Review: Fnova 35oz Insulated Vacuum Flask

Product Link: Fnova 35oz Insulated Vacuum Flask
Vendor: Fnova
Price: $21.99

So when people think of buying a vacuum insulated flask, one of the more well-known brands that we've heard of is Hydro Flask.  But the cost of the hydro flask is about double the price of this Fnova 35oz flask.  So is the Fnova a good substitute against the Hydro?

Pros:

• Cheap cost
• Multi top options

Cons: 

• Difficult to clean due to narrow mouth opening
• Weak carabineer

Package Includes:

• Fnova 35Oz Insulated Vacuum Flask
• Sports Cap
• Bamboo Cap
• Carabineer cap

The Fnova flask arrived in a big brown box.  Only the top of the box has the item name printed on it.  Since they sell the flask in two sizes (21oz and 35oz), it's interesting they didn't write that info on the box.  When you flip the top of the box open, you'll notice the inside front side cover had a quick Thank You and request for review on it.  Although, Fnova never said if you are suppose to post a review or just simply email them if you have problems / improvement suggestions.

Usually when water bottles gets larger than 30oz, it starts becoming wider instead of taller.  So I was a bit surprised that Fnova chose a tall rather than a fat design.  I'm liking it though because it allows me to hold it a bit more easily with my hands and will insure it fits in most cup holders in the car.  The flask has a narrow mouth opening which is pretty normal for these style of bottle.  But, I wished they had follow in Hydro Flask's footsteps and used a wide mouth opening.  This makes it much easier to clean (you're not limited to the type of cleaning brushes you can use) and also allows you to fit bigger pieces of ice.  Now the Fnova has a bit of a heft to it without the ice/water placed inside it.  I guess this is the result of the material they used to make it a double wall vacuum insulated flask.

The biggest plus of Fnova Flask is the three top options they included.  This beats out the Hydro flask since Hydro charges around $10 if you want to purchase different tops.  But even though this was a plus, I had my doubts.  I had done my research prior to the arrival of this flask and noticed that there were negative complaints about damaged tops on arrival or a very bad straw lid.  I've also seen a video review where the metal band on the bamboo cap fell off.  Well I'm happy to report that I did not see any of these issues.  I think Fnova had paid attention to all the negative complaints from previous users and took the initiative to resolve these issues.  The sports cap no longer needs a straw (I hate them because cleaning the straws is difficult).  The metal band on the bamboo cap was pretty sturdy.  I tugged on it and couldn't separate the band from the cap.  Now the only thing I have to complain about is the carabineer cap.  Having a carabineer with it is great! (I wished they made all the tops be compatible with a carabineer)  BUT why did Fnova provide such a weak and flimsy carabineer.  I strongly doubt that it'll hold up to the weight of the flask filled with ice & water.  I'm not even going to humor testing it!  I straight out switched to a stronger carabineer.

But aside from having a nice form factor and including all the tops, does this flask work as advertised?  And I'll say it does.  After the usual cleaning before initial use of any bottles, I filled mine with ice and water and carried it with me to work.  I left the house around 7:30AM and throughout the day I took occasional drinks from the bottle.  By the time I left work around 5:30PM, the water was still cold.  I did notice there were still some ice in there but it was partially melted. 

So I do like this Fnova Hydro flask a lot.  I'm permanently leaving it at work with a goal of finishing at least an entire bottle of water every day.  Trying to carry it with me from my commute to and from would just be too heavy for me.  I'm also using the sports cap rather than all the other options.  It just makes more sense since twisting open/close the other two tops would be a waste of time versus flipping the top off the sports cap.  Aside from my negative points, I think its important that Fnova packages the tops separately for sale.  Just in case us users do break them by accident.

Product Link: Fnova 35oz Insulated Vacuum Flask
Vendor: Fnova
Price: $21.99

Disclosure: I received this Fnova 35oz Vacuum Insulated Flask for testing purposes.  I'm not obligated to write positive reviews so my opinions are based on actual usage of the product. 

Review: Hiluckey W-King S7 Bluetooth Speaker

Product Link: Hiluckey W-King S7 Bluetooth Speaker
Vendor: Hiluckey US
Price: $19.69

So I've been in search of a good bluetooth speaker to use in the room to listen to light music while reading a book.  I stumble across the W-King S7 Speaker and thought it fit my need well.

