One of the individuals I met at the 2021 AAPEX/SEMA convention was Dean Martin- no not the singer via hologram nor a Vegas impersonator, but Dean Martin, President of iTEKT, a Canadian company specializing in nano ceramic coatings for windshields.
Dean is highly exuberant about his iTEKT nano product which purports to offer:
Water repellent up to one year
Helps to repel dirt, snow, ice and insects
Improved visibility during harsh weather conditions
The kit sells for CAN$49.95 with free shipping. It contains a small container of Cerium used sparingly to remove any grease, wax or silicone-based products from the windshield; a 12mL vile of cleaner along with a blue application cloth; a 12mL vile of Protector (Nano Ceramic) along with another blue application cloth; an orange microfiber finishing cloth; and an instruction sheet.
Included on the instruction sheet as well as on the box, is a scannable QR code that takes you to application videos.
The process is straight forward. You first use the Cerium if you have any grease, wax or silicone-based products from the windshield by using “2 pinches” of the Cerium powder on a dampened blue cloth. Then you rinse your windshield with hot water.
You follow this by decontaminating the windshield using the cleaner in vile #1 and a blue cloth. Next wipe dry with the microfiber cloth.
Now be sure that your windshield is dry and warm 30-40 degrees C or 86-104 degrees F. You can do this by several means: run your defroster on high, use a hair dryer or set your vehicle in direct sunlight (in warmer climates).
Now apply 3 thin layers of the Protector from bottle #2. Pour 2mL (0.07 US oz) on the blue wipe and spread it over half of your windshield for 30 seconds until the wipe is dry. Repeat two more times the same way on that part of the windshield. Next, do the same 3 thin layers of the Protector from bottle #2 on the other half of your windshield.
Finally wipe the entire windshield with the microfiber cloth, using downward pressure. As you do it you should hear some static crackles as you wipe the entire windshield with pressure.
Depending on environmental conditions, Dean said the treatment should last 6 months to a year.
FIELD TEST
I applied three thin layers of the iTEKT Nano Ceramic to my BMW following the clear instructions after prepping the windshield. And, yes, I did hear static crackles on the final wipe 😊.
I took it on a 2500 mile trip that included lots of rain, dew, suicidal bugs, dirt and some road debris (small gravel).
The iTEKT did a superb job of having light rain bead up and off the windshield and made for very clean sweeps of heavier rain using the windshield washers.
After each day’s drive (that is ones without rain), the suicidal bugs were easily removed from the windshield using a water dampened microfiber cloth.
Unfortunately, the claim of “20% superior shatter and scratch resistance” did not seem to hold up. My windshield suffered several small scratches caused by road debris (presumed to be small pebbles kicked up by vehicles in front) and one chip with nickel-sized cracks.
PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS
The iTEKT Nano Ceramic is relatively easy to apply to a windshield. It does enhance the glass’s ability to shed water and make it easy to remove smashed bugs even after leaving them on the windshield until the end of a day’s drive.
From an anecdotal standpoint, the claim of “20% superior shatter and scratch resistance” was not substantiated. While it could have been coincidental rather than a case of causality, my windshield suffered several small nick scratches and one small chip with spider cracks on the outer surface of the windshield. Fortunately, this is only the second chip with spider cracks I have had over many years of driving fifty plus vehicles. Of note, there were no paint chips on the hood, fenders, or mirror caps during this same trip.
Bottom line, iTEKT Nano Ceramic appears to really help repel water and make bug splatter easier to remove but did not seem to provide superior shatter and scratch resistance to the windshield.
Most, if not all of us if we are being honest, have experienced that awkward moment of panic when we have a vehicle ‘suddenly appear out of nowhere’ as we are driving down the highway.
I consider myself to be a capable accident-free driver and have taken high performance driving courses. My mirrors in each of my cars are set following the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) recommendations for setting side mirrors to minimize blind spots.[1] Additionally, my newest vehicle has blind spot warning that alerts to when a vehicle is in the car’s blind spots. But I have found it is still possible to be ‘surprised’ by the appearance of a car or truck that has come up behind me and that wasn’t visible in my side mirrors.
The team at NxTGEN® Automotiveprovided me with a set of their EXTENDED VIEW custom blind spot mirrors for review on my BMW X3.
Several features set NxTGEN® Automotive blind spot mirrors apart from other blind spot mirror vendors and their related products:
Their mirrors are developed for specific vehicle model applications
The are made of real glass
The scale, ratio and curvature of the glass is researched and designed to provide an ultra-clear continuous image despite being actually a combination of nine planes refined to capture all of the blind zone for each specific model
When you order for your specific model BMW or Tesla (currently the only OEMs models with available NxTGEN® Automotive blind spot mirrors), you receive a card with the two glass lens and abbreviated application instructions.
Installation
Installation is straight forward with a caveat: you need to pay attention to where on your respective mirror it is supposed to go. Depending on which BMW model you order, the NxTGEN® mirror is to be mounted in the lower or upper outside corner (for all Tesla models, the mirror is mounted in the upper outside corner).
In addition to the NxTGEN® mirrors, you’ll need isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and a microfiber or paper towel and a hair dryer (to activate the adhesive).
The first step is to test place the NxTGEN® mirror on your side mirror to see where you will be placing its contour to match your OEM mirror contour. Next, wipe the side mirror with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and a microfiber or paper towelto remove any contaminates.
Now you remove the protective sheet off the adhesive backing of the NxTGEN® mirrorand carefully align with the OEM mirror contour. Press fully in place. This next step is important to ensure the blind spot mirrors remain bonded to the side mirror glass. Use the hair dryer on high to heat up the entire NxTGEN® mirror for 1 to 2 minutes. Follow this by using a microfiber towel and press all areas of the NxTGEN® mirror for about 30 seconds and you are done. Repeat with the remaining side mirror.
Here is what it will look like:
Do they work? A demonstration test.
To see the degree of blind spot reduction with the NxTGEN® mirrors, I set up a simple test. Prior to installing them, I took my BMW to a parking lot and parked so that cars were behind me similar to being on a multi-lane road. I also positioned a tripod off the left side of my BMW to represent a person or bicycle coming along my normal blind spot zone. As mentioned earlier, my mirrors were already set following SAE guidelines.
Here is what I could see:
Next, I temporarily affixed the NxTGEN® mirrors and was extremely pleased by how it had virtually eliminated the entire blind zone on the driver side. Here is what it showed:
You can see that in addition to the same car on my left, from a safety point of view, two critical elements are in the NxTGEN® mirror that were not in the OEM mirror: my pseudo person/bicyclist and the car behind me. Also, you can see another car to the left that was not in the regular mirror view.
[Technical note, the OEM mirror was not readjusted, my car had not moved, and the camera I used to take all the images was in the same head/eye level position each time.]
The results for the passenger side were less impressive. I repeated the same set up as with the driver side including the tripod pseudo person/bicyclist. The OEM mirror set to the SAE recommendations does not have a blind zone immediately next to car like the driver side does, and the pseudo person/bicyclist was easily seen. The only difference with the addition the NxTGEN® mirrorwas that you saw more of the car in the next lane than you saw in the OEM mirror. This means that with the NxTGEN® mirror you will no longer have the split-second blind spot when a car passing you on your right transitions from being visible in your mirror to being visible out the passenger window.
Driving Test
After my demonstration test, I properly affixed the two mirrors following the steps described above. I drove on city streets and the highway. The NxTGEN® mirrors clearly (literally and figuratively) eliminate the blind zones. What I noticed is the driver side NxTGEN® mirrorin addition to capturing any vehicle coming up on your left side also shows you any vehicle behind you in the same lane you are. As you can see in this driver side image, the NxTGEN® mirror not only shows the same car as the OEM mirror, but also one that is in front of that car but in the OEM blind zone, and part of one directly behind me.
Conclusion
These NxTGEN® mirrors, at msrp $27 for the set, are definitely worth purchasing and installing, even if you have blind spot warning on your vehicle. They provide a crystal clear virtually non-distorted image that appears to fully eliminate blind zones in mirrors set up per SAE guidelines.
This review focuses on an innovative product from Aipower called wearbuds™. I was provided a pair for an independent review by Aipower.
Background
Several features of the wearbuds™ create a niche market over the plethora of wireless earphones available to the consumer, including that the earbuds are transported and charged in an Apple-like watch (on steroids). Originally introduced through Kickstarter, they are also now available through Amazon.
The wearbuds™ come well packaged. Here is what comes in the box:
I
Included is the multi-function fitness watch, right and left Bluetooth earbuds, a USB charging cable and the Quick Start Guide. It is fairly easy to set up following the Quick Start Guide.
Here are the specifications as provided by Aipower:
Earbuds
Qualcomm QCC3026 Bluetooth chipset
Speaker 10Hz-40KHz, 100dB at 1KHz
Microphone 100Hz-10kHz; 38dB
Water resistance IPX6 (can survive strong water jets projected by a 12.5mm nozzle at any angle)
There is a free Aipower wearbuds™ app that you’ll want to download to your phone (Android or IOS). You need the app to initially set up the time for the watch, and the app will allow you limited customizing of the display in several color output options, as well as time in 12 or 24 hours format, along with the day, month and date format. Actually, you don’t set the time, once you pair it with your phone, it synchs with the phone time. You can also set the display to ‘wake’ on movement. Here are the primary watch screens:
You’ll find that the earbuds are very lightweight, approximately 3.6 grams, and comfortable in your ears.
In this image you can see the earbuds extending out (red arrows) of the watch body after you push in on each one to release
And the wearbuds™ now outside of the watch body.
