Don’t Use The Shop App

Leave a reply

Don’t Use The Shop App

Shop App

Ever seen this logo before?

This is going to be a super short, and straight to the point blog entry.

If you are doing some online purchasing and you see the seller encourages you to use the Shop App, run do not walk to another web site. Sadly websites such as Leatherman have started using this. And that is only one example.

I’m not saying “Don’t buy a Leatherman”, because they are awesome. I’m saying “Don’t buy one from their online store which uses the Shop app”. Go to the store and buy one.

I recently bought a couple items online and received subsequent emails telling me that in order to track my shipment I needed the Shop app. I receive lots of equipment to review and I buy some gizmos myself quite frequently.

Continue reading →

Vlogging Camera Light Comparison

Leave a reply

Vlogging Camera Light Comparison

Vlogging Camera Light

I’ve been really trying hard to up my photography and video game here on the blog. Lighting of course is one aspect of that journey. I have recently purchased a couple different brands of Vlogging Camera Lights, and I’ll shake them down here.

The fun part about this is that I spent my own money so I can call it like I see it. It’s not that I don’t do that already, but when someone sends me an item to review I try hard to WORK WITH THEM. If I find something wrong I contact them and most places are happy to hear the feedback and WORK WITH ME. But when I spend my own cash there isn’t any pre-established back and forth.

And I review so much gear provided by others I seldom get to write about the things that I spend my own money on.

So, I’ll use these lights and then I’ll tell you what I think about them. Let’s get started.

Continue reading →

Foxwell BT630 600 Amp Shunt Battery Monitor Review

Leave a reply

Foxwell BT630 600 Amp Shunt Battery Monitor Review

Foxwell BT630

Next up on the review list is a Foxwell BT630, 600 Amp Shunt Battery Monitor (selling on Amazon)

This worked out really well because I have two solar setups at my house. I have a fairly large system with 3 – 100 Amp hour (Ah) batteries in parallel that powers my shed.

And I have a much smaller and portable board for a single or maybe two 100 Ah batteries. I had kind of a no name shunt on that board and this Foxwell BT630 was a welcome addition.

Foxwell provided me this Shunt for free but no other payment or requests were made by them prior to publishing. My goal is to shake down the product and maybe help them with the next version with some recommendations if I stumble across any.

Spoiler Alert: There is a recommendation that I’ll be mentioning later.

Continue reading →

OLIGHT IMINI 2 Keychain Flashlight Review

Leave a reply

OLIGHT IMINI 2 Keychain Flashlight Review

Olight Imini 2

I have a whole bunch of OLight flashlights but some years ago some clown on their website made fun of something I said. That’s fine, but what wasn’t okay was that an employee of Olight jumped on me as well. I quit collecting flashlights at that point. Anyway, I guess I have gotten over that with the purchase of the OLIGHT IMINI 2. ($11.99 Black Friday Deal). I got two of them.

What really predicated this purchase was that my wife and I went to a bonfire cookout and it was pretty much in the woods in a dark but wonderful place. Navigating to the fire was a bit scary because of tree roots and slippery wet leaves.

Walking up to the truck to get a proper flashlight I kind of wondered if I could find an Every Day Carry (EDC) keychain flashlight for just such situations. Much as it made me make a cringy face because it was from Olight, it looked very cool.

Continue reading →

ACMER ASCARVA 4S CNC Review

Leave a reply

ACMER ASCARVA 4S CNC Review

ACMER , a company typically known for their excellent laser engravers has ventured into the CNC carving arena. They provided me their ACMER Ascarva 4S to review, which is awesome as I am not new to the CNC game. I can give it a really good shakedown.

The current listed price is $599 and I see that there is a 20% off coupon on the product page. The CNC can be used with Windows, MacOS, or Linux.

Current Black Friday Price On Amazon Is $479.

ACMER recommends the following software:

  • UGS – Better known as Universal G-Code Sender. (Free) (Windows, MacOS, Linux)
  • Candle – (Free) (Windows Only)
  • Easel – (Free) (Windows, MacOS). Easel Pro $16.33 per month

I’ll be using Vectric VCarve Desktop ($349) (Windows) because I already own it and use it with my current CNC machine. And Vectric is superior to these other software solutions. That being said, this is a starter CNC machine and it is kind of silly to spend nearly the cost of the machine on additional software. New users should probably just use one of the 3 recommended free software choices listed above.

