swemoney's stats
- Review count213
- Helpfulness votes158
- First reviewMay 14, 2016
- Last reviewJune 25, 2024
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- Average rating3.9
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- Answer count12
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- First answerJune 10, 2016
- Last answerApril 18, 2021
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Shark AI Robot VACMOP combines powerful vacuum suction and hard floor wet mopping for a complete clean, all in one robot. Features include: Shark suction power, Sonic Mopping that delivers 100 scrubs per minute for stuck-on stains, and AI Laser Navigation for precision cleaning.
Customer Rating
4
Pretty great after you take the time to set it up
on December 7, 2020
Posted by: swemoney
from Hanover Park, IL
I've used a couple of robot vacuums before but I was excited about this one because it made the most sense to work on my upstairs area which is mostly hard wood. I don't mop or "wet jet" often enough so I was excited about a more automatic method.
Setup is going to be the biggest pain point for this guy for me. Not necessarily setting up the actual unit (that part is pretty simple) but setting up your area and allowing the robot to do it's thing. To setup the unit, there's a base that's just a thin piece of plastic that sits on your floor where you want your robot to live and then a back plastic piece that stands up in a predefined location on the bottom disc. Plug it in and follow the directions in the booklets and on the stickers and you'll have it ready to go. Setup in the app isn't too tough. The app connects to your robot via wifi and the setup takes a couple minutes. I had trouble connecting to my wifi and trying again wasn't working at all until I hit the power switch and then turned it back on to reboot it. After that it was fine.
The more painful part of the setup process is letting the robot get a feel for your area. You'll need to run the robot twice to get a general idea of the map of your area and then to find any rugs that it should avoid when mopping. The first scan is pretty quick (took about 8 minutes to scan my entire upstairs) and does a pretty good job mapping the area. The rug scan is quite long. It estimates 1.5-2 hours but mine only took about 40 minutes. After each, it will show you the map it found and allow you to label rooms and make adjustments. I wasn't super happy with this process. The robot tries to guess where room boundaries are and when you try and resize them, it appears to resize the walls as well. For instance, my hallway leads into my carpeted bedroom and the robot assumed the long stretch in my bedroom was a continuation of the hallway. If I could suggest an improvement to the app, it would be that it just shows me a map and allows me to define the room boundaries manually.
Now that setup doesn't sound too bad but it was my second attempt. The first attempt I did as they suggested and moved most of the smaller things off of my floor. I piled most of it up on the large rug we have under my dining room table because I assumed I would just tell it not to do that rug. For good reason, it did a terrible job detecting that rug and even after I resized the rug to the full area, the first full mop didn't avoid it at all. The robot had issues with a bunch of other spots when there wasn't just open floor to navigate. So the painful part of setup (and I assume future vacuums/mops) is that you really should clear EVERYTHING off your floors. We moved everything downstairs or in the baby's room and just closed that door and the mapping/scanning process went a lot nicer. Most of the things we moved are all things that we would probably want to move to get a good vacuuming or mopping done anyways so I'm not too concerned about it.
I was pretty impressed after it scanned everything how well it traced my walls without banging into them like other robot vacuums I've used. It still bumps stuff and has certain parts that it has some trouble with but I think I can iron out some of those kinks with some map adjustments and most of the areas weren't that huge. Our kitchen cabinets are just barely too low to let the robot get under but probably high enough that the lasers aren't seeing an obstruction so it takes a little longer to navigate that area while it bumps around a little bit. Overall, though, it does a pretty good job.
Carpet detection is pretty good (when it actually did a good carpet detection run) but the mop avoided the rug by a good foot. Probably better safe than sorry and you can just touch up that area on your own or adjust the map to see if you can get a little closer.
The mop job looked pretty good! You can see the wet lines form on the floor and it's quite satisfying. You'd probably still want a wet jet or some small wet cleaner for corners still just to touch up when it's done but it does a decent job and I only had it do one pass (there's an option for 2 passes).
Charging takes a while. The initial charge took a few hours just to get to the 70% mark it suggests when doing the carpet detection. After leaving it for the night, it didn't seem to kill a charge to do a full mopping, though, so I don't foresee the charge being an issue unless you're doing multiple runs with more than 1 pass in the span of a day.