When you press to release the earbud, it automatically goes into pairing mode with your phone (after the original pairing) or any other Bluetooth device (again, after the original pairing with the respective device) such as a laptop. You can use either or both wearbuds™ (operates in monaural if you only use one at a time).
Review
While the watch with the wearbuds™ still in the watch body, is very light and reasonably comfortable to wear all day, it takes some getting use to its bulkiness. It sits up about ¾ of an inch off of your wrist.
I like the auto-awakening of the clock face with movement of your wrist/arm. I would prefer an option to have it auto-rotate between information screens, rather than your having to swipe the face to change to another screen.
It is extremely convenient to have the ear buds right there on your wrist for when you want to use them, as well as the fact that the watch serves as the charger for each of the ear buds when they are reinserted.
I found that the overall fit and finish was very good. Once in a while, the left earbud would not easily come out of the watch after you had pushed to release it. Tolerance on release mechanism not quite right. I also found the watch band (very similar to Apple’s) was a bit too long for my smaller wrist, however, it was extremely comfortable once you got it hooked on.
The Bluetooth link up was OK until linked separately with a laptop and the Android phone. Then it became buggy, in essence not connecting at times. The phone App would say the Wearbuds™ were disconnected when in fact they were playing music from the phone. Even though I had set Wearbuds™ to allow push notifications for messages or emails, that never seemed to work. However, incoming call notifications worked well along with answering incoming calls.
The call quality was very good and individuals on the other end of the call, said they could hear me clearly and with little to no background noise.
The audio quality of the Wearbuds™ for music listening was very good, with clean definition of highs and lows. They seem to have moderate passive ambient sound muting. They were quite comfortable for extended use. For example, listening/watching two movies in a row on my laptop. The Wearbuds™ battery life easily handled that, and then could be recharged by inserting back into the watch.
You control the Wearbuds™ by ‘swiping’ across the smooth ear bud surface to increase, decrease volume, pause, answer and hang-up calls. The action is not exacting and sometimes you get it wrong.
The very high gloss of the watch face quickly showed smudges from touching the face to change the display, take a heart rate reading, etc.
There were some problems in addition to the bugginess of the Bluetooth connection (when previously paired with multiple devices) and the failure of push notifications. The heart rate monitor and the sleep monitor (only in conjunction with the phone app), seemed very erratic and inaccurate.
A bigger software issue was the way the Wearbuds™ app interacted with two of my cars via Bluetooth. While driving, without the Wearbuds™ watch and also with out the ear buds in, if a call came through or I made a call, my car would connect the call but then it would immediately hang-up. After having this happen multiple times, in two different OEM (GM and BMW) cars, I found that it was the Wearbuds™ app on my phone that was causing the disconnect. After deleting the app from my phone, the calls could be made or came through properly (as they did prior to loading the app).
Interim Conclusion
Aipower wearbuds™ are a clever way to transport, charge and have available very comfortable ear buds, which function well for both music and receiving/talking on phone calls.
However, software issues reduce the value of the watch as a fitness tool at this time.
I plan on doing a comparison between Bluetooth enabled ear buds in the near future- stay tuned.
One of the shoots I enjoy doing is finding things that are ‘right before our eyes’ but we don’t always take the time to notice. Wall art, murals, sculptures and street art seem to fall into that category.
I set out looking for wall art and murals in what is considered Old Las Vegas. Included in the following unique creative images, is the iconic American Sports Car, the Stingray for a juxtaposition- rolling art vs fixed art.
Hope you enjoy.
True only in the ‘winter’ here, during the summer, the process is much faster.Summarizes both the mural and the car. Do you think they want a Stingray?Indeed.Shapely double entendreFast and fierce.
While at Barrett-Jackson’s 2016 Car Collector Auction in Las Vegas, Nevada, I had the great pleasure of spending some time with Mike Brewer, who car enthusiasts worldwide know from his and Edd China’s highly entertaining, Wheeler Dealers fame.
The following is a transcript of my recorded interview as Mike and I were walking across the vast Mandalay Bay convention center, filled with every imaginable type of transportation. Having just walked past an older Corvette, I took it as an opportunity to segue into Mike’s impressions of the new Corvette Stingray.
JD: You haven’t gone into any detail [on your show] on the C7, the new one. I know you prefer old cars.
Mike: Yeah, actually I like the C7. I like the new one. I had a little ride and drive in one of those C7s, when they first came out, and I think it’s the, well undoubtedly, it’s the best Corvette they’ve ever made.
JD: Certainly agree with you.
Mike: … And it’s the closest I think for the first time, American engineers got anywhere close to a European engineer in terms of mainly it’s styling, but in terms of the feel, because the car does feel very European on the road. You know like the Ferrari does feel, say a C6 Corvette feels very different from a Ferrari 355-
JD: Right.
Mike: …Which feels much more connected, and that was half of the problem, you didn’t feel connected to the car, but with the C7, it feels like you’re putting on a leather glove. It really does feel like you are connected to the car.
JD: It is the total package.
Mike: Yeah.
JD: Thinking of all the cars that you’ve had a chance to acquire, I’m sure there’s still a list of ones that you haven’t yet…
Mike: There’s many.
JD: What are the couple that are next on your list, the one’s reflecting your highest desires?
Mike: That’s a good question. On my highest desirable list. Actually, I’ve actually almost achieved most of my dreams of in terms of inside the Corvette world. I’ve got a, I’ve just got a wonderful C3 Corvette, it’s a ’67 Mako Shark, it was the, it’s not the Stingray, it was the ’68 in red. Beautiful car, convertible. I bought that car in, I do believe in Texas, and we did a lovely restoration job on it and we took it to the lake bed and drove it. Phenomenal. That was a great car, but in terms of my dreams, and what I’d like to do, the list is endless honestly I’ve got so many. Yeah, the list is endless, I’ve got so many cars that I haven’t got to yet.
One of the cars that we still haven’t done and I can’t believe it for a Brit, is a Rolls Royce Corniche convertible.
JD: I was fortunate enough to own a 1975 RR Corniche drop head coupe Mediterranean Blue with Blue top and Magnolia hides.
Mike: You’ve had a better car collection than me!
JD: I was the second owner. It was probably the prettiest car line-wise, classic lines that I’ve ever owned. Incredible build, I loved the car. Drove it 11 years.
Mike: Wonderful. Yeah, I mean, you know there’s so many cars I haven’t gotten to yet, and walking around here at Barrett-Jackson, you know I get that feeling that I can see so many cars that sometimes cars pass me by, I don’t notice them, until I see them again, and you know, all of a sudden the world has gone mad for these pickup trucks, you know, C10 pickup trucks, and we haven’t done one of those yet on Wheeler Dealers and that’s a nice thing I’d like to venture into, but also older cars you know. If you was to ask me what is my most desirable dream car that I’d ever like to get my hands on is undoubtedly going to be a late ’20s Bentley blower. That would be it as my dream, but that in a realistic world, you know, one of those today is half a million dollars, and that’d be for just a shed.
JD: Right.
Mike: … So it’s going to be difficult to ever achieve that dream. It’s out there, you know, one day. JD: When you source the parts.
Mike: Yes.
JD: In the US versus the UK.
Mike: Yeah.
JD: Do you rely more on your networking here or you still use the Internet a lot like we see you doing on the show?
Mike: I spend my life on the internet. You will see that during the course of the day when I get a break here, we’re making 8 hours of live television here today at Barrett-Jackson and then when I get a break in between filming, from these people around, and when I get a break in between filming, I am sitting on the Internet, and you’ll be surprised what I’m looking for. You know I could be looking for hubcaps for a Messerschmitt or I could be looking at the, you know, the gear shifter for a Citroen Maserati. You know, I could be looking for all kinds of stuff that’s currently going on in my world out there.
Now I’m just immersed in what’s going on and in terms of car restoration, and where I need to find those parts, but the Internet is my most valuable resource, just like everybody else in the world, really. JD: Okay. You’re over here about 6 months out of the year.
Mike: It’s about 9 months now.
JD: 9 months now?
Mike: Yeah, 9 months of the year. Yeah, we’re based down in California.
JD: Right, that I knew. I guess it was 2 years ago when you were on the Velocity Live show over at SEMA, where you were talking that you just purchased that location. JD: From the whole process, from the acquisition to the restoring to the selling, which part excites you the most?
Mike: It’s most definitely the test drive at the end. It’s the achievement that you know, that sense of achievement that you’ve done what you set out to do, because you know, cars can be tricky. Some cars come into the workshop with me and they offer themselves up, they say, “Restore me, I want to be restored, here I am”, you know, and they undo easy, the nuts and bolts come off, the fenders, the hood, the bonnet, the engine pulls apart easy.
Yet other cars, they come into the workshop and they put boxing gloves on. They’re a little bit like Mike Tyson, and they want to go 10 rounds with you, and they’re not easy. They don’t want to be restored, they want to die. When we beat those cars into submission, and we give them a new coat of paint, some new lipstick, and we put them out there on the road and we test drive them. That sense of achievement brings a tear to my eye, and that’s why I do this show, I love it.
JD: That’s the enthusiasm that we see as viewers when you and Edd are out afterwards, before you actually sell it.
Mike: Yeah, I mean I just love, you know, we just love restoring cars and a lot of people don’t know this, but when the cameras are cut, not so much for Edd, but for me, when the cameras are cut, what do I do in my spare time? Restore cars. My own cars. JD: [We walk past a Mark 2 Jaguar]
Mike: Mark 2 Jaguar? Love to talk about that.
JD: Isn’t that a beauty?
