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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Meet Level Lock+ with Apple Home Keys. Unlock with a simple tap of your compatible iPhone or Apple Watch, similar to how you would tap to pay for your groceries or buy a cup of coffee. Customize your settings for additional ways to lock and unlock your door, using a key card, your iOS or Android smartphone with the Level App, voice commands using Siri, or even a regular key. Level Lock+ looks just like a regular door lock, so you don't have to compromise on design. Share access using the Level App, where you can assign time-sensitive digital door keys to guests, family members, and even the dog walker so they can enter your home at your discretion. View the use of these keys from the app, change codes, cancel access, set up auto-lock and more. With a sleek matte black or satin nickel finish and a thoughtfully crafted design, Level Lock+ features all technology hidden within the lock itself—meaning nobody but you can tell that it's smart. AAA security rating means you can trust this smart door lock to hold up to the wear and tear that comes with everyday use without compromising your security. Easy installation with just a screwdriver. Simply confirm your door measurements and swap out the existing deadbolt on your door. Enjoy easy access to your home without sacrificing security and peace of mind.
Customer Rating
3
Great design. Reliability depends...
on August 6, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
I've always wanted to get into some smart door locks for my home but have never loved the way they look. I understand that some of them are makeshift conversion kits that are super easy to install over your existing lock but they're really bulky. Others include extra things like keypads and such which could be what you're after but I've never cared too much about that. So this lock is perfect for the "invisible" smart lock design I've been looking for. It does suffer in some areas, though.
Installation wasn't too difficult. If your door is fully supported (there's a compatibility quiz on their website) then it's probably as simple as unscrewing the old deadbolt and putting them one in it's place. The strike plate for the door was a little larger than our old one so I needed to fix that but otherwise it was a pretty straight forward install.
Setup is also pretty straight forward and shouldn't cause any issues. You download the Level app for your phone and it should just find the lock and let you set it up by following the instructions. I'm using HomeKit for my lock and didn't run into any issues getting it set up through both the app and Home. Setting up the HomeKey was also easy and automatic the first time I opened the Home app after setting up the lock. Your HomeKey is then shared with your family automatically so the only extra setup my wife needed to do is tell her phone if she wanted Express mode on or not. Everything about the setup was simple and straight forward.
I'll talk about the looks of this lock again because it really does feel like an "invisible" smart lock as advertised. Besides the odd shape of the actual bolt (it's just round), you would really just assume it's a normal standard deadbolt. The outer lock with a key looks pretty similar to our old one. The inside looks a little different than you'd find on most dead bolts but nothing that would scream "smart lock!" at you. I'm just impressed with how stealthy this lock looks.
Usage will vary depending on your method of unlocking which is really the only thing I'm not incredibly happy about and the main reason for my rating. For us, it's not a huge deal because we don't use the door that this lock is attached to all that often, but it can still be frustrating when you try and unlock your door and it either takes a really long time or it just doesn't work and you get a connection error of some sort. When it comes to unlocking with HomeKit itself, you'll run into similar issues with a lot of HomeKit devices where Home just struggles to connect to the device sometimes. I haven't experienced anything where I was locked out of the house for hours or anything but I've had it take multiple attempts at unlocking the door before it finally connected. Using the Level app also had some connection issues but they felt a little less frequent. I did have multiple times where I pressed the unlock button and had it take a full 40 seconds of thinking before the lock actually reacted. It's, again, more rare but in the short time I've had the lock, it's happened more than once. Opening with HomeKey was fairly reliable. Not always the fastest but it seemed to work most of the time and usually didn't take very long.
The less "smart" ways of opening the lock still felt really good. The physical keys work if the battery dies on the lock so you won't have to worry about having backup batteries if you just have your key on you. Worst case scenario, it just turns back into your dumb lock. The package also contains some NFC key fobs you can program in the Level app and assign a name to. These seemed to work really well and quick and even shows which key fob was used to lock and unlock the door so you can keep track of who's coming and going for the keys you've given out. Along with the ability to disable a key fob if it gets lost of stolen, I almost feel like the key fobs are my favorite way of using this lock.
So if you're in the market for a smart lock but you don't want your front door to scream "HEY LOOK AT ME I'M A SMART LOCK!", then this is a lock you can seriously consider. The connection issues are annoying but since I've never had an issue that persisted for more than a few retries, I can live with it. The look of the lock seals the deal for me and if anything can be done about the connection issues and speed issues, I would rate this lock even higher. Worth a look!
I would recommend this to a friend!
