MLVOC Wireless Doorbell Set (White)

Our front courtyard has a gate, and though we’ve painted the decorative scrolls around the doorbell a bright contrasting color, for whatever reason UPS, FedEx, the USPS and nearly every other delivery person seems to miss the doorbell on the gate. I can’t count the times we’ve missed deliveries or had them delayed because of this. Thanks to this MLVOC Wireless Doorbell set, that’s now a thing of the past!

A bright white with shiny chrome trim, I don’t think anyone will be missing this doorbell unless they’re actively trying to do so. It light’s a soft blue when the button is pressed, and with the included adhesive pad, you can mount it just about anywhere. For a more traditional mount MLVOC included screws and anchors as well. For us, Hubby will probably make some kind of removable fitting so that it can be moved to paint the gate, or taken down in inclement weather, because let’s face it: though rain is uncommon in Southern California, when it does rain, it’ll soak and ruin this doorbell. What I like as well is that you can move the receiver to an outdoor location if, say, you’re doing an outdoor project or in the garage where you might not hear the normal doorbell. All you need is an electrical outlet and you’re golden. The volume is easily adjustable from the toggle button on the side of the receiver, and you can choose from a whopping 36 different chimes and tunes. The battery in the button portion is easily replaceable, and none of those tiny button cells that are hard to find sometimes, just a simple tiny 12v battery like you’d use in a car alarm fob. It transmitted easily all the way to the back of my house, and into the yard on an extension cord as well. MLVOC claims it’s good up to 1000 ft. on open ground as well, so you’re good to go in almost any residential suburban home.

There are some things we buy just to make out life a little easier, and I can safely say this is one of them. I don’t know why I didn’t pick up something like this MLVOC Wireless Doorbell Set before, but I can tell you I’m thrilled I did, and I think you will be too!

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from MLVOC. 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.

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AYL Soundfit Waterproof Bluetooth 4.0 Wireless Speaker

I’ve been offered a few different bluetooth speakers in the last year, and I’ve turned all of them down, because lets be honest…a lot of them are very similar, if not just the same product with a different name attached to it. Until AYL offered me their SoundFit Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker. Finally, something a little different, and rugged enough that I can put it just about anywhere and enjoy something better than the tinny little speaker in my phone, or the bigger, but still tinny, speakers in our tablets. So let’s dive in and enjoy all the nifty things this AYL SoundFit can do!

Up until now, the Liztek PSS-100 I’d tested out had been just fine for all my wireless listening needs. It was a marked upgrade from those little bitty speakers in our mobile devices, and was loud enough to fill the room with sound. I didn’t want to take it outside for fear of an errant spray or splash, for being tumbled by a overeager pooch. Plus, there was a very loud (and increasingly annoying) lady’s voice telling me when it was “connected”. But AYL’s SoundFit cures all those ills, and then some. See, I’d kind of resigned myself to losing out on a decent low-ends due to the small size and nature of these speakers. And then AYL comes in and shows me what I was missing, aurally. I attribute that to their design and powerful 5w driver. The highs are crisp without being tinny, the sound is full and rich, and you lose no detail in the playback. It’s not reference-quality, but for a speaker that fits in the palm of your hand, it’s pretty awesome.

AYL went the extra mile with their SoundFit Bluetooth Speaker, because it’s rugged as all get out too. Safe from drops, spill, dust, dirt, sprays and rain (IPX5 water resistance rated), short of driving over it with the truck, I don’t know what I could do to kill it. I accidentally dropped it on the tile, and let me tell you I was more worried about the tile. The speaker never missed a beat! It also paired (quickly, too!) with everything we have without any hiccups or issue of any sort. You get your choice of colors, a convenient carry strap, a bag to store it, and charging cable, a 3.5mm audio cable for wired connections, an anti-interference mic, top mounted controls and shock-absorbent rubber casing, and a mounting screw for bikes or accessories?! And a 3-year warranty? Are you kidding me? For only $29.95? This one is a no-brainer. I’ve had it for weeks listening for about an hour at a time, and it’s still on it’s initial charge! You get up to 12 hours of charge off a full charge of only 4 hours from empty. I think this AYL SoundFit is a keeper and I’m glad I got to try it.

Connect with AYL:

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• Buy yours from Amazon right here!

I received the above product(s) free of charge from AYL.  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.