Continue reading →

Syncthing

2 Replies

Syncthing

Syncthing

I’m going back to my roots here with Syncthing. My tech blog started as a way for me to record my projects so that when they blew up I could reconstruct them.

When you crack that code and then six months later you realize you forgot that code you have to start back at square one. Here’s my back story.

I have a QNAP server and use Qsync Client to back up my important files to that NAS. I just deployed another NAS (Beelink Me Mini with TrueNAS) recently. Additionally, I thought that Qsync Client software could be used to back up to TWO NAS devices. It couldn’t. Well technically it can but not from the same computer. That won’t do.

So I hit the Google and one name for synchronization software kept popping up. Syncthing. So I installed it on my Mac which was no problem at all. Then I went to set it up on TrueNAS. Not as easy. Read on for more fun…..

Continue reading →

LaserPecker LX2 Laser Cutter Review

2 Replies

LaserPecker LX2 Laser Cutter Review

LaserPecker LX2

The team at LaserPecker provided me their brand new LaserPecker LX2 to review. At no time have they compensated me beyond providing a sample, nor have they tried to influence my review.

What you read here is what I really think of the LX2.

Spoiler Alert: The LX2 stacks up in a huge way, but I did have a temporary issue with the Auto Focusing Probe or Distance Sensor. I was able to resolve it easily and brought it to the attention of LaserPecker Support. They are looking into it.

Continue reading →

Smartwings Motorized Blinds Black Friday Sale

Leave a reply

Smartwings Motorized Blinds Black Friday Sale

SmartWings

About a year ago on my blog I reviewed Smartwings Blinds. They have been working flawlessly for the entire year and I have written automations for them in my home automation console (Home Assistant). They raise at sunrise, and lower at sunset. PERFECT!

The blinds can be controlled via remote, or through Amazon Alexa, and through my Home Assistant instance.

They are attractive, quiet, and smooth as silk.

BLACK FRIDAY

You can pick these up at a substantial discount on Black Friday. Here are the terms:

Smartwings Motorized Shades Black Friday Offers:

Time: 15th,Nov–2th,Dec

Offer:10% sitewide or 15% over $1,500

Smartwings Website: https://www.smartwingshome.com/

If you have ever wanted smart motorized blinds that have a variety of control methods, now is the time!

Beelink ME Mini NAS Review

Leave a reply

Beelink ME Mini NAS Review

Beelink Me Mini

This may be one of the best pieces of tech I have seen come down the pike in some time. Having a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device has become fairly standard in a lot of households and is darn near required in the office or business space. Enter the Beelink Me Mini NAS ($259 for the 16GB version) device.

This is a unique device based on the Intel Twin Lake N150 chip. The N150 is a 4 core, 4 thread chip with a max turbo boost speed of 3.6 GHz. It also sips power at about 6 watts.

Storage consists of a 64GB eMMC onboard and 6 NVME M.2 slots for a max capacity of 24 TB. The downside though is that 6 – 4TB NVME drives are EXPENSIVE. Also due to limitations on the PCI Express Lanes (9 total) it is possible that populating all six drive locations MIGHT cause some power or bandwidth issues. If possible, low power NVME drives could be utilized.

Continue reading →

NIIMBOT Label Maker Review – M3 and B4

2 Replies

NIIMBOT Label Maker Review – M3 and B4

It looks like the folks at NIIMBOT have hit a couple more home runs with their latest offerings. I was sent the NIIMBOT Label Maker M3 and B4 along with a whole bunch of labels to review.

I have had the pleasure of reviewing many NIIMBOT label maker machines and I have to say they keep getting better and better with new, and interesting feature additions.

The pic above showcases the M3 which is a COLOR printer for shipping labels (and others). Below is the B4.

The NIIMBOT B4 is a black and white label maker for shipping labels.

I, for one, am excited that there is a bluetooth, battery powered label printer capable of 4×6″ (100 x 150 mm) shipping labels. This is going to replace a couple of label printers that I currently use.

Continue reading →