Pros:

• Multiple ways to access music (BT, TF/Micro-SD Card and FM Radio)
• Battery life
• Really well professionally looking package

Cons:

• Music starts to break at the highest volume

Package Includes:

• W-King S7 Bluetooth Speaker
• USB to Micro-USB Cable
• Aux Audio Cable
• Instructions

This isn't my first off-brand bluetooth speaker so I was expecting the regular brown box speaker.  Well opening the shipping box, I was really surprised to see this well packaged W-King S7 bluetooth speaker.  I'm a very visual person, so the packaging really appealed to me and if I had been at a store and saw this and the price, I would have picked it up to read the specs.  It comes in this hard yellow case with the middle being clear front so you can see clearly the bluetooth speaker.  The back had the specifications of the speaker.  Pull the hook on the top and just pull the entire package out.  Apply a little force and pull the speaker out.  To get to the accessories it's in the yellow bar at the bottom.  That's a small box that held the two cables and manual. 

The speaker is a little less than 4in square form factor built very ruggedly and weights heavy.  The speaker grille in the middle was pretty tough too.  I think if I dropped this, I wouldn't have to worry about the speaker breaking.  You can stand the speaker up or lay it down.  The strap was already attached and it looks to be de-tachable if you use a screw driver.  The strap is pretty thick and very strong too.

First thing I did was full charge the bluetooth speaker.  This took about 2 hours, definitely one of the longer charging time I've encountered.  Although I did charge it using a 850mA wall adapter.  In terms of battery life, I use this for the past week on a daily basis and have gotten about 9 hours out of it before having to recharge.  I didn't turn the bluetooth speaker on to super high though (about 25% of volume).  I did notice that around the 8th hour, it did signal low battery.  I ignore it to see how far I can get with the battery.  Pretty satisfied with the battery life.

Pairing was easy but did take slightly longer for it to be detected and picked up.  I'm not talking minutes per se but compared to other bt devices I've paired before I noticed it too at least an extra 10 seconds.  Good thing you shouldn't need to be pairing that often. 

There is an LED indicator on the front, flashing blue means the speaker is searching and waiting to connect to a device.  Steady blue means its connected and in bluetooth mode.  It switches to steady green if you are using the Aux Cable, microsd card, or FM radio.  Flashing green means low battery so if you are near a power source start charging.  steady red is the charging status.

With this 3W speaker sound only comes out one side, (the side with W-King) and the other side had no sound.  The bass was thumping and holding the W7 you can feel the vibration too.  I did notice that at the highest volume from both my BT device and the S7, the sound started breaking.  I think depending on what you are listening to it may distort.  But since I'm using it for soft rock and not on the highest volume, this did not disturb me at all.

The W7 has multiple connection functions besides bluetooth.  It supports NFC which I didn't test at all.  The Aux Audio cable function I tested briefly just to make sure it works (which it does).  But I really have no plan to use this function.  Similarly I tested the microsd card functionality.  Keep in mind that even though product description and manual both refer to it as TF card, the microsd card will work too.  I only tested a 8GB microsd card slot and it played my mp3 music files fine.

The last function to test is FM radio, it works but could use some improvement.  First, there should be separate buttons to scan forward/backward for a station.  When I long press the play button to scan channels, on occasion it over scans by two stations. There's no way for me to go back (or at least I haven't figure out how) and so now have to go through all the channels to find it (thankfully I didn't skip past the channel I wanted).  Another improvement would be to have multiple "favorites" channel.  Currently, the W7 does remember the last station you were on but if you switch and want to come back later you have to go through the entire progress which is very time consuming. 

Overall, the W7 fulfills its job very well in terms of acting as a bluetooth speaker.  It's nice to have all the extra connection functions but I didn't need them and so even though they have improvement points, it didn't affect me at all.  I would recommend before purchasing understand what you need your bluetooth speaker to do.  

Product Link: Hiluckey W-King S7 Bluetooth Speaker
Vendor: Hiluckey US
Price: $19.69

Disclosure: I received this Hiluckey W-King S7 Bluetooth Speaker for testing purposes.  I'm not obligated to write positive reviews so my opinions are based on actual usage of the product. 