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The Crucial P5 Plus SSD with integrated heatsink delivers remarkable speed and data protection with sequential reads up to 6,600MB/s for transformative computing. Designed specifically for intensive workloads, high-quality creative content, and gaming, the P5 Plus with heatsink is ideal for use with PlayStation 5, supports Microsoft DirectStorage, and is also backward compatible with most Gen3 systems for ultimate flexibility. Engineered by Micron with Gen4 NVMe technology, the Crucial P5 Plus includes advanced features like full hardware-based encryption, dynamic write acceleration, and adaptive thermal protection to keep your data safe while enhancing system reliability.
Customer Rating
4
Does what it says on the tin
on July 26, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
This hard drive went into my PS5 to increase the storage capacity of PS5 games. You can install PS4 games onto an external hard drive but PS5 games need to take advantage of the super fast hard drive. Everything was pretty straight forward and now I have an extra 1TB of space to load my PS5 up with.
Setup is fairly easy. You can find videos on how to take the one panel off of your PS5 to reach the drive bay. The strangest thing is how the videos talk about gently removing the panel and it felt like it was anything but gentle until it just gave way and came off easy as pie. Not going to knock the hard drive for that part. The bay is covered by a screw and then you need to remove the other screw that holds the drive down. Just slide it into the slot and screw everything back in and you're good to go.
When turning on the PS5 for the first time after installing a new M.2 drive, playstation warns you about needing to format it and tells you if you don't want to do that then you'll have to remove the drive completely. So one more button and barely any time later and it's all ready to use. You can tell your PS5 which drive to install to by default but I was a little sad there's not an option to just always ask what drive I want to install on. It shouldn't really matter and it's not a fault of the drive at all, of course.
Installing and moving games around seemed quick and painless. It feels like a native drive (except for not being able to save screenshots/videos/save files to it). You can install anything you like without any issues. I didn't notice any speed differences by just installing and playing games normally. I can't attest to there not being any, but in a real world setting, it just didn't feel like things installed on the second drive loaded or did anything any slower than the native internal drive.
All in all, if you need more storage for your PS5, this seems like a pretty good solution. It's not terribly expensive (about the price of a game when I got it) and it'll at least double the space you have for games so you don't have to keep offloading them to hard drives or deleting and redownloading them over and over. Pick this up if that's what you're looking for.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Feel the power emanate from within the neon-hued shell of the Helios 18. Suit up, strap in – and let Helios pave the way. Equipped with superior cooling technology and a trove of performance like NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 laptop graphics and the latest 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700HX processor with new performance hybrid architecture– this gaming laptop will be your guide to gaming bliss. With the 18" 1920 x 1200 IPS panel, 165Hz Refresh, NVIDIA Advanced Optimus, NVIDIA G-SYNC technology and 3ms Overdrive response time you can say farewell to blur and hello clear, crisp, high-octane gameplay.
Customer Rating
4
Chonky!
on July 24, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
This laptop is CHONKY! 18" doesn't sound like a huge step up from your 17" laptops but it definitely comes across as a giant beast in person. Everything about it is big and heavy. The RTX 4060 is probably the only piece that doesn't exude the beefiness of the outer package. Overall, it's a pretty nice laptop with a couple questionable decisions.
Setup is the same as any laptop you've set up. Windows talks you through how much of your information you want to give away to them and you turn all of those off and then there's an extra step for Acer to ask for some info and registration info. Not much more added to the setup process right out of the box.
Software bloat is pretty low for the most part. I went through Add/Remove Programs and got rid of stuff like McAfee and Office and left most of Acer's support software because it didn't seem to get in the way. There's an application for tuning and monitoring your network card that runs like garbage and then there's the CPU/GPU tuning and monitoring app that's just fine. There's an Acer Care package installed that helps you monitor some things and update or clean up things occasionally. Pretty standard stuff. Nothing too egregious and I'm usually the type to just format and reinstall Windows on any new computer.
Did I mention how huge this thing is? It's huge. The screen is 16:10 but the size of the computer makes it almost feel like a 4:3 at times. I'm not sure why that is. On top of just being big, it's heavy. I almost feel like I'm going to break something when I grab it by one of the sides because of how hard I have to hold it to pick it up without dropping it. Pulling this thing out in a coffee shop or something would be just a small step down from bringing a whole desktop and monitor. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just saying that this laptop is portable-lite. It can be moved around and taken with you but you'll probably leave it on a desk and plugged in most of the time.
Speaking of plugged in, the power brick didn't want to feel left out when being seen next to this huge beast of a machine. It's industrial sized as well. The thickness of the cables is nothing I've seen on any other gaming laptop I've used. The brick actually looks quite nice but it's huge and the cables, even when wrapped up with the attached velcro wrap, are a bit cumbersome. Understandably, this computer needs some power.
