HarvickFan's stats
- Review count102
- Helpfulness votes467
- First reviewJanuary 20, 2015
- Last reviewMay 26, 2024
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating4.4
- Review comment count1
- Helpfulness votes1
- First review commentJune 19, 2016
- Last review commentJune 19, 2016
- Featured review comments0
Questions
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- Answer count17
- Helpfulness votes6
- First answerFebruary 18, 2015
- Last answerJanuary 19, 2022
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- Best answers2
Arlo Pro 2 keeps an eye on your home while you're away, in brilliant 1080p HD quality. Put the 100% wire-free, weather-resistant camera anywhere, indoors or out. Then, power it with the included rechargeable battery or plugged it in (when indoors) to access activity zones and 24/7 Continuous Video Recording upgrades. Use 2-way audio or remotely sound a 100+ device siren while catching every moment with night vision and advanced motion detection. You'll even get motion and sound-activated alerts and 7 days of free cloud video recordings. Arlo Pro 2 works with Amazon Alexa to make your smart home security even more simple and effective.
Customer Rating
4
Arlo Pro stands out above the rest
on November 19, 2017
Posted by: HarvickFan
from Fishers, IN
I’ve used the Arlo Pro 2 camera setup for the last 7-10 days and I can definitely say that The Arlo Pro is a great home security camera unit. I’ve used various other network connected security and motion cameras from a few different brands, and the Arlo Pro stacks up nicely with them. While the Arlo does suffer from some of the same annoyances as some of their competitors, the Arlo Pro is an amazing product.
Cameras:
My Arlo Pro came with (2) HD motion cameras and a magnetic wall mount for each. The cameras are a perfect size, not too large and feel very solidly built, lots of quality in the build. The cameras run on new rechargeable batteries, that depending on your frequency of use of Live video or motion capture, should last a very long time. Over my use of them for the last 10 days, the battery meter is still showing full, and that is with a mix of lots of motion detection and live mode viewing for this review. They can also be powered by a micro USB cable. You get one cable in the box, but if you want to use your own, be careful as the opening for the micro USB port on the back of the camera is very narrow. The supplied cable worked fine, but all of my other cables in my home did not, as the cable connection end was too wide. The powered connection is great if you want to use the cameras indoors, but since the cameras are weatherproof, it doesn’t make sense to power them outside, since having a micro USB cable plugged in will expose the inside of the camera to the elements. Plus, who really wants to run micro USB cables outside?
Base Station:
The Arlo Pro cameras connect to a base station. You connect the base station to your network via Ethernet and then sync the cameras to the base station. Now other cameras in this space generally connect directly to your network via Wi-Fi, so having a base station needing an Ethernet connection could seem like a negative, but I don’t think it is. In fact, I think it’s a positive, because compared with my other Wi-Fi only enabled smart cameras, the Arlo Pro seems to have the strongest connection and the least amount of lag time getting in and out of the videos. It almost seems that having the base station connect to the cameras directly improves the overall strength of the system, which is a huge plus for me. Definitely seems much quick to respond compared to other cameras I’ve used that were Wi-Fi only. I was able to get the whole system up and running in under 5 mins. Everything connected automatically and was simply to follow using the app. I did have one hiccup trying to connect my second camera, at first it did not recognize it. I closed and restarted the app and ran the sync camera tool again, and it was successful. The base station even has a built in siren if you want to use it as a quasi-home security system. if you see something that you don’t like on your video, and want to enable the siren, just push a button in the app. I will say, the siren is LOUD. It’s louder than my actual home security system alarms. And the base station gives simple to see LED light confirmations of network activity and cameras connected. The footprint is also very small which is nice, so sitting next to the router doesn’t take up that much more space.
Video Quality:
The video from the Arlo Pro is very nice. HD 1080p is what the cameras are rated and you can either keep them set there or drop the resolution down if you want, to 720p or 480p if you want to try and stretch the battery life. The video quality of both motion captures and live view recording is very very nice. Clean and clear and full of color. I never really noticed any lag or stuttering or any pixilation. The video is clear and smooth. The night vision clarity is also very very good. Stacked up against other cameras I’ve used, the Arlo Pro ranks up at the top in terms of the video quality, I was very impressed. You also want to make sure you have enough internet connection for the cameras as well. Have at least 2Mbps of upload speed headroom to use just for the cameras if you want to make sure the connection and video quality is good. Since they are network connected, task the network and your video is going to suffer.
Motion Capture and Live View:
I was very impressed with the motion capture of the Arlo Pro. Motion detected immediately fires off a ping to my smartphone and once you view the clips, the camera doesn’t hesitate to start recording, even when the motion was fast moving. This was the #1 complaint I’ve had with other motion detection cameras, that by the time I got the ping to check the camera, and when the camera started recording, the motion event was already over or I was looking at the back of someone walking away, etc. The Arlo Pro does not have that problem. It begins recoding immediately and you don’t miss a thing. The ping of the notification to the app is also very fast, allowing you to see the motion going on and make decisions or use the two way talk feature to communicate with whoever is on the other end of the camera. Going in to Live View is also very fast. Live View is a huge advantage, for when you want to proactively see what’s happening and record longer manual videos. The Arlo Pro shines in both areas here. I will say though, one issue I have was with the sensitivity of the motion capture. I was struggling to find a sweet spot to where I only got the notifications of motion I wanted, not blowing leaves or tree branch, or nothing at all because it was set too low. I was either getting slammed with notifications on some days, and not getting any on others. Something hopefully Netgear will improve upon. You can also set up Zones if the camera is powered by a cable, which helps greatly, really only notifying you of motion is a manually created zone, but not ideal for outdoors.
