I have used the bus pro 600 for a while and previously used other different regenerators, this is the only one that met my expectations, my main equipment at the battery shop
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Showing posts with label 12 volt solar battery chargers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 12 volt solar battery chargers. Show all posts
Auto Meter BUSPRO-600s Multi Battery Charging Station (110Vac)
I have used the bus pro 600 for a while and previously used other different regenerators, this is the only one that met my expectations, my main equipment at the battery shop
GSI Super Quality Rapid Car Charger For Apple iPhone 4, 3G/S, Cigarette Lighter Plug In - Never Run
- Charge Up Your Apple iPhone While On The Road, In Car, Truck Or SUV
- Small And Compact, Meets And Exceeds Original Models, Perfect Fit
- Constructed With Quality And Precision, A Notch Above Standard Aftermarket Devices
- Built In Safe Circuit Fuse, Eliminates Overcharging And Overheating The Phone
- Connect To Your iPhone Direct Or To Apple Docks, 30 Pin Connector Plug
Went to Verizon and bought one for $29, and it was well worth it.This cigarette charger works perfectly for my iPhone 4S. It will never die while I'm in the car! This was such a relief since the price was quite affordable.Snaps nicely into the phone and performs well for a product that in not OEM. The plug that snaps into the phone is too big for me to use without taking my phone our of the case, which costs this 1 star.
Belkin Mobile Power Cord for iPod (White)
- Compatibility: iPod classic 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G; nano 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G; iPod mini; iPod touch 1G, 2G
- Provides unlimited play time for your iPod
- Replaceable safety fuse and Belkin lifetime warranty so you'll never need another power cord
- Provides a DC input jack to work TuneCast II Mobile FM Transmitter
Buy Belkin Mobile Power Cord for iPod (White) Now
Very nice alternative to the Apple Store prices. Same charger for alot less dollars. Get a few and have one for each car. You cant go wrong!Read Best Reviews of Belkin Mobile Power Cord for iPod (White) Here
Despite what description says, it does not work with ipod touch 4generation. Each of my 3 kids got an ipod touch 4 gen for Xmas and it did not work with any if them. Also tried 4 different outlets. Kept getting message on ipod screen that the ipod did not support the charger. Do not buy if you have ipod touch 4 gen, regardless, of the low price!
Schumacher PSJ-2212 DSR ProSeries 2200 Peak Amps Jump Starter and Portable Power Unit
- 2200 peak amperes, 330 cranking ampere and 275 cold cranking amperes
- 22 Ah professional grade, high output AGM battery
- 12 Volt DC power outlet
- 3 ampere built-in, automatic charger
- Heavy duty clamp have replaceable copper jaws
The 2212 instantly started a dead battery on cold mornings. The 3 amp charger is much faster than cheapo models.
Basically it is a durable solid unit. You'll need to spend over $200 for a better jump starter. The long cables let me solidly place it while jumping, unlike the other boxes that barely reached.
Buy it & you will love the security of genuinely professional grade peace of mind.
Buy Schumacher PSJ-2212 DSR ProSeries 2200 Peak Amps Jump Starter and Portable Power Unit Now
Ill give you the good news first. This item will spin my 4.3 liter high-compression V8 like there's no tomorrow, and it will do it at least 5 times on one charge. It will hold a fresh charge for three months. It has a huge red digital readout that serves several purposes. It will let you know when you have a good connection to a car battery before you switch it on. It will let you know how much voltage it is providing, and it will tell you the charge state of its internal battery when it is in charge mode. There is also a warning if you cross up your leads. There is a cigarette lighter socket for 12V access.Now for the bad news. First, you have to provide an extension cord, and, when you do, there's no place to store one of any length on the device. My advice is to buy the shortest single-socket 16AWG cord you can, and squeeze it onto one of the side hooks where the leads are stored. Otherwise expect to just leave the cord behind (probably the manufacturer's intent) or carry it separately. Second, while you can leave the charger plugged in full time without overcharging, there is a noisy fan that runs full time (and draws about 6 watts along with the display). Even if you charge it in your garage, you probably won't want to just plug it in and forget it for two years, because that fan will wear out sooner or later. At least it sounds like it will. (I wish they'd used a quieter fan of the type that comes on desktop computers.) Don't plan to store it in an unheated area in winter, because performance will suffer severely, although a sealed garage is probably warm enough in most climates. Finally, you can't use this thing as a charger to maintain a car's battery in the garage. It's not designed for that and won't allow it.
I'd like to make a couple of final points about battery-powered, jump-start devices in general. If your car's battery has failed catastrophically, meaning it's almost like a short circuit, you must disconnect one lead of the battery before using one of these. (Assuming your alternator is good, you can reconnect the battery once the car is running.) Otherwise, the bad battery will suck the charge out of the jump-starter. You may have encountered such situations with jumper cables, when you find you have to partially recharge the dead battery with a running car's alternator before you can start the car. This is the kind of thing that happens when you leave the lights on for a long time. It should not be the kind of thing that happens when you have tried to start the car and heard a clicking noise.
If your car's battery is dead because you've run it down while trying to start the car, you'll probably run the jump-starter down too. In fact, it will probably run down faster than your car's battery did, just because it's not as big. Don't blame the jump starter for either of these situations.
This jump-started does what it's supposed to do, and it is a good price. If you can live with the cord and the fan, and you don't ask it to perform miracles, you'll be happy with your purchase.If you buy this product, watch out for one very strange quirk: No matter how fully charged the battery is, the digital readout will ALWAYS say it is 10% charged when you plug it into a charger. The readout will slowly creep up towards 100% over a few hours. But this readout is false: It has no connection to the actual charge on the battery. To determine the actual charge on the battery, press the "%" button on the unit and it will tell you the actual percentage the item is charged.
The Schumacher customer service department doesn't know that this is how the product works, and they will tell you that the unit is broken if you ask about it. You'll then have to pay $35 to ship the unit back to them to get a new one (it's very heavy), and it will take several weeks, and the new one will seem broken, too. But it's not: It's just a strange quirk of the way these machines are designed. Trust me: This happened to me twice before I figured it out on my own.
UPDATE: I have changed my rating of this item from three stars to one star because after having the unit replaced twice for the reason above, the third unit I received just totally stopped working within about two months of it being sent to me. This time, the unit was really dead: It takes no charge no matter how long it is plugged in, and gives zero read out. Ironically, I couldn't get a replacement unit because the new replacement was no longer under warrantee: The clock on the one-year warrantee started ticking when I received the first unit, and it was just about elapsed when I received the third one. So I ended up spending a year dealing with the service department to "fix" units that weren't broken, and then at the end I received a unit that stopped working after about 2 months. I guess it just wan't meant to be. I hope others are luckier with this product than I was!
