Garry Kolb

After a successful 35-year career in information technology in mid-Michigan, I am now happily retired and living the dream life in The Villages, Florida with my fun-loving and very tolerant wife of 39 years. When not playing golf, pickleball, or water volleyball, I like amazing our neighbors with our automated home and fiddling with new gadgets.

Bonbowl cooktop + bowl review – cooking for one (or two), simplified

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REVIEW – Cooking for one can be a challenge.  Dirtying up a bunch of pots and pans as well as making small portions in a big microwave or stove seems like a waste.  Bonbowl wants to change that with its induction cooktop specifically designed to make single-portion meals. What is it? In short, the Bonbowl […]

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Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS smartwatch review – making your wrist the smartest part of your body

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REVIEW – I’m a watch guy. I absolutely love watches.  I have a bunch of watches and favor quality Swiss timepieces.  Rolex, Zenith, Tissot, Tag Heuer, Ulysse Nardin, Frederique Constant, Ball, Bulgari, Rado, Movado – yup – got ’em plus more.  I’ve stayed away from smartwatches because of my affinity for high-quality mechanical watches.  I

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Luxear fresh food container set review – save your fresh food longer

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REVIEW – There is an old joke about buying healthy foods like fruits and vegetables and then throwing them away a week later since they rotted in the refrigerator.  That used to be funny before food prices started climbing faster than Olympic rock climbers. Luxear aims to help protect your precious fresh edibles with its

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Darkfade – the world’s most dramatic flashlight

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CROWDFUNDING NEWS – If you’re a flashlight addict and into drama, I have a deal for you!  A Kickstarter campaign for a new flashlight called Darkfade will hit on all cylinders. Darkfade is a small, handheld flashlight with a couple of novel features.  First, the lens is angled at 45 degrees, allowing for a more

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Nocs Provisions Zoom Tube 8×32 monocular telescope plus photo rig review – one-handed spotting in the wild

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REVIEW – There are so many things to see when you’re out and about in nature.  Birds, animals, flowers, and such.  Unfortunately, many of those things wind up being some distance away from where you happen to be at the time.  Good binoculars are heavy and tough to easily carry.  Telescopes are even worse.  If

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Comfytemp Wireless TENS Unit review – all the TENS, none of the wires

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REVIEW – I’m getting older.  I’m physically active.  I hurt.  It comes with the territory.  Recently, I tried my first TENS unit to help manage muscle pain and I liked it.  It really did help me manage pain.  The biggest inconvenience with it is the fact that two wires connect the electrodes to the control

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Nutroz ozone odor removal device review – oxidize your stink away

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REVIEW – Odor. Stink. Smell. Stench.  Whatever you call it, we all eventually wind up with things that smell awful.  Here in hot and humid Central Florida, that happens simply by spending time outdoors.  A round of golf can turn golf shoes and a hat into nearly toxic smell producers.  At times, my hats get so bad

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Oclean Flow sonic electric toothbrush review – because you can’t manually brush 38,000 times per minute

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REVIEW – Brushing teeth is one of those must-do daily tasks.  If you follow the guidelines, you will be doing this twice daily.  Many studies have indicated that today’s electric toothbrushes do a superior job of cleaning versus manual brushes.  Why?  Because they brush more vigorously than you can do with your hand alone.  Today,

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General Motors’ Super Cruise driving assistance tech – Look Ma! No Hands!

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ARTICLE/REVIEW – By now, pretty much everyone has heard of Tesla’s Autopilot – their version of driver assistance.  It’s been in the news a lot with crashes (not necessarily the system’s fault), video of sleeping drivers careening down a Los Angeles freeway, and more.  Plus, in its current iteration, the system requires you to have

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Hurdle Hanger for Pants 2.0 review – interesting idea for some pants

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REVIEW – Clothes, closets, hangers.  We all have them.  We all use them.  There’s no rocket science here.  But then, back in 2017, South Korean company Collabo Space decided that they would build the proverbial better mousetrap and came up with Boomerang Hanger – an improvement on the traditional hanger design.  Then, in 2018, they

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Ecovacs DEEBOT X1 OMNI robot vacuum/mop review – one step closer to robot overlord

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REVIEW – I’ve mentioned before that my goal is to get robots to do my bidding before the machines become self-aware and go all Terminator on us.  I’m both happy and terrified to report that we are one step closer to that day with the new X1 OMNI cleaning robot from Ecovacs.  Let’s check it out.

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iSinwheel i9Pro electric scooter review – Goofy name, decent scooter

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REVIEW – We recently completed a 5.5-month world cruise with a couple of extensions in the Baltic.  One thing that stood out to us in Europe, and especially the Scandinavian countries, was the huge number of bicycles and scooters – electric scooters.  Most were the rental variety, like Lime and others, but wow – scooters

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NOVE Atlantean dive watch review – How to look good at 1,000 feet down

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REVIEW – You’re a scuba diver.  You’re also a fashionista.  How do you make both of those things work together, especially when it comes to your timekeeping tools on your deep dives?  Boutique Swiss watch manufacturer, Nove, has the answer with their new Atlantean dive watch. What is it? The NOVE Atlantean is a dive

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Carex TENS 7000 pain management device review – pocket-sized pain relief

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REVIEW – Good things can come with age.  Retirement – that’s good.  Social Security deposits – also good. Travel without regard to schedules – really, really good.  Aches and pains – not so much.  If you suffer from chronic muscle and nerve pain, treatment with transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, or TENS, can bring temporary relief.

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Gadgeteer team – gear we’re using in 2022 (Garry Kolb)

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ARTICLE – Julie thought that it was time for the team to do an updated WHAT’S IN MY BAG series of posts and then as the team discussed it further, we decided to expand the articles to include any gear that we’re currently using since a lot of us are still only working from home.

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It’s not the Sun in your hand…but it’s close! – Imalent RS50 flashlight review

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REVIEW – Flashlights are nice to have around.  Sometimes you need to light a dark area.  Sometimes, you need to search for something in the dark.  Sometimes, you need emergency lighting during a power outage.  Sometimes, you need to light up things that are far away. Imalent, a maker of a wide range of versatile

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Baseus PowerCombo GaN 65W charger/power strip review – a nice multifunction charging solution

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REVIEW – Baseus, a maker of accessories for audio, cell phone, and home, is changing the power accessory landscape.  We’ve seen power strips and we’ve seen chargers.  We’ve even seen big, clunky power strips with a couple of charging ports.  Baseus has just introduced the PowerCombo GaN 65W combination power strip and four-port, high-power charger,

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Imalent MS08 flashlight review – the flashlight’s so bright, you gotta wear shades!

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REVIEW – Over the years, we here at The Gadgeteer have tested a bunch of flashlights, including several from Imalent.  I’ve tested a few myself.  But nothing I’ve tested compares to this Imalent MS08 flashlight that I have in my hand in the photo above.  What makes this special? Its ability to produce light output

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