal flavor extraction. Finally, My LatteArt wand’s powerful steam produces the perfectly silky milk microfoam ideal for latte art creations. Save time with three beverage presets—espresso, Americano and hot water—for those on-the-go mornings. With La Specialista Arte, an authentic, hand-crafted coffee experience is within your reach. Indulge in the creativity of coffee-making as you get the best out of every bean and enjoy experimenting with foam art as a home barista.
Customer Rating
5
Not much bad to say about this one.
on October 10, 2022
Posted by: swemoney
I'm still sort of new to using an espresso machine and over just making a pot of drip coffee but I've been working my way up. Starting with a nespresso pod, then moving to a low end "real" espresso machine and now I'm feeling like I'm pretty fancy with this one. This machine is nice. It feels like most everything was thought out and it makes good coffee. And best of all, it's not super hard to use.
Setup is the part that feels the most daunting if you aren't experienced with these machines. There's a lot of parts and it looks overwhelming pulling each piece out of the box. But a quick read through the quick start guide was enough for me to realize it wasn't really that much. It just looks like a lot. There's a really simple "your first time" step that just walks you through what I assume clears the pipes and gets the maker ready for the real stuff. That's about all you need for setup. Plug in and follow the fairly simple quick start guide.
My favorite part of this is the included grinder. It still tells you to only put as many beans in as you intend to use which is going to take me some time to figure out (my first time, I just filled up the bean grinder before reading that part) but after you select single or double and adjust the coarseness you just put the wand with the guide attached in and it fills up a perfect amount of coffee for you. Move everything over to the tamper (with an included mat to help) and tamp it down. Every shot I've made has looked exactly the same after tamping the coffee down. One of the big things I didn't love about my mid range espresso maker was grinding up the coffee myself and then having to guess how much I'd need to put in the strainer. I felt like every cup was just a little different. This feels not only easier because it's mostly automatic but much more consistent which I love.
Pulling the shot is just as simple. There's a guide which tells you what settings to use for each different kind of roast so it's mostly ready to go from there but you can adjust a little bit depending on taste or if things aren't coming out exactly right for you. There's even documentation about what a good and bad pour should look like and what steps you can take to improve your next one. It's a process that you'll just get better at over time if you aren't experienced but it didn't feel like it took very long to feel happy with my pulls on this maker.
The steamer seems to work well but I don't feel like I'm good enough at it yet. It doesn't come out bad but I haven't nailed down consistency yet. Each cup is better or worse. The guide does have more documentation about how to steam the milk so it's very helpful in guiding you down the right path at least. I'll get better over time.
Cleanup is pretty easy. Just make sure to wipe down the steamer as soon as you're down with it and then everything else just rinses off for the most part. Another thing I didn't love about my old espresso maker was that I always had to dig the coffee out of the portafilter. I'm sure it was something to do with how I was pulling my shots but I could never get a perfect puck to just pop out after brewing. This bad boy has been 100%. Every cup I've made, I've been able to knock the portafilter once and out pops a perfect puck with a mostly clean portafilter. Very satisfying. The only issue I had was that the portafilter had the double shot cup pre-installed and it's... in there. I wasn't sure how to get it out so I could make sure I completely clean it out. A little Googling and I discovered that you just use the other filter cup to pry the installed out one. It wasn't too hard to remove and reinstall after figuring that out but for as nice as I thought the documentation for the whole maker was, that one piece of information would have been nice to have.
Overall, I have nothing bad to say about this espresso maker. It's not cheap but it does feel like a really huge leap in quality over my more mid-range espresso maker (which I also didn't think was super cheap). Everything is pretty streamlined and works very well. Everything is easy to clean up. The coffee it makes is really good. If I had to reach for something to say, it would be about some of the terminology I don't fully understand yet but that's not a shortcoming of this machine, it's just something I'll learn over time. I definitely recommend this espresso maker if you have the budget for it and you're looking to get out of the low to mid tier of coffee/espresso makers. This machine has been a delight to use.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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The Velox Magnetic Wireless Dash & Windshield Mount is a powerful, convenient, and highly versatile wireless charging phone mount designed specifically for MagSafe compatible iPhones and cases. Keep your iPhone accessible in a myriad of custom mounting positions without obstructing your view thanks to the newly redesigned telescopic arm. Featuring a streamlined profile that utilizes a friction ring and snap lock, adjusting the arm is quick and hassle-free. Easily attach the Velox Dash Mount to your vehicle’s dashboard or windshield for a superior suction hold. Strong magnets provide precise alignment for efficient charging and keep your iPhone in place in portrait or landscape mode, even on the roughest terrain. The soft silicone mounting face ensures a scratch-free experience. With up to 7.5W of wireless charging power, you can hit the road with confidence!.
