Product review: VonHaus ABS 3-piece Small, Medium & Large Luggage Sets

This luggage is built like a tank. It is made out of hard plastic. This is my first set of hard shell luggage. It is beautiful, offers great protection for the content, but what I did not realize that these bags are quite heavy even when they are empty (see weight for each below). However when I roll the bags the rolling is smooth and effortless. Each suitcase has four wheels and all wheels have 360 degrees of freedom. This means they can be rolled upright and sideways so they would fit into narrow spaces like airplane isles as well as pulled by their handled when there is room to move around. The telescoping handle operates smoothly and locks in various positions. For each of the four bags the maximum height of the handle is 42". The handles are ergonomically shaped and don't dig into my hand. The zippers work well and have large pulls so they are easy to grab.



You can pack items in both halves of the hard shell. Items on one side are held in by the elastic gators, items on the other side are held in by the divider which is also a pocket.



I like that for storage the suitcases fit into each other like nesting dolls



One other nice thing is that they have built-in combination locks. Note they NOT TSA approved locks, if you want TSA locks you can find them in the premier version of this luggage VonHaus 3 Piece Extra Strong ABS TSA Luggage Set

Here is how to change the lock combination:

1) Open the lock (the original combination is 0-0-0)

2) Push and hold the main locking button away from the combo lock toward the edge

3) Turn the numbered disks to your desired combination

4) Release the main locking button

The lock combination can be changed again by repeating these steps



Large bag

External size 29.7" x 21" x 11.9"

Internal size 27" x 19" x 11"

Weight 9 pounds 7.5 oz

Length of the handle at max height 42"



Medium bag

External size 26.2" x 17.7" x 10.3"

Internal size 23.5" x 16" x 9"

Weight 7 pounds 19 oz

Length of the handle at max height 42"



Small bag

External size 21.3" x 14.1" x 8.3"

Internal size 18" x 12.5" x 7"

Weight 5 lb 10.5 oz

Length of the handle at max height 42"



If you have questions on something I did not cover post a comment and I'll do my best to answer it.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: iHomeSet Party Mooncake Mold

These are good looking cookie cutter molds. You get total of 12 designs, each cookie cutter has three molds.

Each cookie cutter is 6" tall and to stamp out a design you need to press the plunger. The designs are varied and intricate.



✅ The big round one is 2.5" across

✅ The small round one is 1.75" across

✅ The big square one is 2.25"

✅ The small square one is 1.5"



In attached video you can see how well they worked with sugar cookies.



The hardest part of using the mold is getting the cookie out of the mold cleanly so the beautiful design has nice clean edges.



1. I start by oiling the mold, making sure that every detail of the design is oiled. The press with a paper towel to wipe out excess oil and dust lightly with flour. I only oil once, but dust mold with flower before each cookie press.



2. For think cookies I roll the dough out with a rolling pin, for thicker cookies I use flattened ball of dough. In both cases I lightly dust the top of the dough that will face the mold cavity.I press the mold into the dough lightly, but firmly. Then I immediately remove the mold. The plunger on the mold really helps to push the dough out of the mold.



If the dough sticks to the mold it means it is a bit too wet, I either give it a bit of time to dry out or add more more flour.



I am pleased with these cookie molds, they produces beautiful designs, they were easy to use and they were easy to clean in the dishwasher.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.







AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: Apexel 2 in 1 Clip-on 180 Degree Fisheye Lens + 20x Macro Lens

Left without the lens, right with the macro lens

With fisheye lens

This lens fits any phone as long as it is possible to position the clip over the camera lens. In order to fit the distance between the center of the phone camera lens and the shorter edge of the phone should be less 30mm (1.18"). If the camera lens is lower them it is also possible to mount the lens from the long edge pf the phone as long the distance between the camera photo lens and the phone edge is less than 30 mm.



The kit contains two lenses a macro lens (which is good for taking close up photos of small objects) and a fisheye lens (good for super wide angle). The lenses in this kit hold on to the camera by a compression clip. I have another lens kit which attaches by tightening a brass screw and that mechanism stays on the phone better without moving. With a compression clip you need to be a lot more careful not to push the lens of the camera lens.



