swemoney's stats
- Review count205
- Helpfulness votes156
- First reviewMay 14, 2016
- Last reviewApril 21, 2024
- 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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Fuel your system performance with the Crucial® T500 Gen4 NVMe® SSD. Experience faster gaming – perfect for PS5™ upgrades. Amp up your creative potential with solid state storage that moves as fast as you need it to. Heavy tasks are no problem with better performance to power efficiency, and our heatsink gives you quiet heat dissipation in a sleek design.
Customer Rating
5
Quick and easy storage expansion
on January 13, 2024
Posted by: swemoney
There's not much more to want here. This drive installs effortlessly into a PS5 and gives you plenty of storage for at least one Call of Duty update. It's one of the fastest advertised drives out there so you really shouldn't have any issues feeling like this is a built in drive.
Installation is painless. Honestly, figuring out how to hold the top panel you have to remove in order to get it to slide off is the most complicated part. After that, you just insert it into the slot and screw it in and close 'er back up. Setup on the PS5 side is just as painless as the PS5 will notice you've installed a new drive and ask what to do with it right away. Then you can just select the new drive as your default install drive and you're off to the races to install whatever you want.
There's not much more to say about usage. I didn't notice any sort of slowdown when using this drive. Feels just like the internal PS5 drive. The only pain point (to me) is a software thing on Sony's side where you can't select what drive you want to install to each time you install something. This is definitely no fault of Crucial and the drive works great.
If you're looking to more than triple your PS5's storage capacity, you can't go very wrong with this one. It's easy to install. One of the quickest drives you can get (I haven't tested it in a PC but I'm sure it would do wonders in there as well). Not much downside here. If it's in your budget, get it.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Say hai to a smart sustainable showerhead. Water-powered Bluetooth technology connects to the hai app, helping you track your water usage - no batteries required. Save water with customizable LED alerts, indicating when the water's reached your perfect temperature and when you're at your set water use target. A specially designed patented spray slider makes it easy to adjust between a high-pressure stream to a steamy fine mist. hai features more coverage than the average showerhead and is perfect for low-flow environments. Constructed with durable, high-quality, stainless-steel materials and a smooth bacterial-resistance hose, hai can be mounted on the wall or used as a handled shower device. A 2-year warranty lets you buy with confidence.
Customer Rating
4
Nice shower head with some lacking smart features
on December 30, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
This is my first "smart" shower head and for that, it's pretty nice. But as far as the smart features go, they leave me sort of wanting and hoping a firmware update can fix it up later.
Install was really easy. I've installed a few shower heads in my day so I was prepared already. Taking my old shower head off was the biggest struggle. Attaching this one was a breeze though. You don't need any tools, really. The quick start guide recommends you have some plumbers tape which I had some extra laying around. The shower head has a lever of sorts that jiggles between two different positions. One to tighten the shower head to the wall outlet and the then you can move it down to tighten the whole unit. At first I was concerned because any movement of the shower handle (or just placing it in it's holster) would make the whole smart base swivel around a bit. I figured out that the second position on the tightening level was for locking that into place though and it was all good.
Setup through the app was pretty easy too. You need to create (another) account to use it which is really annoying. After that annoyance, it does a good job of walking you through setup which was really quick and easy. You need to turn the water on (which is how it gets it's power, it says power should be available for up to an hour after your shower which is pretty neat) and then the app just finds the shower head and updates the firmware and it's ready to go. Really straightforward.
As a shower, it works well. Pressure is good and doesn't feel any different than my old shower (which I enjoyed the pressure of). If you're used to (and actually use) a lot of different "modes" on your shower head, this one might not be for you because it only has a strong stream and a mist. You can slide between the two so you can find the pressure you like but there's no single stream blast or pulse or anything that you find on a lot of other wand shower heads. Luckily, our old shower head basically never left the setting that this one is always at so I'm not going to worry about that.
The smart features are alright on this one. The app is pretty well designed. It's a bit simplistic and there's not much to it, but it's a shower head so I can't fault it there. It'll give you a rundown of the last shower you took as well as a breakdown over time. It also offers you hints on how much water and power you might have saved with that shower based on how much water you used and how hot the water was. I don't believe I will ever see a non-zero number in those slots because my first shower almost doubled the amount of water they recommend and the temperate they recommend is barely warm to me. But I didn't get it to save money so I can ignore those zeros for now.
