MYS Salt and Pepper Grinder Set

It might seem superfluous to have more than one set of grinders on your counter, but in this house, even two sets falls a little short. Because for us, we have 3 different salts and 4 different peppers to grind depending on the meal, so it can get a little crowded on the counter at times. What that also means is I get to compare and contrast MYS’s Grinder set versus, say, the previous set from Q’s Inn. They look alike, but do they perform alike?

Sadly, no. Not that the MYS set performs badly, it’s just not as butter-smooth as the Q’s Inn set. There’s some binding in the grinding action, as well as a squeal or two. Occasionally they stick a bit. Other than that they function identically. What was absolutely superb was the collapsible silicone pouring spout for refilling. That’s a bonus that has unexpectedly made filling my grinders a joy instead of a chore. The julienne peeler is neat, but I have a few of those, and none of the are as dangerous. This one as sharp blades that are right out there for my soft, pink digits to get sliced and diced on, so have a safe place to store it. The included cleaning brush is also an inspired inclusion that is one of those “Well, duh!” tools that I should have had much sooner. But the meat and potatoes of this set are the grinders, and they’re decent, not great.

The stainless steel is also slightly thinner, and not as “polished” so I would be wary of putting in salts that have high moisture content. The ceramic burrs are adjustable and should last a while. The glass bases are easy to clean, grip and use. And the included goodies are mostly awesome, but the action on the grinders, which means the most important part of the set, is lacking and problematic on my set, so I have to knock a couple of stars off for that, but I’ll add one back because the silicone funnel for filling? Inspired. And MYS states on the Amazon listing: “100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE; we aim to keep you perfectly happy with our products and want to know if there are any concerns or questions; please contact us as we will make it right!” So it’s up to you, but for my money, Q’s Inn gets my business instead.

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from MYS Homeware. I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion. I received no other compensation in exchange for my review. My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

 

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Creative Scents’ Vintage White Shatter-Proof Bathroom Accessories

I know all too well the heartbreak of having a really nice set of bathroom accessories that match, pull the room together, and were a great price, and one broke. Or chipped. Or shattered beyond repair. I’d completely sworn off these sets until I found this Creative Scents set. These are nice enough to put in the guest bathroom. Yeah, that nice.

Made from injection-molded resin and painted and finished to mimic much more expensive glass sets in every way, I at first even thought I ‘d been mistakenly shipped a glass set. The paint details are amazing, and they have a real heft to them that speaks to the quality. And no more chips or shatters!! I mean, if you threw them down hard, yeah, you’d probably break them, but no more panicked terror when you brush up against the glass toothbrush holder and watch it wobble, with a split-second decision to try to grab it before it falls or hope it rights it’s own ship.

For $39.99, you get four durable and elegant looking bathroom accessories, and Whizzhome’s commitment to customer satisfaction. And while my set was a gorgeous vintage white color and design, there are 6 other patterns/colors to choose from, and shipped 2 day with Prime. I can’t wait to put up my new set in my redesigned bathroom. What, you didn’t think I’d put something this nice in my old bathroom, did you?

 

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from WizzHome.  I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion.  My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

ROHA, Inc. Digital Kitchen Scale Review

ROHA, Inc. has another hit on their hands here, with their sleek-looking kitchen scale. I’ve not had a lot of luck since I bought my old Salter kitchen scale lo, those many years past. While for most folks who cook don’t really need a scale that’s accurate to the gram, here we measure stuff pretty minutely, be it from my kitchen experiments, or Hubby’s various sundry workout potions. Have I finally found the heir apparent to my beloved Salter? We shall see.

To start, this is a good looking gadget, what with it’s single piece of tempered glass and bright blue backlit LCD screen. But looks are really secondary to performance, because in this house, function trumps form any day. So we tested the ROHA, Inc. digital kitchen scale against the most accurate, to-the-gram scale we own. And it held up, gram for gram, ounce for ounce, being dead accurate every time.

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What I didn’t quite understand is the different settings for “water” and “milk”. It just seems like adding a different setting just because you could. It makes no sense and serves no practical purpose. Just kind of silly, really, but the scale is accurate and easy to clean, with the controls being manipulated by the touch-sensitive tempered glass “buttons”. What’s so nice about that is that there’s no way for powder, schmutz of flour to end up in the mechanism, or under and around any actual physical buttons. And again, batteries are included, and I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate any company that does that. It has all the stock features one would expect from a quality scale, like an auto-off, tare function, it’s switchable from grams to ounces with a simple touch, and ROHA, Inc.’s “No Questions Asked” 90-day money back guarantee.

So there it is. I think my venerable Salter scale is going out to pasture, probably on some farm upstate where it can romp and play with other old scales and live out it’s days as free-range scale. At least, that’s what I choose to believe. So welcome to the kitchen, ROHA, Inc. Hope you enjoy your stay!

