Universal Backpackers King Size Mosquito Net

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ID7E7B4

This is a large mosquito net that I received at a discount in exchange for my unbiased review. Although I have not yet had the opportunity to actually try this mosquito net in a mosquito-rich environment, I can tell that this is a very good product.

Packed in its carrying case, this mosquito net from Universal Backpackers is small and light enough to easily take along on a trip. It weighs in at just over eleven ounces, and is approximately one foot square.

The mosquito netting itself is a very fine mesh, but also seems durable. I don't think this mesh will tear easily. I am a little concerned about whether or not this mosquito net will be easy to set up, and perhaps just as importantly, how easy it will be to get back into the green carrying case. It is for these reasons that I am rating this product four stars and not five stars.

QBall Reaction Ball

https://qballextreme.com/

These balls are an interesting eye-hand coordination training tool that I received at a discount in exchange for my unbiased review.

I received a set of two of these training balls. They are made of solid rubber, and are fairly dense. They certainly seem well-made.

There are a variety of exercises these balls can be used for. The company that produces these balls has an entire section of their website dedicated to explaining these exercises, and how using these balls can improve your eye-hand coordination, your reaction time, and your focus, among other things. You can also find videos demonstrating how the balls may be used.

I have not used the balls enough myself to be able to say whether or not the company's claims are true, but I can say that I have enjoyed practicing with the balls. The exercise that I like, and have attempted several times, involves bouncing a ball from about waist height alternately with each hand, so you are bouncing two balls in quick succession--one with each hand. The idea is to see how many bounces you can accomplish in a minute. Because the balls are not perfectly round--they have dimples or divots on them--the balls do not bounce in a perfectly true fashion, meaning you have to work a bit to catch them.

I've always thought that I have better than average eye-hand coordination, and my minimal experiments with these balls bear that out. The first time I attempted this exercise I successfully bounced the balls 86 times. Since then I quickly improved to the point where I'd pretty easily reach the 90s, and my best score (out of perhaps 15-20 attempts) is 104 catches in a minute. By comparison, my wife and adult daughters each achieved a best score, after a few attempts, of 74, 56, and 47. (I won't embarrass them by being more specific than that.)

I have no reason to doubt the company's claims that regular exercise with these balls would improve eye-hand coordination, focus, etc. The balls are fun to use, though the exercises do get a bit tedious after a while. If you're willing to spend some time training, I think these balls are probably worth purchasing. They are relatively inexpensive, and should last a long time.

Oco Wireless Surveillance Camera

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O7Y96IM/

This camera, which I received at no charge in exchange for my unbiased review, is actually quite a disappointment. I can not recommend it to anyone who is considering the purchase of a wireless surveillance camera. 

For starters, the picture quality on this camera is not as good as on the only other camera I can compare it to, which is a Nest Cam. While the Nest Cam offers 1080p resolution, and this Oco camera only offers 720p resolution, I don't think that difference is what I am noticing. (I have watched plenty of 720p videos on YouTube that look a lot clearer than the video this camera produces.)

The sound quality, and what sounds the Oco camera can pick up is also not as good as what the Nest Cam is capable of.

If those were the only issues with this camera, though, I would have rated the Oco camera three, or possibly even four stars. The really big issue I have with the Oco is that unless you pay for a cloud storage service you can only either a) watch video live, using a phone app, or b) see 10-second clips when the camera detects motion. And even those 10-second motion-triggered clips are not recorded consistently. The camera seems to miss plenty of things that should have triggered a 10-second recording.

I wanted to be able to use this camera to record our dog when we are out, to see what she does, etc. In most cases a 10-second clip will be recorded when the dog starts to get up off the couch, but then the clip just stops. So all the camera does is let us see some of the time when the dog got up, and we can see from the time stamp when that was, but we can't see what the dog did unless she did it within 10 seconds of starting to get up.