The shower head features a little pillar with a small light on it and in the app you can set up "alerts" for water usage and temperature. You can specify a color for each alert and a number. That's where it ends though. By default it'll give you an orange light when you reach 20 gallons of water and it'll light up green when the water is at 90 degrees. It even looks like it tries to light both lights at the same time but it's pretty hard to see. When the orange light came on, it looked like the green light was still trying to take up half the dot. It's neat and all but I would have loved to see more. For starters, given only two alert states that are independent, I would have thought two separate lights would have been a little nicer than just one. Not much that can be done about that one.
But more importantly, I would love to see the ability to add more than one alert per category. For instance, turn blue when the water is 70 degrees, orange when it's 90 degrees, red when it's 100 degrees. This would help out when getting a shower ready for the kids as we could aim for a different color of water based on who was using the shower. Then for water usage, we could have one color when we get to 15 gallons, and then another at 20 gallons and a red alert color of sorts when we get to 30 gallons. I think this would have a bigger impact on me trying to save water if I get a little bit of a warning as I approach my goal usage and then a get a big red flag when I blow past it. If anyone from hai might see this, I would love to see a firmware update add this kind of functionality if possible.
All in all, I do like the shower head and the few smart features it provides for now. I hope for an updated firmware but I won't hold my breath. As is, it's a little underwhelming but I'm not disappointment.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Begin your cryptocurrency adventure with the Trezor Model T — a perfect blend of open-source security and style, featuring a large and responsive color touchscreen. With the Model T's seamless integration with the free Trezor Suite app, managing all your digital assets has never been this straightforward. Easily send, receive, trade, and track your assets while maintaining transaction privacy through Trezor's advanced privacy features. Dive into the world of crypto, knowing that the Trezor Model T has your back.
Customer Rating
4
Pretty neat from a casual
on December 30, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
I don't have a huge stake in crypto or anything. Very casual observer and even more casual dabbler over here. I tested out another hardware wallet and it was alright but the tiny nature of the device and limited controls made navigation and overall usage a bit of a pain. This one solves those problems pretty well.
Setup was fairly straight forward. You download the software for your computer and peal off the hologram seal covering the USB port. I still have to take goo-gone or something to the leftover sticker since it's made to not come off. Loading up the software with the wallet plugged in gave you some pretty straight forward setup instructions to follow. By the end of the 10ish minute process, I had a new, offline wallet ready to accept coins.
The software is pretty well designed and easy to navigate. You do pretty much everything you want to do from inside the software. Initiate a transfer or setting up to receive is all started in the software and then you verify and confirm everything on the device. The largish screen makes it fairly easy to navigate and see. It's about the size of an Apple Watch face so even typing your pin code on the onscreen keypad (where the numbers are randomly placed every time) is pretty easy. I ran into no problems working any of the casual things I wanted to test out.
When I was done, I found it pretty handy that this wallet came with a nice magnetic back and a plate with adhesive on it so you can stick and store it any place you'd like.
A reminder, I'm casual into crypto. This thing is probably just going to store a little bit and only be broken out occasionally for transfers. I'm happy with the ability to store it away on the magnet and with how easy the software was to use. No complaints but I can't speak for more advanced or regular usage or anything. For my needs, it works well.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 Wireless Headphones, featuring a completely redesigned and optimized acoustic system, an angled ultra-high-resolution carbon drive unit, deliver detailed, rich audio performance with incredible clarity. With its proprietary active noise cancellation, the headphones are designed to block out unwanted external noise, ensuring clear, crisp playback of your favorite tracks. With the redesigned microphone arrangement with 2 external adjustable mics, the wireless headphones ensure exceptional call quality. Easy set up offered through the iOS/Android compatible Bowers & Wilkins Music App that allows you to control he sound and noise cancellation, enable voice control right from your phone. Offers 30 hours battery life from a 2-hour charge, plus quick charge support delivering 7 hours playback from a 15-minute charge. Comes with all round improvements to headband that ensure comfort across differing head-shapes, coupled with lightweight aluminum and fine leathers for a superior fit and finish.
Customer Rating
5
Light with a nice sound
on December 4, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
I always preface my headphone reviews with a disclaimer that I do not consider myself to be an audiophile. I enjoy music and sound but I am not the one to look to if you're looking for how well a pair of headphones can distinguish between two subtly different frequencies. That said, these are definitely one of the nicer pairs of headphones I've used and will probably just be my new wireless set for listening to music.
