Guy Low Price Electronic: 6 Jun 2011

Monday 6 June 2011

Pretty In Pink - cute, bostitch

I love my stapler and stapler remover very much, however, don't use it for too much paper because it won't work. This is a good stapler for small jobs, such as no more than seven pages. Everyone in the office loves it though and now my boss wants to order one of her own! Stanley Bostitch Pink Velvet AntiJam Stand-Up Desktop Stapler Plus Pack with Push Style Staple Remover and 1,200 Staples (B326-PP-VLT-PNK)

Got this for my wife, quality is OK, nothing over the top impressive. There's better for the money.

Pink is the most important feature to her. The smile and kiss she gave me when she opened the box was 5 stars all the way.

I like: the color, the grip, how it stands up

I don't like: how terrible of a stapler it is! It doesn't completely "close" the staples on the back, even when I am only stapling 3 or 4 sheets of paper!!

:( I am very disappointed, because I really like the color & grip.

However! The staple remover works great (not sure how you could mess that up) but at least I can still have a little pink on my desk!

I bought this stapler for my granddaughter for her eighth birthday. She loves to play office, and asked for a stapler for her birthday. The stapler is easy for her to use and she is ever so pleased. I was such a happy camper to find not only what she wanted, but also in her favorite color.....pink of course!

The stapler is smooth and so pretty in pink! I love using it, and it is able to staple quite a number of pages, certainly nothing too extreme. The remover is awesome as well, very easy to use!

I'm very happy with both of these :) - Bostitch - Pretty In Pink - Cute - Stapler'

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Replacement Parts - price pfister bathroom faucet, replacement parts

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I bought this set with a Kohler valve body to upgrade our old Gerber system (rubber washers). These handles and shower/bath spouts are great looking and are better quality than what I saw from American Standard or Moen when I went shopping. The look is great for our bathroom and my wife is happy.

One point however - the picture shows a square knob for the shower diverter valve. It's not - it is round, and fairly small, around 1.5" in diameter. KOHLER K-T15231-4-CP Coralais Three-Handle Bath and Shower Faucet Trim, Polished Chrome

Bought a whole line of Coralais fixtures and accessories for a bathroom remodel. In following with the rest of their products, this is solid and well made and why I will buy Kohler from now on.

This was used with a Kohler diverter and the combination is fantastic. It has a very solid feel and smooth operation and the finish it top notch.

I don't think they make this anymore but since I bought regular faucets in other areas of this house, I felt I had to install these for consistently, plus if I didn't do it, my wife would have killed me. That said, its been in use for about two months and has been performing admirably. I am glad I bought it. It works quite well and I have had no problems of any kind. I had a plumber install it since it is in the shower and is not easy to install since you have to install it thru the back wall of the shower and that ain't cheap. I would highly recommend this shower to anyone.

I really wanted to use this set but what's the use with no diverter. I chose it because there are not a lot of options for the tubs with three handles. I like that the middle (shower) handle is a square, so it won't knock into the other two. Oh well, didn't work out because I needed the diverter too. - Replacement Parts - Shower Faucet - Price Pfister Bathroom Faucet'

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Transcend 16gb Usb 3 Flash Drive - usb3 hub, transcend 16gb usb 3 flash drive

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This drive is fast, not only on usb 3.0, but also on 2.0 and being limited by the bandwidth ceiling; it's about 4-5 times faster than any other 2.0 drive I own.

I realize this experience is due more to my cheap 2.0 drives performing nowhere even close to spec than this one being outstanding but it's still refreshing to be impressed by consumer grade storage drives in this day and age.

Great price, great performance, and 3.0 compatibility makes it future-proof to some extent. ADATA S102 8 GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive AS102-8G-CGY (Titanium Grey)

It's awesome.

Tested on various USB ports (both 2.0 and 3.0) No complaints. Fully backwards compatible. Also works in a 2.0 hub, just in case you wondered, yes I tried it to make sure.

But the 3.0 is just really outstanding.

Tested and verified via Nirsoft: My drive ran a 10.09 MB/Sec write, and a 54.41 MB/Sec read. Note, that's more than 4 times faster than a 100 Mb/s ETHERNET on the read side, and the same speed on the write. It's as fast or faster than most wired networks...

It's that good. And my 8GB was sub 20 bucks. How can you lose here folks? Just buy it. Seriously. It's worth it.

Tested on an ASRock X58 Extreme3 via onboard USB 3.0, i7-930.

it's backwards compatible to 2.0 so for the money, 8gb and 3.0 option, is a great find.

and it's a very solid exterior, feels like aluminum of some sort

tested in 3.0 port (with 6 core amd @ 3.2ghz, 4gb ram @ 1600mhz, windows 7 64bit)

multi-file test:

writing speed was appx. 90 seconds for 700 files @ 420MB in total..

reading is very fast. deleted all 700 files at about 30 files/second from the usb

single-file test:

140MB single file wrote to usb in under 6 seconds.

when i moved the file back to my pc hard drive it took less than a second.

so that is the basics of high file amount and singular speeds. much faster than 2.0! Well worth the money!!

If your are going to spend money on a high performance USB 2.0 Flash Drive.... DONT.This is my first USB 3.0 Flash Drive.

This cheep entry level flash drive will outperform any high performance USB 2.0 drive.

Can't wait to try this drive on a USB 3.0 Port

Pros

Vary fast

Nice texture to the brushed metal

Cheep

Cons/Other Thoughts

This drive gets a little warm when plugged in, I dont know if its the drive itself of maybe since the drive is in a metal enclosure it absorbs some of the heat from the laptop(My laptop gets hot when in use).

No activity indicator light on the drive.

The plastic end cap is not tight as I would like.

The speeds I have gotten on a USB 2.0 Port on a 1.6Ghz Pentium M Processor, 2GB of RAM with Windows XP Service Pack 3 is...