Review: Tailor Sewing Soft Measuring Tape

Product Link: Tailor Sewing Soft Measuring Tape
Price: $6.69

I'm no sewer but have always had at least one of these soft tape in the house.  A while ago my tape broke in half and I never had a chance to replace them.  So I was happy to have found these.  These are much better than the ones that are in hard shell casing or a ruler.  They are more transportable and very lightweight.  You can fold them up (similar to how they came) or you can roll them up (what I like to do). It's also great to use when you are measuring odd shaped product.  For example the circumference of a mug, is easily measured with this tape.

Pros:

• Low cost
• Portable and Flexible

Cons:

• Chemical smell

Package Includes:

• 2 x White w/ Red Font Measuring Tape
• 2 x White w/ Black Font Measuring Tape
• 2 x Blue Measuring Tape
• 2 x Green Measuring Tape
• 2 x Pink Measuring Tape
• 2 x Yellow Measuring Tape 

Upon opening the bag and removing all the tapes, I noticed there was a strong chemical smell.  I got some Clorox wipes and wiped down each tape 3 times.  The smell is still there but faintly.  I would suggest washing it with soap and water and air drying to get the smell out.  If you don't want to wash it you can just leave it out in open air for a couple of days and the smell will go away too.

The width of these tapes are slightly smaller than the normal soft measuring tape.  I would say these are about half an inch wide whereas my old tape was about three-quarter of an inch wide.  The material of this is also a little thinner but it's not paper thin to the point that you can break it easily. I did give a slight tug on both end of a tape to see if it broke apart but it didn't.

Overall, the costs for this pack of 12 tapes is really low.  You can throw them in your bag, in your car etc and it won't take up space.  Since they are cheap you won't even be upset if you left them behind at a hardware or furniture store.

Product Link: Tailor Sewing Soft Measuring Tape
Price: $6.69

Disclosure: I received this Tailor Sewing Measuring Tape for testing purposes.  I'm not obligated to write positive reviews so my opinions are based on actual usage of the product. 

Review: Haus & Garten Titanium Pruning Shear

Product Link: Haus & Garten Titanium Pruning Shear
Vendor: Haus & Garten
Price: $29.90

I have an old pair of dull pruning shears that I've lived with for a while.  I'm ok with it since there's not much pruning I need to do in my garden.

Pros:

• Nice metal construction
• Sharp blade
• Easy to hold

Cons:

• Lack of instructions on the micrometric adjustment

Package Includes:

• Haus & Garten Titanium Pruning Shear
• Adjustment tool

The pruning shear arrived in retail packaging similar to what you may see hanging on display at a hardware store.  The front of the package clear shows what the pruning shear looks like and has small tidbits of information.  Bottom front left shows that this shear is sized for small & medium hands.  Good warning for people with large hands to look for something else.  Back of packaging lists features and maintenance instructions.

Removing the shear from the package you can see the shear is in a locked position.  I don't find it surprising that this has a locking mechanism.  I think most shears on the market has them nowadays.  To unlock took a little force to move the pin which is good.  If you have small kids in the house, won't have to worry about them picking up the shears and hurting themselves.

The grip on this pruning shear was very nice.  The shape of it fits my hand perfectly, I didn't have any of part of my hand hanging off the bottom of the grip.  The spring itself seems to be strong.  Before I cut anything, I tried to mimic the cutting gesture and noticed that I do need to apply a bit of force to close (cut) the shear.  I think if I had to use this for a couple of hours, my hands will feel very tired. 

The blade looks sharp when you open up the shear.  I liked that it opened wide enough to get to thicker branches.  But the actual test was when I use the pruning shear.  Now I don't have large tree branches to cut, I'm mainly using this on my rose bushes which isn't too thick.  I have to say this pair of shear really cut through the branches very well which is a testament of how good the blades are. 

There is an extra function of wire cutting that was built into this shear.  It was very nice and I tested the function but I thought this was an odd thing to add.  Who would think to use a pair of pruning shear to do their wire cutting.