Mike: It’s a beauty, but it’s not a good color. It’s not a good original color combination. Nobody ever done that, but it would work, it’d be a nice car, it’s a Jaguar.
JD: You had that in Rolls and Bentley, those color combinations.
Mike: Yeah, but not in Jaguar.
JD: Right.
Mike: They never did that two-tone Jaguar. That’s somebody’s interpretation of what a British car should look like, and these chrome accents here that they put on the hood.
JD: Right.
Mike: They’re not correct either, you know, they just put those on because it’s had it’s Hollywood face lift hasn’t it? It’s a British car that’s been to Hollywood. JD: Right. Do I have a couple more minutes?
Mike: Yeah, yeah you can go for it. JD: Thanks. You did a great job in Afghanistan.
Mike: Thank you, much appreciated. It’s my proudest achievement I think.
JD: It was very well recognized.
Mike: Thank you.
JD: Is there something similar you have planned down the line?
Mike: I’d really like to not go back into military programming. Having the two documentaries and nearly died several times. You know, I’ve got a wonderful wife, an amazing daughter and it was something that I wanted to do as a passion inside me and I wrote and produced that series, but I’ve done it, and I’m proud of what I’ve done. I have put a spotlight for a moment on what goes on in the real theater of war, and I felt it and you know, it’s my biggest achievement I’ve ever done in my life and long may it just stay there. You know, I can look back at it and show my grandkids and say “This is what I did”, but yeah, I don’t want to go back there again, it’s a scary place, and you know, the service men and women all across the world, British, American, whoever they are, you know, I salute them. I can’t tell you just what they go through because it’s horrible. JD: I appreciate that, thank you very much. Time for one more question?
Mike: Yeah, yeah. JD: Okay. Autonomous cars.
Mike: Yeah.
JD: Thoughts.
Mike: My thoughts on autonomous cars, okay. You know, I think, I’ve worked harder than anybody else I know, and the thought of getting in a car at the end of the day, pressing a button then it taking me home, fills me with joy. Fills me with joy, but the thought of actually doing it sends shivers down my spine. I’m never going to do that. I want to hold that steering wheel. I want to feel the pedals under my feet. I want to feel the road surface. I’m not going to trust a computer to get me home. You know, I can’t trust myself to get me home, let alone a computer, and I live in a world where you know, well we all do, you know, you’re in, if you’re on your cellphone, and we’ve got computers at home and cellphones. I’m forever rebooting mine and trying to get the thing to work, and so I don’t know if I want to be cruising down the freeways at 70 miles an hour with a computer that needs rebooting at some point.
JD: Exactly.
Mike: No, I think I’ll be, I think I’ll let it go for a few years and see how people get on with it, and see what happens before I ever decide to go and do such a thing, but no. I think there is a future for it. I think there is a market for it, and I can understand why you’ve got the likes of Google and Amazon and other companies chasing after this Utopian world that we’re all going to be driving around in these wonderful self-driving cars, but I think it’s a long way off. I do believe there’s been accidents already with cars that have been automated. No for me, I want to hold the steering wheel. JD: Thank you Mike, I tremendously appreciate your time.
Mike: It’s an absolute pleasure sir, it’s always, I’m honored to talk to people.
JD: Nicky would you take one picture of us with my camera?
Nicky: Absolutely! JD: Thank you so much.
Mike: Well, Jeff it’s been a real pleasure to meet you sir. You have a great day here today at Barrett-Jackson, I’m sure-
JD: I will.
Mike: … You’ll get lots of content. There’s tons of cars and it’s going to be exciting.
And off Mike went, continuing on his hectic pace surrounded by a Velocity camera crew to his next filming event. The impression of the man lingered in spite of the ‘energizer bunny’ style- so genuinely interested in and knowledgeable about all things automotive, so easy to interact with and personable. A real pleasure indeed!
If you are like me, as you accumulated personal electronic devices like your phone, ear buds, laptop, smart watch, etc., you ended up with a gaggle of chargers.
In many cases the chargers were designed to work with a specific device and therefore have a different end (C, micro usb, Lightning) and item specific voltage output. When you took a trip, you had to remember to bring each one.
This brings us to the FLEDGING Spruce® all-in-one Charger, supplied to me by their Head of Marketing for review.[1] The Spruce is a compact charger unit capable of charging up to five devices simultaneously, quickly, and all at the proper voltage.
By my measurements the unit is 4.33”x3.15”x1.89” (110.2mm x 80.1mm x 48.1mm) and weighs 1lb 0.8 oz. (475g). It comes standard with the country specific power cord (type A, C or G) you select when ordering, a C to C cable, soft carry case and instructions.
Designed in the USA, the unit is manufactured in China. It lists for USD 124.99 on their website.[2]
The fit, finish and quality of build is excellent.
The compact unit has a phone or tablet wireless charging pad on top that can be used flat or raised up to 70 degrees, 3 USB C and 1 USB A ports on the side.
Wireless charging pad
On the back of the unit is a schematic showing the relative outputs in wattage for each of the ports.
–
The Spruce is powered by a GaN (Gallium Nitride) semi-conductor with software that provides the appropriate wattage for each plugged in device.
Included with my Spruce was FLEDGING new magnetic power cable. This very clever cable has a male USB A connector on one end and a magnetic port on the other that accepts interchangeable connectors of either C, Lightning or micro USB. Additionally, the cord has magnetic rings on it so that it coils and holds to itself when not stretched out.
I was informed that this FLEDGING new magnetic power cable will available later this year as an optional addon to the Spruce.
Field Test:
You will find the instruction manual is not necessary, since all you need to do is plug in the power cord and your respective cords to your electronic devices and/or place your phone or tablet on the charging pad and you are good to go.
I used it to simultaneously charge an iPhone, iPad, 2 sets of ear buds, and laptop. The Spruce remained cool and charged each of the 5 electronic items to 100% as quickly as their individual rapid or quick chargers normally do. Simple, highly efficient and eliminates all the respective chargers as well as having to find either 5 available outlets or the use of a multi-outlet power strip.
The compactness of the unit can’t be beat versus having five individual chargers. Now you might be wondering about the fact it weighs in a about a pound or 475 grams. Sure, that is more than a single phone charger weighs, but when you put all the respective five chargers (phone, laptop, tablet, ear bud, etc.) you would need together, you will find they will be close to a pound or 475 grams or even more, in total weight.
Conclusion The FLEDGING Spruce is a welcome solution to simultaneously charging multiple electronic units from one source. Very well designed and constructed with easy functionality.
If you have ever lost your OEM FOB you know what a hassle it typically is to get a replacement from the dealer and to get it programmed properly, let alone the steep cost you incur.
While there have been non-OEM FOBs available for years, most don’t end up working or require you to still go to the dealer to get it properly programmed, again at a significant cost.
Enter Car Keys Express.[1] Their byline elegantly sums it up: Replacing car keys is simple and affordable again.™ Founded in 2006 by CEO Mark Lanwehr, no not in his garage 😊 but on the dining room table of his one room apartment. By 2006 it was the first online retailer of automotive keys and keyless entry remotes. Two years later Mark started offering his services to dealerships and fleet owners and now serves over 3,000 cities in the US and Canada. Along the way they added self-serve kiosks and remote optical scanners for dealerships. They are now the largest key/key FOB replacement company around.
In their booth at AAPEX 2021 they had samples of their products including their ROKS or retail optical key scanner, their Keys Now, their Simple Key, the Universal EZ Installer™ and the EZ Installer™. The ROKS is stand alone unit that you insert your existing key for scanning. Then they send you the key completely cut. Their FOB to use with the key can then be paired up with your car using their Universal EZ Installer and a free phone app. The process saves you about 70% of the cost as compared to going to the OEM dealer.
Simple Key (a kit premade for each specific OEM) comes with the EZ Installer. Costs vary depending on the OEM and vehicle, but ranges from US$99 to $149 versus if you went through the dealer where you would pay in the range of US$300 to $500 or more.
The difference between the Universal EZ Installer™ and the EZ Installer™ is that EZ Installers are designed to only work with one OEM, such as Ford, GM, Mazda, etc., while the Universal will work with about 95% of OEMs (and since this is a brand-new product, they are working refine its software to work across all OEMs). Once purchased the Universal EZ Installer or the EZ Installer and connected to the owner’s vehicle via the OBD2 port, the imbedded software becomes linked to the VIN. This means the owner can make multiple duplicates but only for that specific VIN. It can not be used after that on another vehicle.
Options for the end user currently include purchasing a kit from them online, locating and driving to one of their Car Keys Express locations in your city, having their mobile service scheduled to come to you, and a priority option of having them come within 24 hours. The respective pricing ranges from about US$99 if you drive to them $169 for a scheduled come to you and $315 for 24 hours service. All well below the hassle and cost of getting it done through your OEM Service Dealership.
In my discussion with Kirk Stewart, Retail Marketing Director of Car Keys Express, he told me that it takes about 18 months on average for them to reverse engineer an OEM FOB, and develop their own proprietary software and chip design, extensively test it out before selling them. They design their units to exceed the OEM in terms of quality, latest electronics, and durability. The finished product is waterproof to 30 feet (OEMs are not) and have better battery life as well as range of operation.
They currently have their circuit boards made in China to their proprietary design, but are looking to bring that phase of the process to the United States. Car Keys Express design, engineer, load their own software on the boards, and package all of the units in the United States (Louisville, Ky). They guarantee their products for 3 years (parts and labor) versus the OEMs’ ninety days to one year.
