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I've been writing some Amazon product reviews
recently, so I though I'd share.
Let's be honest: I love Amazon, first because they have a web
site that does not suck and that is full of useful features. Once you've used them,
all other e-commerce sites look disappointing.
The next best thing is when I became a
prime customer. Sure,
prime is not free, but if you factor the shipping price you'd pay, it all makes
sense. Sometimes an item price will be a bit more expensive than elsewhere, but
the resulting price after shipping and handling might be better on Amazon. And
you get it in two days. No brainer.
There's something cool also about getting a UPS truck deliver stuff to you
in the middle of a forest where there is no postal service delivery. It's
faster than going to the nearest town
-- although the DoItBest hardware store of
Dallas, PA
is nothing to be ashamed of and can be quite competitive.
So anyway, I thought for the fun I'd put here a selection of my reviews.
It's quite a wide range.
KeyTronic 104 Key PS2 keyboard
This is a KeyTronic full-size PC keyboard. It's one of the best things you can attach to a computer.
If you do a lot of typing, that's the kind of keyboard you need: it has a nice
feeling, the spacing and the layout is just fine, and contrary to laptop-like
keyboards there's some real depth to the keys.
Contrary to some modern keyboards, like the Microsoft "ergonomic" one, all the
keys work the same, even the space bar. You won't have a key that feels
different or gets stuck because of bad plastic. They have all a similar pressure
and feedback and all make a wonderful noise when pressed. You can type lightly
or literally pound on it and it will work the same.
Note that this series of KeyTronic keyboards is a quite noisy. That's part of
the product. If you want a silent keyboard, move along. It's not as noisy as the
old IBM pounding-metal keyboards from the 80's or 90's, though.
It's durable too. My last KeyTronic lasted 10+ years before one of the keys
started acting up from time to time. There's supposedly a lifetime warranty on
it, but let's face it, after 10 years or so it's cheaper to get a brand new one
than get the membrane replaced. It's also trivial to open it and service it
yourself, if you're so inclined.
Tool House 770002 52 Piece Metric and Fractional Bit Tip and Socket Wrench Set
That's a nice thing to keep around for a great cheap price.
The case is convenient but it doesn't qualify of "durable". One of the closing
tabs of the case broke when I tried to open it the very first time. It comes
with a tiny piece of foam inside, which keeps everything in place, yet still
when I hold the case vertically things tend to shift and move inside. Mere
details -- you're not buying this for the case, are you? The case is just here
to help put it away and avoid loosing all these pieces :-)
The two ratchets are nice and feel sturdy enough. The yellow screwdriver is
quite narrow and lacks grip. There's a nice number of sockets, covering a whole
lot of ranges. The sockets are good fits and I have yet to break or ruin one.
Overall it's nice to have this around, handy and at that price you don't have to
be too careful.
Fiskars Chopping Axe 23.5-Inch #7857
This is a rather good axe and it's nice to use. I used it as a felling axe to
clear some paths in the forest.
I used it to replace a very very old steel-head axe with a hickory handle (the
head kept coming off and I don't have the tools to hang it again.) Being new it
was nice and sharp, didn't get stuck too much. It was a bit shorter than I
expected -- my old axe was a 25- or 26-inch, so 24 seemed a tad short whereas
28-inch seemed too long. Going from a hickory handle to synthetic, the feeling
is not the same when it hits, it gave a much harsher feeling in my arms. It was
also a tad lighter than my old axe. Fine, I had to adjust a bit, I got over it
and the result is that I cut some hard old wood faster than before and it was a
lot of fun.
Motorola T9500XLR 25-Mile 2-Way Radio Pair
I got these radios to keep a safety contact when I'm nearby in the forest, with
hills and of course lots of trees in between. The effective range was about 2
miles in this condition, which was good enough for me. The radios are light to
carry, they come with a handy belt clip. There's a dock for easy recharging.
Using it was rather easy and intuitive, although the menu key that has several
functions seem a bit confusing at first -- just adjust all settings with the
manual in hand and then don't touch them again :-)
I'm not sure how long the battery lasts: I've used it for whole mornings or
whole afternoons mostly sitting there on standby with maybe a few minutes worth
of chat and it took several days like this for the battery indicator to get down
to 2/3rd. It's a NiMH battery so it *will* have aging issues after a few years
but by the time they start loosing their charge it will be more economical to
simply buy a new set than replace the batteries.
