The 2016 Macbook Pro had a fatal flaw in its hinge design. Over time and with use, the monitor wiring passing through the hinge would frey and cause the monitor to turn off when the monitor face is raised into normal operating position. Recently my wife’s 2016 began experiencing the “Dead Screen” problem which progressed to the point that she could only open the hinge about 4 inches before it would deactivate.
Fixing her screen would required replacing the entire LCD screen and display wiring which costs over a hundred dollars; almost as much as buying a used Macbook. As a hack, I purchased an inexpensive MNN portable LCD monitor from Amazon. The package includes a 1080p color screen, USB-C and HDMI cables, and a magnetic cover that can be folded into a monitor stand.
Plugging the MNN screen into the Macbook USB-C port, the LCD screen automatically synced to Mac and functioned as an extended monitor. Changing the System Prefs I was able to change the MNN to a mirrored monitor. This allowed me to functionally replace the Macbook screen with the MNN monitor.
I also tested the MNN monitor connecting it to my phone and it effortlessly sync and mirrored my phone screen. Color rendition was fair though not as intense or sharp as my Samsung OLED display. It also has built in speakers but these provide disappointingly thin sound.
Athlon scopes are some of the best values in sporting optics. But they make more than optics. Athlon make some of the most robust carbon fiber shooting tripods. But it wasn’t until this year that they’ve made their first heavy duty shooting saddle mount.
This mount is made of a solid block of aluminum for strength but with numerous lightening cuts to reduce its weight whilst retaining clamping strength. The clamp has a built in ARCA/SWISS compatible base, with both 1/4″ and 3/8″ screw mounts for direct attachments to photo tripods.
The walls of the clamp are slightly canted inwards to better seat traditional hunting rifle handguards. The walls of the clamp are covered in textured rubber padding to provide grip and protect wood from marring even under heavy recoil.
I bought a generic LED worklight off of Amazon. They are sold under various brand names. It is a battery-powered LED outdoor/shop light that claims to output the equivalent of a 100W work light. But unlike old school light, this work light is internally powered, which offers versatility in it’s placement location.
My initial impressions of the unit when taking it out of the box was that it felt light and cheap plastic. I doubt that it would survive a typical commercial construction site for very long. I did not do a drop test from 1m onto a concrete floor but I doubt the housing or or solar panels would likely not survive the fall intact.
My goal was to determine its usefulness in my home repairs and garage projects. I tested the unit and had difficulty confirming it’s brightness in my DIY flashlight lumen testing rig due to it’s large size. I got a reading of 364 lumens which is far less than the 3000 lumen advertised and a fraction of an old school halogen bulb (100,000 lumens). My naked eye estimate was that it output closer to a 40W.
After fully recharging the unit it ran for 270 minutes with both warm and cold LED lights on. The next day, I placed the unit’s panels in direct sunlight for 6hrs and found it was 2/3 recharged. I was initially dubious of the usefulness of the solar panel but in an emergency situation, the unit could provide lighting for a good +4hrs after spending a day in the sun.
A few months ago, I reviewed the Boruit V3 which disappointed me because its light output fell short of it’s claims. Would it be the same with the new V10? This flashlight follows the same keychain fob format, creating a slightly bulkier and boxier version of the V3. The V10 is the same size as my car key remote fob making it a handy backup EDC or as a primary one.
Like the V3 the V10 comes in a choice of a polymer body in dark smoke or glow-in-the-dark white. The unit is powered by an internal LiPo battery charged by a USB-C cable under a silicone flap. There is a rare-earth magnet on the tail like the V3 which allows the light to attached to a steel car hood or on the side of a door panel where the side LEDs could be used as an emergency signal.
The V10 has a twin set of main LED white emitters and a small UV emitter at one end and a panel of colored LEDs on the side panel next to the buttons. Inexplicably the control buttons on the V10 arranged differently than the V3. When tapped twice, the left button activates the side LEDs and cycles through various color modes. 3 taps the side button activates the UV mini lamp. A continuous press activates an audible panic siren and the flashing red/blue side LED.
Double tapping on the main control button activates the twin LEDs. Tapping cycles through the brightness modes. A continuous press actives maximum output TURBO mode. In my lumen testing rig, I was able to record a HIGH output reading over 600 lumens which drops off quickly after 35-45 seconds to below 400 lumens. This was approximately in line with manuals stated HIGH output of 450 lumens.
Testing the TURBO mode was challenging because it requires holding the lights button down while holding the flashlight inside of my testing box. Some light would inevitably not leak out. Despite this I was able to record about 900 lumens which was close enough to its claimed 1000 lumens. This makes me wonder if I gave the V3 too poor of a review if it has a similar performance curve drop.