How To Convert Your Golf Cart to Run on Lithium Batteries
This product review focuses on a decision many golf cart owners face when the original lead acid batteries start failing: replace with the exact same or consider an alternative brand lead acid batteries. Until recently, these were the only viable options. You could call the shop you bought your cart from and have them order and replace the lead acid batteries, you could locate a supplier of similar sized lead acid batteries and do it yourself, or you could just buy a new golf cart. Ok, maybe that last option is a bit extreme, but I know owners who do just that.
A few years ago, some of the OEM golf cart manufacturers started selling their carts with the option of a single large lithium battery versus the traditional four (12-volt) or six (8-volt) lead acid batteries in 48-volt powered golf cars.
Around the same time that OEM golf cart manufactures began offering lithium batteries as an option, a few battery manufacturers started producing lithium batteries for replacement of lead acid batteries in existing golf carts. This opened a new alternative to consider and brings us to this review.
I have a 2017 Yamaha Drive2 PTV golf cart with Yamaha’s AC motor, and it came new with six 8-volt lead acid batteries. The cart gets used an average of three times per week on one of our two golf courses, both of which have sizeable elevation changes throughout the courses. After three and one-half years the original Trojan T-875 batteries were failing and barely able to make it through one round. Based on my research, I decided to go with RELi3ON® InSight lithium batteries, provided at cost by RELi3ON®.
This review focuses on the logic behind my decision, the replacement process, and the result.
The logic behind my decision
Lithium batteries offer several compelling advantages over lead acid batteries, including:
Lighter weight
No maintenance
Faster charge
Retains charge for longer
Longevity
Direct fit, no modification
The weight savings of lithium over wet lead acid batteries is one of the biggest advantages. A normal set of lead acid batteries tips the scales at 378 pounds. Lithium batteries pack more power than lead acid, and in the case of InSight batteries, each battery supplies 48 volts and 30-amp hours. You can comfortably replace the six lead acid batteries in your cart with just two lithium batteries. If you go with two lithium InSight batteries, your total weight will be 69 pounds or a savings of 309 pounds! Even if you go with four lithium batteries as I did because of the considerable elevation changes on our courses, your new total weight will be 138 pounds, or a savings of 240 pounds!
This weight savings is immediately noticeable in your cart’s moving from a full stop, in its steering and handling. Hauling a minimum of 240 pounds less each time you drive your cart will mean components like brakes, suspension and tires will last longer.
Another advantage of lithium batteries is that there is zero maintenance. You never have to check or add water for the life of the battery.
Because of the chemistry, the lithium batteries charge much faster than lead acid, typically coming up to full charge after a round in just a few hours. Also, unlike lead acid batteries that lose their capacity quickly over time (when not left on a charger/maintainer), lithium will still have 80% of their capacity after 60 days and will take two years to drop to 20% of their capacity.
Lead acid golf cart batteries normally last between three and five years, and usually have a 12-to-18-month warranty. Lithium batteries are rated to last eight to ten or more years. The RELi3ON® InSight lithium batteries reviewed here, carry a 7-year full warranty (and in the 8th, 9th and 10th year, a 10 percent discount on a replacement) and are rated for greater than 6,000 cycles @ 80% depth of discharge.
A consideration, especially for the DIY golf cart owner, is how difficult will be the conversion from wet lead acid to lithium batteries. As it turns out, not difficult at all since the RELi3ON® InSight batteries are a direct size replacement for the OEM lead acid batteries. More on that shortly.
With the advantages being so impressive, why wouldn’t everyone replace their lead acid batteries with lithiums when it is time? There are a couple of reasons I can think of. Many golf cart shops are still unfamiliar with, and have no experience with, lithium options for replacements. Similarly, since it is a relatively new technology, few golf cart owners have heard of lithium aftermarket batteries and therefore do not consider them when their batteries die. But the biggest reason is the initial cost outlay difference.
If you are in the market for a new golf cart, possibly your dealer has offered a lithium version as an option. Currently the lithium option adds between US$2200-$4000 to the regular cart price over traditional lead acid batteries. Returning to the focus here, replacing original lead acid batteries in the golf cart you already own, a set of six good lead acid batteries will cost about $1600 plus installation plus another $75 to $100 for a battery fill kit if you want/need one.
Depending on how you use your golf cart, and how hilly your golf course is, you can choose to replace the six eight-volt batteries (48-volt system) with either two, three or four 48-volt lithium batteries. A major difference between the lead acid batteries in a golf cart and lithium, is that lithium is scalable. That is, you can start with a two-lithium battery system, and if you find you need more range, you can simply add one or two more lithium batteries to your system later.
Two InSight batteries will provide 60-amp hours and 20-35 miles per charge, three will provide 90-amp hours and 30-50 miles per charge and four will go 40-65 miles per charge with 120- amp hours. The current price for the RELi3ON® InSight lithium 48-volt batteries is two for $2595, three for $3295 and four for $3995. This price includes free shipping to your door, spacer batteries to fill the empty battery slots, a RELiON approved charger (that works through your cart’s regular charge port), and CAN cables (allow each battery to ‘communicate’ data to the other batteries). [Note: check with RELiON’s web site to get the latest pricing and bundle options. The latest bundle includes their new fuel gauge, discussed towards the end of this review.]
Considering cost alone, for example, if instead of replacing the lead acid batteries twice over eight years you purchased two InSight lithium batteries, you would save $500 to $600. If you went with three InSight lithium batteries, you basically break even, and if you went with four you would spend an additional $700 to $800 over the lead acid batteries. When you consider the advantages of lithium discussed earlier, it could be a very good option for you.
Why RELi3ON® over other lithium options? I was impressed by several factors including the actual design of their InSight battery, their steps to ensure the safety of lithium technology for this application, and their customer service. Unlike some competitors, RELi3ON® did not modify existing lithium batteries and components to work in a golf cart environment, rather they designed the InSight from the proverbial Tabula Rasa or ‘clean sheet’ approach. In essence they laid out everything they wanted a lithium battery to be able to do in a golf cart and golf cart environment, and then designed the battery to do that. I encourage you to check out their website[1] to learn more detail about the battery’s chemistry, construction and impressive ‘unique SuperSmart BMS’- battery management system that is incorporated into each battery. They also have a number of very informative YouTube videos, for example, explaining the construction of the battery.[2]
Installation
The four RELi3ON® InSight lithium 48-volt batteries along with the charger unit arrived within about a week of ordering and were delivered on a pallet.
The first step was to remove the six 8-volt Trojan T-875 lead acid batteries from my cart. To facilitate this, I removed the seat and switched the “Tow/Run” switch to tow to ensure that the cart motor and electronics were not inadvertently damaged by the removal and installation of the batteries.
My cart had an auto-fill system attached to each of the Trojan batteries (this system makes it easier to maintain the correct fill level when adding distilled water for required battery maintenance). After I removed the hose connections, I put duct tape across the fill hole in each battery to ensure no acid sloshed out when I removed the battery.
Next, I used a 9/16 or a 14mm socket to remove the nuts securing the battery cables (be careful to not short across the terminals with your wrench). You can save and reuse the original cables; I discuss this shortly. Follow by removing the nuts on the battery retainer brackets. On my cart, these required a 12mm socket.
Now you are ready to lift the batteries out. The easiest way is to use a battery lifting strap (under $10 at an auto parts store or Amazon) that hooks onto the lift tabs at top of the batteries. Take care, as the batteries each weigh about 60+ pounds and you want to lift each up as straight as possible to avoid spilling out any of the battery acid. You can dispose of the lead acid batteries at most auto supply shops or battery shops (like Batteries Plus Bulbs) for free. If that is not convenient, call your local recycling facility.
After you remove the batteries, take a couple of minutes to clean out the battery tray of any debris that has accumulated. Also use some sandpaper to clean the cable ends from your cart that run from the batteries to the motor/controller and from the charging port.
Empty battery tray
As mentioned, you can reuse some of the battery cables you removed (you won’t need all of them), but it is best to use cables of equal length for the connections between your new lithium batteries. If your original cables are equal length and in good shape, go ahead and use them. If not, I recommend you order new 4 AWG cables. You will need one pair of new cables if you go with a two-lithium battery set up, two pairs for a three-lithium battery set up, and three pairs for a four-lithium battery set up like I did. The length that you need to order will depend on how your batteries sit in your battery tray. In my case, I ordered ($15 per pair from Amazon) three sets of Spartan Power 4 AGW one-foot-long cables with 5/16 ring terminals.
Now you are ready to install the RELi3ON® InSight lithium 48-volt batteries. This process is the same, whether you decided to go with two, three or four to power your cart. Place the lithium batteries onto the battery tray, using the positions closest to the negative and positive cables from your motor/controller. You will follow by putting in the spacer units that came with your batteries to enable the reuse of the battery retainer brackets. Finish by reattaching the battery retainer brackets.
Next step is attaching the cables. Note: this is very different from how your lead acid batteries were connected. Your lithium batteries are connected in parallel. That means the cable from one battery’s positive terminal is connected to the next battery’s positive terminal. Similarly, the cable from one battery’s negative terminal is connected to the next battery’s negative terminal.
Start with your ‘first’ lithium battery in the group—that will be the lithium battery you are connecting the negative cable from your motor/controller (see above picture, first battery is labelled #1). On that battery, you connect the negative cable from your motor/controller and one connecting cable to the same negative post on the RELi3ON® InSight battery. You will also connect the negative cable from your cart’s charger port here. The nut on the RELi3ON® InSight battery post uses a 13mm socket (there is also a stud that uses an M8 Allen wrench that can be used). Tighten to 6.6 to 7.4 ft-lbs if you have a torque wrench. Otherwise, tighten firmly but do not over tighten. Now connect the other end of the cable attached to the first battery negative terminal to the next battery’s negative terminal. Continue connecting each of your battery negative terminals the same way.
