Totoro Power Bank (Black) Review

  I recently got the opportunity to try a black Totoro power bank. I was really excited because its so adorable. So here is my review:

  Upon receiving the power bank, I had total fangirl squealing going one because... Totoro. Right?! Anyhow. I opened it up to check it out. I had a hard time with the instructions because they weren't very instructive. It was full of the usual electronic warnings, but didn't really explain how to use the power bank or what the lights meant. I figured it out myself pretty quickly and plugged it in to charge.

  The first thing I have to say is that this power bank is adorable AND functional, which is becoming a rare quality in character based items more and more. Fortunately, this power bank not only works, but it also works better than any other power bank I own. After charging, I was able to charge my Samsung Galaxy S6 from 14% to full in about 2 hours. I was also able to charge my husband's S6 from 73% to full, and my tablet from 46% to 92% before the power bank was out of juice. For me, this is amazing as most power banks don't even charge my phone all the way (much less charge several devices) and it was pretty fast at doing it!

  I want to talk a little about the design. This is definitely made out of high quality materials. It feels smooth and matte, and it has some weight to it but its not really heavy. The button is one the nose and is easy to push. The whole set up is pretty intuitive and easy to figure out even if you don't have instructions. I love the lights on the belly and the smile that lights up. Its super cute and makes it easy to see that it is charging and how much power is left in the power bank with just a glance. The lights really add to the cuteness for me. I mean, I'd like it anyway, but the lights make it more unique and attractive.

  My bottom line is this: This power banks is cute and effective. It would be great to have on hand to charge your devices when you're on the go. Its a little large, but still portable and for the price you won't find anything comparable. The only serious downside is that I'm going to have to wrestle my kids to get it back xD

** Disclaimer**

I was provided a product or coupon for testing and review purposes. In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please note that all opinions are my own and I will only endorse items which I truly feel are of value to my readers.

Totoro Power Bank (Pink) Review

  I have the black Totoro power bank, well had it. My kids stole it and refuse to return it. So I went with a pink one to replace it and figured that I would write a review for both. They're the same product, but I do feel like color makes a bit of a difference in how you view them.

  I think Totoro is one of the most adorable characters on the planet. This power bank really does him justice as its just as adorable. I love the pink color. Its completely girly and cute and if my kids wouldn't have stolen mine, I would have picked it as a gift for my daughter.

  As with the black power bank, it works beautifully. It charges my devices faster than a standard charger and even has enough juice to add some power to another device or two when I'm done. I love that it comes with a convertible USB cord so you can change the tip and charge virtually any device. Its a little heavy not overly so and it's still very portable. The fact that is bigger than a lot of power banks only makes it more adorable as far as I'm concerned, and makes it easier to lose.

  The only complaints that I have are that it takes forever to charge it completely and it seems like there is a learning curve as the instructions don't particularly explain how to use it. The nose is the power button (how cute is that?!) and the light on the belly indicate that it is on and/or charging.The teeth also light up to let you know how much power the bank has. Hopefully its easy to figure out how to use from all the reviews. I will also say that when I received the black one, it already had a charge but the pink one was completely dead. If you bought or are buying more than one, don't get worried until you charge it!

  I'm huge on quality and this baby is made of high quality materials and feels great. It has a smooth matte finish that feels good in your hands. It's pretty easy to keep clean and its a great conversation piece or a gift for a teen. I would definitely recommend it for any Totoro fan that also likes pink. Oh! I almost forgot the best part! Instead of lighting up blue on the belly, the pink one lights up purpleish pink! How adorable is that??!!

** Disclaimer**

I was provided a product or coupon for testing and review purposes. In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please note that all opinions are my own and I will only endorse items which I truly feel are of value to my readers.

i2 Gear® Raptor Universal Dashboard/Windshield Car Mount Review

   In this day and age of technology, you'd think that companies would be even more in sync with what consumers want and need. With social networking, you'd imagine that companies would be better equipped to provide exactly what people are looking for. We post about it every day!



