Product review: Orea Adjustable Nd Polarizer Hd CPL Telephoto Wide Angle Macro Phone Lens 4 in 1

This lens kit exceeded my expectations. I already have a camera lens kit with fisheye and zoom lenses for my phone so I expected something similar but wanted ti add a wide angle lens and a few filters to my collection. But these are better lenses than my previous kit. In addition the kit includes two holders (one screws down, one just clips on). I like the screw down mechanism better because it moves around less, however what I like most is having two holders. This allows me to quickly switch between the two lenses without having to unscrew them from the holder.



I am attaching a slide show of the photos taken with the lenses in this kit. To show what each lens does I show a picture taken with a camera without a lens and then next to it the picture taken with one of the lenses for comparison. The kit also includes two filters - a polarize filter and a variable density neutral filter. Polarizer is good for cutting down glare. Variable filter is really neat for capturing moving water (like waterfalls).



Taking photos with my phone is more fun with the filters. They are fairly large relatively speaking, so they do add a bit of extra gear to carry around.



I received this lens kit for testing and review. I like them! I hope side by side photos with and without the lenses help you see how they work.



You can find the lens kit on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: FLEXIMOUNTS 4'x4' or2'x8' Ceiling Storage Rack

This mount is meant for plywood or concrete ceilings. It is not designed for a joist ceiling which is common in a typical American house. The Fleximount storage can be mounted two ways as a 4" x 4" square, or as 2" x 8" long storage. The problem with the Fleximount is that it does not offer any flexibility on how far apart the supports can be mounted on the ceiling, they have to located exactly at ends of the metal shelf - either 2" or 4" apart. Neither matches the geometry of the joists. For comparison, in a system like HyLoft ceiling storage the ceiling supports do not attach directly to the metal grid shelve, instead they attach to the support cross bars which hold the shelf. This means the ceiling supports can be positioned as needed to match the joist, and the grid shelve rests on the cross bars.



I could not mount Fleximount storage system as it was designed. I was able to mount Fleximout storage after purchasing additional bars and hardware at HomeDepot at an additional cost of $40 dollars. In attached photos you can see what the final results look like. I was able to reuse the Fleximount's vertical support bars by mounting them on the joists and then attached them to the cross bars I purchased. Once the supports were installed I put the shelving on top of the support bars and secured the shelves to the support bars with a large number of cable ties.



The shelves and the brackets are well built, but to make it work in a typical American house construction took some thinking to figure out how to make it work and extra purchases.



I was provided Fleximount storage for testing and review. This is well made system but aimed at plywood or concrete ceilings. If you are looking to a system to attach to joist I recommend Hyloft storage instead.



YOu can locate FLEXIMOUNTS ceiling storage on Amazon by following this link.





AshopZones review ★★★☆☆

Product review: Ausland Women's Casual Fox Fur Short Snow Boots 9251

These boot look adorable. They look like they would be warm. However, they have no zipper or any other closure and I was not able to get them past my ankle. I do not wide feet and this is not something that commonly happens to me. I normally wear size 7.5 and got 8.5 boots (because there was no size 8 which I normally get for boots so I can fit in a thick sock).



I waited a couple of weeks to write this review until we drove to visit my mother who wear size 6 shoes. She also was not able to pull them past her ankle. She also has what I would describe as an average width foot.



So based on my experience these boots are for ladies with extremely slender ankles. I received these boots for testing the size and fit for American market. I hope my review helps someone from the frustration I had looking at the cute boots I could get past my toes.



You find Ausland Women's Boots on Amazon via this link.



AshopZones review ★★☆☆☆

Product review: Electric Meat Grinder & Sausage Stuffer by STX INTERNATIONAL

This is my first electric meat grinder and I was not sure what to expect. First, it is reasonably sized for household appliance it is 16" long, 9.5" tall, and 6.25" wide. Second, it works! It grounded 2 pounds of cubed meat in 5 minutes using the low setting. Third, it is loud. It was louder than I expected, if there is anything slightly negative I can say it would be the level of noise. What you see in the attached video is the grinder working on low speed and processing 2 pounds of lamb (clips are from the beginning, the middle, and the end of the 5 minute job). Fourth, the clean up is not bad. I was impressed by how little of the meat was left in the grinder, and washing it with soap and water immediately after the grinding was easy.



Overall, I am quite pleased. Using the grinder did not make much extra time to set up or clean, I was able to use better cuts of meat, and there is less worry about contamination that happens with the store-bought ground meat.



I received a unit to evaluation and testing and request for a video review so potential buyers can see the unit in action. My video includes the assembly steps. The manual skipped one important step about the use of the fasten knob, so I hope this will save someone time. Getting a free unit does not influence what I say, I covered the pluses and minus of my experience.



You can find STX-4000-TB2 Meat Grinder on Amazon via this link.





AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: Z-Edge Universal 2 in 1 Phone Holder Kit Air Vent/ Windshield Car Mount

This listing includes two different mounts - you get both two different mounts and two phone holders. My favorite of the two mounts is the vent mount. I like using vent mount for the phone when we use it for navigation. It puts the screen in a very convenient location for viewing the map while at the same time it is not obscuring any of the windshield. I also like the phone in that position because it is easier to reach to mount and remove the phone.