Going back to the ‘first’ lithium battery, now connect its positive terminal to the second battery, again using either the 13mm nut or M8 stud. Continue to your last battery. Now connect the positive cable from your motor/controller to the last battery’s positive terminal. Also, connect the positive cable from your cart’s charger port here.
Recheck all of your cable connections. The first battery should have the negative cable from your motor/controller and be connected to the second battery negative terminal. The first battery does NOT connect to your motor/controller positive cable. Its positive terminal only connects to the second battery positive terminal. The last battery in your system should have the positive cable from the motor/controller connected to its positive terminal, as well as be connected to the positive terminal on the next battery in the parallel set up. The last battery does NOT have a connection from its negative terminal to the motor/controller negative cable. You can see this in the following image.
Positive connections highlighted in green, Negative highlighted in yellow
When you opened the boxes with your new RELi3ON® InSight batteries, on top was a CAN cable for interconnecting the batteries. This cable is used to enhance charge and discharge balancing between batteries.
With all the battery cables now in place, it is time to connect the CAN cables. Before you connect them, take a close look at the end of one of the CAN cables as well as the CANbus ports on top of a battery. You will see that the female connector on the CAN cable has an angled section that must be aligned with the same section on the CANbus port on the battery per the following images.
Now, begin with the ‘first’ battery (the one connected to the golf cart negative motor/controller cable). Connect the CAN cable to the Output CAN port, ensuring that you have it angled sections aligned. It is the one on the positive side of the battery (#3 in this image). Take the other end of this Can cable and connect it to the Input CAN port (the negative battery side, #2 in this image) of the second battery. Continue connecting the remaining CAN cables the same way for the rest of your batteries.
Properly wired in parallel (positive to positive, negative to negative)
When you are done, recheck all of your CAN cable connections. Your first battery should only have one CAN cable connected (at the Output port) and the Input port remains unused at this point. Similarly, the last battery should only have one CAN cable connected (at the Input port), and the Output port remains unused at this time.
The final connection step is optional. If you ordered the InSight series ‘fuel’ gauge (list $175 but will shortly be priced in respective InSight battery bundles), you would need to connect it at this point.
The fuel or battery gauge is not required, but very useful. Each of the RELi3ON® InSight batteries have a state of charge set of LEDs on the top of the battery, that function to tell you the remaining charge, ranging from 0 to 100%. However, to see this, you would need to lift your cart seat. The InSight gauge can be used as a direct replacement for your cart’s original battery gauge, or as in my application, as an additional gauge. The odds are that your original gauge will not correctly tell you the state of charge because it is normally designed to measure voltage, rather than current. The InSight gauge provides you two continuous readouts, one displaying the % of charge remaining and the number of amp-hours remaining, the second display shows also the % of charge remaining along with the number of lithium batteries connected.
Connecting the InSight series gauge is very simple. At the end of the wiring harness supplied with the gauge, you’ll find a red wire with a ring terminal, a black wire with a ring terminal, and a CAN connector. Go to your ‘first’ battery, connect the red ring terminal to the positive pole, the black ring terminal to the negative pole, and the CAN connector to the unused CANbus Input port.
Now route the gauge harness up to the place you are mounting the meter, using zip ties to secure the harness along the cart frame. You can simply replace your cart’s existing meter if it is a standard round gauge or mount the InSight meter separately. In my case, I left the original meter since it also functions to display when my cart’s turn signals are on as well as when the headlights are on. I purchased an add on automotive gauge pod from Amazon (under $8 Etopars Carbon Fiber 2″ 52mm Universal One Hole Dash Dashboard Car Gauge Pod Mount Holder) and mounted the InSight gauge into it.
Lastly, you need to attach the charger to cart wiring harness to the RELi3ON® InSight supplied charger. Different OEM golf cart manufacturers use slightly different female connectors to their cart’s charging port. When you order your RELi3ON® InSight battery bundle, you identify the type of cart you have, and they include the correct charger harness. All you are required to do is attach the harness to the charger- basically connecting the harness ends via screws on the charger base and screwing on the protective cover. The Lester Summit II unit that RELi3ON® supplied for my bundle also has a Bluetooth smartphone app for monitoring charge cycle status.
Now you are finished. The whole installation process from start to finish will probably take you a couple of hours. It really is simple to do once you review and become familiar with the details.
Ready to Go (and go and go 😊 )
Now for the fun part. The first time you power on your new RELi3ON® InSight batteries you simply press and hold the Power button (see #4 in image) on the first battery until you see the first LED flash green. It will then continue to flash green every five seconds. Shortly thereafter, you will see the remaining batteries come to life; their respective first LED will similarly flash green.
Once all the batteries are ‘awake’ you can press and release the power button once on each battery, and then the two LEDs will tell you the state of charge. You are now ready to go! Along with the satisfaction of having done this conversion be prepared for the very noticeable ‘seat-of-the-pants’ feel of the quick acceleration and easier steering/handling of your golf cart.
After you have taken it out for its maiden spin, plug your new charger in. The recommendation is to plug your cart in after each use. The charger is a ‘smart’ charger/maintainer and can be left on without concern.
Preliminary Conclusions
After my first couple month’s use of the RELi3ON® InSight lithium batteries, I have found that they perform perfectly. No matter how hard the cart is pushed, they never even get warm to the touch. They charge back to 100% and 120-amp hours in just a few hours. Even after driving around and playing 36 holes on my very hilly courses, the remaining charge is still in the mid 60% range.
Handling and “zippiness” are superb due to the permanent weight reduction. Another bonus is not ever having to think about checking and adding distilled water to the batteries.
My only ‘nit’ (and it is a small one) is with regards to the CAN cable connection. I’d recommend RELi3ON® add a visible alignment line on both the cable and the battery port to make the proper connection simpler.
Other than that, the quality of all the components included in the RELi3ON® InSight battery package is outstanding. Customer Service/Technical Help was excellent. The ‘seat-of-the-pants’ feel brings a smile to my face every time I am in the cart, even if my golf game does not.
My rating: Clearly deserves a 5 out of possible 5 lightning bolts!
I hope you found this useful. Please let me know if you have any questions!
Recently a new style of solid-state drive has been used in computers and laptops called NVMe PCIe SSD. They differ in several ways from SSDs you possibly have in your computer or laptop. Instead of being similar in shape and size to a small cell phone (standard SATA SSD), the NVMe M.2 looks more like a memory stick.
They are designed to be significantly faster than regular SATA hard drives as well as faster than SSDs. To fully realize their speed, however, your motherboard needs to be a newer model that has native M.2 module slots built in. These M.2 modules have direct lanes to the CPU, unlike going through typical expansion slots first. It is possible to use the NVMe M.2 in either internal adaptor cards, or externally through a USB 3.1 C or Thunderbolt™ connection, but again, the resulting speeds will be less than you can achieve with a native M.2 module slot on your motherboard.[1]
This review is of the new Fledging Shell Slim, supplied with a 1TB NVMe 2280 SSD, by Fledging’s Brand Manager.
What’s In The Box
Along with the Fledging Shell Slim is a small screwdriver, package with two brass case replacement screws, a small soft carrying case for theShell Slim, and one fun Fledging icon sticker.
My unit had a 1TB NVMe PCIe SSD pre-installed, so it was ready to go. The Shell Slim can be ordered as just a case, or with 256GB to 2 TB SSDs.
The unit weighs 1.2 oz (34 gm) with the SSD installed. It is 3.79 long (9.63 cm) by 1.24 in. (3.15 cm) by 0.35 in thick (0.89 cm). The USB C connector on the case adds 0.25 in (0.64 cm).
The Shell Slim case by itself lists for US$45.99 and with the 1TB SSD as tested, US$179.99.[2]
Inserting your own NVMe PCIe SSD in the Shell Slim is easy. You unscrew the two brass screws, one on either end of the case, open the case and pull out the board by using the attached USB C connector. You then insert your SSD into the board and screw in the retainer screw per the following diagram (Courtesy of Fledging):
The only slightly challenging part is reinserting the two case screws once you have inserted the board back into the case. They are very tiny (and that is why Fledging probably provided the extras 😊).
Initial Field Test
I used a LG Gram laptop Z990 with an 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 processor, DDR4 dual-channel memory, 256GB M.2 2280 SSD, 16GB DDR4, Windows 10 with a native Thunderbolt™ 3 Interface port to run the performance analyses.
Two different types of ‘real data’ tests were conducted. The first was designed to replicate the post-shoot file transfers I do as a professional photographer.
For this test, 2 sets of files were loaded directly from an XQD card, one 6.14 GB (311 items) and one 47 GB (842 items), each containing a mix of images, videos, pdfs and text. For performance comparison four different drives were used:
Shell Slim
Thunder-Thunderbolt 3
The LG Gram motherboard mounted M.2 SSD
Micro SD SDXC card (in the SD port of the laptop)
Test 1 results:
6.14GB
47.0GB
Shell Slim
00:18.98
02:54.55
Thunder-Thunderbolt 3
00:29.99
03:40.57
LG Gram motherboard M.2 SSD
00:24.3
05:37.34
Micro SD SDXC card
01:36.6
11:36.03
The second test was based on directly writing from the LG Gram laptop 256GB M.2 2280 SSD to the two faster drives from Test 1, the Shell Slim and the Thunder-Thunderbolt 3. Both external drives were connected to the LG Gram Thunderbolt™ 3 Interface port. One 47 GB (842 items) and one 72.8 GB (8996 items) data set mix of images, videos, music, pdfs and text were used. The tests were run twice, reformatting the drives in between and letting their temperatures return to ambient before the second write. The table shows the average times from the two runs.