Now that we're on the topic of power, the battery seems to last a decent amount of time. It's nothing to write home about when compared to a modern MacBook Pro or anything but for a gaming laptop, I'm not afraid to use it for some casual things without it plugged in. A lot of my setup and configuration tasks happened on battery power and then I was able to continue doing things after leaving it unplugged over night. Charging the battery felt really quick even while using the machine and gaming on it so it at least puts the huge power brick and cables to good use.
Ports are alright. I'm not sure how I feel about their placement. There's no USB-C on the sides of the laptop. Only the back. There's some USB-A on the sides. The power also goes in the back along with the HDMI. If, as I said earlier, you're mostly keeping this laptop on your desk, these are great placements for these ports. If you're trying to use it on the couch in your lap, I'd probably much rather see them on the sides. Not a deal breaker by any means. I definitely would have liked to see at least 1 USB-C port on each side, though. With more and more devices moving to USB-C, it feels weird to need to plug into the back of a portable machine like this.
The trackpad is pretty good for a Windows machine. I remember the days when MacBook's were the only laptop that figured out how to make a good track pad but that seems to be in the past now. Sensitivity is a little weird but that could be configured. I had to turn off the option to right click with the bottom right corner of the trackpad because I kept accidentally triggering it even when I thought my finger was much more in the middle. It supports all the normal multi-touch gestures like clicking with 2 fingers for the right click so it's not a big deal. It was just annoying at first. The size of the keyboard is pretty good but I'm not convinced it's a standard full size keyboard. It has a numpad, which is nice, but everything feels a little squished together on that side. I'm sure I'll just get used to the keyboard as I use it more but the one thing I keep doing is pressing their custom Acer Predator Software button which is located where you'd usually find Num Lock and is a very small distance away from the backspace key. So it's pretty easy to miss backspace (thinking the keyboard is a little bigger than it is while you're not looking) and hit that button which launches their software for tuning the CPU/GPU and changing profiles and such. Keys in general feel about as good as they can on a non-mechanical laptop keyboard.
Speaking of profile changing, one thing I like is a little added button above the F-Keys that doesn't have a label so I wasn't sure at first what it did. It's a slim button I thought could be a finger print sensor maybe. It's not that. it just cycles through your profiles and changes color based on which one is active. So you can quickly change to your everyday use profile or a quiet profile (maybe to watch a movie) or crank up the heat in the gaming profile. I like the button and being able to see what profile is active based on the color of the button and I wish they had another button out of the way for launching that software instead of it being right next to the backspace key.
Got this far and I haven't even talked about performance. I did some quick tests of a few games to see how they ran. The computer runs great. Haven't noticed any slowdowns or hitches. I played a bit of Diablo 4 and was getting a solid 125-150 fps while everything was maxed out. Not the most demanding game but I needed to start Season 1 so it was a good test. I also installed and tried out Cyberpunk 2077 and Doom Eternal. Cyberpunk ran better than I was expecting with a 4060. Initial settings had everything maxed out except ray tracing on Ultra instead of insanity or whatever their new mode is called. DLSS was on auto. I ran a bench mark and noticed a solid 50+ fps. The benchmark spit out 55 as the average fps. Mind you, this was maxed out graphics settings with DLSS. I also tried turning off DLSS and the game averaged about 31 fps. It definitely dips below 30 occasionally without DLSS. But again, this is maxed out. There are a lot of frames to be gotten by turning down some settings. I still found the result impressive for an RTX 4060. Doom Eternal also ran without any issues. Maxed out settings with ray tracing support and was getting over 100 fps easy. I'm confident that this machine will be able to run most anything at maxed out settings at a reasonable framerate. While adjusting some settings will get you over the 165hz refresh of the monitor.
Lastly, this big boy comes with a sleeve. It's not going to protect against anything but dust but it's a nice addition.
I don't think there's anything else I haven't covered here. It's a good laptop. The 4060 is probably it's weakest part for a gaming laptop but since it's basically just over 1080p gaming, it's very serviceable and does it's job just fine. And you'll probably put on a couple extra lbs of muscle in your arms and back from carrying this around with you if you're so inclined to do that. If this is in your budget for a laptop, it's worth considering so give it a comparison.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Reveal the road ahead with the MAXcam 360c, Escort’s complete driver alert system that turbo boosts your road awareness with the perfect blend of hardware, software, and community. Maximize your drive with a system that is engineered for excellence. The MAXcam 360c delivers exceptional detection performance combined with advanced video protection.