Attaching the mop as well as emptying the dust are both super simple. Everything just clips into the back. I was impressed with how easy it was to attach and detach both pieces.
Overall, I'm very happy with this new robot. The area scanning feature is really nice and it feels fancy to watch it work without ramming into walls to know they're there. I would love to see an improved map editor in the map that just takes the walls and things that were detected and lets me manually define rooms, but it does a good enough job for the time being. If you need a largish area vacuumed and/or mopped, this one might be the one for you!
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I would recommend this to a friend!
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Bring your Astro dreams to life with the Hover-1 Astro Hoverboard. This exciting rideable is an all-out color experience. Available in three different finishes, the LED lights along the wheels, the board and the foot pads will shine bright during your entire ride. The vibrant RGB color scheme will bring your board to life. Bright, bold, and beautiful, Astro brings out our love for color with every mile you ride. Loaded with a massive 400W motor that lets you hit speeds of up to 7mph, you can cruise for up to 6 miles on a single charge. The purchaser and rider of this product are responsible for knowing and obeying all state and local regulations regarding the use of this product, including whether licensing is required and the rules concerning where it may be operated. It is highly encouraged that you read and follow the product instructions including all safety precautions and use protective gear.
Customer Rating
4
My first hoverboard..
on November 16, 2020
Posted by: swemoney
from Hanover Park, IL
I find myself in a weird place in my life. I'm going to be 40 next year but I've always seen these "hover boards" and thought they looked neat. These 2 ideas conflict with each other in my head but here we are now.
So this was my first balancing scooter "hover boards" and I was pretty timid when trying it out for the first time. I read the instructions (more or less skimmed through the countless safety precautions) about how to get started and took my first steps. I didn't fall! I still haven't fallen. I think I'm still on easy mode and haven't really pushed this this to it's limits but it was still pretty cool to just get on and roll around without falling down. A very weird feeling. The science in these things is pretty crazy.
So setup was a breeze. I removed the board from the box, downloaded their app and it connected to my board pretty quick. It even lets you connect to the board as a bluetooth speaker. It's not a great speaker and I don't think I'd ever use it when I'm outside because I don't feel like blasting my music for the neighbors but I guess it's there. There's like no bass to the speaker at all so it's probably just a last ditch thing if you really need a bluetooth speaker. Point is, the app connects right away and it's really necessary to use the hover board. The biggest positive is the ability to "Skip" account creation when you load up the app. I haven't seen much functionality lost by not creating an account. You need to skip the account creation every time you open the app after it closes, though.
The app has a few neat features. It has a "mode" setting that you can use to set your experience level with the scooter with beginner, intermediate and expert (I stuck to beginner). It gives you the battery level and mph and even some "total" stats. Then you can use plot your trip with the GPS. You can also adjust the lights but the options are a little limited. You can do some solid lights, strobe slights or random.. If you have bluetooth connected, you can also do a music visualizer mode. I barely noticed the lights when I was riding, though.
Riding was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I followed the few recommendations in the manual they give you for first time or beginner riders and, although I was a little shaky at first, it felt pretty easy to gain my balance and start moving around. I definitely have some work to do with turning but it felt like I was getting better as using it pretty quickly.
I don't know if I can do much about the battery life on this thing. I have no idea how to compare it to others. The product says it lasts 6 miles on a single charge but I feel like this is completely dependent on the rider. My beginner riding might be able to get a lot more out of the battery since I'm not pushing it to max speed (ever) or anything. The battery doesn't seem fantastic but doesn't seem bad either from a beginner's perspective.
One thing that I noticed right away (again, as a beginner) was the inability to traverse over fairly small bumps or cracks without some speed. It makes a lot of sense but it was something I didn't think about before getting caught up on a couple of cracks while moving around quite slowly. I don't think this is a knock against the hover board, though. I think it's more about the rider's abilities and understanding what works and what doesn't over time.
Overall, I like this thing and I'm going to try and get better at using it. Luckily, it's a pretty warm November so I can get a little more experience in before the winter takes hold. While the lights and stuff seem unnecessary since I barely noticed them while riding, I can imagine they look pretty cool to other people. I'm not sure how beginner friendly most hover boards are but the fact that I have yet to fall off of this one (a couple close calls) yet makes me think either they're all this easy to use or this one is just that good for beginners. I'm not what this means, really. If you're in the market for a hover board at this price range, I'd say do you research and see how this one compares and if it checks all the boxes you're looking for, I can recommend this one.