Setup is dead simple like it always is. There's an app that walks you through the entire process but it's a bluetooth headphone set so it's the same process as it is everywhere. The app is one of the better accessory/headphone apps I've used. It doesn't feel bloated or slow or anything. It doesn't get in your way. I'll probably leave it installed, which is saying something for the countless headphone apps that didn't survive.
The sound is quite nice. It somehow strikes a really good balance of loudness where it sounds loud without being deafening or anything. Bass sounds really good. All the frequencies, from my non-audiophile ears, sound really good. The bluetooth connection is also good and, even in a home with a lot of 2.4Ghz interference around me, I didn't notice any stutters or anomalies that I notice in some other bluetooth devices or separate 2.4Ghz transfer tech. It just sounds good to me.
The headphones also feel really nice on your head. They're really light weight and the cups fit around my ears nicely. The cups might be a tad smaller than I'd usually like. They do "touch" my ears but not in a distracting way. There's a good amount of pressure into your head keeping the headphones secure and sealed without causing any discomfort that I could notice with prolonged use. The carry case requires the headphones be completely collapsed. This is weird to me because every other pair of headphones I've used I basically leave the strap in the place I like it so it always fits nice. But the strap extends in a very smooth and easy manner so you always don't notice doing it when you put them on again. You could also just leave the headphones laying on a desk or something and not worry about collapsing them, but the case is nice so I enjoy using it.
The controls feature an actual toggle switch for power (I really dislike needing to push and hold an ambiguous button to power on my headphones). I found all of the control buttons were pretty easy to distinguish and press on both cups.
The noise canceling sounds good. There's no trouble getting a good seal around your ears and it does a really good job canceling out noises you don't want to hear.
Overall, these are some of the best bluetooth headphones I've used and I've used a lot of them. They're well built and feel nice to wear. Connection is great and they sound great while keeping out the sounds you don't want. If you have the budget, give these a listen and see how you like them.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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ScanWatch 2 is more than a hybrid smartwatch, it is a health guardian on duty 24/7. This next generation includes new and exclusive sensors, including TempTech 24/7 module which for the first time, delivers day and night body temperature variation tracking, alongside proactive heart health notifications, atrial fibrillation detection via a 1L ECG, and blood oxygen levels. Together these sensors can help anyone maintain a healthy lifestyle, effortlessly. ScanWatch 2 also features its trademark sleep and activity tracking plus an extraordinary battery life of 30 days before needing to be recharged.
Customer Rating
4
Nice middle between smart and traditional watch
on November 18, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
I've been using smart watches for quite a while. Way back when one of the first smart watches came out, The Pebble and then a handful of different series of Apple Watch. This is a really nice middle ground between a full on smart watch and a more traditional watch. If you're looking for something that "looks" more like a traditional watch but has some smart watch/health features as well, this might be the one for you.
Setup was quick and easy. The Withings app on my Apple Watch is actually not a terrible mess like a lot of peripheral apps. It walks you through setup and I didn't find any huge hiccups while getting things going.
The focus on heath metrics is nice. It feels like it's constantly monitoring things like your temperature and heartrate even though it takes them at some sort of interval. Things like O2 and ECG need to take a full 30 seconds but I think that's pretty common. The one fault I could find with using the watch was the awkward hand hold they try and get you to do in order to take your ECG or O2 reading. It's incredibly hard to maneuver your hand in the way they show you to take your ECG so I just did what I could and it seemed to work. Very awkward, though. Especially coming from an Apple watch where I just have to put my finger on the digital crown. This one wants you to kind of make a circle with your thumb and index finger and get that to wrap around the watch face. Most times, I'd basically end up just pinching my thumb and index finger on each side of the watch face instead. It seemed to work, but I could tell it sometimes struggled. Not the best.
Features are pretty basic but they're the normal essentials. Heartrate, temperature, O2 saturation, ECG, workouts, steps/distance walked. They all seem to work pretty well. Depending on your wrist position, some things could take a little longer to get a reading (or give wild readings to start with before it realizes what happened). I've had some ECG readings that came back "inconclusive". But I found that all of the readings worked well enough for my needs. Without setting up anything, I slept with the watch the first night I had it (I usually don't like sleeping with a watch) and it just detected that automatically and gave me a sleep quality and O2 average the next morning.