Customer Rating
4
Really good detector. Ok dashcam. Pricey.
on July 5, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
I haven't used a radar detector in probably a good 20 years. Never anything nearly this fancy. I'm pretty happy with it's feature set but I'm not quiet sure I'm impressed enough to spend quite this much on one.
Setup is fairly easy for the most part. You can basically just attach the sticky suction cup to your windshield and put the detector on the magnet and then plug it in and you're ready to go. That's a pretty basic setup. There's a ton of settings to go through if you're in advanced mode. And you can connect it to your phone as well. So there's a lot more than just basic radar detection that you can do if you go through some more steps. The magnetic clip takes a minute to get used to since you have to get the detector into the notch first and then rotate it down but it's not too bad. My biggest gripe is actually the proprietary RJ45 power jack as well as the separate MINI usb connection (not even micro). For this price, I would definitely prefer a single USB-C plug for both power and data. They sell their own hard wire kit for $25-35 which is probably the whole point in keeping the power cable proprietary.
The number of settings is almost overwhelming. If you don't know what they do, just leave them alone but for the most part they're pretty easy to grasp. You can find a good description of each setting in the manual. Navigating and changing settings took me a second to figure out but I eventually got it well enough to go through them all on the device.
If you're feeling frisky and don't have enough accounts for things, there's the Drive Smarter app that lets your connect to your Escort and control a lot of things. You need an account which is always a negative for me but it's pretty much the standard now a days. You can go through settings of the device a little easier in the app than trying to navigate them on the device. The app is basically just another GPS app that communicates with the detector. The nicest thing about it is that it replaces the over-speed speed on the detector screen with the current speed limit (if it's detected). Then you can see the alerts on the app as well as the device screen so I guess that's kind of nice? I mainly just don't use the app since I'd rather use Apple Maps if I need GPS and I'd rather not have it running all the time while I'm driving. One reason to at least connect to the app at some point is to connect your detector to wifi so it can update firmware and database entries, though.
The radar detector works pretty well in my smallish sample size so far. The first trip I took with it, I turned the corner and it went off right away and there was a cop right across the street. It does detect pretty much everything so you'll see a lot of false positives.. at first. One of the nicest things I like about this detector is it's learning mode. It's a setting you can turn off but I don't intend to do that. It basically remembers where it saw events and if the same event shows up at the same place a few times, it adds it to a lock out database and it doesn't yell at you next time it's detected. It will still show up on the screen but it will give you a bit Locked message and then show the radar detection in gray and silent. It will also unlock an event if that radar goes away at some point in the future. Seems smart. So far it's worked pretty well for me.
It seems like this detector can see pretty much every type of radar in existence. It doesn't include anything to block radar detector detectors (or a stealth mode) so if you need that, look elsewhere. I had to look up the different types of radar and what they meant so I understood which events I needed to be more aware of but that didn't take long. When an event is detected, you can see how strong the signal is in front and behind you. By default it will just show the most important event (based on how likely that signal is to be a real event), but you can change a setting that will show up to 4 events at the same time. Basically, radar detection seems to work really well and maybe I'm just out of the loop as far as how much a good radar detector costs these days.
You're not just getting a radar detector with this one! If you're looking to consolidate your devices and squeeze an alright dashcam into your radar detector, this thing might be for you! The picture is technically 1440p. There are settings for how long each segment is recorded for (1, 3 or 5 minutes). There's a g-sensor for shock detection that automatically locks recordings. There's even a parking mode that can keep the device asleep while you're parked but start recording when it detects a g-sensor movement or motion. It has a decent amount of features. The picture quality is just alright for me. I think the sensor is pretty good on the camera but the compression is a little over-zealous. Things look pretty good while moving but you can see a ton of artifacts around the overlay text and watermarks. This could maybe be fixed with a firmware update to maybe give us an option for compression settings. It's not a huge issue and I'm sure they're able to squeeze more recordings onto the sdcard that comes in the box. You can also connect your detector (via a separate USB cable) to your computer which pops up the device as a USB drive where you can check out your recordings and even update your firmware without wifi. I had issues getting the device to pop up on my main PC but it worked fine on another laptop so I'm going to blame some configuration issues on my PC instead of knock the device for it.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with this radar detector. It didn't need a dashcam for me but it's an added bonus to not need both devices on your windshield. I might be out of the loop on how much radar detectors cost these days because this seems really pricey. But if you're more knowledgeable and this seems like a good price for what I can see as a really good radar detector combined with a pretty good dashcam, then check this one out.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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This two pack protects your electronics from a power spike while adding additional connection options. The Insignia NS-HW36A2P 2-Outlet In-Wall Outlet with 2 USB Ports - 2 pack with 2 USB Ports has two standard, grounded outlets and two USB ports, giving you more connection options to keep your electronics powered and fully charged. Its 3.6A of shared USB power quickly and efficiently charges your devices, while 110V of power let you plug in electronics and appliances. It fits your existing decora-style outlet cover and is tamper-resistant, upgrading your existing outlet with ease.