The biggest gripe I had was the adjustment tool.  I love the fact that they provided an adjustment tool.  But there was no explanation and I had no idea what that tool was until I went online to look into it.  Apparently it's a tool to help make micrometric adjustment to the cut of the blade.  I wished Haus & Garten provided a small instruction on what we need to do. 

I like this pair of titanium pruning shear.  It's pretty sharp and works very well.  I do expect that at some point I'll have to sharpen the blades but hopefully not for a couple of years to come.

Product Link: Haus & Garten Titanium Pruning Shear
Vendor: Haus & Garten
Price: $29.90

Disclosure: I received this Haus & Garten Titanium Pruning Shear for testing purposes.  I'm not obligated to write positive reviews so my opinions are based on actual usage of the product. 

Review: Azurec U-Shape Inflatable Neck Pillow

Product Link: Azurec U-Shape Inflatable Neck Pillow
Vendor: MTgalaxy
Price: $12.99
Color Available: Blue, Brown, Green, Red 

The Azurec U-Shape pillow is very similar to the Sea to Summit Ultralight Aeros Pillow Traveller.  While this isn't exactly the same as STS and may skimp on some minor details, the price savings is huge in comparison

Pros:

• Comfortable, soft but firm
• Small size and very easy to carry especially for plane travel

Cons: 

• Deflation valve tough to open when deflated

Package Includes: 

• Azurec U-Shape Inflatable Pillow
• Stuff sack

The Azurec U-Shape Inflatable Neck Pillow arrived as a stuff sack thrown into the shipping box.  Attached to the stuff sack is a Azurec card that tells you there is a warranty to the product.  So even though this says Azurec, on the stuff sack it shows "Naturehike".  

Naturehike is a company that sell hiking, climbing, camping and outdoor sports products.  So it looks like Mtgalaxy purchase the Naturehike product and re-branded it Azurec.  This really doesn't affect anything but might be slightly confusing if you weren't prepared for it.

On the stuff sack is the cord lock that's holding the sack opening close.  Upon moving the cord lock aside and opening up the top, you can see the rolled up blue pillow.  The sack is very similar to the STS except that STS made their sack a similar color as the pillow.  I think Naturehike didn't do that for cost savings benefit.  It is cheaper to mass produce a single color instead of making multiple colors.  I would definitely have preferred if they did matching color sacks though. It just looks better!  There's a strap on the side of the sack that you can attach a rope or carabiner to hang against your backpack.

Opening up the sack bag, the pillow was rolled up tightly inside.  Once unrolled, you can see the Naturehike name on the right side of the pillow whereas STS has it at the top.  The wording from Naturehike uses a lighter color while the STS dark black fonts.  On the back of the pillow is where you'll find the inflate/deflate valve on the upper left hand corner.  
 

  
The valve is a two tier system.  Pull open the first tab and you'll find the inflate hole.  For this pillow, I was able to pull open the inflate valve with little effort.  But I couldn't open the deflate valve and didn't want to force it in fear of ripping the valve apart.

The Azurec valve is a bit different from the STS valve but this was not a deal breaker.  I didn't mind that its not as easy to open as the STS pillow's valve.  For me,  it's still very easy to both inflate and deflate the Azurec pillow.  

I was able to inflate the pillow to firm in five deep breathes.  The good thing was in between blowing into the hole, air did not leak out while I was in between breathes.  The Azurec pillow did not feel as soft as the STS pillow but it does come in close behind and I felt was much better than other inflatable neck pillows.  With neck pillows I like it really firm so it can support my head as it rolls to the side.  With this pillow adjusting firmness to what I need was easy and painless. 

The Azurec did loose some air after about 10 hours.  Since I couldn't measure air, the air loss is just a feeling of it not being as firm.  I'm not saying it totally deflated but rather it wasn't at that super firm level as when I had originally gotten it to be.  I do think its pretty normal for inflatable pillows to lose air after extended use and top up is necessary in most cases.  Thankfully topping up the pillow is pretty  easy.  Just open up the inflate valve and breathe into it again. 

So next thing to test was the ease of deflating the pillow.  I find that pulling on the deflation valve was much easier after the pillow is inflated.  I was able to get it open on the first try without applying much force.  It literally deflated in the space of two seconds. 