Testing the beam, the pattern is very much a flood with a defuse hot spot. Even in TURBO mode, I could barely register any visible illumination past 50-60 yards. The side LEDS are visible from a distance but cast a very short throw.
There is one key feature where the V10 falls short of the V3: IPX4 water resistance. Because of sound holes on the body for the siren speaker, the V10 is not water proof. The unit is only resistant to splashes and light rain. Not knowing this when I tested the unit using a water hose, water entered through the sound holes and pooled up inside the body. Oops.
The V10 is in most ways more capable than the V3. I especially like the panic button mode. But it is a bit larger so adding a second large fob on my key chain would be ungainly. It would still make a very useful backup EDC. If I envisioned a V20, it would be an elongated version of the V10 with longer runtime and a clip.
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V10 Dimensions: 2.63″D x 1.37″W x 0.59″H Beam Distance: 100m Battery: Internal Lithium Ion Weight: 46 Grams Water Resistance: IPX4 Brightness: 1000 Lumen Battery Description Item Weight: 1.62 oz
After my review of the Athlon Range Finder Binoculars, Athlon asked me to test out their new Gen 2 Cronus Tactical spotting scope. Its a straight line 7-42x60mm optic. While other traditional spotters offer higher magnification, Athlon engineers chose 7-42x for a wide field of view and not sacrifice sharpness and brightness.
It has a ruggedized and rubberized body to withstand impacts and bumps under combat-like conditions. For additional protection, it comes with a neoprene sleeve for the body and leashed neoprene lens caps. It comes with a set of thin rubber lens caps but these are for tranport and storage, not for field use.
The magnification ring has a rubberized surface for good traction but was a bit stiff to turn; as is the focus ring next to it. A stiffer focus ring is good so as not to lose sharpness once set. But having a stiff to turn magnification ring is a hinderance for a tactical or competition spotter that has to switch between targets at different ranges for a shooter. It would be helpful Athlon designed the magnification ring to accept a throw lever.
One unusual feature found on the bottom of the scope tube, are twin photo screw mounting holes. You can use either screw ports to screw the scope onto a tripod or mounting plate. It comes with a ARCA/Swiss adapter plate with unique twin screws that fit into both holes in tandem. This twin screw design makes it impossible to twist the scope out of of alignment.
What makes this spotter “tactical”? On the scope tube is a Picatinny rail to add a red dot to quickly aim the scope and 2 additional hard points to add additional rails. You may need to add a riser to clear the bell; the include Picatinny rail is a bit thicker/taller than standard for this reason.
The most tactical aspect of this scope is a first focal plane reticle. Its etched MRAD subtensions are designed to help spotters call out distances between objects, reference points, or bullet splashes. The reticle is quite fine and at its low magnification is hardly visible and won’t obscure your view but at 20x and above the reticle grows to provide a T-style cross hairs.
At high magnification a set of 8 numbered vertical lines of various heights are visible below the cross hair reticle. This is the Cronus quick range estimator that is calibrated to a 72″ tall individual. By using the guidelines to measure the distance between the top of the subject’s shoulders and head, you can quickly estimate the targets distance. I was able to confirm its relative accuracy using a hiker on a hillside 1300-1400yrds away.
At +1000yrds the image picture was very sharp for a 42x scope. Glassing reference targets at 100yrds I could clearly see .22cal holes on paper but more importantly I could see the wrinkles on the paper. At 42x I was able to resolve all the way down to Element 1 in Group 1 on the USAF-51 optical resolution chart; the finest detail of any spotting scope I’ve tested.
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Hikeen sent me a 10L and 5L of dry bag. For those of you who haven’t been to a rafting, kayaking, or a water park lately, dry bags are water proof, vinyl bags with a folding closure to keep items dry inside. When folded shut correctly, these bags are so air tight that they can be used as floats.
What makes these bags different is that they have a built-in external pouch for you phone. Normally if you store it in a dry bag, you have to find a dry, stable location to open up the dry bag and get to your phone. The water tight clear zippered pouch allows you to use your phone’s touch-screen while inside, allowing you to answer calls or read text messages without having to remove your phone.
The pouch has a zipper with rubberized seals similar to dry suits used by kayakers and cold water scuba divers. The entire bag is rated IPX7 waterproof, capable of submersion in 1m of water for up to 30 minutes. I don’t have a pool to test them in so I tested them to IPX6 standards.
I places sheets of toilet paper in the phone pouch and inside the main bag. Next, I shot a high-pressure water hose at its main opening, the zipper pouch, and the seams for over a minute. I opened up the bag and found both sheets bone dry.