**BONUS ALERT!** Limited Time Offer: Enter Code G8GEF6O5 at Amazon checkout and ROHA, Inc. will include their Measuring Spoons Set, valued at $9.95, With Your Order for FREE! Enter code G8GEF6O5 at checkout. Here’s how(restrictions apply)

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from ROHA, Inc..  I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion.  My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

ROHA, Inc. Digital Bathroom Scale

Not too long ago I reviewed a pretty disappointing bathroom scale. ROHA, Inc. sent me one around that same time and while it does almost all the same functions, it’s a vastly better product. And with it, I learned the difference between a product that overpromises and underdelivers, and one that does what it says it will, and not a bit more. Let’s go over this nifty little number, shall we?

So here it is: A scale that just measures what matters and doesn’t concern itself with a bunch of extra bells and whistles. Weight, body fat, body water, muscle & bone mass, and it looks pretty sharp doing it, with it’s tempered glass surface and stainless steel panels. It also sports a large, bright backlit LCD panel that’s easy to read. I stumbled a bit programming it, because it can be used by up to 8 different people, and the touch panel controls are not as user intuitive as some I’ve used. There’s no need to manually switch users, because like most better scales it recognizes the user by weight. Which is pretty awesome unless you lose (or heaven forbid, gain) a bunch of weight. But that’s not going to happen in this house. Both Hubby and I found it to be accurate on several different floors, and to the pound with our high-end Ozeri scale. Oh, and how awesome is it when a company includes batteries? I love that so much! And it only takes 2 AAA batteries. Nice.

ROHA, Inc. is also willing to stand behind their product for 90 days. I would really like to see a year, as seems to be the standard for these products, but they promise 100% Satisfaction, or your money back in that time, so you should find any defects well inside that time. No questions asked. So I see no harm in giving them a try.

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from ROHA, Inc..  I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion.  My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

 

Fusion 4K High-Speed 4K HDMI Cable Review

Ever since the introduction of high-definition television sets, there has been a glut of misinformation and confusion in the marketplace, most often fostered, if not outright encouraged, by the very people purporting to help you make heads or tails of all of it. One of the biggest upsells that people got stuck with was HDMI cables. A certain marketplace “monster” made a killing selling grossly overpriced HDMI (and a plethora of other) cables to the unwitting consumer, and retailers were only too happy to play along, because there was an unbelievable amount of markup and profit to be made. The same goes for “calibrating” your new TV, but that’s a post for another day. Today we get to go over Fusion4K’s high-speed HDMI cable.

 

To start, most of us do not have a 4K TV.  4K is considered “Ultra High Definition”, which is a horizontal resolution on the order of 4,000 pixels. Far in excess of what the current high definition standard is, and far beyond the capabilities of most affordable consumer electronics. There is also precious little 4K content out there either, so rushing out and getting the “bleeding edge” of technology is not advised. Likewise, we’re pushing past the boundaries of what the human eye can even distinguish as far as resolution. I say all that to tell you that while this cable is capable of transmitting 4K resolution, 3D, x.v.Color, sYCC601, Adobe RGB, and has all the bells and whistles of gold-plated connectors, heavy duty braided shielding, and what feels like heavy gauge (the don’t state the wire gauge on the package or the Amazon listing) 100% copper cores, there’s absolutely no reason to spend 5 times the money of a Monoprice or Amazon Basics cable. It’s a digital cable. It conforms to the HDMI 2.0 standard, so it works, or it doesn’t. Everything else is smoke and mirrors. What’s worse is the warranty. Monoprice, for example, will warranty their cables for life. And I know this because they’ve replaced, at no cost, a cable that failed me. It was 8 years old, covered in shmutz and they didn’t care. 3 days later, brand new cable. Fusion 4K warranties theirs for just 1 year.

The picture from Fusion4K’s cable was identical to the Monoprice cable I have installed normally. It was also identical to the cheap no-name cable that was  included years ago in some package or another that we keep around as a spare. So between the $35 3ft Fusion4K cable, the $5 6ft. Monoprice cable, and the free 6ft. no-name cable, there was not a single visual or aural difference, no performance issues, no connection issues, no signal issues. I can not see a single reason to pay such an absurd markup for a cable that performs exactly the same as every other cable I’ve tested. The plusses are that it transmits ethernet signal for your connected smart TV, it’s HDMI 2.0 compliant, it feels like a heavy-gauge cable, and has similar braided shielding as those that are rated for in-wall installation, though it doesn’t specifically state that it is safe for an in-wall installation. But it’s major negative is the price. So yes, it works, but I don’t see why you’d need to pay nearly $40 for a 3ft. cable (and let’s be honest, most of us need a 6ft or longer cable, which bumps the price up to $49.99) when the cheap basic ones perform exactly the same, spec for spec. The choice is yours.