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I would recommend this to a friend!
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Elvie Pump (Double) is a smart, slimline wearable electric breast pump with 10 oz / 300 ml capacity. Tucking discreetly in-bra, Elvie Pump can be controlled from the Pump with Elvie app for a seamless hands-free experience—leaving you free to roam where other pumpers dare not go. Elvie Pump is the smallest1, quietest2, and smartest3 electric breast pump. With the new SmartRhythmTM pumping feature, it’s customisable for your changing needs. Choose between four pumping rhythms to optimise your milk output and manage hurdles like sensitive nipples or heavier let-down. That way, you can pump smarter, not harder. Product depth vs. the top 5 best-selling electric breast pumps in the US, UK, Germany and France (Sales data from Q2 2021 to Q2 2022). Acoustic testing in maximum expression mode vs. 2022). Number of app features available to control, monitor and track usage vs. Product depth vs.
Customer Rating
4
Good in a pinch...
on November 16, 2020
Posted by: swemoney
from Hanover Park, IL
This review was done by my wife for obvious reasons...
I was excited about the prospect about having a much more portable pump that wouldn't tether me as much as my more standard electric pump that I've been using since our daughter was born. This does a pretty good job of that but I don't think I'm going to be replacing my more standard pump for this one. It's probably going to be more of a supplement for it.
Setup is pretty easy with the app. Everything is displayed in a nice step-by-step guide that was fairly easy to follow. Once you're set up, the cups are easy to use. They don't make a lot of noise at all even if you turn up the suction all the way. They're definitely noticeable under your clothes and are slightly bulky but they're pretty comfortable to wear.
The app is nicely set up and lets you work the functions of the pump without having to mess with buttons in your bra. You get a display for both cups which show you the battery life remaining, pumping speed and the estimated amount pumped. This estimate, I found, wasn't super accurate but the app let's you adjust the amount afterwards to the correct amount once you empty and measure it. There's also a timer you can set so you can be alerted if you're busy doing other things while pumping and lose track of time.
Setting up and dismantling the cups was pretty simple. The manual has a step-by-step guide to follow. There are 6 main pieces. The pumping case with function displays, 2 pieces for the nipple guard and 3 pieces for the collecting bottle. The items are slim and function to allow the cups to take up a minimal amount of space when worn. Each cup has a carrying case and both could easily fit in your purse or baby bag.
My main gripe about this pump is this. When wearing a traditional pump with an external pump and hoses, you are able to see the nipple position and flow and adjust if the placement is off at all. The outer case of these pumps don't allow you to see what's going on under them so it's harder to gauge and adjust if things aren't going well. This has let to inconsistent amounts while pumping. My traditional pump can usually average around 4-6 ounces with a 20 minute pump. Sometimes I get close to this when I'm not doing too much while using these portable cups but I've also had pumps where I only got about 2.5 ounces after 25 minutes while cooking dinner and pumping at the same time. More experience with them might yield some better, more consistent results, though.
So for the most part, this Elvie pump is a nice supplement for your existing pump but I don't know if I'd recommend it as your only option unless you're literally on the go and never have time to sit down for 20 minutes to pump. Using these on a ride to work or while cooking is good but if you're able to just sit and pump, a standard pump with hoses will probably work much better for you.
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No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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Illuminate and view 2K video with the powerful wire-free Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera. The multi-functional wire-free floodlight camera cuts through darkness with brilliant LEDs, and an integrated high resolution 2K camera allows you to clearly view live video or recorded clips directly from your phone, with an included trial of Arlo Secure. The sleek design seamlessly integrates a robust security solution into your space. See more with a wide 160-degree field of view. Hear and speak to visitors clearly, with two-way audio. Customize lighting configurations to enhance security. Trigger your built-in siren remotely or automatically to ward off unwanted visitors. Protect your home or business with Arlo.Arlo Secure includes cloud recordings of video clips at 2K or lower resolution for 30 days. Renewal of an Arlo Secure plan is required to maintain Arlo Secure features, including cloud storage.