Arlo Pro APP:
The app is laid out very nicely. The app gives you three sections – Mode, Devices and Library. In the Mode section, this is where you can tell your Arlo Pro system what logic to use when capturing video. You have the options of Armed (motion is captured), Disarmed (no motion is captured but Live View is available), Schedule (where you can tell the Arlo Pro to record on certain dates/times), and Geofencing (where the Arlo Pro will respond to an Armed mode when your smartphone is outside the geofence area and the system sees you as “away”). These all work very well. The geofencing mode is my favorite. If I’m home, I tend to not want all my notifications coming to me, but once I leave, the system knows to kick over to Armed and start checking for motion capture, all without me having to go in and switch it myself. Love it. The Devices section shows you a dashboard of your connected cameras. You see the last image that the camera recorded and the timestamp, and you have the LIVE button right there to go into each camera in Live View. From here you also have all the settings for each camera, the connection status, the battery status and how many motion events the camera has recorded. The Library section is where the app stores all of your recorded events. You see a running account of all the videos recorded, and have the option to view them and also favorite, share, download or delete.
All in all the Arlo Pro is a wonderful system for helping secure your home and give you piece of mind.
Cameras:
My Arlo Pro came with (2) HD motion cameras and a magnetic wall mount for each. The cameras are a perfect size, not too large and feel very solidly built, lots of quality in the build. The cameras run on new rechargeable batteries, that depending on your frequency of use of Live video or motion capture, should last a very long time. Over my use of them for the last 10 days, the battery meter is still showing full, and that is with a mix of lots of motion detection and live mode viewing for this review. They can also be powered by a micro USB cable. You get one cable in the box, but if you want to use your own, be careful as the opening for the micro USB port on the back of the camera is very narrow. The supplied cable worked fine, but all of my other cables in my home did not, as the cable connection end was too wide. The powered connection is great if you want to use the cameras indoors, but since the cameras are weatherproof, it doesn’t make sense to power them outside, since having a micro USB cable plugged in will expose the inside of the camera to the elements. Plus, who really wants to run micro USB cables outside?
Base Station:
The Arlo Pro cameras connect to a base station. You connect the base station to your network via Ethernet and then sync the cameras to the base station. Now other cameras in this space generally connect directly to your network via Wi-Fi, so having a base station needing an Ethernet connection could seem like a negative, but I don’t think it is. In fact, I think it’s a positive, because compared with my other Wi-Fi only enabled smart cameras, the Arlo Pro seems to have the strongest connection and the least amount of lag time getting in and out of the videos. It almost seems that having the base station connect to the cameras directly improves the overall strength of the system, which is a huge plus for me. Definitely seems much quick to respond compared to other cameras I’ve used that were Wi-Fi only. I was able to get the whole system up and running in under 5 mins. Everything connected automatically and was simply to follow using the app. I did have one hiccup trying to connect my second camera, at first it did not recognize it. I closed and restarted the app and ran the sync camera tool again, and it was successful. The base station even has a built in siren if you want to use it as a quasi-home security system. if you see something that you don’t like on your video, and want to enable the siren, just push a button in the app. I will say, the siren is LOUD. It’s louder than my actual home security system alarms. And the base station gives simple to see LED light confirmations of network activity and cameras connected. The footprint is also very small which is nice, so sitting next to the router doesn’t take up that much more space.
Video Quality:
The video from the Arlo Pro is very nice. HD 1080p is what the cameras are rated and you can either keep them set there or drop the resolution down if you want, to 720p or 480p if you want to try and stretch the battery life. The video quality of both motion captures and live view recording is very very nice. Clean and clear and full of color. I never really noticed any lag or stuttering or any pixilation. The video is clear and smooth. The night vision clarity is also very very good. Stacked up against other cameras I’ve used, the Arlo Pro ranks up at the top in terms of the video quality, I was very impressed. You also want to make sure you have enough internet connection for the cameras as well. Have at least 2Mbps of upload speed headroom to use just for the cameras if you want to make sure the connection and video quality is good. Since they are network connected, task the network and your video is going to suffer.
Motion Capture and Live View:
I was very impressed with the motion capture of the Arlo Pro. Motion detected immediately fires off a ping to my smartphone and once you view the clips, the camera doesn’t hesitate to start recording, even when the motion was fast moving. This was the #1 complaint I’ve had with other motion detection cameras, that by the time I got the ping to check the camera, and when the camera started recording, the motion event was already over or I was looking at the back of someone walking away, etc. The Arlo Pro does not have that problem. It begins recoding immediately and you don’t miss a thing. The ping of the notification to the app is also very fast, allowing you to see the motion going on and make decisions or use the two way talk feature to communicate with whoever is on the other end of the camera. Going in to Live View is also very fast. Live View is a huge advantage, for when you want to proactively see what’s happening and record longer manual videos. The Arlo Pro shines in both areas here. I will say though, one issue I have was with the sensitivity of the motion capture. I was struggling to find a sweet spot to where I only got the notifications of motion I wanted, not blowing leaves or tree branch, or nothing at all because it was set too low. I was either getting slammed with notifications on some days, and not getting any on others. Something hopefully Netgear will improve upon. You can also set up Zones if the camera is powered by a cable, which helps greatly, really only notifying you of motion is a manually created zone, but not ideal for outdoors.