Sequential Read : 31.871 MB/s

Sequential Write : 20.468 MB/s

Random Read 512KB : 31.514 MB/s

Random Write 512KB : 0.567 MB/s

Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 5.968 MB/s

Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 0.004 MB/s

Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 6.529 MB/s

Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.005 MB/s

Vs

my old SanDisk Cruzer 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive

Sequential Read : 18.452 MB/s

Sequential Write : 4.519 MB/s

Random Read 512KB : 19.043 MB/s

Random Write 512KB : 0.582 MB/s

Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 3.591 MB/s

Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 1.489 MB/s

Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 3.564 MB/s

Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.091 MB/s

Bench by CrystalDiskMark v3.0.1

Achieved a max of 70MB/sec transfer when transferring a 7GB file.

On regular transfers which include files of various sizes (300MB-1GB), it averages 40MB/sec. Lowest I have seen was 20 MB/sec.

Feels nice and sturdy.

My plan was to provide a very data centric review of this product, providing exactly what my read and write speeds on different computers and with different types of files. The problem is, that no matter how scientifically I attempted to isolate the variables, I could not get the speeds to be consistent and repeatable. This is not a flaw of this drive, because the same thing happened when I repeated my tests with other similar drives. My point in bringing this up, is to say that it isn't a good idea to put too much credence in benchmark testing of thumb-drives. Your experiences will vary from what reviewers experience, because my own results varied from results I got half an hour earlier, doing the exact same test in the exact same conditions.

Anyway, despite my failure to get real test data for you, in this review, I will say that this drive is very very fast. The average write speeds to it, on a USB 3.0 port with a quad core computer, varied between 6.7 MB/s to as high as 40 MB/s. Most of the time they were in the mid 30s. The read speed on the same computer averaged around 70 MB/s.

On USB 2.0 this drive performs about identical any USB 2.0 drives from Kingston and Crucial.

I recommend this drive because the design, speed, and price. It is well made and considering it holds 32GB, is very compact. The reviewers who complain that there is no light are correct that there isn't, but I disagree that it matters. Windows or OS 10 both tell you when your drive is active or not. They are also correct that the cap would be easy to loose, but I would prefer that to a drive with moving components such as a retractable plug. There is a lanyard hole, but they do not provide the lanyard. I'm OK with that to. This drive is a very good value, despite not coming with a lanyard. - Usb3 - Transcend 16gb Usb 3 Flash Drive - Hubs - Usb3 Hub'

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Mallorca Pearls - kindle devices, e-reader

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I got this bracelet as a gift. I do not think that this bracelet is worth 35 but 19 is more than fair.

The pearls are all round and uniform with medium luster. There are some inclusions on several of the pearls themselves but nothing terrible. The color is a bit lighter than the picture. I would describe it a medium brown with golden overtones. The bracelet is very pretty in person and the crystals sparkle nicely.

The stringing material seems thin which worries me. I'm a little afraid that I will break the string when I put in on or take it off. The bracelet looks best when it is not stretched out so I do not recommend this for ladies with large wrists.

Overall I'm happy with it and love the look. I plan on getting the matching necklace. Gold Plated Silver Chocolate Freshwater Cultured Pearl with Light Brown Crystallized Swarovski Elements Stretch Bracelet, 7" - Drm - Ebook - E-reader - Kindle Devices'

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Verbatim Dl Dvd - dvd, blank media

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I've used to have good success over the years with Verbatim quality and they used to be worth the extra few dollars. Sadly this is no longer the case, you may need to look elsewhere, I am disappointed.

This purchase from November 2010 shows the discs are now made in India, so even though they have the same product code as the ones that used to be made in Singapore or Taiwan, they are not up to the same standard.

They have a very heavy chemical "stink" to them. The few discs I have leftover from the previous Verbatim purchase have no such smell.

During burning, there are several "pauses", even at only 8x - again, only on the ones from India and not Singapore/Taiwan, with the same burner.

"Disc Quality" scan by Nero CD-DVD Speed shows many more errors on the India made discs vs Singapore/Taiwan discs.

So perhaps Verbatim sold off the rights to use their name for another manufacturer or perhaps the India factory is not up to par, but I am upset that I wasted money and trust on this purchase. Verbatim 97459 4.7 GB up to16x Branded Recordable Disc DVD+R (100 Disc Spindle)

Having brought approximately 5 or 6 hundred of these disks and in all that time only finding 1 of them to be bad; it is easy to recommend them. I have purchased many different brands before and none of them can compare. Buy these!

EDIT: This review applies to Verbatim 95098 specifically!

Bearing in mind that some media and some optical drives just do not get along, I would say that these discs (manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.) are the closest in quality to the cream of the crop (Taiyo Yuden) that I have come across.

The thing to remember when buying blank DVD media is that brand name means little: you want a good manufacturer. For instance, I have burned some TDK media for a friend and noticed that one batch was manufactured by Ritek and another by CMC Magnetics.

I strongly suggest checking this page before you buy:

[...]

Be sure to check out the freeware tool DVD Identifier, as well, so you know who is manufacturing your media:

[...]

Hope this helps to cut back on "coasters!"

EDIT February 2011: Not sure why Amazon removed my links to websites that review and rate CD/DVD/BD media after they had been up for quite some time. I suppose a quick Googling will suffice....

I haven't written a review on Amazon in years, but I want to for this product because I am so disappointed in it and I want to corroborate what others have said about the "Made in India" discs.

I've had great luck with Verbatim media in the past; I've burned many DVD-Rs, CD-Rs, and Dual Layer DVD+Rs--and I've had virtually 100% success with them. I also have burned a few other brands (Maxell, Sony, a few Memorex) and have had very good results with them as well.

I was sure these (16x DVD+R) would be of great quality like the others, but these are honestly the worst discs I've ever used.