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from Fusion4K.  I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion.  My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

Kuuk Salad Spinner Review

It’s no secret that many heads of lettuce have met their demise here in our home. In fact, a great many type of produce have, and the one thing they all had in common was being washed and spun dry. I’ve put many a miles on my old OXO salad and herb spinner. So many that the brake no longer worked, and the top started falling apart. Shortly after replacing it, I got an offer to try a version from Kuuk, and boy was I jazzed. Two is always better than one and imagine how much produce could be run through our little cleaning assembly line with 2 spinners going at once!

Sadly, it was not meant to be. While this Kuuk spinner really tries to look like many of the leading brands available in stores, it falls way, way short in design, quality and function. For starters, it’s made quite cheaply. It’s priced competitively, at only $19.95, but it just isn’t made with materials that will last a long time. The major pluses for this are it’s price point and large size. It goes quickly downhill from there.

The design, though, is really where things fell apart for us. From the “latching” lid, to the spinning crank, to the entire unit being unbalanced, it’s just awkward and difficult to use effectively. While most of us have, at one time or another, pressed down the plunger on a spinner, the Kuuk spinner uses a crank lever to spin the mesh strainer inside. And heaven help you if you don’t hold the container firmly on the counter, because it’ll wobble like an unbalanced washing machine and fly right off the counter. And the latch on the side that is supposed to keep the lid on is difficult to line up if only because the plastic the lid is made from has so much flex in it.

In the end, I was disappointed in this product. I wanted to like it, and wanted to really be able to use it more often, but at the end of the day, it just wasn’t meant to be. Also, my experience with the company with another of their products left much to be desired, and I’d be lying if I told you that that didn’t factor in more than a bit when it came to how I felt about this product. Nobody wants to buy products from a company that won’t stand behind them.

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from iHeadphones. I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion. My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

Hori Hori Garden Digging Knife by Sensei

Every once in a while, you get a hold of a tool you didn’t know you needed, one that has become so useful you don’t know you got by without it before. Sensei’s “Hori Hori” Digging Knife is one such tool. At first glance it seems to be a shiny monotasker, and it’s so, so much more than that. Let me share why.

 

Pickaxes, hoes, shovels, and garden spades all have their place, but it when you’re trying to dig up (or through) tough roots, or you have a very limited digging space (like up against a wall), you come to appreciate a single handed tool that cuts smooth, fast and clean. Sensei’s Digging knife does just that, and more. It has a razor-sharp side that slices and dices just about everything so clean you’d think it was brand-new Mach-5. But flip it over, and there’s serrated side that’ll go through almost anything like butter, in ground or out. Like cleaning up our yuccas. The fronds on those guys also have their own micro-serrations, so trimming them back can lead to a couple of handfuls of papercuts and a box of band-aids in your future. Not with Sensei’s Hori Hori Knife, as it made short work of the fronds and left clean, smooth cuts with no effort.

Through old rosebush roots, no problem. Cleaning up our sago palm trees? A snap. cutting though grass to lay sprinkler lines? Done and done. With it’s 7.5″ high-polished stainless steel blade, it’s big enough for big jobs, and small enough for ones that need a little more finesse. It’s concave design means it’s also good for just plain-old digging, through even the toughest soils. The contoured, textured handle is injection-molded high-impact ABS plastic, and the tang of the blade runs about 1/2 way up the handle. It feels sturdy and near indestructible. But should something go pear-shaped, Sensei backs their Digging Knife with a 90-day no-hassle guarantee with 100% of your money back if you’re not satisfied.

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from Sensei.  I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion.  My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

Summit Survival’s Premium Paracord Bracelet & Keychain

Everyone should be prepared for the unexpected. And no one is saying you have to be an extreme prepper with a year’s worth of freeze dried food in your garage or basement. But keeping things handy never hurt anyone. “Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it” my Father-in-Law would always say. In that vein, it never hurts you to have something handy that looks pretty snazzy too. 

 

That’s where Summit Survival’s Premium Paracord Bracelet and “Survival Grenade” comes in. You’ve probably seen folks wearing those neat little braided bracelets and wondered what they were about. Well, they’re usually made of paracord which is a lightweight, nylon, general purpose utility cord popular with the military for being extremely strong, durable and useful. Being all nylon makes it somewhat elastic as well. It can be used to tie, bind, dangle, affix and repair any number of things, and it comes in a near infinite number of patterns and colors. What separates Summit Survival’s bracelet from most others, though, is the Type III 550 paracord (550 refer’s to the “breaking strength” of the cord), and the Sharp Eye fire starter/clasp that secures it around your wrist. While most are content with just a simple plastic snap buckle, Summit Survival went the extra mile and added another indispensable tool on another already indispensable tool. I like multi tools. So does Hubby. He’s worn it nearly every day since we got it.

