James Garriss

James is a systems engineer, has been married for 30 years, and has a pair of energetic toy poodles. His favorite gadgets are those that solve problems around the house and yard.

Elecrow GrowCube review (part 1) – Will it give you green thumb powers?

elegrow growcube 1

CROWDFUNDING REVIEW – I love growing things.  Flowers, grass, veggies, you name it.  While I’m pretty good at growing things outdoors, I’m a lot less good at growing things indoors, which is why I am excited about an upcoming Kickstarter by Elecrow.  Their new gadget is called the GrowCube, and it’s an automatic watering system […]

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EBL NiZn Rechargeable AA Batteries with Charger review – a different kind of battery

ebl battery 1

REVIEW – You’re familiar with standard alkaline AA batteries from companies like Duracell, and you are probably familiar with rechargeable NiMH AA batteries, like these from Energizer.  They are all the same size (diameter 14.5 mm, length 50.5 mm) and have a standard range for voltage (1.2 to 1.5v), though their capacity can vary widely

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Romance of Men Custom Katana review – a beautiful handmade sword

rom katana 1

REVIEW – “A katana is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands…It was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge facing upward.”  While authentic katanas, made in Japan using old-fashioned metal-working methods, are insanely expensive and

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PARIS RHÔNE Humidifier review – cool mist all day long

paris rhone humidifier 1

REVIEW – It’s winter, and it’s cold.  That means the heat is running a lot, and the air in our house is getting dried out.  This irritates my skin and makes it more difficult to breathe, especially at night while I’m sleeping.  The solution to this problem is simply to run a humidifier during the

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PARIS RHONE Space Heater review

paris rhone space heater 1

REVIEW – Winter is here!  Temperatures have been unseasonably cold this January, sometimes dropping into the 20’s overnight.  This means that my bathroom is inevitably much too cold in the mornings, and I need something to take the edge off.  In this review, I’ll be looking at the newest space heater from PARIS RHONE. What

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Marklife P11 Label Maker review – an easy way to make labels anywhere

marklife p11 1

REVIEW – As I mentioned in my review of Jackery’s power station, my wife is a direct seller.  Part of selling things at craft shows, church bazaars, and holiday fairs is making sure that everything she sells is appropriately labeled.  Ideally, each label would include my wife’s name, the type of product, the price, and

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OWC Mercury Elite Pro Mini review – an enclosure with a SATA drive

owc mercury elite pro mini 1

REVIEW – In a digital world, one of the most important assets that we have are the files on our computers.  They can be photos of family, spreadsheets with our budgets, papers for school, or a thousand other things.  Whatever they are, we don’t want to lose them.  Part of protecting our data is backing

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CharCoder – a chording keyboard for faster typing

charcode

  CROWDFUNDING NEWS – CharCoder’s mission is “to elevate average human text transmission speed (40 wpm) above and beyond average human text comprehension speed (250 wpm).”  Their first product was a strange-looking gadget that allow users to type by chording, but it certainly didn’t function as a normal keyboard, limiting who could use it. Their

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Tevaplanter – a water bank for indoor plants

tevaplanter

NEWS – I love plants.  I love growing flowers, veggies, and fruit trees.  While I’m pretty good at growing things outdoors, I really suck at growing things indoors.  Mostly that’s because I can’t seem to remember to water the plants, which explains why I’m so intrigued with the Tevaplanter.  It’s a water bank; that is,

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ChefWave Chefe review – a multicooker that uses steam

chefwave chefe 1

REVIEW – A multicooker is an appliance that has many of the cooking capabilities of other appliances, which means it can perform a variety of functions, like boiling, frying, stewing, baking, and steaming.  This should allow someone with limited kitchen space to replace several single-function appliances, like a slow cooker, a steamer, an air fryer,

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Jackery Explorer 300 review – a rugged yet practical portable power station

jackery 300 1

REVIEW – We’ve been reviewing a lot of power stations lately here at The Gadgeteer, including models from Oupes, OKMO, and Puleida.  Whenever you look through the marketing material for these stations, they always have pictures of people camping.  While that is a fine use for one of these gadgets, we have a somewhat different

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PIXEL K80RGB Lighting Kit review – wonderfully bright but fatally flawed

pixel k80 1

REVIEW – These days I often create a short video to add to my reviews here at The Gadgeteer.  A couple of recent examples include the setup of UREVO’s treadmill and Flexispot’s standing desk.  As we’ve said many times on this blog, lighting is key to good photography, and that’s also true for good videography. 

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