Customer Rating
4
They're decent outlets
on June 7, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
There's not much to say about these. They work well enough to charge up some devices without needing USB plugins. The only down side I could see is larger plug bricks tend to cover a part of the USB outlets so you'll have to be aware of what you intend to plug in before replacing your old outlet.
Setup is as straight forward as your experience allows. I've replaced my fair share of electrical outlets so it was easy enough for me but if you're uncomfortable working with electricity, you might need to hire someone to install them. Just keep in mind what standard plugs you're going to have plugged in and make sure you can plug it in without covering the USB outlets. I had to change where I was going to install these because one of the plugs was just too large.
The outlets state they support up to 3.6 amps. I assume that's for both USB outlets so with both plugged in, you can get a maximum of 1.8 amps each which is more than sufficient for most phones and other small devices in our house.
Not much more to be said here. They do what they're supposed to. I'm enjoying being able to free up a couple standard plug outlets because I don't need USB chargers plugged in all the time.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Enjoy big sound with the super-compact SRS-XB100 wireless speaker, offering powerful, clear sound, an updated IP67 waterproof and dustproof design1,2, and up to 16 hours of battery life.3 Small enough to fit in a bag or cupholder, the XB100 also features a versatile strap to take with you wherever you go.
Customer Rating
4
Nice sound, small and durable.
on May 27, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
I was mostly surprised at how small but rugged feeling this speaker was. Overall, I think the sound is pretty good for the size of the speaker (definitely sounds best sitting on a solid surface) even if it doesn't get quite as loud as I might want it to.
Setup was a breeze. It's just a bluetooth speaker. Turn it on and pair it with your device and you're off to the races. There's an app you can download but it doesn't do much except play music from your library or Spotify (or some other "apps" that you can add to their app for some reason. I honestly don't understand why anyone would play through Sony Music instead of just using the app directly on their phone). In other Sony speakers, the app does some EQ tweaks and adjusts other settings but on this one, it's just completely unnecessary. Pairing with additional devices is simple as well. No holding the power button or anything, just press the bluetooth button and it'll go into pairing mode again.
The build quality on this thing is quite nice if you're looking for something you can probably kick around. I didn't actually TRY and kick it around but it feels like it could take a beating. Something I could see a kid taking with them everywhere and it still keeps ticking no matter what kind of abuse it gets. The body is almost all a hard durable rubber. There's a decent amount of weight to the speaker too. I wouldn't recommend actually trying to abuse this thing but I could see it withstanding some abuse from absent minded kids. It's also a very small speaker and has a wrist strap so I almost feel like younger people might be the target demographic.
The sound quality is pretty good for such a small speaker. Bass sounds pretty good. Everything sounds better sitting on a table. I don't particularly like the sound while holding or dangling the speaker from the strap. A solid surface is good and if you can stick it somewhere with a wall nearby, that sounds even better. You aren't getting home theater quality sound or anything out of something this small but it's a great companion for listening to your phone's music and it's small enough to throw in a bag and take it wherever with you. If I had to come up with a small gripe about the audio, it would probably be the volume. It just doesn't get super loud. I'll revisit my previous statement of younger people being the target demographic because the audio levels would be pretty good for my kids without completely annoying me.
And that's probably who's going to use this speaker more than anything. It seems like a perfect fit for younger kids. The strap makes it easy to carry around and I can just play anything they want from my phone for them. I can also see it being a staple in a teenager's school bag or something. It's not loud enough to bust out at a big party or something but it's perfect for a small listening party around a single table. If you're looking for something small and durable with a decent sound, consider this one.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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With the Razer Stream Controller X, creativity comes easily. Manage your streaming and content creation seamlessly through one convenient device that controls all your apps and tools. Streamline your workflow so you can focus on what matters most—engaging the fans and growing your following.
Customer Rating
3
Nice hardware. Clunky Software.
on May 24, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
As a Twitch streamer, my Stream Deck is one of my most valuable resources. I really can’t imagine going back to a time where a lot of different actions I use all the time are only a single button press away. Not only that, but the information that can be presented on each button makes it easy to set up little heads up displays for certain things. The Razer Stream Controller X is very similar to the Stream Deck in both looks and functionality so I can’t imagine a review that won’t bring up the comparisons. This review won’t be very different from that.
