External Battery Review: Lepow ADD - General Accessories

Having previously reviewed the LePow Moonstone, I'm glad to post this very delayed review of the ADD, another in a lineup of great backup power sources from LePow.
I would first like to apologize to our friends at LePow for the very long delay. I suffered a hand injury a few months ago that prevented me from typing effectively until just now. Though I have pictures of the 'accident', they would only be suitable for medical journals, so I'll spare you all the discomfort of having to see what happens when fingers have an unfortunate encounter with a power tool.
The LePow ADD continues in their tradition of environmentally friendly packaging, being shipped in a plain cardboard box which houses a container of... CORK! Yes, cork. Very clever, and very trendy.
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Unpackaging the ADD leaves you with rectangular bodies, the main unit and an expansion pack, along with a gray felt pouch and silicone holder which contained a color-matched USB cable. This unit does not have as many 'tchotchkes' as the Moonstone, which is fine by me. I don't need stickers or any more USB drives, I'd prefer that money go into enhancing quality and features.
I'd first like to say that I much prefer this form factor over the Moonstone, because for a business traveler such as myself, it is far easier to pack in a briefcase or even jacket pocket being flat and squared off. The Moonstone, while highly capable, is shaped in such a way that its rounded edges while very fashionable and exhibiting an excellent aesthetic design sense, make it somewhat less suited for business use.
Usage is fairly straightforward. The expansion pack 'docks' onto the main unit much in the way a Lego is stacked on top of another, and is held into place with a magnet. It's easily removable and a bump or drop will dislodge the expansion pack, but the engineering approach is so clever and the probability that the unit will become dislodged in use is so remote, that I overlook that possibility in favor of appreciating the ease-of-use. I mean, really... who doesn't like magnets? How cool is that???
To activate the ADD-on pack, a twist of the aluminum switch block 90 degrees from the main unit brings two embedded spring-loaded pins into contact, activating the secondary unit when the primary unit has expired. Recharging is likewise accomplished the same way.
There are some very cool features built into LePow units, one of which is the ability to tell when your power source needs a recharge itself. In the case of the ADD, an accelerometer (?) will trigger four LEDs to display with a bit of a shake on the unit. Very subtle, and very classy. A nice touch. I don't like a lot of 'bling' on my equipment, and this fits in very well.
Regretfully I'm not an electronics engineer, so I can't comment on the particulars of efficiency, but here is an illustration of recharging an HTC One M7:
10:30AM – 15% charge on phone
11:30AM – 49% charge
1:00PM – 85% charge
1:45PM – 100% charge
So, roughly 3 hours for a full charge from nearly dead. That might seem a long time compared to a USB or AC charger, but when the chips are down, and you're miles away from a power source, this unit can be a lifesaver. For those of you who are 'preppers', I'd suggest keeping a LePow unit in your bug-out bag. Y'never know...
CONCLUSION:
I think anyone would be very happy with any LePow backup power source. Their products have "all the right stuff"... high capacity cells, overcharge protection, ease of use features and solid build quality. A great value all around. However I'm particularly fond of the ADD for the reason stated above. Go get one!