A couple oddities or things I'd like to see.. A more comfortable/longer band to start with. The included one barely fits my wrist. I'm on the 2nd or 3rd notch from the end. And after sleeping with it, the ridges on the back of the band went etched into my skin and felt very uncomfortable. ECG was a little weird but I should probably blame my state's regulations. It needed to verify and approve me for ECG use so after my first ECG reading, the tutorial things didn't compete and I had to back out. It took a handful of hours for approval before I could get my readings. After this, everything was fine. The charger isn't just a nice magnetic thing which is going to just be a preference things. I'm not a huge fan of needing to place the watch into the little springy contraption. Getting it out felt just as weird. Not a huge deal but it's no Apple Watch.
One thing I would love to see is an API of sort to take advantage of some of the data. For instance, sending my heart rate to another app via web sockets to display for a Twitch stream. Just some sort of API to extend the functionality a bit would be great in general though.
My favorite thing about this watch is just that it doesn't really look like a smart watch. I like that it just looks like a nice watch and the bells and whistles are hidden away for the most part. If you're looking for a nice health tracker that also doesn't really look like one at all, this might be the watch for you. Give it a shot if it's in your budget. I'm a fan.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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The PowerShot V10 is a vlog and still camera in a new highly portable form factor with components from the popular G-Series line that lets you create impressive videos on-the-go. With stereo sound capture, a built-in stand, and easy live streaming, this cam is ready to go when you are. Don’t let its size fool you, this is a vlogging studio in a compact package that can be operated with one hand to let you express your story!
Customer Rating
4
Quick and convenient over features and quality
on November 18, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
My review title isn't meant to disparage this camera. It's a tradeoff. It's not the highest quality or most versatile image around, but everything about the camera is designed to be quick and easy to use. It doesn't take long to get used to the interface and the included kickstand along with the single button located on the front just makes everything pretty simple for taking face cam imagines and videos.
Setup is easy enough. The camera doesn't come with a micro SD card so that's up to you to provide if you don't have an extra one laying around. A small 32 GB card would have been nice to included for getting up and running without any hitches. Some of the initial setup just wouldn't complete (like saving wifi information) without an SD card installed so it seems like a pretty big oversight to not included ANY card at all. Even if it was tiny. Otherwise, it's just a matter of following on screen instructions for setting up the camera. Doesn't take long.
Settings are fairly basic and don't really overwhelm you. It's most everything you find on standard digital cameras. Shooting mode are limited enough as well to not overwhelm you and I don't think it needs more. I'm not a professional photographer or anything so I don't need most of the tiny details. The screen is also touch screen so you can adjust some settings without pressing any buttons on the camera. This is important when you have the screen flipped towards the front.
Usage is dead simple. After you have the settings you like, just hit the red button on front. The kickstand is fantastic for setting the phone up on a flat surface without needing to worry about lugging around a tripod. The screen flips up over the top to face forward which I really like. Gives you a really nice preview really close to the lens so you always know if you're shooting the right thing. Battery life could definitely be better even for such a small and light device. And especially for a device that's made for mobile shooting. It feels like the battery should have been more of a concern. Just keep a charging brick available so you can charge it if you're going to be out for more than a couple hours.
One of the reasons I was looking forward to this was the ability to use it as a straight up webcam via USB-C. It "just works" great. Plug it in and it's ready to use in OBS or whatever other software that can take advantage of a webcam. You're also able to connect to the micro HDMI port to show things off to your TV (or connect to an HDMI capture on your computer). The wide angle lens is really nice but I'm a little sad there's no optical zoom available.
Picture quality is pretty good. I wouldn't notice tiny things that might be against the picture quality and I don't notice anything really wrong with the picture at all. Well lit is your friend but if you're a content creator already, you're probably already aware of how much proper lighting helps. No complaints on the picture.
Overall, for a content creation camera, this is a really good product. I'm sad that any sort of digital zoom or stabilization is going to eat into your resolution but it's not something that really affects my content at all. A starter SD card would have been nice but it's not a deal breaker, just a little odd. Picture quality is good and everything is made to be quick and convenient to use just without all the bells and whistles. The USB webcam feature is going to get a ton of use in live streams. I can recommend this camera if you're looking for something for content creation and it's in your price range.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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The IdeaPad 1 raises the bar on every affordable laptop with a super-efficient Intel Celeron N4020 processor in a thin and compact 17.9 mm chassis that makes multitasking a breeze while boosting energy efficiency with up-to-11 hours of battery life and rapid charge. Get more value with four-sided narrow bezels for maximum screen, Dolby Audio speakers and Flip to Start for instant boot up. Optimize your video call experience with a 720p camera that comes with a privacy shutter to keep out prying eyes and Smart Noise Cancelling to cut out background noise.
