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 By profession, I work with Kino Flo, Arri, Nila, Astra, and various other pro level lighting for national broadcast. These are all great lighting options, but also very expensive and owned by the studio. Although I work with these lights, it doesn’t mean I can afford them for my personal use. The GVM light kit is a great option for those on a budget.The unboxing for the GVM lights went well. It was not missing any pieces and has a convenient soft carrying case. The two light kit contains 2 light panels, 2 power supplies, 2 - 7ft aluminum stands, 2 diffusion panels, and instructions. In manual mode, the lights are dimmable from 0-100% by a knob on the back. It only dims in increments of 1% so you do have to turn the knob multiple rotations in order to move through the full range. The color temperature is adjustable by a separate knob from 3200K to 5600K in increments of 100K. I would like to be able to have a finer adjustment of color temperature but this will work considering most prosumer level cameras will only adjust in increments of 100. The two lights did work well together. With one light in master and the other in slave I was able to control brightness and color on one light and the other light seemed to accurately mirror the adjustments. When each light is set to master the lights are able to be controlled independently of each other. The RGB colors may be changed with the hue and saturation setting, but I did notice that the lights lack a little in the yellow to reds range. You don’t really get a rich yellow or orange color. I did not have any issues controlling the lights via the app “GVM Easily.” To control both lights together you must place one in WiFi mode and the other(s) in slave. I was able to control brightness, color temperature, hue and saturation via the app on my IOS device. The app does not have the special lighting scenes. Those must be set individually on the lights. The special scenes are interesting and not overly cheesy. I probably won’t have much use for them, but they would make for good Halloween or party lights. I do not like the built in plastic barn doors. They do not create a hard cut in the light even if the diffusion panel is removed. Instead, they create some sort of weird, lined gradient. I haven’t tried the battery input yet, but the back panel has two slots for standard NPF-750 batteries which are commonly utilized on other lighting and camera devices. Overall they seem like good lights for the price, but I would probably get something a little more high end for a pro studio.

I have always wanted to get a smart lock so I wouldn't have to deal with keys at all and neverhave to worry about getting locked out of the house. I recently stayed at a luxury condo at an Airbnb and it had a Yale pin pad smart lock. It was amazing not having to use keys so I decided to finally just go buy one. I researched for hours to find the best smart lock for me, and the Eufy smart lock hands down won. I loved all the features especially the fine print reader. They have a newer model with built in wifi, but this one was much cheaper and since it came with the bridge it does everything the newer model does- but more! With the bridge it had a SD card slot that can record video with Eufy security cameras. I love that so your not having to pay for a monthly subscription for cloud storage. It also acts as a speaker for Eufy doorbell. My phone has a finger print reader which I always use, it takes a second or two to recognize and unlock so I was wondering if this would be the same, or slower. That's why I liked that it also has pinafore for a code, or even an actual key if the batteries happen to die. It does have a USB jack on the bottom so if the battery dies you can hook up a power bank to it. I was pleasantly surprised that the finger print reader works extremely well and fast! It gets it right the first time every time and works almost instantly. I love it!! I am working on making my whole house a smart home, I have all the main rooms completed so I love that using the lock can trigger smart home routines to say turn on all the lights and turn TV on. The Eufy lock looks and works better than the Yale lock on the condo that is more expensive. I love literally everything about it from the design, build quality and feel, and the best part is no more keys!!! It's very cool that it comes with extra security-it has an extra sturdy door latch that screws in deeply to the door casing and wall to make it a lot harder for someone to push the door in. Another favorite feature that I almost forgot to mention is the autolock feature! You can set the timer for 1 seconds to 3 minutes upon closing the door to when it locks. I have it set to 1 second and is perfect. It's nice that it has a door open/closed sensor built in- most smart locks either don't have it or is an extra sensor to attach to the door. That's great because it will only lock if the door is fully closed and will let you know if the door is not securely closed. It was very easy to install. I can't say enough good things about it. It was 100% worth the money! If you have been thinking about it but debating on if it would actually be worth it- the answer is yes yes yes get it! Lol You'll be so happy you did!