   In my case, you'd think that GPS would have all the features I want, but I'm still left wanting. As a matter of fact, I think that the best thing for people like me is for Google to make a GPS system that you can mount in your car, but I don't know of one. I honestly prefer Google maps to my Garmin in my car. It is really hard to hold my phone while I drive, and setting my phone on the shelf in my dashboard just ends badly.... with trying to fish my phone out from underneath my seat when I make a sharp turn. Unfortunately, my phone doesn't fit in my Garmin mount because it is custom made specifically for the Garmin.

 I thought about buying a mount specifically for my phone but I didn't want to only use my phone. I might be the only one, but I feel weird if my GPS isn't up there. I like to see my speed and know what road I am on at all times, I'd just rather use my phone for directions and navigation. 


 Thankfully, I was given the opportunity to try out the Raptor Universal Dashboard Windshield Car Mount. I have to say that I love this thing. This mount gives me the freedom to use my phone for navigation whenever I want and to use my Garmin when ever I want because they both fit in it. It has great features that just can't be beat.
Some of these features include:

QUICK THUMB CLAMP RELEASE - Mount your device in seconds
PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT - The tough spring clamp grip takes a stingy grip :). It firmly holds your device in place.
FULL 360 DEGREE VIEWS - Supports full side to side, pan to vertical or horizontal placement
COMPATIBILITY - Apple iPhone 5/5S/5C/4/4S/3GS Samsung Galaxy S5/S4/S3/S2/Note/Note 3 HTC One/8X/8S Nokia Lumia 925/928/920 Blackberry Q10 & Z10 LG Optimus G/Nexus 4/Nexus 5 Motorola Droid RAZR/MAXX/HD/MOTO X and many more.

 This mount is strong. Where my Garmin mount will fall off the windshield sometimes, I haven't had any problems with this. The suction cup has a lever that you push down pretty hard until you hear a click and then it is basically locked to your windshield. I didn't try it on my dashboard, so I really can't say how well it will mount on a dash.

  It is super easy to use as well. It swivels easily, but it also has a knob that you can tighten over the "swivel ball" to lock it in place at the angle that you want it. When I say that it locks into place, I mean that it really stays put. It hasn't budged from the weight of my device, bumps, turns, or any other conditions. You can also mount it in either direction to reduce glare on your device. It opens rather wide, I imagine you could fit most GPS systems or cellphones that have a screen less than 5-inches in it, and it really grips devices well. The clamp has red rubber grips on both sides that literally won't let your device go. If you buy it, make sure to hold the clamp open fully when you remove your device so you don't get rub-off from the grips and you avoid breaking the mount's grips. Another great thing about this is that the clamp isn't really wide so there is enough room to charge your device while it is in the mount, no matter where the charging port is located on the device.

 My conclusion:
 I would buy this ANYTIME. It is well worth the cost and works exactly as described. It really meets my needs in my car because I can switch devices whenever I want without having to switch the mount out. It is sturdy and stays in place on my windshield. The weight of my Galaxy S4 doesn't cause the clamp to fall even with the 360 degree swivel feature because of the unique lock. It does everything I want it to and more.

** Disclaimer**

I was provided a product or coupon for testing and review purposes. In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please note that all opinions are my own and I will only endorse items which I truly feel are of value to my readers.

Solid Cordz® 2-pk 6ft Extension Cables Review

   The first thing I want to say about these extension cords is that they are SERIOUSLY heavy duty. They're definitely comparable to indoor/outdoor "shop" cords, with the only main differences being length and color. I could see myself using these in my garage as well as in my house. I tried these in many situations and they've performed well. They didn't get hot under any circumstance, but they did start to get a little warm when I tried running power tools for a long period of time. When I say "warm" I don't mean much heat at all, I just mean it felt warmer than it was when I started. It took about 40 minutes before the cord felt warm, as I'm probably not going to use them with power tools for hours, I don't really see this being an issue.