I haven't even finished this spindle (I have around 15 or so left), but I have already had about 20 bad discs. They seem to burn OK, but then cannot be read. I tested the bad discs in multiple players, so the players cannot be blamed. I use a good quality burner (Lite-On), use good software (K3b or GnomeBaker), burn at half the rated speed (8x for these 16x discs), and other discs (including other Verbatim products) *after* these ones have worked fine--so in my opinion, this particular media is the problem.

In fairness, the majority of these discs have actually been successfully burned. However, even if every remaining disc is good, this spindle will have a failure rate of 20%, and that is way too high. It's a waste of resources, time, and money.

Exactly which brand/maker of DVD+Rs works best for you depends on your DVD drive. I know from many reviews that Verbatim DVD+R 8x and DVD+R 16x work wonderfully with NEC 35xx drives; I have been using that combo for 1.5 years now and never had a single coaster or issue reading the data back in.

I've purchased things from Amazon before but I read some reviews about packaging and Amazon's practice of sticking air pillows on the sides instead of using peanuts underneath (the old fashioned way). As a result, many Amazon customers have reported getting spindles with a few cracked discs on top due to corner impacts during shipping! AMAZON SHOULD NOT SKIMP ON THE QUALITY OF PACKAGING IF IT WANTS TO KEEP CUSTOMERS! Some items are just too delicate to use a air pillow on the side.

I wound up buying them from Newegg instead who has a very high, well respected reputation, free shipping, and was selling the spindle for the exact same price. You just have to pay a little tax. The extra tax was worth it knowing the ITEM IS PACKAGED BETTER. A shipping box filled with a generous amount of peanuts, and the spindle buried inside. That means Newegg cares more too as far as I'm concerned. You can collect the extra peanuts in a big trash bag to use when you ship your own packages.

By the way, my Panasonic DVD recorder and LG Burner read and burn the Verbatims perfectly. - Dvd - Verbatim Dl Dvd - Blank Media'

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Earbuds - cheap, headphones

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I didn't expect much out of these, but for the price I was impressed. Good range, clear treble that's not tinny, and a lot of volume. There's less bass and midrange than other sets, but not a big deal- I prefer the midrange cut anyway (good for rock) and with the bass turned up higher on a portable player the sound is actually quite good. They are very comfortable in the ear, and the cord, at 44 inches, is just right, not too long or short.

I'd recommend these to anyone looking for an inexpensive spare set of earbuds. I've also had more expensive Panasonic buds, and while there was more bass, the drivers made a horrible popping sound at high volumes. I didn't have this problem at all with the RP-HV152s. If you need a spare set, pick these up- they're definitely a good buy. Panasonic RP-HV152 Portable Earbud Headphones with Powerful Sound

This is one of the best earbuds in its class. They are loud , have good quality, and so far have proven to be durable. now a few warnings, these are "open air earbuds" they are built so that you can hear the outside, cars, conversations, etc. so with that in mind it is impossible for incredible sound quality but these headphones are definitely superior to the iPod headphones in sound quality. They fit my ears perfectly and never fell out on their own. The connector and earbuds feel cheap and light but so far they have proven sturdy and when in you're ears they fell fine. these headphones are a great replacement for the iPod headphones and are a steal at such a low price.

Okay first of all, I traveled a LOT on buses and trust me, in some routes of certain parts of certain cities[cough] you don't want to announce to the world you have an ipod. So I always go with black earphones. That being said, I wanted something to replace the fugly earphones Apple sells. Note to apple...come on if you're gonna sell black ipods sell black earphones too, duh!

Anyway I happened upon these puppies on Amazon and I couldn't believe the price. My criteria for buying earphones has always been to look at the frequency and I say between 10 to 22,000 Hz is fine. any less and more and you're entering "expensive earphone" territory. FYI sometimes a company will sell you some with a smaller range and charge more WTF??

I bought them, they came within a week or so, and I opened them. I have to admit the packaging was VERY cheap. I was worried I got an imitation. I plugged them into the ipod and OMG were they good. The first song I heard was from my FAVORITE band of ALL TIME. The sounds were full and clear. If you put the volume real loud however, you can hear that white noise-ish background. But hey! what can you expect from $5 earphones?

Plus they are very durable. I had to run into the car and the cords fell off my ears and wound themselves around some car handle and I though, "oh no they broke" but they still worked. If a pair of earphones can stand THAT kind of abuse, then they are well worth their weight in gold. Er or non-gold. That's some mighty fine welding they got there (they use Neodymium).

Also if you do your research, the material they use is good because I believe it carries a decent signal through out the tiny cable.

Conclusion: If you want decent quality earphones(not THE best), are frugal, and want black earphones from a well respected company. Then I say go for these. But if you can shell a little more money then go with something else.

Update(09-07-2009): It's been a year since I go these and they're still goin' strong! I'm very impressed I have a few earphones besides these but these are my go-to earphones whilst travelling. Great buy!!

The sound is very balanced and smooth, but still has dynamics. A touch bass shy, but not in a bothersome way. Actually quite musical and clean. A steal for the money. I use these more than my Etymotic Research ER4P earbuds because these are much more comfortable and the sound is more natural and relaxed, which isn't saying much for the ER's I realize, but those are my views.

I bought these earphones to replace the original ones that came with my iPod. The sound is incredible! For the price, these are great earphones to use with any musical device (i.e. mp3 players). My only complaint is that they are "hard," with no soft edge, so they're slightly uncomfortable if you have small ears. Still, they're worth the trouble--I've heard things through these I never heard through my original iPod ear buds!

The headphones respond well to all equalizer settings. Sound is very clear, very clean but after long use they can get uncomfortable. They are are, however, more comfortable than the original iPod headphones and they also perform better than the original iPod ones.