Customer Rating
4
Great replacement for an old outdoor motion light
on October 31, 2020
Posted by: swemoney
from Hanover Park, IL
This camera joins the stable of 3 other Arlo cameras in my home. I've tried a handful of different cameras and, so far, have liked the Arlo ones the best. This one is more of the same with a focus on the outdoors than the other cameras I have.
Setup is pretty straight forward for all Arlo camera products and this one stays the same. You open the app, add a camera, follow the instructions on screen (which change based on the camera, so this one will talk you through mounting the camera and finding a good spot with good wifi coverage first) and then you're all set. The one setting that took me a minute to find because I just haven't had to tweak those settings in a while, was turning on the flood light on motion. This is set by default to do this and I forgot that activation settings were in the Mode section of the app where you can change what happens in various "armed" states of your camera systems. After setup, if you are using HomeKit with your cameras, you'll just see this new camera show up along with your others (sorry, I can't vouch for how android support works). Since I had other Arlo cameras and a newer base station that came with my 4K camera, the new camera just connected to that but during setup, the app did give me the option of not connecting to the base station but I did not try this option so I am not sure how well that works. Good to have options though!
Usage is also pretty straight forward. The app works pretty well for an app that needs to do a bunch of complex things. I occasionally have an issue here or there with things just working weird but for the most part it works as you'd expect it. I only really use the app for things like reviewing footage because I can view the live feed from HomeKit. Picture quality is pretty nice and definitely trumps my Arlo Pro 2 cameras that are only 1080p cameras. The flood light is quite bright but I didn't find it akin to staring at the sun or anything. I think it should do a good job replacing your old motion light outside without upsetting the neighbors.
Until this camera, I have the rest of my Arlo cameras set up indoors and just always plugged in to USB so I don't have to worry about changing/charging the battery. This camera (and I guess the standard Arlo Pro 3 as well, I'm not sure since I don't have one of those) does away with the standard micro USB plug exposed on the back of the camera and instead has a micro USB charging port that can only be accessed after taking the camera out of the mounting "case". Good news is I saw some contacts on the bottom of the camera that appeared like I could attach a magnetic charger to it so ordered one so I don't need to worry about changing the batter on this camera as well. The battery and overall size of this camera is a lot greater than any of my other Arlo cameras.
All in all, this camera is very nice. Definitely overkill for "indoors" as the product name suggests but as a motion light and camera for your front door, I'm a big fan. If it's in your budget and you're looking for this kind of light/camera combo, I'd recommend it. I'd also recommend it if you're looking to add more Arlo cameras to an existing system since it "just works" with everything else.
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I would recommend this to a friend!
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eufy Security Wired 2K Video Doorbell. 2K Resolution, 5-Day Continuous Video Recording (CVR) on Secure Local Storage, No Monthly Fees, Human Detection, 2-way Audio, and Free Wireless Chime included.
Customer Rating
5
Fantastic doorbell camera
on October 16, 2020
Posted by: swemoney
from Hanover Park, IL
I don't give out 5-star ratings very often. Most products that I like a lot still get 4 stars but this doorbell gets it for me. Despite it's one shortcoming (right now) I still enjoy this doorbell camera very much and think it beats the old doorbell camera I had by a mile.
I've had a Simplisafe doorbell camera for a while now and it was... ok. The app worked... most of the time. I could review clips that were recorded.. some of the time. And they charged me for that every month. It wasn't a great experience. This Eufy doorbell camera is night and day a great experience and blows the Simplisafe camera out of the water. I don't have experience with other doorbell cams so I don't know how it compares.
Setup was pretty easy. Installation was a breeze since I already had a doorbell camera installed, I think it took me longer to find the old box for my old doorbell cam so I could find the "key" to unlock and remove the old doorbell than it did to reinstall my the new one. I would have liked to keep my current doorbell chime but i'm fine with sacrificing that if this camera needs that extra power and works as well as it does. After installation, you just set up through the app and it takes you step by step through everything. There's a little QR Code you scan that's included inside the packaging and it does most of the work for you. Didn't have any troubles with setup at all.