Arlo Pro APP:
The app is laid out very nicely. The app gives you three sections – Mode, Devices and Library. In the Mode section, this is where you can tell your Arlo Pro system what logic to use when capturing video. You have the options of Armed (motion is captured), Disarmed (no motion is captured but Live View is available), Schedule (where you can tell the Arlo Pro to record on certain dates/times), and Geofencing (where the Arlo Pro will respond to an Armed mode when your smartphone is outside the geofence area and the system sees you as “away”). These all work very well. The geofencing mode is my favorite. If I’m home, I tend to not want all my notifications coming to me, but once I leave, the system knows to kick over to Armed and start checking for motion capture, all without me having to go in and switch it myself. Love it. The Devices section shows you a dashboard of your connected cameras. You see the last image that the camera recorded and the timestamp, and you have the LIVE button right there to go into each camera in Live View. From here you also have all the settings for each camera, the connection status, the battery status and how many motion events the camera has recorded. The Library section is where the app stores all of your recorded events. You see a running account of all the videos recorded, and have the option to view them and also favorite, share, download or delete.
All in all the Arlo Pro is a wonderful system for helping secure your home and give you piece of mind.
My Best Buy number: 0544434484
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+39points
70of 101voted this as helpful.
Blast through the newest video games with this HP Omen desktop computer. Its 8GB of DDR4 RAM and AMD Ryzen 5 processor let programs operate quickly and provide smooth transitions between applications. This HP Omen desktop computer includes a 1TB hard drive for ample storage and an AMD Radeon graphics card for crisp images.
Customer Rating
5
Beast of a Machine
on November 9, 2017
Posted by: HarvickFan
from Fishers, IN
Tons of speed, storage and room to upgrade for years to come. This HP OMEN is a beast of a machine that can handle normal day to day computing tasks like web surfing, word processing and spreadsheet reporting, image editing, etc. as well as gaming and video editing. You name it, this machine can handle it.
Design:
This tower has a pretty large footprint. Not the biggest out there, but be prepared to give it enough room wherever you’re planning to place it. It’s not something that might tuck neatly away in a desk. The look is awesome, with a nice black and carbon fiber like finish. When powered on the front glows a cool red and gives it a very ominous feel. All of the connections are very easy to get to, with lots of USB ports running down the front of the machine, and the rest of the USB, HDMI, Display Port etc around back. The front top panels open up like Lamborghini doors, and this is where you can install extra HDDs. Simply pop the doors open, slide in your HDDs and you’re ready to go. Internal expansion if very easy, simply pop one button on the back of the unit and the side opens up giving you full access to all the components inside if you want to upgrade RAM or other components.
Connections and Software:
Tons and tons of connections, over 25 in all. You have 8 USB 3.0 connections as well as a few USB 2.0 and even a USB-C port. Whatever you will want to connect to this tower, you have the room to do it. Not only the hard line connections, but it also has Bluetooth 4.2 and it’s very easy to connect your Bluetooth devices. Network connections include a Gigabit Ethernet jack as well as Wireless-AC up to 867 Mbps. This makes the unit so flexible in you don’t have to have a landline Ethernet cable to get online, simply join your AC wireless network and you’re blazing away. This also makes it very easy to take the tower with you if you need to, and not worry about network connections where you’ll be. as long as there is a wi-fi network, you’re good to go. There is no VGA connection, so be aware of that when thinking about your monitor connections. You get HDMI and Display ports here. However they do not give you any cables in the box, so be ready to have HDMI, DisplayPort or adapters on hand in order to get up and running. It runs Windows 10 Home 64-bit and gives you the option to activate Office 365 if you want. Very few bloatware items come preinstalled which is very welcome, the machine comes lean and mean. Some other software items that do come installed are HP Recovery Manager, HP Support Assistant, Netflix, McAfee LiveSafe (1 year subscription), CyberLink Power Media Player, Dropbox (25 GB Cloud Storage) (free for 1 year), HP JumpStart, HP Orbit, DTS Headphone X and HP OMEN Command Center.
I will say the coolest feature of the PC so far for me has been the HP OMEN Command Center. Here you can fine tune the PC to get the most performance. You can set CPU/GPU/RAM settings and configurations and even Overclock. Very easy to get started, especially if you’re not familiar with Overclocking, and you can really get this thing to scream performance wise. And if you ever run into trouble, you can always reset to defaults, so very fun to play with.
Performance:
Right out of the box, this thing flies. I was skeptical of only 8GB of RAM, but that was quickly put to rest once I started to push the machine. I paced it through normal computing and some gaming scenarios, and it never flinched or lagged once. The 3.2 Ghz AMD Ryzen (this is the first computer I’ve used with this chip) performs very well under all scenarios, coupled with the onboard 8GB of DDR4 2400 RAM. It never slowed or felt sluggish, it feels nice and zippy all around. Graphics render smooth and accurately thanks to the AMD Radeon RX580 GPU running with 4GB of DDR5 video RAM. Gaming scenarios in both standard and high frame rates felt very snappy and never lagged. Video and image editing was also very nice, never feeling sluggish even when tasking the machine pretty heavily. You can also get into the HP OMEN Command Center and fine tune any of the specs of the CPU/GPU and RAM and squeeze all the performance you can out of this PC, and put the performance exactly where you need it. The PC comes set up with the 256GB SSD loaded with the OS and operating software, leaving you the full 1TB 7200 RPM for storage, and also comes with a third partition for just recovery. I’ve been easily able to push dual HP monitors at 4K resolution.
