A few months ago I tested a Blavor 10,000mAh solar charging power bank and discovered that it took over 130 days to full recharge using sunlight alone. Some of the feedback I got on these series of testing video was that the reason it took so long was because the solar panel was indoors behind a window.
While I am aware that clear window glass does filter out some sunlight (especially UV). But glass does not reduce the power output of a solar panel by as much as some claim. Many outdoor solar panel arrays are covered in glass to protect them from inclement weather.
But to prove my point, I conducted a revised test using the same Blavor solar charger I tested previously. I placed outdoors on my windowsill facing almost directly upward. Exposed to direct sunlight (and the weather) for 7 days to see if I could detect any improvement in charging speed.
I started the test with the battery at 1/2 full as this seemed take the longest to make progress in my earlier tests. I checked the device 7 days later and found no change in the charge indicator. So I left the device to charge an additional 3 weeks (a total of 35 days) and checked it and found, no change. I have no intention of waiting another 100 days to see if charges any faster. To my satisfaction at least I believe this proves my point that the window didn’t make much or any difference to the outcome of my earlier tests.
Teslong sent me their TS NTG500H rifle borescope kit to test and evaluate. The package comes in a long padded box containing the ≥26″ long wand/probe, a USB-C charging cable, a USB-C video cable, a USB-A/Mini video cable, a display monitor and video recorder (with a 32GB SD card), and a set of 4 right angle adapters for various rifle calibers:
(5mm) diameter for .22 caliber & larger (6mm) diameter for 6.5 Creedmore & larger (7mm) diameter for .30 caliber & larger (8.5mm) diameter for .38 caliber & larger (12mm) diameter for .50 caliber & larger
The display monitor also functions as a recording device able to take still photos and video in 720p. Using the USB-A/mini adapter cable, you can connect the wand directly to a tablet or PC. I attempted to test it on my Samsung S21+ phone but was greeted with an Android warning message saying USB video was disabled, which was more of an issue with the 3rd party endoscope App I had downloaded than this device.
The wand/probe has .20 cal diameter allowing it to be used with tight bore .22cal rimfire rifles. The wand has etched inch markings along its length and a white washer plug that help you mark the depth of the probe. This helps you more easily note and return to a specific area of interest in your barrels such as deposits, burrs, and cracks. The rigid wand does make controlling the direction of the probe much easier than non-rigid endoscopes I’ve used.
The video taken with the display was quite good, comparable to other borescope/endoscopes I’ve owned. Not having to download dodgy 3rd party App software on my phone is a plus. It has a built-in rechargeable battery and even a built-in flashlight should you need it.
The unit is a bit pricier than similar borescopes or Teslong’s non-rigid endoscopes. I would have liked a 1080p camera but this may be unnecessary since the tiny sensor at the end of the probe may not actually record details higher than 720p, a larger 1080p file may be over-sampling.
A common issue with new users are complaints of an out-of-focus image. This borescope (and many others this small) are not an auto-focus camera. The focus must be manually adjusted by the user by turning the right-angle mirror to the appropriate number of turns onto the wand. This will vary depending on the size of the barrel. The user must adjust the mirror and lock it in place with the tiny locking ring at the end of the wand. One revolution either way could mean the difference between a blurry mess and a tack sharp image.
Not only are they useful for cleaning and maintaining your new firearms but could be invaluable in evaluating a vintage or collectable C/R rifle. Seeing the condition of the inside of a barrel could mean the difference between paying for Field Grade and paying for Display Grade.
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Joyroom sent me their 5-port USB 72W car charger to test and evaluate. This charger plugs into a standard car lighter port and provides 5 USB ports of up to 12V of power (3 x USB-A and 2 x USB-C ports). The 3 USB-A ports are QC 3.0 compatible which means you can quick charge Samsung and Apple devices. In my casual testing on my Samsung S21 which had a 30% battery charge, I was able to draw a ≥2000mA current through each of the ports. This would allow me to fully charge my phone in about 10 min.
The unusual feature of this charger is that the charging ports are split between the main cigarette plug (2 x USB-A and 1 x USB-C) and satellite clip-on charger block connected by an integral power cable (~length of 4ft). The allows you the flexibility to provide passengers in the rear seats USB charging. A boon to any parent with kids with power hungry devices (like a Nintendo Switch). This is an especially useful when traveling as compact and budget rental cars rarely have rear USB charging ports.
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Biometric gun safes have gotten cheaper but some of the cheapest are cheap for a reason. I’ve seen a video of the biometric sensor activating when another finger or even just the palm of the hand was pressed down upon it. One Amazon reviewer reported that their son was able to open his safe, presumably because of the similarities in fingerprint between father and son due to genetics.
So I wanted to make sure that in testing a RexMeo biometric gun safe, that it couldn’t be defeated by genetics. After keying in my fingerprint into the sensor and confirming that only my thumb would open the lock (and another finger). I asked my 9-year old son to try and open the lock using his thumb and other fingers on the sensor. I’m happy to report that he was unsuccessful.
