Product review: BlueDriver - Bluetooth OBDII Scan Tool

I give 5 stars to the hardware and 2 stars to the BlueDriver app. Luckily, there is an excellent free app called Torque that works very well so I am only deducting 1 star from the rating because there is another option to replace the app that comes with BlueDriver. In attached video I show both apps, including Torque running while the car is being driven.



The Bluedriver app even though it initially connected constantly lost connectivity so I could never get past the first screen. I have spent quite a bit of time on testing it on two different cars (Honda CRV and Chrysler 300C) and never got past that first screen. Torque app, however, connected instantly and had a lot of information about the car as you see in the video.



The scanner is simple to install and simple to use. A lot simpler than I expected, frankly. All cars and light trucks built and sold in the United States after January 1, 1996 were required to be OBD II equipped. Once I looked up what the OBD-II connector looked like it was easy to locate it. The connector is very distinctive looking, I am including a picture of it in my video for reference. In my car the connector was located under my dash, slightly to the right of the steering wheel.



The OBD II scanner is fairly small: 1.75" wide, 1.74" tall, and 0.875" wide.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★☆

Product review: Chafon Cf-UPS008 Portable Backup Power UPS

Charon UPS documentation claims a very impressive performance. To verify the numbers I started by testing Chafon performance with my laptop to see if it comes close to the documented performance.



Chafron documentation states that they expect a 13" laptop to run for 6 hours. I took out the battery from my laptop, set the power options to never go into sleep mode and not to shut down the screen and measured how long it can run after I charged Charon UPS to its full capacity. The laptop ran from 5:50 pm to 12:25 am, for a total of 6 hours 35 minutes. For the last 5 minutes the battery level was shown as 0% and blinking, so I had a warning that it was about to run out of juice. This is the best case power usage scenario as I was not running any programs on the laptop other than the idle mode of the operating system. If the computer was doing some more intense work the power consumption would be higher and the battery would last less time. Never the less my test confirmed the numbers stated in the documentation and this backup battery has an impressive performance.



Once I exhausted the battery in my laptop experiment, I timed how long it took to fully recharge the Chafon battery.



8:20am start - 3% full

9:30am - 56% full

12:30pm - 88% full

1:00pm - 100% full



It took 3 hour and 40 minutes to fully recharge the battery.



I like how Chafon clearly identifies how long the battery will last. They state that it produces 288 WH, which means it can produce 288 watts per hour. To find out how long any devices will run on this battery you have to divide 288 watts by the amount of power a device draws. A watt is current multiplied by voltage. For example, if I measure my USB fan with a current monitor I get 0.40A and 5.05V which is 2.02 watts. This means this fan should run for approximately 144 hours (6 days) before this battery is exhausted.



The unique feature of Chafon UPS its portability. The Chafon box comes in a case with a handle, it weights 7 pounds and 1.2 oz, and its size is 11"L x 4.25"WS x 5.25"H.



Chafon has both AC and USB port. I found many uses for this large portable battery from using it as a back up when the power goes out at home to re-charging my Ghost drone (its battery requires an AC plug so my other battery chargers could not do it).



It lives up to the numbers they promise.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.







AshopZones review ★★★★★

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 ★★★★★