I recently rigged a doggy gate, and with it added a motion sensor. Whenever there's motion at the back door/doggy gate, we hear a ding-dong from the motion sensor. For those times when I don't hear doggy paws walking across the hard floors (towards the back door) or when she's laying next to me, I need to be able to see what's setting off the motion sensor.Enter, this baby monitor. I set up the camera close by, and now I can easily check what's going on whenever I need to.I have multiple smart cameras around the house, but this is my first baby monitor, so I don't have much to compare it to in that regard.I've set up so many electronics in my lifetime, I'm at a point where I hate doing it, especially with everything having its own app and this and that.Thankfully, this baby monitor was super easy to set up. I just placed the camera where I wanted it and plugged it in with the provided cable, I charged the monitor, and it all worked right out of the box. I didn't have to pair anything, connect to wifi, set up - nothing!This monitor is pretty basic, it doesn't have countless useless features you won't use, etc. It does what it's supposed to do and it does it very well.You can have two way conversations, play lullabies, there's night vision, timer, etc.A few things I don't like:- I wish it had a kick stand, so I don't have to keep it next to me and keep picking it up to see it- The temperature sensor/alert can get irritating if you don't want it; however, you can lower/increase the alert all the way to 45/104 degrees, which will essentially quiet it- I wish there was a power saving or pause mode, something where I can pause/stop the monitoring when I don't need it; for example, if my dog is laying where I can see her for hours at a time, I really don't need to have the video and sound streaming the entire time - this would also significantly increase the battery use, which is about 1.5 days right now (I can turn off the screen by pressing the Power button, but the audio is on all of the time)All in all, this is a great monitor for my needs, as I purposely didn't want anything too complicated. If you're looking for a good, basic monitor, this should do the trick.:)

For background I've never owned a telescope and haven't done much astronomy since high school.I bought this as a gift for our bright 5.5 year old daughter, knowing she may need to grow into it a bit. Before settling on this particular model, I considered paying several times more for a good T-scope the whole family could use for years to come. However, after reading more about beginner scopes, I agreed that a more complicated or powerful scope could discourage her. Further, although she thinks astronomy is pretty neat today and she can name all the planets (including a few dwarfs), there's a chance her interest wanes. In that case, I'm only out $100.It took me about 30 minutes to skim through the instructions and assemble the scope. Adjusting the finderscope was a little more difficult, however. I found myself wishing it had some simple calibration screws that would move the crosshairs left/right and up/down. Instead, the finder scope is held in place by inserting it into a broad ring with three inward facing screws. It was a bit of an effort to get this calibrated (still not 100%) and I can tell it would easily be thrown off if bumped or if I pack and unpack the scope. Basically, you don't want to touch it after calibration (and try to get a 5 year old to not touch something interesting like that).I'd read reviews saying the tripod may be flimsy, but I wasn't concerned given we have two others for our cameras. Nevertheless, it seems to work and I left one segment on each leg unextended so our daughter could reach the viewfinder. I found Jupiter w/o much of a problem, but because the scope is front-heavy, it required a few iterations of sighting, loosening-moving-then tightening the panhandle, and sighting again before I got accustomed to the scope "dipping" after I'd locked things in. Perhaps there is a technique that makes this easier, but I believe some scopes have counterweights to manage this. Perhaps a sturdier tripod would help.That said, these are all things I can deal with and weren't entirely unexpected. I was impressed that not only could we see Jupiter but also its four largest moons. I initially thought they might be a lens flare or a defect, but after looking at on line photos I confirmed it's the real deal, which was pretty exciting. Worth noting that a little kid will have a harder time closing one eye and steadily looking into an eyepiece to see something as small as a planet. I'm hopeful the moon is easier for her. Mom has already joked that Dad has a new telescope.

We love this baby monitor! Our must-haves for a video baby monitor include: a non Wi-Fi video monitor, with high resolution video and good quality night vision; handheld unit that has pan/tilt/zoom feature, adjustable volume, adjustable brightness and long battery life. This monitor has all of that and more! The screen is a great size, with very clear video display. The temperature sensor display allows us to know the room isn’t too hot or cold for our baby (including a temperature alarm, though we don’t feel the need to use that feature). Sleep mode allows you to set the handheld monitor screen to go dark after your choice of 30 sec, 5 min or 10 min. This is great because I keep the monitor on my nightstand; I can hear the baby if he cries, without the screen glowing in my face all night while I sleep. It also conserves battery life to use sleep mode around the house when the handheld monitor is not plugged in to A/C power. Sleep mode can be turned off to leave the video screen visible at all times, too.This model has a choice of 12 or 24 hour clock display. We’re also loving that it has a permanent base so that it can be used on a shelf or table, or be mounted to the wall. We travel a lot and like the flexibility of placing the video camera on a table when using the pack n play. I only wish the adjustable volume buttons were more easily accessible (for example, on the side of the monitor); instead there is a “shortcut” button you press first, to then access both volume and brightness controls. We don’t use the sound detection alarm feature, lullaby feature or talk feature just yet, as we don’t want to advertise to our baby that we’re “on the other end” of the monitor. The talk feature could be helpful with older babies/kids. We love the option to add additional cameras to view both of our kids rooms from one monitor.Overall we love this monitor! It’s durable and has a more reliable signal and battery life than the other brands we’ve tried. This is our 2nd DB Power video monitor purchase, so that we can keep one at home and one at our summer cottage!

We have three echo dots, an Echo auto, and just recently replaced a gen 1 Echo with this model. We did it because it had a built-in smart home hub. Previously, we had used IRIS from Lowes, and when they went out of business, we switched to Smartthings, which used both Zigbee and Z-wave. Well, same old story, they started using a third party to make their hardware and after months of fidgeting with it, I threw it all away and got this. Of course, I had to switch most of my Z-wave over to Zigbee, including wall switches, the door lock, etc. Luckily, I can do all that stuff myself. When I plugged in the new Echo, lo and behold, everything just came together. I had about an hour of fussing with the one wall switch, until I realized what I had done wrong. But then, it just discovered all our items, added them to lists, let me build routines lickety split! It was very refreshing to have things just come together. And if I set an alarm at night, the Echo will ask me if I want to lock the front door, knowing that I'm getting ready for bed. It lets me access my smart home items from any Alexa app, including my car, phone, computer, and all the Echoes about the house. I'm tired of switching protocols from Z-wave to Zigbee and back and I wanted something that would last. I almost went with just a straight Wifi for everything, but I'm really glad I didn't. Folks, this thing is stupid simple, even for people who aren't versed in smart home equipment. And it functions in every way just as well or better than the previous Echoes did. It would even link to my smart home appliances, if I had those models. And it works well with my NEST smoke detector and my Ring door bell and cameras. Next step: putting in some smart thermostats. The only thing I haven't messed with is some IFTTT protocols. I used to have the old system set up so that if the Ring detected motion and the lock detected tampering, it would turn on all the lights, continue recording on the Ring, and alert my phone. I'll repost if I get that to work for me.

I thought I had left a review back when I bought this, but apparently I didn't. I just want to share a fantastic experience with the unit, and with the company.Purchased this in January of 2013, for a 2 year old little boy. We had been using a fan since he was tiny to help him sleep, and drown out some traffic noise. The unit, and it's multiple 'sounds' worked GREAT! Mom loved it, little boy loved it, especially when I got to put him to bed and for a change (from the rainfall sound we typically always use) and put on the meadow with crickets. He really thought that was COOOOOL!.So we love the unit and it gets used EVERY night, for almost 2 1/2 years.Recently, rarely the sound file would stick or stutter for a moment. Being an electronics tech and etc. I recognized the sound as just bad memory where the sound's digital files are stored. Sound+Sleep Adaptive's design utilizes SDRam for this. Everyone uses SDRam, it's quite common from cameras, smartphones, synthesizers, computers, etc. Well, SDRam is quite reliable but by virtue of how it works, it DOES actually wear out eventually. Many different things affect how long a given SDRam module lasts, like how it's recorded and played back, it's version/generation, quality control, luck, electrical spikes like static from fingertips, and even particles from deep space! I'm not kidding here, Cosmic Rays!So, I called up Sound+Sleep and spoke with a great guy, the guy who answered the phone. How often does that happen?I told him what we were hearing, and promptly diagnosed the problem as worn or failing SDRam (card) and took my name and mailing address and is sending out a new SD Card and installation instructions today! I am so impressed, really am.If you are reading this, and also saw some other folks complaining of noisy or failed sounds and thinking maybe the product is not reliable, that has not been my experience. I also work in electronics, and am quality sensitive about this kind of stuff, and tech in general. I've liked this gadget since the beginning, and now, with the expected demise of my unit's SD card, to have a new on on the way at no cost just really made my day, and I wanted to share it with potential buyers here ASAP.

You have to take into account what you have here. It's not a 3rd gen NVG. It's basically a low quality camera. That said, this is one of the best night vision viewers of this type I've had the chance to try out.Not using the IR light at all, these do a pretty good job of enhancing the available light to be able to see at night. The quality of the picture in the viewer is good, but not great. You can see stuff without the IR, although it's pretty dim.The IR light though, that's pretty great. We have another, very small, night vision device that uses basically the same mechanisms. It included an IR light. Using it to help us test this device, we could see the light on this device, lighting up over the top of of the little device. It's that bright. It went pretty far into the woods and well down the driveway, pretty much lighting up the landscape.You can record pictures, which are of decent, but not great quality. Same goes with the video. It's OK. However, it's taken at night and is better than any other mechanism we have around the house now.The carrying case is pretty nice. It has a neck sling which is OK, but not exciting. You can adjust the focus on the viewer. There are some settings to adjust the behavior, but I didn't test those much yet.Considering what you're paying, this is a pretty great device.Now, there are some issues. It takes 8 AA batteries to power it up. That makes it pretty darned heavy. Also, the view screen absolutely wrecks your night vision, so you have the choice of looking at this, or not looking at anything. Speaking of looking, the viewer was designed by someone with a mean streak. It has a hood that's supposed to block off surrounding lights & stuff to make view easier. However, it's really badly designed with no place for your nose to go, so it's squish against the uncomfortable rubber, or hold it away from your head, swaying around.However, comparing this to the other night vision cameras we have, it's just outstanding. It's not as good as a true optic, not even remotely. However, for the money, you're unlikely to see better.