As a parent, I’ve taught both of my children gun safety and have taken them shooting at the gun range. They know I keep guns in the house and not to touch our firearms without my direct supervision. But I know that I can’t watch them all the time or any child that may enter my home as a guest. That’s why I keep firearms hidden, in safes and in locked cases. While no solution is completely fool proof or child proof, it is a fool relies on technology to keep his family safe. The first and most important step you can take is education.
Biometric gun safes used to be the realm of spy-fiction and the well heeled. But now, they’re not only widely available, they’re also affordable. But a quick glance of some Amazon 1-star reviews of budget gun safes talk about their weak locks and unreliable biometric security.
A Chinese marketing company contacted me to ask if I would test and evaluate a Rexmeo biometric gun safe, a brand I’d never heard of. Upon initial inspection I was surprised at the weight topping 15lbs. This didn’t appear to be to be some cheap, thin-skinned lock box.
The unit comes with 2 sets of keys to open the box. Inside it has a enough space to contain 2 full sized pistols and a fair number of spare magazines and/or accessories (or a single pistol with a hard case holster depending on the model). The interior is padded with foam to protect its contents and has cut-outs to allow the safe to be securely screwed into a wall or furniture. The unit comes with a cable lanyard and pass-through hole to allow it to be secured to a post, pipe, or vehicle seat.
Activation was straight forward, you open the safe with the keys. Insert 4 x AA batteries (included) and following the instructions, you set up your finger to be read by the biometric sensor circle on the top of the unit. The unit requires multiple contacts with your finger to set up but once read, the unit would only open with my right thumb. I attempted other fingers and my left thumb but none of them would activate the lock.
Impressively the unit can store up to 50 different fingerprints! Not only could you use all 10 of your fingers but you could also allow access to other individuals through their fingerprints. I wonder if more fingerprints degrades the specificity of the biometrics (allowing for less precise biometric activation?)
Upon opening a digital voice informs you that the unit is unlocked. You can disable this voice but turning off the sound output. But this can lead to unintended issues as I’ll get into.
The unit also has a password entry through a 1-6 number keypad on the top of the unit. The unit allows for passwords between 6-8 numbers as well as adding non-opening scramble codes. When the correct passcode is entered the biometric sensor turns green and opens the safe. My initial unlocking occurred without issue but later in testing I ran into a troubling series of “wrong password”, the unit signaled a red light and would not open.
I discovered that this was because I was pressing the keypad buttons too quickly. The keypad required about a 1-second press per button to register correctly. When I had the Digital Voice/Sound on, I could get audible cues when a button was pressed correctly, when the Voice/Sound was turned off there was no positive feedback.
This degree of user-error in the interface could give some gun owners pause. But I consider biometric or electronic locks a secondary rather than a primary entry method. Think of it is a standard key-entry gun safe with biometric backups.
The makers did include some clever features to make the battery power less of an issue. The unit has a low-battery audible alert and if the batteries completely die, there is a USB-C port next to the key lock which allows you to power the biometrics or keypad through a powered USB cable. In addition, the unit claims to have a pick-lock alarm though I was not able to test the mechanism of how the unit knows the lock is being physically picked?
The safe could also be improved with some additional changes. I wish it had a way to turn off the annoying digital voice while retaining the keypad beeps at a lower volume. It could use an automatic red LED light to illuminate the interior contents when opened like with some other safes by Wincent and Vaultek. But for the price, the Rexmeo is a solid gun safe with generous interior space that most gun owners.
Athlon sent me their Midas CF32 Shooting Tripod. This is a telescoping carbon fiber leg tripod with a heavy duty ball head. The ball head features Friction Control, Fluid Pan Control, Ball Lock, and ARCA/Swiss compatibility (the popular photography mounting system).
The box includes the tripod, accessory hammock, shoulder pad, sling, padded case, and optional spiked feet. Overall weight was around 8lbs, while heavier than travel tripods, the extra weight comes from the heavy-duty vibration dampening legs and 32mm ball head which is able to withstand recoil from large caliber rifles and support over 175lbs. Fully extended the legs raise the ball-head to over 65″ tall.
At the range, I mounted my 20″ Aero Precision AR15 DMR to the tripod. The found the friction control knob allowed me to precisely adjust my rifle and cinch down the main locking knob confidently on target. There was just enough flex to make fine adjustments in aim. The tripod kept me pointing on target for quick and precise follow-up shots. This was such a pleasure to use compared to the BOG Great Divide tripod head I tested last year which could not keep my rifle level after the first shot.
Athlon makes this tripod with a 40mm, 36mm, and a 29mm ball head. The larger size ball heads can handle larger and heavier rifles. Overall, I found this tripod to be robust, rugged, and capable for back country hunting as well as competition target shooting.
Sony pretty much invented Portable Hi-Fidelity Audio with the WalkMan back in the 1980’s. While one can debate the validity of cassette tapes as an audiophile format, you can’t argue that Sony has a history of offering some of the best affordable, high quality headphones for both professionals and consumers. I still use the same pair of Sony MDR V-150 Studio Monitor Headsets I bought 20 years ago for my video editing today.