Customer Rating
2
I understand its cheap but performance is bad
on November 13, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
I've set up and reviewed a lot of computers and laptops. Be it my own systems (I've been building computers for at least 3 decades now) or helping friends set up their computers. I understand that this system is meant to be about as entry level as it gets but oh man, my patience was tested. I was hoping to use this for my kids so they have something to watch some videos on and MAYBE play a really simple game. It might still be OK for videos but I'm not even sure yet.
Setup was a nightmare. Even the transitions between screens during the setup questions were laggy and jerky. Running Windows Update after setup was a full night en-devour. I didn't want to judge the overall performance of the PC based on initial setup but I can't think of having a worse experience with performance ever before. Nearly everything feels like a click and wait activity. I don't think CPU usage fell below 100% the entire time (which isn't hard for it to get there so I guess that's not much of a feat).
After setup was done, I didn't find that performance was getting much better. CPU was still pegged at 100% almost all the time. Finally loading up Edge so I could download Firefox took literal minutes. I wish I timed it, but I sat staring at a blank tab with a loading throbber for at least 5 minutes before the website finally loaded. Then downloading Firefox led me to my next snag because I've never heard of or experienced "Windows S Mode" before. So googling that (on another machine because I was not about to open another tab on this one) got me the instructions I needed to turn it off and install Firefox.
With Firefox finally installed and WIndows S Mode deactivated I finally felt like the machine was running at under 100% CPU for the first time. Things were still slow but it almost felt usable. I say this because I don't think I'll be installing anything else. Aside from the small storage space, I can't imagine using this machine for anything other than some really light web browsing and video watching and maybe some word processing.
I loaded up YouTube and Netflix and was able to watch videos alright. The resolution on this machine is just over 720p and playing a YouTube video at 720p works well. If you bump it up to 1080p, I started to see some dropped frames but nothing really noticeable (it just showed in Stats For Nerds). Netflix logged in and played just fine as well. I think this is predominantly what you'll be using this machine for. Watching some videos and checking your email.
Build quality is pretty OK. The keyboard doesn't feel bad. The system is light and plastic but it feels solid enough. I'm not sure how badly my kids will damage it but it feels, at initial usage, that it'll withstand a little bit of abuse at least. The screen quality isn't too great. Things appear a bit washed out and too bright and the resolution is pretty low. Some text is hard to read. Ports aren't too bad. It's got a 2 USB 2.0 ports, a USB-C port and an HDMI port. Also has a flash card reader slot and headphone jack. I'm a little confused and surprised that such a low end machine didn't opt for USB-C power, this thing somehow has a smallish 45W power brick for power.
Bottom line on this system is just not really great. I know it's cheap but I'm not sure the performance you get out of this is even worth how cheap it is or maybe even half of that. If this was packed with ChromeOS or another light weight Linux distro, it might be a bit more functional than the bloated Windows 11. I just don't think the hardware can keep up and this machine won't improve over the years so you're probably better off looking some something else. As much as I wanted to love this as a low cost, single purpose machine, I was just so frustrated with all of the waiting it made me do that I can't really recommend this to anyone.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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ASUS ExpertCenter D5 TEC features powerful, dependable and expandable performance, created especially for the unique needs of small business. Its ultracompact, flexible and sleek small form factor allows business users to enjoy flexible and neat workspace. Also, with help of our simplified small-business support services, you can enjoy reduced downtime and lower total cost of ownership.
Customer Rating
4
Decent for what it it's meant for
on November 4, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
If you're looking for a PC to game on, look elsewhere. If you're looking for something moderately quick at basic tasks like browsing the web and watching some YouTube or Netflix, this could be a pretty good for you.
I've been building computers for probably close to 30 years now, but I'll occasionally work with a prebuilt either out of curiosity or it's someone else's. Overall, I'm not disappointed in this machine as far as parts and build quality goes. It's fairly bare bones in it's feature set but it's not meant to be a hugely expensive gaming rig so I can understand that. The biggest limiter I can see is the 8GB of RAM but that's a fairly easy upgrade if you're finding it to be an issue (and a pretty inexpensive one). But for what this is made to do, I think it's spec'd well enough. You'll be able to browse the web and watch some YouTube or Netflix just fine. Doing school work or office type work should be great as well. And if you really want to game a little bit, you always have cloud gaming options. The integrated Intel graphics should be able to support some older games at lower settings as well.