These headphones last way longer than the new ipod headphones, and yet they are $20 cheaper and of better quality and nearly the same shape. After my ipod headphones broke, i used these and they havn't failed me yet. They also don't tangle as easily as ipod headphones, but when they do, they are very very easy to untangle. - Earphones - Panasonic - Headphones - Cheap'

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Hdmi To Dvi - hdmi cable, hdmi to dvi

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I wanted to output my video (TV shows, streaming web video, etc.) to my HDTV. This cable outputs the video from the DVI port on my MacBook Pro to the TV HDMI input.

Works perfectly and reproduces color better than the computer monitor.

Note: DVI does not carry a sound signal (HDMI carries both sound and video) so you'll need a headphone out to RCA output to have both video and sound output to the TV from the computer. [ie. Headphone jack to Red/White RCA output.] 10FT / 3m HDMI TO DVI M/M CABLE

I bought the monster cable version of this cable for $160 at my local electronics store. Then i got online and found this cable, when i got it in the mail it worked just as well as its more expensive counterpart. I'm returning the monster cable today. Don't waste money on expensive cables, with a digital signal it doesn't matter

I ordered this cable to connect my MacBook pro to my 50-inch HD TV. It works like a charm, Just connect the cable to the Macbook and TV and change your TV input respectively and you can watch your Macbook on the TV. No need to make any changes to the Macbook.

This product does exactly what you'd think it would do - send video hmdi-dvi or vice versa. I don't think cables can exceed expectations, its a cable. Its 10 feet long. It works. It has fufilled its destiny. It works and is cheap, 5 stars.

PROS:

- Price is as low as you can go!

- Crystal clear HD output from Computer to 40" 1080P HDTV

I mainly got this to play my computer games on a bigger screen, and the resolution turns out better than PS3 and xbox360, as expected.

I also use it to play movies and videos from youtube and Netflix, in which the HD content for both is seen the way it's supposed to be.

Good quality DVI-HDMI cable that would cost 20+ bucks more in the store. Used to to connect my [Charter] Motorola Moxi DVR to my Sony LCD TV. No difference in picture quality but I went from 5 cables (component) to 3 cables (HDMI and LR audio) which was my intent. Also at 3 meters in length it will be long enough to fish through the wall at a later date.

Update: I found that there was a slight green shift in the color using this cable so I went back to component cables. I was unable to determine if it was an issue with this product or an issue with the output from the DVI port on my DVR box (most likely). So I can't fault this product and have no other means to test it.

It works, is cheap, and seems to be the appropriate length; the only thing I've noticed is that if the HDMI part of the cord is shifted left or right everything is still visible but it all becomes a shade of blue (I'm assuming the cable is at fault).

I ordered this cable to hook-up my new 6200 LE Nividia graphics card to my very nice hd plasma tv. The picture comes across nice, only if you're running 24hz if you want 1080p though. But after I was done, I tried to hook back up my PS3 and all of my HDMI ports stopped working. Apparently cables like this are capable of locking-up HDMI ports on certain models of tvs. Now the only thing that works through my HDMIs is this cable.

A similar 8 foot version of this cable at Best Buy is $100+, I got a 10 foot version for $6 delivered to my door. As for the product, it works great! I use it, along with an audio Y cable, to watch Netflix from my Laptop's HDMI output to the DVI in on my "older" HD monitor.

Without this cable all of my regular DVD's played at 480i. I did not know what I was missing until I used this cable and suddenly all my regular DVD's were upconverted to 1080i. Its not quite as good as either of the HD formats, but its close enough to make you wonder if paying 2X or 3X as much for an HD disc is worth the price. And using component connections is not even close to the quality you get with the HDMi cable. - Dvi - Hdmi Cable - Cables - Hdmi To Dvi'

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Inversion Table - neck pain, back pain relief

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I tried an inversion table a week ago at a gym and had to have one. I ordered this one on Monday and got it on Tuesday with free shipping so that was exciting in itself. Assembly was pretty easy, the bolts are already in the holes they go in, so that saves time looking to see which one you need. Put together it seems pretty sturdy. I had it put together in less than an hour by my self.

The inversion felt good, I was on a Teeter table at the gym and while it was super nice, I am not going to spend that much money, right out of the gate.

My only complaint is, I am not that tall and to set the table at a full inversion, with the foot slippage, my head hit the metal bar instead of resting on the mat part. I think I can fix this with a travel pillow. My arms also are touching the ground, but I can also live with this. Overall I am really happy, my back and shoulder don't hurt this morning and my hips aren't screaming at me for all the sitting and driving that I do. Body Max IT6000 Inversion Therapy Table

I won't lie and tell you that my pain is cured; however, I can truthfully state that it helps immensely. It relieves tension in my back and ultimately results in easier, less painful days. Don't be fooled into thinking that the $280 inversion tables are any better. The Body Max was simple to put together and folds easily for easy storage.

Knowing these things can run upwards of $300-400 I was expecting something of less quality when I ordered this $119.00 unit. I am pleasantly surprised with the sturdiness and construction of this table. I would recommend it to all my family and friends. It was pretty easy to assemble, there was some pre-assembly out of the box. The only thing negative I have to say about it is that once assembled, it is a challenge to move around. It is on the heavy side, which is good in that it is heavy duty, but it doesn't fold down to a manageable size if you wan't to move it from room to room.