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I am on my fourth jumpstarer and after all the previous junk this is a keeper. At 22 ah it delivers enough cranking power for must vehicles, in a nutshell it is a self contained unit with trickle charger and voltmeter, the fan that cools the charger is a little bit loud and never shuts down even after full charge is reached don't know why. Finally I own a REAL jumpstarter.Save 37% Off
This box sells for $300+ on the tool trucks, and is a professional class jump starter. You can crank a turbo diesel that has two batteries with this bad boy and not even make it sweat. Im giving it 5 stars even though you will have to buy an extension cord to charge it(because the jumper does not come with one). Any one in the automotive industry needs one of these in their shop.
iriver AFT 100 Mobile FM Transmitter
- Mobile FM transmitter for listening to portable audio devices through your car stereo
- Transmits to all FM frequencies (88.1 to 107.9 MHz)
- Plugs into standard car power socket--no batteries required
- Connects to the headphone jack of portable MP3 or CD players; easy-to-read blue LCD display
- Universal accessory for all digital audio players compatible with a 3.5-mm mini-jack
I use this device with both my iPod Photo and my iRiver IFP-890T. It's convenient and works well. Recommended!
Buy iriver AFT 100 Mobile FM Transmitter Now
When I bought the iRiver H10 Music player, and I use Yahoo! Unlimited Music, I can figured I could download an unlimited amount of music. Thats great when I am walking to and fro from school, but when I drive, i also wanted that music as well. So I looked around, and the iRiver AFT-100 was the most expensive modelI drive a 04 Mazda RX-8, and it has no tape player, or an auxillary input. The only choice was to use an FM transmitter.
On a good note, it does its job, and it does it relatively well. The audio clarity was really good, and I am an audio buff myself. The only drawback is that it you still can hear some static beneath the music if its quiet. For example, if you play Alicia Key's "If I Aint Got You", her piano introduction is also accompanied by some slight static, but this is when it is a quiet part of the song.
The bad thing is that, well its FM. It isnt going to be as clear as a CD, but if you have no choice...you have no choice. Another drawback is that you have to fiddle with you mp3 player so you can find a good balance of mp3 volume, and your car's volume. Once you find that balance, you'll never touch it again. But one more thing, the bass isnt all that swell, but its something you can probably live with.
SOME HELPFUL TIPS!
-A LOT of people are moaning about the static (I even touched on it above), but the truth of the matter is that if your driving 70 MPH on the freeway, chances are VERY VERY slim that you'll hear static. The car's noise, on top of the road, on top of the rattling that goes on while your driving will eliminate the static noise...TRUST ME!
-A good way to broadcast the music is that I found that if you choose a station that has slight static, and slight music, set that to your fm tunner. I've gotten better results tunning my iRiver to a station that is half and half
-Another thing is that it DOES shut off by itself. This is a smart feature that iRiver implemented because it wont kill your car's batter if you leave it on accedentally. BUT if you, say, get a phone call, and pause your music and more than 30 seconds passed by, the thing will shut off, and then you hear that station that was half static and half music with your car's volume at like 75%...Then you have to unplug it, and plug it back in...a small drawback but it is okay by my book.
-Place it as close to your antenna as possible. Like for my car, my antenna is built into the rear windsheild. When I plugged the iRiver to my second cigarette adapter which is closer to my rear windshield, I got better reception.
-The mp3 player that it is attatched to is the antenna on the device, again, the closer it is to the antenna, the better the quality of the sound
-I tunned it to one station driving from Los Angeles CA, to Orange County CA (Irvine actually), and it worked very, very well. It was 91.9 FM
Listen, if you have a cassete player, then chances are your better off with a Cassete adapter. This iRiver AFT-100 does a really swell job at being an FM tuner, b/c it does have the power to outpower other stations, but remember it is ONLY FM QUALITY...if not a tad lower.
This was an honest review of the AFT-100 and I hope that I have helped.
Read Best Reviews of iriver AFT 100 Mobile FM Transmitter Here
After trying the Belkin Tunecast, both I and II, I laid out the money for this one -Hooray! It works! I live in a suburb just north of Chicago and drive through 3 'burbs on the way to and from work -radio stations come and go. The IRiver lets me set 3 so as I drive I can switch easily between stations. There is a little static (mainly between tracks), but for a FM transmitter, this is probably the best you can do for the money. For those of us out there without a tape deck in our car, this is the best way to go. (If you do have a tape deck, just get a tape adapter).The price may seem high in comparison to some other transmitters, but the advantage of being plugged directly into your car (no batteries!) is worth it. Plus, the auto on and off is great. Now, when I want to play my Rio Carbon I just turn it on, plug in the IRiver cord and turn on my radio -easy easy easy.
I am so glad I bought this!
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I agree with most reviewers here, that the great features of this device include the ability to have three presets that you can program. Being in Los Angeles, it is easy to switch between the "Valley" or "West LA" as you drive around.Yet, there is one nagging "feature" of this unit that drives me crazy: The unit turns itself on or off based on the feed from the Line Out of your MP3 device. Now, if you listen to music that has small bits of lower tone (such as a Pink Floyd album or classical pieces) or Vocal recordings, you will find the device will quit temporarily until the volume picks up again and it turns itself back on (which will then spit out evil radio static when a moment of lower tone or "peace" is trying to be accomplished on piece of music or voice. The line connector from the device, which plugs into the MP3 device, also seems of poor quality -sometimes I have to jiggle or twist the cheap connector just to make it engage the device (which has once again turned itself off because it is not receiving a line input). I wish that this automatic turn-on/off based on line feed could be turned on or off -to me, if this feature was not there it would be a great FM transmitting device.
Some had problems in congested Cities with wall to wall broadcast stations.
I'm a retired Broadcast Engineer so I like to think I have a pretty good ear and my unit works great.
It does have a few quirks worth mentioning and these may contribute to the problems mentioned in the other reviews.
First off, the folks that built this unit opted to use the cord running to the player as the units transmitting antenna. You may find that moving the unit around on the seat of the car can change the strength of the signal being received by your car radio.
This is really a poor arrangement but I'm not sure what can be done about it. I find that I often wrap my MP3 player cord around a compass I have glued to the windshield which is just inches from the FM antenna embedded in the glass. The resulting signal is now strong enough to overcome even some of the very strong local stations.
Very "Rube Goldburg" but effective.
Next is the issue of audio quality.
Seems like these units have no audio limiting or processing.
What you put in is what you get out.
Also it should be noted that most all FM receivers have a maximum bandwidth for each channel.
These little transmitters can exceed the maximum channel width many times over with just a little extra volume on your player.
What makes things complicated is that may of us enjoy a favorite
tone or equalization applied to our tunes.
Internal pre-sets may boost the low and high frequency tones to suit our
tastes but the boosted lows and highs easily pass outside the maximum
bandwidth the receiving radio is equipped to handle.
The result is baaaaadddd distortion.
So, whats the answer?
I set my player for absolute flat audio response. This means that audio going to the I River is the same strength at all tone levels. I've also made sure that I don't color (boost highs and lows) any of my tunes when I record them.
Once the signal gets to my FM radio, however, I can adjust the tone of the unit in the car to suite my tastes.
I also measured the accuracy of the radio signal generated by this little transmitter and found it to be pretty darn close to what was indicated in the window and very stable.
If they wanted to really make this a fabulous device they should install an audio or modulation limiter. I should also mention that too much audio drives the stereo generator a bit nuts and I think they do mention not to run too much signal to the unit.
It would be better if it was automatic, though.
I sure hope this info helps. I tried to loose most of the technical jargon.....I'm still using and enjoying my unit more than a year later.