To repack the deflated pillow wasn't difficult.  You can either follow the original fold line or fold it in halves, then quarters etc.  I do warn that you should NOT close the deflate valve yet, because there is still a small amount of air in there that will get pushed out when you roll up the pillow.  So wait till you roll it up as much as possible before closing the valve up.

Overall, I love this Azurec pillow and think this is a very good substitution for the STS pillow especially since its at least half the price of the STS version.  I like that the form factor is so small and easy to throw into your bag, purse etc for plane travel.  Inflating and deflating the pillow literally takes less than 30 seconds.  You can take it out and inflate as you are waiting for plane to take off.  And on the reverse you can deflate it as we wait to leave the plane.  

Product Link: Azurec U-Shape Inflatable Neck Pillow
Vendor: MTgalaxy
Price: $12.99
Color Available: Blue, Brown, Green, Red 

Disclosure: I received this Azurec U Shape Inflatable Neck Pillow for testing purposes.  I'm not obligated to write positive reviews so my opinions are based on actual usage of the product.    

Review: Ohuhu Garden Kneeler

Product Link: Ohuhu Garden Kneeler
Vendor: Ohuhu Direct
Price: $32.99

Received my Ohuhu Garden Kneeler / Seat and was really excited to try it out in my small garden. In the past, I typically used a 1-step step stool to sit on but had to constantly bend over which was back breaking pain when done for prolong period.

Pros:

• Easy storage / portable
• Multi purpose (i.e. use as kneeler or chair)

Cons:

• Foam seating could be thicker (i.e. more padded) 

Package Includes:

• Ohuhu Garden Kneeler
• Tool Pouch
• Instruction

So package arrived in a long rectangular brown box with the folded up Garden Kneeler inside. There were no special retail packaging. I guess it makes sense since you cut down on the cost of having to do special boxes. The kneeler came folded in a flimsy thin plastic bag with a one page instruction sheet.

Remove the kneeler from the plastic bag and you have your green kneeler. I guess Ohuhu was trying to keep to the Garden theme by using green (painted?) metal + green foam + green tool bag.

The instructions was a pager with diagrams + written instructions. I had to refer back to it to figure out how to fold the legs up for storage. Otherwise the unfolding was pretty much a no-brainer.

The green tool bag is attached to the handle with velcro. It comes pre-attached to the seat side. If you want to use this as a kneeler, you'll have to remove the tool bag and put it on the opposite handle side. Re-arranging is literally a 30 sec job and easily done.  I know this was considered "free" as part of the package, but I wish they had put a little more thought to it. The tool bag was a bit narrow and I felt not long enough. So the tools will tip over / not everything will fit in it. Also since it's attached by velcro, I thought after a period of time the velcro might come loose.

The Garden Kneeler / Seat unfolded its about 18" tall if you are sitting on it. There is a thick foam pad on each side and sandwich between it, is a thick metal plate. This makes up the seat. You need the foam on both side since you utilize either side based on kneeler or seat usage. The handles on the side is most useful when its' in the kneeling position. When kneeling for prolonged period, it's always tough to get up without falling over. The handles gives you the support you need to push and stand up without falling.  In addition, for extended kneeling periods, I would suggest wearing long pants versus shorts / dress. This will give you extra cushion on top of the foam. I may end up buying some thick fabric and sewing a removable seat cover that can wrap around both sides this will provide extra cushion for sitting/kneeling.

For seating purposes, it definitely does the job and feels pretty sturdy. I did wish the seating area was a big wider so you can sit fully on it. Since this doesn't have a seat back, it's not to be treated like a lounge chair. To fold it back up, you need to push and hold the release rod that's located between the handle and seat on each side. This was not very intuitive, and I had to refer back to the instructions. A little force is needed to be applied to push and hold the rod while you bend the legs.

Overall, I'm really impressed with this product. I've seen this as a "As Seen On TV" product and have been skeptical of it. But having used it now, I would highly recommend it for people who have a garden to work in.


Product Link: Ohuhu Garden Kneeler
Vendor: Ohuhu Direct
Price: $32.99

Disclosure: I received this Ohuhu Garden Kneeler for testing purposes.  I'm not obligated to write positive reviews so my opinions are based on actual usage of the product.