47.0 GB
72.8 GB*
Shell Slim
01:55.24
04:13.85
Thunder-Thunderbolt 3
03:06.14
07.73.89
*Temperature rise on writing to the respective drives: Thunder-Thunderbolt 3 15.5⁰F increase; Shell Slim 22.5⁰F increase.
Preliminary Results
As a photographer, anything that can speed up backup transfer while ensuring the integrity of the images, is always welcome. As can be seen in Test 1, replicating the options available to me when I normally transfer directly from my camera XQD card, the Shell Slim was the fastest for both the smaller 6.14GB and larger 47GB data write operations. In fact, it would have saved me nearly 9 minutes in the transfer of the large data set as compared to the SD SDXC card!
In Test 2, again the Shell Slim was considerably faster than the Thunder-Thunderbolt 3, when both were connected to the LG Gram Thunderbolt™ 3 Interface port. Note, the Shell Slim doesn’t have to be connected to a Thunderbolt 3 port but can work with any USB C port.
I think is worth reemphasizing the high functionality combination of the extreme speed of the Shell Slim packaged in such a small unit that directly connects to your Thunderbolt™ 3 Interface or USB C port. No cables to carry, no power supply needed.
In summary, this Fledging Shell Slim External NVMe PCIe SSD earns a solid 5 out of 5.
The following is a review of a different class of headsets, one based on bone conduction technology. The AFTERSHOKZ OPENCOMM headset was provided to me by the marketing director of AFTERSHOKZ, for review.
For those not familiar with bone conduction headsets, there are two key differences between them and the more familiar in-the-ear or over-the-ear headsets. (1) They do not sit in or on your ears. Bone conduction headsets are designed to rest on your cheekbones. (2) By design, they transmit the sound through your cheekbones directly to your cochlea, bypassing your inner ear and ear drum.
Because of this key difference, they result in a qualitative difference in the sound you hear and the experience of wearing headsets. But more on that shortly.
What is in the box:
The OPENCOMM headset arrives attractively boxed and includes the headset, a semi-hard travel case, the User Guide, and the magnetic charging cable.
Set Up and Specs
You charge the headset by connecting the magnetic charging cable to a USB port. The User Guide indicates it takes 60 minutes to full charge. According to AFTERSHOKZ webpage[1] a full charge will provide you with 16 hours talk time or 8 hours of listen time. Also, if your battery is running low, you can add 2 hours of talk time with just five minutes charge.
The Bluetooth 5.0 built in the set allows for very quick and easy pairing. Once you are paired, that is it- there is no app to download or further set up with the OPENCOMM headset.
One of the first things you will notice about the OPENCOMM headset is how light weight it is. A mere 33 grams or less than 1.2 oz! It is built on a titanium frame that is completely wrapped in a semi-soft rubber. The frame is not intended to be adjusted (bent) from its preformed shape. In fact, the only adjustable component is the boom mic, which you rotate down to be near your mouth.
The boom appears to house two microphones, one for its noise cancelling software and one to pick up your voice.
The set is IP55 Water-Resistant. According to DSM&T[2] , that means it is “Protected from limited dust ingress” and “Protected from low pressure water jets from any direction.” In other words, it is fine for use in low dust environments and somewhat water resistant. It even has a built-in moisture protection alert.
The OPENCOMM headset retails for US$159.95 and is manufactured in China.
Sound Test and Actual Use
The unit can only be worn with the mic boom on the left side of the head because of the preformed arch that goes above each ear. It is not reversable. The OPENCOMM headset has three buttons on the unit. Two are on the lower part of the frame just behind the wearer’s right ear. In contrast to the matt black frame, the buttons are orange. One is marked + and one -. The + is used to turn on the headset as well as turn it off, and is used to increase the volume, while the – is used to decrease the volume, and pressing both will mute the call. The third button is located on the same side of the frame, but in front of the ear on the sound conduction component and is a multi-function button. It can be used for a variety of functions including answering incoming calls, hanging up, pausing music, etc. Most presses are accompanied by hearing a voice prompt from the set.
My voice sounded clear and of normal volume, the same as if I was on my cell or land line when talking with incoming or outgoing calls over the OPENCOMM headset, according to the individual I was talking with.
The noise cancelling technology was astounding. For example, the individual I was talking to heard me clearly with no other noise when I was standing right next to a running vacuum, or where I had music playing quite loudly in the room.
Even though these are not truly designed for listening to music because bone conduction can’t reproduce with the finesse that the inner ear can, I still ran a few tests similar to those I normally do with earbuds, for example with the Jabra ANC Elite 85c (see https://insight.daumphotography.com/2020/12/01/jabra-anc-elite-85t-big-sound-little-package/). I listened to Symphony No.1 in D minor ”Gothic’‘ – Havergal Brian. You could hear the vast range of instruments from tympanies to bells, but the separation was muddied and you did not feel like you were actually in a symphony hall. Another test was with Santana’s Evil Ways. In this case the stereophonic separation was faithfully reproduced, but again the distinction between instrumentation and vocals was not clean. Another sound test was with Rodrigo y Gabriela Satori. This is a complex recording with two acoustical guitars. The sound seemed to reproduce the range but lacked crispness.
Initial Conclusions:
The AFTERSHOKZ OPENCOMM headset is an extremely well made, light weight headset. The magnetic charging cable snaps smartly onto the headset and quickly recharges. However, since it is a unique adaptor cable (versus being able to use a more universal USB C) you will have to remember to take the magnetic cable with you (and not lose it). The nicely designed travel case will help in that regard.
The OPENCOMM headset is reasonably comfortable to wear for long periods of time, especially since it does not sit in or on your ears. The headset sound reproduction units rest directly on your cheek bones with a slight but continuous pressure. Some individuals may not find that comfortable, and you cannot adjust the titanium band to modify the pressure. Also, because of the way the titanium band goes behind the ears and around the lower back of your head, it would not be comfortable to sit or recline with your head against a chair back. The frame would be pushed forward as well as the loops going over and around your ears.
The active noise cancelling (ANC) technology is amongst the best I have found in any headset in terms of what the individual on the other end of the call hears. A caveat of the off-ear design, however, is that you still hear all the noise surrounding you. This can be very helpful or a hindrance. If you are on a call and someone or something nearby is trying to get your attention, they will succeed where that would not be the case with in-the-ear or over-the-ear headsets with ANC. But, if you are trying to hear over the OPENCOMM headset and there is a lot of ambient noise, the ANC will not help you at all on your end- it does not boost or compensate the incoming signal.
So, is the OPENCOMM for you? That depends on your intended use. These would be excellent for situations where you spend extended periods of time talking on your cell phone or over your computer, or on a Zoom video conference (and look a ton better than most over-the-ear headsets with a boom mic). They adequately handle music as well, but if your primary purpose is to listen to music and you enjoy hearing the nuances, then this would not be the best choice.
They would also be an ideal choice if you have any inner ear/ear drum damage impacting your hearing normally through the air.
The OPENCOMM headset would be very good as well for walking or jogging, since they stay put on your head. With the full open ear design, you will also remain aware of your surroundings.
I was supplied a Fledging Shell Thunder-Thunderbolt 3 SSD Enclosure with a 1TB NVMe M.2 2280 SSD already installed, by Fledging’s Brand Manager for review.
Included with the unit is a Philips head screwdriver, a spare M.2 screw, an Installation Guide, and a (nifty 😊) Fledging sticker.
The unit weighs 4.4 oz (with the SSD installed), measures 3.77” x 2.62” x 0.58”. It is nicely finished and feels very sturdy. On one side of the case there are 3 small slots for the built-in fan to draw air, and 24 smaller slots on the opposite side for the exhaust of the heated air (as it blows across the M.2 SSD). On the underside are four Philips head screws (one at each corner) to allow access to the enclosure. Inside the enclosure is a small fan, and the board for inserting the M.2 2280 SSD, and a thermal cooling pad on the cover opposite the location of the SSD. This unit came with a 1TB Phison M.2 2280 TLC SSD (PS5012-E12-27) and what appears to be a Kingston NAND Flash chip.
Can be purchased as just the case, or with NVMe SSD 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB drives installed
MSRP with 1 TB US$299.99
Both macOS and Windows compatible
Has active cooling via a temperature sensing 4000 rpm fan
designed for 2280 and 2260 m.2 NVME and ACHI SSDs, not m.2 SATA SSDs, Apple OEM SSDs nor apparently Samsung EVO 970 Plus. The manufacturer recommends Western Digital Black SN750 NVMe SSDs (without the heat sink)
Thunder only works for true TB3 ports and will not cross-function with a USB-C port.
Initial Set-Up
To start I formatted the Phison SSD using Windows format. I ran both dynamic benchmarking and ‘field’ tests of the unit.
Benchmarking results:
I used a LG Gram laptop Z990 with an 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 processor and DDR4 dual-channel memory, 256GB M.2 2280 SSD, 16GB DDR4, Windows 10, and connected to its native USB-C 3.1 Thunderbolt™ 3 port with the Thunderbolt 3 cable supplied by Fledging.
I again used a LG Gram laptop Z990 with an 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 processor and DDR4 dual-channel memory, 256GB M.2 2280 SSD, 16GB DDR4, Windows 10, and connected to its USB-C 3.1 Thunderbolt™ 3 port with the Thunderbolt 3 cable supplied.