Setup was fairly simple because I already have other Razer devices so when I plugged in the Stream Controller X, the Synapse software loaded up right away and offered an update and then automatically installed the Loupedeck software. I remember the Stream Deck software from way back when it first came out so I’m kind of glad Razer didn’t choose to reinvent the wheel here and is relying on some software that has at least existed for a little while (not necessarily saying the software is good, but more mature software is always better than brand new stuff that’s missing a lot of features). This device is pretty late to the party and has a high bar to meet if it wants to compete against the Stream Deck so coming with some software that has been around for a bit at least brings them up to speed a lot quicker.
The build quality of this is really nice. I’ll say I like it better than the Stream Deck I have (I have the original Mk.1 Deck right now). I know the Mk.2 Stream Deck base is a lot nicer than the cheap little folding stand that the Mk.1 came with but thie stand on the Stream Controller is heavy and nice and has that sticky without residue bottom that just plants it to your desk. You can move it but it takes some effort unsticking it from your desk. The actual keypad magnetically attaches to the base and has a removable USB-C cable. I like everything about how this is build. The Razer logo is subtle and black on the bottom. Doesn’t take up much space and doesn’t stand out. The buttons also feel much nicer than my Stream Deck. The travel time is a bit lower which makes them feel a lot less mushy than the Stream Deck. It feels like no matter where you press, you’ll probably activate the button while the Stream Deck can have some issues when pressing on the corners. It also helps a lot that the device is nicely stuck to your desk so you don’t really need to hold the device still when pressing buttons. Just reach and press. If I had to come up with a single bad thing about it, I suppose I could say that the stand isn’t adjustable. If that’s important to you, you’re SOL since this is at a single angle and that’s it. But it’s a good angle. And the actual keypad detaches from the base so you could always just make your own base if it really bothers you. So hardware-wise, I give Razer the advantage.
Now for the software. One of the best parts of the Stream Deck is the software and the integration with various services. You can always just use an external numpad and assign hotkeys to things that way but having software that directly communicates with your other software with visual feedback on the button (for instance, being able to see if a device is muted because the button changes when you press it) is invaluable to me. The Stream Controller X uses the Loupedeck software which does appear to have most of the features you’ll find in Elgato’s software. There’s an SDK so users and other software developers can write extra plugins to do even more. The problem I have with it is that things feel a little bloated and clunky to me. The software looks pretty nice but silly things like not being able to move the Window for whatever reason and long delays between certain actions just make it cumbersome to use. You could probably design buttons that do a lot of what you want to do but it just isn’t very fun to work with.
The next knock against the Loupedeck software vs Elgato’s Stream Deck software is the third party support. Loupedeck came after Stream Deck for sure but it never really caught on like the Stream Deck. Therefore, a lot of developers just don’t seem to bother with writing plugins for it. As of writing this review, there are 55 plugins in the Loupedeck marketplace. Most of these are very simplistic and don’t offer a ton in the way of customization that I’ve found. Like changing the default icon on something like the Twitch Viewer Count just means the button doesn’t function anymore because the plugin draws the text right onto the default button and changing it doesn’t appear to draw text anymore. The icon editor seems like it’s pretty nice on the surface but then you find things like not being able to make any additional modifications if you set the icon to an animated GIF (usually you can move the images around, but you can’t even add text to an animated GIF). It also appears that you get a single image and a single text element that you can move around. Silly things like that just don’t make me feel like I can customize everything like I can with my Stream Deck which I can make look exactly like I want to and function (more or less) exactly like I want to. I really wanted to like this software as it was something new and it looked pretty nice when I first launched it. But the more I used the software, the more I grew frustrated by it’s shortcoming. Stream Deck definitely maintains I huge advantage in software and third party support.
This isn’t to say it’s a total bust. Given the feel for the buttons and the overall sturdiness when it’s stuck to my desk, I can see this being much more useful for controlling specific applications or as a hotkey board. I like the Stream Deck for pressing a button and having a thing or a bunch of things happen across variables services and applications. But I wouldn’t want to use it for editing videos or playing games just based on how the buttons feel and how the device just slides around the desk if I press a button too hard. On the other hand, I placed the Stream Controller X right next to my keyboard (with the really long and nice USB cable that was included) and I’ll be using it along with plugins for Premier Pro and Photoshop as well as things like Farming Simulator and whatever other games I think I could use a macro keypad for.
So, while the Stream Controller X won’t replace my Stream Deck any time soon. I still do see the value in it. The main issues I have with it are with it’s software and third party support. Both of these things are resolvable over time with software updates and as more developers start writing more plugins. I’ll definitely start using this Stream Controller X as a more basic macro keypad for games and software that I feel can use it, but I’ll stick with my Stream Deck for controlling my Twitch stream.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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The Alienware 34" Curved Gaming monitor features QD-OLED technology and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro. Featuring infinite contrast ratio, 165Hz refresh rate and VESA DisplayHDR TRUEBlack 400 for an incredible front-of-screen performance.
