Wireless Motion Sensing Light with 10 LED Lights - Battery Powered by Albrillo

It Simply Does Not Get Any Easier.

We have a shower that was installed without enough lighting by the previous owners of the home. There has been nearly 18 years of complaints about that shower and the lack of light but no one wanted to get an electrician in and install an overhead light due to the expense.

In the meantime, compact fluorescent bulbs came in to vogue but they still had the same problem - An electrician would still be required.

But, LEDs use so little power that a battery-powered light is actually a realistic alternative. So, when I was offered this light in exchange for an honest review, I knew that I had an immediate use for it.

There are 10 LED lights with a motion sensor in the middle. They are powered by 4 AAA batteries. Installation was a breeze. The entire back of the light is magnetic and comes with a long magnet attached. On the back of the magnet there is a sticker. Stick the sticker to the wall and then attach the light to the magnet side of the sticker.

When the batteries fail, grab the light, change the batteries and then stick it back to the magnet side of the sticker. It simply does not get any easier. 

This product cost $13.89 at the time of this review. Click here for current pricing: Wireless Motion Sensing Light by Albrillo.

Outdoor Folding Knife Stainless Steel Handle by Ambec

Sharp, easy to use and priced so that if you lose it you won't lose your mind.

The knife with a pen for size comparison.

Take this knife for what it is. This is not a lifelong hunting knife that you are going to use and then pass it on to your kid who will pass it on to his kid.

But, this is what it is. It is very sharp, easy to use and at $14.99 if you lose it or it breaks it is no big loss. 

The blade is 3.75 inches long. The whole knife is 7.5 inches long when it is opened.

Pros:

1. Very sharp

2. Easy to lock open.

3. Easy to unlock and close. I was able to easily do this with a pair of work gloves on - I was spreading bags of mulch and I was using this knife to cut open the bags.

4. The vent holes in the handle make it easy to fish this knife out of a pocket. 

This folding knife can be found at Amazon.com here: Ambec Knife.

Note: I received a free knife in order to make an honest review.

Vomach Headphone with In-Line Microphone, Noise-Isolating Anti-Tangle Flat Wire, 47.25 Inch (1.2M) long cord (Sleek Black)

A great set of headphones. 

I bet your kids are bugging you about headphones on a pretty regular basis. They listen to them non-stop and they pretty much treat them like garbage. They drag them on the ground, they wad them up and shove them in their pockets. They jerk them back out of their pockets by the first piece they grab. It's not pretty.

Photo by DWD.

But it gets a lot prettier when those headphones cost you only $9.99.

For $9.99 you get a pretty good deal:

#1) Non-tangling cord. Seriously, this cord doesn't get tangled.

#2) Turn your phone into a hands-free device. The phone setting on these headphones is excellent.

#3) Dependability. Take care of these headphones and they'll take care of you. My daughter has been using these headphones for nearly two months after I used them off and on for nearly another month. She stores them in an old protective case when they are not being used, which is pretty rare. She almost always has at least one earbud in an ear.

But, it is not all perfect.

The reason that my daughter even has the headphones is the fact that I cannot get the "conch" design earbuds in my ear no matter how I try. It's not just these particular earbuds - it's the style - they just don't fit into my ears. I figure I am not the only one with this problem so I deducted a point.

I rate these earbuds 4 stars out of 5.

As of the time of this review, these earbuds cost $9.99 on Amazon. Check here for current pricing: Vomach headphones.

Note: I received a set of these earbuds at a substantial discount so that I could write an unbiased review.

3-in-1 Flashlight for Emergency/Auto/Work by AYL

This flashlight is really pretty nifty. The regular flashlight mode is exceedingly bright with multiple LEDs. The box actually warns the user not to look into the light. Usually, I scoff at these kinds of warnings, but in this case it is totally justified. One side of  handle of the flashlight has a bank of 26 LED lights. Two rows of them are bright white and work like a trouble light. The other row is a bank of blinking red LED lights. They would be pretty useless to see by but they might be useful if your car broke down on the side of the road to warn oncoming cars.

It comes with a wrist strap, an item that I personally find helpful. But, the coolest feature is the magnet on the bottom end of the flashlight. You can stick it to the side of a car to change a tire or to the underside of the hood of your car to change a battery. I have been using this flashlight with a utility sink in my garage. I attach it to a paper towel holder and use it in "trouble light" mode.



Unfortunately, AYL is no longer selling these lights. At the end of this review I have included two links to flashlights that look the most like my AYL flashlight.