Customer Rating
4
Does what it's supposed to very well.
on October 10, 2022
Posted by: swemoney
With MagSafe on my phone, I've found a new love for accessories that work well with it. This one does a really good job as a stand for your phone in the car while also keeping your phone topped off.
Setup is really easy. Everything comes out together for the most part. Just put stick the suction cup where you want it on your car's dash (or windshield) and plug it in to a lighter or other USB-C plug.
The suction cup doesn't seem like it would be that great but it works really well. I was expecting it to give out after a few days but it's still holding strong just stuck to my dashboard. It's sticky as well as having the lever to increase the suction so both methods together work really well in holding it even on a porous surface like a car dashboard.
The MagSafe connector isn't super stiff but it does hold its position pretty well. It's actually really easy to move around but it stays where you leave it very well.
Charging capabilities are top notch for wireless charging as well. No complaints. It feels like it's plugged in.
Overall, my old MagSafe car charger that attached to my vent is now relegated to a backup charger and this one has taken the throne.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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The king returns to raise the game. Enter the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro—the most advanced gaming mouse. Armed to the teeth with industry-leading technology, unlock your maximum potential with a weapon that pushes the known limits of performance, customization, connectivity, and control.
Customer Rating
5
Most comfortable mouse I've used in a long time.
on October 2, 2022
Posted by: swemoney
I've been testing a lot of different mice lately and I've found another one that's going to stick around as a daily driver for a while. I've more recently determined that I'm much better off with these styles of mouse as opposed to more symmetrical shaped mice just for wrist comfort and this guy fits my grip extremely well. I haven't noticed any comfort issues and some soreness that I had while using my old Logitech G Pro Wireless have pretty much gone away.
Setup is a piece of cake no matter how you plan to connect this mouse. You have options. You can use the included dongle for the "fastest" wireless connection. That's as easy as plugging it in and turning on your mouse to the 2.4 setting. Then you can go with Bluetooth if you're using a computer or laptop that supports it. You'll have to go through the standard Bluetooth setup but that's it. Or you can just plug the nice, soft cable in to run it wired (and also charge the battery). All of these options are basically plug and play. You can also install the Razer Synapse software to customize the buttons, lighting, power settings and DPI for the mouse.
As stated earlier, this is probably one of the most comfortable mice I've used. I have a drawer with at least 5 or 6 mice in it right now and this one just felt great right off the bat as soon as I started using it and I haven't felt any discomfort or strain at all. Obviously this is going to be subjective and you'll need to feel the mouse yourself to know if it's the right fit for you.
The buttons all feel pretty good and easy to use. There's 3 buttons on the right side but the third thumb tip button actually feels pretty easy and good to press. I don't find myself going out of the way to press anything. The top middle buttons under the mouse wheel are in a similar spot to other mice I've used and work well. One thing I really like is the button directly under the mouse wheel that switches the mouse wheel from a clicky wheel to a smooth wheel. In other mice I've used, this was kind of a mechanical button that locked the wheel into clicky or smooth positions but on this mouse, it's a digital button that can be reconfigured if you'd like. The best part of it being digital is there's an option (off by default) in the Synapse software that allows you to automatically switch to smooth wheel if you scroll fast enough and then automatically switch back to clicky when it detects the wheel has stopped enough. Takes a second to get used to but I really like it now.
Overall, I think this mouse is going to stick around for a while. I like testing out new mice but I don't foresee one overtaking this as my daily driver for a while. If you have a chance to hold this mouse in your hand to see if it's as comfortable for you as it is for me, then pull the trigger on this one. I'm a fan.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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With no wires in the way, Bose SoundSport Wireless Sports Earbuds keep you moving with powerful audio. Perfect for exercise and running with a sweat and weather resistant design and StayHear+ tips designed for comfort and stability. The Tile app makes your headphones easy to find if they ever go missing.
Is it possible to remove that clip on the wire?
Clip is formed plastic around the wire, so not unless you break the clip. You can move it up and down the wire. I barely noticed it, myself.
9 years ago
by
swemoney
With no wires in the way, Bose SoundSport Wireless Sports Earbuds keep you moving with powerful audio. Perfect for exercise and running with a sweat and weather resistant design and StayHear+ tips designed for comfort and stability. The Tile app makes your headphones easy to find if they ever go missing.
Is this earphone compatible with Andriod phone?
I didn't test them out on an Android device, but they're bluetooth headphones. So if your Android device supports Bluetooth audio, they should work fine.
9 years ago
by
swemoney