I was looking for back relief for a reasonable price. Researched lots of products, mainly based on customer feedback, so here's mine; Value=A+! Very sturdy. The hardware for assembly was a drawback. Missing a couple pieces,(couple nuts & a bolt); went to the local hardware store & bought new ones to avoid returning the whole thing. Plus, some of the "pre-assembled" parts were done incorrectly, so fixed them myself. If you don't have access to tools at home, borrow your friend's socket set and/or pliers. BUT,I love the results already for my pain! (I have a compressed T-4 vertebrae, bruised tail-bone, crooked pelvis, etc.) If you're REALLY short/tall, research these inversion tables in more detail. I'm 5'7"; had to adjust the height setting for 2 more inches=5'9". (Lowest setting is 4'9"/highest is 6'5") Just trying to offer helpful hints about this table...don't be scared of the mechanics of it (if you don't mind the trip to the hardware store). The back relief is so worth it! One other table I researched was the "Calm"(?) table. Same price, great reviews, (but $55 S&H)

Twice a month I visit the chiropractor for an adjustment. After I tried an inversion table at a friends house, I was hooked. This Body Power table is amazing. After the first three minutes inverted, I could actually feel the "stretch" in my entire back - it felt good.

Assembling this table looked a bit daunting at first, especially since they recommend you assemble it with two people. However, with a little patience and `alone', I had it together in less than an hour. The material is sturdy, comfortable and easily adjustable. At 5'-11" and 195 pounds, it was easy to set the ankle and table length to the proper fitting. The ankle pads are thick and just padded enough to so you can relax your feet and ankles while hanging. However, these ankle pads are not heavy duty and there is some slight discomfort. I am not sure how long they will stay non-compressed. The safety strap is also easily adjustable to let you decide how severe an angle you want to hang with. I went for the complete invert right away. This part was a tad unnerving, as you have to go slowly. Placing my hands above my head, the table quickly flipped until I was upside down. I highly recommend you go slowly and use the comfortable side bars. Getting back up is also easy by simply pulling on those same side bars.

It is recommended that you always wear shoes/sneakers while using the table, but I did notice that the rough foot rest's `sandpaper' that is glued to the foot rest started to peel at the edges right away, but this is a minor quibble. It is nice to be able to simply fold the entire table up to move to another room. Do note the ad here that you will feel a loosening of tension in your back, neck and muscles. I've only had this a few days, but I can truly feel the difference and can't wait to see my chiropractor again. Also, when is the last time you spent only one hundred dollars for a truly helpful piece of medical equipment? - Inversion - Inversion Equipment - Neck Pain - Back Pain Relief'

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Front Porch Folk - cousins, rural life

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The Bird Sisters is Rebecca Rasmussen's debut novel and what a debut it is! I've been looking forward to reading Rebecca's novel for quite a while now and it was well worth the wait. I also have to mention the cover because I think it's unique and beautiful and really fits with the story. I would describe The Bird Sisters as a tall drink of ice tea on a really hot day - deeply satisfying. Rebecca's beautiful writing of this story of two sisters who remain faithful to each other throughout their lives will resonant in your soul long after you turn the final page.

The story opens with Milly and Twiss, two elderly sisters living alone in Spring Green, Wisonsin. They are known as the bird sisters because Twiss tends to injured birds while Milly tends to the people who bring them in by listening to their stories. Their lives are pretty sedate now with Twiss, if she's not tending to an injured bird, wandering their land and Milly wandering the house; both living in their memories of the past. The story itself weaves seamlessly between the past and the present giving us insights into how the sisters end up alone and together for all of their lives.

Milly has always had dreams of a family - she wanted a husband and children. She even had names picked out for them along with a boy she has set her sights on. Milly is a really sweet character, always trying to please people. She loves to bake for everyone as it is something that will make a person smile and be happy. She is also described as being very pretty; a girl who could have her pick of boys if she wanted. There was never a doubt that Milly would marry.

Then there was Twiss, a few years younger than Milly, who I have to say was my favorite character. She is full of spunk and sassiness as a young girl; a classic tom-boy. Twiss spends most of her days out on the golf course with her golf-pro father and she loves it. If she's not doing that then she's off looking for trouble somewhere else.

Then comes the summer of 1947 and everything changes for them. Milly and Twiss are teenagers. Their father has an accident that puts a distinct end to his golf career and he moves himself into the barn, refusing to live in the house anymore. Their parents are at odd ends and the girls try their hardest to bring them back together. Then cousin Bett comes to stay for the summer. She's different from anyone else the girls have known and ultimately she turns their lives upside down before the end of the summer arrives in ways that they never could have expected.

So you, as the reader, know how the story will end with the sisters as spinsters with only each other for company. It is the heart wrenching journey that the author takes you on to get to that point that will tug at your heart and have you fully invested in these woman's lives. As with all of our lives it is the events that take place and the decisions that we make that ultimately shape our lives and bring us to where we are. Rebecca weaves this story in such a captivating way that we are hanging onto every word as we learn the single most devastating event that changes the lives of these girls forever.

Rebecca Rasmussen artfully recreates life in a small town and that of the sisters living on a farm. The novel is full of quirky, unique characters and Milly and Twiss will no doubt find a way into anyone's heart and the way these two sisters give up everything for each other will forever touch you. The writing is absolutely beautiful and I found myself rereading several passages just to experience them again. The Bird Sisters goes onto my keeper shelf. I'm sure I will revisit this beautiful novel and Milly and Twiss again in the future. I would recommend this novel to anyone who loves a good, well written story that will allow you to escape for a while into a different time and place. The Bird Sisters: A Novel

"It was a warm spring morning in early May, the kind that led to afternoon picnics, plates of baked chicken and wax beans. The crocuses had given way to the tulips, which surrounded the chapel like a yellow collar." ~ from The Bird Sisters

When I read that passage, I fell in love with Rebecca Rasmussen's debut novel. Set in Spring Green, Wisconsin, The Bird Sisters opens with a visit from a stranger and unfolds into a recollection of the summer of 1947, when Milly and Twiss discovered truths about their priest, their parents, and their cousin Bett. What unfolds is a bittersweet story about Twiss and Milly, about their fractured family, their broken hearts, and their devotion.

By crafting such powerful images like the one in the quote above, Rasmussen grounds her main characters and her readers to a sacred place and time. Her story reminds us how that strong sense of place can carry us back and forth through our memories and anchor us to our lives.