So impressed with this machine.
My Best Buy number: 0544434484
Mobile Submission: True
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+2points
2of 2voted this as helpful.
Expand your workspace or gaming experience with this 27-inch Acer widescreen monitor. An antiglare LED backlit screen provides easy viewing from any angle and even in direct light situations, and 1920 x 1080 resolution delivers on graphics. This Acer widescreen monitor features an ultra-slim design that doesn't take up a lot of space.
Customer Rating
3
Decent everyday monitor, but no Wow factor
on October 15, 2017
Posted by: HarvickFan
This monitor looks beautiful. The display is edge to edge with minimal bezels, and has a very nice clean sleek look overall. You can adjust the monitor viewing angle front to back, but not up or down. It accepts both digital and analog connections which is nice.
Once out of the box and powered on you'll probably need to do a quick calibration. Colors were noticeably washed out and very light to me. Overall detail was good, but nothing spectacular. I was able to adjust some settings and get a pretty nice overall picture for general use. Software applications look fine (like MS Office, Adobe Acrobat, etc.) very clear and detailed. Video and gaming looked just 'ok' which is fine, but I was a little disappointed in, especially since the contrast ration on this monitor is so high and with its 4ms response time. I could never get this monitor to deliver a nice, sold punchy crisp and colorful display overall. It is LED which is nice, but not IPS. The anti-glare treatment on the screen was also very nice, and the monitor does get pretty bright.
This monitor is just fine to be a daily driver for those wanting sheer size and at least 1080p resolution for doing things like spreadsheets, emails and light web surfing. If you're wanting to do things like heavy video watching/editing, image editing or gaming, you would want to look elsewhere. With the super competitiveness in the 27" monitor space these days, this monitor is not priced competitively at all for it's features and display output that you receive. Lots of options out there these days for better displays with IPS LED at lower prices.
My Best Buy number: 0544434484
Mobile Submission: False
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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0points
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Work with your files on the road via this My Cloud Home personal storage device. Mobile, desktop and web-based apps let you access to up to 4TB of files from anywhere there's an internet connection. This My Cloud Home personal storage device plugs directly into your Wi-Fi router for convenient centralized file storage and backups.
Customer Rating
4
Great Entry Level Home Cloud
on October 2, 2017
Posted by: HarvickFan
Had this unit out of the box and up and running on my network in probably 10 mins. It uses a mobile app for setup, and it's pretty straightforward. I then installed the WD desktop software so I can view this drive and my other WD 8TB My Book from one utility.
Once up and running you can move files to the drive and being network enabled you can then view all those files on any connected device, you just need the WD app for mobile or desktop. You can also share files from your cloud drive to external parties by creating a unique URL to the file, you can also share access to folders as well. the drive can also be set up to auto backup your mobile device, and is also Apple Time Machine compatible.
The mobile app UI is ok, not anything fantastic. Some things can be very clunky to navigate through, especially when you are looking at very large folders of images. But performance so far of the drive and apps has been very good.
My Best Buy number: 0544434484
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
Grill and brown food to tasty perfection all-year-round with virtually no smoke thanks to the Philips Smoke-less Indoor BBQ Grill. Advanced infrared technology and special reflectors guide heat to the grid for delicious, evenly grilled food. The drip tray underneath remains cool so there is up to 80% less smoke and minimal splattering when cooking.
Customer Rating
4
Nice little grill, niche usage potential
on July 31, 2017
Posted by: HarvickFan
Overall the grill is very nice. Nice sturdy construction, nice metal cooking grates with stay cool handles. You can have the grill out of the box and cooking food in about 5 mins (after wiping down the cooking surfaces of course.) Heats up very fast, but does have a limited temperature limit as expected. It took about 5 mins for the grill to heat to a temp capable of cooking hot dogs, and maybe 10 mins for burgers (to get the metal grill hot enough.) Cooking time seemed a bit longer than expected, but once done the food was just fine. All of the grease drips away into the bottom pan which then simply slides right out for super fast cleaning. It also has a Stay Warm setting, so if you're done cooking but need to let the food sit for a bit, you can keep a steady warm heat underneath. And as advertised, little to no smoke at all, which makes it perfect for indoors. So it makes this grill perfect for winter months, or maybe apartment or condo owners. Even would be great as a tailgate grill if your car has an outlet or can power an extension cord. Simply plug this thing in and you're good to go.
My Best Buy number: 0544434484
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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0points
0of 0voted this as helpful.
Work and play beautifully with this 13-inch 2-in-1 Dell XPS convertible laptop. Its InfinityEdge display and FHD resolution provide a portable home theater viewing experience, and it handles high-bandwidth multitasking thanks to its Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM. The 512GB solid-state drive of this Dell XPS convertible laptop secures stored applications and files. Learn more.