In my ongoing quest to find the best “cheap” headphone I tried out Sony’s ZX110 heaphones. They come in a range of colors, I picked up a white colored pair on Amazon which were on sale for under $10 (regular retail price $15). They come shipped in a cleanly designed cardboard box. This is a nice step up from the usual vacuform clamshell packages of their competitors like Panasonic and JVC.
The headphones retained my V-150s design cues on the ear cup , while improving on their compact stowability. Cord was an ample 4ft long with good solid feeling amount of wire insulation for durability. The audio jack had a clever dimple design on a right-angled 3.5mm jack.
Wearing them, I found them to be more comfortable than my old V-150’s, which have to fit tightly on the head to reduce sound-leak along the ear pads. The ZX110 head a looser more light feel along the ears while providing decent sound isolation. The earpads are replaceable.
Audio quality was balanced but underwhelming compared to my studio headphones. Performance was very similar to Pansonic HF100’s with slightly weaker bass response but clearer in the mid-range. The bass was its weak point, sounding more rattling than thumping on a House music track. Those used to bass-biased power speakers, like Beats will be disappointed. But the overall balance was good and likely to be straining on the user when listening to spoken word, Classical, Jazz, or Acoustic Pop.
Overall the headphones were among the performers in the Budget sub $20 price tier. These headphones are available on Amazon. Please use my Affiliate link to support my work: https://amzn.to/3764DoW
SVBony, the Hong Kong based maker of budget astronomical telescopes, sent me a their mid-range SV46 spotting scope to test and evaluate. I reviewed the SVBony SV28 a few months ago and found it to be good value in the sub-$100 price tier. The SV46 is a big step in features and a moderate step up in price.
This is 80mm scope is heavier and has a more robust and detailed build. It is IPX waterproof rated and its front lens cap was so well fitted that I seriously had a hard time pulling it off. It has the stacked coarse and fine focus knobs found in pricier high end spotting scopes. Its eyepiece was large, removable, and featured an independently turning magnification ring.
But for a sub-$500 scope there has to be a trade-off and in the SV46’s case, its in the optics. Looking through the glass I found softness around the other edges. At x60 there was noticeable purple fringe. In the USAF-51 resolution test, I was able to resolve down to Element 4 in Group 0 which is quite good for a scope under $500 but this sharpness only applied to the center of the image as the focus got significantly softer about a 1/3 out from center.
The It’s optics, while underwhelming, are on-par with similar scopes in this price tier and magnification range. The Athlon Talos has better glass but has less features and looks and feels cheaper in comparison. The SV46 has a well built tube, adjustments, and controls normally found on spotters twice its price. As evidenced by very tight seal on the lens cover, is extremely water tight.
The HF100 is one of Panasonic’s most affordable wired headphones. They feature a clean modern design in a semi-open headset; the ear cups do not completely cover all of your ear. The ear cups do feature padding that provides a good sound isolating seal around your ear though some may find the squeeze uncomfortable over long periods of time.
They are a step up from their HT21 budget headsets but sound quality is very similar. They are well balanced for headphones under $30, though far from audiophile quality. Those looking for thumping bass will be disappointed. They are better than the free headphones issued on flights (unless you’re in Business class).
Unlike the HT21, these headphones also include an inline microphone and volume controls in the audio cord. The flat insulated wire cord feel somewhat silicone coated and ends in a standard 3.5mm TRRS jack. These lend themselves for use as inexpensive gaming or Zoom headsets, though they lack the heavy bass and venting for the former.
For the price and the microphone feature, these headphones are a good option for travel headsets or headsets you can send with your kids to school. They are inexpensive enough that you won’t have to cry about losing or breaking them. Though their lightweight construction does make me question their durability?
They come in a variety of colors (white, red, pink, black, and blue). I purchased these blue headsets from Amazon and they are also available from Best Buy, Walmart, and other retailers. Purchase through my Amazon Affiliate link to support my channel: https://amzn.to/3LmZoQr
A gun accessory company sent me a Pridefend bubble level kit to test and review. I had never heard of the “Pridefend” brand before this review. This odd sounding name hinted at bad Chinese to English Goggle translate or MadLibs. Their low $6 price on Amazon (at the time of this review) made me a bit trepidatious, since you often get what you pay for.
When they did arrive, I was pleasantly surprised they came packed in a nice metal tin. The kit included two types of bubble levels and a 1.5mm Allen wrench to adjust them. I checked them against a 3-position carpenter’s spirit level and found the larger of the two Pridefend was not true but I was easily able to re-true it using the Allen wrench. I thought the other bubble-level, with a ‘P’ decal, was also not level but this was due to the off-center magnet at its base. After attaching it to the metal case, I found that it was level.
Taking it to the range, I found the bubble levels to be useful in leveling my CZ rifle to correctly align my scope after changing its Picatinny rail adapter. Despite the need to initially adjust one of the level (so you do need a known and trusted spirit-level or reliable phone App), I was pleasantly surprised at the usefulness of this tool.
Needless to say, I’m pleased enough that I WONT be returning this. It’s going into my range bag where the magnet has been additionally useful in policing my odd collection of allen wrenches in my mini range toolkit.