Rasmussen's story flows seamlessly between the past and present, and her characters appear in vivid form. Her novel is simply wonderful.

"Whenever a bird flies into a window in Spring Green, Wisconsin, sisters Milly and Twiss get a visit. Twiss listens to the birds' heartbeats, assessing what she can fix and what she can't, while Milly listens to the heartaches of the people who've brought them. The two sisters have spent their lives nursing people and birds back to health.".

Known to most, in the small town of Spring Green, Wisconsin, as "The Bird Sisters", life for these spinster sisters, destined them to always be together. As young girls, Milly, was a beautiful girl, who was in love with Asa; she dreamed of marriage and children. Twiss, was somewhat of a fun-loving, wild spirit who enjoyed her freedom. Life, as we know, does not always turn out as we planned, and for Milly and Twiss, the summer of 1947, when the sisters were teenagers, was the turning point in their lives that carved out what would be their future--- growing old together in their childhood home.

The story moves from present time back to that summer of 1947, and it is told in alternating chapters. The reader gets a glimpse into the sister's parents troubled marriage, their mother's frustrations and regrets, their father's downward fall from his job as a respected golf pro, and also what transpired the summer older cousin Bette came to visit. Bit by bit the reader understands the events that determined the course of their adult lives.

From the very beginning I was anxious to find out what happened that was so horrible to cause the lives of Milly and Twiss to turn out the way they did. The sister characters are so finely honed, so much so that I felt emotionally invested in them. Although their lives made me sad, I admired how devoted they were to one another. There is so much more that I could say, however, I want to be careful not to say too much. The Bird Sisters was a terrific debut novel. It's written in a style that worked well for me: a character driven novel with memorable but flawed characters, a story that hooks you early on and keeps you turning the pages, and just one of those stories that will keep me talking about this book for a long while.

In some ways this book made me think of (2) other books I read and loved as well over the last several years: Tomato Girl and Saving CeeCee Honeycutt: A Novel. As with The Bird Sisters, these books left a lasting impression, each were debut novels, and each in their own way moved me deeply. All three are MUST READS for your summer reading list. Highly recommended! - Front Porch Folk - Cousins - Rural Life - Farm'

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Scientific Atlanta - tivo expander, hd dvr

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What can you say - for a device like this, "scoring" is it easy. It either works as advertised, or it doesn't - this thing works as advertised. It's easy to hook-up/install, or it is not - the directions couldn't be clearer, and it was a snap to hook-up.

I have a Comcast DVR Scientific Atlanta 8300HD. I was constantly running into low space issues. No matter how hard I tried to keep up with "house keeping" it always seemed to run at or near capacity. And with the 2008 Summer Olympics coming up, I was finally motivated to find a solution.

I did few Google searches, and yielded some promising results. Other users of the SA-8300HD had the same problem and came up with varying solutions - build you own eSATA external drive, or buy an out-of-the-box device. I'm pretty tech savvy, having built a number of PCs and external USB drives. The cost of DIY-ing a similar device was about $100-110, delivered. For $40 more, I could get a pre-built and certified device. I didn't want any hassles, so I went with this.

It looks like and is the same size as any of the WD MyBook external drives. It's a little smaller than a hard covered book. It comes with an external power supply and an eSATA cable, and a Quick Install guide.

Total time to install - 15 minutes, tops. I could have done it in less than ten, if I read the install guide fully. I jumped the gun and instead of pulling the plug on the DVR, I just turned it off. YOU HAVE TO UNPLUG THE DVR BEFORE CONNECTING THE EXPANDER. Which is what the directions says, but I skipped.

So, to install, you:

1) Check Capacity of your recorder (mine was at 62%)

2) Unplug the DVR

3) Plug in the Expander

4) Connect the Expander to the DVR with the eSATA cable

5) Plug the DVR back in.

The DVR will go through its boot process. When the clock reappears, turn on your TV and then your DVR. A message will appear:

"Detected an external DVR Expander - do you want to format it for use with this DVR?"

Hit Yes and the message disappears. There is nothing to tell you it is performing the install/format. A few minutes later, a new message appears:

"The DVR Expander is ready to use"

Go to the recording section and check capacity. Mine dropped to 16%!

My recommendation - do not hesitate, buy this. Even if you are tech-savvy, is your time/effort worth $40? This is certified and guaranteed to work. WD drives are typically sturdy, and their MyBooks are highly rated.

Hurry - the Olympics start August 8!! Western Digital My DVR Expander 500 GB eSATA External Hard Drive

This is the same drive that's sold on the TiVo website at a much better price! It works as easily as everyone said it would too! Right away, on the system info screen, it'll tell you about the added capacity but it takes about an hour for the To Do List to catch up so don't panic. If you've got a big home theater set up, do yourself a favor and get a longer eSATA cable, this one only comes with one that is 3 feet long. Happy HD viewing!

Like the other 40+ reviewers, this was a breeze to install with my TiVo Series III HD. That was 18 months ago, and it's worked perfectly until today. I ran the Kickstart 54 SMART diagnostics, and the external drive has failed. A ton of stored stuff is gone forever (although I may try the trick of freezing the drive and transferring to my PC). 18 months is way too short for the life of an HD drive.

Read about it 10 days ago, sounded like the perfect product that I could not justify not having at around $200. Quick Western Digital order and delivery. Came home an hour early to install. Out of the box, a few plugs in a particular order, and turn stuff on. The Cablevision box acted funny and I thought that this would be a bust. Re-connected and connected 3 times with no apparant luck.

Went out for dinner .When I got home--2 -3 hours later, the DVR was running. The time already recorded on the Cablevision DVR had gone from 79% to 18%--Perfection.Compatible with Cablevision Scientific American hd digitial recorder. Need it when you want to record in HD.