Related

[Review] Bluetrek Metal bluetooth headset

A few days ago I received the Bluetrek Metal headset. I spent a whole week exploring various available bluetooth headsets and finally decided for the Metal, because it seemed like a very good balance between price / quality.
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Also, I do not like the look of 90% of headsets on the market - they're way too attention grabbing, have big blue lights flashing all over the place and are also unacceptably large.
Metal is nothing like this. I went for the black version and it's as simple looking as you can imagine. A small black bar with an ear-plug on one side and microphone on the other. Design wise, it's a perfect match for Touch HD.
Describing the size and weight of this tiny thing is really hard. You have to hold it in your hand to realize just how thin and light Metal is. Even tough the name "Metal" suggests otherwise, the device is only a few grams in weight. The housing is metallic, most likely aluminium, with a very good matte finish. Overall, Metal feels very solid and durable. There is only 1 small led, placed on the inner side of the device that can lit up blue or red, depending on different operations.
Along with the device, you get a plethora of accessories:
- 6 different silicone ear-buds (3 in ear and 3 with earloop)
- 2 different sized earhoooks
- short USB charging adapter
- 10 cm USB charging adapter (apparently needed for some USB ports, not shown in the photo above)
- belt clip
- car lighter USB charger (although this is listed as optional, it came with mine standard package)
Speaking of charging, Metal has super-cool solution for charging. With a small rubberized adapter, you plug the device itself into the USB charging port. No cables or anything. I find this very nice. The led's on the device in form you when the charging is complete. Initial charge took about 90 minutes from empty to full.
The pairing is idiot-proof. Turn on BT on the phone, turn on the headset, enter '0000' on the phone and that's it. After that, when ever the BT on the phone is turned on it will automatically pair with Metal when it's in range. The signal strength is normal for BT devices. If you don't have too thick walls, you can easily leave the phone in the other room without losing the connection.
Sound quality is okay. Nothing spectacular, probably not as good as the high-end models, but perfectly fine to understand the other person. I talked to my girlfriend over the Metal for a few days, and later asked if she noticed any differences in sound quality. The answer was straight and simple - no. She had no idea I was on a BT headset. So, I can conclude that the microphone does the job good, as well. Of course, Metal does not have noise-cancellation technology, so this is probably not a good choice if you need to make calls in very loud environments. But for normal usage (home, office, car) it's perfectly fine.
Cool thing about Metal is that you can use it without the ear-hooks attached. It may look strange that you can just plug something in your ear, without securing it in any other way, but believe me - it's not a marketing trick. I tried jumping around, waving my head in all directions, head-banging and all sorts of sudden moves - Metal stayed inside my ear firmly. So, this is a big plus for me, since I wanted to keep things as simple as possible.
While I was worried about really small buttons, in practice it didn't turn out to be THAT big of a problem. Yes, they're very, very small. Too small, to be honest. But the main button to start and end a call is slightly bigger and protruded up, so after some practice it should be ok to locate it while the headset is in your ear. Personally, I would prefer if the button size and arrangement was different, but it's usable as it is - barely.
The best thing about this device is that the price has dropped significantly. I ordered mine for 28$ from Sonicelectronix.com, which I consider to be a bargain.
Ooops! This was supposed to go into Accessories forum. Mods, please transfer the topic there

Case + Cradle? Impossible? NOT ANYMORE!

So, you have a shiny new Galaxy S3 and you know that you're prone to dropping it into caves, diving into oceans with it in your pocket, or running it over with your tank, so like any smart individual you opted to buy yourself a super protective case like Otterbox Defender or similar. Problem is now you've just taken out the possibility of placing it in a charging cradle, or some sort of desktop holding device, right? Not Anymore!
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With a few simple and cheap items, you can make yourself one that doesn't look like a 7 year old kid put it together during arts and crafts!
Here's a list of what you'll need, starting from most expensive to possibly free if your boss isn't looking
Logitech MX Revolution Mouse - you only need the charging cradle, but it'll be tough finding just the cradle without this fantastic Wiltron recommended mouse - eBay average pricing at time of posting was about $15-30 dollars for the mouse and cradle. We're going to be removing the guts of the cradle so the mouse wont be able to be charged any more after this.
USB Cable - The same one that came with your phone or an aftermarket one. Should have a good plastic head on it for stability, but the stock cable is fine too (that's what I'm using).
Tools - Drill, Screwdriver (+), Knife, Hot Glue or epoxy if you're fancy
(Optional) Expanding non-flammable foaming insulation - this is only for stability and additional weight, and is purely optional. I used it in one of the two cradles I made.
Once we've pilfered the office supply cabinet, it's time to get to work. Start by turning it over and peeling off the warning label and rubber feet. Save the little feet thingies as you'll need them later. There should be one or more screws to remove. My home cradle had 4 in a box shape, but the one I have at work only had one screw in the center. Once removed, hollow out the guts and kick them in a stylish fashion as you'll no longer need them. Seen in red below, push out that separator plate as that's what you'll be working with for drilling and gluing. Ignore the green part for now, that comes later.
You'll want to either stick the metal portion of the USB cable through a small drilled hole (or cut hole with the knife, depending on how badass you are), or if your case is substantially large, put a portion of the plastic housing around the USB head through a larger drilled (or cut) hole.
Once you've tested the seating of your phone with the position of the cable so that it will charge when seated, glue it in place in the red plate, and re-seat it into the cradle. Glue that plate in if it's loose. When the glue is dried, if you've opted to use the expanding foam, get foaming. Cut/file away excess foam, and then re-seal the bottom plate after 24 hours (so the foam is set and has stopped expanding).
Now, remember that green line in the image above? You can leave that as is, or file it down. I left it as is and it causes no ill effects. A little balancing game is required if I want to "dock" it in portrait mode, but landscape mode is fine (abet unable to charge in this fashion).
It does work though
Higher resolution photos:
http://i.imgur.com/zhrPgOo.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/vpAxPxt.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ooaI9w3.jpg

Simple magnetic/wireless charging car dock made for under $50. Works with cases!