PP
BaoFeng UV 5R 136-174/400-480 MHz Dual-Band DTMF CTCSS DCS FM Ham UV-5R Two Way Radio Transceiver
- Dual-Band Display, Dual Freq. Display, Dual-Standby
- 25KHz/12.5KHz Switchable
- Channel Step: 2.5/5/6.25/10/12.5/25KHz Frequency Range: 136-174 / 400-480MHz
- 128 Channels 50 CTCSS and 104 CDCSS
- One Year Warranty by Etekcity
Since the radio is dual band and dual monitor i listen to my favorite 2m repeater while on my work repeater that just switched to narrowband on the 70cc.
If you get this radio please do yourself a favor and GET THE USB PROGRAMING CABLE with it or you will pull your hair out. Manual programing is very hard since all
channels have to be programed in twice and all settings have to match. There is even a website devoted to to set up of this little jem.
Just go to For a full faq page. If you need a radio that you wont be worried if it falls off a bridge while fishing or lost while camping
this is your radio since its pretty inexpensive. The only issue in performance we noticed is the mic gain. Since its not adjustable its rather low so talk a little close to the mic.
ProsVery sturdy, Very Small, dual band, dual monitor, 1800mah Li-ion batt, FM radio, LED flashlight, Open Transmit, Narrow band and wide.
ConsVery hard for manual programing (GET THE USB CABLE!) , low mic gain.Great radio. This is the best zombieland radio cuz you can talk to hams, police, fire, ems, search and rescue, walmart walkie-talkies, marine radios. You should NOT do those things under normal conditions, but you can listen to all of them. Great battery life. I own 5 now. Had a mic problem with one, but Etekcity was great about service and new one is on the way.
I have dropped this radio a lot, gotten it dirty, snowed on. Love it. If I kill it, so what, it was only $42 bucks. SSI got one of these a few months ago as a starter amateur radio, after receiving my license. The interface is kinda quirky, so I suggest also getting the programming cable. There are plenty of people in the UV-5R Yahoo group to help navigate. This model from this vendor has the latest firmware, 293. I use this to connect to the local amateur VHF and UHF repeaters, and I am able to use it as a scanner to listen to NOAA, local police, and the news via broadcast FM stations. Like all handhelds, you'll want a better antenna, but the built-in one works well enough to get you started. For the visually-impared, this radio will speak the menu items to let you know where you are. Unless you want to spend a lot on a more expensive radio, like the Yaesu VX-7R, this radio is super-awesome for the price, and can't recommend it enough for HAMs new and old.I'm new to this but it wasnt hard to learn this device. I'm self taught and already using it the first night. GREAT RADIO! Delivered fast and in perfect condition!
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great little radio for the money. not very good for scanning, but the dual watch feature is good for 2 channels.I use the Chirp software to program it and the internet is the only way to find out all the features
Contour+ Plus Camera
- Custom Wide-Angle Lens+ 6 Element Glass Lens, 170 FOV, F2.8HD Video+ 3 Resolutions and 2 frame rates
- Configurable White Balance; Removable Rechargeable Battery; GPS Enabled
- Bluetooth Enabled+ Use your iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch (3rd and 4th Gen) as a viewfinder
- 5MP still photo mode Configurable+ Manually set white balance, exposure, and sharpness
- Android connectivity coming soon HDMI Output+ Stream video, audio, and view your videos Microphone Plug+ Connect an external microphone.
- Bluetooth Enabled+ Use your iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch (3rd and 4th Gen) as a viewfinder+
- Bluetooth Enabled+ Use your iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch (3rd and 4th Gen) as a viewfinder+
- Configurable White Balance
- Custom Wide-Angle Lens+ 6 Element Glass Lens, 170 FOV, F2.8HD Video+
- GPS Enabled
- Manually set white balance, exposure, and sharpness
- Removable Rechargeable Battery
- Stream video, audio, and view your videos Microphone Plug+ Connect an external microphone
- Android connectivity coming soon HDMI Output+ Stream video, audio, and view your videos Microphone Plug+ Connect an external microphone
- 3 Resolutions and 2 frame rates or 5MP still photo mode Configurable+ Manually set white balance, exposure, and sharpness
I haven't returned it yet, so I've been going out testing the 2 camera's side by side, trying to figure out which I like better.
Here's my initial thoughts.
I like the form factor better on the Contour +. I did a couple of hikes with the GoPro HD and felt like a complete idiot with the camera sitting on top of my hat, using the head mount. It was heavy, and flopped around a bit. The Contour+ on the other hand, sat nicely on the side of my head, and was a lot less goofy looking.
I've taken them both in my car, and had issues with the GoPro, where the mount came loose from vibration, and I had to catch it, and adjust the knob again while driving. Dangerous!
The Windshield mount on the Contour is not that good though, as it shakes, and is not a very tight fit where the Suction cup mounts to the mount...It holds, but the whole thing just wiggles all around, creating shaky video. not cool. But it holds very very well.
Now, to the Camera's...
I find the overall sharpness of the Contour better, with slightly better definition and clarity over the GoPro HD, BUT...I find the color a little green. The GoPro is not as sharp, as I just said, but the colors are more vibrant.
The Fisheye on the GoPro is a little more prominent than the Contour+ but they both have fisheye effect from the wide angles of their cameras.
The Contour + handles light MUCH MUCH better than the GoPro HD, and as I shot side by side comparisons, on one tree lined street, there was a truck parked in the shadows...On the GoPro I did not notice the truck at all! On the Contour, it was very well lit, and showed up clearly!! Very cool!
However, there aren't as many mounts for the Contour+, compared to the GoPro HD, but there are enough, for my uses, I guess.
I've noticed some stuttering video on both cameras, so I guess they both do it. They are both using totally different codecs, so it made editing them together a little difficult (GoPro is H.264, Contour+ is called Amberella).
I notice a lot of video noise on both camera's, but I am a video professional, used to high end equipment, so I notice all sorts of video artifacts. These artifacts, or noise, are what makes the video look slightly blurry. I ding them both for this, but since the Contour + is already sharper to begin with, I guess it affects the camera less than the GoPro HD.
To the GoPro HD's defense, though, I will remind you that it does indeed look though a plastic case. Who knows, maybe without the plastic case attatched the video would be clearer. But since it is not designed to be used like that, I can't say.
Now, here is where the Contour stands ahead...the iPhone program! I typically had NO idea what I was shooting with the GoPro HD, and could not see it until I got back to my hotel room, on a recent trip hiking in Zion, UT. If I had the GoPro talking to my iphone, it would have made me feel better, knowing what I was shooting. Plus when I first got it, I had no idea what the settings were all about, since they are so archaic, until I got back to my hotel room and spent some time looking at the instruction sheet.
The Contour, was pretty easy to use, right out of the box, and once connected to the iphone, I was able to change settings and such. However, it's not all good.
My first video, I shot upside down, and didn't realize it until I shot my next one, and checked it out on the iphone first.
You can't see anything while you are shooting. You also have to go into your settings on the iphone to connect the bluetooth each and every time you want to use the program. annoying. but at least it's there! Since the lens rotates, you always have to remember what direction it is in, or your video will be slightly skewed...or upside down... Good that it can do it, bad because you always have to check.
Videos also seem a little shakier on the Contour +, and smoother on the GoPro HD. Don't know if there is some motion compensation in there, but it seems that way.
The GPS portion, where it tracks your location, is very very cool, and a major + I can see using to track motorcycle rides I go on. However, outside of the Contour Storytelling application on the computer, I do not know how else you would access this information?