I do give it 4-star instead of 5 just because of the "iVox" hands-free feature:
I just couldn't get it to work and the manual is not too helpful on that one. I
kept setting the mode on, then later when I'd try to use it nothing would happen
and I'd realize the iVox mode had gone off in between. I'm dubious of the
utility of that mode anyway, so it doesn't really matter.
If there's one feature I miss: I wish the radio would also display the current
time. Like that I could skip carrying a watch. But then most people probably
don't care about that :-)
Sony MDR-NC40 Noise Canceling Headphone
Overall these are good headphones. I use them when I travel, mostly to cancel
airplane noise. If you've never used cancellation headphones, they are great to
remove constant background noise, so in a plane that means you can better listen
to your music/movie without having to put the volume insanely high. Note that
noise cancellation does not cancel voice chatter, so don't even try to use this
in an office -- in this case you want over-the-ear cups for good isolation.
They fold easily but folding the whole thing in the accompanying case takes a
bit of practice and patience at first. It's a tight squeeze but I now manage to
store my iPod nano in the case too. It then stores easily and it is pretty light
to carry around.
Otherwise they are OK comfort-wise, just a tiny bit tighter on the ear than my
older Sony noise canceling headphones. Sound-wise, the bass is a bit too much
boosted even for my taste; a bit of equalization on the iPod fixes that easily.
Panasonic BL-C131A Network Camera Wireless 802.11
Overall this is a good camera. Setting it up with my wifi was trivial. Price is a bit steep but you get a quality product with good support, for once.
I found a few limitations, your mileage may vary:
I wish the lens was a wider angle; the field of view is 49° (according to specs), which is standard but I've been spoiled by my Logitech Notebook Pro webcam with a 70° wide angle.
I wish the horizontal motion also had a wider angle. The exact pan angle is described in the spec as 100°, so a tad more than a quarter of a turn. Given the protruding design, I think they could protrude it a tad more and go all the way to 180°, that would be really nice.
You really need Internet Explorer to use the full capabilities, audio and video. I used IE7. I prefer to use Chrome or Firefox but in this case the video works in MJPEG mode, with no sound. I also successfully used "IP Cam Viewer" on my Android phone to connect to the camera using my wifi, at least for the video (here again there is no audio).
MIU Connoisseur Corkscrew
This is a really good "rabbit" like wine opener. If you've never used one,
you'll be impressed the first time you use it. Not only is it faster but it is
also more reliable and it's hard to break a cork with such an opener, even an
old cork. That's a gift that will keep on being appreciated.
Price is really good and quality is on par. I generally use it once a week and I
have no problem with the corkscrew. The screw itself is replaceable and I have
yet to use the replacement after several years of use. The foil cutter broke
after several months, but that can be easily replaced -- or just use a knife to
remove the foil, as it is customary to do.
Sleep Better 3-Inch Visco Elastic Memory Foam Mattress
We have this on our queen bed, which mattress was good but now feels a bit too
hard to our aging backs and has saggy spots. This foam topper fixes both issues,
as is to be expected. The 3-inch is a good size and it's a pleasure to sleep --
or more appropriately "to sink" -- in it every night. At 2.5 lb/ft^3, the
density is medium, which is good enough.
The foam arrived rolled in a big box. It was not as compressed as I thought --
some reviews make you think it's compressed in a dark hole and then will expand
to fill your whole house... it's not that dramatic!
However the smell of new foam toppers is a known issue -- all foams I've seen do
that anyway, it's not just that one. The original smell is not only nauseating,
it gives me immediate headaches. I can't stress that enough: you must let the
mattress air and expand in a *ventilated* non-living area for at least 2 or 3
days before using it. Don't rush it -- in case of doubt, let it air one more day
rather than be deceived by the chemical smell, as it will be nauseating at
first. Put it somewhere out of sight in a ventilated area, such as in the
basement or the garage. If after 3 days you can stick your nose on it and not
feel the urge to run away fast, then you can consider moving it in the bedroom.
After a month or so of use, there's still a slight curious smell the first time
I'd get in bed, but nothing dramatic. It's such a pleasure to fall asleep and
wake up on that thing, it's totally worth it. |
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This time I borrowed a 
The novice group is having a download meeting after a session:
Believe it or not, there is a playground! It doesn't seem to be used much:
Turn 5, also named the corkscrew and turn 10:
