Aphids love my hibiscus flower bush. I’m loath to use chemical pesticides. I’ve sprayed it with detergent and water multiple times but every spring they come back.
Ladybugs are natural predators of aphids, and I’ve seen an occasional beetle on the bush. This year I bought a box of live ladybugs online to treat this aphid problem. The box contained a sachet of crawling, live beetles. I gently shook them over the plant though most stuck to the bag. I ended up carefully picking them out with my fingers. Some crawled onto my hands, and I placed as many directly onto more infested buds and branches.
The next day, I checked on the bush and was disappointed to find that only a small fraction of the ladybugs were around from the previous day. Some must have flown away; perhaps some were eaten by birds or predators? In any case, a few days later I could barely find one ladybug left on the bush and there were still aphids.
So the attempt seems to be a failure. Perhaps I needed to starve the beetles a few days before releasing them? Or maybe this is just to be expected?
At SHOT Show 2026 my friends at 5.11 Tactical showed off their newest backpack, the LVC12. LV stands for “Low Visibility,” and the 12 stands for 12-hour use. This backpack looks like a generic consumer backpack, hiding its tactical roots and features.
This backpack offers an ambidextrous pass-through CCW chamber with a strap, and hook-and-loop panels. Behind its generous 270º zippered main chamber, is a padded pocket that can fit 16″ laptop or a large SAPI plate.
At SHOT Show 2026 my friends at 5.11 Tactical showed off their newest backpack, the LVC12. LV stands for “Low Visibility,” and the 12 stands for 12-hour use. This backpack looks like a generic consumer backpack, hiding its tactical roots and features.
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Pocket’s Chocolates makes oat-milk chocolate-coated almonds that I first discovered at my local COSTCO. Their matcha-flavored almonds had me hooked after my first handful. These mildly sweet snacks are remarkably healthy with less than 10g of sugar per 14-almond serving. Perfect for my Keto diet.
When I heard that Pockets was running pop-up stores in Costco stores and their next location would be an hour south of me in San Jose, I just had to go. They would be offering tastings of all of their flavors. And I would get a chance to try their new Dubai chocolate flavored pastachios.
I drove down to San Jose in the middle of the Christmas rush. I introduced myself to their staff and discovered that 2 of their 3 co-owners were there. I met Lynn and Chris who were super friendly and as sweet as their product. They gave me a gift bag as a gift, and I bought a case of their chocolates because I’m addicted to their matcha and ube almonds.
The E06R looks like a Fenix E03R keychain flashlight had a growth spurt. It is a bit longer and thicker than the E03R with the addition of belt clip. It also has a higher lumen output, a magnetic tail, a UV lamp, and a laser pointer. Its feature set is closer to a full-sized EDC like the OLight Arkfeld than a keychain flashlight, while retaining the advantage of being lighter and more compact than a full-sized EDC.
Klarus released an update to their E5 that I tested last year. The new E5+ looks nearly identical to its predecessor. Both are extremely flat, lightweight, minimalist, and fashion-forward EDC lights; a flashlight Apple would design. The Plus comes in 4 colors with matching metal belt clips: vibrant orange, OD green, grey, and black.
Physically, the E5 Plus looks nearly identical to the E5. Both have a magnetic tip that allows the E5 to tail-stand as a work light or be attached to the roof of a car as a warning signal. Klarus has staked out its position by offering the lightest, flattest EDC; about the length of a typical 3″ bladed folding knife. The E5 Plus weighs less than a pair of Apple AirPods with it charging case (1.4 oz). The new Plus is only 2 grams heavier than the original E5 and offers slightly more battery capacity and lumen output.
The EP5 has two light emitters. It’s primarily a clip-on lapel light for hands-free use; thin enough to slip inside MOLLE loops. Its main LED emitter is its larger round light on its side. Its auxiliary light forms the top end opposite its magnet. The E5 Plus adds a separate control button for the auxiliary light. The additional button improves the ergonomics of the light and addresses my main criticisms of the E5’s control and function scheme. Moreover, the two buttons make it easier to visually distinguish between a control button and the USB-C charging cover.
Pressing either control button for half a second activates the light. Tapping it changes the brightness mode. Additionally, tapping the primary button twice switches the primary white light to red-light mode, which now has a red-only flashing mode when tapped (instead of blue and red, which could affect night vision sensitivity). Both the main and the aux emitters now have mode memory, which the original E5 sadly lacked. The maximum output of the main light has been slightly increased to a maximum of 650 lumens.