I got the GoPro Hd on sale recently, and paid full price for the Contour +. the cost was about $260 more for the Contour +. This is actually more than I paid for the GoPro HD!
Are the extra features worth the extra cash?
Yes and no.
I haven't returned either yet, and am leading strongly to the Contour +, but for only slightly better video and a bit wider lens, it is worth double the price?
Not sure...
Good luck on your purchases!I bought this for skydiving
Pros
-great picture quality. Significantly better than the gopro hd.
-switch is really easy to use and positive it's easy to flip just before you jump out of the plane
-great size
Cons
-camera crashes. In my case, I have lost several important skydives to this
-bluetooth viewfinder functionality is so unreliable/buggy as to be unuseable
-battery live is really poor (It can't handle 8 skydives in a day without recharging). Each skydive is about 1 minute of freefall, followed by a few minutes of canopy flight.
-although the record on/off switch is easy to use without seeing the camera (when it's mounted on your head), you still have to turn the camera on with a small button on the back. This isn't nearly so positive.
-the video importing is annoying; as soon as you import the files, the contour starts creating file001 again, so you end up with loads of movies with the same filenames
-gps is a nice idea, but not really accurate enough for skydiving. It's frequently significantly off location even on a clear sunny day, and it turns out that many of my skydives actually go upwards
-the bundled video management doesn't contain even the most rudimentary editing capability, so you can't even trim your videos to remove the fluff at the beginning/end
Read Best Reviews of Contour+ Plus Camera Here
As an owner of the older ContourHD 1080p, I looked forward to taking my new Contour+ on a recent snowboarding trip to New Zealand. Although I was keen to make use of the new features, such as the GPS and Bluetooth preview/settings, I was mainly interested in seeing the results of the new lens and super-wide field of view.Before I cover the new features, I should mention the things that haven't changed:
Form Factor The size, weight and shape of the Contour+ is pretty much the same as previous models. I prefer it to some of the other offerings for both practical and aesthetic reasons. When mounted on a helmet, wrist or leg it doesn't look like I've got some monstrous appendage growing out of me. This may seem like a styling issue but it has very practical implications when getting on, riding and getting off lifts. It doesn't contact safety bars and I'm able to turn my head without it hitting surrounding objects, or people. There are some mounts for other cameras, like chest mounts, that avoid these issues, but chest mounts for snowboarding don't work very well as the direction of travel is generally not where your chest is facing.
On/Off Switch The placement and function of the on/off switch is such that it is reasonably easy to operate, yet it can't be accidentally operated.
Record switch Although the Contour+ record switch is now chunkier due to the GPS antenna, the actual operation remains similar to the ContourHD version. It's well placed and positive in operation and, if anything, it's easier to operate with gloves than the ContourHD, although I never had a problem with the older ContourHD. The familiar beeps used to indicate various states are loud enough to hear without being intrusive.
OK, now to the new (for me) stuff:
Video This is the thing that pleased me the most. There is a significant and noticeable increase in quality over the ContourHD. I assume this is due to the new lens design and materials. The video seems "crisper" and there seems to be much less of an issue with contrast. I ended up adding a polarising lens to the ContourHD to get over a contrast issue with snow, whereas I used the Contour+ without a polarising lens, on default settings, and achieved better quality video than I was able to get from the ContourHD. Note: Just about all my video was recorded in the "action" mode 720p 60fps.
Field of View I liked the greater Field of View, but there is a down-side. The issue is that it is more difficult to mount the Contour+ in such a way that you don't get surround objects (helmet, goggles, etc.) in the frame. I ended up modifying the rails on the camera so that it would sit further forward (about and inch) in the rotating surface mount. Personally, I'd like a additional video setting that mimicked the older 135° Field of View.
GPS The GPS worked well and, in my opinion, was a great feature to add to the camera. I had no locking issues and it was accurate. When snowboarding you generally have a good view of the sky, so I can't report on it's effectiveness in more challenging terrain, such as built up areas.
Bluetooth The Bluetooth connectivity worked well, 90% of the time. There were occasions where I was unable to establish a connection, but I was able to eventually connect by either re-pairing or turning my iPhone off and then on again. This feature could use some work to make it bullet-proof. In terms of the Bluetooth functions, the ability to change the settings on the fly is invaluable, as is the ability to line the camera up out in the field.
Audio In comparison to the ContourHD the audio is a big improvement. I'm not sure if it's the new location of the inbuilt mic, or the design of the mic enclosure, but it is less affected by wind noise than the ContourHD 1080p. You still get wind noise, but you have to be either travelling faster or be hit by a good gust of wind at a particular angle.
That pretty much wraps up the pros, now for the cons, which pretty much comes down to the video importing and editing software Storyteller.
Storyteller is Contour's video importing, editing and uploading software. It's editing features are limited to basically trimming the video, so if you want to do anything more adventurous you will have to use some other video editing tool, like iMovie. It also allows you to change the settings on the camera. While the editing, uploading and camera settings functionality works, if in a fairly simple way, the file handling leaves a lot to be desired, particularly if you have more than one camera.
When videos are recorded they are given sequentially numbered filenames on the camera, i.e. FILE0001.MOV, FILE0002.MOV, etc. OK, that seems like a good approach, until you import and delete the videos from the camera, at which point the file numbering is reset and new videos are saved with numbers starting at "0001" again. See the problem? You end up with duplicate filenames.
Well Storyteller gets over this by appending a "-1", "-2", etc. suffix to avoid duplicates. However this approach ends up being confusing. It's bad enough with one camera, but imagine having two cameras and trying to work out which video was recorded by which camera when. Storyteller dumps all the videos in the one folder so you end up with a confusing list of files like "FILE0001-1.MOV", "FILE0001-2.MOV", "FILE0002-1.MOV", etc. A similar issue arises if you don't use Storyteller to import the videos. You need to separate them into different folders or rename the files as you copy them.
Not such a big issue? Maybe, but it leads on to the the second issue I have with file handling timestamps. The Contour+ uses the time received from the GPS to timestamp the files (great idea), but there is no ability to add a time offset for local time. This may be manageable if you live closer to the Prime Meridian, but for those of us 1/2 way around the world it's a nightmare because videos from one day can be timestamped with two different dates and confusing times. Manually applying a time offset to calculate the local time and date is not an easy process as a result. Not impossible, but so easily avoided with a relatively simple change to the software/firmware. Because of the timestamping even using something like Lightroom to import the videos ends up with videos in incorrect folders.
Various suggestions have been made on the Contour support forums to improve the file handling, so I live in hope that at least some of them will be incorporated in future releases of Storyteller and the camera firmware soon.
Conclusion:
Rating the Contour+ was difficult for me. Looking purely at the camera and it's features I would give it 5 stars; however, because the supplied software is integral to the overall package I could only give it 4 stars. Storyteller itself barely rates 3 stars. It does what it needs to do, but it could be so much better. Unfortunately, because of the file numbering and timestamping issues it's not even an easy process to ditch Storyteller and use another tool, and then you would also have to forego the moving map display available on the videos uploaded to the Contour community site.
The Contour+ is a significant and easily worthwhile step up from the ContourHD 1080p. More good features, better video and better audio all make it a great upgrade.