Hello. I have put together a simple way of making a car dock that is both magnetic and wireless charging. I made these docks using parts from Amazon, and the design is strong enough to hold and charge my phone through a pretty thick case. I'm posting this thread to show off what I have made, and to gauge people's interest in these car docks.
Since these don't seem to really exist on the market yet, I'm also considering refining the design and possibly collaborating with someone to mass produce and sell these docks. I refined the design so they are simple as possible to make, and can post a tutorial if people are interested.
Here are the products I used. Total cost under $50:
DigiYes® USB POWERQI Qi Wireless Charger
10 Neodymium Magnets 1/2 x 1/8 inch Disc N48
Aduro U-GRIP PLUS Universal Car Mount
So far I have made three mounts while experimenting with the fabrication process. The first one actually used a peanut butter jar lid and 10 magnets to hold my phone without any support (no pictures of this one). It was functional, but ugly as sin. Subsequent mounts I used the original casing from the charging coil, and simplified the process and cost/strength of magnets by adding a base support. Here are the results:
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Not bad for a little bit of drilling and super glue (which I always make a mess of). Because of the way I came across parts, I only used a single "grip" as the base for resting the phone, however using both grips for a wider base might feel better when docking the phone. It's also possible to use even stronger N52 magnets and skip the base altogether, to give your phone the effect of "floating" on the dock.
The drilled holes are 1/2" and have to be close together as possible (without overlapping) in order to fit 4 magnets between the interior screws that hold the charging coil in place (inside the case, not visible). I used a rusty spade bit which was terrible and had a bad habit of tearing off more than it should. To make the mount look as clean as possible, I'd recommend using a more clean cutting bit, maybe something like this which will grind through the plastic without catching or tearing.
Well anyway I hope you guys like it and show some interest. If you have any further questions, please let me know. Thank you for reading!
I made something like this and it worked well. I should however be getting this in next week http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-air-dock
I'm excited for it. It's magnetic and also membrane grip and looks pretty nice.
mr3army said:
Interesting position of magnets and size of them. How many mA you get charging? Also what case you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The charger is rated for 1A wireless charging, and that seems to be accurate. Is there a more accurate measurement I can pull from the phone? The case is Caseology Premium Shock Absorbent TPU Bumper Case and it's pretty thick in the back. It picks up the wireless coil okay, but I would need stronger N52 magnets to hold it up without a base (which I thought I ordered, but accidentally got n48 instead).

Review of Nomad ChargeCard and ChargeKey w/lots of pics!!!

