Top Product Reviews

In attached video you see Gvode Pasta Roller & Cutter Attachments  with my Kitchen Aid mixer.  It fit well and feel sturdy while working. It has three attachments. Pasta Roller  rolls 5.5-inch sheets of pasta with 8 thickness settings to adjust to your desired sheet thickness. This helps me make different thickness of fresh pasta, Ravioli, Tortellini, Lasagna, and Noodles. Spaghetti Cutter cut pasta sheets into classic Spaghetti noodles. Fettuccine Cutter Cuts pasta sheets into  Fettuccine noodles or linguine.  In addition to the three attachments the package includes a cleaning brush to help clean the attachments In attached photos you see pictures of each of the attachment on the kitchen scale and they weigh between 25 oz and 26.25 oz.  Note that cleaning instruction say not to clean these attachments with water, only to brush them clean.  It explicitly says to wash the attachments in the dishwasher. Instead it instructs to clean attachments by h...

The firestick works by connecting to WI FI of your home network. The two absolute requirements are that you have to have high speed internet and a WI FI connection. You don't have to Amazon Prime to use it, but then you will not have access to Amazon Prime Video and Music. You can connect it to other services you already subscribe to, such as Netflix or premium channels from your cable provider (such as HBO). The overall installation process goes like this: 1. plug in the firestick into the TV 2. when it boots it prompts you to log into your Amazon account 3. then you can enable individual channels (the activation instructions will be displayed on the screen) You can control the user interface with the remote included in the package. You can use arrows on the remote to navigate or you can use voice commands. The voice recognition is pretty good. I am able to move the fire stick between several TVs. I am able to watch Amazon Prime content as well as Verizon FIOS channe...

I purchased Portable Bidet after a surgery when I was not allowed to take showers for several weeks.  This portable bidet allowed me to feel clean without taking a shower and without getting the floor wet.  The best part of it is that it generates a good stream at the right angle without having to squeeze the bottle.  So if you are looking to use it while traveling (like an airport bathroom) rather than at home it makes no noise from escaping air or from squeezing.  It holds just enough water to give me a good rinse. What makes this bottle bidet work is a special valve on the bottom that lets the air escape as you turn the bidet upside down.  The angle of the nozzle generates a stream at a good angle that makes the water go only where it is needed. No drips on the floor. You can find it on Amazon by following this link. Product review ★★★★★

This is a very nice pearl necklace made out of natural pearls.  The pearls are well matched but they do have the tiny variations is shape and size which is typical of natural freshwater pearls.  What I really like about this necklace is that both ends of it have a clasp and they latch on to the hear shape piece.  It is much easier to clip that other clasps - I can do it without having to look at it.  It is also possible to remove the heart and insert a different piece of jewelry or just clasps two claws together. The size of the earring is rated as 7mm to 8mm and my digital caliper shows 8.83mm (measuring in the  direction) and 7.28 (measuring in the short direction). The silver heart has S925 stamp as well as VIKI LYNN logo. I think the necklace looks very classy. You can find it on Amazon by following this link. Product review ★★★★★

The is a super comfortable shoe, but it runs small. I normally wear size 7.5 and based on description recommendation to order 1/2 or 1 size larger I ordered 8.5 and it is a perfect fit. I can wear them with regular or hiking socks.  They weight 11.9 oz and feel pretty light. The shoe is a combination of suede and mesh. Suede is the dark and the medium grey, the mesh is the light grey color.  The sole is knobby and has good traction.   The shoe has slight arch support and the shape of the sole is very comfortable, it feels slightly cushy. The packaging was good, the shoes had paper inserts so they were not deformed in shipping. You can find it on Amazon by following this link. Product review ★★★★★

Zelite utility knife is midway in size between a Chef's knife and a Paring knife. in the past, I have not used utility knife as often as my chef knife or my pairing knife. But this knife is so sharp and maneuverable that I am using it quite a lot. My most common use for it is for cutting cheese and meats for making sandwiches. It also works well on cutting tomatoes for those sandwiches. I use it when a paring knife feels too short, and chef's an overkill. Zelite utility knife is very sharp, and its handle fits my hand very well. The knife feels sturdy but it is not heavy. The knife weighs 5.2 oz. It has a beautiful pattern on the blade. This is because the knife's blade is made out of laminated stainless steel. The higher quality of Japanese knives use laminated steel which has this beautiful pattern. The use of laminated steel improves the strength and rust resistance of the blade (and it looks beautiful). A note on packaging. I don't often comment on packaging unless ...