For comparison, the identical 21.2GBs was sent using the same laptop to a OWC Envoy Pro EX. The transfer took 01:34.51 minutes to complete. Accessing any of the transferred files, images, videos, and pdfs was instantaneous. The case showed a thermal increase of 4⁰F (using a Raytek MT6 infrared thermometer)
For comparison, the identical 72.8GB was transferred to the OWC Envoy Pro EX. Transfer took 06:22.20 minutes to complete. Accessing any of the transferred files, images, videos, and pdfs was instantaneous. The case showed a thermal increase of 8.5⁰F (using a Raytek MT6 infrared thermometer).
Preliminary conclusions:
This Fledging Shell Thunder-Thunderbolt 3 SSD Enclosure is a very portable and relatively fast solution for Thunderbolt 3 users. It is powered from the Thunderbolt 3 cable and remains very cool under normal use. The fan is so quite that the only way I knew it was working was to feel the very slight breeze at the case (or by removing the case back and viewing the fan directly).
Its speed results in reading and writing data was a mixed bag: Its Read of the Windows speed test data was 3 times faster than the next best time of the other drives, but its Write was the slowest of all and a whopping 18 times slower than the best.
The results using the ATTO Disk Benchmark were equally surprising, in that the Fledging Shell Thunder-Thunderbolt 3 performed very poorly in the Read component, at almost a multiple of 220 slower than the best, while its Write performance was almost on par with the best.
The read results were so surprising that I reran the test and got similar results. The only thing I can conclude is that the extreme differences between the two sets of results must be related to the algorithms used by Windows vs ATTO.
A third benchmarking tool, AS SSD Benchmark was used where the Fledging Shell Thunder was the fastest Read at nearly twice that of the OWC Envoy Pro EX, and very slightly faster in Write than the OWC Envoy Pro EX.
Of course, none of us really use a hard drive to run only standardized benchmarking tools (at least, most of us don’t 😊 ). We use them for storing and retrieving data.
Here the Fledging Shell Thunder-Thunderbolt 3 fared better when compared in a somewhat Apples to Apples comparison with the OWC Envoy Pro EX. In the 21.2GB mixed data file writing, the Fledging Shell Thunder was about 12 seconds faster, with no noticeable difference in the instantaneousness of the reading of the same file. It also remained cooler.
With the large 72.8GB mixed data file, the Fledging Shell Thunder-Thunderbolt 3 was slower by about 2 minutes and 20 seconds compared to the OWC Envoy Pro EX in writing, and had nearly the same temperature increase during the write. Again, no noticeable difference in the instantaneousness of the reading of the same file.
In summary, the Fledging Shell Thunder-Thunderbolt 3 SSD Enclosure offers a compact highly portable external drive for those who have a true Thunderbolt 3 port. Note: this unit will not work with non-Thunderbolt 3 ports even though it fits, for example, a USB 3 port. It has a built-in temperature sensitive very quiet fan. You can purchase the enclosure without any M.2 SSD for about US$140 and put your own NVMe M.2 2280 SSD in or buy it with up to 2TB NVMe M.2 2280 SSD from Fledging.
Its read/write performance varied depending on the size of the data sets. The fact that it incorporates a fan means that it is not dust or water resistant (as the OWC Envoy Pro EX is). So, depending on what your intended use is for an external drive and whether you have a true Thunderbolt 3 port, will determine whether this is the drive for you.
Oh, almost forgot: despite its name Fledging Shell Thunder-Thunderbolt, the unit makes absolutely no noise. 🙂
This is a product review of the Wen Times Boreas winter jacket. The sample was provided by its distributor Naturality.
The Boreas is a low bulk, relatively light weight jacket based on a new insulating material, originally developed by NASA for spacesuit insulation. The filling is called silica aerogel.
Here are some highlights from Wen Times Indiegogo’s crowdfunding campaign website[1]:
With extreme temperatures in mind, we brought you the thinnest, warmest, and most fitted winter jacket ever made. This jacket consists of silica aerogel, the highly resistant and lightweight material researched and developed by NASA to insulate spacesuits.
No more bulky layers to stay warm! As thin as just two millimeters of foil, the aerogel filling will maintain your core temperature in any weather condition, ensuring complete comfort and protection for your next chilly adventure.
Essential safety comes first. From the hood to the ribbed waistband, and down to the cuffs—every inch of the Boreas is 100% resistant to flames and ignition.
Coffee spills and grease stains will no longer ruin your day. The Boreas all-round resistance to stains will keep dirt away from your clothes, and from the fun!
The Boreas interior is fully covered with a film of the nano-silver coating.
Widely known for their anti-bacterial properties, the silver nanoparticles nested into the fabric can also enable the lining layer to reflect near-infrared wavelengths back toward your skin, maintaining the temperature inside the jacket while preventing the loss of body heat.
The two aerogel-filled pockets, spacious and conveniently designed on the sides of your jacket, will keep your hands warm and comfortable even in the coldest winter conditions.
The manufacturing quality and attention to detail in producing the Boreas jacket is excellent. All the seams line up, stitching is uniform throughout. The outer material feels very smooth, somewhat slick, and soft.
All zippers function smoothly. Though, perhaps as a result of its newness, getting the main zipper fully engaged in the retainer box is sometimes balky. The main zipper has two pulls, so that you can unzip from either the top or bottom. Because of this, you need to get the lug through the lower zipper pull and then the retainer box.
The interior shell is as nicely finished as the outer shell. The sleeves and back have a silver reflective liner.
The four outer pockets are large and properly finished, as is the one zippered inside pocket. There is an additional open chest pocket on the inside.
There are elastic cuffs on the inside of the sleeves along with Velcro straps to further secure the ends of the sleeves. Inside, there is an elastic waist band that has a slip catch to ensure both outside air and snow don’t come up under the jacket. The slip catch is a little difficult to slide together. At this point it is hard to judge the durability of the slip catch.
They have included a digital thermometer strip on the inside lapel of the jacket. While the readout appears reasonably accurate, the practicality is questionable. But it fits with their marketing theme.
The hood is fully adjustable to fit snugly and comfortably around your head. I would recommend that some sort of storage, for example into a built-in pocket beneath the neck guard, be considered for when the hood is not being used.
Fit:
I was provided a medium sized Boreas jacket. I normally wear medium in outwear whether a ski jacket, lightweight jacket, or coat. However, I found the Boreas too tight from an activity point of view. The jacket fit me snuggly and was fine for just walking about. However, there was not enough room to comfortably raise or swing my arms. The arm holes and material across the back of the coat would not comfortably permit movements as you would normally do in outdoor sports.
Even though according to their sizing chart I would expect the M to fit:
My measurements are chest 96 cm, waist 81 cm, weight 64.8 kg. All well within their chart’s range for M. The only measurement that I was outside of the chart M was for height at 172.7 cm.
Since the Boreas jacket fit OK for just walking about, it would appear that additional expanding or stretch material be considered around the arm holes and across the back to enable active movement.
Insulation results:
The first test was by nature subjective. Wearing the Boreas in cold ambient temperatures, felt nicely warm and remained that way for extended walks. It appears that the combination of reflective lining and the silica aerogel did a good job.
Since comfort is clearly subjective (even with the ability to reference the built-in thermometer), I decided to do a more scientific test of the insulating ability of the Boreas jacket.
Cold ‘pass-through’ testing
To see how well the Boreas insulated against outside cold temperatures, I used a frozen cooler pack. To monitor the temperature in the jacket, a wireless Bluetooth digital thermometer was placed on top of a microfiber towel, inside of the jacket, with the jacket closed over the thermometer. The frozen cooler pack was placed above the location of the thermometer on the outside of the jacket and covered with several microfibers towels and a book to ensure the frozen cooler pack remained in full contact with the coat. A digital timer was used to indicate 5, 10 and 15 minutes passing for the temperature measurements.
In addition to the Boreas jacket, for comparison purposes, a regular non-insulated but lined jacket, an Omni-Heat vest and a standard ski jacket with Thinsulate™ Lite Loft™ Insulation were all tested. In each case, one of four identical frozen cooler packs was taken directly from the freezer and placed as noted above the location of the thermometer on the outside of the respective jacket at the start of the test.
Frozen cooler pack results:
As can be seen in the table, the Boreas performed second best of the four jackets in its ability to insulate and reduce cold transfer.
Preliminary Conclusions
The Boreas jacket is a very well made and executed cold weather jacket. It does a good job reflecting one’s own body heat back and retaining it while blocking the incursion of outside air.
It has great storage, wind, water and dirt rejection capabilities.
As noted, there are a few areas that could be improved: an easier means of securing the waist band, a self-storage area for the hood, and more accurate sizing or the inclusion of flexible material around the arm holes and upper back.
A positive ramification of Covid restrictions, is the opportunity to take time and explore one’s local flora and fauna. We set out to hike a trail that is part of the Hoover Dam railroad line, built in 1931 to provide a means of getting concrete and supplies needed for construction of the dam.
The trail follows on the path of the original rail line, but the rails are no longer there. It provides gorgeous vistas looking down on Lake Mead and of the rock formations as you pass through five of the original rail tunnels through the rock.
This is one of my favorite images, as the colors reminded me of Monet’s Water Lilies painting.
The following is a review of the Jabra ANC Elite 85t wireless earbuds. I was supplied the Jabra 85t for an independent long-term review by Jabra GN. My orientation in writing this is from the perspective of a range of potential end users—those who are considering new earbuds and will make their decision based on a combination of value and comfort across relevant environments, as well as those who will, in addition, consider the technology. Of course, in evaluating earbuds, most of the conclusions are subjective and should be taken as such. To that end, I hope I have provided sufficient information to assist you in reaching your own conclusions.