In my opinion the Contour+ is so good that I would recommend it to anyone, unfortunately that recommendation has to be in spite of the current state of the supplied software rather than including it. Roll on software and firmware updates ...
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I have researched POV cameras, and this seemed to be the best out there. Yet, I'll describe both pros and cons so that buyers beware.Pros:
Great form factor with several mounting options, unlike the other POV cameras out there.
Wide angle
Full 1080p HD @ 30 Hz is great
Support known to be great, and my experience confirms that.
Cons:
High price
GPS accuracy is a disaster. It is a joke that they market this camera for sports applications, and they show videos of people skiing, skydiving, doing motorsports, when the camera can't measure speed with any acceptable accuracy. At 4Hz GPS sampling rate, which is barely acceptable for high speed action, the speed captured by the GPS hardware of this camera can be up to 25 Mph off!!! Clearly this is garbage! Even worse, Contour can't do anything about it, and they gave me the answer that the camera is "operating within specifications". What kind of a lousy specification is that exactly, and who in their right mind told them that this was adequate for the all the applications they are pushing this camera for?! They asked me to lower the sampling rate for better accuracy. 2 Hz gives me a 12 Mph error, still nonsense. And 1 Hz is a ridiculous sampling rate that I don't even care to use it!
Bluetooth is unstable and will frustrate you! They never got it right from the first day they released that bluetooth card. It is a great feature that gives you a view finder to adjust your camera before you use it -when it works. However, the instability can disappoint you. You just have to figure out a way to deal with it. This is just another example of an area where Contour just cut corners for the sake of releasing a product way before it was fully ready for production. It is as if someone there said hell with it, we're releasing anyway! Or may be they don't have enough know how in-house to develop and properly test such a thing.
Manuals are crap! Written by people who either shouldn't be doing any technical writing at all, or may be never touched the product that they were writing about. The manual will MISLEAD you, so take what's in it with a grain of salt, and expect deviations. For instance, if the manual tells you to keep the bluetooth button pressed until you hear a beep, that's wrong! Under the current firmware, the camera will never beep while the button is pressed. You just have to hold it down for 1s then release it, then it will beep to signal the activation of bluetooth. There is a lot of mistakes like that.
Bottomline, these 2 flaws have completely reduced the value of the camera to me. It is so NOT worth $500, probably not even half of that! To me, Contour doesn't seem to have the engineering know how in-house to venture into GPS and bluetooth territories, yet they did it anyway just to beat the competition on paper specs only, and dared to slap a high price tag on product that falls short in these two areas. Had I known this in advance, may I would have bought the entry level Contour camera and saved my money; I don't know. :-(
Last, for all the people who struggle with bluetooth out there, here is the procedure that yields the best chances of having a stable connection -so that you don't pull your hair ;-). This applies to Contour+ and an iPhone 4. I assume here that you paired it with your iPhone already:
(You don't need to ever remove the pairing and then redo it again, like some posters suggested. You do that only if things go really bad and the two devices can no longer talk.)
Turn on your camera
Wake up your phone and enable bluetooth. You'll see that it still remembers Contour+ and shows its status as not connected.
Exit the settings app on the iphone. You DO NOT need to do anything else on the iPhone!
Hold the bluetooth button on the camera for 1s, then release. You should hear a beep followed by the front LED blinking blue.
During this, pay close attention to your iPhone, you'll see the bluetooth icon at the top flashing, which means it is establishing a connection with the camera.
Again, DO NOT do anything, it might only confuse the whole process, you should be observing only! Once the connection is established, the phone automatically launches the view finder app! Enjoy!
If the bluetooth connection breaks before you finish your adjustments, turn off the camera. Then turn it on again, and restart the process. Sorry, the bluetooth implementation is flaky, and this is what worked for me with the highest probability of success.
-----------
Update 2011-10-12:
GPS error for speed measurement:
@4 Hz: -25 Mph
@2 Hz: -12 Mph
@1 Hz: -8 Mph
(Minus sign means it consistently underestimates your speed up to that value.)
-----------
Update 2011-10-26:
For comparison, GPS speed measurement error on iPhone 4, sampling at 1Hz: 0.5 1 Mph.
Puts the Contour+ GPS to shame! The Contour engineers should be embarrassed!
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I honestly wanted to like this product. I really did. From the moment I read about the Contour+, I just knew it would be the solution to my video recording needs. Sadly, the Contour+ disappointed me from the moment I opened the box.I originally purchased the Contour+ to use during High Performance Driver Education events hosted in my area. The Contour+ was my video recorder of choice since it provided an external microphone solution, external video and settings capabilities (via Bluetooth), and GPS data tracking inherited from its older brother, the ContourGPS. Here is how each of these features fell short of my expectations.
External Microphone Solution
The product page on the Contour website describes the external mic functionality as a new feature that was added based on community feedback. Many owners of previous Contour models complain of wind noise issues using the built-in microphone and attempts to provide DIY shielding have mostly failed. On the product page Contour pictures an external microphone which implies the device is included. This is not the case. What you get is a 2.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable adapter which is used to connect to an external microphone that you need to purchase separately. While I admit I could have done more research into this particular item, the photos on the website are misleading. I am certain that this is not an intentional slight on the part of Contour, but it still was a point of frustration worth noting.
Searching for a compatible external microphone was another issue. Contour doesn't provide a list of compatible microphones so I pretty much had to figure it out on my own. I did reach out to the community for advise but I received very little feedback. What I did learn, via Contour support, is that whichever type of microphone is chosen, it must have its own power source. This information was not readily available in the user manual nor on the packaging. Thankfully, I took the time to ask.
I ultimately took a leap of faith and purchased an Audio Technica ATR3350 at a local brick and mortar store. (In hindsight, I should have purchased it through Amazon because I would have saved 50%!) This microphone works well enough and has a very long cable to allow easy placement of the microphone wherever you want it. Sadly, since the microphone had its own power source, one must turn it on separately from the camera. While this makes total sense, it quickly becomes something you'll forget to do if you are distracted or focused on other things (HPDE driving is a high concentration, high stress, event and is therefore very demanding of your concentration.) The Contour line is designed to be a "one button" solution and unfortunately using an external microphone changes this dynamic considerably. It would have been nice if the Contour could provide power to the external microphone, therefore maintaining the Contour's ease of use.
Bluetooth Video/Settings management
This functionality, to me, was icing on the cake. Previously, I had a very frustrating experience with a ContourHD that ran out of disk space halfway through an HPDE event. I did not have access to a laptop or other computerized device at the time and was unable to diagnose the issue. The Bluetooth functionality would have resolved all of that.
Out of the box, my Contour unit would not connect to either my iPhone 4 or my HTC Thunderbolt. I turned to the support forums and quickly learned that a firmware upgrade was available that specifically addressed this issue. Furthermore, updated iPhone and Android apps (which I already had) were released to coincide with the firmware upgrade. I was easily able to follow the firmware upgrade instructions. Sadly, this did not fix my issue completely. Neither of my devices would connect to the Contour+ for more than 20 seconds. Typically, connectivity lasted no more than 5 seconds. Ultimately, I gave up on this.
GPS Tracking/Playback
Naturally, anyone who records a day at the track would appreciate knowing some basic GPS statistics about their day, right? After viewing countless ContourGPS videos on the community website I figured this functionality was also a must have. Yet again I was disappointed by the GPS data and its playback capabilities within the included software.
