Product review: Exelia PVC Flooring Tile LW 19.7in X 19.7in 7mm

Exelia tiles are more heavy duty than I expected. Each tile weight 3 pounds and 5 oz and they feel very solid. The tiles have an interlock system on all 4 edges of the tile, 2 sides have the locks on the underside, 2 sides have locks that stick out. This allows the two tiles to fit right next to each for a neat finish. When the tiles lock you can hear a satisfying click.



I ordered the grey color for the laundry room in otherwise unfinished basement. The grey color tiles fit perfectly giving the laundry room a neater appearance without standing out. The tiled section lays flat and the installation was pretty simple. I used a mallet to tap in the locks.



I received these floor tiles for testing and review as part of the new product introduction. I hope attached photos will give you a better idea of what to expect.



You can find these Tiles on Amazon via this link.





AshopZones review

Product review: Leak Detector for your basement or kitchen by Alert Innovations LLC

One Drop Water Alarm is very sensitive to water as long as you put it the right side up. How can you tell which side is the right side? Make you can read the web address of the company in the left top corner. If the web address is backwards you got it upside down and it will not make any noise. I show how the mat reactions to drops of water with the right side up and the wrong side up.



I have had a leak under my sink in the past and it went undetected for several days until it caused some damage. This mat is going to let me right away. The mat very thin (1 mm thick) it comes with net liner so metal thing do not the lines on the mat and general false alarms. The mat can be trimmed as long as you cut between the sensor lines.



The alarm has two modes music and alarm, both are very loud and unpleasant. They can be turned off by changed the switch on the box. I made sure it was easily accessible because I will want to turn it off as soon as it lets me know there is a problem.



The alarm runs on 9volt battery and the battery is not included.



I received a sample unit from manufacture to share my experience with the alarm (be they positive or negative) the with potential future buyers. This fairly inexpensive device can save you a lot of money by preventing water damage.



You can locate One Drop of Leak Detector on Amazon via this link.



AshopZones review

Product review: Paring Knife 4-inch by Zelite Infinity.

This knife has become one of my two "workhorse" knives (the other being the chef's knife). This is a terrific knife, great for any kind of slicing and cutting that requires a lot of control: cutting, peeling, cutting out shapes, scoring, and so forth. It is very sharp and its handle is comfortable to hold. One small thing that I really like about this knife is the transition from the heel of the knife to the bolster is curved and it is one piece of steel, it does not have a grove where dirt can hide.



This knife has a beautiful pattern on the blade. This is because the knife's blade is made out of laminated stainless steel. The higher quality of Japanese knives use laminated steel which has this beautiful pattern. The use of laminated steel improves the strength and rust resistance of the blade (and it looks beautiful).



A note on packaging. I don't often comment on packaging unless there is something special about it. This knife comes in a very attractive packaging, the box packing is sculpted to the knives shape and is made out of red velvety material. The presentation of the knife is suited for a gift.



This knife was provided to me for testing and review by Zelite as part of the new product introduction. I am impressed!



You can locate this Paring Knife on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review

Product review: Jsaron Vintage Flower Tea Coffee Cup with Spoon and Saucer Set

This is a very pretty cup. The edge of the cup feels very nice on my
lips, it is sculpted to be thinner at the edge. I often drink tea from
my coffee mug, so switching to this cup made me feel like it was a
special occasion - very delicate and festive.

The package
includes a teacup, a saucer, and tiny spoon. The spoon is also made out
of bone china, and it is much smaller than a regular tea spoon. I like
the spoon for scooping loose tea into a small tea bag, it is just right
size to deposit the content into a small baggy.

Attached photos
show the cup and the cup markings. The markings do not indicate where
the cup is made, but the seller is based in China.

I received this cup for evaluation and review. I like it - very pretty and delicate teacup.

AshopZones review

Product review: LightDims Black Out Edition

Many manufactures add unnecessary lights to various devices, I especially object to the bright LED lights on chargers I keep in the bedroom where I want total darkness. In the past I use electrical tape to cover up lights. LightDims are a neater (but more expensive) solution.



LightDims package is a single sheet of stickers that come in a variety of sizes, made out of thin dark material with a strong adhesive that covers even the brightest LED lights.



In attached video you see my one of my favorite chargers that has one of the brightest blue LEDs invented. I had that LED covered by a piece of electrical tape, but the electrical tape also covered the port labels. In the video I remove the electrical tape and replacing it with the light dims. The light coverage is the same, but the appearance is neater and the labels are visible.



Even though LightDims are more expensive to use than a piece of electrical tape if you trying to cover a light on a piece of equipment that you want to look neat or leave labels clearly visible LightDims will do a good job.



I received LightDim stickers for testing and review. I hope seeing the video helps you getting a better idea of what to expect.