This is a review of Nomad ChargeCard (http://www.hellonomad.com/products/chargecard-micro-usb) and ChargeKey (http://www.hellonomad.com/products/chargekey-micro-usb)
It's very rare nowadays to see Kickstarter project blossomed into a mature product after the crowdsourcing campaign is over. But there are pleasant exceptions with Nomad being one of them. I was intrigued by this project since last year, even before they changed their name officially to Nomad, and had a chance to test their early sample. Now I received their finished mature product which in addition to ChargeCard also spanned a variation in a form of ChargeKey, and I was very impressed with improvements. Let me share with you what I found.
Our lives became a lot easier when all the new gadgets converged to use micro-usb port with common usb to micro-usb cable. We all have at least half a dozen of usb cables at home, varying in colors and length, to charge our gadgets and to transfer the data. But what about when we are on a go? How many times did you realize that your laptop and smartphone is there, but you forgot your cable? Or you got the external backup battery, but there is no way to connect it to your phone? Why does this happen? Simply because these cables are bulky and PITA to drag around when we are traveling. Even if you attempt to get a shorter cable, there is a chance you will loose it. So how do we get around this problem? Nomad guys came up with a very clever solution to package this "short cable" into a shape that will conveniently fit with our everyday lifestyle.
We all carry a wallet with credit cards and a set of keys. Taking that into account, they came up with two very simple products: ChargeCard and ChargeKey. Each one arrived in a similarly packaged envelope with only a company name on top of it. Pulling up to open the cover reveals a product inside with a greeting of "Say hello to your little friend!" that would put a smile even on Scarface! Starting with ChargeCard, it actually has a footprint slightly smaller than a regular credit card and a thickness of a few credit cards stacked together. In comparison to their early samples, I really appreciated how they tapered down the edges of ChargeCard to make it easier to insert into the credit card pocket of your wallet. Micro-usb cable is in the corner pointing out with easy access to connect the card to your smart device or accessory, while full usb port is placed on the attached flexible short cable inside of a rubber coating stored in the middle of the card. ChargeKey is a variation of ChargeCard where only the flexible cable part is used, and the product itself is shaped in a form of a key which can be attached to your keychain.
I found the build and the material to be of a very high quality. The actual usb and micro usb connectors are made out of hard plastic molded to a rubbery coating of flat cable hosting the wires. Without a doubt it looks really cool, but the main purpose of these cables is to charge and to transfer the data. Let me tell you, it works as good as it looks!!! Data transfer was flawless connecting my Note 2 to the laptop, and I especially appreciated the tight fit of the connectors where I didn't have to worry about cable pulling out of the laptop or my phone. Next was a charging test. Note 2 comes with 2A charger and a cable capable to charge at full speed. The performance of ChargeCard and ChargeKey was identical to my OEM usb cables, providing charging at full speed!
Overall, I was very impressed with a build quality, with a design, and with a performance of this product. Some might argue that at $29 this is pricey. I do agree, it would be pricey for a regular usb to micro-usb cable. But if you take into consideration the convenience of the design, cool look to make you stand out from a crowd, and quality of the wires to provide full speed charging even at 2A - the price actually starts to sound more friendly. And there are even ways by referring others to get free ChargeKey and ChargeCard.
Here are the pictures.
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[Review] Kmashi Body Shaped 5200mAh Battery Pack

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Overview
There are many battery packs out there, which look like slabs and do the job as good as it can get. Then there are products, the bend the rules of design, look interesting and still manage to perform as good as their boring counter parts. In some cases, you might have to pay little extra for the amazing design. This is where I would put the Kmashi Body Shaped 5200 mAh Battery Pack. It is a $13 device with 5200 mAh battery, but it is not priced to compete with other 5000mAh battery packs. It is meant for those who are going to buy it for its design or it's uniqueness rather than the basic functionality of a battery pack.
Design
Evidently, the battery pack is shaped like a female human body. The design is very detailed for this scale and the build quality is top notch. The glossy white plastic is high quality, which does not creek or bend. Despite what it may seem, the battery pack fits in the hand like it was designed to. There are two red LEDs on the nipple, which do not serve any purpose. There are 4 blue LEDs at the bottom, which indicate the amount of juice left in the battery. These 4 LEDs are also accompanied by a full sized USB port and a micro USB port.
Specifications
Input: 5V-1.5A
Output: 5V-2A(MAX)
Capacity: 5200mAh
Size: 120x63x50mm
Net weight: 155g
Charging Time Needed: about 3 hours
Static Power Consumption: less than 50uA
Experience
During my personal experience with this product, I have not been able to carry it with me. The main reason for that is the fact it is not pocket friendly. This battery pack supports an output of up to 2amps, but there is no Quickcharge 2.0 support. Despite that, my devices(OnePlus One and Galaxy S6) charged really fast. The battery capacity at 5200mAh is not huge. When most devices today have batteries of 3000+mAh capacity, this battery pack is good for only one full charge on most devices. But if you are buying this product, you probably don't need just a battery pack. If you don't want this for its unique design, there are better products out there. The most striking part of this product has to be the 2 red LEDs for nipples. While using this battery pack in the dark, you will notice the red light leaks from other body parts. I don't know if that adds to the design or makes it more awkward. I guess I will leave that decision on you. At the bottom of this device, there are four LEDs which are used to indicate the amount of juice left in the product. The charging time is said to be around 5 hours on Amazon, whereas I could charge it from 0 to a 100 percent in about 3 hours. To sum it up, it is a great desk gadget. If you are an artist or a fashion designer, we'll this falls right in your alley. It would be perfect to be a show piece on your office desk.
Pros
Attractive Design
Seamless Build
Fast Charging Rate
Ergonomic design
Cons
Bright Red LEDs
No quick charge 2.0 support
Only one color available, white (racist? )

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