My first issue with the GPS data resulted in the form of jittery playback within the Storyteller software provided by Contour. The Contour+ has the ability to sample GPS data at 4Hz (4 times per second), yet for some reason the video playback within Storyteller only updated the GPS location once per second. I tested this several times with several different videos with the same results. Contour support helped verify the camera was indeed configured to sample at the correct rate, yet my issue persisted. It wasn't until I uploaded one of my videos to the Contour community website that my videos exhibited smooth GPS playback. While I can appreciate the social nature of the website, not everyone wants to utilize this web functionality.
My second issue came with the exporting of the GPS data itself. Since Storyteller was not providing me with local playback that met my expectations, I decided to try a software called Dashware which was recommended as an alternative by someone on the community forums. Dashware can interpret data from the ContourGPS/Countour+ and export your video and display your GPS data on a nice overlay, similar to what you would see in a racing video game. I quickly learned that Storyteller was exporting my GPS data with erroneous speed information. For some reason, Speed was being exported in meters per second rather than miles per hour. I verified that the Contour+ was correctly configured to measure MPH. Furthermore, Storyteller properly displayed the MPH detected by the GPS unit. This issue simply baffled me. I wasn't able to resolve this problem either.
Other points of contention
One lesser issue I encountered was battery life. The Contour+ battery died after about 90 minutes of use (recording and standby). I thought the complaints from other Amazon reviewers were an exaggeration. I was wrong. I ended up not being able to record my best HPDE session because I didn't know the battery had died until it was too late. While I did prepare for this possibility (I recharged the battery shortly thereafter), losing that footage was a huge disappointment. Later on I investigated whether turning off some of the features (Bluetooth for example) would help improve battery life (iPhone4 anyone?). Sadly, I could not find such a setting in the configuration software.
Also, I can think of no reason why the Contour+ doesn't include a non-adhesive style mount or at the very least the Universal Mount Adapter. After all, who in their right mind is going to use an adhesive based mount on a $499 product?
Lastly, the documentation included with the Contour+ is reminiscent of an Apple product. Yet, the Contour+ is anything but an Apple product. There is far too much user intervention required in order to get this device working to one's expectations. As such, the documentation needs to be much more elaborate and accessible. I found the included manual to be useless and the community/support websites to be lackluster.
The good stuff
Now, I can't say everything is bad on the Contour+. The extra viewing angle provided by the 170 degree lens is really nice. Being able to see my side view mirrors in the videos was extremely helpful in determining my awareness of my surroundings while on track. Also, being able to rotate the lens 180 degrees allows plenty of flexibility when mounting the camera. In addition, the Contour is a sexy device which is something the GoPro cannot claim in its current form factor.
That being said...
Summary assessment
I simply cannot recommend the Contour+. This device is ultimately a marginal upgrade to its predecessor, the ContourGPS. I am certain Contour will get the bugs ironed out eventually. Until then, anyone who buys this device is paying a lot of money to be a beta tester of an incomplete product. Even if the bugs are fixed, I do not feel the Contour+ is a worthwhile purchase at the current MSRP. When compared to the ContourGPS, the price difference of the Contour+ is far too steep and the extra features are far too shallow.
As for the rating, I would have given the Contour+ only one star except I don't actually hate the product. I believe there is room for improvement, both in features and price point. I guess you could say the second star is me giving Contour the benefit of the doubt. They are trying to make a great product. Unfortunately, the Contour+ is mediocre at best in its current form.
Yaesu VX-3R VHF/UHF DualBand Handheld Amateur HAM Radio Tranceiver!
- Receives 0.5-999Mhz AM/FMN/FMW, Transmits 144-148 & 430-450Mhz VHF/UHF FM.
- Output is 1.5W Vhf, 1W UHF - Includes LiOn Batt, Antenna & Charger.
- 1000ch AlphaNumeric memories, ctcss/dcs, Scanning & more!
- Super Micro size of only 1.9 x 3.2 x 0.9 inches (excluding top knob & antenna)
With all hand held radios the problem is the small antenna. I can get ok reception but I live out in the sticks. I hooked up a roll up Jpole and wow. I cant wait to hook it up to a bigger antenna. You can have 100's memory set ups, several ways to scan. Like I said I am new and was a bit worried about all the different settings etc the book tells you step by step. I dont know how to do everything that this guy can do but you will pick up the regular settings easy enough. So far I have picked everything from police bands, EMS, Wendy's drive up, voice of america, voice of cuba, voices of I cant speak it, HAM chat, about 6 weather chans, regular AM/FM. I got all this from the regular antenna and the roll up J pole. This was in just a few days of messing around.
It is easy to travel with this. Throw it in the car, back pack, just a pocket. You can also order an AA battery pack so its easy to power it up if away from a charger.
Only thing not great are the small buttons, thats not a biggie since this thing is just bigger than a pager.
Buy Yaesu VX-3R VHF/UHF DualBand Handheld Amateur HAM Radio Tranceiver! Now
Don't get me wrong. This is an awesome Ham Radio Transmitter for the size and price. Any radio that can open a repeater 30 miles away on only half a watt has got to be something special.The problem I have with this radio is it's reception outside of the Amatuer Bands. To put it bluntly, it sucks. It is EXTREMELY susceptible to static, reception range is extremely weak, and you can barely understand the voice carrier wave for all the static.
As A Ham Transmitter, I give it Five Stars. as a reciver, I give it a Raspberry.
UPDATE: SEPT.18th, 2011: Apparently, my apartment has a lot of RFI. I took the rig outdoors, and it opened right up. Reception on the Aircraft Band is absolutely Fantastic! I snagged at least 30 diffrent ATC Frequencies in Scan Mode, some as far away as Las Vegas and Pheonix! Based on this, I'm changing my Reciver Rating to Five Stars. Outdoors, this is one awesome little Reciver. Just do not expect the same results indoors.
Read Best Reviews of Yaesu VX-3R VHF/UHF DualBand Handheld Amateur HAM Radio Tranceiver! Here
I owned this radio for only a couple of weeks. It has a wide band amplifier that is very susceptible to nearby transmitters. The police were coming in stronger than the frequency I was tuned to. It was a common problem whenever I was within a few miles of a tv or fm transmitter. If you're out in the boonies you may not have this problem, but near a city you may find your signal to noise ratio to be less than 1 a lot of the time. Not for me. I replaced it with an FT60, which works fine.Want Yaesu VX-3R VHF/UHF DualBand Handheld Amateur HAM Radio Tranceiver! Discount?
I am a new ham and wanted a small affordable H/T eto begin with. The AM / FM broadcast bands come in clear as well as the local WX bands. I just passed my Tech test and am eagerly awaiting my call sign so that I can test the TX and RX features. Will updat when I have a chance to do this. 4 stars so far for what I can use.Save 14% Off
I have already a vx7r and a vx6 ( both of which are more powerful units). This is a very small ht with pretty good rx and tx the rx is a few bars off of my other vx hts, but considrering the small size and the price point I'm happy with the unit. AD7TX out.