Both the E5 and the E5 Plus are being sold simultaneously by Klarus. But given the similar price point (about $20) and much better ergonomics and feature set, I suspect the E5 will not be around much longer. The E5 Plus’s new features, like mode memory and two-button controls, make this a much more practical and functional EDC light.
DEDEPU is a specialty scuba tank company that produces a portable electric air compressor for its mini scuba tanks. This electrically powered air compressor can also be used to fill air tanks used in PCP tanks used in airguns, paintball, and airsoft. My hobbies encompass both, and fortunately, they reached out to me to test it for the latter.
The unit comes in a large, hard-shell lockable travel case. Inside the case is high-density foam padding with just enough space for the compressor unit and its cables, hoses, and filters. The air compressor unit is a black metal case about the size of an early 1990’s PC, weighing about 27lbs. It contains a pair of computer fans to cool the compressor, a pressure gauge, and connector ports for air and power.
The unit can be powered either with 12V DC power or 110/220V AC power. There are separate connectors on opposite sides of the case. There is a separate power/kill switch for AC or DC, respectively, with a 3rd compressor/fan activation switch. The pressure/fill gauge has a selector dial that controls its auto-shut-off feature, which turns the pump off after the tank/hose has reached the selected pressure.
The DEDEPU pump has a maximum rated pressure of 6000 PSI, so it can fill 4500 HP PCP hunting air rifle tanks. It took about 7 minutes to fill a PCP pistol to 3000psi. While not very fast, it was surprisingly quiet for an air compressor. While speed is a convenience, slow is less stressful to tanks and can help prolong their lifespan. The DEPEPU pump has a retail price under $500. While not a budget pump, its high-quality build and components, and ability to be safely used for both airgun and SCUBA give it a value that cheaper pumps do not have.
Monstrum released the Challenger 5-25×56, a new budget FFP long-range scope. This improves upon their older G3 4-24×50 long-range scope with features appealing to PRS style shooting with a larger 56mm objective lens, zero-stop turret, and a Christmas tree reticle. Remarkably it has all of that at a lower price than the G3.
The Challenger ships with several accessories including a decent set of high-height rings. It does not include a sun shade which many budget PRS scopes include. The Challenger has a built-in fin on its magnification ring so doesn’t need an additional throw lever.
The illumination knob has 6 levels of brightness with an Off in between the settings. The elevation turret is non-locking but has a built-in Zero-Stop activated by screwing down a worm screw accessible under the turret cap. An odd design feature is the screw-down turret top on the elevation which covers the turret screw and access to the Zero-stop worm screw. This makes resetting the turret zero a little bit more work.
The windage turret is a more typical, push-down-to-lock design. It has an exposed slotted turret screw top to reset the turret to 0. Unfortunately, my model’s turret markings did not exactly line up with the tube’s indicator dot, a tell-tale sign of cheaper, budget construction.
Glass and optical quality are also where Monstrum compromised to achieve its low price. The image at its lowest of 5x shows noticeable chromatic aberration. The image was not sharp from center to edge, with noticeable softening and distortions at the outer 1/4 of the scope image. Color fidelity was good but with a slightly warm balance. The was average for a budget PRS scope: tight.
The new reticle is the Challenger’s best improvement over the G3. It is a more tactical style reticle than other PRS Christmas tree reticles, with a thick “+” as its central aim point. This made the reticle much more usable from 5x-16x than typical FFP reticles but was too thick for Precision target shooting as it obscures the central X ring of a bullseye. This reticle will be more appealing to hunters than Benchrest shooters.
For long-range hunters or gong plinkers on a budget, this scope is priced low enough to be worth a try. As a competition PRS scope it has disappointing optical performance. But factoring in its jaw-dropping street price of $199, the value calculous for this scope shifts radically toward its favor.
Swarovski is known for some of the highest quality glass in sporting optics and some of the most expensive. The AX Visio 10×32 binoculars are nearly $5000. But that premium price isn’t just because it’s a Swarovski, it’s because the AX Visio has built-in visual A.I. components, allowing it to identify birds and wildlife.
When the user aims the binoculars at an animal and activates its ID system, it checks its internal database and displays the name of the bird or animal to the viewer. It has built-in GPS to reduce false positives by excluding animals that would not normally be located where the viewer activates it. For example, if the unit was used in California, it would not identify birds normally found in Australia.
I hold a slim hope that I can get a sample to test out.