Customer Rating
5
Excellent Build, Comapct Size, Super Fast Perf
on July 10, 2017
Posted by: HarvickFan
I can start by saying the laptop is beautiful. The design and aesthetic are awesome! The Infinity Edge display is gorgeous, although has enough of a bezel around the edge that calling it “Infinity Display” is a little misleading. Build quality feels solid and the aluminum and carbon fiber design makes the laptop feel premium, to go along with the price tag. The overall size of the computer is very compact and is a perfect companion for travel, while maintaining that full 13” Full HD display. In fact, this one only takes up about 2/3 of the overall size of my other “fruit” branded laptop of the same size, and is much thinner.
Spoiler Alert however, I have the black model and it’s a fingerprint magnet. I mean, prepare a soft cloth and keep it nearby if fingerprints annoy you because this thing is covered in very noticeable fingerprints VERY easily.
Out of the box it booted very quickly and I had the computer up and running in about 10 mins. I will say, one thing I wasn’t expecting to have to deal with, is how to efficiently open the lid. Yep, opening this thing is a bit tricky. The display lid sits a tad forward of the bottom lip when closed, so the traditional way you would think of opening the display lid don’t really work here. I have found that I need to hold the laptop on both sides and use my thumbs to pop the display open. Not a deal breaker, but very odd that opening the lid is so frustrating, and I’ve seen other reviews that state this same fact, so something for Dell to think about going forward.
After a quick download and install of all the necessary Windows 10 and software updates, I was up and running. The 7th Gen Core i7 and 16GB of RAM means one thing – this thing flies. It barely needs to lift a finger to do anything that’s not resource intensive (gaming or heavy video editing, etc.) or when you’re not super multitasking. But with those specs, you can do all of those things. Now the graphics card is not for full blown PC gaming enthusiasts, but this laptop is not aimed at them. But you can do PC gaming and the laptop handles it admirably. I was also able to open multiple programs at once, both on board and internet connected, and the laptop never skipped a beat. Never once, have I had to wait for anything to happen. And doing everything on this Full HD display is a treat. The colors are true and the resolution is superb. With couple all of this with a SSD HDD, it makes virtually no noise, and everything is super-fast and snappy, as there are no moving parts here. Boot time from OFF is about 8-10 secs to the DELL load screen and about 15-20 seconds overall to get to the Windows 10 Home screen. Boot time from sleep is about 1-3 seconds.
The stereo speakers are nice, and are a nice upgrade to standard laptop audio thanks to the Waves MaxxAudio tuning, but nothing that makes you forget this is still a laptop and the sound is from a laptop.
Connections are something to consider with this one for sure. You get (2) USB-C ports and one of them is a branded Thunderbolt port, and it does come with a USB-C to USB-3 dongle, to attach other legacy USB devices. USB-C is becoming the standard, so nothing I wasn’t expecting here. The USB-C ports also power external devices, so a nice touch there. The only other ports you get are a headphone jack and a MicroSD card slot. Now the MicroSD card slot I find sort of funny. I and most people I know don’t use MicroSD for portability or transferring files from device to device. Those are primarily for onboard storage expansion. So having a MicroSD card slot is sort of a waste to me. Having a full size SD card slot would have been nice, allowing me to transfer files from other devices and cameras to the laptop, but if you wanted onboard expansion with this unit, you have it would the MicroSD slot.
Network connections are fast and true. This unit supports AC wireless as you’d expect, and the connection is fast and strong. I get full connection link rate of 866Mbs to my router at all times and the wireless card provides super-fast internet connectivity as well. The Bluetooth connectivity is also very good here as well, great for attaching Bluetooth peripherals like keyboards and mice, etc. leaving you the ability to use the USB-C ports for other devices like monitors and external HDDs.
The webcam is placed sort of oddly below the display, and the 720p resolution does a serviceable job at video streaming on apps like Skype, and if you convert the laptop to “tent” mode, you can have the camera placed at the top of the screen so you’re not staring oddly down at the bottom of the display during video calls.
Keyboard is fast and responsive and the backlight is nice. Nice response and click travel to the keys. The fingerprint sensor is also very fast and has not failed once for me.
The convertible aspect of this unit is what I was really interested in trying. And it didn’t disappoint. Converting to tablet mode is effortless. Simply flip the display back, accept the message to convert to tablet mode and that’s it. You can orient the display in either landscape or portrait depending on the app you’re using, and the touch screen felt super snappy and responsive. I was very impressed with the screen touch responsiveness. No lag no dead spots, it was as close to using a smartphone or tablet that I can imagine. Very impressed.
Overall I love this laptop and it’s going to replace my other “fruit” branded model for most of my laptop needs, including travel. Great unit!
My Best Buy number: 0544434484
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+8points
8of 8voted this as helpful.
Enjoy tunes outdoors with this Nyne Rebel wireless speaker. With one-touch NFC connectivity and Bluetooth 4.0, it can queue music on any smartphone or tablet, and its water-resistant and long battery life keep your party's soundtrack pumping. This Nyne Rebel wireless speaker has auxiliary inputs and outputs for karaoke microphones and additional speakers.