I am not certain if longer clips can be recorded if one of the cloud services is purchased. The cloud services cost $9 per month or $99 per year if you want ten days of clips saved. I believe that even with the cloud services, however, there is not a way to simply record everything.

It seems to me that if you have the need for a surveillance camera, you probably want to have access to everything that happens once you have turned it on and set it to record. With the Nest Cam, (which also does require a cloud service if you want access to more than the last three hours), everything is recorded and there are ways to easily find the parts of the recording that include motion.

The Oco camera was easy to set up, and does seem to be reasonably well made. I understand that an Oco 2 model is coming out soon that will allow for SD storage of video. It sounds, though, like the Oco 2 is still only going to record clips. (I could easily be wrong about this.) I'd be happy to evaluate an Oco 2 camera as well, and compare it to the Oco camera I received, but I have a feeling that based on how critical this review was, an Oco 2 may not be in my future.

Vanker LED Headlamp

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LHAUOPC

This is a good (but not great) inexpensive headlamp that I received at no charge in exchange for my unbiased review. It operates on 3 AAA batteries, it is reasonably light, reasonably comfortable, and reasonably bright. The strap is adjustable, of course, and the light itself is also somewhat adjustable, as it can be tilted downwards a bit. The various modes are accessed by cycling through them, which is accomplished by pressing the on/off button on top of the unit. The modes are bright, less bright, red lights, and red lights flashing.

The reason I am rating this headlamp only three stars is that I have evaluated much better headlamps that are brighter, use rechargeable batteries, are more adjustable, and have more modes. For example, modes that are missing from this headlamp are flashing mode for the white light, and a combination mode where the white light and red lights are on at the same time.

For the cost, this is a good headlamp. It's just not a great headlamp.

GGMM E3 Wireless/WiFi Bluetooth Speaker and Network Repeater 
https://www.amazon.com/GGMM-Bluetooth-Featuring-Multi-Room-Streaming/dp/B01E3MXHKA

This WiFi / Bluetooth speaker from GGMM is an excellent product that I received at no charge, in exchange for my unbiased review. In my opinion, it is worthy of five stars.

The sound quality from the speaker is excellent. Unlike other Bluetooth speakers on the market, this speaker is really a whole lot more than just a speaker.

This unit will connect to your WiFi network, and will then be able to play various streaming services, like Tune-In Radio, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartradio, etc. You can set up to six preset stations. The E3 is also a clock and an alarm clock. The clock can be set to display in 12-hour or 24-hour mode. (Interestingly, this option was not initially available on my unit, but an over-the-air firmware upgrade enabled this capability.)

One minor improvement I would make to the clock would be to allow for different brightness levels, but this is not a big deal at all.

The E3’s product description does not mention one aspect of the unit that I only found out about because I read the manual quite carefully. That feature is that once connected to your WiFi network, the E3 will function as a WiFi repeater. This is an excellent feature, but also a dangerous one if you don’t know about it, as the default password for the network it creates is the same for all E3 units. In other words, if you were not aware of this, and someone discovered your new “network”, it would not be difficult for them to gain access to it. (Since you now know about this feature, be sure to change the name of the repeater network the E3 unit creates as well as the password, and you’ll be fine.) I’ll be using the E3 in the bedroom, and the WiFi repeater functionality may come in handy.

The E3 also has a USB port, capable of up to 2.1 Amps output, which is handy for charging any devices that charge via USB. There is also an auxiliary input port. The appropriate cables are included, so if you would like to connect a device simply by using the headphone port on the device you can do that too.

There is an app available in the Play Store and on iTunes that helps with setup and use of the E3.

Connecting to an existing WiFi network was simple and straight-forward, as was connecting a device for Bluetooth connectivity.

If you choose to purchase more than one of these units, you can use them in the same room, setting one as the right channel and one as the left channel. You can also use several of these in multiple rooms and set them so that they are playing the same audio in sync. (I have not tried either of those things, as I only received a single unit, but I have no reason to doubt that those functions work as advertised.)