I am attaching  photos taken with the lenses in this kit. The fisheye is easier to use as it is easier to take sharp pictures without a lot of adjustments. 20X macro requires quite a bit of work to get crisp photos. Macro photography is difficult to focus even in 35 mm photography, holding the phone steady is even more difficult. The focus area is very shallow and very small, so it takes a lot of patience to get sharp photos. However, even when the photos were not shart I got many visually pleasing abstract color shots. I thought some of them will make beautiful backgrounds, so there is a way to turn mistakes into something useful.



These lenses definitely push my phone's capability beyond of what it was capable of before. I enjoy photography so this made my phone photos much more fun.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★☆

Product review: ZeroEdge Qi Wireless Car Charger Car mount, Windshield/Dashboard and Air Vent Mount Holders

This type of charger has become my husband's favorite charger. It is identical to the Lerway Qi charger that he has been using for over a year. In fact, he loves the style of this charger so much that he decided not to buy Nexus 6 because it did not work well in this charger (Nexus 6 is too long to form a good connection with the coils of the Qi charger). We use this charger mounted on the vent because it puts it into a very convenient position for controlling and seeing the GPS app. The fact that it is a Qi charger make it easy to remove and place the phone without stressing its micro USB connector.



The charger chargers very well. We used Nexus 5 to navigate on a 35 minutes trip using Google maps. The Qi charger was able to keep up with the power consumption of the app and it charged the phone up by 2%. Not all wired chargers are not able to do this, so this performance is pretty impressive.



This car charger can be used for Qi wireless charging as well as wired charging. If your mobile device supports Qi charging the attached charging cable is attached to the cradle, if your mobile device does not support Qi charging then the cable can be plugged in directly into the mobile device. The mount can be either mounted on the windshield, the car vent, or on the dashboard (using provided plate that is glued to the dashboard).



The suction mount works well too. I tried the suction mount on the windshield and the hold is very strong. The mount's jaws open smoothly with one button push.



In attached video I show how the holder mounts in the car vent.



Performance tests:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I use the current monitor and a 10 minute charging to test to test all my chargers, these tests give me two data points to compare different chargers to each.



10 minute charging test: 7% up charge (this is excellent compared with the other wireless chargers measured with the same phone at the same charge level)

Current monitor: 1.34A/5.10V (also excellent, and very similar to Lerway Qi Charger)

Charging at AC rate



Size info:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside jaws open 3.75"

Inside pad is 4" tall, open on top

Car mount neck is 5"

Charging cord is 58"



We like just everything about this charger! It chargers well and the vent mount is very convenient.



What could be better? This phone charger does not work well with large phones like Nexus 6 so it would be better if the holder had adjustable arms on all 4 sides.



My husband loves this charger so much that it is now a check off point for every new phone - the phone has to work with this car charger.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.







AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: Duxtop Whole-Clad Tri-Ply Stainless Steel Induction Ready Premium Cookware

We recently got an induction cookware top and most of our cookware had copper bottoms and did not work. I have done some investigation on what makes good induction cookware and found two major points: multi layer construction and riveted (rather hand welded) handles. Multi layer construction is important for spreading the heat and avoiding hot spots. Three layers is a minimum level that works well, some higher end cookware offers 5 and more layers at a higher price.



Duxtop has 3 layer construction and riveted handles.



The cookware has a nice heavy feel and the shape of the handles is very comfortable because of the rounded grip. My old pots have Bakelite handles so they don't get hot. Duxtop cookware has metal handles and they can get hot if I am cooking for a long time. I have to remember to check and see if I need to use a pot holder.



The set includes



1. 2 frying pans (8" and 10"), the larger one has a lid

2. 1 sauté pan (3 quart) with a lid

3. 2 sauce pans (1.6 qt and 3 quart) both with lids

4. 1 stockpot (8 quart) with a lid

5. Steamer insert that fits both the 1 quart sauce pan and 8 quart stockpot

6. Two pot Bakelite holder stands



As I side note I want to mention that the 8 quart pot works well with my Polder Strainer (9.5 inch diameter by 8 inch height), which I use to cook pasta.



This cookware works on induction cooktops, gas stoves, electric stoves as well as halogen stoves so it would fit into any kitchen.



Overall, I am very pleased it looks good and works well.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: AmorTek Original Car Dash Cam

When this dash cam works and the video file is saved successfully and can be displayed the quality of the video is quite good. However I ran into a number of technical issues which detract from what could have been a nice dash cam.