Customer Rating
5
Simply Amazing
on June 23, 2017
Posted by: HarvickFan
This speaker is simply amazing. It’s much bigger than you think it is, even after looking at the dimensions, this thing is huge. And because of that – the sound is HUGE! I had the unit out of the box, plugged in and charging and paired with my device is no more than 2 minutes. The sound quality blew me away. One thing that makes this speaker’s sound so much larger than others in this price range – it has internal 40W of RMS power and a dedicated subwoofer. Most Bluetooth speakers simply lack bass. Not this one. It has bass for days. The sound is loud and clear and has that rich bass that lacks on just about everything else. The highs can be a bit harsh at higher volumes, but a source side EQ can help that. Overall the unit has 2 active drivers, 2 active tweeters and that active subwoofer, amazing for a speaker in this price range. It has a nice premium feel and the construction is solid, and it’s overall a soft rubber type of material that can withstand plenty of abuse. It also has nice soft rubber feet so the speaker stays in place, even when the bass is thumping.
Some other great features include the integrated carrying handle, because like I said, this thing is big. Having a handle on the back of the speaker to grab and go is awesome. It has IPX rated splash resistance so no worries taking it outside on the deck or too the beach. Just don’t submerse this thing or get it soaked in the rain. The internal power bank is a great feature for when you are on the go, and want to keep your phone charged while you play your music. It didn’t seem to support fast charging on my Samsung S8+, but just the fact that it has this internal power bank is feature enough for me. The battery states it can get 12 hours of playtime on a full charge, and I was seeing about 10 on mine. It also has a built in mic for hands free calling on your cellphone, and it worked just fine. The AUX in/out is a nice touch. You can either push another speaker, or even add a karaoke mic for some fun. I did not test the AUX features for this review.
A couple things that could be better. The power supply is proprietary. Now this might be because of the type of current needed to charge the battery that then drives the 40W RMS and speaker array here, but it would have been nice to see the power supply accept USB standards at this point, even USB-C. So if you take the speaker with you, make sure it is fully charged, or you’ll need to carry the external power supply with you and have a place to plug it in. Slight drawback to the design here because where this thing is going to shine is being outside and taking this sort of sound with you where normal powered speakers can’t go. It also says that you can connect to the speaker from 100’ away. There is really no way to test this. I don’t know if that is even true or not. Bluetooth connected range is about 30-35 feet. And even though the S8+ I was using as the source has Bluetooth 5, it’s not activated in the Nougat software of Android to utilize it. So just expect to get standard Bluetooth range of connectivity here of about 30 feet.
Definitely give this Nyne speaker unit some serious consideration if you’re looking for optimum sound that’s otherwise nonexistent in other units with this sort of portability. It’s amazing!
My Best Buy number: 0544434484
Mobile Submission: False
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Enjoy optimal sound clarity from the Pure Digital Drive system of these Audio-Technica wireless over-ear headphones. You can easily answer calls or control the volume with the built-in microphone and tap controls. These Audio-Technica wireless over-ear headphones hold a charge for up to 15 hours to get you through long playlists.
Customer Rating
4
Amazing Sound Quality
on June 7, 2017
Posted by: HarvickFan
I want to start by saying, the sound quality of these headphones is amazing. Music and audio is crystal clear, I mean so much so that in side by side comparison with other high end headphones, I’m hearing things on the ATH-DSR7BT in much more detail. They remind me of studio quality reference headphones. The fact that these headphones contain no internal DAC due to the exclusive Pure Digital Drive system (that keeps the signal 100% digital from source to output) really stands out here.
When you first unbox them, you’ll notice how light they are, but feel very sturdy and well built. The headband is not as wide as comparable headphones, and at first I thought I would notice this while wearing, but I actually don’t notice the headband at all, so maybe the narrower the better, and it definitely helps the overall weight remain low. The ear cups are nice and large and fit comfortably over the ear. The ear cups are foam padded with memory foam and allowed me to wear these for hours at a time and never feel ear fatigue. All the controls are located on the ear cups for power, volume, Bluetooth and NFC, mic and LED statuses, etc. Battery life is stated at about 15 hours on a full charge and I would say that’s fairly accurate in my usage as well.
The drivers are 45 MM “True Motion Drivers” that reproduce very clear highs, solid mids and very tight bass. Now the spec sheet shows the frequency range on these to be 5 – 40,000 Hz, so I was very excited to see how they handled very bass heavy audio. While they do a great job of handling the bass, no distortion at all even at loud volumes, the bass does seem sort of sterile and very tight. Like I mentioned earlier, they are almost reference style in sound, never letting the bottom end truly breathe. Sound is consistent across the entire spectrum, but I would have loved if these could have allowed for a more “boomy” bottom end feel. In my comparison tests with other similar range headphones, the ATH-DSR7BT just lacked a little bit of the bottom end that I think customers would want to hear out of headphones like these. I was using both a flat EQ and a very Bass heavy EQ setting. This might be a case where having no internal DAC is a drawback? Not sure, maybe more for an audio engineer to discuss, haha. Low end is nice and tight, just not enough of it for my taste, these leave me wanting more bass. Maybe an update to 50 MM drivers would help.
Another great feature is the ability to support Qualcomm aptX HD, aptX, AAC and SBC codecs, enabling wireless transmission with a resolution up to 24-bit/48kHz. If you consistently source your audio with an HD resolution, these will shine.
The internal mic is great for telephone calls, and the simply tap gestures for answering and ending calls is very nice and easy. This pair also come with a very nice carrying case.
My Best Buy number: 0544434448
I would recommend this to a friend!