I rate my flashlight 5 stars out of 5.

Outback "Joey" flashlight.

WalterDrake "Joey" flashlight

Atalanta® 3.5mm Audio Stereo Y Splitter Cable

Audio splitters are amazingly useful if you are traveling with another person and watching video or listening to audio. You might think you can get by with a simple pair of earbuds shared between two people, but an audio splitter gives you both the ability to immerse yourself in the movie or song with both ear.

I plan on using it in my classroom when my students work in stations and listen to audio activities or watch a short online video.

Not only does it look sharp, it works perfectly. 

I rate this device 5 stars out of 5.

As of the time of this review, this splitter was being sold on Amazon.com for $6.99. Click here for current pricing: Atalanta Splitter Cable.

Note: I received a discounted sample in order to write an honest review.

iSens beevo IS1 Tangle Free In-ear Wired Earphone Earbud Stereo Bass with Inline Microphone by iSens

Long-Term Review. Result? Fantastic!

I teach high school and all day long I see students wad up their ear buds and shove them in their pocket. Later, they reach into their pocket and fish out some part of the earbuds and then yank them out. They also let the ear buds bounce along the ground behind them while they are walking around staring at their text messages (Yes, those $75+ Beats by Dre earbuds you bought your kid last month just might be bouncing down the stairs at school!). Knowing that this is fairly typical behavior and not good for the long-term well-being of a set of ear buds, the iSens beevo 1S1 is an affordable alternative to most name brand sets.

Most importantly, these ear buds produce quality music. No matter how affordable, I would have to count down if the performance was not there. This is not a case of "These headphones produce good music considering how affordable they are." No, they produce good music. Period.

I have been using them for the last three months to listen to a variety of sound such as music, streaming video, and audiobooks. They have a rich sound. The bass is very strong, but not overwhelming. The highs are strong, but the music does not sound tinny. They can easily get loud enough to completely drown out the outside world if you choose to do so. Entry level personal headsets have gotten so much better in the last few years and this set demonstrates that well. I have tested a lot of headphones in the last couple of years and this is one of my favorite sets. 

These are extremely light weight and very comfortable.

The cord is a tangle free and when I say that I don't just mean that it is designed to be tangle free, I mean that unless you set out to make a mess of this cord it is tangle free.

The phone feature is excellent as well. I have used this to talk on the phone as a "hands free device" while driving - I just plug in one of the earbuds and I am good to go. I have not used the headset's phone features (the buttons on the little box on the wire). When I use a set of headphones to talk on my phone I always use the phone itself rather than the headset features to interact (meaning I answer using the phone and hang up using the phone, etc.) because I just find it easier than blindly pushing buttons on a device hanging around my neck.

The package comes with one plug and play set of ear buds and three different sizes of ear tips and a set of instructions. I used the small box it came in as a storage container in my briefcase rather than sticking it in my pocket (go back to the first paragraph to see why).

Note: I received a free set of these ear buds in order to make a fair and honest review after testing them out. In this case I used them for three months until I reluctantly gave the set one of my own children to use after she damaged a set of ear buds - hopefully not with the behaviors I described above in the first paragraph.

At the time of this review this set of headphones cost $12.99 on Amazon.com. Click here for current pricing.

LOHAS® LED Bulbs 12W A19 Natural Daylight 5000K, 75Watt LED Light Bulbs Equivalent, E26 LED Base(Medium Screw)

LED bulbs are the future. They are replacing traditional incandescent bulbs and those irritating fluorescent bulbs - not just because they are the law but because they actually do the job.

In my household we have used a lot of those fluorescent bulbs over the years. At first we thought it was just a matter of finding the right brand, but over time we figured out that they just don't do the job all that well - they work about twice as long as a regular bulb but not 10 or 20 times as long like everyone promised. But, the price dropped and if you picked up a multi-pack on a sale it didn't matter.

The bright light is the LED bulb. The dimmer one in the
background is a fluorescent bulb. Laverne and Shirley are
on the television watching the beer bottles go by.

I got this bulb for free to try out and write an honest review. I have had it in my family room for about 7 months in a canister fixture above my fireplace. It has been through cool temperatures and very hot temperatures since my gas insert fireplace heats a lot of the house and that heat flows right past this light fixture. The bulb still works and works well. It is very bright and comes on instantly.

Long term result: Great bulb.


Recommendation: get the multi-pack. They are cheaper by the half dozen.

Get the single bulb here: Single bulb.

Get the multi-pack here: Multi-pack.