Setup was pretty simple. Same as usual for Windows 11. Enter some information and it'll do the rest. ASUS jumps in and prompts for some registration information but it's skippable if you'd rather not. The machine is pretty clean of bloat-ware. ASUS includes their basic MyASUS app that does things like tweaking some performance things as well as transferring information from another ASUS machine. Pretty basic stuff. There's also a business manager app included that does things like customize a logo for the machine and turn on some security related encryption things. If you're buying a bunch of these for the office, it'll probably come in handy. There's a bunch of ASUS processes running but they all appear to be fairly light weight. You can probably safely disable most of them too. That's about it for bloatware. Everything else is included with Windows 11 and most of it is still uninstallable pretty easily. I did notice an issue with the HDMI output which may stump some people who only have an HDMI monitor. I couldn't get it to output via HDMI at all. Luckily, my monitor also supports DisplayPort so I just used that but if you don't have that luxury, you may need an adapter to get a display at all.
Performance works good for a lower spec'd machine. I didn't notice much in the way of sluggishness doing things like web browsing, video/movie watching and office/school work stuff. I even tried out a game on xcloud and it worked as well as I'd expect xcloud to work. The CPU in this machine is very capable of video decoding so it didn't have many troubles.
Build quality seems fine. There's no window on this machine so there's no need for the parts inside to be pretty. It's just the basic green stuff. There's not much going on inside so it's fairly clean looking. One weird choice I found was the small strip of plastic protection over a really small line of glossy plastic that was tucked under the one faceplate in front. I had to take the whole front panel off to get that piece of plastic out without tearing it. It's a really small thing and one of those plastics that could probably have stayed on there for years without some people noticing, but I just found it odd that it was pretty much impossible to remove without tearing it or removing the front panel entirely.
I would have loved to see a couple of USB-C inputs on here in this day and age. There's plenty of USB for most things. 2 USB 2.x's and 2 USB 3.x's on the back and then the same up front. Just would have been nice to have some USB-C in the mix. There's even old-school PS2 inputs for a keyboard and mouse if you happen to have one of those dinosaurs lying around somewhere. I assume that's for compatibility with business stuff since this is more focused on business usage. Just doesn't feel super new.
Aside from the low amount of RAM, the questionable plastic cover placement, and my inability to get an image over HDMI even after fiddling with the BIOS, this machine is alright. None of those are dealbreakers for me and everything else works great. If those things sound like dealbreakers for you, you might want to keep browsing otherwise you could do worse than this machine.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Welcome to the beautifully imperfect world of Polaroid photography with the Polaroid Now Generation 2 camera. The classic, iconic analog instant camera comes with autofocus, a self-timer, and double exposure. All in a classic design, and now made with 40% recycled materials. Includes a Polaroid Color i-Type Film Double Pack for 16 color instant photographs with white frames. Compatible with Polaroid i-Type & 600 film in the original Polaroid instant film format.
Customer Rating
4
Nostalgia in a box
on November 1, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
I'm not a huge analog guy. I was born in the early 80's and have always been a bit of a nerd so when camera technology got to the digital age, I was all in. Haven't looked back at a film camera in probably 2 decades. Would I want to use this Polaroid to capture the most important moments while my children grow up? Definitely not. But the casual pictures I did take of them would go great in a scrap book or any other more stylized collection and I can appreciate that.
Setup was easy enough. The instructions are fairly clear about how to install the film so it's hard to screw it up. After that, it's just point (by looking through a view finder!) and shoot. You might need to charge the camera up before using it. Mine had enough battery to use right away, though.
The biggest weirdness for me was actually taking the picture by looking through a physical hole in the camera again and then the shutter button being on the front of the camera. Just felt weird. Took me a minute to feel comfortable with my finger in the right spot to take a picture. Other than that, it was a fun experience for me. It tickles that nostalgia spot in my brain. The picture came out, and after reading through the quick start guide, I opted to listen to their big bold instructions which were "DO NOT SHAKE THE PICTURE!". Placing the film face down on a flat surface was plenty and in 5 minutes or so, I had some really old looking pictures of my kids.
I was most blown away by how little the technology has improved since I remember using these cameras. The pictures are not super great and I can't imagine anyone who didn't grow up with these cameras (or just find the novelty in old tech) really liking the result. To me, it was like seeing my small children but through an 80's lens. I liked the picture, but like I said, I would only use this to take casual images for a more artistic display somewhere. Consideration how old the pictures look, you could probably reproduce the effect with any digital pictures pretty easily by shrinking the resolution and using a bunch of filters. There's still something to having the thick polaroid film though.