 

Summit Survival didn’t stop there. The went and added a second bundle of Type III paracord, all wrapped around 10 of the most important survival tools you’ll ever hope you never need. On top of the length of 550 paracord is tin foil, fishing floats, weights, swivels, cotton, fishing hooks, fishing line, fire starter, a carabiner, and an eye knife. Everything you’d ever need to keep yourself going in an extreme survival situation. It’s small and light enough to carry everywhere, and compact enough to carry in your purse, pocket or keychain. All of this, plus the paracord bracelet, that also has it’s own fire starter, all for only $14.95? That’s a steal in my book. If you don’t think so, there’s a lifetime warranty and money-back guarantee to back it up. Con’t beat that with a stick. (stick not included in kit)

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from Summit Survival and DBS Publishing, LLC.  I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion.  My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours. 

Mysonder Plastic 24″ Level Review

When it comes to keeping things “on the level” in this house, eyeballing it wont do. What with my projects, pictures, mirrors, and even our range, needing to be straight, we turn to levels of all shapes and sizes. 6 inch, 1 foot, 5 foot…you name it, we thought we had it. Then Mysonder offered us a 24″ level to try out. Talk about not knowing what you need until you’ve got it!

Where a 5 foot level is overkill but a 6″ one won’t quite cut it, the 24″ Mysonder jumps right in and says “No worries, I got this!” Made of lightweight injection molded plastic in the most popular “I-beam” construction, it’s durable without being heavy, drop resistant without worrying about cracking tiles, and perfect for in-home small tasks, like laying a few tiles in an entry way, hanging a new accent mirror, or even, as I mentioned, leveling our oven. Why would that be necessary, you ask? Well, our new KitchenAid range has an “AquaClean” feature where you put a small amount of water in the pan at the bottom and cook the grime and grease away! Buuuut…it must be level to clean properly and not spill. So my Mysonder level can in very handy here, as out 5 ft. level would have just rested on either side of the counter, and our 6″ level would have not given us a true reading of the entire range.

My (admittedly minor) issues are that Amazon sells a competitor’s product, made of a more durable powder coated aluminum, for 4 dollars less. Anyone who has used levels knows there is flex in plastic. It’s minuscule, but it’s there. No such problem with aluminum. Also, the finish of the product is a little sloppy, especially where the plastic was punched for the level bubbles. You could do much worse for $12.99, but with careful shopping, you could do better too, it seems. So it’s up to you if you feel like lightweight plastic, the Mysonder is perfectly adequate for almost everyone.

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from Mysonder.  I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion.  My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

Compressions Mirrored Swim Goggles

 

Summer is in full swing in Southern California, and the pool is open for business. I recently got a chance to try out some pretty cool swim goggles from Compressions, and having bought more than a few of these in the past, I’m liking how they’re holding up so far!

 

Compressions Mirrored Swim Goggles are anti-fog and anti-leak. I guarantee anyone who has used swim goggles in the past has had a problem with one or both issues. Compressions coated the inside of the lenses with an anti-fog treatment that means no matter the time used, these goggles won’t fog. Nothing is worse than swimming around blindly and crashing into a wall. Or worse, someone else, because your goggles fogged up and you can’t see. Thankfully these goggles are also shatter proof as well!

 

The only worse thing is them filling with water. We’ve had more than our fair share of leaky goggles, and it’s probably one of Hubby’s top pet peeves. There’s a lot of stuff in our water to keep it clear, fresh and clean, and trust me, you want none of it in your eyes. Chlorine, muriatic acid, floculant, tri-chlor tablets? No thanks, I’ll just use my Compressions Swim Goggles.

What’s nice is that these goggles also sport mirrored lenses. On a bright, sunny day, I want to wear my sunglasses. But none I had fit over or under some swim goggles. Compressions took care of that by making an all-in-one solution with these mirrored lenses. They even give you 100% UV protection! It’s like sunblock for your eyes! I can’t think of anything I didn’t like.

Without goggles

With goggles!

Hubby has quite the large head, and they took a fair bit of adjusting to fit him properly. The infinitely adjustable silicone straps did finally fit his big ol’ pumpkin head. They did, however, dribble slightly under water, and jumping in meant the came right off his head too. That never happened with his Speedo branded goggles, and he did notice that the lenses were not 100% optically correct, which basically means they had some small distortion from lens to lens and that can lead to eye fatigue, but it’s not like he’s wearing them to drive or something else terribly important, so I doubt it’ll be of any major concern. The also came with a nifty little carry/storage case so that hopefully they last for years and years to come. And finally, Compressions backs their goggles with a 12 month “No Questions Asked” 100% refund and return guarantee, so if you’re needing some high quality swim goggles, I recommend giving Compressions Swim Goggles a try!

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from Compressions.  I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion.  My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.