Customer Rating
5
Going to be hard to go non-OLED
on May 15, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
This is my first OLED monitor and I have to say, the biggest take away is how hard it's going to be to go back to non-OLED screens. I have 2 other pretty nice monitors and 2 fairly nice, large TVs. None of them are OLED and now I'm sad about that.
Setup is a breeze. It's a monitor. Connect your display devices and you're pretty much ready to go. Windows didn't install it right away but when I did a Windows Update, a driver was found for the monitor. There's also the Dell Display Manager software that's kind of nice for controlling most of the things you can control through the monitor menu with a mouse and keyboard instead.
I've never really been sold on curved monitors. They just never seemed very necessary. I still don't think they are necessary after this one but I kind of get it now. Maybe I wouldn't care as much on a standard 16:9 screen but on this 21:9 screen, I like the subtle curve to it. Overall, the monitor looks pretty sleek. I could probably do without the ALIENWARE on the bottom bezel but it's not too obnoxious looking so I don't mind it much. I didn't use the stand since I had a wall mount ready for it so I can't speak to the quality or ease of use there but it definitely felt heavy and like it would have no problems holding the monitor sturdy.
Picture quality is top notch compared to the rest of my monitors which aren't bad or cheap monitors at all. Colors seem rich but accurate. Blacks are as blacks are on OLED monitors. Pure black. It's so nice. The HDR felt good and didn't feel too dark to me. I accidentally turned on HDR Peak 1000 mode and everything was incredibly washed out and looked terrible but setting it to one of the other more reasonable settings was much nicer. Not sure when/where I would use the HDR Peak 1000 mode if it always looks like that. I played a couple of games like Doom Eternal and it looked gorgeous. Also watched some HDR shows on Netflix that also looked really good. The full 21:9 ratio in Doom Eternal really looks a lot better than I anticipated a game looking stretched across the full screen. I'm going to start being disappointed in games that don't fully support ultrawide mode because I really don't think I'm going to want to go back to 16:9 unless I need to.
The amount of inputs is also really nice. You can connect two display ports and an HDMI. You can also Picture-in-Picture or Picture-by-Picture to get a more standard 1440p resolution (actually, 2554x1440 instead of 2560x1440, which seems weird) while also displaying your HDMI device on the other 25% of the screen.
I'm not sure I have anything else say about this. The only gripe I can come up with might just not be something that ultrawide monitors do. I would love the ability to split the monitor just like Picture-by-Picture mode but have both monitors show up in Windows as separate displays. That's literally the only thing I can come up with that I'm not a huge fan of. Maybe this is something that can't be done with a single display port cable. Would be nice, though. Otherwise I'm loving this monitor.
If you have the funds, look into this guy. It's not cheap but it is nice. It looks great. OLED is amazing. The HDR didn't feel dark or washed out. The interface works well enough with the option to control most of it via software. A lot of input options so you can connect your consoles and PC's to the same monitor. I like it.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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GE Profile provides modern design and the latest features in home appliances. The 11-in-1 GE Profile Smart Oven with No Preheat is a countertop toaster oven designed for today's smart home. Features like Air Fry, Zero Preheat Technology and Built-in WiFi allow you to do more, through remote monitoring and technology that takes the guess work out of cooking. This is Smarter Innovation you’ve been looking for. This is GE Profile.
Customer Rating
4
Impressive.
on May 6, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
I've never been a big fan of toaster ovens. Probably because back in the day, they were these small things that felt bulkier than a normal toaster but not big enough to do anything else with them that you couldn't just do in a normal oven better. Now a days, it seems that isn't the case anymore and probably why this is called a "smart oven" instead of a toaster oven.
Setup was a breeze. Make some room on your counter (because it's not small) and plug it in. That's all that's required. The instructions suggest running on air fry mode for 20 minutes at 400 degrees to kind of clean the inside before use. Then you just need to wash the trays with soap and water real quick. There's another step which is completely optional but I thought it was neat because I've wanted it on my standard oven before. You can download an app and connect this "smart" oven to it so you have some control over it from your phone. It's not a huge thing but I think it's nice to be able to grab your phone and see how long the oven has left without actually needing to check it. It also could be nice to prepare your food and put it in the oven and then start it from your phone later, but there's a 10 minute safety shutoff to the remote feature that stops you from doing this too long after your prepared the oven. It makes sense and I'm not going to complain about it. The one thing that could make the whole "smart" oven thing amazing would be a small camera inside the oven that would let you see your food so you tell if your pizza is burning.
