Tuesday, February 23, 2016

LINKYO Kitchen Compost Bin - 1 Gallon Stainless Steel Composter


If you're into composting or if you do your own gardening, I highly suggest checking this out! I used to throw all of our compostables into the trash because I didn't really get in to gardening. My fiance and I plan to change that this spring so we decided we should get a head start on getting our compost ready so I picked this up. It makes it so easy to get started in any season. The filters work great for keeping out the smell. It is constructed well and it the carrying handle makes transporting it outside a breeze! Although I received this product in exchange for an honest review, all opinions expressed are my own and reflect my personal experience with this product. Feel free to ask me questions about this review and I'll respond within 24 hours. I hope my opinions help to enhance your purchasing experience!

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Plug n Play Kids Headphones for Children - by Snug

Rated: 4/5
Find them HERE

My four year old son loves to use my phone and iPad to watch videos on the YouTube kids app but I'm not a fan of actually hearing it while I'm trying to work or watch TV. I've attempted letting him use my Apple supplied iPhone headphones but they always seemed to fall out of his ears eventually. I've tried letting him use my big professional quality headphones, but they were too big and would eventually fall in front of his face. What's a guy to do?

I found these headphones for kids by snug and it definitely took both of my requirements for my son's headphones and totally resolved them. First, I wanted something that went around my son's ears, sort of like a professional set, so it could help block outside sounds meaning he wouldn't need the volume turned up very loud. I also wanted something that would be comfortable for him and fit his child sized head. When I put these on him, he said they didn't hurt his head or ears. They are that perfect size where they fit him now, but they also have room to expand as he grows.

As far as sound quality goes, these are not bad for a kid's set. I'll be honest, they're not going to blow you out of the water, but they do sound better than a stock set from Apple. Overall, these satisfy the requirements I had for them and my son now has his own set of headphones that I never need to worry about him breaking. Although I received this product in exchange for an honest review, all opinions expressed are my own and reflect my personal experience with this product. Feel free to ask me questions about this product and I'll respond within 24 hours. I hope my opinions help to enhance your purchasing experience!

Monday, February 15, 2016

Pro-Treat Freeze Dried Liver Treats by Stewart


Rated: 5/5

I'm not sure how much everyone cares about the actual ingredients that are in their dog's treats, but it really is something you should consider pretty heavily. You'd be surprised how many garbage by-products are really in them. Consider this: many of the treats you give your furry friend contain a lot of animal by-products that are deemed unfit forhuman consumption.

Dogfoodadvisor.com has this interesting tidbit about by-products in dog food/treats:

Unfit for Human Consumption OK for Dog Food?
"...what makes some by-products edible (and others not) isn’t just a matter of what they are but how they’re handled after slaughter.
For example, giblets not refrigerated immediately after slaughter but stored for up to 24 hours in a hot offal3 trailer cannot be sold for human consumption.
Yet they can still be legally used for making pet food.
Likewise, dead-on-arrival animals or other condemned parts that have been declared inedible and unfit for human consumption can still be used for making pet food."

This is exactly what sets these freeze dried liver treats from Stewart apart. There is only one ingredient, care to guess what it is? Liver. That's it. Albeit there are different types of animal livers in here, it's still simply liver. I personally hate liver. Hated it as a kid, hate it as an adult. Our dog on the other hand absolutely loves it. It seems like the second he sees them, he immediately knows to sit and wait.

If you're interested in checking out this, or some of their other products, feel free to follow these links:

Stewart® website:
http://stewartpet.com/

Check out all the flavors on our Stewart® website:
http://stewartpet.com/our-products/pro-treat-freeze-dried-treats/

Stewart® also has Stewart® Raw Naturals™ Freeze Dried Dog Food available. Your dog will LOVE this as a complete meal or as a topper on your dry dog food. Click below for more information:
http://stewartpet.com/our-products/freeze-dried-food/

And as always: Although I received this product in exchange for an honest review, all opinions expressed are my own and reflect my personal experience with this product. Feel free to ask me questions about this product and I'll respond within 24 hours. I hope my opinions help to enhance your purchasing experience!
#stewartpet

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Lunch Box Bento Food Storage Container - with 3 Compartments Meal Prep (Sets of 10) by Enzo's Private Selection


Rated 5/5
Find it HERE

About a month ago my fiance and I really started to take our health seriously. We picked up a lot of home gym equipment, started getting up at 5am to work out...all that fun stuff. Obviously we started to change our eating habits as well, but the one thing we didn't really put a lot of stock into was portion control. We were pretty much using Rubbermaid containers that really didn't do much in restricting the amount of food we ate. I started looking into various options and I came across this one. At the current price point (about $19) I feel that this is a good value for this 10 pack.

A few of the key points I was really looking at when I decided to get these included being dishwasher/microwave safe, BPA free, and leak proof. I've had experience with containers in the past that touted being "leak proof" but couldn't hold up to that claim in real world scenarios. If you have a container that accidentally flips over in transit and you really don't notice for a few hours...being leak proof is PARAMOUNT! I can attest to the ability of this set to work perfectly, even in these real world situations. Not only are they leak proof around the edges, but also within each individual container.

Being able to use these in the microwave and dishwasher is also a great selling point to me because the majority of what I place in the containers needs to be heated up in the microwave anyway. Something I noticed was that after microwaving these containers, they didn't feel flimsy like many others do. Their rigidity remained and didn't leave them feeling like they were drooping after being heated up. In the dishwasher, these held up well too. I always place plastics in the top rack, but I've had some in the past that have still come out with some areas looking like they have been altered slightly by the heat. Not the case here.