Hikeen makes these bags in 5L, 10L, and 20L sizes (denoting the internal volume capacity). In a pinch you could also use these bags in reverse and cary water in them. This makes them an ideal survival accessory for any home or an emergency bag in any car. My only criticisms is that the external pouch is a bit small for larger sized phones and that they only cary one color choice on Amazon: blue.
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Black Friday is almost here and Mariah Carey invades the radio. It’s that time of year to think about buying gifts for our family, friends, and for ourselves. With that in mind, here are my Top 10 Best Buys from products I’ve personally tested and reviewed on this channel. Starting from inexpensive to indulgent.
Modern laptop with USB-C ports have the benefit of data speeds up to 5,10, or even 20Gbps. But to conserve space, many laptop and tablet makers also use the USB-C port as its charging port. This can be an issue when you want to charge and use multiple USB peripherals at the same time.
Some Thunderbolt 3/4 compatible USB hubs which also offer PD (Power Delivery) power passthrough can cost $30 or up to $200 for some “docking stations”. I use a laptop to conserve space and for portability, so finding a USB hub with a small footprint was also a primary criteria. Unfortunately many inexpensive hubs lack PD passtrough, are USB 3.0 or slower, or have HDMI or other peripheral connections I don’t need.
Fortunately, I found a Getatek USB hub on Amazon for under $18 (at the time of purchase, there was a 15% Prime discount). The Getatek hub has a mix of 2x USB-A and 2x USB-C ports that are USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports with data rates of up to 10Gbps. In addition, it has third USB-C port that allows for PD passthrough power. All in all, an ideal mix of USB ports and features.
In my testing, I was able to confirm that the PD port allowed a pass through approaching its claimed 100W capacity (my test charger is an older 90W Apple adpater). In my data testing using a SSD drive, I was able to get data transfer speeds over 8.5Gbps, which is close enough to its claimed 10Gbps max speed. I experienced some power drops initially but discovered this was caused by a poor connection in my testing cable and not the hub itself.
If you’re looking for one of the least expensive USB hubs with a mix of both old school USB-A ports and new USB-C ports, fast USB 3.1 speeds, and power passthrough, the Getatek may be an ideal choice. Or whatever brand this hub may be found under as it’s likely Getatek is yet another random OEM keymash brand.
Sunwayfoto sent me a T2830CS carbon fiber shooting tripod. This is the little brother to their T3240CS, which I reviewed not long ago as the “lightest hunting tripod”. Well I stand corrected because the T2830CS is a half pound lighter still. This shooting tripod weighs only 2.9lbs.
Lighter than the T3240CS while only slightly shorter (3 leg sections instead of 4) and retaining the same low profile ball head. The lighter weight makes the T2330CS a much more appealing tripod for hunters who have to trek or ride into back country. The direct from Asia model I was sent, is both Arca-Swiss and direct Picatinny compatible.
Like it’s big brother, the 2830 sports sturdy yet light carbon fiber legs with broad rubberized pads for a firm grip on hard surfaces; but which can be swapped for spikes in the wild terrain. The 36mm diameter ball head can tilt up to 35º of angle while keeping my +10lb rifle and scope combo rock solid. The legs can splay out to nearly 90º offering exceptional stability when shot from a seated or semi-prone.
The carbon fiber legs are not only lighter weight than traditional aluminum tripods, but they soak up vibration from recoil. With my 5.56mm AR, I was able to maintain a similar group on target, shooting with the T2380CS from both standing and sitting positions; which was comparable to shooting bipod off a bench.
I had never heard of the Rockville brand before purchasing the ZR10 party speaker. It’s Specs were impressive though probably a little inflated: 1000Watts of peak power and 200Watt RMS; and internal runtime of up to 14.5hrs of battery power. From what I could see it had positive aspects like twin 10″ woofers, 2x mic jacks, and a separate guitar input and gian. I took a risk and ordered it.
The unit looked legit. It was over 3 feet tall and weighed over 28lbs. With speakers the old-school rules were, that heavier = better as heavier magnets and power supply means louder. Though with portable speakers, that can also mean bigger batteries.
The user manual was pretty useless. Fortunately pairing the speaker with my phone via Bluetooth was easy enough. The unit can also pair via TWS to another ZR10 or similar unit to provide stereo sound. The unit also comes with an auto-pairing wireless microphone.
Maxing out the volume, the speaker proved sufficiently loud to fill a 60’x30′ banquet hall with audio. In my music testing, the speaker favored mid-ranges and Rock music. The unit has a ported subwoofer channel in the housing but the overall bass response was underwhelming.
As a guitar amp, it sounded as loud as a 80-100Watt amp. can’t confirm that it had a 200Watt RMS output, but I suspect that number is inflated. The ZR10 is as expensive a 40Watt guitar amp which sounds better. But when you factor in ZR10’s portable self-power capabilities, it may be a far more capable option.