I really like this necklace. It has a very unique look. It is made out of irregular shaped pearls. No two are the same in shape or color. The only thing these irregular pearls have in common is that they have have non-spherical shapes. Each pearl has a lot of character: from almost round shape to curved, pinch, and lumpy. I have never seen pearls like that before and looked up to find that they have a name. They are called Baroque pearls. Both ends of the strand have a claw closure, so I can wear the necklace as a long strand (15" long) or clip it in the middle to form a different shape. The necklace has gold colored balls (made out of stainless steel) as spaces. They are small and set off the irregular shapes of the pears very well. The package include a box and a cleaning cloth. I measured a few random individual pearls with a digital caliper. I picked two what I thought were representative of the smaller and larger pearls in the necklace and got: 14.34mm mm and 12.84 mm in size...

I got the large ottoman. It is 30" wide x 15" long x 15" tall.  It is gray in color on the sides and top, and black on the bottom. What I did not realize that it folds together as accordion (see photos) and expands when you want to use it.  The sides are hard stiff cardboard. The top is stiff and padded.  The cover is actually heavier than the entire body of the storage.  The bottom is nylon material and is soft, however when you open it you place cardboard (covered in fabric) in the bottom of the box so it does not collapse. The cardboard is strong. How strong? I had my husband sit on the empty ottoman and even though he is close to 200 pounds in weight the ottoman did not have any problem holding him.  Since the ottoman was empty there was nothing else to help support his weight but the sides of the storage.  The description says that it supports up to 220 pounds and I believe it. I would not call this ottoman attractive, but it is sturdy and functional. ...

The camera has a fisheye lens which produces 360 degree video. Overall, the video quality is pretty good under many conditions but not all. It overexposes video when the camera is shooting in very sunny conditions and it does not compensate well when you move from shadow to the sun (like when you come out from under the bridge into the full sun). I show small clips which show the camera at its worst and at its best in attached video. Under good lighting the color rendition is good and true to life. It also takes pretty decent night time video. The camera microphone is worse than other sports cameras I have used. You will hear sound distortions in my video. Keep in mind that Amazon compresses video, so it is best to watch it as postage format so the compression effects are not visible. The camera user interface is menu driven, but you can only see two lines. The documentation is not detailed and not good, so I am finding myself fumbling with the keys a bit as I navigate through menus ev...

I originally purchased BlueDriver in 2015 and was not particularly happy with the app.  However by January 2016 the app had several revisions and have become excellent. The original review was fairly critical giving 5 stars to the hardware and 2 stars to the BlueDriver app. For a number of months I had to use an alternate free app (Torque) because BlueDriver just did not stay connected long enough to be useful. However, after a number of updates the app is now excellent and provides a lot of information that the free app does not. It provides clear readout for engine light on (I am including an example from EGR Valve problem). It also correctly showed a recall for the air bag before the manufacture notified me in a letter many months later. Because of the dramatic improves I felt compelled to replace the critical review with this 5 star review. The scanner is simple to install and simple to use. A lot simpler than I expected, frankly. All cars and light trucks built and sold in the...

This is a terrific knife. This a general purpose knife for dicing, slicing and mincing. The name translates from Japanese to mean "well-balanced" and is designed with the weights of the blade and the handle to be equally balanced. This balance in combination with the rounded design of the handle makes cutting and dicing with it quick and easy. It is very sharp, everything I cut feels as easy as cutting soft butter. The Santoku has a limited "rocking" travel in comparison to a Western-style chef's knife. When the blade rests on the cutting plane there is very little clearance above the cutting plane from heel to the tip. The Santoku design is shorter, lighter, thinner, and more hardened (to compensate for thinness) than a traditional Western chef's knife. The "scalloped" sides that give this knife its unique look create small air pockets between the blade and the material being sliced and reduce cutting friction. The higher quality of Japanese knive...

I like that most of this hose splitter are the long shut-off handles.  They are very easy to open and close. The splitter is made out of metal encased in rubber. The quick connects are plastic, but the other fittings are zinc alloy and give me a tight seal. On the negative side the water outlets are tightly packed. This comes into play if you are using timers. A timer on this splitter covers up two outlets. Some four way splitters have connectors that are angled and they allow an outlet next to the timer to be accessible. For my gardening needs I have multiple timers as well as hoses, so I could not use this splitter in the back of the house. However, in the front I am using one timer on this splitter which means I had to give up one of the outlets as it is blocked. The package includes 10 additional washers (plus one more is already in the hose splitter). You can find it on Amazon by following this link. Product review ★★★★☆

This is a nice power supply with enough for any personal computer. Its capacity of 700w and a large number of connectors (total of 5 connectors plus 3 hard-wired plugs). This power supplies provides a lot of room for growth. Alens 700 is 5 5/8" x 3.5" x 6". It uses ribbon cables, which are more flexible than round cables. Connectors: --> One 20 +4 Main plug, hard-wired It can handle motherboards with both 20 pin or 24 pin connectors. --> One EPS12V CPU plug, hard-wired The power supply supports one CPUs. It is designed for desktop use only, as servers often have more than one CPU. --> One PCIe plug, hard-wired --> One PCIe plug, modular Supports two SLI graphics cards --> Three SATA or Molex plugs 2 SATA cables, each with 3 plugs, total of 6 SATA devices 1 Molex cable, four Molex plugs and one floppy plug I measured the power supply with a power supply tester and all votages are within tolerance. The attached video includes several screen shots that show t...