GNS 5870 MFI GPS BT Receiver for iPod, iPhone and iPad
- First Apple certified Bluetooth GPS receiver
- Made for iPod iPhone iPad
- compatible to iPod touch 2G+3G, iPhone 3G+3GS+4, iPad
- supplies also GPS information to PDA, handhelds and notebooks
- high sensitive 32 channel GPS
None of my views would matter though, if the GNS 5870 cannot work with the few iPad mapping, navigation, and GPS apps that are compatible with the Wi-Fi only iPad. So I discuss these apps not as an endorsement, but just to show that the GNS 5870 does work well without Wi-Fi and with no extra expense of a 3G data plan. It should be noted however, that this does not replace the usefulness or maybe the overall accuracy of the iPad 3G, as the iPad 3G has three modes of triangulation: Wi-Fi, 3G and GPS, which provide navigation assistance when some of the modes like satellite are not available. My uses however, may be in areas of no Wi-Fi and no cell towers. In this case, my Wi-Fi only IPad with the GNS 5870 will probably be as useful as the 3G model.
That said, I have tried all the following apps riding in my car with the GNS 5870 resting on the dash. The device tracks fine with the following apps that store map data internally in the iPad: Topo Maps, MotionX GPS HD and the iPhone app Navigon MyRegion. It also works fine with the iPad Google Maps but only in "classic" and "terrain" views. This is because Google's map base is not stored internally in the iPad and must be first accessed on the fly through Wi-Fi. The "satellite" and "hybrid" views are too large I believe to be cached in the app itself. For the same reasons, the GNS 5870 does not play well with Google Earth because the app does not store large data fields internally. But smaller, less memory intensive map areas and routes in Google Maps ("classic" and "terrain") can be cached and used later using only the GNS 5870. These are erased from the cache however after any changes are made. The GNS 5870 works and tracks with the app Big World although this app also uses the Google Maps data base and I'm not sure how much of that map base is stored internally.
But if you are having Wi-Fi only iPad "buyers remorse", and you still want GPS, this is one excellent way to go. And if I get lost 30 feet from where I want to go then I'm in big trouble anyway.
Buy GNS 5870 MFI GPS BT Receiver for iPod, iPhone and iPad Now
The GNS 5870 was purchased to add true functionality to the iPad Foreflight App in the cockpit. Since day one, it has preformed flawlessly on all domestic and international flights. It allows the iPad to be used in several different areas of the aircraft without any degregation to the quality of the GPS Signal. Additionally, I have not encountered any problems turning the device on and off as has been mentioned in other reviews. I wholeheartedly recommend this device to fellow pilots without hesitation.Read Best Reviews of GNS 5870 MFI GPS BT Receiver for iPod, iPhone and iPad Here
I purchased this GPS for my WiFi Apple iPad and even though my emails said the expected delivery day would be more then a month ahead of my order date, I recieved it within a few days (it took some time to get to the US from Germany). The initial setup with my iPad worked flawlessly and I was able to pickup an extremely accurate GPS signal lock within seconds using the Maps app that shipped with the iPad. I was very impressed ... Until I couldn't shut the unit off. It worked a couple of times turning on and off, but now I am unable to just swipe my finger across the touch sensor to shut it off. Without a real switch, I'm stuck waiting for a reply from their email team as to what I should do to resolve the problem.Otherwise it works great. I have tested it using the Maps app, Google Earth, and WiFiFoFum (yes, I snagged this lovely app from the app store when it was still available, no jailbreak here ;). I'd rank it a 5 star if the switch would still be working after less then a day of testing it.
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I'm a Flight Test Engineer by trade. IF the GNS 5870 were a piece of equipment in an airliner cockpit, it would be considered non-certifiable per FAR 25.1301(d). Granted, it's NOT a piece of equipment in an airplane cockpit, but that's where a lot of people who buy this device (myself included) will try to use it. So buyer beware. When I purchased the device, the Bad Elf was all the rage and this really sounded like a better product. I read the reviews For and Against, including several anecdotal descriptions about a quirky power switch. Admittedly, I chuckled at the thought of some who idiot couldn't get shut his device off. The day I got the device, I had ZERO problems switching the device on and off. "Swipe On, Swipe Off" I couldn't believe people were having problems simply swiping their finger across the device. It seemed ridiculously easy. Call it beginner's luck because the next day after my first flight with the device I had a couple of "mis-swipes." OK, Nothing to be concerned about. I'm sure even the swiftest of finger swipers occasionally need to recalibrate their digits. ---To digress for a second, in terms of Bluetooth/GPS performance, the until synched instantly with my iPad and to use it with Foreflight HD is a thing of beauty. It captured a signal quickly, tracked very well and I was wowed. ----My next flight with the device required a fuel stop. Parked at the pumps, I tried to turn it off and it wouldn't. 10 20 30 swipes of varying pressures and nada. I took a deep breath, shook out my hand and tried again with a very very light touch and again and again and again and still couldn't get it to shut off. Frustrated, I left the device on while I refueled and dined on my $100 hamburger. Returning to the plane, I swiped once more just for the hell of itand it magically went off. Of course, now I was getting ready to fly again and needed to turn it back on. It took me 30 finger swipes to coax it back on. The I flew home and had to turn it off again. Let's not go there. This frustrating sequence of events now describes every flight on which I attempt to use the GNS 5870. I've now got over 50 flight hours of use on the thing (and calluses on my fingertips).This of course assumes that the unit is fully charged. As difficult as the unit is to turn off, I find that when stowed / transported inside a protective case itself in my flight bag, all it takes is a mosquito fart's worth of pressure to bump the switch, turn the device on and drain the battery just in time for my next flight in IMC.
I must admit, the next point of contention could be true of any bluetooth device. Using the supplied suction cup holder, I fixed the GNS 5870 to the upper windshield of a C-172 and while flying found that the device spat out some rather interesting EMI that caused my glareshield-mounted magnetic compass to oscillate 30 degrees in each direction. Relocating the GNS 5870 to a side window eliminates this problem.
Lastly, I've also been unable to acquire a GPS signal whatsoever while flying in the cockpit of transport category airplanes. This blocking of the GPS signal is generally attributed to these airplane's heated windshield wiring/circuitry. Interestingly enough, the makers of the XGPS150 bluetooth GPS receiver have issued a firmware update to correct this issue in their device. This coupled with their device using a revolutionary concept known as "The Simple On/Off Button" (something the GNS 5870 designers apparently have never heard of) are two reasons why I've just ordered an XGPS150 to replace my GNS 5870.
Contacting the manufacturer, I was advised that I must send the unit back to a service center for a firmware update.
I am disappointed on three dimensions: 1.) in the design of the product, which represents a triumph of design sizzle over functionality: what genius decided that a fancy swipe mechanism was better than a just-plain on-off switch to power the unit? 2.) that a brand-new unit was shipped directly from the manufacturer without current firmware; and 3.) the firmware is not easily updatable directly through the USB port (though since the unit won't turn on, I won't protest too loudly about this).
I'm excited about the functionality of this unit as a supplement to ForeFlight on my iPad in an airplane cockpit. But the actual arrival of the device was a big letdown.
Duracell 852-1807 1,800 Watt Five Outlet Rechargeable Power Source
- 1800-watt inverter with five 115V AC power outlets for operating multiple devices simultaneously
- Built-in transfer relay provides reliable backup power capability
- Digital LED display indicates battery capacity status and total wattage of the devices connected to the PowerSource
- Sealed, non-spillable 60Ah AGM battery
- Recharges from home AC wall outlet
The unit is heavy, about 60 pounds. For the money, I would buy again. I figure I should get about 6 hours on a computer with a flat panel attached. For most short power outages, this will get you by for a few necessities. Anything longer you will have to go generator.