The features of this doorbell are what make it stand out. And it does what it does for free! No stupid $5/mo charge for storing a few clips in the cloud that only play back about 60% of the time. This doorbell comes with it's own MicroSD card to record on and everything streams straight from the device so you don't have pay a dime after you buy the doorbell. You also have 2 options for recording. You can record any time the doorbell sees motion based on your detection zone you set up and the ignored zone you setup and how close or far you want it to detect. This will record clips in 2k resolution any time it detects the appropriate motion. But you can also set it to record nonstop if you'd like. It drops the resolution to 1080p to save space but you have a 24/7 feed outside if you need it. Up to you. Again, both of these features are included and you don't need to pay anything extra for them. Their AI might need a little more training because I kept getting notifications about a car tire being a human in front of my house but I just set the distance a little closer and that has mostly cleared up.
The app works really well. I haven't had any issues playing back clips or scrubbing through the timeline. Every time there's motion, I can tap the notification and immediately see what the motion is/was. Playback is probably dependent on your wifi and home network speeds but for me I haven't had any issue or delay playing any clips or timeline segments. It just works.
The single drawback as of right now with this doorbell is that there is no HomeKit support. I'm not even worried about HomeKit Secure Video right now, but just plain HomeKit support so I can view the live video from the same place I can see the rest of my cameras or get a notification on my AppleTV when someone rings the doorbell with a feed from the camera. This would be an amazing addition and I hope they're working hard on bringing this support soon.
All that said, I'm a big fan of this doorbell if you couldn't tell. It may have some things to do with the really miserable experience I felt the Simplisafe doorbell gave me but everything just works with this one and I don't have to pay them every month to make it do that. I can't speak for how this stacks up to the bigger competition from Amazon or Google but I am very happy with the offering here and I hope that HomeKit support puts it over the top soon with a software/firmware update. If you're in the market and this is in your budget, I can't recommend it enough.
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I would recommend this to a friend!
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Feel the music with the JET BASS BOOSTER and High-efficiency Tweeters inside the all-in-one MHC-V13 Home Audio System. Make the party yours with a speaker light, Karaoke function, and more. New functions like Party Playlist and Karaoke Ranking via Sony’s Fiestable app turn the party into a full-on interactive experience for everyone in attendance.
Customer Rating
4
Pretty nice party speaker
on October 8, 2020
Posted by: swemoney
from Hanover Park, IL
If you need something a little more substantial than your garden variety run of the mill portable bluetooth speaker for your next party, this one might be for you.
Setup is a breeze depending on what you want to do with it. Bluetooth connected quickly. CDs play right off of the top. The demo mode starts by holding one button. Overall, the speaker "just works" for most of what you'll want to use it for.
The speaker also has a pretty good look. It looks high tech and fancy enough but not over the top in my opinion. It's definitely not small. This is a very large speaker. But it's also very light and has a nice handle on top that makes it easy to move around.
The sound is pretty decent. I'm not an audiophile and most of my testing was with bluetooth audio so your mileage may vary but the speaker sounded pretty nice with some decent preset sound modes. You can adjust things to your liking with the EQ but I found that most of the sound presets did the job just fine.
The software for your phone is OK. It's mostly gimmicky stuff like playing with the lights or doing some weird effects with the sounds your playing. You might find a better use for this stuff in your party setting but I can't imagine using any of it really aside from the possible exception of the party playlist feature. You can set up to play a "party playlist" that your friends can (after they download the app as well) connect to and add the songs they want to the playlist. So you can technically have everyone at your party DJing for you. You can also use the app to fine tune the sounds and adjust EQ settings so while it's not an essential app at all, it has it's good sides.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with this speaker and can't wait until it's safe enough to have a decent enough party to use it with. I didn't test the karaoke functionality but there is no video out or anything so the only "karaoke function" that exists is the ability to plug in a microphone and adjust reverb and such, so you'll still have to provide your own karaoke software and music (obviously). There's also the ability to wirelessly connect to multiple of these speakers and sync them together. I tried this with 2 of Sony's smaller bluetooth speakers before and the results were iffy at best. I can't vouch for how well this works on these new speakers, though.
If you're in the market for a good speaker to liven up your next party and this one falls into your budget, give this a go.
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I would recommend this to a friend!