Ohuhu Solar Landscape Lights, 8-Pack

I’ve been trying to “finish” my landscaping for the last, oh, lets say decade or so, and while some areas are just the way I want them, others seem to be a continual “work in progress”. Like in the area of lighting. While the old standard of running a bunch of low-voltage line everywhere was fine in places, how many of us have electrical outlets 40 feet from the house?! And the longer you run low-voltage line, the dimmer the farthest lights get. Solar lights seemed to be my savior, but until recently they were very utilitarian, lacked any real flair, and didn’t stay lit long. And they were expensive. Then Ohuhu came in to save the day again with their 8-Pack of Solar Landscape Lighting, all for only $27.99? Sounds too good to be true!

This 8-Pack of Solar Lights is a simple and affordable way to provide accent lighting all around your yard, your pathways, your garden, and even your driveway, all without ever having to worry about whether the cord will reach an electrical outlet. They’re weather resistant, so your sprinklers should give them no issues. The units are made entirely of plastic, and the stakes aren’t the strongest, so don’t try putting them in any particularly hard ground. They have a single, bright white (almost blue) LED that shines bright enough to give a decent halo of light around them. Ohuhu says they’re good for up to 8 hours on a full charge. And while the looked nice and initially lit well and stayed lit throughout most of the night, I found as time went on that the lights dimmed quicker and quicker, and went out earlier and earlier. Hubby broke them down and might have come up with a reason why: The rechargeable battery used to power the units is a paltry 600 mAh nickel-metal hydride AA cell. That’s a really low powered battery, and despite Ohuhu’s claims of “dusk ’til dawn” capabilities, there’s very little chance of that being possible with so small a battery. But, placed in a full-sun area, you are looking at a good 4-6 hours of really attractive light, anywhere you want to place it!

So while I think there’s some room for improvement, this last generation of solar lighting has really changed my tune as to it’s viability and usefulness around the house and yard. Ohuhu continues to surprise me with the quality of product you get for the money, and the Ohuhu 8-Pack of Solar Landscape Lighting is no exception! And Ohuhu’s
30-day Money Back Guarantee & Full 12-month Replacement Warranty means there’s really nothing to lose!

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from Ohuhu.  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.

OxyLED’s E03S Solar Spotlight

If there’s one thing that’s never in short supply in California, it’s sunlight. All freaking year round, sunlight. It’s a no-brainer, then, that we’d have solar lights all around our landscape. Except we didn’t, because the light they produced was never very good, the would get wet by the sprinklers and short out, and/or they wouldn’t last very long or hold a charge well. I was skeptical when I was offered a solar LED spotlight. I really shouldn’t have been, because it’s an OxyLED product.

Oxy LED has been a company that has surprised me over and over again by overdelivering on their products. And this OxyLED® E03S LED Solar Spotlight is no exception. It’s almost too bright on the high setting (yes, it has high and low settings! Sweet!), and even on an overcast day, grabs enough light to power the 4 LED drivers well into the early morning hours. You can put the light almost anywhere, because the solar cell rotates 180 degrees, and the light tuns 90 degrees, all on a vertical axis. The stake base also has the ability to be wall mounted (with the included screws and anchors), so it can even be used as a security light. Did I mention it’s bright? Usually with multiple LED cells, you end up with diffuse light that is only very bright if you look directly into it. This one gives a very bright, blue-ish light that projects, easily, 75 feet, unobstructed. That’s truly impressive. And while plastic makes up 98% of the housing, stake and reflector, after almost a month outside, in the heat, in the sprinkler, in the intense California sun, the light is burning as bright and holding as string as the day I put it out. Again, most impressive. Whether it will hold up for a longer period of time is yet to be seen, and to be honest very little does hold up to the intense year-round sun and nearly year-round heat in Southern California. 

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In the end I would greatly recommend this to anyone who was, like me, skeptical about the quality of solar lamps, especially a solar spotlight. It’s not huge and clunky, it works all night after a day in the sun, and it’s oh, so bright. I would like to see OxyLED offer different tones of light, as more “soft white” tone LED’s are making their way into the marketplace, so they don’t always have to be the bright harsh blue tones inherent to the brightest LED’s. This one is a winner.

Connect with OxyLED/Hisgadget:

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• Buy yours right here!

I received the above product(s) free of charge from Hisgadget.  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.

PulseAudio Vitality Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Headphones

Every once in a while you come across a product that you didn’t know much about and didn’t see much use for, until you try it, and suddenly understand what all the hub-bub is about. That’s exactly what happened to me with these PulseAudio Vitality bluetooth headphones. I now don’t know how I ever got along without them. Come with me as we explore why.