Got a new HD set and Tivo HD just before the Olympics. Realized that only 20 hours of HD would not catch all the action. For just a few bucks, I was able to get up to 80+ hours of HD and more SD TV than anyone could ever watch. I hate having to manage space on the Tivo, and with this device, you don't have to.

Installation was dead simple. Follow the instructions, plug things in in the right order and is just works. Once installed, you can't remove it without losing all your recordings, but that is a fair compromise.

My plan was to eventually get this expander all along. I have always been a fan of Tivo, and when the right deal came my way I got the new Dual tuner HD Tivo that only recorded 20 hrs in HD. Tivo at the time was selling a larger Tivo with I believe 40 hrs recording in HD for $400-$500. 20 Hours is definitely not enough in my house, and if you are considering this, it's probably not enough in your house either.

At the moment they are selling a beast with 150 hrs in HD recording for $600!

Bottom line is that this expander worked perfectly right away. Setup to the device is as easy as plugging it in. Then setting up the Tivo to work with it was quite simple as well. Now I can record 86 hours in HD which for us is way more than enough. We went on a 2 week vacation and still had room to spare when we got back.

In my opinion it is much more economical to buy the standard 20hour HD Tivo and just get this expander to go with it. 86 full HD hours is huge and in just standard digital I think it's in the 500+ hour range. But if you are like me, if it's not in HD now, I don't watch it.

Definitely worth buying. - Tivo Expander - Tivo - Tivo Hd - Hd Dvr'

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Car Emblem

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I was so excited to receive this in the mail. The emblem had very very small scratches (only noticeable if you stand ridiculously close to it), but overall, the quality is good. The size is perfect. It looks great with my car from a distance that most people would see it from anyways. Hook 'em! Don't mess with Texas! University of Texas Longhorns Premium Chrome Plated Metal NCAA College Car Truck Motorcycle Emblem'

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Iphone 3g Case - iphone, iphone case

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I'm about as happy as I could be with the Impact case. Carrying around a slippery, glass-fronted device, I was primarily looking for a case that would provide good energy dissipation in the inevitable event that I drop-kick it across a room when fumbling for keys. As such, an unyielding hardshell case just wasn't ideal. The fitment, bracing, and silicone material of the Impact are a well-thought-out means of limiting shock intensity (although I thankfully haven't tested it to any considerable extent).

The Impact fits the phone snugly, provides a good textured grip for the hand, and doesn't drown out the mic and earpiece like poorly-fitted units. All slides and buttons are easily accessible - perhaps even more so than without case since my hand isn't slipping all over the glossy shell. Relatedly, the Impact adds very little size to the phone and weighs next to nothing.

The included screen protector works great too - I'd heard of rainbow refractions and a slightly-milky appearance, but cleaning the surface well beforehand and working carefully resulted in a crystal-clear application. Can't tell it's even in place. No complaints on that front.

I could do without the circular port on the back of the case, but it does nothing to harm structural integrity and it displays my MS sticker effectively. ;) It will certainly do the same for the Apple logo, however! The thickness of the silicone protects it from most direct scratchin' contact.

My second option in terms of cases was the Otterbox Defender, but I felt the Impact would suffice for day-to-day protection, and thus far this has certainly proven to be true. OtterBox Impact Case for iPhone 3G, 3GS (Black)

I work for the Fire Department and was looking for a rugged case that could stand up to the abuse I was expecting to put it through. After purchasing this product, I am confident my phone is fully protected from the elements. I will say, it does make the product a little bulky, I tend to put my phone in my pocket and not wear it on a belt clip. It's bulky but doable. It was a good purchase and I'm glad I bought it. One thing I will mention about it, is that it didn't come with instructions on how to put it in the case, and it literally took me about 15mins. to figure it out. Also, after market car charges and docking stations will not work with this case because the connection is too deep in the case. Knowing those two things, I would still buy it.

Case is light weight but gives a good hand grip. It's a real solid case. I dropped my phone from a subway platform to the track 5-ft below. When the maintenance worker retrieved it back for me, the phone didn't even have a single scratch and still works like normal. If you're looking for case to really protect your iPhone, this is it!

After about 3 months of fairly light usage this case stretched just enough to cover the proximity sensor of the iPhone. This prevents the phone from lighting up when you pull the phone away from your face after you are done talking, which means you don't see the "end call" button. We thought it was the phone dying at first until doing some research to find out the cheaper cases were doing this. Took the case off and phone works perfectly fine.

There are far better cases for an extra $5 like the iSkin. Or if you can go $30, the Defender (made by same company) has served me well other than the belt clip.

I got this case after another case I bought, from [...], turned out to be a complete dud. After extensive research I found this case to be the absolute best in terms of style and protection in its price point. I received the product and the packaging was really easy to open, no scissors required. This is really appreciated as one of the worst things in buying something new is trying to open sealed plastic boxes.

The package came with the silicone case as pictured and a clear screen protector. Putting on the screen protector was really easy but I think more written instructions would have been helpful (only pictured instruction were provided.) Although there are many YouTube videos demonstrating the correct procedure to accomplish this. After viewing a video on YouTube I knew exactly what to do. Without the video I would have been a bit confused since there are two outside layers sandwiching the clear case within. These two outside layers are there so you don't accidentally touch the actual screen protector until after it is laid on top of your iPhone's screen. If this sounds confusing, make sure you view a demonstration video prior to trying to put it on.

Anyways the actual case itself looks great, looks just as good in person as it does online. All the cut out holes fit the phone perfectly at first. Although, I started to have light sensor problems and problems with the camera hole being obstructed after a few months. Its easy to access or push all the buttons. It provides the perfect grip for holding the phone while talking. There is extra silicone in the corners as advertised to protect against a fall. The case is also very easy to put on and is easy to take off, no headaches there. I am very pleased with this product, minus the two failings previously mentioned. The one other thing to note is that if you are an aggressive scroller the side of the case may snag your finger and flap back into place. This doesn't damage the case and is very minor. This is something I knew about prior to buying the case but I have found it to not be a big deal at all.