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Now the Roomba i3+ EVO robot vacuum is smarter than ever, learning and mapping your home room-by-room so it can clean the room you want, when you want—with 10x the Power-Lifting Suction* and Premium 3-Stage Cleaning System. Powered by iRobot OS, it stays one step ahead of everyday messes, by learning your life and suggesting cleaning schedules—to clean when you’re out enjoying life. On-demand cleaning is only a command away, with Google Assistant and Alexa compatibility** that let you direct your robot to messes right when they happen. With Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal, Roomba will return itself to the base when the bin is full, automatically empty and resume cleaning, so you don’t have to think about emptying the bin for months at a time. (*Compared to the Roomba® 600 series cleaning system)
Customer Rating
4
Super neat vacuum
on September 18, 2020
Posted by: swemoney
from Hanover Park, IL
I've tried another robot vacuum in the past. It was a Samsung and it worked fine. So my limited experience with these products might need to be taken with a grain of salt but I was much more impressed with this Roomba. Everything from build quality, packaging and streamlined setup process made the experience far better than I had seen before.
The huge box is really just to house the tall charging base with it's automatic dirt emptying bin. Everything was packaged nicely and looked sleak when unboxing. The design and style of the Roomba is just so far ahead of anything else I've seen. This IS a product that's going to be sitting on your floor for a while so it's really nice that care has been taken to make it look good.
Setup is pretty easy. I didn't run into any hiccups during the process. Just download the app, set up an account and start the pairing process. The app takes you through the whole processes step by step and it was very easy to follow. The only thing you really need is your wifi name and password and the app will guide you through the rest.
Performance seems pretty good. I tested the vacuum out on my largest floor area that was pretty dirty and I tested it right out of the box. The robot only had about as much time as setup took to charge up a bit. It did a lot of work and then took a small break to charge up and continued it's work. The vacuum isn't crazy loud or anything. You can definitely hear it but it's not obnoxious or anything. Loud happens when the automatic emptying bin takes over. So you'll have a pretty quiet vacuum job punctuated with the sound of a jet engine flying over head a few times when it needs to empty. The super loud emptying sound was one of the few down sides I've experienced to this vacuum. The only other one is that since it's a round puck shape, there are definitely corners it will have trouble getting in to and you might need to go over that with another vacuum. The way the robot felt around my room and kind of learned where things were was really cool as well.
Other features of the software are the ability to set up a schedule for vacuuming (or just manually starting it from away from your home). You also get a nice little history page complete with a map of where it vacuumed. The app feels very well done.
All in all, I do like this vacuum a lot better than my old Samsung. I will put it to use more often than I used to. I don't hate the way it looks when it's idle on my floor and it does a good job getting the carpet mostly clean. If you're in the market for a nice, above average robot vacuum with some style, this might be the one for you if it fits your budget.
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I would recommend this to a friend!
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Logitech G923 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC is a high-performance racing wheel that revolutionizes the racing experience. Re-engineered to support a next-generation feedback system, G923 features TRUEFORCE high-definition force feedback that dials into game engines to deliver higher-fidelity realism. Feel the pistons pumping, the gravel crunching, and every shift, drift, and hairpin turn like never before. True racing comes from within.
Customer Rating
4
Feels like you're in a fancy arcade
on September 1, 2020
Posted by: swemoney
from Hanover Park, IL
I don't have any other driving or wheel accessories to compare the G923 to, but this one just felt like I was in the arcade. I really enjoyed my experience with it and feel like, with time, it'll get even better.