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We know pets makes messes. Whether it's tracked-in mud or bathroom accidents, BISSELL® ProHeat 2X® Revolution® Pet Pro Plus carpet cleaner handles those though pet messes with its exclusive Pet Pro Cleanup System. This system includes a CleanShot® pretreater to remove spots and stains; the 2-in-1 Pet Upholstery Tool to remove pet hair, stains and odors from upholstery, a trial-size of BISSELL® PET PRO OXY Urine Eliminator formula, and an EZ Clean Brush Roll Cover to make maintaining the machine easy. When used in MAX Clean Mode, you get powerful cleaning that outcleans the leading rental*** and leaves carpet dry in about 30 minutes with Express Clean Mode.** All of this cleaning power comes in a lightweight and maneuverable machine with a low-profile foot that gets under furniture. But this machine doesn't just pick up after pets, it helps save them, too. BISSELL® proudly supports BISSELL Pet Foundation® and its mission to help save homeless pets. When you buy a BISSELL product, you help save pets, too. We’re proud to design products that help make pet messes, odors and pet homelessness disappear.***Cleaning results based on ASTM F2828 using BISSELL PET PRO OXY Urine Eliminator formula in MAX clean mode against the Rug Doctor Mighty Pro X3 carpet cleaner using their top selling formula.**Express Clean Mode (reference instruction in user guide). Tested on new carpet with protectant. Results may vary.
Customer Rating
4
Great Cleaner
on May 27, 2017
Posted by: HarvickFan
Very easy to assemble and was much lighter than I anticipated. Comes with two trial bottles of cleaner and antibacterial solutions in the box which is nice. You can start cleaning immediately. The extra large water tank is great, especially if you are cleaning large areas. Greatly reduces the number of stops and refills. Two cleaning modes work great, depending on the type of soil or carpet area you need clean, however we did find that Deep Clean tended to leave the carpet a little wetter than we would like. The dual power brushes really get the carpet super clean, and you can definitely see hair and debris picked up that even your vacuum left behind. I'm not sure what makes this a "pet" specific model per se, but it works great on pet hair and stains without a doubt. Also, the moniker "ProHeat" can be misleading, as there in no onboard heater. I even looked on Bissell's website, thinking I was missing something, and yes there is no heater on this unit. It has a heatwave technology that works with hot tap water you add. So just FYI. Plenty of cable and hose length so you have pretty unlimited mobility. Cleaning the unit is a breeze, and a great touch that you have access to get to the rollers and clean them off.
My Best Buy number: 0544434484
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Take your tunes anywhere with this LifeProof AQUAPHONICS speaker. This floating waterproof device is submersible in up to 1m of water for 30 minutes, and it deflects damage from snow, ice and dirt. Pair this LifeProof AQUAPHONICS speaker with up to eight Bluetooth devices, and use the included dry box for storing keys and cards.
Customer Rating
3
Great Design - Only OK speaker
on May 11, 2017
Posted by: HarvickFan
Very well built, solid construction and very polished look and feel. Speaker is extremely sturdy and can resist falls and bumps easily. Water resistance is also very nice. And that is going to be the reason you want to buy this speaker. The audio quality is only OK. Sound is very flat with an upper midrange tone. Even when using devices that can EQ the audio source to decrease mids and increase bass, this speaker did not perform well. Bass is almost non-existent. It does get very loud, so it’s great for outdoors when you need to cover lots of area, and may not be that concerned with audio quality. Very easy controls and ports. And the hideaway stored compartment is awesome, especially if you are outdoors or on a boat or at the beach, keeps your personal items like credit cards or cash safe and secure and dry. So if you need a speaker that’s rough and sturdy and can handle anything the outdoors throws at it, this is the speaker for you. If you are looking for a speaker that sounds amazing, you need to keep looking.
My Best Buy number: 0544434484
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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HarvickFan's Review Comments
Take security videos efficiently and simply with the Ring Stick Up Cam. The green-conscious rechargeable battery renders 6-12 months of battery life between recharges, while infrared LEDs let you operate this camera during the day or night. The secure quick-release mount adds to the installation ease of the Ring Stick Up Cam.
Overall3 out of 5
3 out of 5This camera is Great, except the actual video!
By Jason
I love everything about this camera. From the form and function to the ease of setup (less than 2 mins) to mounting it wherever I want. The app is great, the two way communication is great. The motion zones work perfectly once you get used to setting them based on your environment and traffic, etc. The cloud storage option is amazing considering what you get for the price you pay. Everything is amazing, except the actual video quality of the camera. It's supposed to be 720p. It is not, at least not the unit that I have. My video quality is so heavily pixelated most of the time, that it renders having this camera in the first place, useless. The image attached to this review is an completely unedited screen grab from a recent video recording. I've been working with the Ring support, and they have been great, however they kept almost insisting that the reason for the pixelation was due to my wi-fi connection. I have Xfinity cable internet with 100mbps downstream and 25mbps upstream, and I use a Linksys EA9500 router that is about 12-15 feet from where the camera is mounted. Wi-fi signal is not the issue at all. I exchanged speed test screen shots and other details with the Ring support, and after discussing with them they have advised me to return this unit and exchange it for another one. They have looked at my videos and agree the video quality should be better than what I'm seeing. So I will do that and update this review if I do see better results with the new unit. Wish me luck!
HarvickFan
UPDATE
June 19, 2016
So I returned the previous unit and exchanged for a new one, at the advice of the Ring support team. The new unit is up and running and I can say the video is better. So far so good!
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HarvickFan's Questions
HarvickFan has not submitted any questions.