Something else that I appreciated is the ability to recycle these. Let's be honest, this is a nice set but I don't think they are a solution that you can expect to utilize for 10+ years. They'll last, but they seem like a well-tuned version of Chinese restaurant take-out container. I'll be ecstatic to get two years out of these. With that in mind, it's nice to know I can toss them in the recycle bin when the time comes. Overall, this is a great set for the money that really helps you control your portions and plan out meals that can be kept cold, dry, or hot with ease. Although I received this product in exchange for an honest review, all opinions expressed are my own and reflect my personal experience with this product. Feel free to ask me questions about this product and I'll respond within 24 hours. I hope my opinions help to enhance your purchasing experience!

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

T-1200 Controller Core - Xbox One Rechargeable Battery with Play andCharge Power Cable by TNT Interactive

*UPDATED REVIEW*

Rated: 5/5

The vendor for this product reached out to me, showing outstanding customer service, and told me they wanted to replace my seemingly faulty product with a new one. I was glad to hear this as it shows me they really pay attention to their reviews and stand by their product. In the spirit of transparency, I feel personally obligated to leave the original review and simply add this updated version at the top.

The replacement package was shipped to me quickly and I had it in about two days. Like the first one, I plugged this in and let it charge overnight before I used it. The next day I tried it out and not once did it cut out on me. I probably should have looked at the clock when I started playing, but I estimate it lasted about 7 or 8 hours on a full charge. I'm so happy this replacement worked EXACTLY like I had hoped. The first one let me down big time, but this one totally redeemed itself!

*ORIGINAL REVIEW*

Rated: 2/5

When I first got this product, I was excited to rid myself of conventional batteries. Yes I could use regular rechargeables, but I wouldn't be able to play games while they were in their charger. This seemed like a great answer to my problem. Upon opening the product, I noticed a very spartan box, there really wasn't much to it at all. One little instruction paper, the cable, and the battery. Not a problem though, I didn't need anything else with this. The components themselves felt like a good quality. The charging cable didn't feel cheap, the battery had the expected weight to it...I was really excited and hopeful about this battery pack.

If you're not aware of this, it is important that you don't automatically put rechargeable batteries to use immediately upon opening. Be sure you plug them in and fully charge them first. So that's exactly what I did with this. Maybe an hour or after starting my charge, I was ready to rock and roll. I got about an hour out of the first charge before it died on me. I chalked it up to a possible failed charge and decided to let it charge again, but this time over night.

The next morning I got up, verified with my Xbox that it was fully charged, and started to play. About five minutes later it completely died on me again. At this point, I started to think that the device itself is faulty. So I gave it one last shot and let it charge for about five hours. This time I put it in my controller, turned it on, watched the Xbox icon blink four times then it just shut off. Now, that is the only thing that happens with this battery pack. I replaced it with my regular AA batteries and I had no problems at all.

I'll be honest here, I'm really disappointed with how this product worked out. What seemed to feel like a great product at first has quickly devolved into nothing more than a paperweight and basic micro-USB cable. Maybe I was unlucky on this one and got a faulty pack, but in my mind it is hard to imagine that something so simple (and so proliferated these days) could really suffer from manufacturing defects. If you're looking for a rechargeable Xbox One battery pack, I suggest you look elsewhere. Although I received this product in exchange for an honest review, all opinions expressed are my own and reflect my personal experience with this product. Feel free to ask me questions about this product and I'll respond within 24 hours. I hope my opinions help to enhance your purchasing experience!

Find it HERE

Thursday, February 4, 2016

UpNature - Eucalyptus Essential Oil 4 OZ


Find it HERE.

When I get essential oils, I sort of stick to diffusers more than anything. I'm a scent type of guy...a good scent and make my day, but a bad scent could quickly ruin it. That was the main reason I got this eucalyptus oil, but then I started reading up on some of the other benefits of this and decided to go out of my diffuser related comfort zone. With the winter being upon us, my four year old has been much more susceptible to colds. We have forced hot air in our house so he's been coughing quite a bit lately even with a humidifier in his room. Since this product says it can aid in coughing, I figured I'd try it out.

When you first open the cap, you get this very alluring scent. The first thing I did immediately was put it in my diffuser. It has a very well balanced scent, which is something I appreciate tremendously. There have been too many times where I get an essential oil and the smell is either so light that I need to use a good amount to really smell it, or it is so strong that it gives me a headache. This finds a great balance. After trying out the scent in my own room, I moved my diffuser to my son's room. I let it in there overnight and to my surprise, he slept entirely through the night with absolutely no coughing at all. So not only does it help in making the room smell great, it seems to help suppress coughing pretty well too!

Overall, the size of this bottle and the quality of contents really sell this as a great essential oil. It does an amazing job at reducing and removing foul odors while. The added benefit of being able to hear my son get a restful nights sleep again just puts it over the top. Although I received this product in exchange for an honest review, all opinions expressed are my own and reflect my personal experience with this product. Feel free to ask me questions about this product and I'll respond within 24 hours. I hope my opinions help to enhance your purchasing experience!

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Barker and Pooch - Chewfix

Getting a new puppy can be tough. They love to bite and nibble but this chewfix can help curb that characteristic real quick. All I have to do now is pull the bottle out and Loki stops what he's doing. I've never seen a dog run that fast in my whole life. This stuff is effective and works well. I only needed to spray it one time to stop the biting! This product was received in exchange for my honest review.