Although I really loved this case after a few months the case has stretched a bit I suppose because the cutouts are no longer as precise as the used to be. The light sensor on the front can get obstructed which makes getting the screen to turn back on after a call a pain. Also the camera hole no longer perfectly fits the lens and photos are sometimes obstructed. This is a real shame because it is a really great case design minus these two flaws. I have since purchased the OtterBox Commuter TL Case for iPhone 3G, 3G S (White) as a replacement. I still went with Otterbox because despite the problems with this case I think they make quality products overall and I was impressed enough with the first case to stick with them. - Iphone 3g Accessories - Iphone Case - Case - Iphone'

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Ipod Charger - car accessories, car adapter

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The Wagan Twin USB/DC Cup Holder Adapter is a very good value. Considering that I paid the same price for a single USB car lighter adapter, this is a great value. It's conveniently shaped like a cup-holder, with the added benefits of 2 included DC adapters and 2 USB adapters. So far all 4 adapters work perfectly.

This adapter definitely sits lower in my cupholder than what I was expecting. It looks taller in the product picture, but expect it to be just above flush with your cup-holder. If your car has two different sized cupholders, one larger than the other, this unit is designed to fit in the smaller standard size. For me that is the cupholder further from the control panel and closer to my center arm-rest.

The unit has four LED indicator lights so you can judge how many devices can be charged with it. This "Battery Level Indicator" feature is a nice extra, with "HIGH," "MID," "12V" and "LOW" indicators.

The product package indicates this unit works with standard 12V and 24VDC accessories. Apparently there's a fuse inside the unit in the event you over-use it, though I haven't yet had the fuze go on me.

CONSIDERATIONS

There are a few shortcomings to the product, all of which I would consider minor. First of all, the lighter cable is relatively short. That's ok if you are plugging it into the DC outlet on your control panel. Many newer cars also have DC outlets within the arm-rest console storage area. I found that the cord was just barely long enough to reach down into my car's storage compartment and be plugged in. That means for some vehicles, like larger cars and SUVs, it might be too short. The deeper the storage compartment, the more likely you are to have trouble using that DC outlet to power this adapter.

The two DC adapters are very deep within the unit, almost too deep. For many DC powered car accessories with shorter plugs, it seems like it might be possible to push them in too far and lose electrical contact.

The other minor negative was that the USB adapters are not perfectly parallel. They are separated by metal but the USB pins are embedded in tabs made of some kind of composite material. You have to carefully insert USB cables because if you don't you risk damaging your connector or the adapter.

CONCLUSION

This is a good unit even if it isn't perfect. Considering the price and the fact that the product performs as advertised, I still recommend this over most others I have tried. It's worth it to have a few extra adapter plugs available to charge your accessories and electronics in your car.

Enjoy. Wagan Twin USB and 12V DC Cup Holder Power Adapter

Our new Subaru Tribeca amazingly had no DC outlets anywhere on the dashboard, instead hiding them in the console. We needed access to the jacks for the handsfree cellphone speaker and occasionally the GPS. This device fits in one of the cupholders next to the console and the power wire with the plug slips inside the console. We've been using it every day for 3 months now with no problems.

I really like this device. I have Sirius and a GPS so it gives me 2 sockets. The USB power sockets are good for powering or charging my cell phone.

Easy to use - stays where you put it in a cupholder - highly recommended.

2&1/2 inches diameter on the bottom, chamfered

3 inches diameter on the top, also chamfered

2&1/2 inches tall

Cord exits the back of the unit 2 inches from the bottom, no strain relief.

Cord length is 39 inches

Lighter plug is 3&3/4 inches long, including the stiff strain relief.

Nice surface for gripping the plug when pulling out the plug, but for me I wish the plug was smaller or right angle... I'm not going to be unplugging it. Due to the short length of the cable, and the big plug, I directly wired a socket extension cable to my car's accessory wiring to avoid a big plug in my center console... which also frees up my car's socket.

Bright smooth nickel plated contacts all around. Fuse is a standard cylinder type marked 10A, accessed by unscrewing the nipple end of the plug. The + contacts for the round sockets is one solid piece of metal. One philips screw in the middle of the bottom appears to hold the case together, also one phillips holding together the plug.

Subtle blue glow from the base of the round sockets. Not obnoxious bright like the units I used to have.

This is a perfect solution for what I needed, and the unit works well. Like most adapters it takes two hands to remove the plug, however the design allows single handed plugging.

Great purchase, my only regret is padding my order for free shipping with other things. I should have gotten two of these instead :)

We are a family that uses several Palm Pre's. Our need was to find a device which would permit us to charge our Pre's while driving. When using GPS, playing Pandora, surfing the web, or playing youtube the Pre has about a 2-3 hour battery life. On a car trips, it became necessary to have a charger.

The Pre, like other smart phones, uses a bit more current than older cell phones. Many chargers only provide 500 ma on their USB ports. This charger seems to provide a bit more. Enough to charge 2 Pre's at a time. Which is all we needed.

The good news is its a great charger, the bad news is it has a lot of lights, which don't seem to mean much, and which don't ever seem to go off while the device is plugged in. There is a battery low light, which always seems on, then there is a battery high light which is also always on. In fact there are a bunch of lights (4 of them) that always seem to be on. These would be small color LED's. I think they shine through and light up the 12 volt power ports as well.

The unit is well made, fits easily in all cup holders we have tried it in (across 3 vehicles). I would recommend this to someone needing to charge more than one smart phone at a time. - Car Adapter - Dual Car Adapter - Car Accessories - Ipod Charger'

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