Let’s be honest, there’s few things on this earth more annoying than having your earbuds ripped out of your ears. It’s somewhere between “nails on a chalkboard” and ” loud high-pitched whine”.  And we mostly do it ourselves because our earphone cord hangs down and gets caught on whatever (Or whoever) is nearest. I’m here to tell you that with PulseAudio’s Vitality bluetooth earbuds, that’s a thing of the past. And it doesn’t mean sacrificing every drop of sound quality either. Because the sound? It’s quality. It’s not like it’s reference quality, but I’ve paid more and gotten less when it comes to the sound, and they weren’t bluetooth either. And lest you think that means some giant ungainly boxes over your ears like the old FM radio headphones of yesteryear (Full disclosure, I actually owned some of those. Not to date myself here or anything!). No, these are fairly small, fairly light, but set securely in your ear and have plenty more to offer still. They are BlueTooth 4.1 compliant, and also offer NFC wireless capabilities, so all your latest devices are guaranteed to work. They come complete with a nifty little travel pouch, a charging cable, and multiple sizes of silicone buds/stabilizers for all ear sizes and types!

See, these also have controls for volume, and can double as a hands-free headset for your smartphone! Honestly, I’m shocked they managed to cram so much in such a small package. Powered by lithium-polymer batteries, they have plenty of power (Up to 8 hours!) to last you pretty much all day. If I had a nit to pick, it would be that a couple of the buttons were hard, if not nearly impossible to get to easily by our resident sausage-finger, aka, Hubby. The price is pretty steep too, considering that rival bluetooth earbuds could be had for less than half the cost, but without knowing the quality of the sound of these rivals, I can’t say, dollar for dollar, if they are truly a value. Also, at $59.99, they could have included a wall charger instead of piggy backing on one you already own, or your handy USB charging hub. But they do include a 1-year warranty, so that’s a major plus as well. So overall the positives far outweigh the few minor negatives, and I’m very happy with these PulseAudio Vitality headphones.

Connect with PulseAudio:

• Online
• On Amazon

I received the above product(s) free of charge from PulseAudio.  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.

Sentey B-Trek H9 Bluetooth Headphones w/Mic Ls-4560

 

So, it seems when Sentey makes a product that hits, it hits a home run. But sometimes, it’s just a foul ball over the left field fence. Not quite a homerun but a solid hit none the less. This is one of those. You’ll recall from my last Sentey Flow headset review, the sound was nothing to write home about. These B-Trek Bluetooth headphones fix that in spades. The sound is pretty good. The 40mm drivers have even tones, decent bass, and don’t sound tinny or blown out. Wired or wireless, the sound is quality. These are Bluetooth V4.0 compatible, and have been tested to work solidly with my laptop, hubby’s Nexus tablet, and our phone. It holds the connection well too. Where it falls short, again, is in the “gaming” category.

See, the last thing I want to hear is the carnage and destruction inherent to one of hubby’s Battlefield 4 multiplayer sessions. Especially while I’m painting my nails. And we thought this headset would be the solution. But, despite pairing with the Playstaion 3 with ease, try as we might we could not get sound through these headphones to save our lives from the unit. Not for the game, for Amazon Prime videos, for music…nothing. Just static and ticking. It was a huge let down. We have an email in to Sentey about this, but as of this writing we have yet to hear back*. If you want a decent set of bluetooth headphones that won’t break the bank, these fit the bill. If you want it for PS3 (or PS4, one assumes) gaming, you might want to look elsewhere.

I don’t feel the lack of PS3 support should be a dealbreaker. The sound is good, they seem well constructed and of better materials than the Sentey Flow headset I mentioned previously. They also fold up for travel, come with a spiffy hard-ish travel case that holds the headset, the charging cable and the 3.5mm wired connection. The wired connection also works without having the lithium polymer battery charged (Sentey reports battery life of over 8 hours!), so your tunes aren’t dependent on your battery either. You have play, pause, skip and volume controls on the headset as well (device support dependent, obviously), which is nice. They fit my head, and even hubby’s big ‘ol pumpkin head, so they should fit just about everyone nicely. The ear cushion cups are snug enough for workouts or light jogging, but know that prolonged listening during these activities might cause some trapped perspiration, but the upside is there’s very little sound bleed from the earpieces. They were comfortable to wear and not so heavy that you feel like your head weighs an extra 10lbs. Overall we’re fans of these Sentey B-Trek Bluetooth Headphones, but there’s definitely room for some improvement here.

*A quick note: I attempted on 2 separate occasions to get some support from Sentey about the PS3/Bluetooth issue. Both went unaswered. I’m dismayed that, knowing this product was sent as promotion and knowing that I would review it, and their after-sales support, they ignored me. Maybe they’d be better about product support with a paying customer, but I’ll leave my readers to draw their own conclusions here. Major disappointment for us, though.

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from Sentey.  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.