Overall, I can recommend this camera to anyone who grew up in a time when this was normal and just wants to take some new pictures that look really old. The image quality isn't great. The flash doesn't go very far. You can't delete the picture and try again if you don't like it. There's something nifty about all of that, but this definitely won't replace your phone or anything for capturing actual important events. Pure nostalgia and not much else here.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Defined in ambition. Built through rigor. M75 AIR was made for a single purpose – to help you win. The symmetrical mouse shape has been expertly crafted to let nothing come between you and top-tier play. The speed and control you gain from M75 AIR is simply unrivaled, and at just 60g, M75 AIR is unbelievably light, enabling you to make the most agile movements, sweeps, and recenters. The 26K DPI CORSAIR MARKSMAN optical sensor detects those moves with pro grade precision, and your shots register instantly on optical switches guaranteed for 100 million clicks. When you grasp M75 AIR, you’re holding a mouse that’s sculpted by victory.
Customer Rating
4
No frills, lightweight, performant mouse
on November 1, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
I've used my fair share of mouses over a span of decades but I've never really tried a one that specifically tries to be light weight. Usually, if the mouse has extra weight to add to it, I add a few grams before taking any out. So I wanted to check out something that's made specifically to be light weight and see how I liked it.
Setup is as easy as any other mouse you've ever used. Plug in the dongle and start using it straight away. You can also connect this one via bluetooth if that's your preferred method or if you have multiple devices and want to use the mouse on both of them. The toggle for the different modes is actually a push button on the bottom of the mouse and it also includes power. I found it difficult to tell which mode was active (or if the mouse was shutting down) since the only indicator light is a single tiny led on the top of the mouse. It's not a deal breaker, but every other mouse I've used with multiple modes has a 3 way switch that makes it very easy to tell what mode is active. I can only assume that the push button is used to save weight.
You don't need to install any software to just use the mouse but if you want to customize things like the DPI steps and update the firmware, you'll need Corsair's iCue software. As far as peripheral software goes, it's one of the better ones that doesn't feel super bloated or slow. There's no RGB lighting to customize on this mouse (again, I assume it saves weight) so your customization is limited but you still get firmware updates and profiles so you can change how the mouse acts depending on what you're doing.
The feel of this mouse is actually pretty nice for the shape. I've usually found this shape of mouse less comfortable to use but it feels like there's a bit more height on the mouse to support my palm which I like. The weight doesn't feel as bad as I was expecting. I'm not sure I see it as a huge benefit for me specifically, but I'm not playing hardcore FPS games competitively or anything which I have to assume is the target audience. It doesn't feel bad to use, but it also doesn't feel better than any heavier mouse I've used.. to me.
Build quality feels really good. There's not a ton going on with this mouse but it feels well built. There's just 2 side button, 2 top buttons and a scroll wheel (that also clicks, of course). It all feels well put together. There's no extras like a dpi button under the scroll wheel. There's no way to turn the stepped scroll wheel into a free spinning scroll wheel. I, again, assume all of these extras are left off to save as much weight as possible so if you're looking for a light weight mouse, you're probably used to these kind of concessions already.
All in all, this is a nice mouse for a niche audience. If you're looking for something really light weight but built nicely with very little in the way of extras, this one could be for you. If you're not concerned about weight, you'll probably want to look at other options that offer more bang for your buck.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Enjoy a smooth gaming experience with this 27-inch ASUS Full HD monitor. The Shadow Boost feature increases clarity in dark scenes, and the ultrafast response times minimize blurring and streaking for seamless gameplay. This ASUS Full HD monitor has an ergonomic design that allows tilting, swiveling and pivoting as needed.
Is the monitor free sync or g-sync?
It's G-Sync. The actual model number (not sure why it's not in the product title) is VG279QR if you want to check all the specs on Asus.
3 years ago
by
swemoney
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.
Is there a Bluetooth speaker in the hoverboard?
You can connect to your phone's bluetooth to play music through the board. The speaker does not have a lot of bass to it so it just sound alright.
3 years, 5 months ago
by
swemoney
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.
Does this board have settings for beginners etc like other boards from this company?
It has Beginner, Intermediate and Expert settings which I assume are the same ones available from other Hover-1 boards while using the same app.
3 years, 5 months ago
by
swemoney
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.