Setup is pretty straight forward. Everything I did was with my PC but I assume things will work even better on a PS4 for supported games since configuration might be more baked in. The number of fully supported games for their "TrueForce" feature is very small right now and hopefully that'll change in the near future since it's such a new item. Basically you just plug the power into the wheel, and then plug the pedals into the wheel and then one more USB cable from the wheel to your PC (or PS4). The wheel unit has adjustable clips on the bottom that fit a large array of thicknesses so you can clamp it to your desk or whatever you're playing on. I'm using a MALM Ikea desk with a pretty thin mat on top and the wheel JUST BARELY squeezed on to it. You wouldn't be able to clamp it on anything thicker. But this is a thick desk and if the mat wasn't on top, it probably would fit a little more comfortably. That's all there is to it for physical setup. The only problem with actual setup is all based on the software or game you're using. Playing GRiD 2019 for the first time (which is one of the few games that fully supports the TrueForce feature) almost worked out of the box, but the wheel wasn't active right away so I had to search around the settings in order to activate it. After that it worked great! Then there was Farming Simulator 19 which "worked", but involves a lot of control fiddling and if you accidentally "reset" the controls, you'll have to manually redo every input. I'm sure theres another way but I didn't find one. Games were kind of hit or miss with degrees inbetween working out of the box and needing a lot of extra work to work well. If you're ok with playing around with the settings to get things to work the way you want, you'll be just fine. Like I said, I assume PS4 games would probably work out of the box a little more often but this is also a brand new wheel that some games just don't fully recognize yet so I can see this issue sorting itself out over time as games get updated with support.
The wheel feels fantastic when playing. You can customize the dead zones in the G-Hub software and various other buttons. Having all the PS4 buttons on the wheel is also very nice and gives you a lot of control and customization in whatever you're playing and how you play it. The TrueForce feature in GRiD just made the wheel feel very great and move like you'd expect it to. My biggest issue with the whole setup was the stiffness of the brake pedal. I understand that the brake pedal SHOULD be more stiff, but I felt like it was too much. Your mileage may vary based on the surface you use the pedals on, but my thin carpet did not hold the pedals in place well enough when pressing the brake. I needed to wedge something between the pedal block and the wall to make sure I couldn't push the whole unit every time I needed to hit the brakes. There are rubber feet on the bottom that could work better maybe on hard wood floors but I'm not sure about this. With the stiffness of the brake pedal, I could see a lot of people having the same issues I did.
Overall, this is my first racing wheel and I was really impressed with it. It's not cheap and I'll need to fiddle with settings to get things to work exactly how I want but I'm ok with it. I would recommend this for anyone who wants a serious racing wheel and you have the budget.
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I would recommend this to a friend!
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Samsung 870 QVO 2TB Internal 2.5” SATA III Solid State Drive for Laptops and Desktops Single Unit version
Customer Rating
4
A pretty good new SSD, not great of an upgrade
on August 18, 2020
Posted by: swemoney
from Hanover Park, IL
I bought a similar SSD from Samsung (one of the 840 EVO) about 6 years ago in the 500GB variety when I was putting together my new computer. The computer has since been through some upgrades (including the CPU and Motherboard) so it's barely the same machine but that hard drive is still going strong. I was hoping this drive could give me a little bit of a speed boost after 6+ years of innovation.
What I actually learned is that we had pretty much tapped the speed of the SATA bus way back then and there wasn't much to be gained here. I did a simple speed test of both drives (as well as my HDD) and, although the new 870 QVO was faster, the numbers shown weren't that substantial. The problem was that I just haven't tested out my old drive (maybe when I first put the computer together) so I was surprised how close to the max SATA III speed I was already.
Setup was as simple as usual if you know how to install a SATA hard drive. plug in the power and the SATA cable and you're up and running. Showed up in the BIOS right away and just needed to be "initialized" by Windows.
Performance was as described above. It got very close to the advertised speeds on the box so nothing to complain about there. The 870 QVO got sequential read speeds at about 550-565MB/s. Random read speeds at 407MB/s (1 queue, 1 thread speed was 41MB/s). Sequential write speeds were between 525-535MB/s and random write speeds were at 379MB/s (1 queue, 1 thread 118MB/s). These speeds are pretty close to the advertised max speeds on the box so I'm not unhappy at all. Now to contrast this with my 6 year old drive, seq reads were 538-554, random was 402 and random 1 thread was 42 and then seq write speeds were 508-519 and random writes were at 326 (1 thread was 96).
So you can see, there is a SLIGHT boost from the much older drive to the newer beast but I'm not sure if it's enough to warrant an upgrade if you don't really need one. About 10-20MB/s for the most part. Obviously this just means that these drives were performing at the maximum bus speed of the SATA III spec was back in the day which is great.