I bought the Flexzilla 3-foot lead-in house in the spring, so it had been in use for three months. It formed a water tight connection without teflon tape and I like the sleeves that protect the connection from kinking. As a lead-in hose into a four way switch it is always under pressure and has not any leaks so far. You can find it on Amazon by following this link. Product review ★★★★★

There are many things about these studio lights that I like, but they have one serious flaw. They come with Type C electrical plugs common in Asia and South America (two round prongs, not two flat prongs known as Type A we use in USA). I happen to have plug converters from when I used to travel a lot so I am able to use them, but I wanted to start my review by drawing attention to this requirement. - These studio lights generate nice natural light. In attached photos I set them up in complete darkness and the lights filled the room with a non-harsh light. The lights use Tri-phosphor light bulb 150w 5500K 110V E27. - The umbrellas and the diffuser shields are nice. They collapse and pop up easily. The diffuser shields have fitted corners so they go on easily and stay on well, they also have Velcro to grab on to umbrella better. - The electrical cords have in-line on/off switch. My old lights had a switch next to the light and it would always get ultra-hot. This is a much better design. ...

I am using this laser printer in a home office with Linux, win10, and win XP computers. All three operating systems connected without trouble. 1. Linux - I had to install HPLIP from repository, support for the driver is built into the Linux OS. I was able to connect the printer both as USB printer and network printer. 2. Windows 10 - the driver for win10 is included on the CD ROM that came with the printer, searching for the network printer during configuration found the printer and configured it. 3. Windows XP - the driver for XP is not included on the on the CD ROM but it is available from the HP website. The quality of the print is nice and crisp. The black color is not as bold as the old laser printer, but very clear. The colors are bright and clear. Both the scan and the print are fast (the first scan/print has a short pause for the printer to warm up, but the rest of the pages are very quick.) The FAX (the sending part) is fairly slow,...

I have been using the Arlo security system for over 1 year without a jacket and now a couple of years with Wasserstein jacket.  Looking at the stock photo I was a bit worried that the jacket will make the magnetic hold weaker and I was not sure if I would like it. Turns out the jacket has three holes (stock photos do not show this, but my video does) - one for the camera lens, one for the magnetic hold, and one for the battery door. The camera jacket is easy to put on and it fits well. I selected the brown color that matches my trim and I think the camera is less noticeable and looks better in the jacket. The camera is waterproof so I don't think the jacket is needed to protect from rain, but it seems to provide a little bit of insulation for cold weather and prolongs the battery life in the winter. You can find it on Amazon by following this link. Product review ★★★★★

At the time I am writing this review the price of this recorder is around $90 and for the price I expected a better all purposes recorder. It did a reasonable job recording human voice, but did a very poor job recording music. The recorded music is clipped and sounds distorted. When I held the recorder in my hand the recording picked up a lot of crackling. I did not purposely do anything to generate that noise but as you hear in attached audio the difference between me holding the recorder and having it put down is dramatic. The recorder looks like a regular flash memory stick. To make it discrete looking the interface that makes it work is not obvious. The recording switch looks like a loop for hanging the recorder on a key chain. The switch has three positions left, center, right. The center position is off, and left/right are the two modes. The two modes are "continuous recording" and "voice activated recording". They are indicated by a small dash and t...

Astonish paste did a pretty decent job.  In the attached video you see me cleaning the stove top and the bottom of a skillet.  The results are pretty good, although not perfect and not instant. Overall, it did a job better than other things I have tried. You can find it on Amazon by following this link. Product review ★★★★☆

We have a large number of bird feeders including four different window bird feeders. This bird feeder one key feature that our feathered friends like. The birds love the little perch. In my video you can see how they use it to crack the seeds. We have another window bird feeder with a different style which does not have a perch and it was less popular until we glued a perch made out of a twig. As soon as we added this twig the bird feeder became more popular. This a pretty large (wide) bird feeder. Several birds can visit it at the same time. Many birds do not mind sharing. Some do, and it is fun to watch the bully birds that make other birds leave - I captured one of these episodes in the attached video. The big size of the bird feeder makes it very comfortable for squirrels to feed from it as well. As you see in attached video, it is big enough to hold two squirrels. The suction cups hold really well, as they are able to hold not only two birds but two squirrels. Squi...