The manual is quite thorough, and reasonably well-written.

Overall I am very pleased with this GGMM E3 WiFi / Bluetooth speaker.

Nucharger C40U 4000mAh Slim Portable Charger
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X0GGLWM

This is a pretty good, quite slim and lightweight portable charger, (also known as a power bank) that I received in exchange for my unbiased review.

The best feature of this portable charger is how slim and light it is. Compared to other similar products that provide 4000 mAh or even 5000 mAh, this charger is definitely thinner and lighter than most. That being said, the description on Amazon is a bit misleading, in that it is quite a bit larger and heavier than a credit card. (A credit card I just weighed came in at 5 grams while this charger weighs 87 grams.)

There are a few reasons why I am rating this product four stars instead of five stars. 

One of the main selling points of this charger is that it can charge micro-USB devices and Apple devices that use a Lightning connector with the built in cable, and it can. There is a built in Lightning adapter that connects to the micro-USB end. My issues are that there is no similar USB-C adapter and also the cable to charge the unit is not attached in any way. There is certainly room to include a USB-C adapter, and it would not be difficult to build the charging cord into the unit just as the output cord is built in now. If the company improved either of those two things in a future version, I would consider the product a five-star product. Another thing the company could do to improve the product, that would make it a five-star product in my eyes, would be to add Quick Charge capability.

I don't want my criticisms above to sound too harsh. This is a very good portable charger for the size and the price. It really is quite thin and light. It just takes a little more for me to rate a product five stars.

Dry Duck Marine Grade Waterproof Dry Bag

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JA8BLXC

This is an excellent quality dry bag that I received at a discount in exchange for my unbiased review.

The material it is made from is waterproof, rubbery, and double-layered. 

The bag seals by simply rolling the top down over itself a couple of times, and then attaching the two ends with clasps. There is also an adjustable shoulder strap.

One convenient addition is an outer pocket that is probably at least somewhat, if not completely, waterproof where you can store things that don't need to be kept totally dry, like keys (not electronic keys), laminated IDs, etc.

I am very pleased with this dry bag.

Romanee-Conti Mens Leather Belt With Nickel Free Buckle

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0184KH97O

This is a pretty good belt that I received in exchange for my unbiased review.

The leather seems to be pretty good quality leather, though I am no expert on leather. The buckle seems quite solid, and works just fine. There is nothing spectacular about this belt. It is just a reasonably good, leather belt currently available at a pretty reasonable price of $13.90, with free Prime shipping.

Amazon Changes The Rules

Two days ago, on October 3, at about 4:00 PM Amazon changed its guidelines with respect to reviews of free and discounted merchandise. In a nutshell, Amazon is no longer allowing reviews of these items on their site. It seems their thinking is that these reviews were not entirely unbiased, and were muddying the waters for consumers trying to learn about products.

You can read the entirety of Amazon's statement at the following URL:

https://www.amazon.com/p/feature/abpto3jt7fhb5oc

This change Amazon is making is a big one. Thousands of companies had relied on reviewers who received their products free or at a discount. Personally I had been receiving and reviewing several products a day. I had always attempted to write fair and unbiased reviews. I had received many positive comments on my reviews, including this one:


"This is probably THE best review of any product that I've ever read. Here's why:

You covered and EXPLAINED in GREAT detail everything and anything about the workings of this product along with all the "hows", "whys" and "what is/are?" Amps, 2.0 vs 3.0, speeds, Apple vs. Android benefits, as well as what is and isn't included in the box, meticulous aesthetics, and more.

Clearly you are efficient, thorough, and very patient. I will now reconsider my options feeling educated and confident. Thank You so very much!!!

Joanne"


I have started this blog so that I may still post reviews on products I receive for free or at a discount. I hope that by doing so, I will continue being able to help others with my reviews, as I have been doing for some time on Amazon.

Thanks for reading, and please stay tuned!