Noise reduction on calls using 6-microphone technology
Wind noise protection
Audio codecs supported SBC, AAC
Speaker size 12 mm / 0.47 in
Speaker bandwidth (music playback) 20Hz to 20kHz
Speaker bandwidth (calls) 100Hz to 10kHz
Microphone type 6 x MEMS
Microphone bandwidth 100Hz to 10kHz
Active Noise Cancellation Jabra Advanced ANC™ using 4 of the device’s 6 microphones; includes HearThrough and In-ear pressure relief
List price US$229.99
After unpacking, I downloaded the free Jabra Sound + app. It quickly paired my Samsung S10 (Android) phone with the Elite 85t buds. The app includes a Quick Start Guide that walks you through the different elements of the charging case, how to insert and wear the earbuds. The app also includes a “Welcome to MySound” that tailors the sound set up to your personal hearing. It runs through a short (about two-minute sound test) after you enter you sex, and year of birth. It then generates a personal hearing profile.
At the end of the profile it checks for and asks to download the latest software update. After the update is downloaded, it instructs you to place the earbuds back inside the charging case and close it. Once you do the purple/pink LED on the front of the case flashes to slow the update being loaded to the earbuds. It states it can take up to 15 minutes. It took about 11 minutes for the update to complete.
Note: when you look for the app on your phone, it is called Sound+, not Jabra Sound+
When you open the app, it shows you the battery charge in each earbud as well as the remaining battery life of the charging case.
One of the first things you notice about the earbuds is the shape of the silicon gels, they are oval rather than the typical round. They feel amazingly comfortable in your ears and don’t require pushing them in firmly. They immediately feel very comfortable and the earbuds themselves fairly light.
The active noise cancellation (ANC) was the best I’ve experienced with earbuds. At one point while listening to a soundtrack at moderate volume, my wife walked in and apparently was loudly trying to get my attention. I didn’t realize she was there until she stood right beside me, and I saw her in my peripheral vision, though still not hearing her. I found the overall sound much fuller and richer if I used ANC and/or passthrough vs neither.
Receiving and making calls: the six built in microphones apparently do a great job in that people I called said my voice was clear, sounding just like a land line connection. Similarly, I could easily hear them. To answer an incoming call, you simply press on the center circle part of the bud. Unlike on some other earbuds where you have to find a small area on the surface to answer or mute, these have a real ‘button’ switch that is a circle nearly the size of the outside of the bud, it depresses when you push on it. You use the same button to activate or deactivate the ANC, fast forward music, lower or raise the volume, or activate voice assistant of Siri® and Google Assistant™ by varying the number of presses or holding the button.
You charge the Elite 85ts by putting them back into the charging/carrying case. Each charge according to Jabra GN Technical Specifications sheet, is good for 5.5 hours, and then by reinserting in the charging case, a total of an additional 19.5 hours. Conveniently, you can get about an hour’s charge added by leaving in the case for just 15 minutes. To fully charge the case using the supplied USB cable, takes about two and one-half hours.
Now to the sound test.
Initial comparisons were made using a Samsung S10 and Amazon Prime Music downloads. The same songs were also sampled using a PC with Windows Pro OS, Intel Core i9-9900K Coffee Lake 8-Core, 16-Thread, 3.6 GHz (5.0 GHz Turbo) LGA 1151 (300 Series) 95W with Noctua NH-D15S 140mm SSO2 D-Type Premium CPU Cooler, EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 KO GAMING Video Card, again with Amazon Prime Music.
The Jabra Sound+ was set to about 50% HearThrough and the equalizer to Neutral when using the Samsung.
Since one of the key considerations for many is the ‘value ratio:’ the quality of the audio reproduction versus the cost. For this reason, I have included a comparison with a pair of Boltune Wireless Earbuds BH024. The Jabra 85t lists at US$229.99 and the Boltune BH024 at US$59.99.
In the following, the first comment is based on the Jabra earbuds and the second on the Boltune.
Listening to Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon: Time, there was excellent separation of instruments, voices. All tones were clean and crisp. The bass was unmuddied, and very well balanced. The bells and symbols shined.
The Boltune 024s did reasonably well on the separation, but the overall sound lacked bandwidth- it was as if you compressed the dynamic range.
Adele He Won’t Go gave a good test of the buds’ range, cleanly handling the highs while keeping the bass impactful.
The Boltunes did fine on the highs but muddied the bass.
Listening to Leonard Bernstein conducting Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture, Op. 49 you can clearly differentiate the violins, oboes, trumpets and drums. As the crescendos built to the ‘canons,’ the bass drum explodes with a distinct roll off each time.
The Boltunes matched the Jabras in the softer sections but seemed more compressed in the build up to the ‘canons.’
Queen Play the Game was a treat- the voices were incredibly distinct against the beat of the percussions. The electronic tones and echo effects felt like you were in front of live production.
The Boltunes cleanly projected the electronic tones and effects, and the vocals were clear, but the result was like listening through a headset vs the Jabra feel of being in a live production.
A real test IMO of the sensitivity of the earbuds is in playing Arvo Pärt Tabula Rasa. This amazing score really tests the ability to cleanly play the strings along with the rest of the orchestra accompaniment in the background. The 85t produced perfect strings throughout their range with no distortion or sharpness while clearly preserving the bass and midrange.
The Boltunes matched the Jabras on cleanly projecting the strings but did not reproduce the bass as richly.
Beatles 2019 Mix Because really shows off the 85t’s ability to distinctly and cleanly separate the ethereal vocals from the electric spinet Baldwin harpsichord and Moog synthesizer.
The Boltune 024s were not as clean sounding, and did not do as well in differentiating the bass from the vocals
Hovergal Brian Gothic Symphony is a great piece to demonstrate whether earbuds can comfortably reproduce a range of instruments from piccolos to harps to timpani. The 85t truly provided a feeling of sitting in the center of a perfect acoustical hall during the performance.
The Boltunes faithfully reproduced the range of instruments but fell short of feeling live.
Second sound tests were done using CDs and a PC with Windows Pro OS, Intel Core i9-9900K Coffee Lake 8-Core, 16-Thread, 3.6 GHz (5.0 GHz Turbo) LGA 1151 (300 Series) 95W with Noctua NH-D15S 140mm SSO2 D-Type Premium CPU Cooler,,EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 KO GAMING Video Card, and an OWC Mercury Pro 16X Blu-ray unit.
The first CD test used Rodrigo y gabriela Satori. This percussion instrumental includes two acoustical guitars. It ranges from light distinct runs to fast, heavy instrumentals. The 85t beautifully separated and reproduced the stings from the ‘drum-like’ beats on the guitars, as well as the ability to hear their fingers slide along the strings.
The Boltunes matched the 85t in reproducing the percussion acoustics with only a slightly smaller perceived width of the sound.
Sanata’s Evil Ways provides an opportunity to see how well the earbuds can reproduce heavy instrumentals with vocals. The 85t produced crystal clear vocals, clean timbales, unmuddied bass. This was a digitally mastered edition, and to my ears, the music was too stereophonic for my taste.
Here the Boltunes did slightly better handling the heightened stereophonic effect of the digitally mastered edition. However, the bass was a little muted in comparison.
Andrea Bocelli Sacred Arias:Panis angelicus [Franck orch. Michelot] provided a sample of the ability to reproduce Bocelli’s voice against the coral and the background of the orchestra. The 85t shined in preserving the depth of Bocelli’s voice and even the harp against the coral and orchestra.
The Boltunes did a good job reproducing Bocelli’s voice, clearly and distinctly. However when the coral came in there was not as much separation and for example, Bocelli’s rolling of the “r”s was less clear.
KT Tunstall Drastic Fantastic White Bird tests the ability to reproduce a mix of electric guitar and solo vocals. With the 85t you get to cleanly hear KT Tunstall’s bluesy voice along with her fingers on the strings, crisp percussion, and super clear individual electronic bell tones.
The Boltunes nicely reproduced the vocal of KT Tunstall, the finger slides on the string, and the percussion. However, with a less real vs recorded feeling.
Preliminary Conclusions
Five out of a possible Five Clefs rating
Audio Reproduction:
The Jabra Elite 85t did an outstanding job of faithfully reproducing soundtracks ranging from rock to operatic, from electronic instrumental to acoustical. Regardless of the instrument or the vocalist, the sound was clean, crisp, and never distorted. In most cases the fidelity resulted in ones feeling like they were dropped into a live concert.
Comfort:
The Jabra Elite 85t were very comfortable for extended wear and were easy to put in and remove.
Build Quality:
The Jabra Elite 85t are very well designed, appear to be solidly built and yet lightweight. The charging/carrying case is equally well made. My only nit, so to speak, is that with the smooth sides of the 85t earbud, it can be a little difficult to remove from the case because of the strong magnets that ensure the bud connects with the charging posts.
Value:
The Jabra Elite 85t are in the mid to higher cost range of earbuds, and not quite four times the cost of the Boltunes BH024. However, you get a number of things on the 85t including ability to tailor the sound to your taste (and hearing), larger speakers, much more effective sound cancelling and greater richness to the sound than with the Boltunes. One area the Boltunes exceed the Jabras is in the waterproof rating. The Boltunes are rated at IPX8 while the Jabras are rated at IPX4. IPX4 – A device with a level 4 water resistance rating can survive splashes of water from any direction. IPX8 – A device with a level 8 water resistance rating can survive immersion in water deeper than 1m (usually up to 3m).[2]
JD: Thank you so much.
Insight - Daum Photography 