   I live in a house that is well over 100 years old. If you've ever lived in an old house, you know that no matter how much it is updated, you somehow end up with about 2 outlets in each room no matter how big the room is. We kinda live on surge protector strips and extension cords 'round here. The great thing about these cords is that they're not too long to use with a surge protector or just an outlet, so you can use it for just about anything. I'm currently using one for my stove because it has a 2 foot cord coming out of the back at the top and my outlet is at the bottom of the wall (who's idea was THAT?! O_o). I also have one plugged into a strip so I can use my laptop charger or anything else I need to without having to be 2 feet away from the strip.

   I'll definitely be buying more of these so I can extend my surge protectors to where I need them to be instead of running a ton of extension cords from the strips to the electronics that need power. As much as I try to hide the extension cords, there are still a ton of them that are visible and these extension cords will completely solve that problem for me. I also really like that they're black because they really don't stand out. I've had white cords, gray cords, brown cords, and even orange ones and they all stand out in one room or another. Black doesn't seem to do that as much.

   The only downside that I can really see to these is they're not very flexible right out of the package, so they need to be broken in a little if you want them to lose the coil-shape from being packaged.

If you're looking for great heavy duty cords 

that aren't going to cost you an arm and a leg, 

these won't let you down. 

** Disclaimer**

I was provided a product or coupon for testing and review purposes. In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please note that all opinions are my own and I will only endorse items which I truly feel are of value to my readers.

Solid Cordz® 4K - GOLD Plated 6 ft HDMI Review

  I generally don't put much stock in the quality of HDMI cables. I've long believed that you're not going to notice much of a difference in picture no matter what brand of HDMI cable you use.  Quality is another matter entirely. I've been burned by cheap ones and expensive ones about equally. Super expensive HDMI cables that somehow manage to make the HDMI port on your PS3 incapable of accepting any other brand of HDMI cables because their cables "stretch out" the HDMI port and all other HDMI's fall out (yes, this has happened to me). Super cheap ones that end up losing connection unless you wiggle it "just so". Mid priced ones that the wires shred inside of the cable because its been bent and folded and the cable just can't handle it.

  I was pretty surprised at the quality of these HDMI cables though. They have the typical shiny, gold plated ends that are usually indicative of high quality cables. The cable itself is tough, yet flexible. Its definitely more like a cable than a cord like most HDMI cables have. It doesn't have that plastic coating that other HDMI cables use to "protect" the cable. It doesn't look like it would even need any additional protection. These cables are VERY tightly braided and almost remind you of the stainless steel braided lines that are used on cars and for gas lines... except they're for your tv. I honestly believe that I have finally found a cable that won't be damaged by being moved frequently or being bent, and that won't damage any of my electronics.

They look and feel incredibly tough

  Picture-wise, these are really great too. I don't usually think (or say) that a HDMI cable has improved my picture at all, but these did. On some images that have a "halo" of light (COD:Ghosts PS4 start screen for example), I've noticed that the halo is pixely, like you can see stripes of gradation from across the room. Once I hooked up these cables, the visible gradation was gone and I had a crisper, more defined picture. I will also note that the HDMI cables I had previously attached to my PS4 were $80 cables, so its not like I'm seeing a new difference between cheap cables and these. These are far better than the expensive cables I had. I have no idea how they'll hold up long term, but I'm hopeful that they'll stay this great for a long time. They're totally worth the cost.



  Here's what my screen looks like now:

Crisp picture (please excuse the reflections)

 Smooth gradation up close

  If you're looking for great quality HDMI cables that deliver a great picture and are tough as hell, these are probably what you're looking for. You can find them for a great price on Amazon.

** Disclaimer**

I was provided a product or coupon for testing and review purposes. In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please note that all opinions are my own and I will only endorse items which I truly feel are of value to my readers.