Both mounts have the same geometry of phone holder. The jaws of the mount open as wide as 3.5". It fits Nexus 6p phone which is on the large side. The holder holds the phone securely. It is attached to a vent by spring mounted connection. Spring mounted connection is better than the compression mechanism used in other designs of vent mounts because the hold is more secure. The jaws of the holder open from 1.75" to 3.5". The jaws are 2" on the side with the middle section that is open. In some phones it might be possible to position the jaws right in the center of the phone in a way that it does not press on any buttons. On Nexus 6p the jaws have to hold the phone off center to avoid pressing buttons. The depth of the jaws is 1".



The back of the mount has a button that releases the jaws to their maximum length so all I have to do is press them close with the phone between the jaws to mount it. I prefer this method to spring type jaws. This button makes it easy to remove or mount the phone and there is less chance of dropping the phone (which I have done with spring mounted jaws on a number of occasions). In addition this mount has a lock, so you can lock the jaws in place for extra insurance.



When you mount the phone on the vent the phone blocks some of the fresh air from the vent. I like flowing air in my face when I drive, so I prefer mounting the holder on the passenger's side vent. My husband does not like air in his face, so he mounts it on the driver's vent. He like that the vent mounted phone blocks the air from blowing into his face but cools the phone instead.



The package also includes a window mount - the jaws are identical for both mounts, so everything I said about the jaws above applies to both mounts. The mechanism that holds the jaws to the window mount was slightly lose and I had to use a screw driver to tighten it. The vent mount has a different mechanism for attaching the jaws to the mount and can be hand tightened by turning a ring. Being able to hand tighten is a better design.



This vent mount was provided to me by FIGERM for testing and review. I tried to cover all pluses and minuses of this phone mount. If you have questions I have not covered leave a comment and I will do my best to answer it.



You can locate this Z-Edge phone mount by following this link to Amazon.



AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: USB 3.1 Type C to Type A 3.3ft Sync & Charging Cable by Amagoing

My review is for Amagoing Type C to Type A charging cable. I am using this cable with Nexus 6p.



I have been following Benson Leung reviews of Type C cables since November 2015 when I purchased Nexus 6p. Benson 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, the correct value should be 22K which advertises 1.5A of current. Benson works in Chromebook Pixel group and these cables are not safe to use with Pixel.



However, Nexus 6p is self-limiting and does not draw more than 3A of current. In addition many Type A USB chargers are rated at 2.5A and some as high as 3A which are safe to use with this cable. So the "bug" in the non-compliant cables (the bug being that they do not follow the spec) allows me to draw a higher (yet safe) charge for Nexus 6p.



My tests show that this Amagoing Type C to Type A cable is one of these non-compliant cables. Which means it can provides fast charging for Nexus 6p, where as spec compliant cable does not.



Below are results of the tests with compliant and non-compliant cables.



Nexus 6p at with the battery at 17% and 32%. At this level the phone uses rapid charging if it can.

1) Amagoing Type non-compliant cable draws 2620 mA - 2690mA (Using Qualcomm 2.0 charger)

2) By comparison a compliant cable (I am using a Tenswall cable) delivers a maximum 1500A.



I received this cable from Amagoing for testing and review. Bottom line: this cable is NOT USB 3.1 compliant and behaves differently from a USB 3.1 compliant cable provided by Google when I compare their operation at the battery level which performs "rapid charging" if possible. I now seek out these non-compliant cables to get rapid charging especially from my car charger when I use Nexus 6p for navigation. I am not saying that it's safe for all combinations of devices, laptops like the Chromebook Pixel and the Apple Macbook draw more current than a phone, and there may be badly made chargers that lack current limiting and might burn themselves out. However with a quality charger that's rated for 2.5A this cable will provide rapid charging where as a USB 3.1 compliant cable does not.



You can locate this USB 3.1 Type C to Type A on Amazon by following this link



AshopZones review ★★★★★

Product review: Santoku Knife 7" by Zelite Infinity

This is a terrific knife. This a general purpose knife for dicing, slicing and mincing. The name translates from Japanese to mean "well-balanced" and is designed with the weights of the blade and the handle to be equally balanced. This balance in combination with the rounded design of the handle makes cutting and dicing with quick and easy. It is very sharp, everything I cut feels as easy as cutting soft butter.



The Santoku has a limited "rocking" travel in comparison to a Western-style chef's knife. When the blade rests on the cutting plane there is very little clearance above the cutting plane from heel to the tip. The Santoku design is shorter, lighter, thinner, and more hardened (to compensate for thinness) than a traditional Western chef's knife.



The "scalloped" sides that give this knife its unique look create small air pockets between the blade and the material being sliced and reduce cutting friction. The higher quality of Japanese knives use laminated steel which has a beautiful pattern. This knife has this laminated finish. The use of laminated steel improves the strength and rust resistance of the blade (and it looks beautiful).



It can be washed in a dishwasher, but I prefer to wash it by hand so it will last longer and there's no risk of them cutting the plastic coating on the appliance racks.



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



You can find this "Santoku Knife" on Amazon by following this link





AshopZones review ★★★★★