He Gadget - She Gadget

Product Review - Remote Key Finder

 

He Gadget: Harpers Index says "The average amount of time that a person spends looking for misplaced things over the course of a lifetime is one year." We'll there's a solution for that. It's called the Remote Key Finder but it's not just for your keys. You can attach it to your purse, your cell phone, your camera, or even the remote for the TV. In fact, that's just how we tested it.

The receiver, the part that attaches to the thing you lose all the time, comes with a little clicp on it and also comes with an option band with a compatible clip on it. We put the small strap around the remote, just between a row of the rubber numbers, and clipped the receiver on it. Then we stuck the remote right back where we found it, in the corner, under the cushion on the sofa in the lounge.

We walked around the room, about twice the size of the normal living room or family room, clicking the button on the transmitter. The transmitter is about the size of the remote that unlocks your car doors, probably safe to say even a little bit smaller. We had no problem hearing the receiver beep and it responded each time we pressed the button from any location in the room.

We then went outside the room and shut the doors. Still no problem. Since the transmitter works on radio waves being outside the room didn't cause any problem. We tested successfully to a range of about 30 to 35 feet and had no problems getting a beep and hearing the beep. Beyond that performance is impacted by objects such as walls, doors, windows, etc. But that's to be expected. So range to 75 feet is probably accurate without any obstacles. Even at 35 feet, if you stand in the middle of your house and hit the button a circle of 35 feet probably covers a pretty good portion. Worst case, you just pop from doorway to doorway and hit the button.

We definitely recommend the Smart Finder; works as advertised and will save you time. Great for kids who are always misplacing things too. There's also a Smart Finder 4-in-1 version if you want the ability to find up to 4 different items.

Portable Laptop Cooling Pad - Review

He Gadget: My laptop gets hot, really hot. I don't know why exactly but the thing gets really hot on the left side. There's a fan and vents and everything built in but it just burns up. It's so hot after a while that I can't keep it on my lap, which kinda defeats the whole purpose of having a "lap"top. So I pulled out one of these Portable Laptop Cooling Pads.

It's powered through as USB port from my laptop and has 3 fans. It works great. What I do is start working without it and when I realize it's getting too hot I throw it on the cooling pad for about an hour while I continue working then I can switch back to having it on my lap after it cools it down if I want. But I get to keep on working and don't have to burn my legs in the process.

BlueAnt Speaker Phone

He Gadget: My wife wanted to get a wireless headset for her cell phone but she didn't really have a need for an earpiece outside of the car. So I recommended a speaker phone. We got one of these BlueAnt BlueTooth Speakerphones. First impression is that it's larger than I expected. It's about the thickness of the Chocolate and about 20% wider and 40% longer. My wife has the Q and the setup went very smoothly, very simple. The volume goes as high as you would want and the quality is decent on both ends. It attaches easily to the visor. My wife pulls the visor down slightly to bring the microphone closer and that does help improve microphone reception. Overall, we're very happy with it and would recommend it if you want hands free for the car but don't need a earpeice.

Our New Online Store

He Gadget & She Gadget: As you know we've been a little busy as of late. Well now that it's official we can tell everyone. We have just completed the purchase of an online retail store - Convenient Gadgets (convenientgadgets.com or cgets.com). We are very excited about this new venture.

We believe that this new venture will help us to bring you unique gift ideas as we will be actively pursuing new products for our own store around the world. As we come across good gift ideas we'll continue to post them here. Not everything we come across that makes a good gift will be a good fit for our retail store but obviously, if we find something and carry it at our store, we'll provide you a link to get it there. Otherwise, we'll provide you a link to another retailer who carries whatever it may be.

So you can still count on us for a good range of products and prices. What's more, now that we will have many Gadgets on-hand as part of our own inventory, we can provide you with more hands-on reviews!

We're very excited and hope that you will continue to visit our blog.

Sincerely,

Jeremy & Lucy

USB Drink Chiller & Warmer Review

He Gadget: Hey everyone, we're back. We've been away for a couple weeks recharging the batteries. We're back with a review of a USB Drink Chiller & Warmer.

Most days I buy a 20 ounce soda from the vending machine and by about 2 in the afternoon it's half gone and warm. I need a way to keep my soda cool all day and now I have one.

The USB Drink Chiller & Warmer really works. Just plug it into the USB slot of your desktop or laptop and set it to warm or cool. It works perfectly. You never have to drink warm soda, tepid water or cold coffee again!

You can get the USB Drink Chiller & Warmer at Convenient Gadgets for $24.97.

Emergency Radio Review

Product Review

He Gadget: I bought one of these radios to have around the house in case the power goes out, which it does at least twice a year during the winter where we live. The radio has AM, FM,SW1, SW2, Flashlight, Cell Phone Charger/Adaptor. It has several power sources:

- Charging the included Lithium Ion battery via the crank handle.
- Three(3) AA batteries, not included.
- DC Adapter, not included.
- AC Adapter, not included.

So there are lots of power options for home and car, although if the power's out the AC option is too.

Right out of the box I started turning the crank to see what kind of usage I could get out of it. With less than a couple minutes of turning the radio worked fine and consistently for more than 15 minutes. The instructions indicate it should work for 40-60 minutes after 90 seconds of cranking.

For those of you who don't know, like me, SW1 and SW2 are for Short Wave radio stations. I was able to get a few without too much trouble, a couple in English, a couple in Spanish.

Unfortunately, the flashlight lasted only about 20 seconds on my initial cranking. I have a feeling that if you intend to use the flashlight extensively you are going to want to have some AA batteries on hand.

It provides a switch for setting whether to use the AA batteries or the Dynamo  (Charged Lithium Ion battery).

It includes a slot on the back and adaptors for charging your cell phone. However it lists only Samsung, Siemens, Sony Ericcson and Nokia phones which does not include my LG phone with Verizon. So if the cell phone charging feature is important to you, you will want to determine compatability before buying.

Bottom line, I like the assurance of having a radio that will work without alkaline batteries.  Not only does it ensure you will have access to radio broadcasts in case of an emergency but it's nice to listen to a little music during those times when it's nothing more than a simple power outage. I would say this is a must have in any household.

You can buy the Dynamo Emergency Crank AM/FM/SW Radio from RadioShack for $39.99.