Author: DJ Kunkel

Great price with great performance. Today I’m reviewing a 500GB Western Digital Blue 3D NAND M.2 solid state drive. As you might know, WD color codes their drives for the use case they are designed for. Reds are for network attached storage devices like Drobo and professional gear, green for power efficiency, black for raw performance, and blue for lower-cost all-around everyday use. That is the market that this device is geared toward, and if you are upgrading from a standard spinning disk, building a new office computer, upgrading a laptop, or setting up a lower cost gaming rig, this…

Activity tracker helped goals become reality. I had the pleasure of reviewing a new MIO Slice Activity Tracker over the past couple of weeks, and I’m impressed with its simplicity, style, and function. You will find in the box a well designed, comfortable, and surprisingly thin fitness watch (thickest part is slightly less that 1/2 inch), as well as a simple well-designed magnetically attaching charger that connects to any free USB port or USB wall charger. The watch features a non-replaceable rubber-like band that isn’t too hot to wear and is quite comfortable and easy to adjust. The only instructions you…

Mad Catz gaming mouse is impressive after standard PC mouses. I’m reviewing the Mad Catz RAT8 optical gaming mouse. A highly configurable, reliable, and well built optical mouse. I will admit at first I was a little put off by its very industrial, almost steam-punk design. I found myself cracking up a little as I thought a mouse with all these features and customization couldn’t be worth the price or the hype. I spend my day using a mouse and keyboard in my software development job, and I thought I had all I needed out of a simple optical mouse,…

BUY FROM AMAZON ARCHGON RAID Storage Center is a great external enclosure with some high-end features. Today I’m reviewing a very cool and very useful piece of tech, the Archgon USB 3.0 Dual Bay RAID Storage Center. This device allows you to install one or two laptops (2.5”) hard disk drives and configure them to be accessed from your PC or Mac. Many devices do this, but the Archgon allows you to configure RAID modes. You can select your disks to be viewed as a big single disk (JBOD, Just a Big ‘Ol Disk), RAID 0 (no redundancy, but better performance),…

Great second phone for outdoorsy people. Today I’m reviewing the RugGear RG500 rugged smartphone. It is a compact, but thick (1″) rubberized GSM dual-sim phone with Android 4.2, 3.2″ display, 5MP rear camera, VGA front camera, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of ROM. On paper, this seems like a pretty low-end smartphone, but some of the great rugged features make this a great second phone for adventuring. In the box, you get a charger with US, European and British plugs. You will be able to use this charger directly in a large portion of the world. It also uses any…

Nice rugged phone with basic functions and features. Initial Impressions The RugGear Mariner Plus is a rugged feature phone that is waterproof, floats, and can handle drops and shocks without fail. It is compatible with any GSM network including AT&T and T-Mobile. It also features dual SIM card support so you can use it on your next extreme international travel trip without taking out your US SIM card, or you can use both your work and personal SIM simultaneously. Included in the box are a charger with standard USB port, a micro USB cable, a headset with microphone and earbuds,…

Router provides convenience, performance, and simplicity. I’ve had the pleasure of testing a great router by Linksys these past few days. The Linksys AC5400 Max-Stream Triband Wifi router. I’ve owned no less than three 5Ghz capable routers in the past few years. My experience has been coverage is so poor on this band that anything more than a few dozen feet from the router is honestly useless. I’m happy to say that this Linksys delivers where my others have failed. On my previous routers, it’s been almost a necessity to install 3rd party router software (DD-WRT) to get the most out…

Impressive hardware, but almost totally unusable in the U.S. The UOOGOU F1 smartphone is another entry in the low cost Android and Android-like smartphone category. There are so many great low cost smartphones on the market that can do almost everything that the flagship devices from the big players can do, but cost half or less without any kind of obligation, contract, or installment plan. In a very nice package from UOOGOU, you get a screen protector, soft plastic translucent case, headphones, charger, and even a mobile electronics repair kit that includes screwdrivers, screen removing suction cup, and plastic prying “spudgers.”…

NINES Tactical 9mm Earphones have a unique design and premium sound. Earbuds. I’ve got nearly a dozen sets. They seem to come with everything from tablets, media players, and smartphones. I have a few pairs I really like though, including my Sennheiser CX 300’s which I’ve had for 5 years that I love, and even the Samsung earbuds that came with my Galaxy S2 a few years ago. Today, I add a new set to the top of my list, the Munitio Nines Tactical 9mm Earbuds. These things look mean and sound meaner. Initial Impressions Opening the case you would…

Veho Muvi X-Pack great for cool action shots on the go. https://vimeo.com/160843738 This weekend I got to trial the Veho X-Pack camera mount backpack specially designed for the Veho Muvi action camera line. It is compatible with the Atom, K Series, Muvi, and Muvi HD products from Veho. Its purpose is to allow you to strap on a backpack and set up its hollow steel tube poles to position your camera securely to get a perspective that you couldn’t otherwise get with simple helmet mounts. With this rig you can get yourself in the shot with the action, get a higher…

SlimPort Nano Console is a really cool and instantly useful device Today I’m reviewing a really cool piece of tech, the SlimPort Nano-Console which allows you to dock and display your Android smartphone’s display on any HDMI enabled TV or monitor. Design The Nano-Console is a simple cube shaped dock with a translucent base. The base is detachable so you can just take the “cube” with you for maximum portability. It just plain looks cool and unique. The base is designed with a simple lip that will hold your phone upright and the cube itself does a great job of…