Can you use an existing traditional doorbell chime with this, or do you have to use the eufy door chime?
I haven't tried to use my existing chime. The instructions do say that the doorbell will probably function but might work sporadically unless you bridge your current chime to give extra power to the doorbell. This disables your current chime so, I would say, officially, you should use the eufy chime if you want your doorbell cam to work reliably..
3 years, 6 months ago
by
swemoney
Expand connectivity on your Apple MacBook Pro or Air with this gray HyperDrive DUO seven-in-two USB Type-C hub. Two USB Type-C ports support Power Delivery for charging mobile devices rapidly, while the HDMI output lets you connect a UHD display. This HyperDrive DUO seven-in-two USB Type-C hub has USB Type-A ports and microSD and SD card slots for fast data transfer.
will this work if my MacBook Pro has a Kuzy case on it. The case wraps around the side of the computer right where the hyperdrive will go. Im wondering if the case will prevent the hyper drive from fitting flush or snug to the computer.
It's possible this could fit fine. The included magnetic support grip leaves a bit of a gap if you don't use it so you might be able to use this without that magnetic support and have it fit just fine. Don't quote me on this, though, I just know there's definitely a gap if you don't include the black magnetic support.
3 years, 10 months ago
by
swemoney
Expand connectivity on your Apple MacBook Pro or Air with this gray HyperDrive DUO seven-in-two USB Type-C hub. Two USB Type-C ports support Power Delivery for charging mobile devices rapidly, while the HDMI output lets you connect a UHD display. This HyperDrive DUO seven-in-two USB Type-C hub has USB Type-A ports and microSD and SD card slots for fast data transfer.
Is this Hyperdrive compatible with a (mid) 2015 macbook pro?
I'm pretty sure the 2016 MacBook Pro was the first one to move to all USB-C. To use this device, you need a MacBook that has 2 USB-C ports on the left side. If your device doesn't have USB-C this won't work. If your device has a MagSafe charger, this wouldn't be supported. USB-C only.
3 years, 10 months ago
by
swemoney
Safeguard your home with this Arlo security camera system. Its 4K resolution provides maximum clarity so you don't miss a single detail, and a siren is integrated so you can fend off intruders either remotely or while at home. This Arlo security camera system is weather-resistant, so it's functional rain or shine.
Can you pair Arlo pro 2 cameras with this system as well? We have 2 arlo pro 2 cameras we would like to utilize on the new system if possible.
Yes. The Ultra camera doesn't pair with the old hub but the old cameras will pair with the new one. The upgrade process was quite simple.
5 years ago
by
swemoney
Always know what’s happening at your door with the SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro. Its crystal-clear 1080p HD video and 162° field of view give you a clear shot of your property 24/7. Two-way audio lets you hear and speak to unwanted guests (and welcomed ones too) - even when you're not home. Have the SimpliSafe App? The Video Doorbell Pro will send instant alerts whenever someone approaches. And with Smart Person Detection, it can tell the difference between people, vehicles and animals. That means you only get the alerts that matter. Plus, when backed by 24/7 professional monitoring, you’ll have experts who are ready to request emergency dispatch when you need it most. This camera is designed for all weather extremes—so you're still protected in rain and snow. (Compatible with the SimpliSafe Gen 3 security system. Requires Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) and existing wired doorbell setup with mechanical chime and a transformer with 8-24 VAC, 30VA max. Not compatible with digital chimes.)
Does this doorbell allow storage to the local network instead of a cloud server?
This doorbell does not currently allow local network storage. The app functionality is quite bare bones and you actually get zero recording capability unless you upgrade to their $5/mo plan for the camera.
5 years, 5 months ago
by
swemoney
Tune out the world and lose yourself in music with these Sony 1000X wireless noise-cancelling headphones. Equipped with SENSE ENGINE technology, these earbuds make it easy to adjust sound modes with a single touch, so you control what you hear. Compact and intuitive, these Sony 1000X wireless noise-cancelling headphones stay comfortable for hours.
How many charges does the case hold?
Two. The buds, alone, will work for ~3 hours. If you include the case, you get 9 hours. So the case will give the buds 2 full charges.
6 years, 6 months 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.
Are there any other means to charge these earphones than the advertised charging case?
The case that comes with these headphones is just for storage. I do leave my headphones inside the case while I'm charging them, but it's just a standard micro USB cable that plugs in to one of the earbuds to charge.
7 years, 10 months ago
by
swemoney