The first unit I received could not advance past the "welcome" page. The return and replacement was easy as anything on Amazon.

The second unit records without problems, however many of the files on the micro sd are not viewable. The error reads "The format of xxx.mov cannot be detected." This is a serious problem because unlike many cameras that save small files often this camera saves large files, so if something goes wrong when it saves the entire recording sessions is lost.



By trial and error I determined the video files are not saved correctly related to how the dash cam is stopped. It appears that if I disconnect USB power and let it run for a few minutes on internal battery until it runs out of juice it saves the file the file is saved fine and they can be played back. However if I stop recording by just turning off ignition in the car (which is what I have always done with the other dash cams) the file is not saved properly and is corrupted. I also was not able to read the file when I used on/off button to turn off the unit itself prior to turning off ignition.



On the positive side:



✔ Video quality of the dash cam is quite good as you can see in attached video.

✔ This camera has an excellent suction cup mount, stayed on even on rough roads.

✔ The dash cam uses standard micro USB cables.

✔ The cam has an LED display so I can tell that the cam is aimed correctly. The display flashes a bit as you drive, I have not seen this with the older dash cams we own.

✔ Recording starts as soon as it gets power so you don't have to remember to turn it on.



The AmorTek package includes the camera, two mini USB cables, and cigarette lighter USB adapter.



The user interface is straightforward and even though the manual does not contain details for each button and each option, it contains a picture where each button's function is labelled. I found the manual sufficient to configure my video cam. All defaults are reasonable.



Overall, this dash cam has good potential but appears to be an early version which still has some technical issues to iron out especially with reliable saving of files.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★☆☆

Product review: Kmashi MP828 20000mAh Lightning Fast Charging Dual USB External Battery Backup Pack

This is a review for Kmashi MP828 20000mAh Lightning Fast Charging Dual USB 2Amp Input External Battery Backup Pack Power Bank. This seller has a history of re-using the same ASIN number for multiple products, which means the reviews for the old and the new external packs are mixed together and the buyer has to figure out on their own if the review is relevant or not. I got this battery on July 5, so at least as of July 5th this listing was for the 20000 mAh external pack and not the previous product.



♦ size: 6.25" x 2.25" x 1.25"

♦ weight: 14/6 oz

♦ number of ports: 2

♦ flashlight: no

♦ pass through charging: no (i.e. the battery can charge while being charged itself)

♦ cables: 1 charging cable and 1 AC cable



The external battery performed very well charging both my Android and Apple devices. The test results showed it to be at the top of ratings for both devices on both ports.



To see how well different chargers and external batteries charge my mobile devices I use a Nexus phone and an iPadMini to test each of them. The current drawn from the battery depends on each device using the battery. The port rated with maximum capacity of 2A does not always deliver 2A, what is actually delivered is controlled by the device based on many factors such running apps, level of charge, and so forth. I always use the same two devices and I do my tests with the devices charged to the same level, running the same applications and using the same cables to keep everything the same. This allows me to do a relative comparison of each battery and identify the ones that do not perform well. Note that these tests are not testing for the maximum current each device can draw on each port as neither of my devices can max out the port.



I also tested to see if the battery supports pass-through charging (i.e. whether the battery can charge mobile devices while it is being charged). This battery does NOT supports charge through charging. It can not charge while being charged.



Finally, I check if the cable that came with the battery is a charging cable (i.e. capable of charging at full AC rate) or a data cable (charging the battery at USB rate). This is easy to tell using the current monitor, and this package includes a charging cable.



Samsung Nexus phone:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

port 1: 1.02A/5.06V (excellent comparing the performance of the same device with other chargers)

port 2: 1.00A/5.06V (excellent comparing the performance of the same device with other chargers)

(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this phone is 1.00A/5V)



As noted above these tests are not designed to test the maximum capacity of the port, so 2A port not showing 2A is not an indication of a problem



iPad Mini tablet:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

port 1: 1.31A / 5.08V (average for 1A port for the same device with other chargers)

port 2: 1.40A / 5.10V (good comparing the performance of the same device with other chargers)

(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this tablet is 1.70A/5V)



The battery has a nice capacity and fast charging rate both both Android and Apple devices. I have been using this battery pack for the past two weeks and have been pleased with it. During a 3 day heat wave I used it to power a USB powered fan and got three days on one charge.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★★