The description reads as though you can use it for a fridge and other high wattage appliances, which I guess is true, but misleading as I would imagine a fridge would kill it in about 10 minutes or less.
All in all glad, I was able to purchase for the $180.00. If nothing else you can dry your hair when the power is out, and make coffee, without having to hook up the generator.
UPDATE:
So I wanted to update this review. The unit gave out after about 18-24 months. Cant tell exactly when it lost its capacity but it would last maybe 5 minutes on light load. I took the time to tear it apart and found three 12 volt 17ah SLA batteries wired in parallel. They were pretty much useless. Tried to bring them back but as most here know once an SLA battery gets near end of life it is almost impossible to get them back from the dead even with a good quality desulfator. I got lucky and found 3 new Panasonic replacements for $25ea on EBAY and installed those. (A good quality SLA battery in this range is usually about $70 bucks each). Unit is back up and running like new. I would assume most people would not attempt this nor probably should they. High risk of shock even with the unit unplugged. And many parts to disassemble/reassemble. If you do attempt, take lots of pictures as you break down and be carefull of wires. Doesnt matter how long or how many times you have handled electricity, only takes once.
Buy Duracell 852-1807 1,800 Watt Five Outlet Rechargeable Power Source Now
UPDATE: After a few months sitting in the corner being charged, I tried it out today. Apparently there's at least one bad cell; a 600w load exhausts the batteries in about 45 seconds. So I revise my rating to ``piece of junk,'' niche or no niche. It needs a much better quality control on the batteries.ORIGINAL Post:
Pros : about three times the run times of a comparable capacity UPS, based on battery capacity (3 x 17AH, vs typical 2 x 9AH in a 1500VA UPS). Maybe nice to have around to switch to when a regular UPS runs down in a long power outage. I got mine for $180, which would be a good deal in the UPS market. The current $380 would be too high for me.
Cons : a lot of cons. It's hyped as if it's going to help out in the gas generator alternative market, but has nowhere near the capacity you'd need in terms or runtimes. It could run a sump pump for an hour maybe (one cycle of my 1/2hp sump pump runs it down to 80% of charge, so 5 cycles would run it out completely), which isn't going to help much. For all this stuff, like refrigerator and so forth, you just need a gas generator.
The transfer time (80ms) is too slow for a computer when the power goes out. A UPS is ten times faster. No power conditioning.
Really heavy. A woman is not going to like dealing with it. Handles are convenient for the weight though. A Honda EU2000i 2000w gas generator weighs the same.
There's no powered-off charge-the-battery-anyway mode, and it consumes 10w when plugged in. Can only be powered off when not plugged in, so you'd have to establish a routine to keep the battery charged if it's not in regular use.
So perhaps its niche is as a backup UPS when the power has been off too long for the regular UPS. Plug the computer into this, then. When the power comes back, charge it back up and put it back in the closet.
It's a nice product, just one with no obvious use.
Get a gas generator for the sump pump and the refrigerator.
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This item is a piece of junk. Mine gave up after a month, and it is not even used much, just lying in a corner being charged. What is worse, their customer service is more than a piece of junk too. They diagnosed the problem as a battery failure. Since this unit is heavy and I would have to spend over $50 to ship it, I requested that they just send me a new battery and I return the old one to them. But, no! they want the whole unit back. What happened to the customer is always right? And this item is not even worth $100, much less the stated price. For one, it wont hold a charge long, and it breaks easily. A small electric generator is a much, much better value. My advice to you, do not patronize anymore Duracell or Xantrex, their products are junk and their customer service a joke.Want Duracell 852-1807 1,800 Watt Five Outlet Rechargeable Power Source Discount?
TO spend $500.00 on a product that will last maybe 2yrs in not worth it. 1st customer service in no help at all. I was told that my batteries went bad after less than 2yrs because I did not exercise them, meaning using it on and off to power down and back up. Three diffrent Customer reps told me this. With a Lead Acid battery this is not correct per asking several battery experts. Also the battery's are very difficult to remove and the instructions themselves say that after battery life is used up it's basically a toss away. The cheepest you can get 3 batteries for this unit to make it work is around $200.00. If your mother board goes no one can fix for under $400.00. Great idea but very very bad quality, bad customer service andno one can fix or repair. Too expensive for its short life.Save 27% Off
I only used this product a few times. I had for about 1.5 years. During Hurricane Irene a really needed it to work. It said it had a full charge, but when the power went out it beeped and displayed an E03 fault code. I cannot reset it. It is no longer usable. I wasted my money. This was a poor investment.
Uniden GMR 2638-2CK Two Way Radio
- 121 Privacy codes per channel to help reduce interference from others
- Connect a VOX or PTT-type headset for private conversations (not included)
- Rechargeable niMH Battery packs
- Dual charging cradle allows you to charge both radios simultaneously
- Roger Beep lets you know when others are finished speaking
One of the radio was almost all the time receiving static, then I changed in the store, but I founded the same issue, so I took the two good radios and leave the two bads ones.
I live in the city, so the maximum range was like a kilometer or 1000 meters. But after that it is a good product.
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Thought this would be a great gift for my children. They charge and stay charged well and the reception is very good, but one of the unit always makes continuous static after you release the talk button.Read Best Reviews of Uniden GMR 2638-2CK Two Way Radio Here
We bought these so our kids could keep in contact with us when they are out and about in the neighborhood. We couldn't get them to work past 2 miles or so, but to be honest, we didn't really try that hard either. I imagine if you played with it a bit you could make it work farther.Want Uniden GMR 2638-2CK Two Way Radio Discount?
is basic, as expected, but works excellently, and recommend the product very well that came with rechargeable battery, this saves a lot of money at the time-Save 12% Off
Have purchased these before for work and for hunting. Very well made compared to other brands. Highly recommended to others.
IMAGE® 30A Solar Charge Controller Soalr Panel Regulator 12V 24V Autoswitch PWM, Automatic Lighting
- PWM battery charging. Microcontroller digital accuracy. Fully automatic operation. 16 field adjustable lighting and timer control options.
- Manual test capability. Detects day and night using the PV array. Suitable for all 12V /24V lamps. Temperature compensation.
- Voltage: 12V/24V Auto Switch. Charge current: 30A. Load current: 30A. Empty load consumption:=6MA. Charge Circuit Voltage Drop:=0.26v. Discharge Circuit Voltage Drop:=0.15. Over voltage Protection:17V, X2/24V.
- Increase Charge Voltage: 14.6v, x2/24v(10min when discharging). Direct Charge Voltage: 14.4v, x2/24v(10min). Float Charging: 13.6v, x2/24v(till come down to charging recovery voltage). Temperature compensation (mV/C): -5mv/?/2v. Operating temperature: -35 ~ +55C. Control mode: PWM. Maximum support 720Watt (24V). 360Watt (12V). Dimension: 140mm x 95mmx 34mm. 10 minutes delay to make sure its real dark.
- Package Include: 1 x 30A solar charge controller, 1 x USERS' Manual
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