Working the oven is pretty easy too. There's a bunch of preset buttons that set some settings, temperatures and times for you. You want a pizza? There's a button that will set the oven to 20 minutes at 400. Bagels or toast? Separate buttons so you can set up the "shade" of them as well as how many slices you're cooking. The instruction booklet is pretty short and goes over what each function is meant to do and how it's meant to cook so you have a pretty good idea of how everything works. Probably the only thing I would change is having separate buttons for time/temp up and down instead of needing to press the time button and then change the time and then press the temp button and then change the temp. Small gripe that's easy to get over, though. Otherwise the interface and functionality is pretty simple to use.
The big sell on this oven is the "no preheat" claim. I was really excited about that and have been cooking everything in it without preheating. This is especially huge for our family because our main oven seems to take forever to preheat. Long enough where my wife will tell me to preheat the oven when she's on her way home from work so we can cook a pizza and it probably still won't be fully heated by time she's home. So far, I haven't run into anything being undercooked because I didn't preheat the over. This thing gets hot fast. If anything, I'd say it might get too hot. I'm still adjusting some cook times to find where the sweet spot is for certain things.
One example is the pizza I cooked a couple nights ago. The instructions on the oven say to just use the temperature and times on the food so I hit the pizza button and then set the time to 25 minutes. When the timer was half way done (which reminds me of the neat LED progress bar that stretches across the bottom of the lid), the pizza looked pretty much done. I let it go until the end and I'd say I would have been more than fine with the default 20 minute timer. So if there's any hurdle to using this oven as a daily cooker, it's going to be figuring out how much time certain things actually need to cook. Trial and error is probably all you have to rely on here. The instructions even state that when baking cookies, later batches might cook faster when the oven is already hot so it's going to be some remembering and a little bit of gut to get things right every time.
The size of the oven is.. big. But that means it's spacious on the inside as well. I haven't cooked myself a full chicken or anything in there, but I'm happy enough it fits a standard sized frozen pizza comfortably. Aside from some things that we cook on a full baking sheet, I can't think of many things I wouldn't be able to fit in this oven.
What else can I say about this? I'm a fan. We rearranged our kitchen to make space on our very limited counter space and I'm not unhappy about it at all. I feel like this oven is going to replace our microwave for a lot of things just because we don't need to preheat it all. Reheating food for the kids quickly without the microwave sounds great. I don't even think the price is terribly unreasonable. If you're looking for an smaller (but not too small) oven with "11" different functions, this one might be the one for you.
I would recommend this to a friend!
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High Performance Computer and Electronics UPS for Premium Power Protection
Customer Rating
4
Ol' reliable
on May 3, 2023
Posted by: swemoney
After being one of "those" people who never understood the importance of battery backup when you have a surge protector, I've been a fan since I've adopted them. I've used a larger (and much older) version of this one to keep my gaming machine from crashing during any sort of power outage. Long enough for me to even be able to wrap up a twitch stream. I was using a CyberPower backup for a little while to keep my network closet alive during power outages but I had noticed a few all out shutdowns over the year or so of using that one. Like I had to power cycle the whole battery backup to get everything back online. It only happened a 2 or 3 times but it was confusing enough to be frustrating. Now I'm using this 1050 in the network closet. Definitely haven't tested it long enough to make sure there are no more of those power faults but if this is as reliable as my trusty old 1350 APC then I feel confident it'll be ok.
Setup is easy. It's a battery backup. Standard stuff. Open the battery container and connect the red terminal before anything. Peel off stickers and plug your stuff in. My only gripe about this unit is it's size. It's nice that it's small but it being so small means that it doesn't have extra space between the outlets on the back to accommodate larger power bricks. I had to use an extension cord for my router and modem since they blocked other outlets. The battery backup and surge only sides each come with 4 outlets that are right next to each other so unless they're simple power plugs and not bulky bricks you are going to need some extensions to plug everything in.
Other than that little hiccup, everything works great so far. The USB connection to my linux server worked great right away after installing the software (which only took a really quick google to find). I can probably use that connection for some automation that will let me shut down the server properly when the battery level gets a little low but I haven't messed around with it yet.
The screen and button controls are pretty standard. If you've used any UPS in the past, you'll understand these. All the standard info is available like input voltage, output wattage, and time remaining on battery.
Overall, this is an uninterruptible power supply. APC has (in my personal experience) been very reliable. There's not much else to say here. If you're in the market for a power supply, do some math to figure out how much power you need (and how long you need to keep your systems alive) and if you think 1050 is enough, pick this one up.
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