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kenneth w.

kenneth w.

Joined on 10/15/11

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 8
Most Favorable Review

Beautiful Sound for a Song!!

Harman Kardon HARKAR CL-Z Headphones
Harman Kardon HARKAR CL-Z Headphones

Pros: Excellent, balanced sound. Slick, well executed design. Solid, precice construction. Extra features if you roll with Apple.

Cons: Apple specific, but still usable without all cotrol features in Android.

Overall Review: I used to be an obsessive audiophile, and I still apreciate good sound. When I saw these refurb phones I liked the looks and I consider HK to be a reliable maker of quality products. I only decided to give them a try after searching out reviews elswhere. These were often desribed as good phones for $200 and having accurate, smooth sound. I'm really glad I grabbed them. They call them "remanufactured" but, aside from being in OEM style packing (very well packed BTW), they look and work like new retail merchandise. The build quality is every bit as good as they look, very mid-centuy mod like a classic Eames lounge chair. What looks like metal really is sand-blasted steel!! My main concern is sound, for over ear phones, I've been a Grado fan. They sound wonderful but the open design limits where they can be used. These closed ear cans sound stunning, particularly the mids, but I was really surprised at what I consider supurb bass, tight, contolled, and extended. When the low notes hit in a pipe organ recording of Bach's famed "Bald Mountain" I was shocked. The solid constriction and memory foam gives very good isolation for a passive design, close to in-ear buds. I've only had a chance to listen to them with a Barnes & Noble NOOK HD+ rooted to Cyanogen Mod "Kit-Kat". I've found it a decent source but not a high-end phone amp by any stretch. Nonetheless, I decided to submit this review sooner rather than later because this great deal is unlikely to last.

4K 30FPS drone use

Team Group 128GB Micro SDXC PRO A1 U3 V30 Card Speed Up to 100MB/s (TPUSDX128GIV30A1P03)
Team Group 128GB Micro SDXC PRO A1 U3 V30 Card Speed Up to 100MB/s (TPUSDX128GIV30A1P03)

Pros: price/performance

Overall Review: I have two. I've filled and reformatted multiple times and they've been just fine. The capacity allows me hours of flying without swapping out in the field. They benched well and appear to have pegged the card reader's speed on read.

Solid. It's been a real performer.

Rosewill RHRC-13001 - Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooker - 5.5 Cups Uncooked / 11 Cups Cooked
Rosewill RHRC-13001 - Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooker - 5.5 Cups Uncooked / 11 Cups Cooked

Pros: I've had this since last spring and I've been using it a couple times a week. Nicely built. It looks and feels much more expensive than it is. The 3D heating really works and the rice turns out wonderful, evenly cooked with no scorching even when cooking just one of the enclosed cups. It also comes with a detachable IEC type cord which is rather short, but can be replaced easily with any length you might need. The inside pot is relatively thick and the non-stick coating is very heavy with no signs of wear. Just never use metal utensils

Cons: I often cook brown rice, but their is no setting for it. The "brown" setting is to slightly scorch white rice for Chinese clay pot style dishes, but there is a work around: I load in the rice with water or stock and whatever oil I might be using, then I set the menu to "reheat" and start it up. I then leave it for 30 minutes, total. At about 5 minutes, it will beep. Just leave it. It will switch to "keep warm for the remaining time. When the time is up, just switch the menu to "regular" and cook as usual. All of these East Asian rice cookers, even the Tigers and Zojurushis, are not known for cooking Indian basmati rice well. It overcooks it, but again, there's a work around: An Indian fellow on youtube demonstrated this with a Tiger cooker and it works great with the Rosewill as well. Rinse the rice well, warm water at fist really helps, then cook as usual with water, ghee or butter and a little salt, but set a kitchen timer for 23 minutes. At this time the steam should be pouring out the top. Shut the cooker off and let it sit 10-15 minutes. The rice will be light and fluffy with just the right firmness. One odd thing is that the clock keeps really bad time and adds a couple minutes a week, which is surprising with very accurate and cheap quartz movements being available.

Overall Review: I'm really glad I got one. It makes better rice much more easily than I can on the range, and what a great price!! I have yet to try any "meal in a pot" recipes or the browning function, but this looks intriguing.

I'm glad I got one.

Ooma Telo VoIP Internet Voice Home Phone Service Box-Factory Recertified
Ooma Telo VoIP Internet Voice Home Phone Service Box-Factory Recertified

Pros: Works like a land line with 911 support, great clarity etc.

Cons: A regular land line usually works in a power outage with a corded set.

Overall Review: I've had mine for something more than a year and a half. I guess it's a good sign that I can't remember exactly. I set it up and forgot about it. I'm using a Panasonic cordless system with three handsets. You can add a Google Voice number, great for a "throwaway" number or for using on wifi devices for free calling. I'm using the basic tax-only service. Check out Ooma's site for the skinny on the sevice options. Also, they have an active and helpful user forum.

Best I've Owned!!

Logitech MK520 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo — Keyboard and Mouse, Long Battery Life, Secure 2.4GHz Connectivity
Logitech MK520 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo — Keyboard and Mouse, Long Battery Life, Secure 2.4GHz Connectivity

Pros: I bought this combo locally (using it right now) on Black Friday 2011. Still working great. I changed keyboard batteries once and for the mouse twice. Range, ergonomics, and battery life have been superb. The looks are great too!!

Cons: I had some slight issues where I had problems like some have described with lagging keyboard response. All I had to do was to switch to another USB port, and the issue cleared up. Probably an issue with my MOBO, a Gigabyte Z77 model with USB ports controlled by vaious vendors.

Does what it should

SiliconDust HDHomeRun Dual HDHR3-US HD Digital Network Attached TV Tuner Device
SiliconDust HDHomeRun Dual HDHR3-US HD Digital Network Attached TV Tuner Device

Pros: Does what it's supposed to.

Cons: None so far.

Overall Review: I've been using the HDHomeRun for a year with Ubuntu 12.04 with no problem until recently. I bought the device to watch clear QAM cable channels with my cable internet service. They recently became encrypted. It seems that cable companies have been successful in lobbying to end clear QAM as we have known it. The still are required to offer local content free of charge, but you need to use one of their boxes. For myself, I'm building a fractal antenna. OTA has better quality, anyway. So, great product, with the caveat that you may not be able to use it with your cable service, even for local content, and even if you can, that may change.