V-Linker Streaming Media Device great for advanced users of streaming media devices. Today I’m reviewing GGMM’s V-Linker “smart dongle” designed to allow you to share your screen from Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac on any TV with an HDMI port. It offers not only Miracast for compatible devices (many Android handsets) but also connectivity over WiFi through a simple and effective app that runs on essentially any smartphone or desktop machine. The unit looks very similar in size to a Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV Stick and comes with an optional short pigtail HDMI cable in case your TV’s HDMI ports…

myCharge AMP60K-A Charger gives you a way to always have power. Tonight I’m reviewing the myCharge AMP60K-A charger and battery combo. A simple, affordable, and indisputably high-quality companion to your mobile devices. Its about the size of a credit card in width and height and about 1″ thick. I spend a great deal of time on the go. I’m always traveling, camping, boating, or on an adventure trip of some sort. Being inseparable from my digital devices on the trips inevitably leaves me needing to charge them up. Portable batteries with USB charging ports are the way to go especially…

Muvi K-Series K-2 Wi-Fi Handsfree Camera is a joy. Recently I went on an epic ski trip to Summit County Colorado, and I had the pleasure of reviewing and taking along one of Veho’s Muvi HD action cameras with me. Initial Impressions This is not my first action cam, but it is definitely the best one I’ve ever used. The older one’s I’ve used in the past have been heavy, slow to use, and a low quality video camera. I’m happy to say that the Muvi is none of those 3 things. Though never having directly reviewed a GoPro, this…

GameSir Mobile Gaming Controller makes a great companion for mobile gaming sessions. Tonight I’m reviewing the GameSir mobile controller with analog sticks for your mobile devices with bonus features for PC. At first, I found the controller’s feel to be a little cheap and plasticky. The harness that holds your phone seems like you might be able to easily break, but in my usage it was no problem. I recommend that if you are giving this to kids to be aware of this and expect it to break depending on the child. That said, at the price point it is more…

Acer Predator 15 Gaming Laptop is step above the rest. I’ve got my lucky reviewing hands on a brand new beast mode of a gaming laptop, the Acer Predator 15. It features a brand new Intel i7-6700HQ mobile processor, 4GB NVIDIA GeForce 980M dedicated graphics adapter, 32GB of DDR4 memory, a 512GB smoking fast Samsung SSD, 1TB spinning hard disk for media and your files, a Blu-ray Disc recorder, Windows 10, and a 15.6″ IPS 1080p display. Normally I save the summary for the last part of my reviews, but in this case you have to know right now this is a…

Headphones provides comfort and strong quality audio. This is a review of the Sentey Artix Gaming Headset. It is a over-the-ear, USB headset with microphone suitable for use on Windows or Mac. Initial Impressions This thing is big. It reminds me of a big set of cans you might find in a recording studio. It has a nice plastic coated braided USB cord with a simple USB connection to your computer. It is self adjusting with a spring loaded headband, which I found perfectly comfortable. I had no trouble connecting it to my Windows 10 PC, and there were no…

Not a bad choice for beginners. Tonight I’m reviewing the X9 tablet by iRULU. It features a 9″ diagonal screen with a 976×600 pixel display at 160dpi, 512MB of RAM, 8GB flash, Android 4.4 KitKat, Allwinner A33 CPU, Mali 400 MP2 dual core GPU, sd card slot, bluetooth and dual cameras. First impressions At first glance, it is instantly apparent this is a budget tablet. It is fairly heavy for its size, a little thick, and the edges of the screen do not fit perfectly with the rest of the case. It is easy to bend and flex the back…

From the opening of the box, the Fugoo Sport XL is designed to impress. The box features a finger and vent hole to allow the packaging to open effortlessly. This theme was carried throughout my experience with the Fugoo XL Sport.

Today, I’m reviewing a very respectable wired headset by Etekcity, the Scroll H5GX Gaming Headset. I’ll be reviewing it on style and construction, sound quality, and features. They are a pleasantly surprising, affordably priced set of gaming headsets.

Today I’m reviewing the Aiwatch GT08 smartwatch which at first glance is a very interesting piece of tech. First, it offers a pretty stylish Apple Watch-like look, but happens to be much larger.

This is a review of the IMMERSE Virtual Reality Headset. I’ve been wanting to try Google Cardboard for a while now, but never found the time to build a viewer for it. The IMMERSE headset gives you a ready-to-go experience with nothing but your smart phone and the headset.

Wow. Just wow. This was a mind changing experience with this set of Jabra Wireless Sport Coach earbuds. First these are small and very lightweight. I’ve tried other Bluetooth wireless sets and have always been disappointed with the heft and size of them, so much so as to just stick with my standard wired earbuds.

My experience with the Syllable Wireless Sports Earbuds was a mostly pleasant one. My first impression was of its light weight construction and simple interface.

This is a review of the Sabrent 7-port aluminum USB 3.0 Hub. The first thing you will notice about this device is how stylish, and well-built it is. Also, you will be surprised by its small size despite how many ports it has.

I don’t think you can ever have enough charging cables. And, more than that, I like that different lengths of cables for different uses. I’ve been testing out some quality USB sync and charge cables from Sabrent.

I’m trying a 16GB USB 3.0 flash drive from Silicon Power. This drive features an all aluminum case and a large ring so it can easily fit on your keyring.

Today, I found the perfect companion for my Innovelis Roku Remote Holder. The ReliaMount for Roku also by Innovelis. This is a simple glossy plastic device that features a 3M adhesive peel-and-stick fastener and is molded to fit your Roku player.

Today is a great day! I learned that there’s yet another product on the market that I can no longer live without. The ipow Bike Mount Holder is a fantastically simple addition to your leisure bike ride or your hilly mountain-bike thrash through the woods.

The TotalMount Roku Remote Holder is a nice accessory for those looking for a way to help keep clutter out of their lives. It is a simple, well molded, caddy for your Roku remote.