It’s easy to transform your home into a safe haven with SimpliSafe’s award-winning security system. Everything is simple to set up, effortless to use, and designed to do one thing only: keep your home and family safe. Indoor and outdoor security cameras let you see everything happening in full HD. So you can spot trouble before it comes knocking and capture the evidence if it does. And if someone tries to break in, the burglary sensors will sound the alarm right away. But that’s not all. Whenever your alarm goes off, we’ll call you and send police, firefighters, or ambulances to your door in a snap — and stay on the line with you until they arrive. So no matter where you are or what you’re doing, your home is protected 24/7.
Is a landline phone required for monitoring?
No, the unit comes with a cellular radio installed in the base station.
2 years, 4 months ago
by
HarvickFan
Worry less about dead batteries with this myCharge HUBXTRA power bank. It has built-in wall prongs to charge up to three devices at once, and the USB-A port, Lightning and micro-USB cables power electronics of different sizes. Charge devices up to 65 percent faster with the hyper-charge capability of this myCharge HUBXTRA power bank.
Does this work for iPhone 12!
Yes, this is a MagSafe charger so iPhone 12/13 series either without a case, or with a MagSafe compatible case.
2 years, 6 months ago
by
HarvickFan
Nighthawk AC2600 Smart Wi-Fi Router accelerates your Wi-Fi for Ultra HD 4K streaming to multiple devices. It offers extreme Wi-Fi speed for gaming - up to 2600 Mbps and uninterrupted video streaming with advanced QoS for applications such as YouTube, Netflix and others. High-power amplifiers and external antennas deliver range throughout very large homes. Implicit beamforming improves Wi-Fi speed and range on all mobile devices such as iPhone, iPad, and Android. The Nighthawk app lets you get the most out of your router performance with customized settings.
My 2018 Samsung UN43NU6900 smart tv only supports 2.4 ghz. Will this router work?
Yes it supports 2.4 and 5 Ghz channels and backwards compatible with all wifi 5 and previous devices.
4 years, 5 months ago
by
HarvickFan
eufy eufyCam 2, 2-Camera Surveillance System: See everything that happens around your home in 1080p HD with this eufy eufyCam 2 kit. Quick and easy to set up, two wireless cameras and a home base provide all that you need to get started, while smart integration ensures you can easily connect to other smart devices. This eufy eufyCam 2 kit provides 365 days of use from a single charge for continuous observation.
How many cameras can connect to the home base?
Eufy states that the system can pair up to 16 cameras
4 years, 6 months ago
by
HarvickFan
Watch movies or the big game with this VIZIO HDR smart TV. The screen measures 74.5 inches diagonally so everyone in the room can view content clearly. With Apple AirPlay and HomeKit compatibility, you can use Siri to send photos and videos from your devices. This VIZIO HDR smart TV features 4K resolution for vivid images and sharp details, while the 240ms refresh rate allows for high frame rates.
How is the upscaling on the Vizio Quantum X ang gaming ?
Enjoy wireless device charging with this versatile Belkin BOOST UP charging dock. A 7.5W charging pad rapidly powers up a variety of iPhones, while a 5W magnetic charging module does the same for your Apple watch. This Belkin BOOST UP charging dock features a 5W USB-A port for charging compatible devices and comes with a compact AC adapter for quick installation.
Can the iPhone charge in the landscape position?
No, in landscape position the phone does not sit well against the stand and does not contact the charging coils.
5 years ago
by
HarvickFan
Dive into your favorite games with this Alienware wireless gaming headset. A noise-cancelling microphone keeps your voice clear as you call out commands to teammates, and 7.1 virtual surround sound enhances the audio quality so you never miss a whisper. Featuring two custom lighting zones and 6.8 million colors, this Alienware wireless gaming headset lets you create a custom look that accents your signature gaming style.
Are they compatible to Xbox one?
Dive into your favorite games with this Alienware wireless gaming headset. A noise-cancelling microphone keeps your voice clear as you call out commands to teammates, and 7.1 virtual surround sound enhances the audio quality so you never miss a whisper. Featuring two custom lighting zones and 6.8 million colors, this Alienware wireless gaming headset lets you create a custom look that accents your signature gaming style.
This an awesome headset works great and it’s super cool looking
Yes, this headset is truly amazing. I've been using them everyday and they are the best pair i've used
5 years, 8 months ago
by
HarvickFan
Dive into your favorite games with this Alienware wireless gaming headset. A noise-cancelling microphone keeps your voice clear as you call out commands to teammates, and 7.1 virtual surround sound enhances the audio quality so you never miss a whisper. Featuring two custom lighting zones and 6.8 million colors, this Alienware wireless gaming headset lets you create a custom look that accents your signature gaming style.
Are they compatible to Xbox one?
Nest Doorbell (Wired) lets you know who’s there, so you never miss a thing. It replaces your existing wired doorbell and delivers HD video and bright, crisp images, even at night. It’s designed to show you everything at your doorstep — people head to toe or packages on the ground. And with 24/7 streaming, you can check in anytime. Or go back and look at a 3-hour snapshot history to see what happened.*
How immediate is the notification to your smartphone? My current security has a slight delay but enough that the person is usually gone by time I try to respond.
In my use of the Nest Hello, if someone pushes the doorbell button, the notification is instantaneous, the Nest app chimes my phone alongside our doorbell chime ringing in the house.
6 years, 2 months ago
by
HarvickFan