So would I recommend this drive? Absolutely if you're building a new computer or upgrading from a super old hard disk drive (and don't already have a SATA III SSD. A good SSD is one of the best upgrades you can do if you're still using an old school platter hard drive. Do I think you should make a lateral move and upgrade from an existing SSD that works fine and gets you close to that 600MB/s maximum? Not unless you're just looking for more drive space. You can't go wrong with this one as it's fast and if it's as reliable as my 840 EVO, it should keep ticking for a long time. Samsung makes good SSDs. If you can fit something like this into your budget t hen get it.
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Gray, MX Keys for Mac features a Mac key layout and smart illumination.Perfect Stroke keys are shaped for your fingertips and increased key stability reduces noise while optimizing responsiveness. Tactile reference for hand positioning makes it easy to stay oriented and in your flow. The backlit keys light up the moment your hands approach and automatically adjust to suit changing lighting conditions.Type on multiple computers with Flow –and effortlessly transfer text, images, and files between computers –just copy on one and paste to the other.Requires Logitech Flow-enabled mouse and Options software, available for macOS and Windows.
Customer Rating
4
Great feel. Great build. I like it.
on July 15, 2020
Posted by: swemoney
from Hanover Park, IL
I have a 2016 MacBook Pro with the fancy (at the time) new keyboard that ends up hurting my fingers after long sessions with it. I haven't been using this keyboard for a super long time but it already feels a TON better than the standard keyboard. I've used the wireless keyboard that Apple sells as well and I'd say I prefer this keyboard to that as well.
Setup was kind of a breeze. I turned on the keyboard with the switch on the back and it lit up and started flashing in pairing mode. The only hiccup I had came when I failed to read the screen and didn't enter the code on the keyboard when it popped up. Tried again when actually reading and it connected just fine. I also tried out the wireless dongle by connecting it to my Windows 10 machine and the connection process was completely seamless by holding the device 2 key for a few seconds.
This is one of my favorite parts of the keyboard is the seamless transition that's possible between devices. I can use this same keyboard for my MacBook Pro, my iPad and my Windows 10 device (I'll probably end up changing to another device since I already have a decent keyboard on my gaming machine). You just tap the key for the device you want to use and it switches over instantly. It's also advertised that if you have a mouse that's compatible with "Flow", your mouse will switch along with your keyboard so you can use the same mouse and keyboad on up to 3 devices. Big fan.
Another favorite feature of mine is the proximity illumination of the keys. It just feels so natural and feels like something that Apple should have done a decade ago. You just move your hands close to your keyboard and the whole thing lights up. This is in stark contrast to my least favorite keyboard that exists on a gaming laptop I have which doesn't light up for anything but a key press with no option to keep the backlight on at all. This really makes the MX Keys feels quite polished and futuristic.
Build quality on this guy feels fantastic. It's deceptively heavy. For a wireless keyboard that doesn't look very bulky or anything, this thing is not light at all. If your main use for this is keyboard is to take it with you in a backpack and use it in multiple locations, you'll probably need to check out how much it actually weighs to see if it'll make a huge difference on your carry weight. It probably won't but it's something to consider. I only mention it because when I removed the keyboard from the box, the first thing that entered my head was "wow, this feels heavy".
Typing on this keyboard feels pretty good. The keys are firm but not hard to press. There's a little bit of travel to the key so it doesn't feel like you're typing on a table top or something. I don't think it feels better (for me) than a nice mechanical keyboard but there's a lot of preference that goes into that so it might feel wonderful to you. For me, it's pretty good. Definitely better than the 2016-2019 keyboards on the MacBook Pros.
There's a software that is recommended to install that allows you some extra customization as well. You can assign custom shortcuts or specific system functions to your F-keys. The software is completely optional and the keyboard works fine without it but it's there for you if you want some added functionality and customization.
All in all I'm a big fan of this keyboard and it will probably replace my built in keyboard on my MacBook Pro when I'm at a desk and have room to add a keyboard. I haven't even scratched the surface of the full potential of this keyboard as I probably have a half dozen (easy) devices I can think of in my house that could use a nice, wireless, portable keyboard. Being able to switch between 3 devices is going to be amazing but I think the only problem I can think of now is that I'm going to have an issue with ONLY being able to link 3 devices. First world problems.
Mobile Submission: False
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.
8 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.
8 years ago
by
swemoney