You can find "LightDims Black Out Edition" on Amazon via this link





AshopZones review

Product review: UEB Portable 4 Ports USB Car Charger - used with Nexus 6p

  

We usually travel with a lot of gadgets so a 4 port car charger is very useful to us. However, the key question how well it performs with Nexus 6p which is used for navigation, so it needs to be able to charge at an optimal rate. Nexus 6p has a capability for rapid charging, which means it can draw up to 2.5A when the battery is low. Rapid charging is incredibly fast, it is such a nice feature that any charger that cannot support this rapid charging is disqualified.



Prior to testing the charger, I read the specs of the charger and I was disappointed to see that it has very rigid specs for each port (best chargers have a smart chip that allow each port of a charger to work equally well with different mobile devices).



The spec listed the following information:

iPhone port provides 1 A/5V

iPad port provides 2.1 A/5V

Samsung port provides 1.3 A/5V

Android port provides 0.6 A/5V



Fortunately, when I tested each port the spec information proved to be incorrect and each port is not limited to stated limits.

I tested Nexus 6p with both 3.1 compliant and 3.1 non-compliant charging cables.



What is 3.1 compliant cable? USB 3.1 spec specifies that the termination resistor that advertises the maximum available current should be set at 22K which advertises 1.5A of current. Benson Leung has a series of excellent reviews of Type C cables. Benson works for Google's Pixel group and has pointed out that many type-C cables violate the USB 3.1 specification that states that the termination resistor that advertises the maximum available current has been set incorrectly at 10K which advertises 3A of current rather than the correct value of 22K which advertises 1.5A of current. The "bug" in non-compliant cables can be used as a feature of allowing rapid charging for Nexus 6p. The phone does not draw more than 2.5A so it does not damage the phone. The non-compliant cable could be harmful to devices that are not limited to 2.5A such as the ones that Benson evaluated in his reviews.



Nexus 6p, charge level 46-51% keeping all other variables the same (at this level Nexus 6p uses rapid charging if possible)



* Using Tenswall USB 3.1 non-compliant cable

Android port_.._.._.._.._.._.._ 2430 mA (excellent)

iPhone port_.._.._.._.._.._..__ 2320 mA (excellent)

iPad port_.._.._.._.._.._.._.._ 2330 mA (excellent)

Samsung port_.._.._.._.._.._.._ 2310 mA (excellent)



* Using PECHAM USB 3.1 compliant cable

Android port_.._.._.._.._.._.._ 800 mA (bad)

iPhone port_.._.._.._.._.._..__ 1280 mA (ok)

iPad port_.._.._.._.._.._.._.._ 1330 mA (ok)

Samsung port_.._.._.._.._.._.._ 1320 mA (ok)



With a rapid charging non-compliant cable Nexus 6p is getting rapid charging on every port. With a compliant 3.1 USB cable I am not getting rapid charging, but it performs reasonably on every port but the port labeled "Android".



I received this car charger for evaluation and review. Getting a free product to review does not effect what I say. My review and opinions are purely my own based on testing and my experience with many different car chargers.



You can find UEB Car Charger on Amazon via this link.



AshopZones review ★★★★☆

Product review: Crustina 14" x 16" Pizza Stone Baking Stone (rectangular)

The pizza I cooked on the stone had a nice crispy crust. It tasted better than the pizzas I made on the metal sheet. The pizza you see in the video is 16", this the maximum size of the pizza that fits on the stone. We did not finish this pizza on the first day, and I reheated the pizza the next day using the stone, and again it was nice and crisp, as good as the first day.



Pizza stones are not made out of stone. They are made out of ceramic. These unglazed ceramic tiles absorb moisture and make the dough that rests of them crispier. Ceramic tiles are not good heat conductors and this is why the food is less likely to burn when using a baking stone compared to using metal or glass bakeware.



The down side of the ceramic tiles is that they are fragile. As I found first hand because my baking stone did not survive shipping in one piece. It was broken in two pieces as I opened the box. Replacement stone was in one piece. The benefit of having a broken stone is that I am able to include a photo of the cross section of the stone so everything can see exactly how it is made.



To prevent fracturing of the stone by thermal shock I place the stone in a cold oven and heat it over at least 30 min, 45 minutes is even better. The stone gets very hot, I use a cookie sheet without a lip to slide the pizza onto the stone. To prevent items from sticking to the stone and to make cleaning easier I sprinkle corn starch on the stone. Corn starch works better than flour because it does not turn into paste when wet. When the pizza is done, I slide off the stone onto the cookie sheet, and let the stone to cool down slowly inside the oven.



When I can I clean the stone I use a dry brush and plain water. I do not use detergent because it gets absorbed by the stone.



I received this pizza stone for testing and review as part of a new product introduction.



You can locate Crustina Pizza Stone on Amazon by following this link.



AshopZones review ★★★★★